A breakdown of what has gone wrong (and why we’ll be back)

[Rolee]

Rodri would benefit with Laporte back as well imo.

He'd also benefit from Fernandinho sharing the load with him.

 

[bluemc1]

I watched extended highlights of our final game last season v Brighton, saw line up with Kompany and LaPorte, you take those 2 out and your team isn’t as good and will probably stop you beating a very good team to the league
I’m not going to worry myself with anything else, I pretty sure I know what the problem is

just remain baffled by Cancelo signing, 60 million is a lot of fuckin money and Walker is a decent enough full back and on evidence one Pep prefers over Canelo, can anyone on here honestly say they wouldn’t have preferred another 20 million and get McQuire ?
60 million that solves no problem or 80 million that solves a fuckin massive one

 

[OB1]

There are several reasons as to why we’ve dropped off this season and I shall cover them here.

- We lost Laporte and Kompany

Laporte and Kompany were probably the 2nd and 3rd best centre backs in the Premier League. Losing both first choice centre backs would be a huge blow to any side in world football.

- The knock on effect of these losses

Apart from the first half of the 17/18 season, Stones and Otamendi have only ever really shown their best form when playing alongside a superior centre half.

This means that as well as not having the quality of Laporte and Kompany in the side, we also see a drop in quality from Stones and Otamendi as well.

Laporte would also cover for Mendy at times when he would be caught out of position. When we defended well and drew 0-0 at Anfield last season, Laporte was extremely quick to snuff out any danger on the left hand side when Mendy would be further up field. Unfortunately the current centre backs aren’t able to do this to the same degree.

- Fernandinho/Rodri

Another knock on effect of the centre back situation has seen us lose Fernandinho as a midfield option as he covers in at centre back instead. In effect we’ve lost Laporte, Kompany and Fernandinho from the team we had last season. That triangle 3 of those players was one of the best in Europe and it now doesn’t exist.

Rodri, Fernandinho’s replacement, is taking time to settle in as well and we probably won’t see the best of him until next season. If Fernandinho wasn’t needed at centre back then we probably would have seen Rodri gradually placed into the side as Bernardo was last season.

Rodri is also having to cover for a defence which can’t defend to a great standard due to the losses it has suffered. Something tells me that if Rodri was playing in front of Kompany and Laporte that we’d already be seeing Rodri playing to a higher level.

Even Fernandinho struggled in Pellegrini’s last season when the defence behind him wasn’t up to scratch as he was often desperately trying to cover the full backs who could no longer get up and down the line.

- Silva isn’t the force he once was

Silva used to dictate games from start to finish similar to how De Bruyne does now. He’d control the tempo, retain possession and help break defensive lines with his incisive passing.

Now that he’s older he’s not able to do this for long stretches of play. It means we can’t control games as well and it leaves us with less energy in the middle of the pitch. He’s now more of a Gundogan type player where he will pop up with a nice pass now and then, but will also drift out of the game for periods as well.

Apart from last night, when we played most of the game with 10 men, there has been a positive difference with Silva out of the side and with the energy of players like Bernardo and Foden in the team instead.

- Bernardo lost form

Bernardo was arguably the best player of his type in the world last season but this season he’s dropped off form. This could be down to playing a huge amount of games last season, playing international games in the summer, having a small holiday and then coming straight back to playing high level football again.

He’s also had to deal with the fall out from the tweet he sent to Mendy which would have had a huge impact on him psychologically.

Honestly, don’t expect to see Bernardo back to his best until the CL knock out matches start. He’ll be back and he’ll be as good as ever and I think we’re already beginning to see that improvement in his recent performances in the middle of the pitch.

- Injury to Sane

While he wasn’t always first choice last season, Sane is still a fantastic option to have. He scores big goals in key moments (Liverpool h, United a) and is a nightmare for any defender to play against when he’s on top form.

- Winning three titles in a row is hard / Motivation

Winning three titles in a row is hard, it’s probably next to impossible when you’re up against a side as good as Liverpool.

There’s a reason the title hasn’t been retained for a decade and it was because of greater competition within the division.

Winning those 14 games in a row and breaking that decade long spell last season would have taken absolutely everything from the players.

Just a small drop off from that form would see Liverpool win the title the following year as they’d be extra motivated after losing out by just a point.

Their form and the gap they’ve opened up has probably seen us lose a little bit more motivation as deep down we all know they can’t be caught.

When you’ve won 7 trophies in 2 years you’re suddenly not as desperate to win as you once were and it can take a good slap to wake you up again.

For an example of this see how some countries with amazing players perform at their next World Cup after winning it. France (2002) and Germany (2018) were brilliant sides but just a small drop off in motivation is everything in top level sport and without being fully focused they suffered the consequences.

Next season, expect City to be extra motivated to win the league and Liverpool to drop off slightly after finally breaking that 30 year duck. Remember the 12/13 season, it was like a year long hangover from 93:20 and United were desperate to get one over us for it.

