There was a time when you could list off 90% of the squad and say Poch has taken an average player to next level.
A few years ago it was Walker, Rose, Trippier, Dier, Davies and Lamela who you could genuinely feel had become a different caliber player under him.
Dembele, Eriksen, Lloris, Kane, Dele, Rose and Walker were seen as world class, and rightly so. Try and remember people were talking about 150M for Dele.
Sánchez started well, then went downhill.
Moura hasn’t progressed in a year and a half.
Aurier is still crap.
KWP doesn’t get a look in, his debut was two years ago.
Sissoko and Winks was integrated and the magic happened..but for me every single one of those other players still at the club, bar Kane, has regressed. Massively.
I’m not interested in any stats, just watch football. We have one player today who you could say Poch has taken from nowhere to one of the best CMs in the PL but what’s happened to everyone else.
Poor tactics that don’t suit the team? Or has that great time from the Leicester season just run it’s course. Our football is by and large dreadful, and our technical ability has disappeared.
Foyth, Winks and Sissoko are the only players who look good on the ball (apart from Toby and Jan who have been solid from day one).
I don’t now know what’s happened, but “fatigue”, “Trippier” and “transfer window” just isn’t cutting it I’m afraid.
Combination of factors. Firstly some of our players in my view were overrated (not their fault, the fans and media), Dele for example is a mercurial talent like Pogba but like Pogba goes missing 4 out of 5 games but can pull an assist or goal out of nowhere. He has struggled this season and people forget is still young.
It doesn’t help that we don’t have the competition in the squad to push players. Roy Keane talked about how he loved having players in his position because it kept him on his toes. A lot of places in our squad don’t have that, only two solutions, buy quality which we haven’t done for two windows or youth development which seems to have dried up. This summer we have to buy big, no ifs no buts we have to do it or stretch this squad ever more thin.
At the end of the day Poch can only work with what he has got. When you combine a lack of depth in key positions with injuries, with a World Cup in which a lot of our players played, the whole Wembley and the mental affect of that it’s a lot for this squad to deal with.
My view is that we have massively overachieved , to be 3rd and in a semi of the CL is big. Hard reality is that modern football for the most part is money, we want to be challenging for titles and the CL every year we will probably need to spend massively, that ain’t going to happen. Just enjoy what we have.