Yes, this my point really, a full squad of good/top players (not elite, because who is elite these days?)Not really the point, we can only add 2 players to the current squad,only 1 if Echeverri is registered. Shoulsd we ,yes, but 1 or 2 players is hardly going to be a huge difference. The difference will come in the summer when some of the older players are replaced.
Pep Guardiola on the fixture calendar: "It made me reflect that maybe you need a squad of 25 or 30 players. It would be more difficult financially for the club, but today we are going to play the Club World Cup in summer for three weeks, start again the Premier League, and maybe we have to have more depth of squad..."
Ffs!!! Well duhhhhhh!!
Watched the game again and I start to question if Pep has lost (part of) the dressing room.
New decade mate, our squad is ageing , imagine that!Ffs.
His idea of having a small squad has delivered us the most succesful squad of the last decade.
Now we've had a bad two months, suddenly you think he should have come round to your thinking?
New decade mate, our squad is ageing , imagine that!
Our core squad that consistently won titles is performing at a significantly lower level, whether it be due to age/injuries or fatigue.
Kdb huge drop-off/recurring injury
Ake, consistently injured
Stones, less said the better.
Bernardo, looks disinterested and fatigued.
Gundo, legs have gone
Walker, fooking shite.
Akanji, being overplayed.
Rodri, career threatening injury, needs 6 months after returning just to get back to his level( going to be stop-start for him next season)
So yes, it was clear that the increased fixture list would take its toll on an ageing squad, and we should've been better prepared.
Yes. but that's more balance and quality than actual squad size.It needs addressing but it will mainly be done in the summer,not next month, because we need players to leave which will be the summer.Yes, this my point really, a full squad of good/top players (not elite, because who is elite these days?)
So players like Nunes, Kova should be replaced, Walker for sure, question marks over Stones, Ederson and Grealish.
Most likely he will be left off,unless the club believe he'll be available April /May.one more if Rodri comes off the CL list (i assume he will)
"New decade? Did I have a longer sleep than normal"New decade? Did I have a longer sleep than normal?
Could have sworn we won the league last year, and the three before that? Also winning a treble, 100 points, setting record after record.
All with a small squad.
But now after two bad months, where injuries have affected the team, you suddenly know more than Pep.
Oh, and Walker is not fucking shite, your posts are.
It's not a fake narrative that we have one win in 10 though, or that we are now in the worst run of form in the last 20 years and also in peps managerial career.Sure it’s easy to pick holes after watching the game back again. Pep was doing what he thought best in game.
I have seen him react the exact same way when winning games easily.
I would suggest you stop trying to be a football sleuth, creating false narrative that bear no resemblance to real life.
Injures
Small squad
Bad recruitment
Aging superstars who can’t play 90 min press
It will all settle down and the squad will be better for it next season.
Accept it or make up fake narrative.
I suspect this season is a dud. Cant see us fixing it in Jan. But to mention your point, it's balance/quality and quantity because I think next season we need:Yes. but that's more balance and quality than actual squad size.It needs addressing but it will mainly be done in the summer,not next month, because we need players to leave which will be the summer.
"New decade? Did I have a longer sleep than normal"
Probably did, your take is awful.
Pep has now admitted that a small squad can longer work, and im saying the signs where there at the beginning of last season.
Why was there only one DM in the squad? Why wasn't Rodri protected, KDB had injury issues last season (our main creator) Why didn't we look into a similar player to bring in? Paqueta deal went dead and we signed Nunes, wtf.
Club-world cup, two years running, carabao, expanded UCL and Pep is crying "I can't wait to have my players back" blah blah blah. They're getting injuries because they're playing to many games! How hard is that to understand.
It wasn't 'rhetorical' it was an admission.He mentioned it, as a rhetorical question.
Pep is crying? Ffs. The ego on you!!
I can only think you're a teenager to be thinking this way.
Ignore him, he is a wumlol.
Mid table lolololIt's not a fake narrative that we have one win in 10 though, or that we are now in the worst run of form in the last 20 years and also in peps managerial career.
He is undoubtedly also partly responsible for this run of form/downturn - he's done nothing in the last 6 weeks to stem the issues that we have been constantly seeing, many on here were adamant crying out that he'd find and develop solutions but that hasn't happened so he should rightly be questioned.
What he's done and achieved for us is astounding but so is what's happening with us right now. If it's the state of the squad/ players that's the issue is it not his job to adapt and set up to play to their strengths? As opposed to flogging a system which is obviously no longer working.
Very easy to say it will 'settle down' but will it? If nothing changes all I can see is us settling down to finish mid table at best.
Thanks for clearing all that up for us. I’ll say, your doctorate and many published papers on body language didn’t go to waste.Watched the game again and I start to question if Pep has lost (part of) the dressing room.
Some players did not look like believing the game plan themselves.
Some player's body languages particularly in the 2nd half were very ... off... including our star players like Halaand and KDB.
KDB and (even) Bernado stopped tracking back and did not show remot interest to do it around 70min. We were still only 1 down.
Pressing was off except in part of first half.
Bernado asked Lewis to listen to instructions as early as first minutes of 1st half. Lewis looked not interested. Bernado seemed not happy.
Grealish and Doku were visually upset about Josko's passing at times when they got ignored.
Pep shouted to the bench and asked Savio on when Doku lost his ball seconds before Juve scored their 2nd goal.
Gundo looked like he wanted to kill Walker.
KDB was ...just walking on the pitch after 60min.
I mean... we fans were disappointed when we saw the lineup with certain players. Would not the dressing room feel the same?
New decade? Did I have a longer sleep than normal?
Could have sworn we won the league last year, and the three before that? Also winning a treble, 100 points, setting record after record.
All with a small squad.
But now after two bad months, where injuries have affected the team, you suddenly know more than Pep.
Oh, and Walker is not fucking shite, your posts are.
Walker is shite, it’s not nice to say but the truth is he is, he’s statistically the worst right back in the prem this season. He’s lost every dual with a winger and is having the worst season of his entire premier league career.
No he's not shite.
He's been the best RB in the league for years.
A bad half season doesn't change that. Ordinarly he would have been rested but he can't because the rest of the defenders can't stay fit.
How quickly some of you turn on the players who have brought you all the success we've had.
Let's split the difference.. he's 34 and at that age.. not everyone ages like Ferna did. When everyone is young, in their prime.. just losing 1/2 a second is all you need to be ineffective.
It happened to someone I love - Ayme Laporte too. And he willingly sacrificed his knee so that we could get the 2022 title and played injured. I will never forget that!
Sadly not everyone retires in their prime. So it happens to everyone and forces Pep to make painful decisions.
Thing is Kompany knew his body was getting injured too much and retired! He didn't let a decline happen. We all felt he shoulda signed a contract for another year but kudo's to him to go out on top.Ok, every player ages at some point.
Does that make Kompany shite? Or Fernandinho? How about KDB?
The abuse of players and even of Pep at times on this site, because of two bad months, has been pretty shocking to me.