Welcome Claudio Bravo (Finally)

[Mikhail Chigorin]

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if some of us are critical of Bravo or, on the other hand, prepared to make allowances for him because some things, at the moment, are immutable :-

(i) Pep is the Manager our owners have wanted for some time and, on that basis, he has a fairly free hand to go about things as he sees fit.

(ii) Pep will not change, drop or sacrifice his footballing principles.

(iii) Pep wants his goalkeepers to be 'sweeper keepers' and he brought Bravo in, specifically, for this purpose.

(iv) It's highly inconceivable, at the moment, that Joe Hart will ever find a place in a Pep side.

(v) We're not in a process of evolution, we're in a process of Pep's revolution, so we are going to be in for a bumpy ride in many ways. If we don't like it, at the end of the day, we'll just have to lump it and hope all will turn out well.

(vi) Bravo may well only be a short term 'fix' but, under Pep, whomsoever replaces him (Gunn ??) will play in exactly the same way, as required by our Manager.


The only factor which would change any of the above is if our owners decided, for whatever reason, to pull the plug on Pep which, for the time being, is unlikely.

Spot on

Very true. All opinion null and void, everybody back to the Bat Cave and we'll come back out when we can talk about the next wave.

When does Pep's contract run until again. See you all in 32 months.

PS. Just for clarification on the Bravo debate, my view is that he has, and will, cost us more than he saves unless the manager (that is Pep) decides to change the tactics to allow for a hoof out now and then. Our defence have proved that when under pressure, the ball playing aspect doesn't work. If you want proof, look at our last 5 games.

Cheerio

Cheerio Beefy

[Beefymcfc]

Pep-conference

I know from the beginning that when Claudio makes mistakes they make the papers. Claudio has to fight.

Until the first goal when Ferna slipped the game was under control and we were playing really well. But it’s a good lesson.

When we have the ball and arrive in the box we need to be more aggressive. When you have a man sent off, it’s about surviving.

To become a good journalist you need time - same in my case. If you think after three months we are going to dominate Barca then…

[Beefymcfc]

Cheerio Beefy

I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm baaaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkkk!!!

[iwasthere2012]

Cheerio Beefy

I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm baaaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkkk!!!

Glad it's all been cleared up.
Next subject!

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Cheerio Beefy

I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm baaaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkkk!!!

Hooooorrrraaaayyyy ............and with a vengeance no doubt

[Renato_CTID]

Pep-conference

I know from the beginning that when Claudio makes mistakes they make the papers. Claudio has to fight.

Until the first goal when Ferna slipped the game was under control and we were playing really well. But it’s a good lesson.

When we have the ball and arrive in the box we need to be more aggressive. When you have a man sent off, it’s about surviving.

To become a good journalist you need time - same in my case. If you think after three months we are going to dominate Barca then…

Brilliant words from a brilliant man! Pep's era is only at the beginning, yes indeed!

[City64]

Pep-conference

I know from the beginning that when Claudio makes mistakes they make the papers. Claudio has to fight.

Until the first goal when Ferna slipped the game was under control and we were playing really well. But it’s a good lesson.

When we have the ball and arrive in the box we need to be more aggressive. When you have a man sent off, it’s about surviving.

To become a good journalist you need time - same in my case. If you think after three months we are going to dominate Barca then…

Nice one Beefy !

Still a huge question mark over Bravo though no matter how articulately Pep dresses it up

[mr_nool]

Watch on youtube.com

[PrezIke]

Do some of us understand the word patience?

Bravo has also done a lot of good things that Joe I suspect will never do.

He is considered a top keeper for a reason and I am not saying he has been magnificent either. It's October and we are trying a new style with several new key players.

I'd wager we will only get better.

I'm not even 100% sure what he did (to come out) was necessarily the wrong decision.

Why do you believe that? I would have preferred him to concede the goal and stay on the field, even though it would have been 2 down we might have had a better chance with 11.

Leaving out that error on Wednesday he hasn't been impressive so far and as pointed out he is more than familiar with this style of play.

If he had passed the ball to any other player nearby it would have been fine. He did not.

[PrezIke]

Do some of us understand the word patience?

Bravo has also done a lot of good things that Joe I suspect will never do.

He is considered a top keeper for a reason and I am not saying he has been magnificent either. It's October and we are trying a new style with several new key players.

I'd wager we will only get better.

I'm not even 100% sure what he did (to come out) was necessarily the wrong decision.

If he doesn't come out to meet the ball then Suarez is through one on one. The decision to come out was right. The execution of the attempted pass was badly wrong.

Exactly