- We’ll be back

Expect City to identify the issues in the team this season and to rectify them in the summer. Similar to what happened after the 16/17 season when with just a couple of key replacements, we looked like a completely different side going into 17/18.

We’ll buy a top class centre back and a left back as well to solve our major issues.

As this season progressives and going into next season we’ll also have:

- Laporte back (making everyone else better)
- Foden getting more experienced
- Bernardo getting over his tweet saga
- Sane will return (and perhaps be replaced in the summer)
- Rodri will become more settled in the side

If we play our cards right and the pieces fall into place then we can make sure we win a cup or two this season before going on to regain our title next season as well.

Just to add, Real Madrid will be a tough tie to negotiate but if we get though it then we’ll have a great chance at the CL. The worst City side of this decade bizarrely got the furthest any City side has before or since and history shows that sides like Liverpool (2005) and Chelsea (2012) have won the competition after going through very disappointing league campaigns.

Who knows what will happen there but I do know that we’ll be back and with a bang going into next season. Stay strong because the future is only going to bring great things.

That's an excellent post. I don't think I can find anything of note to disagree with.

I've said before that this hasn't looked like our season in the league from the Spurs game onwards and I think any belief that the players had that they could win three in a row was quickly sapped away, which consciously or subconsciously has adversely affected them. We have to hope that it has a converse affect in the cups and spurs them on to make sure they do win some silverware and then come roaring back in the league next season.

The squad will need some dynamic new signings to make sure that happens. Our biggest single problem this year is conceding too many goals relative to the number of shots we concede. This is particularly galling when we are still the team that allows the fewest shots on our goal!

The team to this point is still the one that has the most shots, scores the most goals, passes the ball more accurately and retains more possession than any other in the league. We have a great base to work from. Pep needs to make a few adaptions and the club needs to make a few good moves in refreshing the squad. Key for me is getting the right combination of technique, energy and athleticism into the squad.

 

[SilverFox2]

what puzzles me as a fan , when we play a team with quick forwards and are going to player counter attack something I did with my youth teams we just didn't push up so far , sometimes only as far the centre circle line . So the other team couldnt play over the top as there was no room. Yet City still push up to the half way line and higher leaving tons of room for the ball over the top !!

As you say, why invite a foot race without sprinters.

Our team likes to let the ball be passed within its members but seems formulated to forget we may not always have the ball especially when half the length of the pitch is empty.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

I watched extended highlights of our final game last season v Brighton, saw line up with Kompany and LaPorte, you take those 2 out and your team isn’t as good and will probably stop you beating a very good team to the league
I’m not going to worry myself with anything else, I pretty sure I know what the problem is

just remain baffled by Cancelo signing, 60 million is a lot of fuckin money and Walker is a decent enough full back and on evidence one Pep prefers over Canelo, can anyone on here honestly say they wouldn’t have preferred another 20 million and get McQuire ?
60 million that solves no problem or 80 million that solves a fuckin massive one

Agree about Cancelo, shown very little so far. We could argue he only cost 32 as Danilo was valued at 28. As a stand-alone transfer I don’t think we’d have got anything like that for Dan although on all available evidence he’s a much better full back than cancelo

 

[richards30]

Agree about Cancelo, shown very little so far. We could argue he only cost 32 as Danilo was valued at 28. As a stand-alone transfer I don’t think we’d have got anything like that for Dan although on all available evidence he’s a much better full back than cancelo

cancelo is class mate and besides getting hardly any game time of note, it’s also a big culture difference moving to England? Then most players find playing for pep demanding and a huge change and always improve the second year.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

cancelo is class mate and besides getting hardly any game time of note, it’s also a big culture difference moving to England? Then most players find playing for pep demanding and a huge change and always improve the second year.

I’m not writing him off just yet but I’d hoped he’d have made a better start. It’s not his fault the fee we paid for him but like others have said 60m is a lot of money and we’d have been able to fill a hole or two that needed filling had we not bought this lad

 

[citizen_maine]

I’m not writing him off just yet but I’d hoped he’d have made a better start. It’s not his fault the fee we paid for him but like others have said 60m is a lot of money and we’d have been able to fill a hole or two that needed filling had we not bought this lad

He filled the hole vacated by Danilo

 

[Bill Walker]

I’m not writing him off just yet but I’d hoped he’d have made a better start. It’s not his fault the fee we paid for him but like others have said 60m is a lot of money and we’d have been able to fill a hole or two that needed filling had we not bought this lad

Needs time to settle, he was 30mill plus Danilo.

 

[Aja]

Our players look so "tired". Physically I can't imagine how tired they must feel after 2 tough and successful seasons. On top of that you add international competitions.

On the psychological side some players seriously look burned down like Otamendi, Stones, Bravo or Mendy.

I just feel like the team is struggling to play at their full speed because people are too tired to make things as organized and tight as it used to be ( pressing together after a ball loss, repositioning, tracking )

What I don't understand though is how can Liverpool players be so fit !?! No matter how you feel about LFC in general, this team is astonishing but their energy and fitness is seriously suspicious. They press so hard every opponents and yet they don't look tired.