Perspective (2026 Edition)

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MCFC1993

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I guess a thread for people to say, 'we've been shit but...'

Easy to get carried away with the crock of shit the last 2 games have been and I am definitely guilty of it.

Absentees
The absentees are killing us though.

That Dias-Gvardiol double injury was a big blow.
If that's Saliba-Gabriel, Arsenal are struggling, infact the pair of them have missed 3 league games together this season, dropped points in 2 of them.

The last 2 games I don't think we've even fielded 6 of our strongest XI in either game, if we say the current best XI is something like this:
--------Donnarumma
Nunes--Dias--Guehi--O'Reilly
-------Rodri----Nico G
Semenyo--Cherki-----Doku
-----------Haaland

5 started against United, 5 started against Bodo/Glimt, that does matter. It's even less if you include Gvardiol. Arsenal have been managing to get 8-10 of their best XI out there in recent weeks.

Tactics
The tactics haven't been great in the last 2 but they weren't designed for the current injury problems we have. The current side can't play that way.

We need to adapt and hopefully ride out the rough part of the season without too much damage.

Reality is it probably won't work properly again until we can field Dias & Guehi at centre back. So we're talking end of February.

It's been shit but...
I think if we're being entirely fair we have to judge it when these are back:
Nunes
Dias
Guehi (eligibility)
Stones (unlikely!)
Gonzalez
Semenyo (eligibility)
Ait-Nouri (up to speed from AFCON)
Marmoush (up to speed from AFCON)
Rodri (up to speed from long term injury)
Gvardiol (unfortunately can't wait for him)

Again we're probably talking mid-late February.


Summary - Not trying to be a happy clapper, we've been shit but it's 2 games and there are extenuating circumstances.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Easy to get carried away with the crock of shit the last 2 games have been and I am definitely guilty of it.

Absentees
The absentees are killing us though.

That Dias-Gvardiol double injury was a big blow.
If that's Saliba-Gabriel, Arsenal are struggling, infact the pair of them have missed 3 league games together this season, dropped points in 2 of them.

The last 2 games I don't think we've even fielded 6 of our strongest XI in either game, if we say the current best XI is something like this:
--------Donnarumma
Nunes--Dias--Guehi--O'Reilly
-------Rodri----Nico G
Semenyo--Cherki-----Doku
-----------Haaland

5 started against United, 5 started against Bodo/Glimt, that does matter. Arsenal have been managing to get 8-10 of their best XI out there in recent weeks.

Tactics
The tactics haven't been great in the last 2 but they weren't designed for the current injury problems we have. The current side can't play that way.

We need to adapt and hopefully ride out the rough part of the season without too much damage.

Reality is it probably won't work properly again until we can field Dias & Guehi at centre back. So we're talking end of February.

It's been shit but...
I think if we're being entirely fair we have to judge it when these are back:
Nunes
Dias
Guehi (eligibility)
Stones (unlikely!)
Gonzalez
Semenyo (eligibility)
Ait-Nouri (up to speed from AFCON)
Marmoush (up to speed from AFCON)
Rodri (up to speed from long term injury)

Again we're probably talking mid-late February.


Summary - Not trying to be a happy clapper, we've been shit but it's 2 games and there are extenuating circumstances.
Click to expand...

Prepare to get pelted. Nobody wants that sort of balance and perspective!
 
I had three main targets for City to aim for this season:

1) Confirm a top 4 finish before the final day
2) Get the good vibes back at the club and maybe develop a new system
3) Make a better showing of ourselves in the cups

All on target so far.

I've said it many many times in the last few months and I'll say it again: if 24-25 was a repeat of Pellegrini's final season then 25-26 is likely going to be a repeat of Pep's first season. Lots of new players and lots of new ideas, which means lots of good games overall but a few really bad days at the office while things are figured out. When we beat Forest 2-1 I couldn't believe how far ahead of schedule we seemed, and thought we might be in a title race after all, but since then we've just had a harsh reality check that we're not the finished article yet.

