Blue glasses off - are we better than the rags?

[Ted Hughes]

I wish people would stop sucking Mancini off. Yes we've done fantastic but is that it now? SO we've won an FA CUP so therefore we can't look at ways in which we can improve ourselves?

Playing for a draw in any given game is pathetic, there's a difference between playing cautiously and playing for a draw and to answer the original question that is why we're nowhere near United's level. They have a winning mentality. We don't, yet.

I would've sucked any manager off who brought us a title of some sort.

And is what what now? Basically a lifetime of dreaming of something like this and after two weeks it's "SO?". It's a big fucking deal. In fact fucking huge. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I'm not going to start bash anyone off after triumph like that.

Personally I don't understand where some people are even heading. All of the sudden people have become so obsessed with "global domination" and winning the league by winning every single game by at very least seven goal margin and winning Champion's League in similar fashion and probably some Mickey Mouse World Club cup and what not.

I'm not CALLING anyone rag but honestly some people SOUND like fucking rags these days. I mean, how long have laughed at them the way they just shrug shoulders for winning the league or FA Cup or whatever? And after 35 years, we are all of the sudden so MASSIVE that FA Cup is big fat "SO".

Nobody is shrugging their shoulders at winning the cup. I agree that winning the FA Cup is fantastic & will have me smiling through the summer, but it's not what I've been dreaming of all these years. That's the title & the Champion's League & also to do it in style. To do that, we have to keep improving. We can enjoy what we've done, & I'm sure everyone is enjoying it, but that doesn't mean we can't be focused on getting better. If Bob was resting on the cup victory, you'd soon be waving him goodbye because the owners want more in the future, as do we.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I wish people would stop sucking Mancini off. Yes we've done fantastic but is that it now? SO we've won an FA CUP so therefore we can't look at ways in which we can improve ourselves?

Playing for a draw in any given game is pathetic, there's a difference between playing cautiously and playing for a draw and to answer the original question that is why we're nowhere near United's level. They have a winning mentality. We don't, yet.

I would've sucked any manager off who brought us a title of some sort.

And is what what now? Basically a lifetime of dreaming of something like this and after two weeks it's "SO?". It's a big fucking deal. In fact fucking huge. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I'm not going to start bash anyone off after triumph like that.

Personally I don't understand where some people are even heading. All of the sudden people have become so obsessed with "global domination" and winning the league by winning every single game by at very least seven goal margin and winning Champion's League in similar fashion and probably some Mickey Mouse World Club cup and what not.

I'm not CALLING anyone rag but honestly some people SOUND like fucking rags these days. I mean, how long have laughed at them the way they just shrug shoulders for winning the league or FA Cup or whatever? And after 35 years, we are all of the sudden so MASSIVE that FA Cup is big fat "SO".

Nobody is shrugging their shoulders at winning the cup. I agree that winning the FA Cup is fantastic & will have me smiling through the summer, but it's not what I've been dreaming of all these years. That's the title & the Champion's League & also to do it in style. To do that, we have to keep improving. We can enjoy what we've done, & I'm sure everyone is enjoying it, but that doesn't mean we can't be focused on getting better. If Bob was resting on the cup victory, you'd soon be waving him goodbye because the owners want more in the future, as do we.

I'm shocked that you'd have been even been dreaming about winning League or even being in CL! There was period about ten to fifteen years ago when my big dream was to see us as a solid Premierleague midtable club. Maybe someday lifting some fluke Cup title.

What owners want and what manager wants are completely different thing. But I'm shocked to see so many long time Blues talking about FA Cup win like rags really. Almost as if we were entitled to it and it was minimum requirement anyway. Personally I'd suggest people take time out to think what we have really done. Maybe it's just that it hasn't properly sank yet that WE ARE FA CUP WINNERS 2011! At least that's what I want to think.

[ant london]

I'm actually mainly with Antti on this.....I've spent thirty odd years following City and I've never once imagined us lifting the Premier League or Champions League trophy. It was all too pie in the sky til a couple of years ago (and even then I fully believed that we would, as City, conjure up some way of fucking it up at the last minute).

I have, however, all my life dreamed of seeing a City captain lift the FA Cup, it was a stretch but it was just about believable. I've now seen it and honestly I am still ecstatic.

