Transition season excuse

[Thomas Hearns]

Buy in January and hasten the transition

 

[Marvin]

And I fear this. I fear that we will go out and spend shitloads again on players we don’t really need.

This is what frustrates me. I think the central defence may well be sorted with Laporte, Stones, Garcia and Harwood Bellis, whilst Foden and Jesus are top quality players who are on the periphery of our side but should be starting more games.

 

[balotellishaircut]

Mendy

No me and that other poster were talking about Jesus, he was saying he ain't good enough and I disagreed.

 

[dickie davies]

I was going to start a thread on similar thoughts but wanted it not to be classed as a knee jerk reaction thread

When you look at our squad in a totally ruthless way, who would you keep, who should go and who is at last chance saloon?

On the who should go list and and I say this first name with a heavy heart, Dave Silva, he just isn't producing.
He should only be used as an impact sub now

First name at last chance saloon is Ben Mendy

Thoughts on these two and any others are welcome

I would also say I would go balls deep in every domestic cup this season and I mean play a first choice 11 in every league cup and FA cup game

 

[kanovic]

And I fear this. I fear that we will go out and spend shitloads again on players we don’t really need.

I don’t. We spent a lot two seasons ago on a lot of players and imo they have all been outstanding minus mendy bc if his injuries. I trust in pep getting players he needs/wants

 

[Marvin]

I was going to start a thread on similar thoughts but wanted it not to be classed as a knee jerk reaction thread

When you look at our squad in a totally ruthless way, who would you keep, who should go and who is at last chance saloon?

On the who should go list and and I say this first name with a heavy heart, Dave Silva, he just isn't producing.
He should only be used as an impact sub now

First name at last chance saloon is Ben Mendy

Thoughts on these two and any others are welcome

I would also say I would go balls deep in every domestic cup this season and I mean play a first choice 11 in every league cup and FA cup game

Mendy, Silva and Fernandinho should be squad players. I fear for Mendy.

Another problem is KDB. He is quite a bit short of where he was.

 

[lastmanback]

With the way we play, we can't carry average full backs like angelino or zinchenko, a defender like stones and ageing midfielder like david silva, all area's of the team must be young, intelligent and be able to respond when our attack break's down. At the moment we are fitting player's into positions because of injuries and bad recruitment. Imo.

 

[dickie davies]

Mendy, Silva and Fernandinho should be squad players. I fear for Mendy.

Another problem is KDB. He is quite a bit short of where he was.

Bernardo hasn't played well for weeks and neither has Raheem Sterling and these are two key players, three if you include KDB!!
When you add to this we are really carrying Dave Silva and we are really poor on the left side of defence and we have no solid partnership in central defence as we swap and change all the time, it's not difficult to see why we are so inconsistent

 

[Sir Joe Aguero]

It’s our philosophy. Yes, Pep did brilliantly to get 100 points, and a quadruple, can’t argue with that.

Fact is, Pep inherited the best squad in the league, spent a ton of money, and we look worse than we did in his first season.

Buying Stones who can pass but not defend. Relegating one of the best players in the world to 4th choice winger because he doesn’t ‘track back’ (he does, more than most wingers). Mendy is average defensively. Playing Bernardo on the wing. Using Rodri, Gundogan and Silva as 2 of a midfield 3. Not bedding in Foden when it’s Silva’s last season (and he’s ‘the best talent he’s ever worked with’). Garcia not getting games behind Fernandinho.

We’ve got 3 of our best ever players on the way out, and still not replaced Kompany.

Still love the guy to bits and don’t ever want him to leave, but these are big concerns.

 

[jaseisblue]

I think its a really unfortunate set of circumstances this season. I think Pep wanted a phasing out of the old guard but injuries to key players has forced his hand. No one could have predicted our central defensive rock would get a long term injury (although this would have been less of a problem if another C.B was bought.) I still love watching us play, even when we lose there is a lot to admire. My concern is a lack of plan B, where due to circumstances we all know about, Pep is not prepared to be a little more pragmatic while you get through the periods without your best eleven.

 

[TheThirdDeano]

I've already told you all this is not a transition season, this is a recovery season.

 

[Afterthefact]

Hate it but david is slow and old. We have no runners anymore. And when we have the ball it’s ponderous and people take way too many touches before making a decision. This is so much like pep season 1 and pellers last couple not even funny

 

[balotellishaircut]

Nothing in football surprises me, I reckon Pep will go at the end of this season, no rym or reason just a gut feeling.

 

[Keeper!]

It is bollocks, we are not in transition, we have had unkucky injuries.

Still the teams we have put out that have lost are better than the oposition.


Realy we have no excuse

Nothing unlucky about injuries, they are part and parcel of sport, sh1t happens.

It's how you cope with them and how you prepare before the season starts in terms of recruitment.

We went into a 60 plus game season with 1 world class CB, one who was happy to leave , 1 whom has gone MIA in each of his season's with us and a 35 yr old central midfielder, utter madness.

