Half-term report

I might also add, the whole attitude of the squad has changed. Over the past few years, we've seen quite a lot of "can't be arsed" performances from various players, strolling around, not tracking back, generally not putting in a shift.

This year has been a huge improvement and I can't really remember a poor performance - in terms of effort - from a single player. (OK, perhaps 1, who shall remain nameless). Whether this is "new manager" syndrome, I don't know. But right now it's working. We won that game against Arsenal. principally simply because we wanted it more. We were more keen, more hungry, more hard working. And we had the quality too.
 
Kazzydeyna said:
7.5/10

Brilliant start, a serious wobble in terms of results and performances followed, and the recently signs that the team are adapting to his methods in the last few games.
Qualified from a difficult group in champs league. Piss poor in the league cup. Still in touch in the league but a bit further behind than wanted.

When it clicks it clicks. Challenge for the second half is to make it click for whole games at a time.
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You mean when we played a reserve/youth side against the rags at the Swamp? Behave yourself.

First 10 matches were some of the best football I have ever seen. Then the opposition managers decided to close up shop wherever they played us. A run of injuries/suspensions to key players hasn't helped either. We're making chances, but just not converting them. Due to the high line adopted, we look vulnerable when the opposition get the ball in our half, but this WILL improve, I'm sure.

Don't get me going about the referees we've had! Bring back Maurice Fussey, Jack Taylor and even Alf Grey - they were better than the current crop.

And as for the Agenda against us...............
 
C.
The pupil has so much potential, the boy could be top of the class with ease. But he seems to lack drive at times, and suffers a lack of concentration, which is holding him back. I look forward to him blossoming when the new term starts after Christmas.
 
As we set the bar unrealistically high I would have gone for a 5 until the last 2 games where pep seems to have absorbed what the prem is about so now a 7 .
 
After watching chelsea at our place it gives me hope that we can chase them down. We ripped there solid defence apart time after time so is it really that solid? Key for us is getting a permenent back line to the end of the season and keeping silva fit as our forward players will score plenty. Halt term score 7/10 and still very excited about the pep future!
 
Only 17 games played. Not halfway yet. If we win next 2 we will be firmly in second - 8/10. If we drop more than 2 points from next two 6/10.
 
crazyg said:
You mean when we played a reserve/youth side against the rags at the Swamp? Behave yourself.

First 10 matches were some of the best football I have ever seen. Then the opposition managers decided to close up shop wherever they played us. A run of injuries/suspensions to key players hasn't helped either. We're making chances, but just not converting them. Due to the high line adopted, we look vulnerable when the opposition get the ball in our half, but this WILL improve, I'm sure.

Don't get me going about the referees we've had! Bring back Maurice Fussey, Jack Taylor and even Alf Grey - they were better than the current crop.

And as for the Agenda against us...............
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Don't get me going about the refs of those days. Fussey wasn't the worst but he wasn't too good either. His style of refereeing matched his name and games with him in charge were usually stop-start affairs and we might have all died of boredom. Then there was Roger Kirkpatrick, the eccentric one. I was at a game at Bramhall Lane expecting the worst yet in the first half he seemed to give everything to us. True to form though, he did a full reversal after the break and we hardly got a thing off him. Such was the turnaround that the hero worshipping fans of ours resorted to singing--
He's a bald headed B**st*rd dressed in black
Dressed in black, dressed in black, dressed in black black...black"
But the worst one I can recall until Anthony Taylor came around was Ken Willis. Worse than Fussey, worse than Kirkpatrick, the only redeeming feature he had was in sending off the rag Kevin Moron in the Cup Final, the first player ever to be sent off in the history of the Final.
 
Been a fascinating first half of the season.

The big winner in the squad is probably Raheem. As crucial as KDB IS and Silva WAS.

The big loser is probably Vinny. Can't catch a break on the injury front but could probably catch a cold in a heatwave.

In terms of moving from a Pellegrini team to a Pep one, I think after our first 10 games we probably thought "it's done", and "wow that was quick" (i certainly did). Probably good for our short and long term expectations that we've had a little dip in form and that it's taking a little time. It would almost have been too easy if it really was a case of ten games in Pep's cracked the PL.

