How long will the rebuild take?

[youngbob]

Ederson - talk of this being his last season anyway, so he can go for me. Been incredible but it's time we moved on.
Ortega - promoted to number one, deserves a season as our main keeper

Walker - thanks for the memories Kyle, but can't stay beyond the summer
Akanji - keep
Dias - keep
Ake - keep
Gvardiol - keep
Stones - can't stay fit for long enough, would let him go if we can
Wilson Esbrand - never going to play for us, might as well sell him

Rodri - keep
Kovacic - keep
Lewis - keep

De Bruyne - keep
Grealish - keep, but will probably go in 2026 back to Villa
Nunes - works hard but not good enough
Gundogan - sorry it's not worked out the second time, a lesson to never go back
Foden - keep
Bernardo - his race is run, those batteries were always gonna go eventually

Savinho - keep
Doku - keep
Haaland - keep
Bobb - keep
McAtee - never going to make it here regardless of if he's good or not, get rid

So out: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Nunes, Gundogan, Bernardo, McAtee.

In: new GK, two new RBs, new CB, new LB, two new CMs, and a new striker to support Haaland.

Ortega
[new RB], Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol
Rodri
[new CM], Foden
Bobb, Haaland, Doku

[new GK]
[new RB], [new CB], Ake, [new LB]
Kovacic (Lewis)
De Bruyne, [new CM]
Savinho, [new CF], Grealish

 

[argyle]

Fuck sake how many threads do we need on variations of the same topic of how we are shite at the moment.

Some of you lot are fucking hysterical.

A bad two months after what this team has achieved for years and they think everyone is crap, Pep will walk, Txiki is a clown, the club is finished....

It seems to younger fans but also those who have always flapped.

They've just been waiting for the club to go through a bad period so they can say I told you so, over their fears they wrote before the start of the season.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

Ederson - talk of this being his last season anyway, so he can go for me. Been incredible but it's time we moved on.
Ortega - promoted to number one, deserves a season as our main keeper

Walker - thanks for the memories Kyle, but can't stay beyond the summer
Akanji - keep
Dias - keep
Ake - keep
Gvardiol - keep
Stones - can't stay fit for long enough, would let him go if we can
Wilson Esbrand - never going to play for us, might as well sell him

Rodri - keep
Kovacic - keep
Lewis - keep

De Bruyne - keep
Grealish - keep, but will probably go in 2026 back to Villa
Nunes - works hard but not good enough
Gundogan - sorry it's not worked out the second time, a lesson to never go back
Foden - keep
Bernardo - his race is run, those batteries were always gonna go eventually

Savinho - keep
Doku - keep
Haaland - keep
Bobb - keep
McAtee - never going to make it here regardless of if he's good or not, get rid

So out: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Nunes, Gundogan, Bernardo, McAtee.

In: new GK, two new RBs, new CB, new LB, two new CMs, and a new striker to support Haaland.

Ortega
[new RB], Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol
Rodri
[new CM], Foden
Bobb, Haaland, Doku

[new GK]
[new RB], [new CB], Ake, [new LB]
Kovacic (Lewis)
De Bruyne, [new CM]
Savinho, [new CF], Grealish

I agree with a lot of that.

I’d be very sad to see Stones go but head over heart it probably is time to say goodbye.

Keep Gundo for a second season. He came back to be a super sub and he’s still got that in him, just shouldn’t be thrown to the wolves every minute of every game like he is at the moment.

If America / Saudi offered big cash for Kev it’s probably time to say goodbye as well.

 

[Groke]

as per Einstein's definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This for me is Pep at the moment, we haven't got the right players available (or operating at the levels they could a couple of seasons ago), to play the system we're playing week in week out - it's not working.
We've still got decent talent available, but unfortunately the system is making them look shit - attackers constantly facing packed penalty areas and defenders and midfielders being exposed time and time again.
Pep needs to change his mentality, be more pragmatic, sit deeper etc - change the system to suit what's available - he can go back to high possession based football again when reinforcements come in, but for the short term he needs to sacrifice his principals.
At the moment everyone knows the script, which will be repeated on Sunday without doubt We're like a boxer with a glass jaw and a weak punch always being on the front foot against a less skilful opponent, never landing a meaningful blow but with our guard down - everyone can see the KO counter punch coming.

