Dropping out of the top 4 - potential repercussions?

[bugsyblue]

We will definitely make top 4. To be honest Arsenal may pip us to 2nd but IMO both United and Liverpool will drop more points than us from now until the end of the season.

 

[mancity1]

I certainly don't want us to become Arsenal, but giving people like Mangala a season to find his form after a £32m move is probably the right decision. Same with Fernando who could yet prove a useful signing if either he finds a way to fit into us or we find a way to use him properly; he did come quite highly rated from Portugal and he couldn't have been lucky for 6 seasons there.

I'm not saying that nobody needs to leave, just that it's more sensible to make continuous and rational tweaks window by window than it is to splurge everything then potentially have to start all over again if that fails.

Small improvements of the quality of the squad every season is the key. Most people on here I imagine would agree that this isn't a squad currently performing at its potential so I'm not sure how you would square that with wanting to sell someone. Either they are good enough for us and just out of form which means we should keep them, or they aren't good enough for us which means we shouldn't be getting upset that they're only playing as well as they are talented. It's a bit of a contradiction.

I think they are not good enough for Chumps League success but provided they actually play with some more conviction , spirit and belief which they haven't nearly often enough they can challenge for the title.

Of course its best to turn over a couple each window/season for a variety of good reasons but a large number of our squad have been involved in two titles and I think that may be enough for them.

If it goes the way you suggest and desire lets hope the next manager can motivate them to produce better than they have this year for sure.

Dropping points in 12 of 29 games with more dropped points to come and poor exits from domestic cups surely won't be tolerated next season either.

 

[Ric]

I'm still clinging to the belief we'll get our act together enough to finish in the top four. A lot of our rivals play each other in the coming weeks, so points will be dropped somewhere. A win against West Brom at home, coupled with our existing points (and goal difference) advantage will give us a bit of breathing space. It's too good a squad to completely capitulate, even though it seems hard to see light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. Big changes needed in the summer regardless though.

I should squeak this out today, but I just don't see it. A huge player turnover has never been helpful and our squad age has been overblown. 26-32 are the prime years of players, not the years that we should be looking at replacing them. AvB had this problem at Chelsea too where he thought anybody over 30 was dead weight and people like Cole, Lampard and Terry went on to have some of their best seasons in the shirt afterwards.

We're not on the level of Barca, Bayern and Real and no matter what we do outside of spending about a billion pound we aren't going to be in one window.

But we're better than this season has made us believe. For many reasons this year we haven't really had a settled squad and we've been a bit wobbly. Fernando and Mangala will be one year more experienced in our squad and league, which I think will help us a lot. Hopefully Zabaleta will go and have a bit of a lie down this summer as he played almost every game last year than a full World Cup then almost every game this year, and with his mileage covered in a game then he has to need a rest.
Kompany has been off his game, Yaya had his issues at the start of the year and hasn't grabbed games by the scruff of their necks, Aguero has been injured numerous times, Silva and Nasri have barely been on a pitch together.

I think evolution rather than revolution is all that's needed. A couple of signings to replace outgoings like presumably Jovetic and Milner, bring in Lopes, Denayer and maybe give a few more games to Barker and we'll be fine. I just don't see this big disaster that everybody else does. Our squad doesn't need this massive overhaul, just another year of tweaking.

We're in bad form yet remain second in the league and still in the Champions League (though it would obviously take a minor miracle to get to the next round). The world isn't falling, we're just on a run of bad form. We need to be composed and rational rather than making big changes to what is already a squad which at its core has won two Premier Leagues.

I put this down to people getting carried away with the age thing. It went from Mourinho saying our squad is old, to people then using words like "tired" and "needs refreshing", to now people suggesting overhauls.

We're fine. Let's not panic and bring in a bunch of new players.

Sorry, that statement probably sounded more rash than intended. I'm certainly not advocating a Football Manager style overhaul. As mentioned in an earlier reply to mancity1, I don't think a huge turnover of players is either sensible or likely. I was thinking more managerially.

Realistically, I think we'll see maybe 4/5 players replaced (Lampard, Milner, Jovetic, Boyata, and possibly Sagna/Kolarov). It wouldn't generate a lot of money, but will free up some wages plus we'll have money to spend anyway. A few younger, quicker players, supplemented by the likes of Denayer and Lopes, could reinvigorate an already talented squad sufficiently.

 

[mancity1]

I'm still clinging to the belief we'll get our act together enough to finish in the top four. A lot of our rivals play each other in the coming weeks, so points will be dropped somewhere. A win against West Brom at home, coupled with our existing points (and goal difference) advantage will give us a bit of breathing space. It's too good a squad to completely capitulate, even though it seems hard to see light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. Big changes needed in the summer regardless though.

I should squeak this out today, but I just don't see it. A huge player turnover has never been helpful and our squad age has been overblown. 26-32 are the prime years of players, not the years that we should be looking at replacing them. AvB had this problem at Chelsea too where he thought anybody over 30 was dead weight and people like Cole, Lampard and Terry went on to have some of their best seasons in the shirt afterwards.

We're not on the level of Barca, Bayern and Real and no matter what we do outside of spending about a billion pound we aren't going to be in one window.

But we're better than this season has made us believe. For many reasons this year we haven't really had a settled squad and we've been a bit wobbly. Fernando and Mangala will be one year more experienced in our squad and league, which I think will help us a lot. Hopefully Zabaleta will go and have a bit of a lie down this summer as he played almost every game last year than a full World Cup then almost every game this year, and with his mileage covered in a game then he has to need a rest.
Kompany has been off his game, Yaya had his issues at the start of the year and hasn't grabbed games by the scruff of their necks, Aguero has been injured numerous times, Silva and Nasri have barely been on a pitch together.

