Match Day Man City v Burnley, Monday 2nd January 15:00

[smat]

lol why does he have to 'explain' it? it's pretty obvious he was referring to burnley's excellent away support

 

[Benji]

Guardiola will get shit the same way every manager of an expensively assembled side will get shit when they go through a difficult patch. The idea he gets picked out because he is some 'innovator' challenging the traditions of English football is nonsense. Pundits and journalists will go for anyone irrespective of whether they are regarded as conservative or progressive coz they need something to talk about. Mourinho got it earlier in the season. Even Klopp got it when Liverpool went a bit stale last season. Wenger gets it during the annual Arsenal collapse every season.

Out of interest, what is this radical new approach that Guardiola is bringing to the Premier League? I've seen a few City games this year and all I've seen is a lot of passing it around the back until someone either loses it or just lumps it up like any other side does. Apart from that it doesn't look a lot different from the Pellegrini days. You lads on here seem to be a lot cleverer than me at this tactics stuff so maybe someone could explain it to me coz I don't get it?

Yes, it's true abouot other managers getting stick. It's the nature of it that is unique to Guardiola. Klopp and Mourinho have a tough spell and the story is "haha, you're failing", but for Guardiola it's "haha, you thought you were better than us". You can write about a team that is underperforming because it's based on what we can all see on the pitch. That is different to how they react to Man City failing to meet expectations. It's as if it has a wider significance than just being a good team underperforming. It's vindication, and one in the nose for the outsider who thinks he's better than us. The thing is that it's baseless, it's a fabrication of the media.

Maybe it's true than Guardiola hasn't done anything remarkably different in the Premier League, but that won't fly. He can't be failing because he's playing football the good old English way, can he?

 

[Dirk]

lol why does he have to 'explain' it? it's pretty obvious he was referring to burnley's excellent away support

Exactly what I thought. What else could he mean?

 

[Stevencc]

Yes, it's true abouot other managers getting stick. It's the nature of it that is unique to Guardiola. Klopp and Mourinho have a tough spell and the story is "haha, you're failing", but for Guardiola it's "haha, you thought you were better than us". You can write about a team that is underperforming because it's based on what we can all see on the pitch. That is different to how they react to Man City failing to meet expectations. It's as if it has a wider significance than just being a good team underperforming. It's vindication, and one in the nose for the outsider who thinks he's better than us. The thing is that it's baseless, it's a fabrication of the media.

Maybe it's true than Guardiola hasn't done anything remarkably different in the Premier League, but that won't fly. He can't be failing because he's playing football the good old English way, can he?

You say that it is unique, but don't you think that Wenger has, at times, been subject to the same kind of thing? He has a vaguely intellectual air about him, was pretty revolutionary when he came to the league and does seem to cop a lot of stick for being arrogant and idealistic when it comes to his football style. The media do love to stick the boot in when his Arsenal side begin to falter, too.

 

[Nilsson]

but for Guardiola it's "haha, you thought you were better than us"

Got any examples of this?

I'd say the media have been pretty generous to him considering how disappointing City have been lately.

 

[Benji]

You say that it is unique, but don't you think that Wenger has, at times, been subject to the same kind of thing? He has a vaguely intellectual air about him, was pretty revolutionary when he came to the league and does seem to cop a lot of stick for being arrogant and idealistic when it comes to his football style. The media do love to stick the boot in when his Arsenal side begin to falter, too.

Possibly, Wenger has his similarities but he didn't join Arsenal with the reputation Guardiola has. It's the notion that Guardiola thought he could walk the league that I am disputing, but I have gone a little off track.

Got any examples of this?

I'd say the media have been pretty generous to him considering how disappointing City have been lately.

I don't really fancy trawling the internet citing articles to be honest. It started in the summer with the belief that he wouldn't find it as easy in the Premier League as he had with Barca and Bayern. It's a pretty reasonable point, and appears to be ringing true. But it isn't Guardiola who has been proved wrong.

 

[TubularBells]

More conspiracies against City, it seems.

I fail to understand why they felt hard done by. It was a red card, the goal was legitimate and he can count himself lucky he didn't get sent off himself. He's just making things worse for himself. Likely a fine for the tweet but he should be more concerned about the retrospective punishment for the off the ball incident with Boyd.

 

[Nilsson]

I don't really fancy trawling the internet citing articles to be honest. It started in the summer with the belief that he wouldn't find it as easy in the Premier League as he had with Barca and Bayern. It's a pretty reasonable point, and appears to be ringing true. But it isn't Guardiola who has been proved wrong.

But if you've got the opinion that "Klopp and Mourinho have a tough spell and the story is "haha, you're failing", but for Guardiola it's "haha, you thought you were better than us"." then surely you can point to something to show why you have that opinion?

I don't think most people thought that Pep was under any illusions that managing Man City would be his toughest job yet. He's probably even said it himself at some point.

 

[Stevencc]

The FA have released the following statement on Bacary Sagna

"Bacary Sagna has been charged for misconduct contrary to FA Rule E3 (1).

"It is alleged that a comment posted on social media by the Manchester City defender constituted improper conduct in that it questioned the integrity of the match official and/or alleged and/or implied bias on the part of the match official, and/or brought the game into disrepute.

"He has until 6pm on 13 January 2017 to respond to the charge."