Nigerian Immigration Officer: Where are you flying from?
Me: Nairobi
NIO: What did you go there for?
Me: A conference.
NIO: What do you do?
Me: I’m a researcher.
NAO: So what do you study?
Me: Corruption.
During my day as a delivery driver, Google map took me through a private road and the owners came with AR15 charging at me. Worst day of my delivery driver life. The lady said they had warned several drivers to tell the company many times and they will be shooting at the next one
iPhone: I'm gonna update your software tonight while you sleep.
iPhone in the morning: I couldn't do it, bro. Just didn't feel right. The vibe was off.
In 2012, Chelsea finished sixth in England and fired their manager in March. They still won the Champions League, the biggest prize in club football. The team that finished first in England that year, Manchester City, did not even make it out of the group stage.
Guardiola is pointing at exactly that gap. A league title takes 38 games against everyone else, home and away, over nine months. You cannot win it by accident. The Champions League trophy comes down to a handful of knockout games in spring. Football is a low-scoring sport, so one goal can decide who advances. Over a single match, the score barely tells you which team was better. Your best player limps off in April, a referee waves away a clear penalty, a shootout goes against you, and nine months of work disappears. Chelsea won that 2012 final on penalties, in Bayern Munich's own stadium, while sitting sixth in their own country.
His own career says the same thing. Across Spain, Germany, and England, Guardiola has won the league title twelve times. He has won the Champions League three times, and twelve years passed between his second and his third. For most of that stretch he had the best team in Europe and still went home early, beaten by the same thing he is describing.
Barcelona under Hansi Flick is the latest example. They have won the Spanish league two years running and won every major trophy in Spain the season before. Then Inter knocked them out of Europe, 7-6 across two games. The next year they lost to an Atletico Madrid side sitting twenty-two points beneath them in the league. Over a full season, Barcelona were clearly the better team. Over two nights, they lost.
A league title means you were the best team in the country for nine months. A Champions League run means you got through a few nights in spring without anything going wrong. Guardiola is asking people not to confuse the two.
Not defending it in the slightest but just caught the Eze goal last night, has anyone ever thought that the majority of the ‘marginalisation’ of Arsenal’s football ie. set pieces & routines is mostly down to a lack of attacking quality? Outside of Eze, Havertz & Saka, the majority of the rest are pretty mediocre. City have beautiful patterns between the front 4 but mostly because Cherki is a wizard, Doku is one of the best box enterers I’ve seen, Haaland’s a generational striker & Semenyo has insane talents for a wide attacking forward. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of it is an Arsenal/Arteta/Berta issue but can’t help but think they’ve needed a superstar attacker for 4 years and the rigidity & ‘boringness’ argument is largely because of the players he’s working with. Idk, just a thought I’ve had for a few weeks.