Moving forward into the 2nd half of the season what i'd like to see is an improvement in our overall defensive displays and a little more consistency from our 'best' players.

The title? Very hard to call. Personally I won't be too disappointed if we miss out this season. Would not be in the least bit surprised if we find ourselves in the CL final though.

Mark: 7/10
 
It is an 8 out of 10 for me.

I have really enjoyed some of the football this year such as the unforgettable first half against United, Second Half against Barca and the 65 minutes v Chelsea where we were also fantastic.

It does seem a bit curious that we saw a lot more of a 'Pep' City in the first ten games and since the we have struggled to adopt the methods as were illustrated at the earlier part of the season.

I think the two main stories of the first half of the season have been the fragility of the defence and the wastefullness of the forward players. It is our second season now playing only one upfront and when the chance does not fall to Aguero or Kdb, if playing centrally, there is not really a consistently good finisher amongst the other forward players or a player with the desire to find goalscoring positions. Silva, Sterling, Navas are not natural finishers so hopefully Sane/Jesus will fill that void over the coming months as too many opportunities have been wasted.

Defensively Pep has shuffled his pack once again and was able to revert to a back four, against Arsenal, and still pack the midfield by losing an out and out striker. Whether he will continue with this once Aguero is back from suspension, revert back to it for the big matches or return to a three remains to be seen. It could be these details which decide the season.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Its kind of gone as I expected other than the timing of our blip. Thought we would find it difficult for the first 10 games or so then improve steadily. Love Pep still and think he will get us to previously unimagined heights of excellence but it will take time. Think he has improved almost all of our squad which is the mark of a great coach and we look more like a team than we have in the past few seasons. In terms of player performances, Dinho has been bloody amazing as has Merlin, Kev has done some amazing stuff and Sane is improving every game. Kun worries me a bit, his on field discipline hints that all is not well with him. Maybe he is not used to a coach that actually tells him how he wants him to play. So I would say 7 out of 10. Chelsea have been better than I expected however, if they lose Hazard or Costa they will struggle. Liverpool have looked good at times but are inconsistent, ditto Spuds. Refereeing continues to be very depressing.
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Good post I agree with everything you say.
I would add that being 7 points behind the leaders is not a lost situation at this stage of the season. I seem to remember some team coming back from being 8 points behind the leaders with only 6 games to go. Now that was a real lost cause. If we continue to improve and gell with Peps systems then we could have a good go at the title.
 
"Must Try Harder" would be the teacher assessment I think.

Looking ahead, it's vital we go into the new year with some momentum. Historically, we've done well over this period. This analyses - http://www.thestatszone.com/articles/premier-league-christmas-form - shows that we have picked more points than anyone at Christmas (in the last 10 years), although we have played a game more than Arsenal, who're just a point behind. Still, reason to be optimistic, no?

That NYE tie with Liverpool is a whopper!
 
7.5
Was always gonna take time but difficult not to think what could have been if not for the shoddy defending. Players like kdb and kun need to perform every game, like costa and hazard do for chelsea. Pep is learning. Think we will scrape the league, fa cup quarters, cl semis.
 
balotelli's back pocket said:
7.5
Was always gonna take time but difficult not to think what could have been if not for the shoddy defending. Players like kdb and kun need to perform every game, like costa and hazard do for chelsea. Pep is learning. Think we will scrape the league, fa cup quarters, cl semis.
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Looked at objectively I don't think you can go above a six it was looking a lot better but what was it 3 points from 12 during the poor home run was simply not good enough. There are some encouraging signs and remember this was always likely to involve a period of transition. The league is probably beyond us as we need a wobble from Chelsea and a degree of consistency which has been lacking to date. Europe might turn out to be a success story. We certainly have shown that we can match and better the best at least during periods of games and with a bit of luck who knows.
 
7'/10 Some early highlights but we've buckled terribly within the past couple of months. Some of it was too be expected but there have been points when we've looked absolutely terrible. I think we are definitely a team in transition. A lot of the moves we made this last transfer window will look good within a couple of years. Also with a lot of contracts ending this summer, we'll look to bring some loaned players back into the fold or just cut them loose. Still sucks about Joe but no use crying over it now. Maybe some hope of some silverware but I have to think year two of Pep's reign will be stronger.
 
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