***norwich v city official thread***

[Hazy2]

If we had anything about us we score early and destroy a bag of shite side. No early goal it becomes the norm do us this season NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

[South Stand Balti]

We will not get any improvement until the spafia get the boot.

They have destroyed what Bobby Manc was producing.

I hope josef gets rid of those two .

Ummm...

Don't agree.

We were a different type of team then. Defensive oriented under Mancini, and the players miserable by the end.

Txiki and Soriano can't manage the team on the pitch. We had FFP hurting us two summers ago, which is why we didn't sign Pogba, as far as I understand, and all of the hierarchy thought we would pass. We were punished and set us back a season when we needed a top signing.

Soriano has made us a global force, and increased our revenues substantially where we are the fastest growing club in the world. So, Khaldoon/Sheik Mansour should sack him? That's crazy talk, bro.

I also "love" reading the list of Txiki's signings that only list the scape goats, and always exclude the best players he's brought in (i.e. Fern1, KDB, Sterling, Delph). Even those that have fizzled were almost all widely seen as smart ones, spoken about with praise for their potential/quality (Jovetic, Mangala, Bony) even if some irked at some of their price tags.

We wouldn't be getting Pep, arguably the best manager in the world, if it wasn't for Txiki, so you may want to reconsider what you are asking for (which won't happen anyway, fortunately). Remember, we thought we would get Pep after he left Barca, but we ended up having to wait, so we had to do something knowing that would happen later, and Pellegrini was the best manager willing to come in knowing whoever took the job would be replaced by Pep after his contract with Bayern. It was a long term strategy that still netted us 4 trophies.

I'm not please with things either, but let's not write revisionist history because of it. Mancini, who I of course appreciate, needed to go as his big mouth to the press before talking to players, and harsh discipline in house, doesn't fit into man managing many top players in modern football, whether one likes it or not. Pellegrini's approach has it's pros and its cons, but doesn't have the juice to be a straight up disciplinarian, nor is it his style. His stubbornness has been an issue, but so have the abilities and attitudes of some of the players that have been here since before he even arrived when it comes to playing a more pressing style. Who knows what else it is, but I can tell you today we missed Yaya tremendously, because for as great as Silva can be he doesn't dictate the tempo the same way Yaya does, nor do either Ferns play that way.

I would have started Nacho and Sterling, so how is that Txiki or Soriano's fault exactly? Oh, they picked him as manager, right. Yet, again, all that I wrote above is reality, so we weren't really going to fire Manuel unless things really unravelled this season. Also consider all of the injuries over the past few seasons, and you can't entirely blame Pellegrini for that either (we also have been missing KDB, our "crack signing" who has played to expectations, at least, and drove us to several wins while he was fit).

Best players....Sterling and Delph? It really has been a long day.

[Mase]

It isn't solely down to the manager, he is powerless when the players cross the white line.

That's ridiculous! What's the point in having him there on the sidelines then?

Can the manager win headers, win tackles track runners pick the right pass, . make intelligent runs and finish chances from the touchline? Bottom line it has been collective failure as far as the league goes.

So why have a manager then at all? Get the owners to pick the best eleven and just had Kiddo on the touch line. You're trying to stick up for Pellers but going the wrong way about it and making a case for just fuckin him off altogether without you realising it.

If the manager isn't important why are top managers top managers and why has McClaren just been sacked?

The rag team that won the league in the final year of Slur Alex. That was pretty much the same team that Moyes fucked up. Yet Slur won the league with them. Why is that?

[Ray78]

It isn't solely down to the manager, he is powerless when the players cross the white line.

That's ridiculous! What's the point in having him there on the sidelines then?

Can the manager win headers, win tackles track runners pick the right pass, . make intelligent runs and finish chances from the touchline? Bottom line it has been collective failure as far as the league goes.

So why have a manager then at all? Get the owners to pick the best eleven and just had Kiddo on the touch line. You're trying to stick up for Pellers but going the wrong way about it and making a case for just fuckin him off altogether without you realising it.

If the manager isn't important why are top managers top managers and why has McClaren just been sacked?

The rag team that won the league in the final year of Slur Alex. That was pretty much the same team that Moyes fucked up. Yet Slur won the league with them. Why is that?

That rag team won the league in that season because of another collective failure from both Mancini and the players. As for this season there is a lack of motivation as far as winning the league goes but there has been enough for us to win the Capital One Cup and it has played a part in us winning our Champions League group, Put it this way if we ended the season trophyless and crashed out early in the Champions League on top of the league campaign and didn't have Guardiola lined up next season then Pellegrini would of been quite rightly sacked.

[iwasthere2012]

There's a lot of truth in that Ray.
But that was us not doing the job again.
Bacon Chops still got an average team over the line easily enough. I still think it was to the detriment of the club in the end. It was his ego and not the building for the future that mattered to him.
He still got the job done.

