“City in crisis”

[Gone for a Burton]

spot on tweety

Who are 'the best' we could've spent our vast wealth on ?

It seems to be a very popular theory but as of yet no one has named names.

Erling Haaland,Josko Guadiol.....!!

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

Interesting


Pep suggesting a line up of
Dias Ake Gvardiol
Akanji Stones

If everyone was fit

 

[Protein Junkie]

Crisis? Really?
Our standards have been so ridiculously high in recent years.
Yes,some of our most recent signings induce a bit of head scratching but like others the loss of Rodri and other injuries have impacted badly.
At the risk of being daubed a happy clapper I genuinely believe the loss of form will provide opportunities.
I hope we see a top quality DM in January. One who can also perform in any other area’s of midfield and give Rodders a rest.
I do see the current squad as past it’s sell by date but a good midfielder refresh over two Windows will help immensely.
And finally …. Stop reading MSM puff pieces, BBC, RAWK etc. Bad for your health.

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

Yes if we don't win at least a double every season its a crisis some like to make out.
We should be doing that because of our squad according to some rival fans.
They don't care about us but have been on a high all weekend despite us being 2nd and them 12th.
We should be winning it every year, 5, 6, 7, 8 in a row, but at the same time we need banned and have turned it into a farmers league.

As I said to one Rag fan on Saturday night, City lose a premier league vote on Friday and then a premier league match on saturday and they pipe up for the first time in years, it must be their best consecutive two days of following United since 2013!

How the tables have turned. We used to be like that, when Blackburn or Arsenal beat United to the title and we were languishing in the bottom half.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Yes if we don't win at least a double every season its a crisis some like to make out.
We should be doing that because of our squad according to some rival fans.
They don't care about us but have been on a high all weekend despite us being 2nd and them 12th.
We should be winning it every year, 5, 6, 7, 8 in a row, but at the same time we need banned and have turned it into a farmers league.

As I said to one Rag fan on Saturday night, City lose a premier league vote on Friday and then a premier league match on saturday and they pipe up for the first time in years, it must be their best consecutive two days of following United since 2013!

How the tables have turned. We used to be like that, when Blackburn or Arsenal beat United to the title and we were languishing in the bottom half.

I couldn’t give a fuck about utd I just want City to get back to Centurions levels as quickly as possible.

We have Pep for at least two more years now, it’s time to back him in the transfer market again and not tie his hands with non-scoring attackers and a porous, ponderous midfield.

Get some fucking money spent and stop the scouse cunts walking away with a title the gobshite fuckers don’t ever deserve.

 

[wolviedinho]

Brilliant presser from pep.

Loads of fight and fire.

The list of problems that has led us to this situation is wild.

So unlucky with the amount of injuries to key players for long periods.

He knows exactly what is wrong with the team.

Muddle on through until things stabilise then we can judge the players. We might never get stable this season and that will tell its own story.

Come on city

 

[Mighty men]

We need to drop Gundo and Walker, permanently.

 

[roach3]

The Gundo decision was sensible but no one could've forseen the injury crisis that has required him to play so much.

Re Palmer......strange circumstances, stay or go but no loan. We're he and his family/agent agitating for a match time Guarantee ??

3 years ago Pep warned about the dangers of player burnout.

Many of our players have played an intense Cup final every week for 7/6/5 years without a revitalising break.

Many returned this season knackered, injured, demoralised or both.....Phil is the prime example.

Then come simultaneous injuries to key playes all across the team....a perfect storm.

These factors, along with not playing particularly cohesively, added to 3 THREE 3 PL defeats, has knocked confidence and self belief.

It will have shocked the system and may lead to us ONLY winning Four /Four PL titles on the bounce
..a leage record !!

We have the FA Cup and CL proper to come in the New Year which are mainly one off knock out games which could should create a break from the PL and create a snipers focus.

We are not suffering a 'crisis', its a 3 THREE 3 mtch dip which may contine at the weekend.

A crisis is innumerable management failures, a BILLION wasted, no PL in 13 years, and drawing with a relegation team to climb to 12 place....thats a fucking crisis.

Circle the wagons,radio silence from everyone at the club, huge support in the stadium and online, pragmatism not idealism, and a combination of inspiration and perspiration.

CTID.

I think these so called experts and pundits are basing the comments on what we are now and what’s expected of us not what we went through years ago hence why they don’t mention a crisis for the rags.

 

[wolviedinho]

Pep was saying today that without Rodri and kova he would play 5 defenders.

Akanji & stones= rodri
Ake, Walker, Dias behind.

If and it’s a big if we get these players fit then he might have already decided how to fix the issues.

