Strength in Depth Myth

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

as i watched the game today i couldnt help thinking back to 2011/12 season (and even the one before) and knowing that the likes of Hart, Kompany, Clichy, Zabba, Ya Ya, Nasri, Silva, De Jong, Milner, Dzeko and Aguero would line up;

as we approach 2016, our best current XI looks very similar in many ways;

is this bcos those players are top quality?

or have we failed to replace and adapt properly?

not that we're doing badly, still competing on 4 fronts!

We are for now still competing but I think we are at the moment where he club has to decide to stick or twist, can you see Pellegrini getting a reaction out of the players and going on a run towards March? Not really, the club should not be prepared to let what's happening on the pitch to continue just because we might have an agreement with another manager.

We have a good group of players but somewhere along the line things are not happening. We can't do the basics right and we don't want to stand up and compete on the pitch. This rests with the manager and the quickest way to change things before competing on four fronts ends up with competing on none.

 

[shemnel]

if i was being argumentative i'd say something similar back to you regarding Ross from Friends, but on this occasion, please accept my deepest apologies.

 

[themanc]

ALL COMES DOWN TO SOME VERY VERY POOR RECRUITMENT.

 

[Goater=Legend]

It's always been a myth about our squad. We have a top class 11 but they never play together because one or two of them is always injured.

The recruitment of the squad players hasn't been good enough, how many defenders do we need to buy before we can trust them? We still can't find someone to replace De Jong and Bony just hasn't been good enough.

 

[LoveCity]

We do have the correct strength in depth now in attacking midfield. The choices of Silva/KDB/Sterling/Navas/Nasri are good enough for any club and can rip anyone up with the right tactics/form. We should look to reproduce that quality in depth in other positions. Our failure to sign high-level central mids has been really disappointing and I've ranted about that in the past. Fernandinho has been great but Yaya's decline should have been foreseen and a long-term replacement should already have been signed. Delph looks like a good squad player though, but we really need outstanding quality in this position. And new full-backs, young and talented (see Alex Sandro's performance vs. us for a perfect example. He did what Kolarov and Clichy do, except with the strengths of both and weaknesses of neither). Luckily if Pep does arrive, I think full-back and central mid will be the first positions he overhauls. He may even try Denayer or Maffeo as backup right-backs.

Edit: Also it doesn't matter how many great players you have if you don't have a gameplan and the right mentality. Today we saw a Stoke side of whom none would get in our team except maybe Bojan in Aguero's absence, outplay us in every respect. Masterminded by the genius known as Mark Hughes!

 

[Kinkladze 1]

On paper we are in the top 5 squads in Europe. Mentally we are weak as fuck. I think MP should shoulder his portion of the blame but those players out there today should have absolutely shit all over Stoke but half of them are soft as shit and probably didn't like being out there in the cold wind.

 

[roypaulknewmyfather]

On paper we are in the top 5 squads in Europe. Mentally we are weak as fuck. I think MP should shoulder his portion of the blame but those players out there today should have absolutely shit all over Stoke but half of them are soft as shit and probably didn't like being out there in the cold wind.

I agree to a really large extent. Where we suffer is a Vincent replacement. He seems to be the only player who takes responsibility and bollocks people around him so they're scared shitless. He's the manager on the field, without him we lack on field motivation.
By the way I'm old school enough to believe it shouldn't be necessary, for their weekly wage I'd have run through a concrete, let alone brick wall without being told.

 

[01cravend]

Squads not the problem, needs a tweak, but the problem is the tactics or lack of and the team selection.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

You are listening to harry rednapp?

We have the best squad we have ever had,some are new and haven't played together,patience is required

Balotelli Džeko Tevez Agüero
Iheanacho Bony Agüero

Yaya was one of the best players in the world, now he's not. Kompany wasn't a sick note, now he's is. Zaba was younger and better and fitter, Richards was on fire, Clichy and Kolarov were younger.

Barry may not be as good as Fernandinho but de Jong was light years ahead of Fernando.

We've spent huge amounts of money and we aren't better than we were. We bought a load of supporting cast players to play behind our world class spine of Hart Kompany Yaya Silva and Kun and not added enough world class to take us up to the next level.

Overall our recruitment is seeing us stand still.

 

[trevorriley]

5 of todays players in the actual starting team are squad players and should be on the bench, even that doubtful for one or two.. As for todays bench, at half time MP didnt make any changes when needing an attacking force to get two goals back, because he fukin couldnt..