The reflection thread - What you got wrong and right

Exeter Blue I am here said:
Ha ha, good thread! Confession for the non-believers!

Things I appear to have gotten wrong:

1. That Raheem Sterling would be no more than a decent squad player for us, because his control/technique was too inconsistent for him to cut it at this level under any manager. There have still been one or two signs of this (2nd half away at Stoke, where he misdirected any number of routine passes infield from the left, and at the Swamp when he massively underhit or overhit simple balls to overlapping colleagues), but overall the turnaround has been stunning. The confidence to go past players, the better retention of possession, the graft in getting back into position, he suddenly looks a proper menace. Tougher challenges than Monchengladbach and Bournemouth lie ahead, but thus far he's pulled my pants down good and proper.
2. That the rags or the dippers would win the league. Actually I'll stand by the latter being our main challengers as I think any team managed by Klopp will be a real long term threat, and 7 points out of 9 from Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea away is menacing form, but the rags have been (gloriously) hopeless. I thought they would be tough to beat, but Mourinho looks more of a busted flush every place he goes.
3. That letting Joe Hart go was a mistake. I'm still not fully convinced that letting such a great shot stopper go was wise, but the whole keeper as an attacking catalyst thing was there for all to see on Saturday. That game of triangles between Bravo, Sagna and Fernandinho in the 2nd half, with the Bournemouth forward chasing his tail in the middle of them, verged on cruelty.
4. That the squad was looking too lightweight to succeed in the Premier League and that we were short in numbers both up top and at centre half. To be fair though I doubt anyone saw the Kolarov at centre back thing coming.
5. Underestimating Pep generally. I mean I knew he was good, but not this good

Things I appear to have gotten right:

1. That Otamendi was comfortable enough in possession to flourish under Pep and that Mangala would get the chop for that same reason reversed.
2. That Pep would give Sergio a kick up the arse.
3. Not joining in with the Kolarov hate fest his summer.
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Bloody hell, EB. I've not been around much lately but that was a TERRIBLE set of predictions from you (Apart from the Kolorov one!)!!!!!!
 
Got wrong - sterling shows no signs of a improvement or much good... He has been fantastic this season as we know and I am glad to be wrong.

Got right - Sane would be a great signing, he is showing that he is quite comfortable at taking the piss out of opposition defence, going to be a great signing.
Otamemdi - not to blame for last seasons cock ups in defence and he is a f'ing good player... He's proving this without a doubt.
Pogba - didn't want him, we want team players not not showtime with trendy haircuts.
Silva - to thrive under pep and he has.
 
convinced Fernando was shit as you like and would be first out of the door with MDM. Not been shown he's awesome yet but the fact he is still here is a big surprise.

Thought Nasri would flourish in a Pep team.

Didn't see Managla & Hart being unceremoniously dumped so quickly!
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
Ha ha, good thread! Confession for the non-believers!

Things I appear to have gotten wrong:

1. That Raheem Sterling would be no more than a decent squad player for us, because his control/technique was too inconsistent for him to cut it at this level under any manager. There have still been one or two signs of this (2nd half away at Stoke, where he misdirected any number of routine passes infield from the left, and at the Swamp when he massively underhit or overhit simple balls to overlapping colleagues), but overall the turnaround has been stunning. The confidence to go past players, the better retention of possession, the graft in getting back into position, he suddenly looks a proper menace. Tougher challenges than Monchengladbach and Bournemouth lie ahead, but thus far he's pulled my pants down good and proper.
2. That the rags or the dippers would win the league. Actually I'll stand by the latter being our main challengers as I think any team managed by Klopp will be a real long term threat, and 7 points out of 9 from Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea away is menacing form, but the rags have been (gloriously) hopeless. I thought they would be tough to beat, but Mourinho looks more of a busted flush every place he goes.
3. That letting Joe Hart go was a mistake. I'm still not fully convinced that letting such a great shot stopper go was wise, but the whole keeper as an attacking catalyst thing was there for all to see on Saturday. That game of triangles between Bravo, Sagna and Fernandinho in the 2nd half, with the Bournemouth forward chasing his tail in the middle of them, verged on cruelty.
4. That the squad was looking too lightweight to succeed in the Premier League and that we were short in numbers both up top and at centre half. To be fair though I doubt anyone saw the Kolarov at centre back thing coming.
5. Underestimating Pep generally. I mean I knew he was good, but not this good

