The Title Race - 2024/25

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Honestly, it hurts to lose four on the bounce, no two ways about it, but oddly, I feel this morning as though I've made my peace with this season.
What will be will be.
Now I would never underestimate the ability of this manager, and this team, to surprise us. God knows they've done it over and over. But it is a fact that this season does, finally, feel different. There's no great mystery about it: KDB, Doku, Grealish, Dias, Stones, Aké, Akanji all out at various points with varying degrees of injury. Bobb, who, Pep has said repeatedly, was the one who impressed him the most in the pre-season, out for months; Rod out for the season. And all that, with those that are playing, burnt out by playing match after match after match (some of them imposed on them by UEFA and FIFA's greed).
It is also undeniable that we should have recruited someone to stand alongside, and relay, Haaland, because otherwise that guy is himself going to pick up a serious injury. He is not a cyborg, appearances to the contrary.
But my feeling today is that if we win a major honour this year (and yes, for myself, I include the F.A. Cup in that, for years after ’81 I dreamt of us merely getting to Wembley for that), it will be like getting a Christmas present that I absolutely didn't expect from a relative I'd sort of forgotten.

 

[Bez]

Reality check. Yesterday's starting line up only had 3 members of our starting line up from our victorious CL final win against Inter Milan less than 2 years ago. The 3 players are Ederson, Gundog and Haaland. That is bonkers.

I looked at Luckypoos starting line up for the last 10 games or so. They have been able to pick more or less the same GK and Defence namely Kelleher, TAA, Konate, VVD and rotating Robertson with Tsmikas at left back. We have not had that luxury.

For all the blood letting and criticism of our team, the stark reality check is that we have not had the luxury of playing the same defensive line up game after game this season and it will be the same for midfield and attack.

Essentially the core of our first team has been missing for probably more than 50% of our games and we have been playing a B team over the last several weeks.

Hopefully Luckerpool's good fortune changes. 27 games to go. All is not lost...yet.

Come on City.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

The game on the 22nd is a rather large one, will be interesting to see how Arteta sets his team up. Certainly a chance for us to lay down a marker.

I hope it's the 23rd. Because I'm flying in for it on that morning, and I don't want to be one day late.

 

[flapjack]

Reality check. Yesterday's starting line up only had 3 members of our starting line up from our victorious CL final win against Inter Milan less than 2 years ago. The 3 players are Ederson, Gundog and Haaland. That is bonkers.

I looked at Luckypoos starting line up for the last 10 games or so. They have been able to pick more or less the same GK and Defence namely Kelleher, TAA, Konate, VVD and rotating Robertson with Tsmikas at left back. We have not had that luxury.

For all the blood letting and criticism of our team, the stark reality check is that we have not had the luxury of playing the same defensive line up game after game this season and it will be the same for midfield and attack.

Essentially the core of our first team has been missing for probably more than 50% of our games and we have been playing a B team over the last several weeks.

Hopefully Luckerpool's good fortune changes. 27 games to go. All is not lost...yet.

Come on City.

Trent's done his hammy possibly so that could be the start of some problems for them...also their December looks very tough

 

[jrb]

Pep.

“We don’t have the squad”(show more)

 

[WesthoughtonJohn]

Feels like it is all going to hinge on whether Pep can come up with a tweak (and quickly).
Injuries aside, the current set-up just isn‘t working. Weak pressing, no cohesion, gaps all over the place.
Find a more compact way of playing and we‘re still in with a shot - despite the obvious (relative) weaknesses in the squad.

Agree - and it has to involve removing Gundog from that midfield I'm afraid.
Problem currently we have no clue who you put in there instead.
Yesterday's midfield was all over the shop and we had too many who weren't able to put a foot in

 

[Brendan110_0]

Pep.

“We don’t have the squad”(show more)

Well, he let Alvarez go, no one could foresee Oscar Bobb breaking a limb. Just bad luck this year.

 

[Matt Diablo]

I blame the Gallaghers. Oasis reform and we turn to shit

If it means Noel is all of a sudden "commentating" on our europe games then they can fuk right off in general

 

[IronsideKozuch]

Yes Pep, tell those bedwetters.

Taking everything into consideration Im more than happy where we stand in the table at this point.

Dias, Stones, Ake, Grealish, Doku, KDB - we lost many (not to mention Rodri and Bobb), but we still been good, created plenty of chances. Its harder to maintain fitness second halfs, because we have a limited rotation.

LFC is strong, but Im pretty sure we re going to be better when most of players come back. Their attacking game is not sustainable. I would be more worried of Arsenal, but luckily they had even worse period than us.

 

[M23 Citizen]

Lack of ambition in the transfer market.

Complacency and not strengthening when we were at the pinnacle of football and could have attracted virtually anyone if we’d gone balls out for them.

When you look at the signings in a few short time frames,where the quality of players were regularly very high:

2009-2011 we signed Tevez, Barry, Lescott, de Jong, Džeko, Yaya, DSilva, Milner, Agüero, Nasri (with a fair few who weren’t as good, of course). Who were the backbone to winning two PL titles, an FA Cup and an EFL Cup, and a few still huge in the Centurions and Fourmidables.

2015-2017 we signed De Bruyne, Sterling, Otamendi, Stones, Sané, Gündoğan, Laporte, Walker, BSilva, Ederson (with a fair few who weren’t as good, of course). Who were the backbone to the Centurions and Fourmidables seasons, and a few still huge in the Treble and four-in-a-row seasons.

It really does feel like time for a couple of years of high ambition investment drives like that to reïnvigorate the squad again.

Recently, Haaland and Gvardiol have been a good signings and Savinho for the future. Like Fernandinho, Navas and Demichelis were a good signings in 2014. However, recently we haven’t had the abundances seen between 2009-2011 or 2015-2017. But I think we need as many new big signings seen in those two time frames over the next few years: a right back, a centre half, a defensive/central midfielder, two central/attacking midfielders, a striker and a winger and be ruthless with our transfers out as the number, quality and lack of reliability of fitness of our older players are in too much of an abundance and too many of our younger or prime players are not of a high enough standard.