Transition season excuse

[supercity88]

It’s a decline, not a transition. The players that made this team tick have almost all come to their end.

The transition is yet to come.

I have used transition a lot. But you are right. It is my way of feeling better about the decline by using positive terminology. Kompany, Ferny and Silva leaving does mark an end of an era but we haven't managed to replace them on current showing and whilst we see Rodri and Foden as replacements we can't say the level will be retained and we could be staring at an Arsenal or United future where we harp on about never adequately replacing them, when we need to look at a new system rather than the same one with replacement players.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

With so many of our players in transition results were bound to dip. It's not just the psychological factor, but the hormone tablets they'll be taking in the years prior to the operation playing havoc with the physiology.

 

[Franknorgrovesnephew]

Nothing in football surprises me, I reckon Pep will go at the end of this season, no rym or reason just a gut feeling.

Said the same thing on the way home from the game mate

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

we have had more than our share of injuries to big players and some dubious decisions from officials and VAR . All these facts have contributed to our current malaise , maybe a bit of realism and an average season collecting only a couple of trophies should be acceptable , and we can re-group and give the title another go next season. Shit happens.

"only a couple of trophies" ? I'll take two trophies right now mate. Two trophies is far from an average season. I spent over two decades in the stands dreaming of any meaningful trophy that wasn't the Manx or full members cup! For several seasons I genuinely thought I'd never see us lift a trophy, that thought fuckin' haunted me.

Every season winning a trophy is a bonus. I have to keep reminding myself that so I don't become expectant. Two trophies a season is more than expectable and acceptable and I very much doubt the domestic sweep will be done again.

We have been spoiled blues. I still have to pinch myself I'm not dreaming all the success we've had: )

 

[Blu1]

What next level ? he's played a crucial role in us winning back to back leagues and cups, don't tell me you don't think he can do it in Europe.

are we talking about the same Jesus here ?
I honestly don’t see it like you do or see Jesus still being here in 2 years.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I think you can put it down to poor recruitment since the end of the centurions season. Mahrez, Rodri and Cancelo cost £180m plus the distinctly average Angelino. Rodri could’ve been bought for £20m 12 months previous and not sure why we bought Cancelo when we’ve a perfectly good right back and 3 very shit left ones. Txixi did a great job in 2017/18 with Walker, Laporte, Bernardo and Ederson but very poor since.

Indeed. Poor buys for the money spent.

 

[Blu1]

Right now I’d be happy if we played a 5-4-1 formation we need to take the pressure off & tighten up defence over Xmas. We need to be compact & start breaking quicker,

Put sterling as cf he’s the closest thing to a striker we have

 

[robbieh]

We have had several off seasons since we first won the PL.

While it's true that VK, Silva, Yaya and soon Kun have come to the end of the road, we now have KdB, Bernardo, Rodri, Laporte, Ederson, Raheem, Foden, Walker, Jesús, Mahrez so we are hardly short on quality.

3 things seem problematic. 1. Lack of leadership on the field. 2. Need a reliable LB and CD. And the third thing is the thing that dare not speak its name. Pep is a fantastic manager. We have played some remarkable attacking football, but his teams, especially in the CL, are found wanting defensively.

To play the Pep way you certainly need better defenders than we currently have available.

Stones has gone to pieces.
Ota has served us well but his time has come.
Mendy and Angelino!

So we have Walker and Laporte currently of international quality. Zinchenko has never let us down but is a makeshift LB. García may be great but we don't know yet.

If we want to win the CL this year we need a CB in January.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

So who currently is good enough for a starting spot next season? This is my selection:

Ederson

Walker Laporte

de Bruyne Bernardo Sterling

And that’s it.

Even KdB & Bernardo aren’t currently at it.

I’m discounting Silva, Fernandinho & Aguero as age is against them so Cancelo, Rodri, Jesus & Mahrez need to step up.

Sterling isn’t at it neither. He’s played well three times this season and had an impact as a sub once, in 21 games he’s played out of our 23.

 

[yerwot?]

difficult to find an angle that has not been aired, to explain what's happening on the pitch. Individuals have loss of form, "teams" as a collective, should not. What if the problem is Pep's mental state? Stress over an extended period, (last two seasons ?) is a cause of burn-out, something he recognised and dealt with previously, the players being in the firing-line would be first to suspect all was not well....
When nothing makes sense, to us fans, then we look for stuff from "the far side" hence this post.....defo a collective malaise imho