Who and what’s to blame?

[VOOMER]

If as expected, the UEFA charges are thrown then the old will have taken its last throw the dice.
VAR is only honest as the people using it.
FFP is designed maintain the status quo. At first, they were happy to see us blow money on the likes of RSQ and numerous flops. Once we had Roberto and landed David, Yaya, Mario, Edin, Nasri and Sergio, they started to crap themselves. This when they needed to clip our wings. You have Madrid , Hannibal Fc, Juve, The Milan's and the red stain trio, who either needed, or still need to rebuild. With ourselves and PSG able to spend without fear, they were going to find themselves priced out of the market. The kraut rags have a total domination of their league and the a rule breaking financial setup which has simply been ignored.
To me our transfer policy has gone from great to poor and back again and back again. However, let's not remember the level of fear that prompted the G14 spiv society into FFP and the current action that could leave UEFA bankrupt.
Yes we lost this battle, as the Romes did against Carthage, but we know which City stands.
Fuck all teams that play in red.

 

[andypandy]

We have lost 2 more games than Wolves and have been beaten by them twice.

Defense is a major problem, can't trust Mendy, Stones too many injuries and a loss of form, Otamendi too slow and dives in a lot

Last 2 years Fernandinho protected our defense a lot, he broke up play, committed tactical could when needed and was a major part of our success. He has done okay CB but the team has lost too much by him playing there

At the time there was much outrage at the prospect of signing Jonny fucking Evans, however if we had done so enabling us to keep Fernandinho as DM, I think we would have had fewer defeats and been able to have mounted a better defense of our title.

Whilst we can certainly do better than signing Jonny fucking Evans, a top side like us should not be reliant on putting square pegs in round holes to solve a problem, even with the injuries we have had.

We are now looking at a major rebuild over the next year or two..

 

[johnmcfcagain]

We have lost 2 more games than Wolves and have been beaten by them twice.

Defense is a major problem, can't trust Mendy, Stones too many injuries and a loss of form, Otamendi too slow and dives in a lot

Last 2 years Fernandinho protected our defense a lot, he broke up play, committed tactical could when needed and was a major part of our success. He has done okay CB but the team has lost too much by him playing there

At the time there was much outrage at the prospect of signing Jonny fucking Evans, however if we had done so enabling us to keep Fernandinho as DM, I think we would have had fewer defeats and been able to have mounted a better defense of our title.

Whilst we can certainly do better than signing Jonny fucking Evans, a top side like us should not be reliant on putting square pegs in round holes to solve a problem, even with the injuries we have had.

We are now looking at a major rebuild over the next year or two..

 

[paulchapo]

The insane thing is that as poor as we have been on occasion and in spite of our injuries, without Liverpool in the equation we would be strolling towards another title. The problem for us and everyone else is they are in the equation. The 64 million dollar question is how to beat them, they are relentless. If I was the people running our club I'd want to know how a side that rarely rotates hardly has any injuries and never seems to show any fatigue. If we could tap into some of that it would be half the battle.

Aside from that every manager agrees that you won't win the title without a strong defence. It was madness to not replace Kompany considering Pep doesn't really trust Stones and Otamendi. Left back is also a huge Achilles heel for us. The folly in not replacing Kompany was intensified when Laporte got injured and Fernandinho had to go back there. This doubly weakened the defence as his lack of pace has been exposed and we lost arguably the best holding midfield player in the league. Everyone seemed to see this aside from Pep who stubbornly continued to play him there.

Add to this a loss of form and goals from Sterling and Bernardo, Silva showing his age more this season and the usual dark arts from the refs and var and that was that.

It's going to be a tough task to improve our challenge next season unless Liverpool's intensity drops and we make some top top additions to the squad.

 

[Keeper!]

About 18 months ago all we heard was "tactical foul" about Ferna. He broke up so much and protected us so much. It's been a bad mistake to have him at CB all year.

His legs have gone, he can't play midfield now.

 

[gkmcfc]

Defence has really struggled at times. Injuries and players out of position. I like Stones but he just can’t stay fit. This massively affects his game, confidence and consistency. We really have to find a partner for Laporte and consider whether Mendy will ever be good enough. Trust in Pep tho.

 

[oldius]

Our style of play leaves us vulnerable to fast counter attacks from quality opposition. It has always been Pep's slight Achille's heel. We play high, we dominate possession with some of the most mesmerising football that this country has seen but, teams who play in deep banks of four, with a front line blessed with pace, are a big danger.

This is how football develops and we have the most intelligent football thinker to grace the game, possibly in history; I read today that this is the third time in his entire career that he hasn't won the title!

For what my opinion is worth, we need very pacy fullbacks and a very mobile pair of CDMs. I would rather have Garcia and Harwood Bellis supplement the centre back positions as I believe that protection in front of the defence is more of an issue than the defence itself - it's the way we play, rather than having poor defenders.

 

[dajd1984]

We need to make big changes to compete next season.
Players needs to be signed of the quality of:
UPAMECANO (Leipzig) or KOULIBALY (Napoli)
SON (Spurs) or L. MARTINEZ (Inter) or both.

And STEFFEN needs to provide realistic competition for EDERSON or we should buy someone else.

 

[dajd1984]

Our style of play leaves us vulnerable to fast counter attacks from quality opposition. It has always been Pep's slight Achille's heel. We play high, we dominate possession with some of the most mesmerising football that this country has seen but, teams who play in deep banks of four, with a front line blessed with pace, are a big danger.

This is how football develops and we have the most intelligent football thinker to grace the game, possibly in history; I read today that this is the third time in his entire career that he hasn't won the title!

For what my opinion is worth, we need very pacy fullbacks and a very mobile pair of CDMs. I would rather have Garcia and Harwood Bellis supplement the centre back positions as I believe that protection in front of the defence is more of an issue than the defence itself - it's the way we play, rather than having poor defenders.

I agree with much of what you’re saying, but when a team sits deep and hits us with their pacy forwards on the break, our protection in front of the defence is often bypassed (or we make a tactical foul), meaning the lack of quality in defence is then highlighted. The way we play, which you describe, automatically puts pressure on the defence, and demands that there be a certain level of quality in the defence, to combat the oppositions counter attacks.

 

[Keeper!]

Defence has really struggled at times. Injuries and players out of position. I like Stones but he just can’t stay fit. This massively affects his game, confidence and consistency. We really have to find a partner for Laporte and consider whether Mendy will ever be good enough. Trust in Pep tho.

John Stones is simply a poor signing, he has all the talent in the world but clearly has mentality issues. If he had the mentality of Zabba or Kompany he would be world class, but he has not and never will.

Get rid and move on!