Things I appear to have gotten right:

1. That Otamendi was comfortable enough in possession to flourish under Pep and that Mangala would get the chop for that same reason reversed.
2. That Pep would give Sergio a kick up the arse.
3. Not joining in with the Kolarov hate fest his summer.
Click to expand...
Haha we should do this every year. So people don't just take a shit and get out, gotta come back and flush it in ha.
 
mavsmcfc said:
Surprised we didn't target Jose Gaya. Maybe Pep didn't fancy him?
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Even if he did, I reckon he correctly concluded you can't replace every position all at once.

When we didn't target fullbacks early in the summer I argued back then that it's possible Pep had calculated targeting players at the most critical positions that will have the greatest overall impact.

At goalkeeper where the possession philosophy starts.
At CM with Gundogan where the game will be control
And out wide where his one v one matchups are funnelled to and he expects the outside players to won these battles.

I argued back then that looking at our squad I concluded our greatest need was on the wings. And we'd likely acquire 2 wingers.

Similarly I thought we'd also acquire 2 CBs ( which we tried and failed)

And Gundogan.

Those 6 positions: Goalie, 2 CBs, 2 Wingers, and a CM. Seemed from the very start our base focus. As much as some loved Mangala, it was painfully obvious he wasn't staying. That plus Demi guaranteed 2 CBs (Ball playing ones) were coming in. Laporte and later Bonnuci didn't work out. Bit the intent was clear.

Wingers to me was the most glaring: We had an underperforming Sterling and a backup in Navas who at the beginning of the summer was on the list of those likely to leave. And while DeBryune, Silva and Nasri could all cameo out wide, they all weren't prototypical Pep wingers. I would have vet my mortgage on us getting 2 wingers. We did. One was Sane who we were linked to early and the other was Nolito. I wasn't surprised.

Not getting Silky would have been a shock, everyone expected it. Matter of fact, I often wrote him in at CM way in the summer long before he was signed. Most did.

Gabriel, Moreno, and Zichencho were pleasant surprises. Especially Gabriel who o was high on but never thought we even had interest in. The focus on your players, predominantly under 23 made me happy too :)

Great great summer in my book. Best summer ever!
 
All right. My turn for confession:)

1. Nasri and Hart will stay.
2. Kolarov will leave. Very happy to confess that I got this wrong now that he's flourishing.
3. We will buy full-backs.
4. Sterling. Not ability-wise, but mentality-wise. He's a good young lad but I feared that he could not regain his confidence. The bullying he got was enough to drive most normal 21-year-olds into hiding, possibly anxiety and depression as well. Was clearly underestimating both Sterling's strength and Pep's motivational skills (which is extraordinary).
5. Our start of season. Although we have not played very strong teams yet, we are not only winning, but also dominating. Thought there would be a time of adaptation in which we would win most of the matches but with less fluidity and structure.
 
Dax777 said:
Even if he did, I reckon he correctly concluded you can't replace every position all at once.

When we didn't target fullbacks early in the summer I argued back then that it's possible Pep had calculated targeting players at the most critical positions that will have the greatest overall impact.

At goalkeeper where the possession philosophy starts.
At CM with Gundogan where the game will be control
And out wide where his one v one matchups are funnelled to and he expects the outside players to won these battles.

I argued back then that looking at our squad I concluded our greatest need was on the wings. And we'd likely acquire 2 wingers.

Similarly I thought we'd also acquire 2 CBs ( which we tried and failed)

And Gundogan.

Those 6 positions: Goalie, 2 CBs, 2 Wingers, and a CM. Seemed from the very start our base focus. As much as some loved Mangala, it was painfully obvious he wasn't staying. That plus Demi guaranteed 2 CBs (Ball playing ones) were coming in. Laporte and later Bonnuci didn't work out. Bit the intent was clear.

