When Mancini left, we were accused of starting to become defensive, and Pelligrini would bring back exciting football. For the first 6 months or so, he managed that, and were were very good to watch, but then we reverted to type and went back to our pedestrian build up play that's been out hall mark for about 4 years now.
De Bruyne probably gave us a shot in the arm and added some verve to our play again, but injury has curtailed that.
We bought Navas for pace - but be don't exploit it.
We bought Sterling for pace - but we don't exploit it.
We persist with Yaya because he's capable of golden moments (but those are 1 in 10 games these days, and he's a liability for the other 9).
We bought Bony to give us another goal scoring option alongside, or instead of Sergio (but he's not scoring in either of those configurations).
Not getting a CL spot isn't a footballing disaster - we can live without it, but it's a PR disaster and will inhibit our ability attract the very best players (even with Guardiola at the helm).
If we accept that Bayern, Barca and Real get first pickings of any world stars, then we're in the next category down (City, Chelsea, PSG, United, Arsenal if they splashed the cash and possibly Juve). It's a disaster to bring in Guardiola at a time when we clearly need a significant overhaul, and have to downgrade our signing expectations due to lack of CL.
I loathe the celebration of 'top 4' as though is were a prize in itself, but sadly, that's precisely what it's become this season.
Oh how I long for the likes of Bellamy who had the gumption to take a game by the scruff of the neck. Sergio's doing his best to be that guy, but he's more 'skill' and less 'leadership'.
2/3 of my team no longer see a 50/50 ball as worth the effort. A sad end for that charming man.
