Who and what’s to blame?

[half & half derby scarf]

Personally don't think recruitment is the problem. Too much tinkering from Pep.
In my day if you had a good game you stayed in the team. Guardiola doesn't seem to use this metric at all and so the constant tinkering disrupts rhythm and deprecates camaraderie. I think this is the big difference between us and Furloughpool this season.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Are we missing that consistent 8/10 player then ? A Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong or Zabba type, those that consistently turn up every week & perform, the ones loved by the fans but go unrecognised by others, who have no interest in writing headlines and just go about their business

 

[Millo]

Laporte and Sane were big losses this season. Sane is a massive talent who has just been allowed to leave, probably because he was played enough. Just watch the All or Nothing documentary to see what he contributed that season.
The defence is awful, and some players just aren't up to it, such as Bravo, Mendy, Stones, Gundogan, Otamendi. I can't see us winning the CL with that defence. Do we really need all our players in the opponents half all the time, making us prone to break-away goals when possession is lost.
Pep is a great manager, but he makes strange tactical decisions in some games. No striker against Chelsea on Thursday, the team selection away at Spurs in the Champions League 2019 when we played for a nil nil draw, when away goals are vital in that competition.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

I don't think our players are fit enough to play game after game, Liverpool's look like they could play a game every day. Their fitness is way ahead of ours.

How would we know though, he just changes it?

 

[jimharri]

Laporte's absence was huge ("massive", even!). Could you imagine the Mickeys losing Van hire and having to play Lovren in his place?

 

[Winchester]

Think some on here need to accept

Injuries aside

City havent been good enough this time

Cant win em all,

Let's just hope CAS Help kick UEFA Up the Butt and then we can move on

The Sickening thing for me is the Non Stop Liverpool Love in !

 

[1961_vintage]

Continued abysmal recruitment especially for the defence. A profligacy in front of goal which belies a weak mentality and lack of killer instinct and generally just too many players who are excellent playing on instinct but poor when given time and space to think.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

City havent been good enough this time

Certainly true. However we are still second. Apart from ourselves Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Spurs and the others have even further to improve. Unless they do Liverpool will just blow them away again. Watched United Wolves and Norwich yesterday and cannot fathom how we didnt pick up even 1 point from them this season.

 

[01cravend]

Sterling being massively out of form for ages yet still starting every game hasn't helped

 

[Dirty Harry]

Laporte's absence was huge ("massive", even!). Could you imagine the Mickeys losing Van hire and having to play Lovren in his place?

And Mane (as per Sane), I think it would unbalance their side even more than it did ours.