Is Pep all he’s cracked up to be?

"I tried making Messi the best player in the world. He made me the best manager in the world."
– Pep Guardiola, 2011.
FEW would disagree with the first part but after Saturday's epic meltdown, Manchester City fans can be forgiven for wondering about the second.
As they straggled disconsolately away from the Etihad, many were blaming the referee, a porous defence and attackers who couldn't hit a barn door. But surely adding to the gloom of a December evening was the previously unthinkable notion: whether Pep is as good as he's cracked up to be?
All credit to Chelsea for ruthlessly capitalising on City's failings, but this was a game that was lost rather than won; indeed, it was a textbook example of the genre. As commentator Peter Drury noted when Kevin de Bruyne contrived to miss an open goal from three yards, "City could have been out of sight by now."
They should have been four or five up besides having two penalties and an extra man. The ref gave every borderline decision against them which led to their frustration at the end, but still they cannot make the hapless Anthony Taylor the excuse. They were woeful in front of both goals.
If there were elements of misfortune and Sod's Law about the misses, there were no mitigating circumstances for the defending. Yes, Chelsea were lightning fast and surgical in execution but there was nothing to beat. City do not just need a new central defender, they need an entire defence. Which brings us to the manager.

Aware of the weakness in central defence, Guardiola wanted to buy Juventus and Italy skipper Leonardo Bonucci and Athletic Bilbao's promising Frenchman Aymeric Laporte, but both opted to stay at their respective clubs. Instead, he bought John Stones and hoped that Vincent Kompany would tutor him. But by then, expecting Kompany to stay fit was akin to banking on George Best to stay sober.
He even tried Aleks Kolarov there and for a few games the Serb looked the part. But soon his lack of pace and unfamiliarity with the role saw him exposed so it has been Stones and Nicolas Otamendi for the most part. Lumbering and easily bullied, the mere sight of them lights up the eyes of opposing forwards as we saw on Saturday.
Then there are the fullbacks. Despite not having a senior full-back under 30, the manager opted to stick with what he had. But to ensure the creaking back door finally came off its hinges, he got rid of one of the best keepers in world football and replaced him with a clown.
Joe Hart had had a difficult summer and was not great with his feet, but he had saved City enough times to earn legend status. None other than Messi thought he was one of the world's best after Hart had pulled off saves that defied the laws of physics to thwart the little genius. Tellingly, so did his peers Gianni Buffon and Manuel Neuer.
But the 6'5" Englishman was unceremoniously shunted out and the 6'0" Bravo brought in. The difference has proved rather more than five inches in height.
First of all, the Chilean was second choice after Andre ter Stegen; secondly he was supposed to start attacks with pin-point passes from his own penalty area.
But far from a Glen Hoddle with gloves, he has been a liability: Dracula in the air and dodgy on the ground. When he tries to dribble or even pass across his own area, 50,000 hearts are in mouths. Crosses? They can't bear to look.
On Saturday, although those in front of him were more culpable for each of Chelsea's three goals, Bravo offered no resistance, remaining in no man's land for one of them. You couldn't help but feel that the giant frame of Hart would have been a more formidable bulwark. It was as if there was no last line of defence at all – just a yellow blur as redoubtable as papier mache.
By all accounts, Hart had needed taking down a peg or three. He had become big-headed and there can only be one leader at a club. But perhaps the Yaya Toure treatment would have been better – a spot of purdah rather than permanent exclusion.
Now City are in as great a need of a keeper as Liverpool and you can't become champions without one from the top draw. They have not won a home league game since September 17, have kept only two clean sheets in 17 games and have once again failed against one of the top teams.
And with lengthy suspensions awaiting key players Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho and a tough month ahead, they will do well not to slip back to the Europa League places. Welcome to the Premier League, Pep.
To be fair to the great man – and despite these quibbles, he is great – he did warn us that this wasn't going to be easy. But we wouldn't listen.
"A work in progress" and "the biggest challenge of my career" is how he described City at the start of the season. But those 10 wins on the trot suggested he had not mislaid the Midas touch after all and we dismissed his attempts to lower expectations as false modesty.
He has bought some bright young talents and rejuvenated others. Compared to the two previous teams he took charge of (Barca with Messi, Iniesta, Xavi & Co, and Bayern who'd just won the Treble) City were in a mess. It wasn't a touch-up they needed but a major renovation.
Typical Pep and contrary to the textbook, he's attempted to do it his way - from the top down. As ex-players will tell you, "he was never worried about conceding goals because he knew we'd always score more."
So, does he owe his reputation to Messi, as he has acknowledged? It is still too early to tell.
Yes, he was blessed by having a genius in his ranks at Barca but listen to the eulogies from Johan Cruyff down and Pep is right up there. His players – almost all anyway – love him and credit him for improving them. But this is his toughest test and if he turns City into European champions, he'll be able to walk on the Manchester Ship Canal.
That it is taking time and there are accidents along the way is no surprise. Unless he can buy a couple of top-class defenders in January, City won't even win the league this season. But he is here for the long haul. Like the Mourinho sides used to be, the first campaign is one of transition. Pep has so far made 46 changes.
City will remain eminently watchable. They can take the breath away going forward and have the next big Brazilian thing, Gabriel Jesus, to come in January.
They will still overwhelm the lesser lights but the likes of Chelsea will be streetwise enough to exploit their weaknesses at the back.
For Pep, Jesus can't come soon enough – he just wishes he could play him in defence.