Champions League Final | Post-Match Thread

Love Pep, but I don't think there's ever been a game where pretty much everyone was in agreeance as to what the team and formation should be. Now granted, Pep has forgotten more about football than most of us will ever know, but it's mind-boggling to throw such a curveball in like that again.

Overthinking, arrogance, insecurity, I really don't know what it is, but everyone knew when they saw the team sheet that we were going to be in trouble. A lot of our players didn't turn up either, and whilst I'm sure the formation shift was a big factor, it can't solely be their excuse.

We'll be back I'm sure of it, let's hope by then that we've finally learned the lessons.
 
At the start of the game I knew it could go either way, almost stuck a lump on Chelsea when the teams were announced.

Sacrificing control of the midfield for a more attacking approach and failing to register any noteworthy chance is abject failure.

I'm gutted for the fans who made the trip expecting a performance worthy of our season.
I defended Pep to no end trying to justify the selection and I will continue to support him as long as he's in charge.

I think this helps reveal the nonsense about us having two world class players in every position and do think that the bar others put in place to measure our success needs dropping down a peg or two. No doubt we'll still be down as favourites for all competitions and will have to put up with the dreaded quad talk and such like.

The positive I can take is that a humbling is probably necessary for those of us who's blind faith turns into arrogance.

Loss is a necessary part of football, it's a shame it had to happen at the final stage of a competition we've targeted for so long but maybe it will be the making of them. Some refocussing.

For all that happened in the game I think the image of KDB battered and bruised is the one that will stick with me. Horrible seeing him like that watching the game march towards the inevitable.

Anyway. Onwards blues. A bum note to end a solid season.
I think he must have realised that Chelsea would break on us. I think he had some crazy idea that OK this will happen, but they will be out of position and my team will kill them on the transition. There must have been some rationale to it.

It annoys me that whatever the plan was it was clear that Chelsea were looking very likely to score and we had Rodri and Fernandinho on the bench and we didn't do anything.

We are never going to understand this.

I hope Pep recovers from this. It is very very damaging. A coaching failure if ever there was one.

But on the other hand the league season was a personal Pep triumph. I think we have to accept that our coach is a genius but he makes mistakes like us all.

I don't understand where the criticism of certain players is coming from. Those who question Sterling are being very unreasonable. I thought he was OK.

There are times when an extra defensive player adds coherence to your attack. We were so open we allowed Chelsea to get to 50-50 possession in the first half. Did we play a really bad offensive game? I don't think so. When you play against a 5-2-3 you are not going to slice through them. You are looking for 3-4 moments in a game, an you restrict their breaks. We totally lost control of that 1st half and it stemmed entirely from the tactical decision.

To be honest I don't know where Gundogan played. Did he play in the position where Rodri/Fernandinho would have played? We needed cover. If he was playing that role then why would you choose him over Rodri, or Fernandinho. Gundogan is not particularly good at defensive cover.

There is no point trying to 2nd guess what Pep was doing. I just hope he recovers.

At least we wont have to worry about complacency next season.
 
The most disappointing thing is the manner of the defeat. Whatever the rights and wrong of the line up that doesn’t excuse what appeared to be a total lack of fight and energy from our “star players”. Chelsea were quicker and stronger. Perhaps winning the league so early did us no favours and took our intensity away.
 
Unfortunately Pep has developed something of a mental block when it comes to the later stages of the CL. I think it started after Barca dumped his Bayern team out in the semi-final in 2015. Last season he went into defensive mode against Lyon, leaving a lot of attacking talent on the bench, this season it was the opposite extreme, opting to do without a recognised DM and consequently losing Gundo's influence in the attacking third.

There's no point slagging individual players for last night's performance, virtually all the starting XI were way below par, it was a collective failure that started from the top. Sterling's selection was controversial but he was by no means the worst player on the night.
 
Love Pep, but I don't think there's ever been a game where pretty much everyone was in agreeance as to what the team and formation should be. Now granted, Pep has forgotten more about football than most of us will ever know, but it's mind-boggling to throw such a curveball in like that again.

Overthinking, arrogance, insecurity, I really don't know what it is, but everyone knew when they saw the team sheet that we were going to be in trouble. A lot of our players didn't turn up either, and whilst I'm sure the formation shift was a big factor, it can't solely be their excuse.

We'll be back I'm sure of it, let's hope by then that we've finally learned the lessons.
Ego. He has faced question marks over over-thinking and he wanted a personal triumph against his critics?

Very damaging for coach and club and players and fans. We all paid for this weakness. He does though have strengths so it would be stupid to hand him his P45.

One might ask Pep, look what went wrong? How can we help you not to do this stuff but it would be a very difficult conversation and would possibly lead to resignation. We just have to accept him as he is.
 
Your swearing doesn't make you right REMEMBER that ok. Because you don't play a CL final without a holding midfielder exposing your centerbacks to counter stacks then say oh it's the players fault, everyone who knows even a little about football can see it's pep's fault, but hey if you want to suck up to him then good luck.
Fuck off, prick
 

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