Can see this having a longer term effect on things as it's known that we have a decent number of fans who already have distaste for CL, and believe in conspiracy's against us and this just fuels that further.
In order to keep top players you need to be seen as one who gets CL, not any domestic treble. They don't give a care about that.
We have some players already looking to possibly go in Leroy and Gundo and I think this might settle it for at least Leroy, even if he doesn't track back enough.
Pep's approach leaves us vulnerable here at this level as teams get better because they know what he wants to do, and just wait for their chances on the counter where the talent is good enough and we seem to have mentality problems.
I think some of that comes from the changes to the back 4 that are constant. Yes, injuries are partially to blame, but our 2 centre halves change all of the time. Are there any top clubs or even good clubs that do so as frequently? Our depth there, as well as the injury records of Kompany and lately Stones, plus concerns about Nico leaving combined with Vinny's age, needs for Pep's system, his emphasis on a happy dressing room and a possible transfer ban lead him to possibly let such a rotation go on.
Kev, Raz and Bernardo were immense, but it wasn't enough.
3 goals at home is a sad thing to ignore over very borderline VAR decisions had they gone either way. Both went against us, but I don't think it was a conspiracy.
