Honest thoughts on this season?

[Im_Spartacus]

Damn right I would..you'd think it was our god given right to win the title every year from now on the way some blues bang on

If we lose the FA Cup final then it hasn't been a great season..but if we win it Bobby has delivered 3 trophies in 3 seasons

Fucking dreamland territory and unthinkable to any blue 5 years ago

Glass half full..I'm enjoying every minute

But its not 5 years ago, is it? Its 2013 and we have Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, David Silva etc, trotting out for us every week, not Benjani and Caicedo.

People make it sound as though we are so lucky to have made two fa cup finals - it is in the context of Manchester city's history, but in the context of the squad we have, its not lucky, its a realistic aspiration every season now, as is a title challenge.

[Beeks]

Damn right I would..you'd think it was our god given right to win the title every year from now on the way some blues bang on

If we lose the FA Cup final then it hasn't been a great season..but if we win it Bobby has delivered 3 trophies in 3 seasons

Fucking dreamland territory and unthinkable to any blue 5 years ago

Glass half full..I'm enjoying every minute

But its not 5 years ago, is it? Its 2013 and we have Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, David Silva etc, trotting out for us every week, not Benjani and Caicedo.

People make it sound as though we are so lucky to have made two fa cup finals - it is in the context of Manchester city's history, but in the context of the squad we have, its not lucky, its a realistic aspiration every season now, as is a title challenge.

If we went another 34 years without winning a bean I wouldn't cry into my beer

Don't give a fuck what players we have..I will never take anything for granted

To say 'because we have X it entitles us to Y' is a rag mentality

I've never been happier as a City fan at the moment

[Feed The Goat]

curious. how much did you spend in total for madrid? assuming you're a season ticket holder, how much was the away ticket plus everything else?

Ticket I think was 65 or summat flight was 385 and then the day I was there spent about 100 so all in all quite an expensive day out

[carl_feedthegoat]

Damn right I would..you'd think it was our god given right to win the title every year from now on the way some blues bang on

If we lose the FA Cup final then it hasn't been a great season..but if we win it Bobby has delivered 3 trophies in 3 seasons

Fucking dreamland territory and unthinkable to any blue 5 years ago

Glass half full..I'm enjoying every minute

But its not 5 years ago, is it? Its 2013 and we have Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, David Silva etc, trotting out for us every week, not Benjani and Caicedo.

People make it sound as though we are so lucky to have made two fa cup finals - it is in the context of Manchester city's history, but in the context of the squad we have, its not lucky, its a realistic aspiration every season now, as is a title challenge.

If we went another 34 years without winning a bean I wouldn't cry into my beer

Don't give a fuck what players we have..I will never take anything for granted

To say 'because we have X it entitles us to Y' is a rag mentality

I've never been happier as a City fan at the moment

Good for you.

The majority of City fans aspire for more from a club that has developed like ours has over the years and they tend to get pissed off when we dont show up or when we get shown up....its losers mentality like yours that remind me of...well losers.

[zabbadabbado]

I don’t think what happens in the FA Cup Final should define our season, very short sighted in my opinion. For starters it is a one off match, Wigan play decent football and could have beaten us the other night. Will be a tough game.Win or lose it wont change my opinion on the manager.

For me We learn from our mistakes this Season. When our manager says we need quality players like De Rossi and Hazard, we don’t buy him a load off shite and expect him to perform miracles.

This Season has been tough one on Roberto Mancini,he did not get the players he warned we needed to take us to the next level. I think when he signed his 5 year contract he was told he would get the players he wanted and needed, then that gentleman’s agreement with the CEO was reneged on ,I think the fall out from this was carried on in to our Season. In his minds eye he knew how he wanted us set up to play, then had to readjust because the personnel never arrived. It is admirable that He has kept a dignified silence on this all the way through the season when he must have felt betrayed.

The Season has panned out exactly as Roberto Mancini predicted it would. We stopped evolving because we stopped spending when we should not have.

I am hoping we give Roberto Mancini a blank cheque book to buy who he wants, because my biggest fear is we lose the best manager since Joe Mercer to Monaco or some other side with ambition.

