Finally! We were lucky but we won in the end. Held it together until the end. A couple of headers from Inter could have turned the game around, but overall, I thought we were pretty decent. Not our best, but certainly decent enough.

OHHHHHHHH KEVIN DE BRUUUUYNE OHHHHHHHH KEVIN DE BRUUUUYNE

He's going to be our difference to our season. I think it will be a problem once he retire.

Oscar Bobb looks highly promising. The two touches to score that winning goal. Damnnnnnn.

In fairness, all three 5 goals in the match were really good. The two goals we conceded has been our problem throughout the season.

We did win a lot without him, which indicates, how good the rest of the players. However, without them, sometimes we seem to lack kind of a "game changer" in our squad. So when do make mistakes at the back, it becomes obvious. We can play without them, but we have to make sure our back are efficient, meaning we have to stop underestimating opponents like Crystal Palace.

I'm personally waiting to see a future of Haaland (FW), Doku (LW), Foden (AM), Bobb (RW). That's gonna be some insane attacking force. Not to mention I like how Doku, Foden and Bobb can interchange with one another throughout the game. On top of that we have Rico Lewis who can flip between midfield and right-back. We also have Julian Alvarez who can play as a striker and anywhere in the attacking midfield.

If we win 4 times in a row, that's going to be an insane achievement. Pep is really special.

Oh well. Can't win them all. Congrats to Man Utd. All the best to them for the coming season.

My end of season thoughts. Quite lengthy but I just thought I share them here.

First of all, I consider this season our "transition" season. We're losing a lot of our senior players and we're seeing a lot of new players coming in. I think there were some negatives and positives this season. In the next transfer window, I think there will be more senior players leaving.

The Positives
- Ortega has shown that he can be relied upon when needed
- Doku is an electrifying player and will be someone huge in the future, no doubt
- Gvardiol was written off by many as a flop but turns out, there's a reason why we paid that much for him
- Rodri has stepped up and taken control of the team, despite playing the most number of games, he still looked good
- Kovacic has probably been the bargain of the season for us as when he's on the field, Rodri doesn't look isolated, and the midfield looks calmer. Just love his control and move of the ball when players are surrounding him

The Negatives
- Matheus Nunes. Turns out, he was a panic buy because we didn't get Paqueta? Who knows. His lack of involvement is a problem but I still rate him as a good player
- Rodri's temper was a concern this season as his red card did cause our season to wobble a little bit and the lack of back up for him is another issue as well
- Our defense despite being second best in the league, we've had some "oopsy" moments which is concern, conceding a lot of deflection goals or just being clumsy
- Our attack doesn't look sharp for some reason which I suspect is due to coaching, though I do believe partly it was due to teams setting up low blocks
- This season showed why Gundogan was really important as having an 8 who can occasionally play as a 6 is important and we did not replace him
- Allowing our players to go clubbing after winning the league despite, and then having two days off, with Rodri saying "mentality" during the last game of the season showed a sense of arrogance and complacency
- We need to start thinking about Kyle Walker as there have been games he's been beaten as he ages

The Future
- Arsenal have improved so much and we need to watch out for them as I believe they are 1 striker and 1 left-footed right winger away from winning the league
- Savio is joining us for next season, very likely to be part of the first team. I believe having him and Doku will play an important role to unlock teams playing low blocks as they have unpredictability
- We need to fix our final third coaching as clearly something doesn't seem to work, despite having being the highest goal scoring team
- I believe next season, once Arsenal get a striker, the differentiating factor will be the defensive quality
- People are underestimating Arne Slot a lot, but I rate him highly as he's a very technical coach. The question is going to be how Michael Edwards is going to help him build his team up.

What I anticipate:
- I can't help but shake the feeling that we might be losing someone unexpectedly in this transfer window, though I can't figure out who
- I think we will see Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb to have their break out season next season and I do see Rico Lewis playing in the midfield
- Jacob Wright, Joel Ndala, Mahamadou Susoho & Max Alleyne to be introduced from the EDS for next season
- Question mark lingers on the future of Micah Hamilton, Kayky, Finley Burns and Alex Robertson as I think they will sold
- Two Youth Players to pay attention to are Joel Ndala and Emilio Lawrence

Possible Outs (First team):

