Anyone listening to the Klopp interview on Soccer Saturday? He's just stated everything I've been thinking about our defence and predictability for weeks, as is so obvious whenever we get beat in the league or Europe. We are so vulnerable to diagonal runs behind/inbetween the centre backs because they play so wide apart and keep a strict line (not a negative if not so wide as well) they don't have the support quick enough and when the other team scores we look a complete mess.
Obviously it's our style of play for attacking purposes but we need to have a plan B when we are being attacked, we need to compress quickly at the back. Pellegrini is just so stubborn, he states all the time about this attractive style of playing - apart from that half a season when Negredo was on red hot form we haven't played any more attractive than under Mancini - but one thing's for certain - we never got battered under Mancini and very very rarely got beat at home.
This isn't going back to the Mancini debate, it's just bleeding obvious. Appreciate everything Pell has done but the longer it takes us to get to the cream of the crop, the bit more embarrassing it is for us when we get bested by teams we shouldn't (e.g. Juventus) - it's too regular at the moment. We need a manager with passion and like someone said on the other thread, someone who will get the best out of every player to get to the level we should be. Not someone who will appease Yaya every time he takes the piss out of the club over the preceding summer, making him captain when he is nowhere near captain material. I'm not sure whether Pep's dominating possession/control game would work in the prem with the quality of every team on the counter, i hope he would adapt if needed but he's got the mentality to get us to the top and that's what we're crying out for.