Think about it, though. 15-16 and 24-25 were both hampered by old players, a soft centre, a fragile mentality, and the old spine struggling a bit. Back then, Hart was coming to the end, Kompany was injured, Yaya was old, Silva was injured, and only Aguero was fit. In 2025, Ederson had checked out, Dias was injured a lot, Rodri was injured for the whole season, De Bruyne got old, and only Haaland was fit. It took us three transfer windows to sort things out back then and 16-17 was largely a wildcard season while Pep figured out what his new team was going to look like. All those new ideas and all those new faces needed time to bed in and for things at City to become habitual for them. That's where we are again now. I'm willing to give Pep another 12 months, just to see what the team looks like once it's steady and stable and isn't changing every few weeks.

We won't catch Arsenal, but we were never going to catch Arsenal. I've said since the summer, the title is theirs. They're a few years into their cycle and are hitting the crest of a wave at the right time. Liverpool are still in the post-Klopp hangover, Villa won't be up for the challenge, and City are rebuilding. Well done to Arteta for getting it right at last. For City, this year was just about improving on last year (which we already have), getting the good vibes back, and trying to put something in place that we can build from. Those building blocks are only just being put into place, so we're going to have to suck up the bad days until those blocks are set.

This season will probably click in March, like 16-17 did. We'll be too far away from Arsenal to catch them in the league but we'll likely finish 2nd on about 78-79 points. That's fine by me. We'll probably have reached yet another cup final (providing we don't lose 2-0 or more to Newcastle) and we'll hopefully still be in the FA Cup by then. With that in mind, this season still has the potential to be a great one. I don't know if people got a bit giddy about us being in a title race (we weren't) and are now disappointed, but all I wanted out of this season was clear improvement on last season and we have that. For that reason, I'm not too sad about the current state of affairs.

It's worth remembering right now that we finished 2025 top of the PL annual table (based on points per game, 2.16). We don't get a trophy for that, of course, but we should take a lot of heart from it. Despite the difficulties of last season and the injuries of this season, we still managed to be the best team in the country over a 12 month period. For a club on the way back to the top, that's something to hold onto and build from. We'll have weeks like this one again soon, it's just about riding the wave until we're back at the top - whether that's under Pep or somebody else. I'm kinda thinking it'll be Pep until 2027 and then Enrique. But let's see.
 
The injury list is obviously bad and has had an effect on the last 2 games. The tactics are the problem. We played away at Arsenal and did our own version of the low block with a fast counter. We nearly won.

Why can’t we do this again, surely with the depleted squad we have it would be easier to try and protect our young inexperienced defenders and dig in a bit. Haaland, Doku, Semenyo, Cherki are all better when we move the ball quick and look to counter.

My fear is that we employ the same shit from this last week against Wolves at the weekend. Something needs to change because if it doesn’t, we will lose again.
 
In other words it’s shit, suck it up.

Pep not going anywhere.

So many changes and injuries, I expected nothing this season but got fooled after we started to look like a serious team again.

This season is gone. Next? Who knows.

As long as pep is here we be grand.
 
youngbob said:
I had three main targets for City to aim for this season:

1) Confirm a top 4 finish before the final day
2) Get the good vibes back at the club and maybe develop a new system
3) Make a better showing of ourselves in the cups

All on target so far.

I've said it many many times in the last few months and I'll say it again: if 24-25 was a repeat of Pellegrini's final season then 25-26 is likely going to be a repeat of Pep's first season. Lots of new players and lots of new ideas, which means lots of good games overall but a few really bad days at the office while things are figured out. When we beat Forest 2-1 I couldn't believe how far ahead of schedule we seemed, and thought we might be in a title race after all, but since then we've just had a harsh reality check that we're not the finished article yet.

