OK, let's be realistic

[TonyM]

No. This is never the answer. Not to insult you personally mate as this isn't targeted but it's typically English cowardice that has cost this country development and trophies for decades. Any time things get a bit dicey then we've got to go back to defensive blocks and hard tackle and direct football because that will get us results. It doesn't get results.

And to think that a man like Pep Guardiola will EVER abandon the principles that made him one of the world's most successful ever managers and certainly the most influential manager of the last 50 years is bonkers. Pep has consistently shown that when his ideas aren't working, he does them more not less, and that's the correct thing to do.

I think it is sometimes the answer. Play a possession game in our half and be ready to attack with speed into space.

In our current setup we have no space and when there is our defenders are afraid to send it because the margin for error is so small.

Imo (and that's a it is) we commit far tok many people forward to do very little. It made sense when we had genius players to feed them but they don't exist anymore. And it made sense when our opposition was clueless as to how defend this system but since everyone copied it they all know now how to stop it.

Pep surely can't just stick with this way of playing. It is no longer effective for us.

 

[MCFCTrick]

We all thought Gundo coming back was a masterstroke but it's not paid off at all, he looks finished tbqh.

I don't believe for a minute he was expected to have to step in and play so many games.
But injuries have necessitated it.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

We need major, major surgery but unfortunately it looks as though it will be very difficult to get the kind of players to make a difference in January.

Oh, honestly, I'd say you can forget that right here right now. It's not going to happen. We might get a couple of fairly decent players who, hopefully, will stem the hemorrage more or less. You don't get marquee players of the very highest level in January. January will be stopgap purchases, at best. Then two (hopefully- three) genuine top class players, please, for next summer.
I don't say I like all this — the United loss makes me genuinely angry, because they are shite, I don't care what anybody says, the Feyenoord draw was very nearly as bad — but I can live with it if, as I say, there are signs of a serious rethink from Pep and his coaching staff after the New Year, and recruitments to replace at least three players, arguably four, who have been wonderful servants for the club but whose race, I'm afraid, is run. Reluctantly, I now think of Johnny as one of them. Not because he's old, but because you simply can't be carrying a player who is fully fit so very rarely. But that discussion is for another thread.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I don`t think anyone could see this fall from grace so quickly and its been a shock to the system for one and all.
I don`t blame individuals as IMO I believe its been a collective thing from the Powers That Be in the corridors of The Etihad, Coaches and the Players.
Lets just stand back for a while and take stock of how and why this has happened. Obviously the main problem has been injuries and long term ones for quite a few players but Rodders is the main problem as its near impossible to find anyone like him currently. Pep for whatever reasons has kept faith with some of "old brigade" for too long now so both himself and Txiki are culpable of not strengthening the squad, certainly this season.
Its certainly come back to bite Pep on the arse with using a small squad. We then look at the roles of Soriano and our wonderful Khaldoon. Have they taken their eyes off what could happen and been too over confident ?
And finally the Players. Lets be honest and I would say that the majority of Blues were delighted with the return of Gundo at that time. Certainly I was.Players like Walker, KDB,Gundo and Stones, just to name but a few are possibly well past their sell by date, but we shouldn`t forget their loyalty and how they formed this wonderful team.
The drop of Phil Foden is alarming and that to could be said of Bernie plus the drop off can be said of young Lewis after some very promising performances last season. Two or three of our signings have been underwhelming and perhaps we bought in panic mode, who knows.
So finally we have been on a wonderful journey over the past 8 seasons or so and all good things must come to an end eventually. I think the majority of Blues knew this journey wouldn`t continue ... but by the same token I don`t think we thought we would end up falling off a cliff so rapidly.
Who knows what the outcome will be on this season but lets not forget that should we not reach those top 4 positions then we will lose out on attracting the top players.
Fingers crossed.

Great post oakie. I've just posted something similar on a WhatsApp group There's no one person to blame for this it's a collective failure from top to bottom. In the boardroom, the executive suite, Pep and the players.

• CFG is one. It's Soriano's vanity project and I believe has diverted attention from things that should have been done to keep us at the top. The cost is high and the benefit minimal.
• City is the jewel in the crown of CFG but we don't have a dedicated CEO or COO, while the other clubs have theirs, who are solely focused on one club. How many clubs are Soriano and Roel de Vries focused on?
• Txiki Begiristain has seemingly been counting the days to retirement. Our recruitment has been sub-par for a club with our ambition and stature.
• One clear failure was not being ruthless after the CL final. A focused approach would have seen that the squad was getting older, and maybe needed some younger, hungrier players taking the place of those who had won everything and were in the latter years of their careers. Yet we're still watching players like KDB & Stones struggling for fitness, Walker losing his pace and any resemblance to a defender. Bernardo is strolling through games, producing nothing. We don't have a left back so we're reduced to playing Nunes.
• Pep has to take a lot of the blame. His insistence on a small squad has meant injuries have killed us and even when fil, players are being run into the ground, leading to more injuries. They're not getting time to recover.
• Pep has turned us from a team that played the fast, incisive, one-touch football we played in 2017/18 and the following seasons, into the plodding, painful shambles we are now, with no organisation, intensity, accuracy or pressing. Teams, even average teams, play through us so easily. Does he have any answers? It doesn't look like it, as he can't seem to pick the players up or getting them playing anywhere near to the standard they should be. Perhaps the players have lost faith in him, or he has lost his mojo. Either way, we can't carry on like this.
• And then there are the players. We've seen players lose form and confidence temporarily but others have shouldered the burden until they've recovered. But no one seems to have any confidence or shows any leadership. The players all used to know where their teammates were, where they needed to be and what they needed to do. Now they're a disorganised shambles and no one is ever in the right place. They're making schoolboy errors. Our pass accuracy used to be incredible but now we can't seemingly find a blue shirt. Rather than being a well-drilled unit, we're eleven scared individuals.

This isn't a blip, or just needs a bit of a refresh to put things back to where they were. It's a full-scale crisis that needs some radical and long-term thinking. Khaldoon needs to bang some heads together and shake things up. And if that means some senior executives, coaching staff and players bear the brunt, then so be it.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Always have ,haven't we ?
summert the deluge of plastics will know nowt about over the last 10 years or so.

Think of it this way — at least that abomination of half-and-half scarf wearers will drain away fairly quickly. One hopes. Every cloud etc.

 

[Maccblue]

I’m still in Birmingham drinking heavily regardless!!!!

 

[carlosthejackal]

Think of it this way — at least that abomination of half-and-half scarf wearers will drain away fairly quickly. One hopes. Every cloud etc.

Very true but and sadly it’s a big but, the club’s business plan relies on the tourists and jcl brigade

 

[wattle]

Last summers window was the catalyst for me, a dire effort with a measly 20m spent on a winger we didn't really need. We all thought Gundo coming back was a masterstroke but it's not paid off at all, he looks finished tbqh. But we needed more and for whatever reason we decided that would do, we all knew it wasn't enough but the powers that be saw different. It really has come back to bite us

Gundo would look fine next to Rodri. That’s what he was bought for

 

[wattle]

Very true but and sadly it’s a big but, the club’s business plan relies on the tourists and jcl brigade

I’d rather have a shit team
and proper fans than that lot

 

[marco]

the only positive is we know its not for the foreseeable, we have a fantastic set up at the Etihad, we have owners that will act and invest immediately as soon as possible, although shocked at how quick the rot has set in i'm quite looking forward to the next chapter ''The Rebuild'' its going to be exciting times ahead and the only man for the Job is Pep, even Pep himself would have learned from this, look to the near future blues yes we write this season off but we go again in 25/26 with fresh legs