'We have too many games' yadda yadda

[john68]

Bob,
Most player have weaknesses in their games thast need to be addressed but at least, even with quite poor players, there are some redeeming features that a coach couls latch on to. I am very patient but for the life of me Ican't see anything at all for mancini to hand his hat on and say...That's the bit I can work with. Regrettably, Jo has had so many chances and failed to grasp any of them.

If Jo has some qualities the coaches can work with, surely it would be better to do so on the training pitch rather than risk the team effectively playong with 10 men.
I dont think that's an unfair appraisal.

[BobKowalski]

Bob,
Most player have weaknesses in their games thast need to be addressed but at least, even with quite poor players, there are some redeeming features that a coach couls latch on to. I am very patient but for the life of me Ican't see anything at all for mancini to hand his hat on and say...That's the bit I can work with. Regrettably, Jo has had so many chances and failed to grasp any of them.

If Jo has some qualities the coaches can work with, surely it would be better to do so on the training pitch rather than risk the team effectively playong with 10 men.
I dont think that's an unfair appraisal.

To be honest I don't really want to get into a debate about Jo basically because I don't care that much one way or the other. Jo is a fringe player that Mancini finds useful. I genuinely don't think he is as bad as people make out but if he went tomorrow I wouldn't be fussed. I do think Jo is like the zonal marking debate in that its an easy target because 1) no one will disagree with you if you slag him off and 2) it makes people sound like they know what they are talking about.

I tend not to talk too much about tactics or systems or even players. This is because whilst I have a superficial knowledge as we all do the fact is I am fucking clueless about the game at the highest level (or any bleeding level). I can yell for people to get stuck in, wonder why x is playing left and admire great play and skill but frankly I ain't got a scooby. I can recognise organisation when I see it and I can recognise leadership when I see it but apart from the obvious things - de nada.

The thing is I don't think anyone posting one here (or on any forum for that matter) has any more of an idea then I do. There are some great rants and pithy comments and even stuff I agree with but at the back of my mind is the nagging suspicion that we are all talking out of our collective arses.

For starters Jo is not a 'poor player'. Realistically none of the players we have are poor no matter what we may think of them. Players will fail at City because they are not mentally tough enough or think fast enough or not think at all or just be shot of all confidence or whatever. Jo may be one of these but I do not think Mancini and the zillion coaches we seem to have these days will waste their time on Jo if they did not ultimately think he had some value or reasonable long term benefit. Yes they may fail or be wrong. Mancini may get shot of Jo tomorrow or in the summer as a bad job. Shit happens and all that.

Which brings us back to the OP which is where it all started. Mancini is not weakening the squad. To weaken the squad would be stupid and Mancini isn't stupid. He is pruning the squad of weak players and by weak I mean mentally. I deduce that because ever since he arrived here he has been banging on about 'mentality' and the players must have the right mentality. Even Hughes used to bang on about it. Mancini said at his presser when asked if he had lost confidence in Ade he said no and then promptly went on about a player must give 100% and work all the time for the team etc so yes he had lost confidence in Ade which is why he is not here. It isn't enough to score goals any more. Its about application, work rate, attitude. Ade didn't get it and unlike Jo is no use as a fringe player so its adios.

Anyway its late and I am off

[SORTED]

I think everyone in the world including Bellamy thinks that Bellamy is a cunt.

A Slim classic!

[Patrick]

Bob,
Most player have weaknesses in their games thast need to be addressed but at least, even with quite poor players, there are some redeeming features that a coach couls latch on to. I am very patient but for the life of me Ican't see anything at all for mancini to hand his hat on and say...That's the bit I can work with. Regrettably, Jo has had so many chances and failed to grasp any of them.

If Jo has some qualities the coaches can work with, surely it would be better to do so on the training pitch rather than risk the team effectively playong with 10 men.
I dont think that's an unfair appraisal.

To be honest I don't really want to get into a debate about Jo basically because I don't care that much one way or the other. Jo is a fringe player that Mancini finds useful. I genuinely don't think he is as bad as people make out but if he went tomorrow I wouldn't be fussed. I do think Jo is like the zonal marking debate in that its an easy target because 1) no one will disagree with you if you slag him off and 2) it makes people sound like they know what they are talking about.

I tend not to talk too much about tactics or systems or even players. This is because whilst I have a superficial knowledge as we all do the fact is I am fucking clueless about the game at the highest level (or any bleeding level). I can yell for people to get stuck in, wonder why x is playing left and admire great play and skill but frankly I ain't got a scooby. I can recognise organisation when I see it and I can recognise leadership when I see it but apart from the obvious things - de nada.

