Probably because they're all running off with their tail between their legs. A lot of people on here thought we'd be challenging for the title this season at a minimum, because we had a great summer in the transfer window and because of Jose's second season record. obviously you have to take into account the amazing season City are having and say that it's almost impossible to challenge that, but we were definitely regarded as potential title winners by a lot of people, not just on the Caf.
For me though that's not the biggest disappointment. My biggest disappointment is that Jose brings us into every single big game like we're the worse side, like we're the underdogs, like we're expected to be beaten and should therefore play this overly cautious (some would say cowardly) approach and hope to hit them on the counter. That's worked in recent weeks pretty well but let's not forget the Liverpool, City, and Spurs games earlier in the season. Ultimately we have the second best squad in the league (many here thought we had the best squad before City started running away with the league) and to have such a diabolical mentality when we go into every big game is just fecking painful.
it's easy to forget that we were playing some great football right up until that Liverpool game, and everyone thought we finally looked like a top side capable of winning the PL, and then that game happened, and Jose told our players, who had thus far been banging in goals for fun, to basically park the bus and hope for a draw against a team who couldn't defend for shit at the time. No fecking wonder our form went to shite after that.
Good post.
I myself didn’t expect to win the league but really hoped to challenge, was even pleasantly surprised by our first so many games and just when we started looking like a real team, able to go toe to toe with the other big teams in the league, Jose pulled the rug from underneath the team. Forcing a free flowing attacking team, which still needed tweaking, to park the bus and not to play football, letting his players know he doesn’t trust them or believe in them to beat a Liverpool team leaking more goals than anyone else in the league. That is also the day something broke in the team and has never truly recovered.
Many will blame injuries to Pogba and Bailly but this was more a mental thing. We are Utd we should be challenging or at least die trying but that too hasn’t happened. I must say I didn’t expect the league to be over after the first week in December either, but it was.
A lot of people keep pointing out we are second in the league, that is progress but I feel we are still second because teams like Chelsea have imploded, Tottenham and Liverpool have had no consistency and Arsenal well who really knows what happened there. All those teams where a lot better last year, while we have been able to scrape results, thus the only one showing a bit of consistency.
The strange part of it all, we started the year well showing a more stable team with some improvement in performances, looking like we put the dreadful Christmas period behind us, looking like we were ready to push on for the second half of the season. In comes Jose’s new toy and eveything gets thrown into shambles to accommodate a truly under performing player. What I don’t understand, mikhi was kept out of the team for his bad performances, lindelof to get used to the team and league etc all this to protect the player but with Sanchez it doesn’t matter how bad he is, undroppable. I could still see Martial being moved on for a Chilian Rooney, a player in decline way to early for his years and that is why he held out on his contract deal at Arsenal for more money, why he ditched City for MU, he needed one last big pay day.
The idea that some say, that Pep & Jose entered similar jobs is far from the truth, from everything from starting-point of how the squad had been for a time and how the club had invested in getting back up.
It's also noticeable when going through the stats of the different seasons that City were more under-performing points-wise when you look at goal-difference and league-position than United were.
You can see in the graphs below that City were performing at a higher level in almost every department, all the way since 2013/14 when Sir Alex wasn't around anymore.
Keep in mind that we threw the league under Jose's season to put our eggs in the Europa League basket.
Also do note that there are 8 games left of the season, so this years stats can still improve.
Going by my graphs, we're improving in every area: Table position, points, goals scored, goals against & goal-difference.
Key-ish players in the two teams from 2013 and til now:
Patrice Evra - Left - Not replaced currently
Di Maria - Left - Not replaced currently
Nemanja Vidic - Left - Not replaced currently
Rafael (not for all) - Left - Replaced
Rio Ferdinand - Left - Replaced
Nani (not for all) - Left - Replaced
Wayne Rooney - Left - Replaced
Van Persie - Left - Replaced
David De Gea - Here
Anthony Martial - New
Paul Pogba - New
Romelu Lukaku - New
Eric Bailly - New
Matic - New
Alexis Sanchez - New
Supposed to be key-players (presumably):
Bastian Schweinsteiger - Left
Radamel Falcao - Left
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - Left
In short:
We've lost an entire defense (if we add Rafael) and only had one proper replacement in Bailly & a in-squad replacement for Rafael in Valencia who is now ageing. Struggled with not having a midfield (which we've somewhat gotten but it isn't fully functional and we lack quality options to the main two) and have replaced our attacking options decently.
