It’s not like Pep has just gone out and spent £100m on the most obvious Bales and Pogbas of the world, though. (His two big signings at Barça-- Ibrahimovic and Villa, were both funded by the unprecedented success he had already brought to Barça, and the former by partly by Eto’o of course)
He developed the best DM in the world, he brought through Pedro, Piqué went from young talent who hadn’t made it at United to world class CB under his reign, he made the big decision to put Ronaldinho (and then Henry) aside so to maximise Messi’s talent and have him operate as a centre forward…etc. etc.
At Bayern it’s even more a case in point, the signings and movements there are incredibly astute, Thiago (which wouldn’t’ve happend without him of course), Douglas Costa, Coman, Vidal, Alonso…turned Lahm and Schweinsteiger into fine deep lying midfielders, utilised Alaba with great success practically anywhere you want him, turned Boateng into a top class, ball playing CB, etc.
I’m sorry but people are just way too fucking glib when it comes to talking about Pep Guardiola.
I like Pep’s high press yesterday a lot more than his Bayern’s aimless possession football.
Schweinsteiger was basically a deep lying midfielder (CM/DM) long before Pep’s arrival; and not quite sure Lahm as a DM was really a success. Against weaker teams he could do whatever he wants with Bayern’s depth. Against good teams, Lahm never really played good comparing his standard performance as a right back. Jogi Low tried him as DM for some NT games but he was really at his best when moving back as RB and then won the WC.
The only player he really developed at Bayern was Thiago (and arguably Alaba). Did not see much improvement from Costa and Coman, as they could not really replace the often injured and aging Ribery and Robben.
Alonso, old and slow and could not catch up the up tempo game…
Vidal, look lost while playing as CB, DM, CM, and side midfield…
Do think Pep is a good manager but I want to see his true ability when managing some not-so-high-profile team(s).
Right now he does not get my full approval because he turned Jupp’s lethal and ruthless Bayern into a toothless Barcelona B team.
His start at City was okay, and yesterday’s game was great. Hope he will make De Bruyne and Gundogan better players… then we can judge. This is his 3rd stacked team and see if he can dominate domestically and win the CL.
Coman and Costa were two cracking signings, I don’t know how you can take anything away from that, lol, when Coman wasn’t even making the bench at Juve and came to Bayern and immediately became a key player…Schweinsteiger was never an orchestrator like he was with Bayern under Pep, he definitely evolved as a footballer under him.
Fair enough, but I also remember games where he wasn’t even on the bench. Point is to say Pep didn’t take him up a level (more like 3 or 4) in his career, or that Coman wasn’t an astute signing the type of which people say only Wenger has on his CV, is kinda crazy.
Yeah I’m not denying that pep is not a good manager just that you can’t really compare him to Wenger as they’ve had completely different projects at their clubs
It wasn’t like Wenger took poor clubs who had achieved nothing from the debts(?) of hell either. Don’t get me wrong he deserves massive credit for sustaining high league positions with both Monaco and Arsenal, but both clubs also won the League 5-6 years prior to his arrival.
I did not say Coman and Costa are not good, AC.
They WERE GOOD signings…
I just said they did not improve much under Pep.
In 2015-16, Coman played total 35 games for Bayern and scored 6
This season, he played 8 and still scoreless.
Still waiting him (and Costa) to shine in big games, not just a rotation.
Regarding Schweinsteiger… I believe he was really good and already in top form in 2010 WC and 2012 Euro???
Err, isn’t this just proving my point for me? (The idea that he hasn’t helped to develop Coman when Coman had his breakthrough under him would seem awfully weird to me…)
Anyways, the point was more that the narrative that Pep doesn’t build teams/develop players and just walks into a squad of world class players is false.
Anything you award Pep for, you have to award it to Wenger.
Love him or hate him, Wenger has consistently strived for perfection. Whether or not he stays on after this season, Wenger will remain one of the game’s greats.
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