The Pep era at City is coming up an end, so the CL would be a great capstone on a wonderful career in England!
However, it may come before we win EITHER the CL or the PL again!!!
Heresy, eh?!
The balance of the team is off at the same time as players are going through what looks like a tired, almost rote passing structure, period.
We have become even slower and more predictable in our patterns of play, with the lack of speed and penetration against the usual 5-4-1/5-5-0 defences making us look lost for ideas.
This is when swinging the ball in from the flanks, even if it is the FB or midfielder, not the winger, is needed. Haaland has the chance to get on the end of it, there’s always the loose knockdown, and any real clearance gets immediately recycled because there’s no out ball for the opposition.
Hate to even utter the words, but back in the day Fergie and Utd did this for the last 10-15 mins of every game they weren’t already winning, and the intense pressure usually paid off.
For long stretches of games, we look devoid of the crisp passing and forward movement that has been the hallmark of the last few years. We have players who, in many cases, look to be having their creative genius beaten out of them, because Pep never wants to lose the ball, because his forward overload leaves us exposed at the back WITHOUT THE LEGS TO GET BACK!
For me, it’s why Rodri has been our star man for a couple of seasons now. Without him, we look a shadow of the team we have looked over the last 5 years…and key players are 5 yrs older!
I have no idea why Pep has KDB shagging himself senseless chasing the ball upfront when they have the extra man and the rest of the team isn’t pressing? Kev looks tired, is regularly getting yanked and rested, and (apart from a few highlights) also looks a shadow of the player who was named best midfielder in the world and #3 player in the world a few months ago!
Personally, I think Pep needs some new ideas, an injection of pace and strength in midfield, and some less robotic patterns of play.
Make no mistake, he has literally reinvented football in England! Now, every team requires a keeper with feet as good as his hands. Every team plays out from the back and is willing to give up the occasional suicide pass across the box. Every team knows that possession of the ball is the best defensive measure there is.
Pep’s problem is that he gad been here so long that EVERYBODY knows the patterns now. Every decent opposition coach knows we are susceptible to the quick counter. Every coach knows that if they can be very organized and get close to us high up the field, then we struggle to break through the lines create overloads further up the pitch. And, if we fo break through the press, then if they simply collapse into a well organized 5-4-1, we seem happy to just shuffle the ball from left to right to left again with our CBs for minutes on end.
One of Haaland’s greatest strengths, apart from his ability to crash the box and find the target, is his speed and strength in behind. The pace of our play negates at least half of his considerable attributes, reduces his opportunities to score, and makes him an easier weapon to pocket.
We need something. I think it’s pace and a return to solidity throughout the team. For me, that requires 2-3 big, strong, fast midfielders that can transition (in both directions!) much quicker than our current choices. I think Foden is an absolute waste on the wing and it nullifies his greatest attributes by making him an 80% back passer.
No-one knows the “best XI” for almost any game anymore, yet when we do see the line-up, we all see where the weakness will be for that game.
To be honest, I’m wondering if Pep whether Kompany or even a Pochetino might be given the purse strings for next season. That might be heresy, and even slightly hyperbolic, given where we are and how much we still have to play for (a Treble!), but the players are starting to look stale, the movements programmed and rote, and the results have been uninspiring for quite a while, with the possible exception of the 45 mins against Spurs…when we picked up the pace, attacked at speed, and looked a bit like the City of yesterday!
Maybe, Pep gets to spend the money to bring in the names we need, Vinny gets some PL coaching under his belt, and Pep walks away with his extra year extension pay as a loyalty bonus for not coaching for a year and never coaching in England again?!
For me, Pep needs to either sit down and rethink his patterns of play, and the “possession at all costs” during the off season OR realize his ascent and domination of English football is on the wane and take a sabbatical before moving on to a new challenge elsewhere.
He seems PERFECT for the Italian game to me, which is slower, more technical, and perhaps more suited to his current mindset.
He asks, and the opposition fans love the song, why the Etihad is like a library at times. It’s because for long stretches of the game recently, there has been nothing to get excited about! When the team plays at pace and looks up for it, the crowd mirrors that energy…and the on field performances have generally lacked that energy for the last few months.
In my mind, BIG changes are coming, because Khaldoon and Mansour want to maintain this commercial gravy train and it requires winning silverware and going deep in the PL & CL. The squad overhaul is going to be massive, and 3 “names” have already left! At least 3 more will be gone by the start of next season, if not more!
Whether Pep is going to do that or someone else remains to be seen. He certainly has the drawing power to get the players in, but will they be the right players for the next guy?
2023 will be an interesting year, and 3024 might even be more so!
