Another transitional season? No.

flb said:
Not buying a CB will eventually cost us this season, Vinny left, Stones overall form is worrying and has been for 12 months , the Laporte injury is just the icing on the cake.Not so much yesterdays result but games v Norwich and Everton showed us all how vulnerable we are now against any team with a modicum of pace or height up front.Six goals conceded against those three teams alone. Wasteful in front of goal yes we are but our ability to keep clean sheets has disappeared down the toilet.

We need a CB to come in January.
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This is all a bit captain hindsight.

Before a ball was kicked pep had laporte, stones, otta, garcia as proper centre backs. He also had dinho and walker to consider as makeshift centre backs for a short period of time. That's a decent enough armoury for centre back positions in most people's minds surely.

What does a new signing say to stones for example? I imagine pep still rates stones highly and probably envisaged him and laporte forming a really decent partnership similar to the 1st half of last season. Just so happens that we've had some shit luck on the injury front which has meant he's been forced to play a makeshift defence for longer than anyone would have anticipated.

I'm not convinced any new centre back would have stopped players in midfield areas of the pitch giving away possession in the sloppy manner they did yesterday either.

There are probably other factors to consider also as to why another centre back wasn't brought in (if pep felt we needed one). Just because the majority of fans would have liked to see otta for example replaced, it's not always possible for a multitude of reasons.

Quite a bit of success is down to luck and it's something we're not getting much of at this moment in time. The season is long though and I'm sure we'll have a few special moments this season just like we've enjoyed over the last 2 under pep.
 
Whether through bad luck or issues with the intensity of our training routine, it’s undeniable that City have suffered far more long term injuries than Liverpool, with a significant percentage surfacing in between matches.

Consequently, what struck me most about yesterday, was that Wolves were supposed to be the team that played on Thursday, and might tire towards the end. However, they boasted more rotational options whereas City had Silva, Gundogan, Aguero, and Fernandinho all looking leggy and drained from the Zagreb game.

We can still win the League, but for the moment Liverpool look focussed, and let’s be honest, more consistent.
 
More like a defining season, especially in terms of Pep.

If he sorts this situation out successfully he will really be lorded as a genius.

The guy looks tired and not entirely happy, and that's a worrying situation.

I think the run in last season has taken a lot out of the players and management , they all look mentally drained, unsurprising with that incredible run-in.
 
alexmcity said:
We have two problems this season. The first are injuries to CBs which have seriously hurt us. But we have another problem as well. We have several aging players whose legs are not quite up to the task of playing highly dynamic football and can't press efficiently. This might be the season when the legends step down and make way to Rodri, Foden, Jesus, Cancelo, Bernardo....

Liverpool have only one player over 30 y.o. and he is running more than the other players. We have several players over 30 and they are already over the hill physically wise.

Hope and believe we can still win the title but Laporte's injury has hit us very badly. Hope we can win the CL for the legends. Would be the best way for them to leave the club
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There's certainly an absence of pace and athleticism throughout the team, but that deficiency is not just confined to senior citizens like Dave (33) and Ferna (34), and in fact I'd argue that Fernandinho is no slouch even now. Gundogan, Zinchenko and Otamendi are all far slower and neither Bernie, Riyad, Rodri, Mendy or even, waiting in the wings, Eric Garcia, has much in the way of acceleration either. Without Laporte at the back and the ultra-savvy Fernandinho in front of him, we've struggled against teams able to counterattack with power and pace, and with the former out long term and Stones made of glass, I can see more defeats on the horizon in the short term. The name Otamendi in particular currently fills me with dread, as he's just about the most hapless one on one defender in the league. He dives in all the time because he knows he has neither the strength or pace to jockey forwards into slowing down in the manner that say Van Dijk does at Klanfield.

A centre half is a must in the next window, but looking further ahead, some more legs in the engine room wouldn't go amiss (Foden will be a start, but with Dave is going, Gundo a no.6 not a no.8, and Kev being another player - like Stones - who is repeatedly out injured, we need more options), and similarly out wide I have not the slightest doubt that Leroy will be off to Munich as soon as he's fit, so we could do with someone with the same athleticism and raw pace he possesses, out wide, as well.

