Will we win the league this season?

[BlueMonkey79]

Haha the state of this place. Anyone who thought we’d just kick into our old selves in the space of a few weeks is thick as fuck. The signings we’ve made are brilliant. Just what we needed. And just because a player has a few dodgy games it doesn’t mean he’s finished you know nowt mard arses. We need a right back and need to get rid of a bit of deadwood but fuck me! What a sham of a fanbase we’ve become. We’ve lost 2 games in over half a season now, playing mainly turgid football and folks weren’t happy. I hated how we played but could see why we did it. Now we’re playing high risk attacking football with some outstanding attacking talent - Cherki, Marmoush, Haaland, Doku, Ait Nouri, Foden etc etc. not to mention an untouchable centre Mid partnership in the making. Added to that an exciting new coaching set up. Jesus, give them more than 4 games which are effectively friendlies to adjust and gel.

That wasn't high-risk last night. It was suicidal (second half especially)...

And the deadwood you say... Do you mean

Bernie
Gundo
Akanji
Dias

???

Cos no way any of them are going anywhere. Gundo is Peps pet, and Bernie is captain, which tells me he's going to start more games than look on from the bench.

Why hasn't Kush, Nico, Reis, had good minutes this Club world cup.

Something tells me Pep doesn't trust them and he's reverting to type with the old guard. We saw that when the 3 subs came on yesterday.

Thats when we went from playing decent stuff in the first half, back to the slow football we witnessed last season.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I can't see it.

It's not only our idiotic defending, week in, week out. It's Pep's stubbornness that his is the only way and he's not changing it. Teams have sussed us out now. The "lesser" sides just sit back and defend, organised and hard to break down whilst we pass it backwards and around and forwards and backwards and around until the stadium is asleep. And then hit us on the break, and score.

Whilst the top teams press us with - and I hate the term - heavy metal football - and we too often crumble.

We need to be FAR more direct, and FAR quicker with our currently laboured passing and lack of movement. Haaland has pretty much given up making runs in behind because no-one (apart from KDB) ever passes it to him. Everything is played in front of packed defences and that isn't going to work over 38 games.

 

[eyalluvitt]

Not a chance.
Dippers will walk it with Arsenal a close 2nd esp if they land a striker. We will be fighting for a CL place and a good cup run.
Our defence is still a shambles, especially with the tactics Pep is playing, wouldn't be averse to replacing Ederson where literally every shot on target results in a goal, Akanjii and atm Dias who is a shell of the player he was. And we still have no proper right back. Nunes has improved but will be found out against the better teams.
And a severe lack of goalscorers in our team. Wingers produce next to nothing and our main striker is a shadow of the player from the 1st 2 seasons. We are just not clinical enough.
Last night summed up the last season, wasteful in front of goal and missing the chance to kill the game off and every shot on target v us hits the net.
I was more optimistic but its the same suicide tactics by Pep, still playing slow players in the middle.

Fast mobile Centre halves or we are toast playing this system. Basic kick and rush destroyed us, glad Inzaghe worked this out after the CL final

 

[hateutd]

As it seems,we will win nothing.... surely not the c.l.....

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Hard to judge from the last few results in the CWC as Pep obviously fell between two stools in trying to spread the workload whilst also taking the competition seriously

He's always valued intelligence over pace, which is fine, just as long as Stones and Rodri remain fully fit and we don't lose the ball cheaply in vulnerable positions

Sadly, I don't have much confidence in either, (especially when Doku and Savinho start) and aside from the potential of the new signings, the only real plus is that Foden seems to have rediscovered his goal scoring touch.

We've got six weeks until the Wolves game so there's still time for trimming and reshaping the squad, plus maybe a quality Right Back joining the club

However some serious decisions will need to be made on a number of issues:

How do Echeverri and Bobb get more minutes?
Can we afford to have so many injury prone players?
Does Pep still see Bernardo and Gundogan as regular starters in big games?
What's the best way to cover for Rodri?
What's the thinking behind the treatment of Gonzalez and Khusanov?

Plus the uncertainty of life after Pep will re-emerge as a thorny topic in the Autumn especially if we suffer a few poor results.

 

[theres only one carlito]

Not with Peps current mindset and approach.

Needs a change of thinking.

Unfortunately I don’t see Pep changing and that is his prerogative, why would he change something that’s had so much success? i personally think his football has run its course. Simply because other teams have adapted and learnt how to counteract it. Quite easily. Even bournmouth, Palace and Al Hilal can do it these days.

Football has cycles and for us with pep,I think that cycle has ended. Sure we’ll win games, but we will lose a hell
Of a lot more than we have seen in the past and dominating like we have done is not going to happen with this manager and his current set up.

