Which manager signed Rodri, Mendy, Walker, Gundogan, Stones and Cancelo?
At the end of the day we are not talking about old players at the end of their careers or players Pep inherited when he joined the club. We are talking about players who Pep signed, or at least gave his approval, who cannot play his system anymore.
De Bruyne looked like he couldn’t be arsed running back today and look at the state of the first penalty Leicester got awarded.
Both Dinho and Mahrez fail to win the ball but they also fail to make the foul. We were renowned for the tactical fouling dark arts but it seems the players cannot even be arsed to do that anymore.
The real stupidity of this side, and this must come from the tactics, is the lack of defensive responsibility. Again, going back to the first Leicester penalty, Rodri is running forwards before Dinho has even won the ball. His though isn’t to cover our defence, it’s to potentially start an attack. This attitude is the epitome of why we cannot defend for shit.
Just look at our PL record over the past 12 months, I’m pretty sure we’ve lost more PL games than Arsenal and United, if not it must be close. That’s despite being the most prolific side. Then there’s the constant repetition in the CL where we cannot defend against bang average sides like Spurs and Lyon who knock us out.
Pep quite simply has to change things and get us sorted at the back. If he insists on playing his way, we’ll be in a fight for the top 4.