Personally, I expect the dippers to go close to the 100 point mark this season, and for that reason I suspect the title is already gone (and, no, I'm not chucking in the towel, just making an observation), so I'd like to see what Foden can do on a far more regular basis in the interim. Gundogan is currently bringing very little to the party either offensively or defensively, albeit that he's not being helped by having Dave and Rodri alongside him.
 
RACHACE said:
This is all a bit captain hindsight.

Before a ball was kicked pep had laporte, stones, otta, garcia as proper centre backs. He also had dinho and walker to consider as makeshift centre backs for a short period of time. That's a decent enough armoury for centre back positions in most people's minds surely.

What does a new signing say to stones for example? I imagine pep still rates stones highly and probably envisaged him and laporte forming a really decent partnership similar to the 1st half of last season. Just so happens that we've had some shit luck on the injury front which has meant he's been forced to play a makeshift defence for longer than anyone would have anticipated.

I'm not convinced any new centre back would have stopped players in midfield areas of the pitch giving away possession in the sloppy manner they did yesterday either.

There are probably other factors to consider also as to why another centre back wasn't brought in (if pep felt we needed one). Just because the majority of fans would have liked to see otta for example replaced, it's not always possible for a multitude of reasons.

Quite a bit of success is down to luck and it's something we're not getting much of at this moment in time. The season is long though and I'm sure we'll have a few special moments this season just like we've enjoyed over the last 2 under pep.
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I wouldn't call it captain hindsight Rachel, a few good knowledgeable posters on here said we were in for a CB, Pep said we couldn't afford Maguire for instance, Stones form and fitness has been erratic for a while, to go deep into four competitions we needed another CB , Pep mustn't feel like Walker and Garcia are upto it otherwise I'm sure it would have happened by now.

I agree about the game yesterday but it was the Norwich and Everton games that drove it home, non of us could have complained if Everton had snatched a point and its thanks to Ederson we are still second.The other end of the pitch is a different story-but if you cant win the game then clean sheets it must be.
 
mosssideblue said:
Fuck being next to you and your like in the trenches
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Look mossside we all have an opinion bud, I will be supporting the team whatever happens this season that's for sure, I want a seige mentality to get us back in it, but I don't think Pep thinks like this.
 
you can not prevent injury in anyway and its just down to luck and manchester city over the last 3 seasons have been hit the hardest, and for having a transitional-season i don't believe you plan for anything like that and players can peak at different times and at any age and can be inform or out of form from season to season, then add injuries to key players then it can be hard, but you can not win 4 trophies every season

replacing players when they move on is not good timing for clubs in the transfer market and when its manchester city clubs double the value knowing we want there player and have to sign a replacement, so if that is transitional in building to challenge for titles , i believe its a revolving doors and football clubs can never standstill, when so called big clubs come out and say its a building transitional 3 to 5 year plan then that's saying its ok to finish top 4 or top 6 and giving the players a excuse just take the piss

manchester city owners went through this at the start of the take over and it took 3 seasons to get rid of the players that was signed just for the publicity and not for football, mancini for me was the best manager for manchester city and he had to build and win at the same time and sacking him for a revamp of playing styles put us back 3 seasons

now manchester city must never revamp again and the style is now set in stone and we play this way and will be known for playing like this, forget transitional-season NO this does not happen we keep to a plan that this club setup and just add something every season
 
RACHACE said:
This is all a bit captain hindsight.
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Not really. About half the forum were crying out for a CB to be signed before a ball had been kicked.

Anyway, we don't have transitional seasons. They're for teams that failed to plan and then hurriedly brought in a load of unsuitable players for a massive price. There's not a single old player in the squad that doesn't already have a ready-made replacement. Regardless of what happens this season, I'm confident that we'll have the squad to challenge for the next few seasons at least.
 
The problem with the term is people use it as an excuse, this is a transitional season but that doesn't mean we can't still win the lot.

Silva is gone at the end of the season so we have to stop relying on him as a starter, that transition should be happening now, he has started 8 from 10 so far this season, it's too much. This match for example I don't believe he should've started, we've gone into an international break in which he won't be involved so should be sharp and prepared for first game following it, ideal time to play Bernardo or give Foden some much needed minutes.

For the same reason I felt Aguero should've sat this one out for Jesus.

The transition at the base of midfield is not being helped with the injury situation, Rodri has effectively been thrown in at the deep end because Fernandinho's needed elsewhere.

Guardiola has never done this before, he's built great sides but hasn't rebuilt them as he's never stuck around long enough.
 
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