Bernado Silva	Been our most exciting and coolest player in our team but he has made his desire to leave and play in Spain known however, I have doubts that it might happen as Barcelona have got their own issues
Joao Cancelo	Clearly no longer part of our first team and it doesn't look like anybody can buy him, so I expect him to leave on loan, AGAIN but hopefully we can sell him
John Stones	Exceptional player but his injuries have shown that he cannot be featured consistently and I think Pep might be looking at him and wonder whether he can be relied upon
Nathan Ake	Rumours of him to be sold last season to Chelsea and I suspect he might be our surprise "out" in the transfer window. Has been a great player, but there have been moments from him where he was either beaten or made judgement call (vs Liverpool at Anfield)
Matheus Nunes	Love the guy but its obvious that Pep has no idea what to do with him and with Saudi league showing an interest, City might consider taking the money and run
Ederson	Currently linked with a move to Saudi league but I believe this is agent talk to renegotiate a new deal at City because rumours has it that he's currently only on £100,000 a week
Kyle Walker	Aging and is currently linked to Saudi league, but I suspect might keep him for one more season but will be playing lesser games
Yan Cuoto	Has not shown a desire to renew contract. Linked with several clubs across Europe, including Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, should Frimpong leave

Possible Ins (First team):

Bruno Guimarães	Capable of playing both 8 and 6, makes penetrative run, perfect age to be the player of first team, while Rico Lewis makes a transitional introduction to first team fixture, however, not my choice and I have some question marks about the guy. Inconsistent, temperamental, and has made some questionable judgement call which I feel is similar to Paqueta. Also linked to Arsenal
Lucas Paqueta	Exciting player, ability to unlock defense when in the middle, flexible enough to play on the wings. Despite being charged for betting allegations, he will need to respond to the legal process before Jun and he will be facing a hearing
Dani Olmo	An alternative to Bruno G but is known for his injuries and I do not believe we will get him as he's linked to Bayern and Newcastle (as a replacement for Bruno G)
Jamal Musiala	An alternative to Lucas Paqueta but to be honest, this seems too good to be true and and will cross £100m if we wanted to sign him. Don't think Txiti will go for him
Ebere Eze	We're also linked to him as a potential alternative to Paqueta, has premier league experience and is English, has been great under Glasner at Palace
Michael Olise	We were linked strongly to him but the rumour has died down and he is now linked strongly with United, Arsenal and Chelsea
Thiago Neves	Small sized player, capable of playing both 6 and 8 like Bruno G. Similar to Musiala, I think this is unrealistic and very unlikely. Currently linked to Man Utd, Arsenal, City and Madrid
Jeremie Frimpong	Rumoured long term replacement for Kyle Walker, electrifying and exciting, was part of our youth academy
Jarrad Branthwaite	Currently linked to United, City and Liverpool (yes, Liverpool too despite being from Everton) as City's hierarchy see him as a future John Stones

This post has been edited by Flaming_lion: May 26 2024, 11:16 AM

To be fair, there's not much you can do with 15 minutes left on the clock.

Despite that, McAtee, made some good runs, had one shot saved but also made one mistake.

JSP didn't do much, but the collapse wasn't on him.

For me, the mistake we made was taking out Gundogan and replacing him with KDB.

We no longer had a proper 6 in the midfield, left our defense exposed and interestingly enough, that's when Gvardiol got exposed. All 3 goals conceded, he had a role in each one of them.

I also fear, the concentration lapses from Gvardiol might be due to fitness issues. He could be exhausted.

If the intention was to replace Gundogan, should have brought in Nico.

There's no leadership defensively, could have brought on Dias for Ake, to get his match fitness up.

It looks like our problems persist. Too slow in the middle. No through ball in the middle to Haaland. That moment from Nunes to feed Haaland by running in the middle, that's what we need.

I think this will be our formation against Liverpool.

Looking at the line up, somewhat worried. Giving me the same vibes as the Tottenham match.

Hmm... I thought our second half was interesting with Grealish in the middle. Thought Rico was good, despite a couple of times being out-muscled by Liverpool player. Seeing Doku back, that was good. Looked lively. Foden was a let down. No connection at all to Haaland. Bernie seems to be fading terribly. Nunes made a couple of mistakes, couldn't get pass TAA. Dias looks very fresh. Akanji doesn't look good at all. Walker, aiyayaya. His reactions are getting slower. He has the speed, but his reactions are awful.