Think about it, though. 15-16 and 24-25 were both hampered by old players, a soft centre, a fragile mentality, and the old spine struggling a bit. Back then, Hart was coming to the end, Kompany was injured, Yaya was old, Silva was injured, and only Aguero was fit. In 2025, Ederson had checked out, Dias was injured a lot, Rodri was injured for the whole season, De Bruyne got old, and only Haaland was fit. It took us three transfer windows to sort things out back then and 16-17 was largely a wildcard season while Pep figured out what his new team was going to look like. All those new ideas and all those new faces needed time to bed in and for things at City to become habitual for them. That's where we are again now. I'm willing to give Pep another 12 months, just to see what the team looks like once it's steady and stable and isn't changing every few weeks.

We won't catch Arsenal, but we were never going to catch Arsenal. I've said since the summer, the title is theirs. They're a few years into their cycle and are hitting the crest of a wave at the right time. Liverpool are still in the post-Klopp hangover, Villa won't be up for the challenge, and City are rebuilding. Well done to Arteta for getting it right at last. For City, this year was just about improving on last year (which we already have), getting the good vibes back, and trying to put something in place that we can build from. Those building blocks are only just being put into place, so we're going to have to suck up the bad days until those blocks are set.

This season will probably click in March, like 16-17 did. We'll be too far away from Arsenal to catch them in the league but we'll likely finish 2nd on about 78-79 points. That's fine by me. We'll probably have reached yet another cup final (providing we don't lose 2-0 or more to Newcastle) and we'll hopefully still be in the FA Cup by then. With that in mind, this season still has the potential to be a great one. I don't know if people got a bit giddy about us being in a title race (we weren't) and are now disappointed, but all I wanted out of this season was clear improvement on last season and we have that. For that reason, I'm not too sad about the current state of affairs.

It's worth remembering right now that we finished 2025 top of the PL annual table (based on points per game, 2.16). We don't get a trophy for that, of course, but we should take a lot of heart from it. Despite the difficulties of last season and the injuries of this season, we still managed to be the best team in the country over a 12 month period. For a club on the way back to the top, that's something to hold onto and build from. We'll have weeks like this one again soon, it's just about riding the wave until we're back at the top - whether that's under Pep or somebody else. I'm kinda thinking it'll be Pep until 2027 and then Enrique. But let's see.
Click to expand...

That's a good post, kind of what I was hoping for with the thread.
 
Jwoody19 said:
The injury list is obviously bad and has had an effect on the last 2 games. The tactics are the problem. We played away at Arsenal and did our own version of the low block with a fast counter. We nearly won.

Why can’t we do this again, surely with the depleted squad we have it would be easier to try and protect our young inexperienced defenders and dig in a bit. Haaland, Doku, Semenyo, Cherki are all better when we move the ball quick and look to counter.

My fear is that we employ the same shit from this last week against Wolves at the weekend. Something needs to change because if it doesn’t, we will lose again.
Click to expand...
Totally true. We were within a gnat's bollock of a famous win at Arsenal by acknowledging that times had changed and that we needed to dig in. We also had chances other than the goal we actually scored that day. Nobody in here can seriously believe we'd have got anything at The Emirates by playing a high line and camping in their half.
 
It is interesting that the team fielded in Norway was only 24 on average. We are a really young team now compared to last season, so there’s no doubt we are in transition. We are competing on 4 fronts but the last two results have put Premier League and Champions League in jeopardy. The signings of Guehi and Semenyo are immense, and they can play against Wolves. So one game at a time… we really must beat Wolves.
 
Can it really only be a week since I was full of joy after are performance at Newcastle. We haven't become a bad team overnight. All that matters is winning as soon as that happens again I shall be happy, please god Saturday against Wolves. Would much rather win a cup than qualify for the Champions league, so go all out against Newcastle and finish the job, after that let's see what transpires.
 
Your points a valid and correct, it's just the tactics that don't make sense

  1. Why do we have players in the squad that cannot play his tactics?
  2. If these players are required to play due to injury, surely it makes more sense to set up to adapt to them instead of the other way around? I'm sure the more experienced players would have more joy adapting to a different system for a few games
 
IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
Do injuries and the above stop our manager from seeing what we can all see after 20 minutes - the system and tactics aren't working, yet no change at all.
Click to expand...

jaiguruKun said:
Injuries to both first choice CBs in one game was incredibly bad luck however Pep has exacerbated the problem with his stupid tactics.
Click to expand...

