Whichever way you look at it, this was always going to happen: Yaya Toure’s inevitable fallout with Pep Guardiola. When Pep took over at Barcelona several years ago, he cleared the deck at the club, getting rid of superstars Ronaldinho, Yaya Toure, Deco, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Samuel Etoo and Eidur Gudjohnsen among several others.
Who could have the audacity to take on the mega stars and axe the big names without the fear of failure? Pep could. He knew the B team at Barcelona so well, having coached them for a few years and was aware that at LaMasia, there were some talented youngsters he could promote to the first team and rely on, to make Guardiola’s football the ‘main character’ off the pitch; and that gamble paid off. Today, this time at the Etihad, Pep is flushing the deck again, getting rid of the big names with big personalities.
Pep loves big personalities on the pitch, but not big characters off the pitch: the sweep at the Nou Camp several years ago caused a rift between himself and Zlatan, as well as a bitter feud with Yaya Toure that has never been healed. When Manchester City appointed Pep Guardiola as coach in January, you didn’t need a crystal ball to predict Yaya Toure’s playing career at City was nearing its end and you could see that it ended Yaya’s drive and City’s title challenge, Joe Hart’s exclusion was probably the one nobody prepared for.
Few months later however, its Joe Hart, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure: big names, big personalities and big characters and Pep always states his reasons; from being overweight, to not been able to pass the ball out properly, to a newspaper article from an agent.
Pep is winning and you can’t argue with results, thank God Messi, DeBruyne, Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and the rest have different personalities: big game, unassuming characters, perhaps we would have been singing different tune about them by now.
IT’S THE THEATRE OF GAMES AS JOSE LAMMENTS TACTICAL BLUNDERS
A very long week with three straight defeats mean that United go six points behind in the title race. The derby defeat last weekend, I said at the time, was more damaging psychologically than the three points lost and as the midweek defeat in Europe piled more pressure on the players, Sunday’s debacle at Watford finally compounds United’s misery for now.
Admit it or not, the knockout punch was thrown by Pep Guardiola and Manchester City last weekend; the fact that City were extremely dominant, the way that Rooney, Zlatan and co were brought down to earth on the day and the manner of the humiliating defeat at Old Trafford means that the camp has not recovered.
Before the game, United players – because of Jose’s appointment – suddenly became special in the eyes of everyone and they were being tipped for the title, but the battering of the first forty five minutes meant that the players lost their confidence and belief and it’s one nil to Pep.
So why do United have the problems? It starts with a massive squad, the main roster for the first team at the start of the season had forty four players and after exits and loans, the squad is now down to twenty seven players; which would make it difficult for a coach to pick a constant eleven, bring extra pressure on the players –you know one bad game may mean you’ll not be seen again for another three weeks. Second issue is the central midfield area that has no balance because of Rooney. Play a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 and you have to find space for Rooney (in the 2-1 or 3 in the middle) so where do you put him? How do you free Pogba? Who is the natural CDM who would ensure the same goals are not conceded (Watch City’s 2nd goal, Feynoord’s lone goal and goal number one and two at Watford, there was no central defensive midfielder who could smell the danger and plug the hole in front of that defence and the 2nd play)
Too many big players not performing is another issue to deal with –Rooney, Pogba, Mikhytarian –and before you know it, the players start to blame, the manager points fingers, the directors take sides, the fans join in the party and when you add the agents and media to the circus, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Jose should go back to the training ground with his players and get to work because it was never going to be easy fixing the problems of the post Fergie era, in fact Jose may have to forego some titles in a bid to rebuild and restore United to the Fergie days.
He needs to know his players and their characters, eventually trimming the squad to one he can develop so that United and Jose can once again become effective and a great force they once were; or perhaps Jose announced too soon that he would challenge for the title? Perhaps not every player is ready for a title challenge as of yet.
LIVERPOOL PUT CHELSEA TO THE SWORD
Fast and furious were the Liverpool boys at the Bridge on Friday as their pace blew Chelsea away in the first forty minutes. Conte’s boys couldn’t cope with the speed of Klopp’s protégés, okay it was just the first half, but it was enough to kill off Chelsea at the bridge.
Liverpool still tired out towards the end and they laboured extensively to keep Chelsea out in the closing stages, with Cesc again (84th minute sub) coming on too late to affect any meaningful impact on the game.
Matip brought a bit of stability to the back line but Milner was no match for Willian and Hazard and the midfield collapsed over and over again with only Hendersen the only holding midfielder on duty. Whenever Chelsea strung a few decent passes together in that area, Liverpool looked like crumbling. I am also not yet satisfied that Mignolet can give him twelve extra points in a season, while with Lovren it’s always an adventure with Jekyll and Hyde but it is early days and to come and beat a Conte side at the bridge is not an easy task.
As for Chelsea, I still don’t feel it at this time. Yes the team looks good on paper, yes there have been several positives, yes the team is playing good football in parts, there is still a missing ingredient, perhaps too many similar ingredients, or both. Let’s not get too carried away though as it’is only five games played thus far.