Hits the nail on the head unfortunately. It’s a bit of a worry that we’ve become so easy way to play against.
The wingers aren’t driving at their man really. Mainly because they don’t have that skill set in them (Mahrez is good 1v1 in surprise/fast encounters but not slowed down) and it just ends up coming back.
Grealish tried a 1-2 with Kev towards the end and it got us inside their penalty area for something other than a cross or set piece. Shouldn’t be such a rarity.
Many of us took Silva, Nasri & Yaya at their peak for granted. With Kev off the boil & Bernardo here in body, but not in spirit we currently don't have the ability to raise our levels above our average.
Even though Arsenal lost yesterday, they fought & fought until the very last & looked ready to kick off a scrap toward the end, because losing was hurting that badly.
We looked like we were playing on memory today & that losing was just part & parcel of football. My question is which player/players looked & played like they were hurt by us losing? Haaland because he was starved of service to score? Jack? That was it, whereby in times gone by we'd have a team of players ready to flog themselves to death for the win. I've very rarely seen that this season.
That additional level of fight that we have always been able to call upon previously has evaporated this season & I'm sorry to say this, but I doubt we'll be able to resurrect that mentality & level of effort with this core group of older players we've been so reliant on.
We started our transition with Sterling, Jesus & Zinchenko leaving in the summer. We must continue this clearout & transition in the summer & bring in younger, hungrier players to replace an ageing Gundog & KDB, & a want-away Bernardo & whoever else has lost the appetite for Manchester City.
None of them represent our long-term future any longer, so the time has come for us to take a step backward, so we can take two giant leaps forward. It's time to get ruthless & fuckin brutal! :-/
