Thursday-night jaunts to Moldova and Azerbaijan would be a new experience for a man who has never managed outside of the Champions League
Pep Guardiola had the day off on Sunday, so he’d have settled down to watch the Manchester derby with keen anticipation.
Then ended up with the kind of headache rarely experienced in Bavaria outside of Oktoberfest.
Thursday-night jaunts to Moldova and Azerbaijan would be a new experience for a man who has never managed outside of the Champions League.
Yet Manchester City look destined for the Europa League and, as the club repeatedly point out, there is no get-out clause in Saint Pep’s agreement to take over at the Etihad this summer.
Those of us in the Pep sceptic camp do not doubt that Guardiola is a fine coach with a magnetic personality and a stellar CV.
It’s just that his status as the undisputed pre-eminent manager in world football seems overblown given that he has never truly built a team.
He improved Barcelona vastly, but enjoyed a golden inheritance of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta. At Bayern Munich, he took over Treble-winning European champions and will be judged a qualified failure unless he wins the Champions League this May.
Now our scepticism will be fully tested because, by Guardiola’s lofty standards, he will inherit a shambles at City.
The idea that City shot themselves in the foot by announcing Guardiola’s appointment on February 1 does not hold water.
They had been bounced into the early announcement by Bayern, who, knowing that Guardiola was not signing a new deal, were desperate to secure Carlo Ancelotti for next season.
Had City not nailed down the Guardiola deal, they would now be in blind-panic mode.
City’s players haven’t downed tools because Manuel Pellegrini is a lame-duck manager working out his notice.
The decline of this ageing, creaking, shallow group was obvious long before February 1.
Despite a vast transfer spend, City are a bunch of flat-track bullies barely capable of beating any decent side all term.
And once their player of the season Kevin De Bruyne suffered a serious injury, their fading title hopes were dealt a decisive blow.
Now injuries to Vinny Kompany and Joe Hart leave City looking unlikely to beat Manchester United and West Ham to fourth spot – and with no chance of winning the Champions League this term.
City lost the derby largely because Martin Demichelis isn’t good enough and Eliaquim Mangala isn’t much better. Nor would Nicolas Otamendi have made any great difference either.
The sight of 18-year-old Mancunian Marcus Rashford kippering Demichelis for the winning goal, and then drawing a foul which should have earned a penalty, said much about City’s need for a new manager.
And the pathetic reaction of Demichelis, in forcibly insinuating that Rashford had dived, would have given Guardiola a snapshot of all that is wrong at his next club.
Had City’s decision to select so many kids in their FA Cup defeat at Chelsea really been the forward-thinking move Manuel Pellegrini had claimed, then another impressive Mancunian teenager Tosin Adarabioyo would have been marking Rashford rather than the washed-up Demichelis.
City boast of having a far superior academy system than United’s - but until a first-team manager is willing to take a meaningful gamble on youth, this is all largely rhubarb.
Guardiola, with long-term job security and the right instincts, will surely promote several youngsters to a first-team squad which also requires a replacement for Yaya Toure, back-up for Sergio Aguero, a complete defensive overhaul and an attitude transplant.
It is a spurious theory which suggests that English football’s natural order will be instantly restored next season. That after a season of glorious chaos, the richest club in the land, with the shiniest manager in the world, will undoubtedly reclaim the crown.
Tottenham should start next season as Premier League favourites, as they are the most complete team in the country. There is no reason why Leicester should fade from top-four contention. West Ham, Stoke, Southampton and a moneyed Everton should all start with genuine Champions League ambitions, as well as the rest of the old elite.
Whatever the shortcomings of English clubs against Europe’s best, Guardiola will never have experienced anything like this level of domestic competition.
If he wins the title next season, there will be no more room for scepticism.
Because he’ll have achieved one hell of a re-build.
No comments:
Post a Comment