I'm pleased this thread has appeared. A lot of the time for football fans, and certainly for me, frustration comes from not being able to put your finger on what's wrong and explain the problems your team has. A few people in this thread have given some very good reasons so I'll give my piece as well.
I'm frustrated.
I'm frustrated with Pellegrini. He is clearly a nice guy with superb morals and I only have admiration for his handling of the Pep situation. But as a manager I feel he isn't good enough for us. The things you see, like his team selection, tactics and substitutions go horribly wrong sometimes, and a lot of the time it's simple things that me and you could see that he gets wrong. The bigger concern for me is the gradual effect he's had on the squad. He's drained the winning mentality from the squad, we are a timid side now as shown from our home record and big game record. I feel like we don't control games anymore, teams let us have possession; we don't create bags of chances anymore, we rely on individual bits of quality; we aren't defensively solid anymore when teams come at us but we do when teams sit back and give us an easy ride. I have full respect for him for unfortunately will be very pleased to see him go.
I'm frustrated with the players. Frustrated that they've managed to let themselves lose this winning mentality. We looked like a team again with Vinny back in the lineup but it shouldn't take his return to do that. Senior players need to step up and unfortunately the haven't.
I'm frustrated with our recruitment. Since 2012 we should have been adding to the spine of the team, not buying squad players like we have done for too long. We should have been adding players that raise the standard of the team, not the strength of the squad, and now that spine is starting to wither, so are we.
I'm frustrated with injuries. Our luck has quite simply been horrendous. However bad we have been this season I feel if we had at least half the injuries we have had we'd still be top, just.
But I am relieved that we know where we stand at the end of the season. We are in a bad position, like many other teams but at least we know what is to come. Hopefully Vinny's return will also bring more performances like Tottenham, and we can win the cup final and go right until the end with the league. 6 points is nothing at this stage, especially with the top 4 so below par for this time of year, points will be dropped.
