Who and what’s to blame?

[UUJblue]

Khaldoon end of season message could be interesting.

We could be sitting with 3 trophies, our first CL, a ban from Europe and liverpool champions. What a bittersweet fairytale.

 

[Blu1]

Spot on if slightly depressing. Throw Pep's departure into that mix and you have to ask -who do we trust to re-build a new squad . Txixi sorry not for me ,his main achievement was being a mate of Pep.
We need the Owners to be ruthless here.

Very depressing but I’m sure many will disagree & think 2 players will fix it all.

I really wish that was the case.

I’m sure the owners are pissed the way it’s turned out. I think too much time & attention has gone to the city brand around the world rather than actually in Manchester :-(

 

[BillyShears]

My number 1 target would be David Alaba right now I think he solves a lot of problems at LB, CB, knows Pep's system inside out and is a proper leader for Bayern and serial winner.

The forward needs to have genuine, scary pace.

Other than that I think it's almost more about who gets taken out than brought in. No more carrying people, if they arent going to commit to football 100% then they shouldn't be here.

Personally I've always been kinder to Stones because he's English. But frankly, I'd sign two centre backs and yard Ota and him. That's where the problems are most deep rooted.

In the forward line for me we need not just pace, but someone clinical. We missed FAR TOO MANY CHANCES this season.

 

[BillyShears]

£120m on Rodri and Cancelo?

I'd have rather not spent the money and gone with Fernandinho in the middle again. He has been magnificent, regardless.

There continues to be a massive blind spot on City identifying quality/need in recent years, certainly under Pep?

Outside of Laporte, Sane and Jesus, the signings have not lived up to expectation.

Mendy, Cancelo and Rodri - £170m, really?

That's another world class holding midfielder and centre-back right there?

I don't think anyone could legislate for Mendy's injuries. So I'm giving them a pass on that.

Rodri ... yeah, seems the jury is really out. In terms of what he cost, the worry is that you could've signed almost ANY holding midfielder for that sort of money. Seems like they chose the most Busquets clone they could find, but he's so far clearly struggled. Not only that but we've had to switch to 4231 to accommodate him in games.

Cancelo and that deal can get in the bin.

The transfer complacency for me has come from the success of the 17/18 season. I think they all sat back and went "we've arrived here - with pep and this squad". You need to constantly evolve IMO, especially in a league this cut throat.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Only skipped through the pages but for my two penneth.....overall feeling is it’s very difficult to remain at the top in the Premier league for a sustained period, not to mention all out assaults in every cup competition, it has its price, we have paid through injuries, loss of form, inconsistency, fatigue, a changing of the guard, one or two wanting out, Arteta leaving, losing our club captain, being a target and that’s before you even think about the cloud of UEFA/CAS that’s hung over us. We are still a top side who has won trophies, and will again. A lot will depend on CAS and whether Pep stays, but we won’t have another turbulent year like this one. In a couple of months time we might be sat with a successful CAS appeal, 4-5 new players (preferably 1or2 with genuine leadership qualities) and even another trophy or 2 but let’s leave the inquest till the end of the season

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

Number of reasons we failed.

1. ) Injuries

2.) Media, the whole campaign about our owners, UEFA has no doubt played a part.

3.) Inept Refs/VAR

4.) Players either lack of quality or just no hunger.

5.) Management too much swapping tactics around

 

[g180aj]

£120m on Rodri and Cancelo?

I'd have rather not spent the money and gone with Fernandinho in the middle again. He has been magnificent, regardless.

There continues to be a massive blind spot on City identifying quality/need in recent years, certainly under Pep?

Outside of Laporte, Sane and Jesus, the signings have not lived up to expectation.

Mendy, Cancelo and Rodri - £170m, really?

That's another world class holding midfielder and centre-back right there?

I think Mendy is a separate case to the rest because he was at that level but 2 seasons out injured could ruin any player.

Rodri wasn't our first option but Dejong wasn't meant to be.

Cancelo, I mean how many clubs in how many years, seemed like a nieve signing really.

 

[Holcombe bloo]

Haha - I'm not falling for this Clarkie, surely?

Rodri reminds me more of Vinny being bought as a midfielder until we quickly realised he wasn't.

Sadly for Rodri, he has the technique but not the recovery pace of Vinny to play at centre-back.

He's a bit soft to be a defender.

At the time we bought him, I was more interested in partey or Saul but assumed txiki knew more than me about Rodri and his lack of pace. Rodri would be ok with a partner like camavinga beside him, but why do we sign player like Rodri for 60m with these limitations like lack of pace? Even more so when we play a high line! We need some pacey players in the back 5 to combat the counter or we will struggle next season.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Pep taken us away from the English interpretation of his system with athletic, ball playing CBs, an athletic DM who sweeps up first, an agile DM who tackles first so we have the ball to play with, an agile creative maestro who can get between the lines and is their peak and 2 terrifyingly quick wingers who sneak in at the far post for tap-ins.

Instead we've let players get old, not integrated the youth or bought young to refresh and we've gone for a belligerent Spanish approach of DM who is only any use when they have time and space on the ball, inside forwards who crowd everything up and cause everything to be played in front of the opposition defence and keeping players in the squad who continually bottle Anfield and CL nights and bottled the 3-2, all of which started off our path to here and the Dippers rise to the top.

Whereas Klopp has found a formula and relentlessly stuck to it, Pep has fiddled and tweaked and undone a lot of the building blocks. Yet again we face another £200m window because the club decided Mahrez, Cancelo and Rodri were enough, we still haven't learned from 2012/13 and we've let another club usurp us on and off the pitch. Without a smoking gun we'll be playing second fiddle for the foreseeable future.

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Personally I've always been kinder to Stones because he's English. But frankly, I'd sign two centre backs and yard Ota and him. That's where the problems are most deep rooted.

In the forward line for me we need not just pace, but someone clinical. We missed FAR TOO MANY CHANCES this season.

I was a big fan of Stones and his composure on the ball but this season and last season he has been both mentally and physically fragile. We simply can’t rely on him and should move him on.