I want to know

[Im_Spartacus]

im not happy at all but we have to give him to the end of the season. i dont undersrtand it though, when he first came in we were attacking (the match against wolves springs to mind) so why has it stopped!? were the players still in the mindset of hughes tactics or something?!

ive never seen a team just swtitch off attacking intent like in the past few weeks we have. its bizzare.

Yeah, I meant at the end of the season mate.

I know you are trying to look for a positive, but I just dont see any possible way how he can survive to next season as things stand.

Something truly remarkable would have to happen

[lets all have a disco]

im not happy at all but we have to give him to the end of the season. i dont undersrtand it though, when he first came in we were attacking (the match against wolves springs to mind) so why has it stopped!? were the players still in the mindset of hughes tactics or something?!

ive never seen a team just swtitch off attacking intent like in the past few weeks we have. its bizzare.

Yeah, I meant at the end of the season mate.

I know you are trying to look for a positive, but I just dont see any possible way how he can survive to next season as things stand.

Something truly remarkable would have to happen

He can start by giving us posotive results against Chelsea and Spurs.
If we lose those,expect a lot more shit.

Chelsea not as much as Spurs,but if we lose our unbeaten home record to Spurs the shit will hit the fan on here.

[Crossie]

Mourinho was sacked for not playing attacking attractive football. hmmmmm

[the_georgian_genius]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

[Im_Spartacus]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

He was openly critical of the of Hughes' midfield, he spoke out about the number of central midfielders we had. He had several weeks to sort it and signed Vieira.

[the_georgian_genius]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

If Mancini was given a couple of transfer windows 90% of the side wouldn't be here anymore.

[Im_Spartacus]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

If Mancini was given a couple of transfer windows 90% of the side wouldn't be here anymore.

The very reason he was appointed as a caretaker manager and was not allowed to make any long term signings in the window.

If still here in the summer, no doubt he will get the backing - but it should have been absolutely clear to him on taking over that the only players we would BUY in the window would be world class, whom any manager would be happy to have, because they werent having Mancini doing a Hughes and signing the world and his fucking wife up on stupid contracts, only for a new manager to fuck them off on loan in the summer.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

If Mancini was given a couple of transfer windows 90% of the side wouldn't be here anymore.

No doubt you are exagerating to try to prove your point as 90% is way OTT. Does that mean Mancini was telling porkies when he said what he did? Does it also mean that informed opinion , not just City fans, that we have one of the best squads in the prem is wrong?
And what about the point I made that we were playing ( not every match) the sort of footbal fans wanted to see?

[Ted Hughes]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

If Mancini was given a couple of transfer windows 90% of the side wouldn't be here anymore.

If that's true then we have to sack him & bring in a manager who's happy to keep 90% of the players & turn them into a top 4 side. I'm pretty sure about 98% of managers would be happy to try. I somehow recon Manicini would be happy enough with about 90% of the players too though.

[BobKowalski]

The only comment that Mancini has said about the squad is that it is short of bodies in central midfield which is presumably why we were after that Magri chap. Aside from that he has been nothing but positive about the squad and its fitness etc. The squad is newly assembled and spending shedloads in January would have been a poor move. We have enough players out on loan already and we couldn't keep buying in a new squad every 6 months without someone first trying to get to grips with the one we have already. I still think the rumblings in the media from Hughes about buying players in January with 'the right attitude' and 'doing our homework' was a big factor in his dismissal.

[Ted Hughes]

The only comment that Mancini has said about the squad is that it is short of bodies in central midfield which is presumably why we were after that Magri chap. Aside from that he has been nothing but positive about the squad and its fitness etc. The squad is newly assembled and spending shedloads in January would have been a poor move. We have enough players out on loan already and we couldn't keep buying in a new squad every 6 months without someone first trying to get to grips with the one we have already. I still think the rumblings in the media from Hughes about buying players in January with 'the right attitude' and 'doing our homework' was a big factor in his dismissal.

I think that's partly true but only because he probably had at least couple players lined up who would have cost fairly big money & there's no guarantee Mourinho would want them next season.

[Original Dub]

The only comment that Mancini has said about the squad is that it is short of bodies in central midfield which is presumably why we were after that Magri chap. Aside from that he has been nothing but positive about the squad and its fitness etc. The squad is newly assembled and spending shedloads in January would have been a poor move. We have enough players out on loan already and we couldn't keep buying in a new squad every 6 months without someone first trying to get to grips with the one we have already. I still think the rumblings in the media from Hughes about buying players in January with 'the right attitude' and 'doing our homework' was a big factor in his dismissal.