I moaned as much as anyone at Roberto's reluctance to let slip the attacking instincts and abilities in some of those games we refer to but the simple fact is, looking back, without those points we would not have finished 3rd in the end. Yes, you can say that we might've nicked the odd win but I'd wager that we might have nicked the odd loss more often.

Mancini HAD to stop us being so prone to losing those tough matches and fuck it, it was ugly, but he did so and so my hat off to the man.

I agree 100% with whoever above said you could see us playing and behaving as a different team after the semi. It was just such a massive result in so many ways and to me it got the monkey off the teams back in some ways more than the final did. No way on earth would a City team who had lost that semi have gone on to beat Spurs, cruise past Stoke in the league and then nail it vs Bolton. And it wasn't just the results in those final games but the confidence that you could tell we were playing with.

There is fuck all to be gained in bleating about what could've been done over the season and what might've happened. So you didn't like the nasty negative draws, well neither did I, suck it the fuck up sweetheart and look forward to next season as it's going to be quite an experience I suspect.

[patrickblue]

Your talking utter shite! The team has evolved, grown in confidence and got better during the season, it's what happens when you have to integrate a lot of new players into a team! The games your moaning about were mainly few and far between and in the first half of the season, btwI didn't see us play for a draw at Wembley against the rags did you? As for a winning mentality that can only come by winning huge games, did you not see a difference in City after the semi-final?

Completely right, I really can't make out why everyone can't see it, it's so blindingly obvious.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I'm soryy but are people not allowed opinions.

If we want to be as good as United we have to develop a winning mentality and that means trying to win any game irrelevant of the team and location and never playing for a draw. I honestly believed had we shown more courage in big games this season we would have won the league, we certainly have the players to.
Obviously I'm delighted to win the FA CUP but that does not mean we don't need to improve. DO any of you think Bob is just sitting there saying "job done let's not worry about improving"? If we want to catch United we need to improve in certain areas.

[Chinners]

For me they are still ahead mainly due to recent history, constantly evolving side that remains at the top ... One side has peaked and will start to decend the mountain whilst the other is climbing the other side .... not long now and the two will pass each other on their respective paths.

[BobKowalski]

I'm soryy but are people not allowed opinions.

If we want to be as good as United we have to develop a winning mentality and that means trying to win any game irrelevant of the team and location and never playing for a draw. I honestly believed had we shown more courage in big games this season we would have won the league, we certainly have the players to.
Obviously I'm delighted to win the FA CUP but that does not mean we don't need to improve. DO any of you think Bob is just sitting there saying "job done let's not worry about improving"? If we want to catch United we need to improve in certain areas.

No one is saying we shouldn't improve or that Mancini and the club as a whole will be sitting back thinking 'job done'. Everything coming out of the club after the FA Cup win indicated we were focussed on getting 3rd (which we did) and that whatever we achieved this season it was just a stepping stone to bigger and better things which is as it should be.

And sometimes teams play not to lose. We did that against manu at home and funnily enough so did they making a 0-0 the very predictable and very dull outcome. All this showing 'more courage' is great and all that but Mancini has to judge the season over 60 odd games with his job resting on the outcome. In his judgement that manu game at home was about not losing and not getting dicked by a late goal and in the context of winning the FA Cup by beating manu in the semi and securing automatic entry to the CL his judgement has been vindicated.

Winning the PL with a group of new players who were also new to the PL was in my opinion a stretch although I do think if we had won the away game against manu it may have been on but shit happens we didn't win it and the challenge faded.

Next year will be different. 3rd to 1st is not a stretch.

[Beefymcfc]

What amazes me about this thread is that certain people are saying that we are not allowed to talk about the pro's and con's of the season. During a campaign where we finished in spectacular style there were plenty of negatives where quite a few people voiced their concerns, which they were wholely right to do. There was times where Mancini actually looked clueless in his tactical naus and people duly brought the question to task.

What also amazes me is that when Mancini was going through this phase, especially when we could have taken the top spot but started to move backwards, there were quite a few of the pro-Mancini camp who for some reason weren't here to defend him. And although this isn't me to bring that period back up, it does say a lot about what was happening on the pitch around that time and that now we can smile and say everything was rosey in the garden.

Was it really a perfect season or could it have been actually a lot better?

