Reading through this thread, quite a few are looking a tad silly now.
This thread is actually a good insight into the psychology of many posters. When we weren't doing well, people were looking for something or someone to blame. They associated our success with the outgoing Arteta, and the failings with the incoming Lillo. Many posts were lacking in thought, and the ones that didn't were lacking in insight.
But the truth is, nobody really knew what either did. We know bits and pieces, but not really much. Even now, I'd say the same. Chances are, they both have had positive impacts, but ultimately the buck stops at Pep, good and bad.
In fairness, it's no different to a player thread. Most don't really know the depth of what they critique. Some do, but they're rare. They call what they see, and in fairness, sometimes that matches up, but really a lot of it is the tip of the iceberg. There's so much going on under the surface that makes things way more complex than we can appreciate. It means we miss when underperforming players are doing better, and also sometimes we might argue players are doing better than they actually are.
If there's one lesson from threads like these, it's that maybe we should chill out on rushing to make judgements with a club that has had unprecedented success these last few years. I'm not saying don't call a spade a spade, whether you'd be right or wrong there'd be a discussion to be had. Just maybe don't jump in to say that the spade will never be a useful tool in our locker at every opportunity.
