You get certain managers who come in and want to play exciting, free-flowing football from the start. I remember us all getting really excited for the first few months under Mark Hughes. I remember Chelsea being the same when they brought in Phil Scolari. But they never sort the defence out and teams quickly figure out how to hurt them. Whereas other managers come in and seem to spend the first few months keeping it tight, making sure that everyone knows what they're doing defensively, and only when they've achieved that, do they let the players off the reigns. Obviously Mancini was one of them, and Conte this season for Chelsea has done exactly that. I really hope Pep isn't another one of the former. But I think we were all willing to write off the first half of the season to some extent, on the assumption that it would take a while for the team to learn Pep's system. And yet here we are, half way through the season, and if anything, they know it less now than they did at the start. Or maybe it's just that our opponents know it more.
