Whatever the reasons - complacency from the people running the club, massive player (and manager) burn out, those effing charges hanging over us, underestimation of how the loss of Rodri might affect us - we find ourselves in a very difficult place.
In the short term, very obviously we need to start winning games. The primary problem, notwithstanding loss of confidence and some of the most brain dead defending I think I’ve ever seen from an elite team over a period of several weeks, is that we have somehow assembled a squad that is totally unbalanced with no optimum playing style. Where are wins going to come from when we have a midfield filled with one paced, weak, tiny tots, both old and young? Gunders, Rico, Bernie, Kev. They can’t run, either up the pitch or back down it when they’ve lost possession, they can’t press and conversely aren’t press resistant, they haven’t got the pace or power to counterattack, and the slow build up thing, with full backs (in theory) creating overloads high up the pitch and our centre halves shoved up on halfway, constitutes an accident waiting to happen once the opposition freshen up with a couple of lively subs and start hounding us. We got away with it against Fulham, Brentford and Southampton earlier in the season, we didn’t against Feyenoord or United yesterday. Common to all those games though, was that we were utterly goosed by the 60 minute mark and spent the last 15 minutes of each, desperately trying to retain possession by passing the ball further and further backwards, piling pressure on ourselves in the process.
Personally, I think it’s getting harder and harder to see where a win is coming from. You don’t even have to be good to beat us at the moment. Just pick a team that’s disciplined and mobile.
In the longer term, the rebuilding task looks more daunting with every passing week. When Pep took over from Pellegrini, he inherited a similar task, but still had a core of world class talents in place - Dave, Kompers, Fernandinho, Kun - and Champions League football to lure top quality signings. This time, the world class talents we have (Kev, Stones, Gunders, Bernie, Ake - two of whom are part of our already small home grown quota, and Walker would be a third) are amongst those we need to offload, which quite honestly leaves us with not a lot. Foden, Ruben and a centre forward, who, whilst prolific, also has some serious shortcomings, most notably with his back to goal. And irrespective of our current league position, 1 win in 11 - and the Groundhog Day nature of the 8 defeats therein - says that CL football next season is the stuff of fantasy.
And then there’s Pep. Clawing at his own head and contradicting himself every other week, signing a new deal because he couldn’t leave the club needing a rebuild and then announcing that this job will be his last in club football because he couldn’t face having to, erm, familiarise a new team with his methods, which is precisely what he’s going to have to do at City. He looks like a man close to breaking point.
If there’s light at the end of the tunnel, then it comes in the form of players returning from injury. Kovacic looked sharp (for 10 mins at least) when he came on yesterday, we got some much needed air into Phil Foden’s lungs and a fit John Stones is essential and needs to be nursed back carefully. Plus the transfer window is only 3 weeks away, and If we’re going shopping in January then let’s not just belatedly mitigate against the ongoing chaos caused by Rodri’s absence, but buy a decent back up striker to take Haaland, who looks fit to drop, out of the firing line for a bit.
