nottsblue wrote:Whether we are in decline remains to be seen. It assumes we will regress further and not add to the pots and success of the last decade. I don’t think we will see such a thing.
But we are definitely not as good as we were a couple of years ago. That’s a given. But I do think we still have the squad to win the PL and/or cup competitions. I don’t see that any of our rivals have better squads than us. Arguably Chelsea have as good as we have. Spurs have a decent forward line but their midfield and defence isn’t as strong. The dippers are about to be tested severely at the back. Arsenal are still a work in progress and have a soft underbelly. The rags are simply not good enough and have an idiot as manager. Leicester, surprisingly are dark horses and if they stay injury free like in 2016 could surprise us all.
It’s obvious we need to replace Aguero but that is easier said than done. There are literally a handful of guys in world football who are in the frame and as such getting one in isn’t straightforward. I really do think our management honestly thought we were bringing in Messi in the summer which would have bought us more time and as it didn’t happen we were kind of stuck with what we had. Maybe we could have bought a striker from somewhere, but if he wasn’t a prime target anyway then perhaps it wouldn’t be the best in the long run. Thinking of Bony here.
But it’s the manager who trains the squad. It’s the manager who decides the tactics. It’s the manager who picks the team. It’s the manager who reacts to the situation a game is in with substitutions. I would turn the OP question around and say yes we have got a decent squad, have we got the right manager for the squad we have or is the manager in decline?
There’s definitely a question mark against Pep but, for me, it’s more in terms of his contract. It’s very difficult to keep on winning everything season on season, especially, in my view, when you’re playing against the establishment. Saying that, when some can be disappointed with 2nd and a League Cup probably says more about our success that any failure.
Do I think Pep is right for us, then the answer is a resounding ‘Yes’, but it does come with caveats. If we are to continue playing against the same system every game, ie. a packed box who will just try to hit us on the break, then we need to see a different game from us. Maybe deception, playing deep ourselves to draw them out or even giving them more control of the game whilst trusting our defence.
But, this comes back to the whole team. If one players do well, the manager is vindicated.
