The reactions are absurd. Development is a long-term process, and it requires a broader perspective. Then again, football is entertainment, and entertainment is emotion, so after a defeat people feel sad and negative.
I rewatched the Villa game, and Pep is right — we were better than the scoreline suggests. Villa have been much improved recently, they have quality players. They didn’t create much danger — maybe they didn’t need to — but there really weren’t that many counter-attacks, which is a good sign. Playing away at Villa is always a tough fixture. We had several genuinely excellent chances: Haaland’s 1-on-1, Haaland’s header in the second half, the marginal offside on Haaland’s goal, Foden’s shot blocked by Onana’s face, Savinho’s double shot — the second of which was cleared in an absurdly lucky way by their defender. Any of those could have been goals and change the dynamics instantly.
Right now Arsenal look out of reach, but it’s still too early to rule out our dreams — and honestly, why would we? Regardless of the Premier League, there are still cups to win. For example, I would consider finishing 2nd in the league and winning the FA Cup an enormous success. Even more so the UCL — in a two-legged knockout format, with Haaland and Don, I think it’s more achievable than people assume.
We’re undergoing a squad rebuild. Over the last 10 months half the team has been changed, including parting ways with Premier League legends like KDB, Ederson and (to a lesser extent) Grealish. Experienced players like Gündoğan and Akanji have gone. We have lots of new players who are adapting, or still very young and only now breaking through to the top level (Savinho, Bobb). We don’t have Rodri, and against Villa we didn’t have Nico until the 60th minute.
And even so, we’re still one of the best teams — 1 loss in our last 10 matches. We were two minutes away from taking 3 points away at Arsenal, who are in the form of their lives. Let’s be honest: apart from Arsenal, no one in the league looks out of reach, including Liverpool.
Cherki and Stones are back, Nico, Marmoush, Aït-Nouri, Khusanov are coming back, and Rodri will return at some stage.
From here, things can only get better — it’s almost a certainty.