Today has been coming, we've been off the boil for a couple of weeks now.
We were poor vs Everton in front of goal but ground it out.
Very, very good vs Leicester.
Poorish in the 1st leg with Dortmund.
Poor vs Leeds even though we should have won.
Ok first half vs Dortmund and very good 2nd half.
Shocking today (like the first half of the Dortmund game for 90 minutes).
Putting those games in perspective.. Our attack has reverted to its early season misfiring and I don't think Pep helped today with the Rodri/Fern combo.
Struggled to create vs Everton, Dortmund twice (and despite controlling the games needed 2 massive decisions to make up for our lack of killer instinct), had no killer instinct vs Leeds and today we played like geriatrics and didn't deserve anything , out worked, out fought and out thought by a Chelsea team who also played midweek. The only game in our last 6 we've looked genuinely like ourselves was Leicester.
We need to sort it out fast cause PSG will give us a whooping based on our last 4 or 5 performances. Pep now has to go full strength vs Villa to make sure we get the job done in the PL and possibly rotate for the League Cup as opposed to vice versa (which would have happened if the quad was still on). This is an example of why the quad is impossible even for us with our squad. There is too much quality in the English game to rotate like is required and still perform and as today showed, a couple of ropey performances and you'll get found out very quickly.
Also Sterlings confidence issues is destroying the team, looked a Sunday League player today. Rodri has slowly reverted to last seasons Rodri and Cancelo the same (the clanger in the derby seems to have hit him hard). We'll very likely still get the league done which will still be a great season but I'm not optimistic on the CL at all after the last month.
Cancelo, Rodri, Sterling, Jesus have all lost form at the worst possible moment, its a little too early to rely on Torres who doesn't get involved enough. For the squad we have we are literally relying on the same XI to get the job done. Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko, Rodri (if he finds form) Gundo, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden and KDB. If KDB is out for any length of time we're not winning anything other than the premier league as we're tootless.
That said to get to this stage of the season still in the running for all 4 was an amazing accomplishment.