I don't see it as a transitional season. We lost our captain and leader and didn't replace him and have subsequently had injuries to our two best CBs. We have also lost Sane to injury and De Bruyne was missing. Throw in Mendy and his fitness and that is like Liverpool being without Van Dijk, Matip, Robertson, Mane and Wijnaldum. It changes things and makes it a lot harder to play as well.
It is handling the injuries as best as we can. In attack, generally we are fine but we cannot rely on Fernandinho and Otamendi to cope with counter attacks. I would like to see Pep react and put Garcia in. Walker going off left us weak to the pace on the break because Zinchenko is also slow and Cancelo is much higher up the pitch. Pep has often used Walker to protect us from counter attacks with his pace.
The league isn't over but Pep needs to review things and build for the future. I think most of us would be fine with a transitional season if it meant Foden, Garcia and Jesus had fully established themselves in our team.