I think evolution rather than revolution is all that's needed. A couple of signings to replace outgoings like presumably Jovetic and Milner, bring in Lopes, Denayer and maybe give a few more games to Barker and we'll be fine. I just don't see this big disaster that everybody else does. Our squad doesn't need this massive overhaul, just another year of tweaking.

We're in bad form yet remain second in the league and still in the Champions League (though it would obviously take a minor miracle to get to the next round). The world isn't falling, we're just on a run of bad form. We need to be composed and rational rather than making big changes to what is already a squad which at its core has won two Premier Leagues.

I put this down to people getting carried away with the age thing. It went from Mourinho saying our squad is old, to people then using words like "tired" and "needs refreshing", to now people suggesting overhauls.

We're fine. Let's not panic and bring in a bunch of new players.

Sorry, that statement probably sounded more rash than intended. I'm certainly not advocating a Football Manager style overhaul. As mentioned in an earlier reply to mancity1, I don't think a huge turnover of players is either sensible or likely. I was thinking more managerially.

Realistically, I think we'll see maybe 4/5 players replaced (Lampard, Milner, Jovetic, Boyata, and possibly Sagna/Kolarov). It wouldn't generate a lot of money, but will free up some wages plus we'll have money to spend anyway. A few younger, quicker players, supplemented by the likes of Denayer and Lopes, could reinvigorate an already talented squad sufficiently.

Likewise Ric again I meant over 4 windows and the fact you are advocating possibly as many as 5 in one window ( Sinclair will leave us as well over the summer ) I think over two summers will make our expectations perhaps a lot more in sync than perhaps you may have suggested initially.

I am absolutely convinced that the squad is not up to scratch for where we want to be in Europe even though its a possibility that we won't be there next year now such has been the drop in results and performance in the past three months.

 

[Marvin]

The players who have let us down are not Mangala and Fernando but the likes of Toure and Kompany.

It took Toure about 6 weeks to get up to a reasonable level and even now he's nowhere near the level of fitness he was at last season. I'm a bit sympathetic given the circumstances, but it doesn't alter the fact that he had such a massive impact last season, and this season he's nowhere. And Kompany is a disaster. The worst defender at the club at the moment. And he's the captain, who you absolutely do not see going round leading the team in the way he used to. When you are in trouble you need leadership on the pitch. We have nothing and for a team that were Champion that's really hard to believe, nevertheless its the only way t explain CSKA twice, Newcastle, and Boro. Those were games where we were confident, and had no excuse. The players got arrogant. And it happened on Pellegrinis watch.

I'm afraid we took the wrong turn after mancini. We went for conciliation. It was actually confrontation that was required, but we backed off.

 

[Damocles]

I think we're all essentially agreeing but in different language.

We all seem to think that the squad is pretty good, but not enough to challenge the best in Europe meaning that ny CL victory would require a big run of the green and some standout individual performances.

We all seem to agree that it's not really rational to go out and spend lots in one window in an attempt to cut off our arm, instead a more surgical incision over many windows is a better option.

I think I differ in terms of that I'd prefer to keep the manager than change him this coming summer, as this season feels like a series of misadventures rather than a gross lack of talent from Pellegrini, but outside of that we agree.

You'd be surprised how often people have very similar opinions on here but can't seem to find the right language that makes them understand it. We've had 50 page threads of people who seem to think they're disagreeing but all actually agreeing just using different terms and words!

 

[Ric]

I think we're all essentially agreeing but in different language.

We all seem to think that the squad is pretty good, but not enough to challenge the best in Europe meaning that ny CL victory would require a big run of the green and some standout individual performances.

We all seem to agree that it's not really rational to go out and spend lots in one window in an attempt to cut off our arm, instead a more surgical incision over many windows is a better option.

I think I differ in terms of that I'd prefer to keep the manager than change him this coming summer, as this season feels like a series of misadventures rather than a gross lack of talent from Pellegrini, but outside of that we agree.

You'd be surprised how often people have very similar opinions on here but can't seem to find the right language that makes them understand it. We've had 50 page threads of people who seem to think they're disagreeing but all actually agreeing just using different terms and words!

Ha, yeah that's true. My concern, though, is that keeping Pellegrini when it seems highly unlikely that his contract will be extended could increase the lethargy we've seen recently. Obviously it's not directly comparable, but there are worrying precedents there, notably Ferguson in 2001/02.

 

[Damocles]

That's a fair point but you would think that their professionalism, and the understanding that they still have to answer to Txiki Begiristain who can sell them almost at will, would negate that somewhat. Ferguson motivated his team through almost a benevolent dictatorship; when his reign was coming to an end it was a case of The King Is Dead and his unquestionable authority suddenly became questionable. Pellegrini if what we're told is correct, works as somebody who motivates players by appealing to them as a member of a team all working together to win trophies rather than Ferguson's methods, so having the "last chance" might actually work in his favour in terms of bringing the squad together on the same page?

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

I haven't read the rest of this thread so this is knee jerk but fucking hell this would be almost like back to square one under Hughes.

I don't think it will happen but if we get seriously twatted by Barcelona then I hope Patrick is on stand by .Whatever the problem is we can't carry on like this. This is pathetic. Shades of 38 (and I know that's ott).

 

[HolisticJim]

We've got relegation form right now and clearly that's a massive worry.

Worst season since the takeover.