 

[Damocles]

Few bad results and you lot sell the entire squad

 

[Damocles]

as per Einstein's definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This for me is Pep at the moment, we haven't got the right players available (or operating at the levels they could a couple of seasons ago), to play the system we're playing week in week out - it's not working.
We've still got decent talent available, but unfortunately the system is making them look shit - attackers constantly facing packed penalty areas and defenders and midfielders being exposed time and time again.
Pep needs to change his mentality, be more pragmatic, sit deeper etc - change the system to suit what's available - he can go back to high possession based football again when reinforcements come in, but for the short term he needs to sacrifice his principals.
At the moment everyone knows the script, which will be repeated on Sunday without doubt We're like a boxer with a glass jaw and a weak punch always being on the front against a less skilful opponent, never landing a meaningful blow but with our guard down - everyone can see the KO counter punch coming.

If Pep were to ever do that we should immediately sack him

 

[argyle]

I dont think it will take that much for the team to be back dominating again.

Rodri (the best player in the world) linked it all together. When we have another player and Rodri back we'll be much better.

The players all clearly need a rest too.

 

[Groke]

If Pep were to ever do that we should immediately sack him

well if it doesn't change, he will probably end up getting sacked or walking, because we are going to lose a lot more games persisting with what we saw last night

 

[argyle]

well if it doesn't change, he will probably end up getting sacked or walking, because we are going to lose a lot more games persisting with what we saw last night

Give your head a wobble.

Pep is not getting sacked and nor is he walking.

People on here really have lost their damn minds!

 

[youngbob]

If Pep were to ever do that we should immediately sack him

I don't agree with people saying Pep just needs to flip the whole script and play an entirely new way to save our season, but I've been concerned by his lack of willingness to tweak anything in our set-up at the moment. The only thing different that he seems to have tried is Grealish at CM, which works quite well, but that was abandoned after 45 mins last night and left us wide open to the transition... again.

I love Pep, I'm definitely still backing him for now, and our injury situation is genuinely unprecedented, but you can't say our record over the last 8-10 games would be worse if he'd played O'Reilly and Wright just a bit more to save Gundogan's legs and give the midfield a bit of energy, or if he'd dropped the defensive line a little deeper for a bit just to protect Gundogan and Lewis, and vice versa Gvardiol and Walker.

The last time it ever felt this bad under Pep was the beginning of the 20-21 season, when we were mid-table in November and needed something, anything, to change things. So Pep started playing that rigid 4-2-3-1 system with Gundogan (or De Bruyne) as the most advanced player and pushed the actual strikers Jesus and Torres out to the wings - it got us to the brink of a league, League Cup, and CL treble.

He didn't change his entire philosophy, he just tweaked a couple of things to make us more solid down the middle and give us more energy and directness on the wings. I really am puzzled as to why he's so reluctant to make similar tweaks at the moment. I don't know what the players would lose out on if we briefly moved away from this current system until Kovacic, Ake, Akanji, etc. are back fit.

As soon as I saw the team last night, with Lewis, Gundogan, and Bernardo all next to each other on the teamsheet, I just felt frustrated. We've all seen the problems that trio has caused in the last six weeks but Pep seems to think something will just... change? As others have pointed out, the longer Pep's left it to give O'Reilly and Wright a bit of experience, the harder it's become to even consider playing them.

Gundogan, Lewis, and Bernardo have been flogged to death since November and it's exposing Walker and Gvardiol in every game we play now. Dias is a proper one-on-one 50/50s defender so he's looked rock solid (also why Ake missing has been so huge), but Walker and Gvardiol (and Akanji tbf) are different sorts of defenders and it's baffling that Pep has continued with a system that exposes them so badly.

It kinda reminds me of the 19-20 season when Otamendi suddenly "reverted to type" after being one of the strongest CBs in the league during the Centurions and Fourmidables seasons. What had actually happened was Fernandinho had moved into defence, David Silva had slowed down a lot, and Rodri was getting used to playing DM in a Pep side. So Otamendi was often the last man standing as teams sliced us down the middle.

The same thing's happening with Walker and Gvardiol imo. Walker's getting older and should be sold in the summer, but there's no way he's suddenly fallen off this steep a cliff, and the same goes for Gvardiol. I just don't understand what Pep's been thinking with this Gundogan-Lewis-Bernardo triangle that's helping absolutely nobody. Kovacic's return and potentially signing Bruno G in January will hopefully bring an end to it all.