I think last season proved that, yes we had injuries but Pep had no answer to any of the challenges we were up against, he continued to play the high line and slow midfield even though everyone could see the destruction of it and the 14 game without a win was painful to watch when it was glaringly obvious we needed legs or a change of tactics to stop the constant counterattacks and one shot one goal situations. He persisted with it to the point where he literally scratched the skin off his head! Because it wasn’t working. He claimed he needed his own players back, then said we weren’t good enough, then said we won’t win CL, just loads of stuff that was strange. Then persisted with old favourites. Then changed it against Newcastle and then back to his old ways the next game.

He’s a sucker for his own way and I think we will get more of the same next season with him in charge.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Fast mobile Centre halves or we are toast playing this system. Basic kick and rush destroyed us, glad Inzaghe worked this out after the CL final

If only we had a centre back with a bit of pace, eh?

Next season should be about blooding this guy through to be a partnership with Gvardiol or Dias. Stones and Ake are never available, and Akanji has always been our fourth choice when everyone's fit.

But most importantly, play a defensive midfielder. Always. Every game. Don't think that it's 'only' Al Hilal, so we can get away with Gundogan or Bernardo in the role. Play Rodri and if Rodri's injured, play Gonzalez, and if Gonzalez is injured, play Kovacic, and if all of those are injured, well just give up, because we need a DM. Honestly, it's why I think we should have made Adam Wharton our number one target.

 

[Dazzle84]

I think we'll win it convincingly. The team that starts the season will look a very different beast to the one that played last night.

The players need a break and then some intensive coaching pre-season and then we'll come out all guns blazing. I can see a 100 goal season.

That's not just happy clapper stuff btw. We've brought in coaches to work on weaknesses - they need time to coach

 

[jrb]

No, because we can't defend, and we don't take our chances.

 

[jacko74]

Not a chance.
Dippers will walk it with Arsenal a close 2nd esp if they land a striker. We will be fighting for a CL place and a good cup run.
Our defence is still a shambles, especially with the tactics Pep is playing, wouldn't be averse to replacing Ederson where literally every shot on target results in a goal,

A bit harsh to blame Ederson when our suicidal tactics means that opposition forwards are given virtually a free run at goal and all the time and space in the world to position themselves and shoot.

 

[urban genie]

If Pep abandons akanji, gundo and sadly dias to squad players and gives the new signings a chance then we can

 

[Metal Biker]

We need to drop the old guard and give the newcomers a chance.

They have more than enough potential but more importantly, pace.

Doing the same thing we did last year will yield the same results. I want to see fresher mentalities, the next generation coming through, not clinging on to the old. We had to do it in 2016, we need to again.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

Just been reading the player performance threads and it's looking like relegation is on the cards. Everyone is either old, shite, old and shite, too raw, old, or shite

 

[Paul1970]

If we play the same way as last season then the title will be done by December again but if pep and his fucking huge ego unleash his team then we could win it but our defence is shit and we have a keeper who can’t save so it’s a massive ask to win anything

 

[Shazza458]

Can’t see it. Combination of years of poor squad building, some players past it and Pep’s inconsistent tactics and lack of faith in certain players will probably cost us.

I reckon we’ll have a fairly comfortable T4 finish

 

[HolisticJim]

Oddly enough, I think we'd be in with a chance if we moved on Akanji, aki, Lewis, Silva and gungoden.

Then we would use the players we bought and have half a chance.

Honestly praying Pep hasn't lost the plot but the lack of playing time for 3 of the 4 new players bought mid season is worrying.

 

[SWPISHOME]

Oddly enough, I think we'd be in with a chance if we moved on Akanji, aki, Lewis, Silva and gungoden.

Then we would use the players we bought and have half a chance.

Honestly praying Pep hasn't lost the plot but the lack of playing time for 3 of the 4 new players bought mid season is worrying.

Agreed.

Yet people still think that they'll be starting at Wolves in August!

Gundogan played more minutes than Nico Gonzalez, Khusanov and Reis combined ffs.

Pep being so stubborn could cost him massively. People can say what they like, Khaldoon will want to see improved performances and results from August onwards, The way we have been playing last season which has continued into this competition isn't sustainable.

 

[half & half derby scarf]

Pep is obviously the elephant in the room and beyond criticism for many on here. I think another manager could have the current squad challenging, but Pep seems to have this obsession with his favourites who just aren't up to it anymore.

 

[mcfcpride]

Worrying aspect is Pep is still intent on picking his favourites.

Akanji, Ake, Ederson, Bernardo, Gundogan, are blocking places for fresh blood sat on the bench - who get 10 mins as a late sub if at all (Khusanov never gets game time, but is desperately needed in back 4)

 

[alexmcity]

This CWC was a curse for Rodri - with his injury he needed a full year out - so that would have been mid Sept - now we may not have him until Christmas AND that's if he gets his confidence back - difficult with serious injury - feasibly may never be the same - which is totally understandable. I still believe we should have pulled out of this June farce - and that's well before last night's game

No, that's all speculation. The fitness issue may be nothing serious. Why the need to dramatize?