I have not been impressed with the set up behind the scenes since Gary Cook left, and I think there has been to much unhealthy input from the 2 Spaniards. The sale of Balotelli made no sense and left us light, just like selling De Jong only to replace him with Garcia made no sense.

It is easier for some just to blame the manager when he can barely field a fit first 11 players because off a short sighted transfer policy by those in charge at the Club.

I think those in Charge will respect what Roberto Mancini has managed to accomplish this season with none of the signings he wanted to start with.It is testament to the man what he has managed to still achieve with the financial constraints imposed on him.None of the signings have figured greatly this season other than Nastasic ironically a player that Roberto had ear marked for a while and one who has been our player off the season.

FORZA MANCINI

[DoomMerchant]

I've never been happier as a City fan at the moment

i've been slightly happier when the cunthole spurs didn't just walk all over us like we were fucking doormats and three of our best players the last few seasons didn't look like they could barely be arsed to give two fucks. Oh, and all while the manager sat there like a piece of cheese.

just...yknow..."sayin."

back to the vapors please my friend.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

If we went another 34 years without winning a bean I wouldn't cry into my beer

Don't give a fuck what players we have..I will never take anything for granted

To say 'because we have X it entitles us to Y' is a rag mentality

I've never been happier as a City fan at the moment

There's a difference between "we expect to win everything"

And "this squad is underperforming"

I don't expect to win the league, I do believe we have let ourselves down in regards to how little pressure we've actually put on united. I also think we went backwards in the CL and saw zero improvement there.

Being in the cup final is huge and I can't wait, but our run was pretty cushy, I don't think winning those games, makes up for some pretty big failures. Had we cut the gap to 7-8 points of consider this season a par, right now he's well and truly bogeying!

[ant london]

The season has been underwhelming. Disappointing in the context of how we finished last and how, with even 2-3 good additions in the summer, we could have pushed clear of everyone.

Too many players have underperformed for long periods. We HAVE been unlucky with injuries but we WERE exceptionally fortunate to avoid many of those to key players last season so we cannot complain about that.

I am over the moon about another FA Cup Final, I really am. I couldn't give a hoot really about our Champions League "campaigns" in the last two seasons as we have had the worst possible groups and I dont forget just how long it took United, Chelsea, Arsenal etc to get to grips with the competition. I am very patient about CL progress but our league title defence has been poor.

The manager and certain players are the chief culprits for that. I am not particularly calling for Mancini's head but, in the context of the playing resources he has he should have done better and could not really complain if he were replaced.

As for next season, I am very optimistic. I do not think last summer's mistakes will be repeated. We have had another season of (compared to the rest of the PL and Europe) "success" which elevates the clubs status even further and makes attracting the right players easier. I would be happy with Mancini starting next season at the Etihad but if there is any repeat of what we have seen this season, he will be gone by Xmas.

[Im_Spartacus]

If we went another 34 years without winning a bean I wouldn't cry into my beer

Don't give a fuck what players we have..I will never take anything for granted

To say 'because we have X it entitles us to Y' is a rag mentality

I've never been happier as a City fan at the moment

Having better players is not an entitlement, its a resetting of expectations from having the resources of a mid table/relegation candidate, to the resources of a big club. Whilst rags may be cunts, they have come to expect a certain standard of performance from their team over the course of a season, and in fairness they have rarely performed below that expecatation.

Do you expect rags to be pleased just to be at the top these last 20 years because they didnt win the league for over 30 years prior to that?

Should no fan of any club should therefore have any expectation that an increase in resources should result in a certain level of performance?

The "perspective" argument is the exact view which lets complacency creep in, and I certainly wouldn't want our owners to take a view like that, and i'm pretty sure they arent just grateful to be challenging.

[s1ty m]

Some wise person once said that show me someone happy with finishing second and I'll sow you someone who will never win. OK, it's a cliche, but there is something in that. If we can't win, at least fight for it. We haven't this season, I can't really see anything that suggests we have.

[ozzyisgod]

I wouldn't see it as a fail.....yet anyway aslong as we win the cup n finish with dignity I would think of it as a ok season a few injurys plus the african cup has really put a dent in a good mid-season run.

