Why Are We So Much Better Than Last Year?

[Blue Elvis]

IMHO, the biggest difference has been our luck has changed.
Last year every attempt on our goal seemed to end up in the net !
Last year Napoli would have scored both penalties and Stones would not have blocked the shot !
Last year Wolves would have scored in the last minute break away.
Most games are won or lost on fine margins and luck is either with you or against you. You can argue that you make your own luck but my view is it’s entirely random.
This season when we have dropped the toast it’s landed butter side up more times than last season! Hope it continues till end of May!
C T I D

 

[york away to this!]

Raheem has been working hard on his diving.

 

[Mike D]

At first blush, it's our signings.
New goalie - Ederson
Two new backs, and backup - Walker, Mendy, Danilo
Another quality attacking midfielder/winger - B. Silva
==========
Yet...
Mendy is injured.
Danilo doesn't play that often.
B. Silva doesn't play that often and has not adapted to the P/L yet.
===========
So why are we so much better? It can't be just down to new signings as 3/5 of them don't start regularly.

I think it's down to a combination of factors.
1) Delph has filled in at LB far better than could be expected, a major upgrade over Clichy/Kolarov (Kolo better going forward but cannot press as Pep would like and due to lack of pace is often a liability on defense);
2) Ederson is so much better than an out-of-form Bravo offering excellent shot stopping skills, better distribution and confidence/command at the back;
3) Improvement of players under Pep - Stones and Sterling are vastly improved this year;
4) System buy-in - our players now buy into Pep's system more than they did last year, pressing much better than last year (Sane and Aguero in particular are now pressing much more aggressively);
5) Our squad rotation is much better - gone are Fernando, Navas, Nolito, Clichy, Zabbaleta and Kolarov; in their place are Gundogan, B. Silva, Danilo. It seems to me that our rotation isn't as deep but it's of far higher quality and consists of players that much better fit Pep's system.

What do you think?

The squad rotation is minimal last season it was new back 4 virtually every game.

The full backs and the keeper have a big difference and everything else has just fallen into place.

 

[Easy]

The reason is the money.

A.C. Milan spent a lot and they back to fighting for the title.

Everton spent a lot and are finally fighting for top 4.

Rags spent a lot and are challenging for the title and CL.

PSG spent the most and are nailed on for The Treble.

As the media says money = success.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Its because I've been wearing a new pair of maroon lucky underpants every game.

 

[ccr]

The players are faster which means the refs cant keep up with play. Therefore can't give as many dodgy decisions as they did last year.

 

[Matthew cannon]

I know it's a bold statement,but i genuinely believe yaya is a huge setback to us. I know he doesn't play often,but when he does it seems like all's he does is just slow the game down and prevent us from our usual counters. The change in playstyle is huge when we play with him and not for the better. I know he's been a huge part of where we are now but it just seems like he's our only downfall this year. Just my opinion.

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Thanks all for the posts to this thread.

Interesting for me at least, Robbie Mustoe recently repeated my analysis of Pep's strategy for the current City side... namely, we differ from Barca/Bayern on offense primarily because we exploit fantastic pace at the sides (wingers/fullbacks) and then rely on crosses for a lot (most?) of our goals. Were Mendy not injured, we'd be playing even more to this style.
=====
Not mentioned in Mustoe's halftime commentary though, is that our set pieces are, IMO, a far bigger threat than at Barca (and maybe Bayern as well).

Particularly, we pose a big threat on set pieces to head in goals (Otters excells at this, Stones is good too, and were Kompany fit, we'd have yet another tall CB in the box posing headed-threat).
======
Down the middle though - we're not nearly as strong as Barca/Bayern - Kun might score through clever interchange down the middle - but Messi will carve a path though the middle with help from Xavi/Inesta/whomever quite often - Bayern at least had Lewondoski in the middle.
=======
So in contrast to previous sides, we threaten primarily along the sides with crosses into the box - we also threaten on set pieces with tall players in the box posing aerial threat.

We do not threaten that much down the middle, but long range goals from the likes of KDB, as well as deft interchanges between Kun and attacking midfielders leads to the occasional goal scored down the middle.

 

[Rolee]

Look at the team we played at Leicester last season.

Bravo in goal with a back three of Sagna, Stones and Kolarov.

In front of them was Fernando and Zaba.

Why are we so much better this year? Looking at that it kind of speaks for itself.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Look at the team we played at Leicester last season.

Bravo in goal with a back three of Sagna, Stones and Kolarov.

In front of them was Fernando and Zaba.

Why are we so much better this year? Looking at that it kind of speaks for itself.

It does indeed