Joe Hart - Left - Replaced
Pablo Zabaleta - Left - Replaced
Joleon Lescott - Left - Replaced
Jesus Navas - Left - Replaced
Gael Clichy - Left - Replaced
Gareth Barry - Left - Replaced
James Milner - Left - Replaced
Samir Nasri - Left - Replaced
Aleksander Kolarov - Left - Replaced
Edin Dzeko - Left - Replaced
Vincent Kompany - There
Sergio Aguero - There
David Silva - There
Fernandinho - There
Yaya Toure - There / aged - Replaced
Raheem Sterling - New
Nicolas Otamendi - New
Kevin De Bruyne - New
Leroy Sane - New
Kyle Walker - New
Ederson - New
Top players/transfers just to fill the squad:
Ilkay Gundogan - New
Bernardo Silva - New
Benjamin Mendy - New
Danilo - New
Aymeric Laporte - New
In short:
They've changed out their attackers, their midfield, their defense & their keeper while adding depth and overall increased the quality of all sides of their squad. The exceptions in their side are those who were the absolute top players back when they won the league in 2013/14 in Aguero, Kompany, Toure & Silva who either still play at the top level or has been replaced with high quality.
City are performing well, there is no denying that. But we've had a long(er) way to go and Jose has been able to drag us up to 2nd while improving the quality of our squad from the shambles we've been at. I understand and agree with those being frustrated at how we play, and while I too don't think Jose will have us playing super-entertaining football (going by what people seem to think of as entertaining), he sure isn't doing a bad job with improving the club compared to those around us.
Fully agree with Jose, but then he should start with himself and then only can he demand it from his players. Maybe instill some form of discipline when it comes to his player’s social media presence. City somehow don’t have an under performing dabbing donkey continually seeking media attention.
Seem to me he has this bad habit of striking outward hard and become ever toxic when things or people don't go his way, it really detracts from his character in some ways. Perhaps he has a plan or is in a power struggle of sorts. Compared against ourselves we have progressed in lots of areas and continue to do so under his lead.
Wherever it is we're headed towards under his leadership the man isn't exactly diplomatic or tolerant toward weakness. Lot of tough love going on towards some players that need the soft touch to develop. He basically took a big steamy dump on said players with the last interview. We need big game players and match winners in the mental sense as well as ability. If his ways can ignite a few on the verge of growth then so be it, if not they need to move on somewhere else like Mkhi did and be replaced with harder world class type players, they are paid a great deal to deliver.
I could still see Martial being moved on for a Chilian Rooney, a player in decline way to early for his years and that is why he held out on his contract deal at Arsenal for more money, why he ditched City for MU, he needed one last big pay day.
Very true Jose is determined to stick to a 4-2-3-1 formation, while it has been proven over the course of the season it doesn’t suit his team. Often other teams overrun our midfield with ease and we end up with a gaping gap between defense and attack, causing players in attack to drop deep to try and get onto the ball leaving Lukaku totally isolated and nullified.
Yet he insists to persevere with this formation without correcting the problem.
Sorry I have to disagree with you again on the last statement. Mourinho did try to fix it, 1stly by replacing Pogba with McTom in certain games, then trying Pogba's preferred tactics of playing 3 MF; and then against Sevilla with Fellaini replacing Pogba.
If I have to state his error, is to insist on playing Sanchez on the left. I don't know if playing Sanchez on the right with Pogba on LHS MF would be a better solution, but it was obvious that playing both on the same side is a mistake. So may be the error was on Sanchez in the 1st place, we should have gone for a proper right winger.
In Mourinho's interview he could only offer Matic and Lukaku as consistent performers, which we all agree. Add Bailey (when not injured), and Ibra (served the purpose last season), his acquisition record is only about 50% right. While it is easy to blame previous managers on acquisition, he didn't do too well on this sector neither. Of course the worst part is those failures include 2 of the most expensive players which he cannot ignore.