A few neutral mates have said its nothing but a fail mind, same ole stuff 'all that money' etc

Im like sum on here n say imagine sum1 telling me all them years ago tha we would b in the position of defending champs I would call em a crazy fool!

But we should know 1 thing about this season....its not over yet!!

Pride in battle!

[Wooders]

things I learnt from this season

- We often don't turn up against lesser teams - we expect to win & they view us as a scalp, its the same for chelsea..
- Lesser teams don't have the same attitude towards UTD and rollover
- We need to spend at least another 100 million (de rossi, falcao/cavani, isco/erikson & hummells please)
- Mancini, for all his postives, has some glaring weakness's

Negatives: Kompany and Aguero have had an off season, dogged by an injuries - harts had a bad one as well, toure fucking off for a month is a pain in the arse, is the africa cup of nations every year?? We bought poorly, I like rodwell, but he's only a squad player, Mancini doens't give youth enough of a chance and probably never will

positives: Zabba - what a player; decent cup run (we've been very lucky with our quality of opponent until recently), we've retained a few key players on large contracts ergo we got tricky burgerstain and his mate in charge behind the scenes

[Feed The Goat]

I don’t think what happens in the FA Cup Final should define our season, very short sighted in my opinion. For starters it is a one off match, Wigan play decent football and could have beaten us the other night. Will be a tough game.Win or lose it wont change my opinion on the manager.

For me We learn from our mistakes this Season. When our manager says we need quality players like De Rossi and Hazard, we don’t buy him a load off shite and expect him to perform miracles.

This Season has been tough one on Roberto Mancini,he did not get the players he warned we needed to take us to the next level. I think when he signed his 5 year contract he was told he would get the players he wanted and needed, then that gentleman’s agreement with the CEO was reneged on ,I think the fall out from this was carried on in to our Season. In his minds eye he knew how he wanted us set up to play, then had to readjust because the personnel never arrived. It is admirable that He has kept a dignified silence on this all the way through the season when he must have felt betrayed.

The Season has panned out exactly as Roberto Mancini predicted it would. We stopped evolving because we stopped spending when we should not have.

I am hoping we give Roberto Mancini a blank cheque book to buy who he wants, because my biggest fear is we lose the best manager since Joe Mercer to Monaco or some other side with ambition.

I have not been impressed with the set up behind the scenes since Gary Cook left, and I think there has been to much unhealthy input from the 2 Spaniards. The sale of Balotelli made no sense and left us light, just like selling De Jong only to replace him with Garcia made no sense.

It is easier for some just to blame the manager when he can barely field a fit first 11 players because off a short sighted transfer policy by those in charge at the Club.

I think those in Charge will respect what Roberto Mancini has managed to accomplish this season with none of the signings he wanted to start with.It is testament to the man what he has managed to still achieve with the financial constraints imposed on him.None of the signings have figured greatly this season other than Nastasic ironically a player that Roberto had ear marked for a while and one who has been our player off the season.

FORZA MANCINI

Answer me this question please. Do you believe that Mancini said I don't want those players and he was told tough shit you are having them. Or so you think it's more believable that he gave a list of players including the ones he got to the club to go and fetch?

He can't honestly think that every year the club will pay whatever for whoever because its not good business sense

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I didn't post after the Spurs game as I needed time to calm down after witnessing us spontaneously combust and finally hand over the title to the Rags on a plate.
I don't care who we played ten years ago and stop banging on about 'perspective'. This is now. A squad full of world class players, not a squad of hasbeens like we had been accustomed to.