I would like to see this happen if possible. We will lose the weak centre that is not doing much anyway and start relying on the wing players to go and start scoring with Haaland. Whether that is out and out wingers like savio and Doku or wingers who come inside like Bernie, Jack and Foden.

Getting those defenders in place will hopefully stop the rot. When kova comes back he can still play a cb alongside him.

 

[skillman]

Energy. That's the key word. We need energy.

The goalkeepers are fantastic. Ederson has improved massively and is one of the most complete keepers in the world. Ortega is a fabulous number 2 and arguably the best in the league.

The defence is disjointed and injury prone. When all fit, it's world class but Jonny Boulders (as much as it pains me to say) can't be relied upon and that'll only get worse with age, Ake the same, Dias seems to be injured more than fit, Akanji is the only one who seems to be a stalwart in the side but it means he's getting flogged. Same with Gvardiol who seemingly isn't trusted by Pep to play centre half. And Walker is shit and I wouldn't have him anywhere near the side - injuries or not. Liability and now his pace has gone, there's no real benefit to having him there stinking the gaff over while supposedly 'leading by example' as the captain. Arrogant fucker off the pitch and has let his ego take control of him this season to the detriment of the team on countless occasions. Letting himself and his teammates down over and over again.

The midfield is the weakness. Rodri is the best player in the world but he can't do it alone and this season he can't do it at all. The rest of them are fantastic players but given their age, limitations or both, they're fantastic squad players as opposed to starters - Gundogan, Kovacic, Lewis, Bernardo. Pep needs to grow a set of bollocks, put his ego to one side and realise that Gundogan and Bernardo together in midfield is an accident waiting to happen. Teams must be rubbing their hands whenever the team is announced and they're together. They're too slow. Lethargic. And don't really contribute anything attacking wise given they simply recycle possession from side to side. That's fine if we're controlling games and that's the aim - but we're not controlling games and they're being ran past without any real fight or hesitation.

Pep needs to get some energy in there. Nunes, McAtee, O'Reilly, Wright, Grealish, Foden would all bring energy and enthusiasm into midfield. The argument against would be that they're too inexperienced and would make mistakes. That's fine. But Gundogan, Bernardo and Kovacic are making mistakes but nothing bringing the plus points that the youngsters would bring. They'd want to make things happen. They'd bite into tackles rather than waltzing about with an air of arrogance to their play. On top of that, we need reinforcements in there - Ederson at Atalanta looks like everything we need. Like Bruno G without the scandalous price tag. We don't need a back-up for Rodri, we need somebody who can play in that position when needed (Gundogan in 18/19 for example) but mainly play alongside him. The whole midfield needs a revamp. And quick. It has done for years and Txiki has astonishingly neglected that fact and is now paying the price. Walker's pace bailed us out numerous times but that's gone now.

The attack is fine. Sure Haaland can improve. So can Doku and Savinho but they're all polished enough that as long as the 7 outfield players behind them are doing their jobs then they can be comfortable enough to flourish up top without the panic of a misplaced pass meaning we're countered to fuck. That's the real issue. Nobody will take risks because they're scared shitless of being the one to give it away because it will inevitably mean that we're caught short because there's no legs in midfield to recover. KDB is the only one who is willing to take a risk with a pass and it shows - he passes and moves. Simplicity at its finest but because we're used to waiting the rest of them sit regimentedly stationary it means he shines. Rather than there being 6/7 moving parts (think of D Silva, Sane, Sterling, Aguero, KDB, Gundogan switching positions, making runs in behind, coming short etc.) there's 2 - Haaland and KDB. So easy to defend.

The comment from Kulusevski (who can get fucked as well - only turns up against us!) after the game is damning - essentially said we're easy to play against because we slow the ball down that much that it meant Spurs could 'catch their breath' while we had it to be able to recover energy to then counter us when we inevitably gave it away.

It's poor. It's been poor for weeks and it's Pep's job to fix it. Pushing wing backs so far forward that they then can't get back when we're countered was criminal on Saturday and we paid the price for it. If you have a team with Savinho, Foden and Haaland in and their roles were to tempt players inside to allow space for Kyle fucking Walker and Gvardiol (who is mustard going forward) out wide is scandalous. We're better than that. Those three (at least Foden and Haaland) should be the ones we're building around - the whole game plan should be how they can be fed. Foden between the lines, Haaland behind them yet they're being used as distraction techniques for the full backs to be our main threats.

It's shit to watch. I have sympathy with Pep because of injuries and Txiki's poor squad planning in midfield but then his simply flat-out refusal to use the youngsters and stick with his favourites has been poor. And it's cost us. The sooner he gets that pragmatism back that won us a treble (no nonsense 4 centre halves across the back line), the better. No fucking about.

Anyway. Other than that, we're golden.