No chance.

Mancini went for three players and signed two, one of which was because he has "the right attitude" and the other because the club "did our homework".

The difference is, I don't think we would have bought gramps from Inter under Hughes.

I've a feeling our style of play will be a huge factor in Mancini's dismissal, unless we start playing football IMMEDIATELY.

[Alex Sapphire]

The only comment that Mancini has said about the squad is that it is short of bodies in central midfield which is presumably why we were after that Magri chap. Aside from that he has been nothing but positive about the squad and its fitness etc. The squad is newly assembled and spending shedloads in January would have been a poor move. We have enough players out on loan already and we couldn't keep buying in a new squad every 6 months without someone first trying to get to grips with the one we have already. I still think the rumblings in the media from Hughes about buying players in January with 'the right attitude' and 'doing our homework' was a big factor in his dismissal.

it is if you play three there every game.

[BobKowalski]

The only comment that Mancini has said about the squad is that it is short of bodies in central midfield which is presumably why we were after that Magri chap. Aside from that he has been nothing but positive about the squad and its fitness etc. The squad is newly assembled and spending shedloads in January would have been a poor move. We have enough players out on loan already and we couldn't keep buying in a new squad every 6 months without someone first trying to get to grips with the one we have already. I still think the rumblings in the media from Hughes about buying players in January with 'the right attitude' and 'doing our homework' was a big factor in his dismissal.

I think that's partly true but only because he probably had at least couple players lined up who would have cost fairly big money & there's no guarantee Mourinho would want them next season.

Well they could have run them past Jose first or just got Jose's list and ran them past Hughes along the lines of 'Had our scouts look at these boys what do you think? Worth a punt?'

As long as they didn't start tittering when they use the word 'scouts' Hughes would have been none the wiser

[john@staustell]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

If Mancini was given a couple of transfer windows 90% of the side wouldn't be here anymore.

If that's true then we have to sack him & bring in a manager who's happy to keep 90% of the players & turn them into a top 4 side. I'm pretty sure about 98% of managers would be happy to try. I somehow recon Manicini would be happy enough with about 90% of the players too though.

But who is this guy Ted? I'm happy to try myself but it wouldn't work! When I asked this question 12 months ago I was told by some parties (no names) that Mancini would be the Messiah as he had the track record. I pointed out his lack of Premier experience but apparently that didn't matter.

The point is that anyone who expects him or any other manager to come in and suddenly change things is mad. We now have to be patient YET again, and if we are I hold up hope that we will succeed.

I firmly believe the board made a bad mistake - egged on by SOME fans - in thinking they could bring Mancini in to make us immediately stronger defensively, whilst not imagining the effect that would have at the other end in the first place. I also believe they fondly imagined that we would sail through the semi whoever was in charge, whereas I think Les would've had the Indian sign over Fergie over 2 legs. So a trophy - possibly 2 - has been blown by shoddy, woolly boardroom thinking.

So Mancini is doing what he was asked and it will take time. We are more 'work in progress' so all we can do is back him and the lads for the rest of the season.

And shout at the board for being a bunch of morons!!

[Bingo Lewis]

The thing is, we'll never, ever, be as sucessful, both on and off the pitch as the Rags

Manchini hasn't got a clue what he's doing

MANCHINI OUT

BRING BACK HUGHES

[john@staustell]

The thing is, we'll never, ever, be as sucessful, both on and off the pitch as the Rags

Manchini hasn't got a clue what he's doing

MANCHINI OUT

BRING BACK HUGHES

That's 4 threads in one :)

[brite blu sky]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

agree with Doug here. Bob said the players were quality when he arrived, most people agree that our squad is top quality.
We have all seen these players play fantastic fluid attacking football. Under the prev manager we looked like we had one of the most dangerous attacks ( attitude and skill ) in the PL.

So really there is no argument about the players, they are capable and are good enough. end of.

So that leaves 2 things.
1. it was a huge gamble and probably foolhardy to replace the manager mid season. Because of the disruption it had to create and the change in playing style which would have to be accomodated. Therefore the board have to shoulder a lot of responsibilty for the current situation.

2. The current manager had no PL experience, joined mid season and so is immediately under a lot of pressure, in addition to having to deliver 4th spot minimum by the end of the season... that is a crazy ask imo. There is no room for mistakes or even a progressive learning to take place in any kind of relaxed way. With no prem experience and only half a season to deliver, you would have expected most managers to simply change as little as possible to try and get improvements without disrupting what was already set up. In other words to tread carefully and not impose a completely new regime on the players.

