It's Quiet the £250m return

[Ken92]

What made us so unbeatable back then was our defence and our aggressive press in midfield , with everyone swarming round the opposition player with the ball like angry bees. They were so at it . We scored for fun and then shut up shop at the back if they got past midfield , Dino conceding free kicks in non dangerous areas, Laporte as a solid defender and Walker flying back . This season our defence has been woeful. and has looked threadbare and makeshift . Injuries I know but this has to improve with better pressure on the ball and more pace. Oh , and watching Mahrez's first touch and instinctive shooting was sublime . Such a contrast with our current RW.

Yeah , defence and pressing have been pretty poor. Pressing definetly needs to get better and Haaland needs to improve in that area a lot. Peps teams have never been particurarly good at defending, his teams just wont concede much cause of high ball possesion and winning the ball back with great pressing.

 

[urban genie]

why he is right? - even Pep said it

Pep says a lot that he doesn't mean.

 

[theres only one carlito]

Finished a massive 3pts behind Arsenal lol

Injuries helped kill us off, Stones 11 games Ake 10 games Rodri 3 games out all season Akanji injured a fair bit, Dias also, Walker couldn't be arsed so fucked off

Not far behind at all. We need energy in the middle and quality full backs that will help our wingers out. 3/4 decent signings and we'll win the title back next season.

Foden, Grealish non existent aswell. We really did hit a wall this season.

 

[decmancity]

why he is right? - even Pep said it

If Pep said the sky was blue and the grass was green, id go and check myself.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Foden, Grealish non existent aswell. We really did hit a wall this season.

The same wall Liverpool also hit after they won the quad, beating Madrid in Paris ;)

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Imo the system wrecked itself. We compress teams to play tiki taka, but then have a striker who can only work in space, and who's such a goal threat all our wingers are there to do is beat a man and square it to him.

I still don't think better wingers, with the same age or potential as Savio and Doku are out there for us. If they ended up being understudies to Marmoush and possibly Rordrygo that'd be more than good enough for me.

Been out.
Tempted to have stopped reading at "tika taka", but - to continue, we had a perfect system as proved by complete domination. We've watered down the elite players playing this - also Rodri out and the aging process haven't helped. You keep going on about wingers and how good they are compared to others - I disagree - they are also one dimensional with little end product. Should never have been in the market for them - I maintain their inclusion wrecked the system we were perfecting and also, I believe, unsettled some players unnecessarily.

 

[robbieh]

Been out.
Tempted to have stopped reading at "tika taka" but - to continue, we had a perfect system as proved by complete domination. We've watered down the elite players playing this - also Rodri out and the aging process haven't helped. You keep going on about wingers and how good they are compared to others - I disagree - they are also one dimensional with little end product. Should never have been in the market for them - I maintain their inclusion wrecked the system we were perfecting and also, I believe, unsettled some players unnecessarily.

I think we bought these players as despite Haaland shed load of goals it's quite obvious to me that he's not a great fit for our traditional game and so we tried to change it up a bit. I agree it's left us a bit confused.

 

[City Raider]

Love watching Doku until the moment he has to pass or shoot. He just doesn’t have good decision making and that isn’t something that suddenly gets better. We need someone to weigh in with Mahrez numbers.

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Their 5th best player this season. Their 2 centre backs, goalie and Chris wood purple patch were much more important. When those failed, so did forest.

Totally agree, great central defensive pairing and their keeper has been the best shot stopper in the league for me.

 

[comiskey33]

Love watching Doku until the moment he has to pass or shoot. He just doesn’t have good decision making and that isn’t something that suddenly gets better. We need someone to weigh in with Mahrez numbers.

just a slightly more refined adama traore

 

[NQCitizen]

Been out.
Tempted to have stopped reading at "tika taka" but - to continue, we had a perfect system as proved by complete domination. We've watered down the elite players playing this - also Rodri out and the aging process haven't helped. You keep going on about wingers and how good they are compared to others - I disagree - they are also one dimensional with little end product. Should never have been in the market for them - I maintain their inclusion wrecked the system we were perfecting and also, I believe, unsettled some players unnecessarily.