[Mase]

It isn't solely down to the manager, he is powerless when the players cross the white line.

That's ridiculous! What's the point in having him there on the sidelines then?

Can the manager win headers, win tackles track runners pick the right pass, . make intelligent runs and finish chances from the touchline? Bottom line it has been collective failure as far as the league goes.

So why have a manager then at all? Get the owners to pick the best eleven and just had Kiddo on the touch line. You're trying to stick up for Pellers but going the wrong way about it and making a case for just fuckin him off altogether without you realising it.

If the manager isn't important why are top managers top managers and why has McClaren just been sacked?

The rag team that won the league in the final year of Slur Alex. That was pretty much the same team that Moyes fucked up. Yet Slur won the league with them. Why is that?

That rag team won the league in that season because of another collective failure from both Mancini and the players.

You're talking bollocks mate! That's like saying Pellers only won the league in his first season because Rodgers and Liverpool fucked up.
It's rubbish!

[Ray78]

There's a lot of truth in that Ray.
But that was us not doing the job again.
Bacon Chops still got an average team over the line easily enough. I still think it was to the detriment of the club in the end. It was his ego and not the building for the future that mattered to him.
He still got the job done.

They still had a helping hand from the officials in that season which also prominent throughout Bacon chops reign,

[iwasthere2012]

There's a lot of truth in that Ray.
But that was us not doing the job again.
Bacon Chops still got an average team over the line easily enough. I still think it was to the detriment of the club in the end. It was his ego and not the building for the future that mattered to him.
He still got the job done.

They still had a helping hand from the officials in that season which also prominent throughout Bacon chops reign,

Agreed. But I'm not denying that we were every bit as miserable in our defense of the title.

[Ray78]

There's a lot of truth in that Ray.
But that was us not doing the job again.
Bacon Chops still got an average team over the line easily enough. I still think it was to the detriment of the club in the end. It was his ego and not the building for the future that mattered to him.
He still got the job done.

They still had a helping hand from the officials in that season which also prominent throughout Bacon chops reign,

Agreed. But I'm not denying that we were every bit as miserable in our defense of the title.

True but there has been other factors for us not defending our league titles successfully and cannot be put down to one.

[Ray78]

Mase it's the truth While both have been enjoyable and I wouldn't swap them for anything but.in both our league wins we hadn't exactly run away with it and had to rely on the rags fucking up away to Wigan and home to Everton and both Liverpool and Gerrard slipping against Chelsea (who had themselves and messed up against Sunderland the previous week) to win them.

[City64]

Pellegrini has one way of playing away from home in the premier league and IT DOESNT WORK . Our stats , points total and just 13 fucking goals scored overwhelmingly prove this . This premier league campaign has been a TOTAL FUCKING SHAMBLES , A FUCKING EMBARRASSMENT !!!!!

[PrezIke]

Ummm...

Don't agree.

We were a different type of team then. Defensive oriented under Mancini, and the players miserable by the end.

Txiki and Soriano can't manage the team on the pitch. We had FFP hurting us two summers ago, which is why we didn't sign Pogba, as far as I understand, and all of the hierarchy thought we would pass. We were punished and set us back a season when we needed a top signing.

Soriano has made us a global force, and increased our revenues substantially where we are the fastest growing club in the world. So, Khaldoon/Sheik Mansour should sack him? That's crazy talk, bro.

I also "love" reading the list of Txiki's signings that only list the scape goats, and always exclude the best players he's brought in (i.e. Fern1, KDB, Sterling, Delph). Even those that have fizzled were almost all widely seen as smart ones, spoken about with praise for their potential/quality (Jovetic, Mangala, Bony) even if some irked at some of their price tags.

We wouldn't be getting Pep, arguably the best manager in the world, if it wasn't for Txiki, so you may want to reconsider what you are asking for (which won't happen anyway, fortunately). Remember, we thought we would get Pep after he left Barca, but we ended up having to wait, so we had to do something knowing that would happen later, and Pellegrini was the best manager willing to come in knowing whoever took the job would be replaced by Pep after his contract with Bayern. It was a long term strategy that still netted us 4 trophies.

I'm not please with things either, but let's not write revisionist history because of it. Mancini, who I of course appreciate, needed to go as his big mouth to the press before talking to players, and harsh discipline in house, doesn't fit into man managing many top players in modern football, whether one likes it or not. Pellegrini's approach has it's pros and its cons, but doesn't have the juice to be a straight up disciplinarian, nor is it his style. His stubbornness has been an issue, but so have the abilities and attitudes of some of the players that have been here since before he even arrived when it comes to playing a more pressing style. Who knows what else it is, but I can tell you today we missed Yaya tremendously, because for as great as Silva can be he doesn't dictate the tempo the same way Yaya does, nor do either Ferns play that way.