As it stands from my own way of looking at it, Mancini has gone overboard on changing the way we play. He has imposed too much of his preferred way of setting up his team. This smacks of both inexperience and arrogance to me. ( the fact that we now play so deep that we cant link with the attack wtf! )

Hughes had said many times that we were working on both cutting out mistakes in the first place and if a mistake happened then to recover and not make further mistakes on top of the first. That seemed about right in analysis, no idea what they were actually trying to do about it in training to change things, but you would have to say that it didnt seem that it would be impossible given time... so?

At the moment i think a balanced view would be that, some players are actually playing better under Bob than they were before ( is that him or just the players own cycle of form? ) other players are not playing as well under Bob. It might be safe to say that depending on the role they are asked to play, they will perform better or worse generally speaking.

In answer to Bingo's OP it is quite likely that Mancini would continue in the same vein, with possibly a slight shift to more attacking intent eventually.. but the gung ho attacking we saw fairly frequently under Hughes, we are not likely to see again with Bob. and i think deep down we all know that. ( another sad face )


Bottom line is the board put the club and the players and the new manager in an extremely uncomfortable position, and given where we were with Hughes at the time, that was and remains reckless going on stupid.

The fans once again are the people who end up suffering, supporting ( or trying to ) a club that just keeps on doing its best to shoot itself in the foot.

On the positive side, if thats possible, i had been thinking since the Goodison game that the way Mancini was going about things would lead to a crisis, or perhaps better to say it looked like we were probably going to need a crisis for the situation to dramatically improve.. ie for the football to improve. I still think this and that we may need a kind of player mutiny type situation where frustrations get vented and player opinions gotten across to Mancini in no uncertain terms. After all, the players have more experience of the PL than the manager..
( with hindsight it is a shame we were not 0-2 down to Stoke at half time the other day and they had a real ding dong in the dressing room, leading to a change in attitude and us coming out and ripping Stoke apart.. or at least trying to )

Steven Ireland is a bit of a weathervane of how things are imo. Some call him oversensitive. I tend to just see that he needs stability in order to get his game on form. he is in a lot of peoples view the best player at City and one of the best players in the PL. On form he is pretty much unplayable. To get that form he needs stabilty around him.
If one of the consequences of the boards decision to ditch Hughes is that we lose Stevie ( iether cos he never gets his form, or leaves ) i for one will never ever forgive them.

it doesnt help that Mancini is probably a bit too arrogant to realise that he is not here to re-create Inter Milan, he is only here to try and help an already reasonably good team ( the best bit had been the unpredictable attacking style ) get slightly better.

At some point these players are going to realise they need say something collectively about what is going on, because they are the ones that the fans are going to start getting on the back of and imo it is not their fault. Something has to give and soon..


my greatest fear is that they think or are convinced by Bob that we are almost there.. and as a result just limp through the rest of the season just hanging on to a shout for 4th and never tonking anyone at all ever, even at home.

[Im_Spartacus]

Does Mancini intend to keep playing this style of football when he has his own choice of players?
I want stability at the club, so I'm in favour of letting Bob carry this on, as long as he doesn't intend do do what I said above.
If he is promising attack football that is exciting to watch once he's had a summer window to get his own players then I'm willing to get behind him and look forward to seeing what he can do.
If this is how he feels footy should be played, and wants to buy more defenders, more defensive midfielders, and Luca Toni so we can carry on lumping to a big man, then I feel we should part company.

He signed Maicon and Ibrahimovich for Inter, not the kind of signings you make if you are defensive and play the style of football we are at the moment.

Mancini's hands are tied, these are Hughes' players, alot of them aren't good enough to play the style of football fans want to see.

You really shouldn't use that argument about these are Hughes players! Mancini has gone on record praising the quality of the squad. As for them not being good enough to produce the style we want to see , well they were doing that so i don't undrestand what you are trying to say. The problem before Mancini was letting silly goals in usually thru bad individual mistakes and not the style of football or ability to score goals.

agree with Doug here. Bob said the players were quality when he arrived, most people agree that our squad is top quality.

Except that he HAS said that he cannot understand why we had so few central midfielders. Seeing as this is the big area where we seem to be struggling, he has identified the very problem we are all up in arms about, so why he didnt sort it in the window.