It’s a lack of leadership on the pitch. I’m not absolving Virgil but he has led on the pitch at time this year.
Since Trent got injured and Mo went to Afcon/got injured we’ve been without that real start quality, the thing that makes you believe and gets you over the line. For a couple of months the collective spirit allied with Virgil willing things to happen (league cup, Forest away etc) made up for it, then Macca carried us for a few weeks. Since then, and despite having several international captains on the pitch, Virgil and Macca have dipped (having played almost every game) and talismanic players like Mo and Trent are feeling their way back to form. 2017-2022 we had 3 or 4 players you could utterly bank on in big moments to drag us out of the fire.
We have a really able squad, but Mane > Diaz, Bobby > Nunez and only Jota beats his direct competitor (Divock). Diaz and Nunez are really good players in a team that’s playing with confidence, but neither of them looks remotely like ever being the main man. They thrive off Mo being a constant threat and play in the space he makes available. If he can’t do that anymore because he doesn’t trust his body or his legs have totally gone, they’re just not going to step up consistently. They’ll do it occasionally, but 4 years ago if Mo didn’t score Bobby did, if Bobby didn’t score, Mane did - etc etc.
Being philosophical, it shows how hard it is to win things consistently, unless you’re an oil state who has hired a renowned drug cheat to mange you and paid for all the refs. Just dispiriting to be riding high in March and knocked down in April, as Sinatra didn’t say.
It’s a lack of leadership on the pitch. I’m not absolving Virgil but he has led on the pitch at time this year. Since Trent got injured and Mo went to Afcon/got injured we’ve been without that real start quality, the thing that makes you believe and gets you over the line. For a couple of months the collective spirit allied with Virgil willing things to happen (league cup, Forest away etc) made up for it, then Macca carried us for a few weeks. Since then, and despite having several international captains on the pitch, Virgil and Macca have dipped (having played almost every game) and talismanic players like Mo and Trent are feeling their way back to form. 2017-2022 we had 3 or 4 players you could utterly bank on in big moments to drag us out of the fire. We have a really able squad, but Mane > Diaz, Bobby > Nunez and only Jota beats his direct competitor (Divock). Diaz and Nunez are really good players in a team that’s playing with confidence, but neither of them looks remotely like ever being the main man. They thrive off Mo being a constant threat and play in the space he makes available. If he can’t do that anymore because he doesn’t trust his body or his legs have totally gone, they’re just not going to step up consistently. They’ll do it occasionally, but 4 years ago if Mo didn’t score Bobby did, if Bobby didn’t score, Mane did - etc etc. Being philosophical, it shows how hard it is to win things consistently, unless you’re an oil state who has hired a renowned drug cheat to mange you and paid for all the refs. Just dispiriting to be riding high in March and knocked down in April, as Sinatra didn’t say.