So Where Do We Go From Here ?

[clippo22]

I think once we get yaya and bony back our performances will return to normal and we will go on a winning run, but that only papers over the fact that without yaya we are looking very average. Fernandinho has been very disappointing this season, £30m for one good season is far too expensive, he compliments yaya very well but when yaya isn't available he has to provide creativity himself, and he can't do it. In the summer we need to sign a centre mid who is able to dominate the game like yaya can, someone who can create chances but also receive the ball and hold it, someone who the other players trust to pass it to and 9/10 they won't lose it.

Don't ask me who that player is though because I havent a clue! Closest I can think is Pogba. We need to find the next Pirlo/Xavi/Kroos and sign them up!

[South Stand Balti]

I'm concerned that vs Roma and during those fifteen or so unbeaten games we discovered some kind of rhythm and game plan to dominate games. The blueprints of which seemed to have been torn to shreds and replaced by this shit.

We have a really really bad habit of rushing players back in when thier replacements and doing perfectly well without them. This sets us back every fucking year.

This for me is the main point. MP was forced to fill the middle of the park because of injurirs to forwards. This makes us stronger but MP got lucky. Now he had two fit forwards he just plays two in midfield and we get overrun. He can't see it and can't learn.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

I'm concerned that vs Roma and during those fifteen or so unbeaten games we discovered some kind of rhythm and game plan to dominate games. The blueprints of which seemed to have been torn to shreds and replaced by this shit.

We have a really really bad habit of rushing players back in when thier replacements and doing perfectly well without them. This sets us back every fucking year.

Agree with your first point (and second). We were playing some intelligent, fluid football in December and now our play is almost a turgid as it was under Mancini in his last season. We're back to 'plan A' when 'plan B' was working perfectly well. A mix of both would be perfect.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I think once we get yaya and bony back our performances will return to normal and we will go on a winning run, but that only papers over the fact that without yaya we are looking very average. Fernandinho has been very disappointing this season, £30m for one good season is far too expensive, he compliments yaya very well but when yaya isn't available he has to provide creativity himself, and he can't do it. In the summer we need to sign a centre mid who is able to dominate the game like yaya can, someone who can create chances but also receive the ball and hold it, someone who the other players trust to pass it to and 9/10 they won't lose it.

Don't ask me who that player is though because I havent a clue! Closest I can think is Pogba. We need to find the next Pirlo/Xavi/Kroos and sign them up!

Not that I totally disagree but it's a little unfair to point the finger at Fernandinho because he can't do what Yaya does. He simply isn't a true playmaker and excels at the holding midfield player role. It surely is down to Pellegrini NOT to play the two F's together and hope we will have enough creative ability to break down teams who park the bus.To then throw 2 strikers on as well just adds to the problem.

[Ted Hughes]

I'm concerned that vs Roma and during those fifteen or so unbeaten games we discovered some kind of rhythm and game plan to dominate games. The blueprints of which seemed to have been torn to shreds and replaced by this shit.

We have a really really bad habit of rushing players back in when thier replacements and doing perfectly well without them. This sets us back every fucking year.

This for me is the main point. MP was forced to fill the middle of the park because of injurirs to forwards. This makes us stronger but MP got lucky. Now he had two fit forwards he just plays two in midfield and we get overrun. He can't see it and can't learn.

It wasn't lucky it was brilliant.

And he didn't just change to two strikers. He brought back Aguero as the lone striker & he was shit. Just as he has been plenty of times in the past when played as a lone striker. He can only do it when absolutely 100% match fit. So yesterday he tried him in a two with Dzeko. Then he switched again to a system with Milner more similar to the system we used at Christmas. Then he tried Jovetic as an attacking mid to fire passes in to Aguero. He tried all kinds of changes. All of it worked to some extent but we still didn't finish.

Next season we should look at how the team played without strikers & try to emulate it with strikers in the team. We were getting lots of players in the box.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Just watching West ham corners...so fuckign easy , right in the middle.

Why cant our fuckign inept muppets do this simple task !!!

[Hazy2]

Beat me to it, we are to pretty to work on such trivial aspects of the game!

[branny]

Need to start winning from the back again. No clean sheet since 20th December and at the minute we're just waiting for the fuck up that hands the oppo a goal. Concede 2 at home in the CL and its bye bye

[Hazy2]

Put a shift in and get back to basics.

[Ted Hughes]

Just watching West ham corners...so fuckign easy , right in the middle.

Why cant our fuckign inept muppets do this simple task !!!