The thing is I don't think anyone posting one here (or on any forum for that matter) has any more of an idea then I do. There are some great rants and pithy comments and even stuff I agree with but at the back of my mind is the nagging suspicion that we are all talking out of our collective arses.

For starters Jo is not a 'poor player'. Realistically none of the players we have are poor no matter what we may think of them. Players will fail at City because they are not mentally tough enough or think fast enough or not think at all or just be shot of all confidence or whatever. Jo may be one of these but I do not think Mancini and the zillion coaches we seem to have these days will waste their time on Jo if they did not ultimately think he had some value or reasonable long term benefit. Yes they may fail or be wrong. Mancini may get shot of Jo tomorrow or in the summer as a bad job. Shit happens and all that.

Which brings us back to the OP which is where it all started. Mancini is not weakening the squad. To weaken the squad would be stupid and Mancini isn't stupid. He is pruning the squad of weak players and by weak I mean mentally. I deduce that because ever since he arrived here he has been banging on about 'mentality' and the players must have the right mentality. Even Hughes used to bang on about it. Mancini said at his presser when asked if he had lost confidence in Ade he said no and then promptly went on about a player must give 100% and work all the time for the team etc so yes he had lost confidence in Ade which is why he is not here. It isn't enough to score goals any more. Its about application, work rate, attitude. Ade didn't get it and unlike Jo is no use as a fringe player so its adios.

Anyway its late and I am off

Nice one Bob!

It often confuses me why Sheik Mansour doesn't save himself a shedload of money forget these marquee manager appointments and just employ someone from the Internet instead. Maybe a guest spot each week?

I am personally delighted that Mancini is creating his dynasty at city and that means buy into it or fuck off. That and current injuries are the only reason Jo plays.

There may be half a dozen games, maybe even a dozen where we have to field a weakened squad whilst Bobby sorts this out, but in the long run he will finally do what no manager has done at city for 3 decades, be the guvnor

[Original Dub]

If we all just sat back and took everything that came our way without trying to give our opinion on it, this board would be non existant.

I don't buy into this "I'm not as knowledgable as Mancini so I'll keep my mouth shut" bollox.

Say what you see, as you see it.

C'est la vie.

[Slim]

If we all just sat back and took everything that came our way without trying to give our opinion on it, this board would be non existant.

I don't buy into this "I'm not as knowledgable as Mancini so I'll keep my mouth shut" bollox.

Say what you see, as you see it.

C'est la vie.

Thank god, or else I'd be the only one posting around here.

[Original Dub]

If we all just sat back and took everything that came our way without trying to give our opinion on it, this board would be non existant.

I don't buy into this "I'm not as knowledgable as Mancini so I'll keep my mouth shut" bollox.

Say what you see, as you see it.

C'est la vie.

Thank god, or else I'd be the only one posting around here.

Egg foooking zacary

[Ted Hughes]

Bob,
Most player have weaknesses in their games thast need to be addressed but at least, even with quite poor players, there are some redeeming features that a coach couls latch on to. I am very patient but for the life of me Ican't see anything at all for mancini to hand his hat on and say...That's the bit I can work with. Regrettably, Jo has had so many chances and failed to grasp any of them.

If Jo has some qualities the coaches can work with, surely it would be better to do so on the training pitch rather than risk the team effectively playong with 10 men.
I dont think that's an unfair appraisal.

To be honest I don't really want to get into a debate about Jo basically because I don't care that much one way or the other. Jo is a fringe player that Mancini finds useful. I genuinely don't think he is as bad as people make out but if he went tomorrow I wouldn't be fussed. I do think Jo is like the zonal marking debate in that its an easy target because 1) no one will disagree with you if you slag him off and 2) it makes people sound like they know what they are talking about.

I tend not to talk too much about tactics or systems or even players. This is because whilst I have a superficial knowledge as we all do the fact is I am fucking clueless about the game at the highest level (or any bleeding level). I can yell for people to get stuck in, wonder why x is playing left and admire great play and skill but frankly I ain't got a scooby. I can recognise organisation when I see it and I can recognise leadership when I see it but apart from the obvious things - de nada.

The thing is I don't think anyone posting one here (or on any forum for that matter) has any more of an idea then I do. There are some great rants and pithy comments and even stuff I agree with but at the back of my mind is the nagging suspicion that we are all talking out of our collective arses.