Tbf I do agree with elements of that, but found the summer where we prioritised excellent ball-carriers in Kovacic, Nunes, Doku then didn't play remotely that way surprised me in general.

I feel the system this year has been very stodgy just to build that platform to nip counter attacks in the bud after those few weeks where literally anyone just ran straight through the middle of us.

For what it's worth I think Doku is great in a limited role and is a bit of a blunt tool to get the job done. Savio on the other hand has more finesse, depth and creativity to his game and with the right nurturing could be as good a winger has we've had. Not saying he's guaranteed to be, but it's definitely not potential I'd sacrifice easily.

 

[WRicko]

Hope not.....neither are anywhere near his level - esp MGW

Which Kev this years Kev was poor

 

[richards30]

Pep can say what he likes but im sure @Gumzy97 mentioned previously that Viana if he feels things need ripped up and started again then that’s what he does! If Gundogan, Bernardo and Kovacic are all here next season then they will start even over new signings? We need to go hard this summer as we’ve fallen way behind and the dippers have nicked our top target to replace our best ever player?

 

[Gumzy97]

Pep can say what he likes but im sure @Gumzy97 mentioned previously that Viana if he feels things need ripped up and started again then that’s what he does! If Gundogan, Bernardo and Kovacic are all here next season then they will start even over new signings? We need to go hard this summer as we’ve fallen way behind and the dippers have nicked our top target to replace our best ever player?

Yeah I read up on how he transformed Sporting , they had a couple of old players on high wages with years left on their deals and he sold them in one summer. Brought in young talented players.

"Viana, however, has not built a career on the back of friendships. He is willing to be ruthless and take risks. He quit Belenenses after falling out with the president and sacked coaches with great regularity in his early days at Sporting in the hope of finding the right formula."

"He is regarded as good to deal with, a clear communicator, and honest in his assessments in the market, and is helped by a strong relationship with the agent Jorge Mendes."

Taken from a report about him at Sporting

 

[decmancity]

Love watching Doku until the moment he has to pass or shoot. He just doesn’t have good decision making and that isn’t something that suddenly gets better. We need someone to weigh in with Mahrez numbers.

I suggest you go and check the stats of Mahrez at the same age, throw in Salah etc also.

 

[citytill1die84]

Foden, Grealish non existent aswell. We really did hit a wall this season.

Exactly mate. Injuries, tiredness after 4 years of absolute graft all things considered 3rd is pretty impressive :-)

 

[MCFC ISRAEL]

Embarrassing.

I’d really appreciate it if you could explain why you think this is embarrassing. I stand by my opinion—Liverpool and Arsenal are currently better than us, and I think most of us can see that.

Yes, on paper, I might take only one or two Arsenal players, but when it comes to how Liverpool &Arsenal plays-their energy, high press, pace, and rock solid defense-they’re ahead. Our squad doesn’t seem to have the legs anymore to play that kind of intense style. We need to invest and bring in new talent. It’s not about the names on the team sheet. Maybe that’s exactly why we’re falling short. Liverpool just won the title and are about to add one of the hottest players in Europe, Wirtz. Compare that to us after the 2023 treble-we didn’t reinforce properly. What barely worked last season wasn’t enough this year.

If we don’t invest in world-class players-and with all due respect, I’m not talking about signings like MGW-the gap will only get bigger. Arsenal will strengthen; give them a proper number 9 and they’re title contenders. Chelsea will spend now that they’re in CL, and Newcastle will continue building too. Next season won’t be easy. There’s this overconfidence, this illusion that we’ll always be in the title race no matter what. Maybe this is why we started another season without a Rodri replacement, without preparing for Walker's eventual exit, relying again on Stones and Aké who’ve been more injured than available, and not bringing in a striker to cover for Alvarez (besides Marmoush in January)-it all came back to bite us.

