3 games lost already. Can we still win the league?

[Sideshow Bob]

wow the knives are out already for pelle!! mancini hardly set the league alight in his first half season, did he? and expectations were much lower then. not to mention we had a decent keeper back then!

[john68]

That is a most unfair comparison Bob. Mancini had the players he inherited, quite early in our evolution.
The Count took over a team that had previously been successful, was much further down the evolutionary line and had been stengthened by many many millions. He also has been able to substantially spend and has had a full pre-season with them.

Equations only really work with like for like Mate.

[Sideshow Bob]

That is a most unfair comparison Bob. Mancini had the players he inherited, quite early in our evolution.
The Count took over a team that had previously been successful, was much further down the evolutionary line and had been stengthened by many many millions. He also has been able to substantially spend and has had a full pre-season with them.

Equations only really work with like for like Mate.

fair enough. but on on the other hand, pelle is trying to implement broader/more ambitious tactical changes, which will take more time to get right. one thing is certain: our style is far more entertaining now. last season was painfully boring to watch.

[city9_4eva]

We never win at home and we never win away!

[lets all have a disco]

wow the knives are out already for pelle!! mancini hardly set the league alight in his first half season, did he? and expectations were much lower then. not to mention we had a decent keeper back then!

The Axe comes out never mind the knives if he drops under 60% win ratio.

[s1ty m]

Doubtful I think. As for Pellegrini, he's not impressed too many. Yet.

[Hazy2]

The football we are playing is undone by mistakes, Pelle is as pissed of as us. Mancini would have been looking at a touchline ban of 10 yrs had Hart fucked up like that plus the Spaka one jumping into the crowd behind his gug out, Pelle was the only one showing any class yesterday. Mancini would have filled him in.

[MilnersJaw]

fair enough. but on on the other hand, pelle is trying to implement broader/more ambitious tactical changes, which will take more time to get right. one thing is certain: our style is far more entertaining now. last season was painfully boring to watch.

Last season we spent every game passing the ball around outside the opposition box. But then again all the balls in midfield went through Barry so that slowed us down.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Iron out the mistakes and we all saw we are the best team by a mile, with a potty keeper.

Drop HART and we are the best team by a mile , we were better than Chelsea yesterday in every department.HART cost us again.
Its that simple.

[Hazy2]

Iron out the mistakes and we all saw we are the best team by a mile, with a potty keeper.

Drop HART and we are the best team by a mile , we were better than Chelsea yesterday in every department.HART cost us again.
Its that simple.

Since the Cup final he can go and fuck himself with nice shiny hair Carl.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Iron out the mistakes and we all saw we are the best team by a mile, with a potty keeper.

Drop HART and we are the best team by a mile , we were better than Chelsea yesterday in every department.HART cost us again.
Its that simple.

Since the Cup final he can go and fuck himself with nice shiny hair Carl.

Agreed.

[Florida Blue]

That is a most unfair comparison Bob. Mancini had the players he inherited, quite early in our evolution.
The Count took over a team that had previously been successful, was much further down the evolutionary line and had been stengthened by many many millions. He also has been able to substantially spend and has had a full pre-season with them.

Equations only really work with like for like Mate.

Well I would also say that Mancini inherited a goalkeeper atop the world when he came, Pells has a Calamity James' in his top gaffe form. The back line is in shambles, and I would dare say the on the surface Kolarov has been the only consistent one of the lot with Kompany out. We can play tit-for-tat all we want, but the reality is City are not losing on personnel or tactics, rather individual howlers in most every match. You can attribute major gaffes in matches we have lost to individual failures rather than to total team:

Cardiff: Hart and Zabs were shocking
Villa: Kompany and Nasty watched the game winner on a goalkeeper kick bounce by them, we totally dominated
Bayern: Hart looked like a sieve
Chelsea: Hart (some may blame Nasty but regardless it was a player issue not manager or tactic)

Not to stray off topic too much, most of these players seem to want to play for this manager: Kolarov and Nasri for two look like they are playing for fun, no longer a job, and the team overall seems to be playing with more effort.

Yes, we can still win the league. No one, other than maybe Arsenal, has been playing consistently solid football.

[john68]

That amuses me Bryan.
In previous seasons whoever the manager was took the blame as it was considered it was his responsibility. Pellergrini is absolved somewhat...Why?

