I just don't think you can honestly blame Pep for their problems. He's the best manager in the world and perhaps they were playing above their talent level for many times? But it wasn't like they're this bad either in which having more losses than freakin' us.
They might have the most expensive roster in the world, but have all their players played up to their transfer wages'?
- Ederson: 36 million pounds
- Stones: 50 million (lol)
- Otamendi: 40 million (lol)
- Mendy: 52 million (lol)
- Zinchenko: Wasn't ever expensive, but not really good enough
- Walker: 47 million (lol)
- Feranandinho: He's been a good warrior, but age clearly effecting him
- Gundogan: Not expensive, but doesn't really do a lot
- D. Silva: He's been a good warrior, but upgrade needed
- Mahrez: 61 million for a fantastic player, but was he truly needed?
- Jesus: 30 million for a good yet inconsistent player
That's their enemy right there, all those players and that's pretty much 95% of their backline, depth defensively, and defensive midfield with some offensive options thrown in. Now I know you lot won't agree with everyone such as Mahrez and perhaps Jesus, but I think we can all agree that majority are actually pretty overrated if you were to ask me. Is Walker a bad player? No, is Mendy, Zinchenko, or Gundogan bad? Absolutely not, but they don't really ignite anything either. I think the difference between Man City and Liverpool resides to the fact that they have a superior goalkeeper, superior CB/backline, and I would take two of their three attacking options over Citeh.
What I mean here is that I this season's Mane and Salah have been much better than Sterling and Mahrez. Aguero is a thousandfold times better than Firmino, but Kun plays like 50% of the time due to reoccurring injuries. Then you're having to rely on Jesus to win you games and he hasn't ever really developed into that sort of player. To me he's Leicester City quality at best and not really the type of Man City ambitious talent they need.
I think the oil money of Man City allowed Pep to get the team he truly wanted in terms of players attributes, but Pep had to overpay for overrated talent (something he should be blamed for). KFC on the other hand made very smart buys and didn't really overspend, I think they're fortunate that the players they bought turned to be who they are now, but Barca being a dumbarse and spending like 150 million on Coutinho also very much helped fiance all their important moves. The problem is that Man City doesn't and shouldn't really sell their good players because they don't have somebody overrated like Coutinho which came off a great season. However, not all of it should be Pep's fault because he didn't ask for Aguero to be on LTIR for many important games or Mendy channelling his inner Abou Diaby. Besides Ox (and maybe Allison), I suggest KFC should be quite humble that majority of their best players have been quite healthy the last two seasons.
Whenever Man City has played Liverpool, they've dealt with at least one major injury either it be to Ederson, Silva, CB, or de Bruyne. I don't think Citeh are very far away of being the most dominant EPL club again, but they're going to have to overturn majority of the players I mentioned above. Hell, that 61 million for Mahrez would be awfully useful to get Koulibaly right now (even though he sucks). Not only that, but if they never bought Mahrez, Sane would be playing meaning that they would've saved so much money. Not that it matters to Citeh, because money doesn't, but I also think their funds are not like endless gold mine either. They have a cap just like we've seen with one of the wealthiest clubs in Barca and Citeh has got to be up there as well. I just can't put myself to think that Pep needs to be the one to leave because he's an issue. Sure, some of the blame absolutely is on him and the transfer team, but they've had unfortunate circumstances happen too!