As much as we did need a couple of players in the summer, there is no doubt Mancini has not got his players to perform to the level they can regularly enough. Watching us outplay United at OT showed that, had we performed at that level more often we would have won the league. Look at the United squad which has won the league. Players such as Welbeck, Clevery, an ageing Giggs and Scholes, Phil Jones, Ashley Young etc etc. We certainly have the better players yet they've underperformed. Taggart on the other hand has managed to make his players overperform massively, something Mancini has failed to do with a better set of players. We don't need Mancini to get our players to perform to a level higher than they can,we just needed them to perform to their ability.
I'm sick and tired of Mancini going on about missed signings. Yes we may not have Van Persie, but we still have Tevez and Aguero. And what must it do for their confidence when he constantly goes on about it? Yes we could have done with a couple of additions but the main reason we've failed is that he couldn't get the best out of our own players.
Again in the Champions League. I don't moan about not getting through. I do moan about getting 3 fucking points though. Pathetic showing however you look at it.

[Hazy2]

We have had a lot of changes behind the scenes, Bobby is not calling the shots as he did with Marwood. The Barca boys have a vision which IMHO will not include RM at some point maybe sooner than the start of next season he will be replaced.
The team looks like a team with potential not Champions, The future is bright and for 45 mins we were on a different planet to Spurs. If we had won we would be all smiling today. I thought we were awsome at the swamp .

Same problem as the season has progressed we are 1 up when we should be out of sight. Cup final to come, It could be a lot worse.

[Alioune DVToure]

I didn't post after the Spurs game as I needed time to calm down after witnessing us spontaneously combust and finally hand over the title to the Rags on a plate.
I don't care who we played ten years ago and stop banging on about 'perspective'. This is now. A squad full of world class players, not a squad of hasbeens like we had been accustomed to.

As much as we did need a couple of players in the summer, there is no doubt Mancini has not got his players to perform to the level they can regularly enough. Watching us outplay United at OT showed that, had we performed at that level more often we would have won the league. Look at the United squad which has won the league. Players such as Welbeck, Clevery, an ageing Giggs and Scholes, Phil Jones, Ashley Young etc etc. We certainly have the better players yet they've underperformed. Taggart on the other hand has managed to make his players overperform massively, something Mancini has failed to do with a better set of players. We don't need Mancini to get our players to perform to a level higher than they can,we just needed them to perform to their ability.
I'm sick and tired of Mancini going on about missed signings. Yes we may not have Van Persie, but we still have Tevez and Aguero. And what must it do for their confidence when he constantly goes on about it? Yes we could have done with a couple of additions but the main reason we've failed is that he couldn't get the best out of our own players.
Again in the Champions League. I don't moan about not getting through. I do moan about getting 3 fucking points though. Pathetic showing however you look at it.

"I don't care who we played ten years ago and stop banging on about 'perspective'. This is now. A squad full of world class players, not a squad of hasbeens like we had been accustomed to."

That's all well and good, but I dare say you're a little bit too young to remember us when we were really shit. The late-Keegan and Pearce years were nothing compared to how depressing things got between 1995 and 1998.

Being able to think back to then DOES allow me to enjoy our current success more and makes it easier to be philosophical about an away defeat to a good Spurs side with everything to play for.

We were shit yesterday. So what? Another cup final, 2nd place in the league, another stab at the Champions League AND I get the feeling we'll be even stronger next year.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I didn't post after the Spurs game as I needed time to calm down after witnessing us spontaneously combust and finally hand over the title to the Rags on a plate.
I don't care who we played ten years ago and stop banging on about 'perspective'. This is now. A squad full of world class players, not a squad of hasbeens like we had been accustomed to.

As much as we did need a couple of players in the summer, there is no doubt Mancini has not got his players to perform to the level they can regularly enough. Watching us outplay United at OT showed that, had we performed at that level more often we would have won the league. Look at the United squad which has won the league. Players such as Welbeck, Clevery, an ageing Giggs and Scholes, Phil Jones, Ashley Young etc etc. We certainly have the better players yet they've underperformed. Taggart on the other hand has managed to make his players overperform massively, something Mancini has failed to do with a better set of players. We don't need Mancini to get our players to perform to a level higher than they can,we just needed them to perform to their ability.
I'm sick and tired of Mancini going on about missed signings. Yes we may not have Van Persie, but we still have Tevez and Aguero. And what must it do for their confidence when he constantly goes on about it? Yes we could have done with a couple of additions but the main reason we've failed is that he couldn't get the best out of our own players.
Again in the Champions League. I don't moan about not getting through. I do moan about getting 3 fucking points though. Pathetic showing however you look at it.

