Serie A Football.

[gillie]

we are playing this kind of shite in the Premier League and i am sorry my friends but we will get battered by the better Prem teams if we carry on with the slow methodical play we have adopted since Mancio took over the job.I have to say it but we had more flair under Hughes and were more easy on the eye ok he could not organise the defence but stats dont lie and he only lost 2 games out of 21 Mancini has already lost more in half as many.The old saying comes to mind better the devil you know.

[CityFanFromRome]

I agree that we aren't playing pretty football but I disagree that it translates to Serie A football. Not all teams in Serie A play like this, however they often do when a new manager comes in and has to reach a target by the end of the season, because what matters is the result in that situation.

[gillie]

I agree that we aren't playing pretty football but I disagree that it translates to Serie A football. Not all teams in Serie A play like this, however they often do when a new manager comes in and has to reach a target by the end of the season, because what matters is the result in that situation.

CFFR IN YOUR HONEST OPINNION WHICH MANGER HAS GOT YOU OFF YOUR SEAT THIS SEASON?.

[CityFanFromRome]

CFFR IN YOUR HONEST OPINNION WHICH MANGER HAS GOT YOU OFF YOUR SEAT THIS SEASON?.

This season, Leonardo at Milan. Started bad, but when he went all out with a 4-3-3 with a forward line of Dinho-Borriello-Pato and Seedorf in midfield Milan has played great football. Lately they have dipped again.

Mourinho's Inter when they have had to chase a result, they went all out with 4-3-3 or even 4-2-4.

In the last few seasons Roma played great entertaining football under Spalletti, but the magic ended last season missing fourth spot.

[gillie]

CFFR IN YOUR HONEST OPINNION WHICH MANGER HAS GOT YOU OFF YOUR SEAT THIS SEASON?.

This season, Leonardo at Milan. Started bad, but when he went all out with a 4-3-3 with a forward line of Dinho-Borriello-Pato and Seedorf in midfield Milan has played great football. Lately they have dipped again.

Mourinho's Inter when they have had to chase a result, they went all out with 4-3-3 or even 4-2-4.

In the last few seasons Roma played great entertaining football under Spalletti, but the magic ended last season missing fourth spot.

Thanks mate but i meant at City.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Woah there Gillie! You're being very derogatory towards the Italian league here. This "slow, methodical play" you talk of won Italy the last World Cup. All the starting XI for the final played in Italy at the time too.

You sound surprised that and Italian manager has implemented an Italian mentality to football. That's his style and I think it's staying.

Also, your figures are a bit selective. They leave out the amount of draws under each manager. In the league that's 8-0 to Les. 3 wins 5 defeats win get you further than 8 draws...

[lets all have a disco]

Another person notices.
Maybe he wasnt so bad after all.

[HeyMark]

Hughes did play some damn fine football

[Renato_CTID]

Maybe we aren't playing decent football in the last few games but I also remember very well the shit we played during the record of draws with Leslie! What's the matter with Serie A? It's a completely different kind of games, less spectacular than the more of Premier League games. But I was very impressed by last Sunday night match Fiorentina-Roma: the only one in Italy I ever appreciated in this season!

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

The thing is though that Mancini has no room for Joga Bonito right now. He NEEDS to grind results if he wants to stay here. No matter what he says, I believe it's top four or at least close or he is gone. Sword of Damokles hanging over his head for the rest of the season. To be fair, Hughes found out too late that he had no room for his shit defending either.

What sort of football we see when he gets his own midfield in in summer remains to be seen. Early signs of signing Johnson seem good but it's still anybody's guess. I don't think he is 4-3-3 man anyway and we are playing that system mainly because we have players for it. He has never played it before and has always used playmaker before. He seemed to be fan of 4-4-2 diamond in Italy and I believe that's what we'll see once he gets in midfielders suited to that system.

[dazby]

Do you not think we already have players suited to that system Niall? I would of thought our squad is now primed for a diamond system.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Do you not think we already have players suited to that system Niall? I would of thought our squad is now primed for a diamond system.

System based on four central midfielders, of which one is holding midfielder, two drift wide and one is a playmaker? No, I don't think we have players for that system. We are well covered for holding midfielders but lack BOTH central midfielders drifting wide (it'd be chaos if Barry was on the left in current form) and THE KEY player in that system. We have Ireland to play there but he is lacking for form and fitness and that system would fail if the playmaker isn't up to it. And we hae no back up for that position.