 

[BosnianBlue]

This is what frustrates me. I think the central defence may well be sorted with Laporte, Stones, Garcia and Harwood Bellis, whilst Foden and Jesus are top quality players who are on the periphery of our side but should be starting more games.

That CB set will never win a CL and probably not the PL too. Two kids with zero experience, Stones who has a good game in half a season and only Laporte as top CB. Add to it that we're not really blessed with great defensive fullbacks and it's a receipt for more disappointment of current one scale.

 

[WRicko]

It’s our philosophy. Yes, Pep did brilliantly to get 100 points, and a quadruple, can’t argue with that.

Fact is, Pep inherited the best squad in the league, spent a ton of money, and we look worse than we did in his first season.

Buying Stones who can pass but not defend. Relegating one of the best players in the world to 4th choice winger because he doesn’t ‘track back’ (he does, more than most wingers). Mendy is average defensively. Playing Bernardo on the wing. Using Rodri, Gundogan and Silva as 2 of a midfield 3. Not bedding in Foden when it’s Silva’s last season (and he’s ‘the best talent he’s ever worked with’). Garcia not getting games behind Fernandinho.

We’ve got 3 of our best ever players on the way out, and still not replaced Kompany.

Still love the guy to bits and don’t ever want him to leave, but these are big concerns.

One of the best players in the world is 4th choice winger ?

 

[balotellishaircut]

It’s our philosophy. Yes, Pep did brilliantly to get 100 points, and a quadruple, can’t argue with that.

Fact is, Pep inherited the best squad in the league, spent a ton of money, and we look worse than we did in his first season.

Buying Stones who can pass but not defend. Relegating one of the best players in the world to 4th choice winger because he doesn’t ‘track back’ (he does, more than most wingers). Mendy is average defensively. Playing Bernardo on the wing. Using Rodri, Gundogan and Silva as 2 of a midfield 3. Not bedding in Foden when it’s Silva’s last season (and he’s ‘the best talent he’s ever worked with’). Garcia not getting games behind Fernandinho.

We’ve got 3 of our best ever players on the way out, and still not replaced Kompany.

Still love the guy to bits and don’t ever want him to leave, but these are big concerns.

Pep didn't inherit the best squad in the league when he joined mate.

We still had the likes of Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Fernando, Iheanacho, jesus Navas, I think the rags squad was on a par if not better.

I agree with you as regards Foden and to some extent Garcia, both need to be trusted and played in the first team.

We need a plan B n C, I wouldn't mind getting a Dzeko type striker, Passing out from the back may have run its cycle, who knows.

 

[Vish]

Pep didn't inherit the best squad in the league when he joined mate.

Passing out from the back may have run its cycle, who knows.

Need taller , more physical players.
Liverpool may not be as pleasing as us on the eye when scoring goals . but we have only one way of scoring.
They score a variety ..
We do nothing with set-pieces apart from conceding soft goals.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

We have had an incredible couple of seasons under Pep , the bar has been set so high to expect a repeat every season just isnt possible , players will have dips in form , we have had more than our share of injuries to big players and some dubious decisions from officials and VAR . All these facts have contributed to our current malaise , maybe a bit of realism and an average season collecting only a couple of trophies should be acceptable , and we can re-group and give the title another go next season. Shit happens.

You are being far too generous, jimmy. We have been cheated by the application of VAR in games where we've ended up with one point or no points. Yesterday was yet another example where the explanation as to why we didn't get the HT pen will be expunged from PiGMOL, PL and FArce communication and never used to explain why The Dippers or MANUre weren't awarded a blatant penalty in future matches.

 

[CatMan]

We all know football dominance is cyclical, and the rather like 11 pieces of fruit becoming ripe at the same time, they also then start to rot and fall apart simultaneously. This is what has happened with us and it is almost unavoidable. In fact those that argue we could have blooded younger players earlier will need to concede that with such an approach we would never have been as fantastic last season and in effect not 'peaked'.

Our problem now of course is that every part of pur team look broken and as such it's very difficult to sensibly identify who needs to go. This, and I hate to say it, was where SAF was brilliant at United. He never had favourites and if you were not cutting it then you were being cut from his plans.

As one poster in another thread said, ' Just how have we ended up with that defence and a captain who needs a zimmer frame', and to be honest that is a question only Pep can answer. It could be that he is indeed a 3 year manager and as most teams have 3 year cycles then he has never previously had to manage a team rebuild and run the risk of becoming unpopular by telling players their time is up. I think it's plane to see that Silva is too old and not a captain, whilst others are simply not as good as their price tag suggests! Yesterday our bench, less Foden supposedly totalled more than £250m, yet we had nothing credible to change the game, and just how have we ended up with just 1 centre forward? Like it or not, the answers can only be provided by Pep! My guess is his dealing with this situation in the coming games will give evidence to his long term desire to rebuild. In short, if he doesn't call time on the likes of Silva, and the poor performers like Stones and Mendy then it's evidence that he wI'll not be here himself next year.