Tbh we did hit several like that yesterday.

[twosips]

We frequently take short freekicks though and dont put it into the area anywhere near as well as West Ham did for their goal

[Ted Hughes]

We frequently take short freekicks though and dont put it into the area anywhere near as well as West Ham did for their goal

West Ham have a load of players who win headers though.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Try again next year

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I'm as gutted as the next person with the way that our current, indifferent form (to put it mildly) seems to have finally derailed our season and dashed all our hopes as to what we might have achieved in our defence of the title.

However, at the end of the day, it's all relative :- we're certainly not going through the same problems that Glasgow Rangers are currently having to endure (although we have in the not too distant past), we haven't gone down the same road that Portsmouth travelled fairly recently and, dare I say it, we're not in the position that Leeds United are in at the moment.

We're not fighting against relegation (although we know all too well what that feels like), we have a first class ground, unrivalled youth facilities, a management structure and owners who are second to none and we have great players in our squad, all complemented by an increasingly stable financial base.

There are so many teams and Clubs in a far worse position than ourselves and I'm sure that they'd love to have our 'problems' to contend with.

I'm not ignoring the hard fact that our season seems to be disappointingly fading away but there's always tomorrow and, provided we manage to get our act together for the remainder of this campaign, there's always the prospect of better things in 2015/2016......and we've still got the chance to play a little bit of decent football before May comes around.

In the summer, I'm surmising that we might have a sizeable 'clear-out' with new faces coming in and this ought to provide grounds for a little optimism so, in spite of the way that things seems pretty grim at the moment, I feel it's important to keep some form of perspective.

There's no need for anyone to start slashing their wrists.......at least not just yet, so let's calmly see what transpires.

[Hazy2]

Pray we find some form and Barca lose half a dozen players too jelly belly, or we are fucked.

[nottsblue]

I'm as gutted as the next person with the way that our current, indifferent form (to put it mildly) seems to have finally derailed our season and dashed all our hopes as to what we might have achieved in our defence of the title.

However, at the end of the day, it's all relative :- we're certainly not going through the same problems that Glasgow Rangers are currently having to endure (although we have in the not too distant past), we haven't gone down the same road that Portsmouth travelled fairly recently and, dare I say it, we're not in the position that Leeds United are in at the moment.

We're not fighting against relegation (although we know all too well what that feels like), we have a first class ground, unrivalled youth facilities, a management structure and owners who are second to none and we have great players in our squad, all complemented by an increasingly stable financial base.

There are so many teams and Clubs in a far worse position than ourselves and I'm sure that they'd love to have our 'problems' to contend with.

I'm not ignoring the hard fact that our season seems to be disappointingly fading away but there's always tomorrow and, provided we manage to get our act together for the remainder of this campaign, there's always the prospect of better things in 2015/2016......and we've still got the chance to play a little bit of decent football before May comes around.

In the summer, I'm surmising that we might have a sizeable 'clear-out' with new faces coming in and this ought to provide grounds for a little optimism so, in spite of the way that things seems pretty grim at the moment, I feel it's important to keep some form of perspective.

There's no need for anyone to start slashing their wrists.......at least not just yet, so let's calmly see what transpires.

Well said that man.

I only hope that some of the new faces in the summer are ones familiar to a few of the board members on here, namely Doug, twosips and Ted, in so much that they are lads from the academy

[iwasthere2012]

I'm as gutted as the next person with the way that our current, indifferent form (to put it mildly) seems to have finally derailed our season and dashed all our hopes as to what we might have achieved in our defence of the title.

However, at the end of the day, it's all relative :- we're certainly not going through the same problems that Glasgow Rangers are currently having to endure (although we have in the not too distant past), we haven't gone down the same road that Portsmouth travelled fairly recently and, dare I say it, we're not in the position that Leeds United are in at the moment.

We're not fighting against relegation (although we know all too well what that feels like), we have a first class ground, unrivalled youth facilities, a management structure and owners who are second to none and we have great players in our squad, all complemented by an increasingly stable financial base.

There are so many teams and Clubs in a far worse position than ourselves and I'm sure that they'd love to have our 'problems' to contend with.

I'm not ignoring the hard fact that our season seems to be disappointingly fading away but there's always tomorrow and, provided we manage to get our act together for the remainder of this campaign, there's always the prospect of better things in 2015/2016......and we've still got the chance to play a little bit of decent football before May comes around.