Theoretically speaking you could go for something like

--------------------De Jong
-----------SWP--------------Barry
-------------------Ireland

But there's too many underperformers there nevermind that we have very little back up there. Furthermore, we have squad bulking with wingers and it'd be criminal misuse to play them on that system and wouldn't probably work anyway.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Yeah we have a squad bulking with wingers yet we only start with 1.

We were playing 4-3-3 and Tevez played in the wing as well. You didn't think that worked out yesterday?

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Yeah we have a squad bulking with wingers yet we only start with 1.

We were playing 4-3-3 and Tevez played in the wing as well. You didn't think that worked out yesterday?

Not really, considering Tevez is a striker. Ade played in the wing as well which left 3 Bolton CBs marking fresh air.

Ade didn't play on the wing. And we won the game didn't we?

[CityFanFromRome]

Thanks mate but i meant at City.

Ah, ok then. Probably Hughes, although I'd then get mad for the sloppy goal we would concede. See, the fact is that neither of them is complete, Hughes was probably better when attacking, but we let in too many soft goals, while with Mancini we have shored up the defence quite a bit (although the odd sloppy goal is still conceded) but we have also lost something as attacking flair goes, because he can't afford to lose at the moment, so defence comes first.

Maybe we aren't playing decent football in the last few games but I also remember very well the shit we played during the record of draws with Leslie! What's the matter with Serie A? It's a completely different kind of games, less spectacular than the more of Premier League games. But I was very impressed by last Sunday night match Fiorentina-Roma: the only one in Italy I ever appreciated in this season!

You've probably been more impressed by Fiorentina in that game then, lol. But see, that is a very good example of how things work, Fiorentina played way better, but still lost because they conceded a sloppy goal. So who will be more happy, and most of all who gets three points in the table? Fiorentina who played some good attacking football, or Roma who held out in defence and then scored when they had the chance? This is what is at the base of success imho, although you can't always play badly because you will soon or later be punished for it.

The thing is though that Mancini has no room for Joga Bonito right now. He NEEDS to grind results if he wants to stay here. No matter what he says, I believe it's top four or at least close or he is gone. Sword of Damokles hanging over his head for the rest of the season.To be fair, Hughes found out too late that he had no room for his shit defending either.

What sort of football we see when he gets his own midfield in in summer remains to be seen. Early signs of signing Johnson seem good but it's still anybody's guess. I don't think he is 4-3-3 man anyway and we are playing that system mainly because we have players for it. He has never played it before and has always used playmaker before. He seemed to be fan of 4-4-2 diamond in Italy and I believe that's what we'll see once he gets in midfielders suited to that system.

Exactly what I meant with my first post in this topic, thanks for explaining it better. I also agree that Mancini likes a 4-4-2 diamond formation, so this is what we will line up with if he stays next season. I think he already tried it for parts of a game, the most glaring occasion imho was the first leg of the semifinal against the rags, where in the second half he put SWP as the playmaker behind the strikers for about 20 minutes or so.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Yeah we have a squad bulking with wingers yet we only start with 1.

We were playing 4-3-3 and Tevez played in the wing as well. You didn't think that worked out yesterday?

Not really, considering Tevez is a striker. Ade played in the wing as well which left 3 Bolton CBs marking fresh air.

Ade didn't play on the wing. And we won the game didn't we?

No he played upfront but found himself on the wings at times which is useless really? Yes we won what do you want a badge?

Three points would be nice.

[Ted Hughes]

Yeah we have a squad bulking with wingers yet we only start with 1.

We were playing 4-3-3 and Tevez played in the wing as well. You didn't think that worked out yesterday?

We started with the diamond formation last night but then went to a kind of 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 kind of thing depending on where the ball was. I thought the diamond thing worked pretty well but for some reason once again we stopped passing the ball plus it was a waste of Johnson although he coped well at the point.

If we're going to aim for a midfield diamond in the future though we're in danger of wasting the talents of SWP, Johnson, Weiss, Petrov etc if they don't suit it. I think I'd rather see Mancini go than them.