Had to give this a day to gather my thoughts on our season and this performance...
I am going to be brutally honest, but i don't care, need to get it off my chest...
Firstly, Pep played the wrong team. He played a very cautious team. Playing a midfield of Gundogan, Fernandinho and Rodri is a recipe for disaster, such a passive midfield with no progression and no intent on getting forward and finding pockets of space to give the opposition more to think about defensively. You could see the apprehenion and tentativeness setting into the players during the first 5-10 mins. The first goal was coming after how we started, we didn't get on the ball, we didn't take the game to Lyon, we got what we deserved.
This is a team who finished 7th in a so called "farmers" league, what did Pep have to be scared about? Why does he turn into Mourinho when we play in the CL? Should have stuck to what we are good at and that is playing football, pressing high from the front and taking the game to the opposition.
There is something wrong with this club when we play in this competition, i just think our mentally is so weak, we just don't have the belief. Pep takes full blame for me, but even if we played an attacking team, would we have won the game? I am not so sure. We seem to crumble under pressure in this competition, especially when we are the big favourites. We are complete novices in this competition and as a team, we will only require complete respect from the rest of the world if we are to play like a big team in this competition and win it. If we never win this competition and carry on playing as we are, we won't be respected for our achievements, that is the sad reality.
Will we win the league next season? I don't think we will. I am sorry guys, but i am thinking with my head and not my heart this time.
1) We play a ridiculously high line, one ball through the middle or over the top beats the entire defence if we stand in a straight line. This needs really tweaking as we look so amateurish at the back, but Pep is unbelievably stubborn and he won't tweak his tactics. Why can't we have one or two defenders dropping off in a sweeper role so we aren't leaving ourselves so exposed at the back?
2) Pep tinkers the team too much and we can never find our rhythm.
3) Our biggest rivals Liverpool have a set way of playing. They play literally the same team every game and every single player knows their job. They are solid at the back, very mobile in midfield and have very good players on the wings who open teams up for fun. I just don't see us competing with them unless we change MASSIVELY.
4) We have lost 13 league games over two seasons, whilst Liverpool have lost 4 over 2 seasons. We are too easy to beat, too easy to play against. It is almost as if teams have figured out how to play against us and how to beat the press.
5) The midfield certainly needs tweaking. Fernandinho is getting on and Gundogan doesn't provide us with the energy required. It really frustrates me that Pep never wants to play Bernardo Silva in a CM role like he did when De Bruyne was out injured last season. It worked perfectly last season, why has Pep changed the system now and opted for Gundogan to play more games in this position? A midfield of Gundogan & Rodri/Fernandinho just doesn't work for me.
To sum it up, i am just incredibly frustrated. We need to stop pissing about and buy a quality left back, get Koulibaly in and bring in another midfield player like Aouar. The squad is going a bit stale at the moment and the obvious weaknesses are so glaring. As much as i love Pep, i don't understand how he is not seeing that.
And to top it off... If Thiago goes to Liverpool, i will be absolutely fuming. That is pretty much the league wrapped up for them.
We need to really pull our fingers out in the market and on the training pitch... NOW. Pep needs to stop being so stubborn and we need to bring in a top defensive coach who can organise the back 4, the high line we are playing just isn't working at all.