In the summer, I'm surmising that we might have a sizeable 'clear-out' with new faces coming in and this ought to provide grounds for a little optimism so, in spite of the way that things seems pretty grim at the moment, I feel it's important to keep some form of perspective.

There's no need for anyone to start slashing their wrists.......at least not just yet, so let's calmly see what transpires.

Well said that man.

I only hope that some of the new faces in the summer are ones familiar to a few of the board members on here, namely Doug, twosips and Ted, in so much that they are lads from the academy

I echo that Nottsblue. Much as I'd love a Reus or Pogba, I think two or three coming back from loan and making the squad excites me more. Add Iheanacho to the mix as well.
I understand the anger on here by the way, but I haven't given up on this season yet. Maybe I'm just A fool.

[Nigels Tackle]

I'm as gutted as the next person with the way that our current, indifferent form (to put it mildly) seems to have finally derailed our season and dashed all our hopes as to what we might have achieved in our defence of the title.

However, at the end of the day, it's all relative :- we're certainly not going through the same problems that Glasgow Rangers are currently having to endure (although we have in the not too distant past), we haven't gone down the same road that Portsmouth travelled fairly recently and, dare I say it, we're not in the position that Leeds United are in at the moment.

We're not fighting against relegation (although we know all too well what that feels like), we have a first class ground, unrivalled youth facilities, a management structure and owners who are second to none and we have great players in our squad, all complemented by an increasingly stable financial base.

There are so many teams and Clubs in a far worse position than ourselves and I'm sure that they'd love to have our 'problems' to contend with.

I'm not ignoring the hard fact that our season seems to be disappointingly fading away but there's always tomorrow and, provided we manage to get our act together for the remainder of this campaign, there's always the prospect of better things in 2015/2016......and we've still got the chance to play a little bit of decent football before May comes around.

In the summer, I'm surmising that we might have a sizeable 'clear-out' with new faces coming in and this ought to provide grounds for a little optimism so, in spite of the way that things seems pretty grim at the moment, I feel it's important to keep some form of perspective.

There's no need for anyone to start slashing their wrists.......at least not just yet, so let's calmly see what transpires.

no one is slitting their wrists
there is just a huge frustration that we haven't kicked on
we aren't anywhere near where we should be imo
big question marks over the sporting side of the management team for me

[DoomMerchant]

I'm concerned that vs Roma and during those fifteen or so unbeaten games we discovered some kind of rhythm and game plan to dominate games. The blueprints of which seemed to have been torn to shreds and replaced by this shit.

We have a really really bad habit of rushing players back in when thier replacements and doing perfectly well without them. This sets us back every fucking year.

This for me is the main point. MP was forced to fill the middle of the park because of injurirs to forwards. This makes us stronger but MP got lucky. Now he had two fit forwards he just plays two in midfield and we get overrun. He can't see it and can't learn.

It wasn't lucky it was brilliant.

And he didn't just change to two strikers. He brought back Aguero as the lone striker & he was shit. Just as he has been plenty of times in the past when played as a lone striker. He can only do it when absolutely 100% match fit. So yesterday he tried him in a two with Dzeko. Then he switched again to a system with Milner more similar to the system we used at Christmas. Then he tried Jovetic as an attacking mid to fire passes in to Aguero. He tried all kinds of changes. All of it worked to some extent but we still didn't finish.

Next season we should look at how the team played without strikers & try to emulate it with strikers in the team. We were getting lots of players in the box.

Jovetic played a couple balls yesterday that were miles better than anything Silva's done in ages.

I'd bench Vinnie and David. And get Jojo and Milner on. Navas on instead of Fern. Pair the Mangler with MDM. And give that a go.

This shit is super fucking easy. What's next?

[getdressedmctavish]

Pellegrini's set up was utter shite. Two defensive midfielders v Hull at home, no width and Dzeko. Did any one expect anything other outcome? Gotta laugh at Doug."fernandinho excels as a holding mid"! You should have a word with Ted, Doug.He doesn't excel as anything but he keeps getting away with it. Match of the day picked out his "flick" for their goal and the comical "pass" into touch. But barely a word raised at either on the terraces. Mind you, he'll be better when Ya Ya is back and he can pick up his money for passing it 6 feet to him.Time people woke up on this fella.Atleast you can see what the other F is trying to do even if he can't do it. Serves us right for slavishly bowing and scraping to these Barca boys who clearly haven't got a clue re player recruitment and never have. Check their record. Its abject.The team is in disarray. It stops at Pellegrini. Maybe he can't spell "Milner"He's a gentleman mind.