For starters Jo is not a 'poor player'. Realistically none of the players we have are poor no matter what we may think of them. Players will fail at City because they are not mentally tough enough or think fast enough or not think at all or just be shot of all confidence or whatever. Jo may be one of these but I do not think Mancini and the zillion coaches we seem to have these days will waste their time on Jo if they did not ultimately think he had some value or reasonable long term benefit. Yes they may fail or be wrong. Mancini may get shot of Jo tomorrow or in the summer as a bad job. Shit happens and all that.

Which brings us back to the OP which is where it all started. Mancini is not weakening the squad. To weaken the squad would be stupid and Mancini isn't stupid. He is pruning the squad of weak players and by weak I mean mentally. I deduce that because ever since he arrived here he has been banging on about 'mentality' and the players must have the right mentality. Even Hughes used to bang on about it. Mancini said at his presser when asked if he had lost confidence in Ade he said no and then promptly went on about a player must give 100% and work all the time for the team etc so yes he had lost confidence in Ade which is why he is not here. It isn't enough to score goals any more. Its about application, work rate, attitude. Ade didn't get it and unlike Jo is no use as a fringe player so its adios.

Anyway its late and I am off

Nice one Bob!

It often confuses me why Sheik Mansour doesn't save himself a shedload of money forget these marquee manager appointments and just employ someone from the Internet instead. Maybe a guest spot each week?

I am personally delighted that Mancini is creating his dynasty at city and that means buy into it or fuck off. That and current injuries are the only reason Jo plays.

There may be half a dozen games, maybe even a dozen where we have to field a weakened squad whilst Bobby sorts this out, but in the long run he will finally do what no manager has done at city for 3 decades, be the guvnor

The only reason Jo plays is because Bob has put his faith in him rather than others. Hence Bob 2 doesn't have an opinion, as it would involve saying one word of criticism re Bob 1 which he finds incredibly difficult to do.

In typical fashion, people who disagree with aspects of things that Mancini does either A: don't know what they''re talking about or B: don't buy into the idea that Mancini is building a good team, rather than C: have a reasonable & possibly truthful argument.

I'm sure Bob K's in depth knowledge of football will return when it suits him.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

"Im sure Bob K's in depth knowledge of football will return when it suits him."

lol but didn't Bob confirm that he has no football knowledge or expertise or whatever he said.

Anyway the whole of the season has been interesting so far and will be till it ends.It seems that the next 5 or 6 games are always vital and that's the way it always will be when you are at or near the top and in cups.We have a challenging away game v Brum , then an "easy" one v WBA. a cup replay which we should win and then followed by the scum. I can't really think any further than that.

I don't personally buy into the too many games crap although of course if a player plays in every game and it is 5 times in 3 weeks it isnt easy.With the squad we have it shouldn't be a problem feeding players into the team and system and thus giving a few rest games here and there.The difficulty is when the players coming in do not give the same to the team as the one they are replacing.

Jo is one of those no matter who he replaces.If yesterday he was deemed to have replaced Tevez then it's a no brainer that he isn't a comparable replacement. We go from Tevez who is a great player and a real threat to any team , to Jo who is not a real threat to anyone and a very very average to poor player.If it was Tevez being replaced by Mario then it's a different equation.

Similarly yesterday we effectively had Milner replacing Silva. Chalk and cheese imo. Silva makes the play and the whole of the midfield really tick and look threatening whilst Milner works very hard with the occasional threat. A better comparison than Jo and Tevez but still I think a distance apart.

It isn't possible to have world stars sitting on the bench to bring on all the time but for those who do come on as sub or get selected when the "star" is rested ,it is up to them to shine and play extra well to show the manager. I don't think we are seeing that very often ( Micah being a great example of it happening yesterday) and especially in the attacking positions. But just going back on to Jo I actually don't think he has it in him. He lacks umph and quality imo.

[Original Dub]

We need players like that cunt Solskjaer, who are quality, but know they won't play or start half the time.

I think we should get Bale NOW.

[Ted Hughes]

If we had 20 odd players who were all as good as each other, they would all play plenty of games per season & be generally happy imo. In reality we have an elite bunch, a second string, some of whom may join the elite, a third string who we're trying to get rid of, one or two 'possible' kids who may or may not be here next season because they can't get a sniff of a game & Jo, who plays.

If he had 20 odd players of similar standard sharing the games equally + a few kids coming through, I don't think there'd be a problem keeping them happy.