Pigeonho said:
LoveCity said:
I disagree. It happened almost overnight with Atletico and Dortmund. They just sprang to life quickly and challenged for the trophy. No reason we should not be challenging, except... well, I question the players more than the manager. There is a collective lack of hunger that has spanned two completely different regimes (authoritarian Mancini and loveable Pellegrini).
Two things Atletico and Dortmund had in common despite playing totally different styles: they were fearless and got in the face of any team, no matter what their standing and reputation.
Maybe it is an actual club thing, as stupid and far fetched as that sounds. I've heard before how we seem to just not believe in ourselves in the competition. It csmt be the players because we have world cups winners amongst us and players who have played for some huge clubs. It feels like a curse in thst sense, like we just don't believe. Thst of course has to be bollocks though.
I'd put it more down to the fact that Atletico and Dortmund are two teams that have a well drilled formation. Every player knows their role and if one players is missing, another one can replace them with minimal fuss. You only have to look at the players they have lost in past transfer windows and see their current CL performances to prove this.
Although they do have players who are a lot better than others like Reus and Koke, the fact is Atletico and Dortmund can adapt a lot better with the loss of their stars than we can.
We still seem to be a team based upon individual quality rather than a collective team effort. Until this is addressed I cannot see us reaching our potential.