Dribble
Well-Known Member
As I've been saying all season, we've more than enough quality in our squad, so our patchy form comes down one thing... Mentality!
In previous seasons, when teams upped the pressure, we'd match it & raise it further. If they raised it again, we'd again match it & raise it further & keep doing so until the opposition hit their tempo & effort ceiling & then we'd blow them away.
The first half of this season we've seen very little of who & what the Manchester City of recent seasons are. Pep was absolutely bang on with his post match interview. The ground was like a fuckin cathedral in the first half & the players looked like they were wading through treacle.
This season we've tried it every which way but loose. We've changed personnel, formations & tactics, but nothing's clicked so far. Tonight has now made it VERY evident our issues are to do with desire, tempo & our inability to raise our in-game levels.
Pep's alluded to player issues previously, & tonight he said he wants his home fans back & that it's his job to sort out our squad issues.
Tonight confirmed to me what I suspected, & Pep has come out & said as much. I mean look at our fuckin bench tonight! Tonight's team made a total mess of that tepid first half, so after a halftime rocket, he quite rightly sent the same lot out to correct the mess they'd made.
Mahrez was my MoTM & Alvarez today made a strong case for his continued inclusion. Perhaps we've become too comfortable & some of our top players need to feel like their team places & future at City are under serious threat.
The look on Pep's face tonight reinforced why (apart from the occasional brain fart), he's the best in the business & that he won't be scared to upset our Superstars to get us back on track.
50% of resolving an issue is recognising you have one in the first place. The boos around the ground shocked me, but on reflection I shouldn't have been surprised.
Those boos HURT Guardiola & I think it's the final wake up call he needed to give the players a blast & promise us fans corrective action. Let's see where we go from here.
In previous seasons, when teams upped the pressure, we'd match it & raise it further. If they raised it again, we'd again match it & raise it further & keep doing so until the opposition hit their tempo & effort ceiling & then we'd blow them away.
The first half of this season we've seen very little of who & what the Manchester City of recent seasons are. Pep was absolutely bang on with his post match interview. The ground was like a fuckin cathedral in the first half & the players looked like they were wading through treacle.
This season we've tried it every which way but loose. We've changed personnel, formations & tactics, but nothing's clicked so far. Tonight has now made it VERY evident our issues are to do with desire, tempo & our inability to raise our in-game levels.
Pep's alluded to player issues previously, & tonight he said he wants his home fans back & that it's his job to sort out our squad issues.
Tonight confirmed to me what I suspected, & Pep has come out & said as much. I mean look at our fuckin bench tonight! Tonight's team made a total mess of that tepid first half, so after a halftime rocket, he quite rightly sent the same lot out to correct the mess they'd made.
Mahrez was my MoTM & Alvarez today made a strong case for his continued inclusion. Perhaps we've become too comfortable & some of our top players need to feel like their team places & future at City are under serious threat.
The look on Pep's face tonight reinforced why (apart from the occasional brain fart), he's the best in the business & that he won't be scared to upset our Superstars to get us back on track.
50% of resolving an issue is recognising you have one in the first place. The boos around the ground shocked me, but on reflection I shouldn't have been surprised.
Those boos HURT Guardiola & I think it's the final wake up call he needed to give the players a blast & promise us fans corrective action. Let's see where we go from here.