That doesn’t make me any less of a fan than anyone else here. But we need to be honest-this year we were very mediocre., and if not for our strong start, we might have even missed out on the top five. Major improvement is needed.

 

[simon23]

Which Kev this years Kev was poor

doesnt matter.... we are not trying to replace this years KDB...we are trying to improve the squad overall and he doesnt do it...if we keep trying to make excuses we will go backwards.

Scousers lose TAA - they get a adequate replacement
Scousers know their other fullback is losing the level require - they go and get possibly the best replacement possible
They win the league - they are at the front of the pack for the best young creative midfielder out there.

This is how you maintain standards - making excuses that someone like MGW is better than KDB in his last season after significant injuries is just that - making excuses...
The real question is, is he any better than KDB or ANY midfielder centrally we have had over the last decade. -the answer is simply no
Does any top team in europe go for him - no

 

[decmancity]

I’d really appreciate it if you could explain why you think this is embarrassing. I stand by my opinion—Liverpool and Arsenal are currently better than us, and I think most of us can see that.

Yes, on paper, I might take only one or two Arsenal players, but when it comes to how Liverpool &Arsenal plays-their energy, high press, pace, and rock solid defense-they’re ahead. Our squad doesn’t seem to have the legs anymore to play that kind of intense style. We need to invest and bring in new talent. It’s not about the names on the team sheet. Maybe that’s exactly why we’re falling short. Liverpool just won the title and are about to add one of the hottest players in Europe, Wirtz. Compare that to us after the 2023 treble-we didn’t reinforce properly. What barely worked last season wasn’t enough this year.

If we don’t invest in world-class players-and with all due respect, I’m not talking about signings like MGW-the gap will only get bigger. Arsenal will strengthen; give them a proper number 9 and they’re title contenders. Chelsea will spend now that they’re in CL, and Newcastle will continue building too. Next season won’t be easy. There’s this overconfidence, this illusion that we’ll always be in the title race no matter what. Maybe this is why we started another season without a Rodri replacement, without preparing for Walker's eventual exit, relying again on Stones and Aké who’ve been more injured than available, and not bringing in a striker to cover for Alvarez (besides Marmoush in January)-it all came back to bite us.

That doesn’t make me any less of a fan than anyone else here. But we need to be honest-this year we were very mediocre., and if not for our strong start, we might have even missed out on the top five. Major improvement is needed.

We've had our worst season in a decade and Arsenal have barely finished above us, Liverpool within several games also. What about them is so frightening?

As for not strengthening after a treble, where exactly were we supposed to strengthen? and for the record, we then went and won another title.

Wirtz could be great, could be shit. Who knows. Could be a 100m albatross round their necks next year along with the Salah and Van Dijk contracts which could well be a ticking time bomb at their age.

Arsenal will strengthen, been hearing that since Arteta walked through the door, 700m later and hes done nothing.

Chelsea already spend hundreds of millions, scraped into the CL spots, what about them is different?

It's not overconfidence, its confidence built on several years of winning. Something no one else in the league comes close to. Write this club off at your peril.

Yeah we had a shit year, everyone knows it. Where were Liverpool last year, nowhere close.

 

[youngbob]

Okay, so let's say all five signings we're linked with come off

Ederson
LIVRAMENTO, Dias, Gvardiol, AIT-NOURI
Rodri
GIBBS-WHITE, REIJNDERS
Foden, Haaland, Marmoush

COSTA
Nunes, Khusanov, Akanji, O'Reilly (Lewis)
Kovacic
Bernardo, N.Gonzalez (Gundogan)
Savinho, Bobb, Doku

OUT: Ortega (£10m), Stones (£15-20m), Ake (£25-30m), McAtee (£20-25m), De Bruyne (£0), Perrone (£25m)
LOANS: Walker, Grealish, Bah, Reis, Echeverri, Phillips.

Looks promising to me. Let's confirm top four more comfortably next season and give it a better go in all the cups.