Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki assisted a goal with a rabona, where a player kicks the ball by wrapping their kicking leg behind the standing leg. In the eyes of Pep Guardiola, a rabona is a problem. This is what I call ‘Getting Pep’d.’

Pep Guardiola starts off by saying, “What I admire most in Rayan Cherki is not the skills.” That’s the start of a compliment, that’s a positive. He continues and says, “I never saw [Lionel] Messi play and make a cross like he has done. Messi is the best player to have played the game, and I never saw these kind of crosses.” What an honor it is to get mentioned in the same breath as Messi. Hang this quote up on your wall, and frame it. Show it off to your friends.

But wait, is it a compliment? Pep continues and says, “Crosses is fine, it’s fine - it doesn’t matter if it’s right [foot], left, part of your foot, the head, doesn’t matter. If it’s effective, fine.”

If it is effective, it is fine? “I had this teramusu from the local restaurant, it was fine.” No one wants something that is fine. “I watched Dune, it was fine.” It wasn’t fine, it was remarkable. You tolerate something that is ‘fine.’

Pep continues by saying, “I like simplicity because I learned from Messi. He never made a mistake, and never made a mistake with the simple things. Never. Simple things he does perfectly. And after dribble [past] four, five. And what I want from the players is the simple things to do it well, and after that if you do this [rabona], players have special talent that mum and dad give to you, and he can do whatever he wants. But if it doesn’t work, now it will be a problem. Now you’ll be in trouble.”

‘You’ll be in trouble’ is a warning. It is not a warning like, “oh, in a game you’ll lose possession” or “you’ll look like a fool when you don’t pull off that next rabona,” no. It is a threat to limit your minutes if you don’t take the hint to play more simply.

As Kyle Walker once said in the tunnel to another AC Milan player a full year after leaving Manchester, he said to Joao Felix, “Just pass the ball, we are not Messi. Nobody is Messi.” Play simply. Don’t make mistakes. Pass the ball. Execute. That is the message that is drilled into these players. We are special when we play simply.

When asked directly about how special Cherki’s assist was, Pep defiantly said, “No, the special was Ruben [Dias’ goal]. Ruben was the most important one, the first one is always the most important one - it’s really, really, really good.”

The pot shot from a center-back, 30 yards out, gets the stamp of approval, but a rabona is just ‘fine.’ The shot is unpredictable, but it is controlled. A shot is a simple action. The ball either gets saved, goes out of play, or it goes in the net. Dias isn’t putting the team at risk by taking that shot. Manchester City needed the goal. It was controlled.

Cherki by contrast executes a rabona when Manchester City was only 2-0 up in the 65th minute. If he fluffs the cross and gifts Sunderland possession, and they concede a goal, now they are ‘in trouble.’ Then you are defending a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes remaining, with tired legs on the pitch, after you nearly blew a 5-1 lead to Fulham the match prior. This is the lesson that Cherki needs to learn, in Pep’s eyes.

That threat of limited minutes is how players ‘Get Pep’d.’ The flicks, the tricks, a rabona, the unpredictability in an uncontrolled environment is not applauded, it is tolerated. It is indirectly discouraged because it is not simple. Simple actions are applauded. Use your head, be smart. It is worth avoiding a rabona for the sake of consistency.

Pep continues by saying, “And yeah, Rayan, what I want is a good cross. The way? Right, left, doing what he’s done, it’s fine. But the best player that plays the game was [Lionel] Messi; he never, never made naive things. It’s always simple things. What defines Messi is the simple things always is the best. And all these type of players, the big, big talents - Rayan is a big talent - if the cross is good, it’s fine. But if it’s not good, mhmm that is not good.”

He’s not happy with the rabona. That is a critique. This is something he’ll not only enforce in this moment. If you watch Manchester City every week, you’ll see a player make a mistake when they ‘try something’ like Cherki did, and then even if it works, off to Siberia they go. You might not see that player for weeks or months. They’ll come on as a sub if they are super talented, like Cherki, but they can’t be trusted to start in most big games. Learn to play simply, or you don’t play. Even if you can pull it off, in the end, you are not Messi. Play simply. This is the message.

I’m not saying Pep is anti-tricks. He does applaud tricks when the environment is controlled. But when you think about it, Pep is right. Messi never tries ‘tricks.’ Every action is simple and reproducible for him. For Messi, every environment is a controlled environment.

Pep wants to change the way his players think. A player comes in with loads of creativity, a free thinker, and that creativity is sucked out of them. To remain creative and unpredictable, you can’t hold back like he wants them to. It takes a very special player to resist ‘Getting Pep’d.’ to maintain that level of spontaneity that got them signed. Their unpredictable nature needs to be controlled and harnessed for the sake of the team, the collective. Learn the ways of the collective or have fun on the bench.

This is the most telling quote that ties this all together. When asked about the title race, Pep says, “From my experience - I’m sorry I don’t want to feel arrogant but I have quite experience of winning Premier Leagues and titles - it’s the consistency. And consistency comes just from one thing: the way you play. Not from a result one day, or a victory to go two points behind or four points in front, it’s the consistency to be how you perform, how much you grow during the year. And today maybe was one of the best performances of the season during 94 minutes.”

Control is the name of the game because it leads to consistency. Take calculated risks and be unpredictable in a controlled environment where a mistake won’t put the team at risk. Don’t put the team at risk unnecessarily. Play simply. Don’t rock the boat.

Is ‘Getting Pep’d’ a compliment to Pep for being able to get his players to achieve this level of consistency? That’s for you to decide. I personally don’t like this way of thinking, but I haven’t won six Premier League titles.