Oh, and 'Yes' again to the question. We are the Best Team in the Land, In All the World.

[Goaters 103]

Nope, the league table doesnt lie and they finished 9 points and 2 spots above us. Thats the facts, and until that changes and we finish above them we are just blowing piss and wind.

Talk is cheap, proof is in the pudding and all that. If we go out and finish above them next year, then we will have proved we are better - until that happens we have no claim to be "better than them"

[only rags are bitters]

i have been scratching my head for weeks and even more so after saturday in wonderment as to how the hell yernited won the league last season ? the only conclusion i can come up with is that all their challengers (city included) dropped too many silly points at vital times in the season . this current rags team must be their most inept for years and i can honestly not think of one of their players who would be first choice in a starting city eleven . i am old enough to remember the best , law & charlton team fading in the early 70,s and this current rags team is comparable in as much as there were several old stars who were not replaced, the team was padded out with average players and a manager (busby) who was too scared to let go of power . the close season will define what yernited do for the next decade .

[Chinners]

Totally agree about this being one of their most inept sides for years ... sad stuff that they still piss the league in the end which doesn't say much for the 'challengers'

[Beefymcfc]

i have been scratching my head for weeks and even more so after saturday in wonderment as to how the hell yernited won the league last season ? the only conclusion i can come up with is that all their challengers (city included) dropped too many silly points at vital times in the season . this current rags team must be their most inept for years and i can honestly not think of one of their players who would be first choice in a starting city eleven . i am old enough to remember the best , law & charlton team fading in the early 70,s and this current rags team is comparable in as much as there were several old stars who were not replaced, the team was padded out with average players and a manager (busby) who was too scared to let go of power . the close season will define what yernited do for the next decade .

I think United were given a bit of a helping hand when it came to certain decisions on the pitch (I think Ted mentioned it earlier) which could easily have made up for those points they won the league with.

[Alioune DVToure]

If I read the term 'winning mentality' in this thread one more time, I'm going to put my head through a fucking plate glass window.

Leave the shit clichés to the tabloids.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

No, not yet.

It's all about the winning mentality at the end of the day it's a game of two halves.

[Chinners]

ha ha, Chinners likes this

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Oh and by the by, in my humblest I don't believe Mancini ever sent his team out to play for a draw, he sent them out to play with a cautious approach and hit on the counter when possible. We were just fucking shit on the counter in the majority of them games people are complaining about.

The 1-0 win against Chelsea this season was played the same way, the only difference being one of our counter attacks resulted in a goal.

For a bit of balance and to try to ensure I'm not accused of being a Mancini licker I would say my biggest criticism of Mancini over the course of the season is not recognising when games were slipping away from us and not making the necessary changes quick enough to address this.

[Wonderwall]

Oh and by the by, in my humblest I don't believe Mancini ever sent his team out to play for a draw, he sent them out to play with a cautious approach and hit on the counter when possible. We were just fucking shit on the counter in the majority of them games people are complaining about.

The 1-0 win against Chelsea this season was played the same way, the only difference being one of our counter attacks resulted in a goal.

For a bit of balance and to try to ensure I'm not accused of being a Mancini licker I would say my biggest criticism of Mancini over the course of the season is not recognising when games were slipping away from us and not making the necessary changes quick enough to address this.

you are showing a knowledge of terminology beyond your post count FIBD

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Lurking/stalking call it what you will WW. :-)

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Lurking/stalking call it what you will WW. :-)

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Well people ask why we are not as good as United and if we wan to overtake them we have to ensure we never play for draws. Always to win.

Look at the teams who've beaten United this season. Liverpool, Wolves and Us beat them because we took the game to them, we attack them and got at them. And I've always said United crumble fast when the other team takes the game to them. The way to beat United is to attack them which Is why I was so disappointed when we played for a draw. They crack under pressure- every time.

Teams are scared of playing United and I heard a cliche which is remarkably true: United have already won most games at Old Trafford before the first whistle is blown. Teams are scared of United, even with their weakest team in years they won the title by a mile. They have a psychological effect on teams which no other team has.

Look at how many late goals they get, could you imagine us coming from 2 goals down to win?

We have the players to and I believe the manager to overtake them, it's all about the mentality and self belief.