Wingers to me was the most glaring: We had an underperforming Sterling and a backup in Navas who at the beginning of the summer was on the list of those likely to leave. And while DeBryune, Silva and Nasri could all cameo out wide, they all weren't prototypical Pep wingers. I would have vet my mortgage on us getting 2 wingers. We did. One was Sane who we were linked to early and the other was Nolito. I wasn't surprised.

Not getting Silky would have been a shock, everyone expected it. Matter of fact, I often wrote him in at CM way in the summer long before he was signed. Most did.

Gabriel, Moreno, and Zichencho were pleasant surprises. Especially Gabriel who o was high on but never thought we even had interest in. The focus on your players, predominantly under 23 made me happy too :)

Great great summer in my book. Best summer ever!
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After seeing our team play, I think pace is overrated in terms of fullback. I think positioning and footballing IQ is more important for the fullback to possess to thrive in Pep's City system.
 
mavsmcfc said:
After seeing our team play, I think pace is overrated in terms of fullback. I think positioning and footballing IQ is more important for the fullback to possess to thrive in Pep's City system.
Click to expand...

Absolutely , Abidal played as LB at Barca, Lahm and Kimmich as RB in bayern, neither had blistering pace
 
Predicted we'd suffer from a transition period prior to Christmas but would flourish thereafter finishing 4th.

I've been around long enough to fear that the next catastrophe is always just around the corner but i've been pleasantly surprised so far.
 
Thought we'd struggle to adapt to Pep's system so early on and teams like Stoke and West Ham would catch us cold. Also owe an apology to Silva as I had my doubts whether he'd fit the intensity of a Pep system.

Love that I'm wrong on both!
 
mavsmcfc said:
I'd say Sane still hasn't shown his full potential yet.
I thought Nolito would be good but not THIS good.
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Sane's only played a total of just over an hour of football in three games. In that hour I've seen plenty to suggest he's at a similar level to Sterling. While he hasn't yet shown his full potential due to lack of minutes, I'd certainly argue that he's hit the ground running which is what you said.
 
Right: I thought Pep would get us playing great football, and we would see players improve significantly under his coaching. I thought United would start well but in time would struggle as all the egos would fight against a positive team culture, and their so called marquee signings of the past few years would be marginalized.
Wrong: I thought both would take months, and we'd be chasing United. I thought Liverpool would lose 3 of their first 5 games, shipping 3 goals a game.
 
Ive never had much praise for sterling and didnt think he was worth what we paid for him but pep as got him playing brillant and hes starting look like the player we hoped he would be
 
Things I got right:

Fernando would stay
Kolarov would stay
Don't need another striker
Gundogan is class
Sterling could be top class and everyone needed to stop listening to the bitter scouse pricks in the media
Yaya wasn't needed
Silva wasn't finished
The manager is a baldy poncey ****.

Things I got wrong:

Stones
Hart/Bravo
Thought Denayer would get a fair few first team games
Thought Chelsea would hit the ground running and be the team to beat
Thought Maureen had at least another month before the cracks started appearing
Never thought Aleks could play centre half
 
Got right:
I always believed in Sterling.
I always thought Stones would be a great signing.
Never doubted Silva.
Wanted Bravo over Hart.
Otamendi would improve.
Gundogan is a big upgrade.
Iheanacho being more than capable of filling in for Kun (although we seen bits of that last year).
Denayer and Mangala wouldn't get in the team.
Liverpool would look good for a title challenge.

Got wrong:
Kolarov - Got this so wrong (although he was absolutely dire last year), I was fuming with him last year, wanted him gone. He's been brilliant.
Kolarov - Had one for his performances, here's one for his position; never in a million years thought he could play centre half.
Thought Yaya would get more game time.
Thought at least one of Delph or Fernando would be sold.
Thought Zaba would be sold.
Thought Chelsea would be better.
Thought United would be neck and neck with us.
 
Stones definitely, I got totally wrong & to a lesser extent Otamendi (as he stank the place out on Sat so I'm still on the fence re his future, but he has been excellent). I'm not admitting to Kolarov because what Pep has done with him is just fucking ridiculous.

I backed Pellegrini for two years & was just basically a deluded, gullible twat.

Oh & I thought the rags would be powerful & hard to beat. Lol.
 
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