I would have started Nacho and Sterling, so how is that Txiki or Soriano's fault exactly? Oh, they picked him as manager, right. Yet, again, all that I wrote above is reality, so we weren't really going to fire Manuel unless things really unravelled this season. Also consider all of the injuries over the past few seasons, and you can't entirely blame Pellegrini for that either (we also have been missing KDB, our "crack signing" who has played to expectations, at least, and drove us to several wins while he was fit).

Best players....Sterling and Delph? It really has been a long day.

Respect, but not terribly shocking to read comments such as these. Are they world class players? No. But they were signings that have helped us quite a bit.

Sterling is clearly not the finished product, has had some excellent games for us in key matches, and is a highly coveted talent with qualities we lacked last season. Liverpool played the hardest ball and did not want to sell. I wonder why? Delph was signed so far below market value due to his clause that it was at least less than half of what he would have gone for on the open market. When fit, he has been a very good squad player that has to fit into a team with our quality. These are the kind of signings that don't scream, but show a keen eye for talent, as was Fernandinho who most of us knew little of, and were dubious of further when it came to price. Are we complaining now?

I know, the silence is quite deafening. Peace.

[Cocacolajojo1]

Spot on it was in the last 3rd we were found wanting. Frankly I'm fucking sick to the back teeth of listening to people blaming pellegrini. Look at today nobody would have quibbled with the line up in terms of formation and quality. The players should have been able to have been good enough to have won the game comfortably simple as.

I agree with most of what you write mate but I don't think it's fair to pin this solely on the players. Yes they are good enough but if there's no plan for what to do when we attack there aint going to be many goals scored. Pellegrini has never been brill at sorting his defence while he has been here and fair enough, he's been open about the fact that his teams are attacking teams and it's hard to balance the two. But, for the last 10 or 20 games we're not seeing much attacking brilliance and coordination are we? Silva drifting to the right with the ball for a lack of options for the umpteenth time and, as you pointed out, Navas turning back at the byline because there's noone inside the penalty area. These are signs that whatever plan Pellegrini has, it's not coming through on the field anymore. That has to be partly his fault at least.

I agree with you about solely blaming Pellegrini but I don't think he can go free of blame for any of our defeats of late. City, in the PL that is, aren't playing like a team anymore and it's only because we have such talent and experience at our disposal that I think we will take a top four spot.

[getdressedmctavish]

As usual only one man came off smelling of roses. One day you'll all suss it out.When a team defends in numbers it is best broken down by a midfield run or a shot from the edge of the box.

[gillie]

Last two away games no Yaya. It seems no Yaya no Mojo.

[carolina-blue]

Last two away games no Yaya. It seems no Yaya no Mojo.

This ..we were crying out for YaYa Not just from shots outside the box But his Bulldozer attitude when defense is packed out

[Cocacolajojo1]

This ..we were crying out for YaYa Not just from shots outside the box But his Bulldozer attitude when defense is packed out

I see where you're coming from but it's not like it worked against West Ham, Aston Villa, Everton, and so on, where Yaya played.

[Wonderwall]

This ..we were crying out for YaYa Not just from shots outside the box But his Bulldozer attitude when defense is packed out

I see where you're coming from but it's not like it worked against West Ham, Aston Villa, Everton, and so on, where Yaya played.

It would have been nice to have the yaya option to bring on, I thought we missed him on Saturday and I have been his biggest critic of late

[iwasthere2012]

This ..we were crying out for YaYa Not just from shots outside the box But his Bulldozer attitude when defense is packed out

I see where you're coming from but it's not like it worked against West Ham, Aston Villa, Everton, and so on, where Yaya played.

It would have been nice to have the yaya option to bring on, I thought we missed him on Saturday and I have been his biggest critic of late

Even those of us that have pointed out his short-comings have also acknowledged that unfortunately we don't have an adequate replacement.
He just needs to be managed carefully, game-timewise, because we can still get performances from him.
I think if he had played even half and hour against a tiring Norwich, he would have picked their lock.
I think he was being saved for Tuesday.

[ColinBell8]

We started the game quite brightly but as soon as the Norwich manager tweaked his formation/system we were done.
As on many occasions before we became too predictable & easy to play against.

Sadly the players we needed to make the biggest difference were all injured but it doesn't excuse the fact that an expensively assembled squad is that easy to stop. The majority of the blame has to be on Pellegrini for this, it hasn't just been this season.

That said there's a lot of people at the club, from Begiristain down, should be taking a long hard look at themselves in the pre season because they've let us down on a grand scale.

Can't wait for the whole sorry mess to be over.