Jwoody19 said:
The injury list is obviously bad and has had an effect on the last 2 games. The tactics are the problem. We played away at Arsenal and did our own version of the low block with a fast counter. We nearly won.

Why can’t we do this again, surely with the depleted squad we have it would be easier to try and protect our young inexperienced defenders and dig in a bit. Haaland, Doku, Semenyo, Cherki are all better when we move the ball quick and look to counter.

My fear is that we employ the same shit from this last week against Wolves at the weekend. Something needs to change because if it doesn’t, we will lose again.
Click to expand...

The tactics are fair criticism but taking a step back, available defenders:

Lewis
Khusanov
Alleyne
Ake - Injury problems
O'Reilly
Ait-Nouri - AFCON returnee

The 4 consistently available have a combined age of about 20 and little experience in each position, that's a tough roll of the dice whatever tactics we use.

I agree that it needs to be less gung ho though and a little more risk averse. Just acknowledging that it's hard to switch it up that fast when the other way was working to some extent prior to injuries.
 
BillyShears said:
Prepare to get pelted. Nobody wants that sort of balance and perspective!
Click to expand...
Agree with most of that,in all of our trophy years we never had a crop of injuries like them in the last two seasons.
We still have PGMOL to contend with as well, if the Swamp and St James were reffed correctly wed be one point behind the Arse.
Having said all that Saturday is crucial to get back on track and hopefully the right opponent at the rigjht time for a change.
 
MCFC1993 said:
I guess a thread for people to say, we've been shit but...

Easy to get carried away with the crock of shit the last 2 games have been and I am definitely guilty of it.

Absentees
The absentees are killing us though.

That Dias-Gvardiol double injury was a big blow.
If that's Saliba-Gabriel, Arsenal are struggling, infact the pair of them have missed 3 league games together this season, dropped points in 2 of them.

The last 2 games I don't think we've even fielded 6 of our strongest XI in either game, if we say the current best XI is something like this:
--------Donnarumma
Nunes--Dias--Guehi--O'Reilly
-------Rodri----Nico G
Semenyo--Cherki-----Doku
-----------Haaland

5 started against United, 5 started against Bodo/Glimt, that does matter. Arsenal have been managing to get 8-10 of their best XI out there in recent weeks.

Tactics
The tactics haven't been great in the last 2 but they weren't designed for the current injury problems we have. The current side can't play that way.

We need to adapt and hopefully ride out the rough part of the season without too much damage.

Reality is it probably won't work properly again until we can field Dias & Guehi at centre back. So we're talking end of February.

It's been shit but...
I think if we're being entirely fair we have to judge it when these are back:
Nunes
Dias
Guehi (eligibility)
Stones (unlikely!)
Gonzalez
Semenyo (eligibility)
Ait-Nouri (up to speed from AFCON)
Marmoush (up to speed from AFCON)
Rodri (up to speed from long term injury)

Again we're probably talking mid-late February.


Summary - Not trying to be a happy clapper, we've been shit but it's 2 games and there are extenuating circumstances.
Click to expand...
It might not be pretty for the next few weeks but we hopefully have a league cup final by late feb, latter rounds of the FA cup, CL play off / knockout rounds and although not really much chance of winning the league, essential we secure top 4. Still a hell of a lot to play for.
 
PSmyth07 said:
Your points a valid and correct, it's just the tactics that don't make sense

  1. Why do we have players in the squad that cannot play his tactics?
  2. If these players are required to play due to injury, surely it makes more sense to set up to adapt to them instead of the other way around? I'm sure the more experienced players would have more joy adapting to a different system for a few games
Click to expand...

Point 2 is exactly it! The high line is truly astonishing that he`s still playing it while watching us getting rinsed and giving up goals and chances galore!
 
It's not beyond the realms of possibility that we beat Eolves and Arsenal lose to the rags, if that were to happen the world would look a very different place on Monday morning.
 
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