Transition season excuse

[Marvin]

The problem for me is Rodri

he’s too slow to play in front of the back 4 on his own (get caught constantly on the counter)

and doesn’t have the creativity to play next to another DM it blunts us too much

Obviously Pep is our best ever manager but everything has a timespan, the concern for me would be getting another one paced midfielder to replace Silva then we are left with Gundo, Rodri and another slow technical player, and our biggest strength in 2017-19 is our biggest weakness

The defence and attack were hit by injuries, the midfield situation is poor planning

I do wonder though what happens when Laporte returns because he has a fantastic range of passing and that is going to make some of Rodri's assets redundant.

I think Rodri could be a good player for City. The game at Burnley was very impressive, and he was OK v Utd. He's playing in a poorly functioning side. The truth is that de Bruyne, Sterling, Bernardo etc all struggled against Utd.

We've not had the breaks at all this season with VAR, and injury and we come up against these problems with a side that is aging in a couple of areas so we are less able to overcome misfortune.

Perhaps the season will have something unexpected in store for us at the end. There's still an awful lot to fight for.

 

[Marvin]

I think the ops point is that this isn’t even the transition season.

But it is. Kompany gone. Fernandinho moved to defence in what is surely a temporary emergency move, and Silva passing the baton over to Foden (eventually!).

 

[super_city_si]

But it is. Kompany gone. Fernandinho moved to defence in what is surely a temporary emergency move, and Silva passing the baton over to Foden (eventually!).

But he hasn’t passed the baton over. Foden likely won’t be used any differently than last season. That’s not transitioning. He needs more time. Same with Garcia. Playing a 34 yr old midfielder at center back isn’t transitioning

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Everything can be classed as a transition when you have accumulated 198 points over two seasons and won two Premier League titles, two League Cups, One FA Cup, two Community Shields, all in a period when Liverpool reached two Champions League finals.

We are only suffering from fatigue and bad luck with injuries, compounded by some poor buys which were supposed to pick up the slack and become outright successors, mainly Mendy and Stones.

United have spent the last ten years trying to find successors for players such as Keane, Scholes, Ferndinand and Giggs - the fact is, you cannot find carbon copies for great players - they are great because they have no comparable.

We have the same issue now - Yaya, Vinny, Silva, Fernandinho and Sergio - they are without compare for so many years.

Things will never be the same, but we can couch expectation, just as Real Madrid and Barcelona fans are having to get used to.

City just need an injection of legs and vitality - Pep not only drains himself - he drains the playing staff and even the supporter base - such is his ideals for the way the game should be played.

We should go full Pep, no decent centre backs then don’t play any.

3-5-2, back 3 of Walker, Rodri and Fernandinho, Cancelo, Gundogan, Foden/Bernardo, KDB and whichever LB can play with a bit of competence, Sterling and Jesus up top.

Won’t win us the league as that’s done but it would be fun.

 

[Blue Til Death]

No such thing as a transition period, it was made up by rag appeasers who couldn't handle their decline. Teams are constantly evolving, that's the nature of the beast, the key is to evolve while you are successful, we are only a few returning injuries and a couple of players from a hatful of further success. This season the league has gone but we are still in 3 other competitions that we can still win..... !!

 

[OB1]

We do beat Utd, very regularly.

The other day we didn't as they deservedly beat us.

Shit happens, fans need to learn how to deal with defeat without resorting to the everything is now shit and needs to be replaced mantra.

The response by some of our supporter base to a bit of adversity is, putting it politely, disappointing.

You need the downs to fully appreciate the good times.

I'm excited to see how Pep will solve the latest challenges that we face. I just hope he is keen to deal with them.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

But it is. Kompany gone. Fernandinho moved to defence in what is surely a temporary emergency move, and Silva passing the baton over to Foden (eventually!).

I can’t agree with your points there.

Kompany is indeed gone, but we haven’t replaced him yet. So that’s a transition for next season.

Fernandinho moving to defence is absolutely an emergency, temporary move. He isn’t the future. So clearly that’s not a transition either. It’s just patching over a problem until the actual transition begins.

Foden needs to be central to our transition from the old to the new. But if we don’t give him more game time in the 2nd half of the season, we haven’t transitioned there yet either.

It’s all a bit stagnant, with the real change yet to come. How people want to define it is up to them, but we are either in a decline season followed by a transition next year. Or we are in a 2-year transition. Either way, I don’t see the process of restoring this team to the top taking less than 2 seasons. But that’s fine, and is quite normal.

 

[Marvin]

But he hasn’t passed the baton over. Foden likely won’t be used any differently than last season. That’s not transitioning. He needs more time. Same with Garcia. Playing a 34 yr old midfielder at center back isn’t transitioning

Well it's part of a bigger plan. Fernandinho was training as a central defender in the Summer. City decided that we weren't going to replace Kompany with Maguire, we were going to stick with Laporte and Stones but Garcia and Harwood Bellis were too young to come straigh. Fernandinho was moulded from the Summer as a central defensive cover. We tried Otamendi initially. It didn't work so in came Fermandinho. It hasn't worked out but I can understand City's thinking. We gambled and lost. It may yet be the right decision if Garcia and Harwood Bellis do well in time for us.

 

[OB1]

I was looking through some stuff the other day and one item was a programme for the game against Arsenal in the league cup almost 10 years ago to the day. We had recently signed Adebayor and Tevez and were making inroads into the top 4 after a couple of disappointing post takeover seasons. At that point we had still won nothing for 33 years, had been to one meaningful cup final and whilst the takeover had been exciting, we still looked some way off winning trophies regularly.

fast forward 10 years and not in my wildest dreams did I expect to have witnessed four premier league wins (three of which were the height of drama) 4 league cup wins, 2 Fa cup wins and a final and 9 consecutive years of Champions League football. Ultimately that year ended in a near miss with Spurs pipping us to 4th place.

We have been the team of the decade and even if we don’t win anything again, no one will take this away from us. We built a title winning side from nothing in the early days and we will do again but from very solid foundations. We just have to be more dominant in the transfer market as you can’t stand still at this level.

I personally think venting on a forum is fine, it’s not affecting anyone other than those who read it. I can be as bad as anyone at venting after a loss. Worryingly though it is spreading to the ground. There is a sense of entitlement creeping in and some are struggling to accept defeats nowadays. The support is wavering almost like we just expect to turn up and win and so no effort is needed. Maybe it’s time for an rebuild on the pitch and a rethink off the pitch.

Wise words.

 

[Marvin]

I can’t agree with your points there.

Kompany is indeed gone, but we haven’t replaced him yet. So that’s a transition for next season.

Fernandinho moving to defence is absolutely an emergency, temporary move. He isn’t the future. So clearly that’s not a transition either. It’s just patching over a problem until the actual transition begins.

Foden needs to be central to our transition from the old to the new. But if we don’t give him more game time in the 2nd half of the season, we haven’t transitioned there either.

It’s all a bit stagnant, with the real change yet to come.

You don't think we are on the same page, but I do. I agree Fernandino to defence is a temporary measure. But it's what we planned for him should we have injury. City made a call on a central defensive buy in the Summer. I think we went for the academy option with Fernadinho and Ota as one year bridges until the young players were ready.

I call that transition. You say it's not transition and that the true replacement has yet to come. Transition means we are between the beginning and the end game.