"I don't care who we played ten years ago and stop banging on about 'perspective'. This is now. A squad full of world class players, not a squad of hasbeens like we had been accustomed to."

That's all well and good, but I dare say you're a little bit too young to remember us when we were really shit. The late-Keegan and Pearce years were nothing compared to how depressing things got between 1995 and 1998.

Being able to think back to then DOES allow me to enjoy our current success more and makes it easier to be philosophical about an away defeat to a good Spurs side with everything to play for.

We were shit yesterday. So what? Another cup final, 2nd place in the league, another stab at the Champions League AND I get the feeling we'll be even stronger next year.

Maybe so but looking back at how shit we were doesn't hide the fact we've had hundreds of millions in investment. We have some of the very best players out there.
Again it's not about coming 2nd, it's about not having been in the title race this season. And yes Spurs away is tough and it's not the defeat which bothers me, it's the manner of defeat. Just collapsing like that and not making any changes when it was obvious they were needed. A 50% Aguero is 10x better than Dzeko.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

We have had a lot of changes behind the scenes, Bobby is not calling the shots as he did with Marwood. The Barca boys have a vision which IMHO will not include RM at some point maybe sooner than the start of next season he will be replaced.
The team looks like a team with potential not Champions, The future is bright and for 45 mins we were on a different planet to Spurs. If we had won we would be all smiling today. I thought we were awsome at the swamp .

Same problem as the season has progressed we are 1 up when we should be out of sight. Cup final to come, It could be a lot worse.

Won't matter if we lose though, after all we were playing Wycombe ten years ago.

[Alex Sapphire]

Concentrating on the league as this was our pot and we've not defended it, I'd make the following comparisons:

Drawn games: so far we have drawn 3 more games accounting for most of the gap. I put this down to us not scoring when we dominate, and then getting mugged. And not having a lock-picker or poacher on the bench often enough.

Goals scored: we look like we will fall 15-20 short of last season's tally. The much hated Dzeko has done his bit with the minutes he's had, Tevez has contributed more games and goals, and the midfield has pitched in with more or less the same number. Sergio has had a less effective season from a goalscoring p.o.v. and Mario's goals been missed

Goals conceded: broadly the same and the best defense in the league, so maybe the tinkering didn't hurt too much in the long run. Nasty has fitted in well and Kolo and Joleon have been more than good enough when called upon. Happier when Gael is at LB.

Losses: we've lost to top sides (Scum and Spurs this time, Chelski and Arse last time) as well as to our bogey teams (Toffees and Mackems). Swap Swans for Saints and our record looks the same. Unless we get beaten again.

Fortress Etihad: 2 of the extra draws (so far) were at home, We replaced Sunderland with Everton (fuckin bogeys) and added Arse and Scouse, so not impossible to see how that might happen.

"THEM": they mugged us for 3 points at ours (Nasri you ponce). They've also learned and strengthened. And of course they still enjoy the fear factor.

Injuries:
Zabba has HAD to be a giant as our other RBs have been out
Scum have been less unlucky and we've been more unlucky with injuries this time

Squad: Nigel has been a miss, and the new recruits haven't made a significant impact going forward. It's hard to imagine that if we'd had more world class attacking options that we couldn't have turned those draws into wins

Bottom line: we're scoring less and if we knew how to beat Everton and Sunderland home and away and if Nasri had stood still, we'd be 3 points behind in spite of that and we'd all be having a great run in.

[Hazy2]

We have had a lot of changes behind the scenes, Bobby is not calling the shots as he did with Marwood. The Barca boys have a vision which IMHO will not include RM at some point maybe sooner than the start of next season he will be replaced.
The team looks like a team with potential not Champions, The future is bright and for 45 mins we were on a different planet to Spurs. If we had won we would be all smiling today. I thought we were awsome at the swamp .

Same problem as the season has progressed we are 1 up when we should be out of sight. Cup final to come, It could be a lot worse.

Won't matter if we lose though, after all we were playing Wycombe ten years ago.

Sorry mate I have missed it.