Just an observation.

Don't be fooled by some great performances, into thinking that we can still win the league. Great performances don't win Leagues, CONSISTENCY of performance over a season does that. Doing enough to win games week in week out, and that includes individual errors.

Pellergrini's defences allowed both Villa and Cardiff to score three against us. Neither of those teams are much good. There has been very little sign of much improvement.

Sorry but not yet convinced. Most of us on here should be able to get this squad to play.

[Mark Garrett]

Yes we can still win the league, as usually you can afford 5 defeats across the league campaign to win the league. This year I think the points total will be lower than normal and as a result can afford 6 or 7 league defeats and still win the league.

I don't think we will win it at all as the manager seems clueless to organise a defence and team into a semblance of defensive organistation - something which is critical to winning a league championship. This notion of outscoring opponents will be entertaining but will also mean that we will not win the league and we will continually throw matches away like we have done this season from winning postions or positions of strength in matches.

Yes Joe Hart has made mistakes this season but if everyone is pinning it solely or mainly on him then the point is being missed. Opponents are creating numerous chances against us, look at yesterday and look at the gilt-edged chances Chelsea had, same in Moscow - terrific win but really they had too many very good chances again.

Until the penny drops with Pellegrini that he has to focus on defending and defensively unit then it will be a top 4 fight this season and not a title charge at all, which given our placings in the past 3 seasons and the quality of the squad and team he inherited from Mancini is hugely disappointing and frustrating.

The League is there for us for the taking and we are throwing it away at the moment.

Never wanted Pellegrini in the first place and Mancini should have stayed.

If we absolutely had to make a change, it has to be for an upgrade on Mancini as a manager and instead we have downgraded to Pellegrini. Would have preferred Ancelotti, a proven winner in the leagues and in Europe and we should have gone for him before Real snuck in. As it happens Real may yet end up sacking him, in which case we should pull out all the stops to bring in Ancelotti.

[Mark Garrett]

Would love to sit down with Pellegrini and ask him how he has managed to turn the best defence in the league for the past 3 years into a bumbling mess in the space of a handful of months.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Would love to sit down with Pellegrini and ask him how he has managed to turn the best defence in the league for the past 3 years into a bumbling mess in the space of a handful of months.

Because he changed from ZONAL MARKING to MAN MARKING.

Never ever, ever fuck with an excellent running motor.

[Mark Garrett]

Would love to sit down with Pellegrini and ask him how he has managed to turn the best defence in the league for the past 3 years into a bumbling mess in the space of a handful of months.

Because he changed from ZONAL MARKING to MAN MARKING.

Never ever, ever fuck with an excellent running motor.

Correct this is one of the reasons.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

That amuses me Bryan.
In previous seasons whoever the manager was took the blame as it was considered it was his responsibility. Pellergrini is absolved somewhat...Why?

Just an observation.

Don't be fooled by some great performances, into thinking that we can still win the league. Great performances don't win Leagues, CONSISTENCY of performance over a season does that. Doing enough to win games week in week out, and that includes individual errors.

Pellergrini's defences allowed both Villa and Cardiff to score three against us. Neither of those teams are much good. There has been very little sign of much improvement.

Sorry but not yet convinced. Most of us on here should be able to get this squad to play.

I think I preferred John the positive. But it's true that consistency is the key to winning titles and as yet we aren't there. Our success was always going to be about how well we can defend and so far so bad.

The changes needed in the back 4 because of Vinnie's injury have been a problem but so too has the poor form of most of the defenders and the nonsense mistakes that have been made.It isn't just one player either with Joe and obvious candidate but Zaba wasn't his best early on and then we have Garcia,Nasti and Clichy all contributing to the problem.

Will Pellegrini sort it out? No reason to think he won't but it needs to happen quickly so we don't lose any more ground.

[Goaters 103]

That amuses me Bryan.
In previous seasons whoever the manager was took the blame as it was considered it was his responsibility. Pellergrini is absolved somewhat...Why?

Just an observation.

Don't be fooled by some great performances, into thinking that we can still win the league. Great performances don't win Leagues, CONSISTENCY of performance over a season does that. Doing enough to win games week in week out, and that includes individual errors.

Pellergrini's defences allowed both Villa and Cardiff to score three against us. Neither of those teams are much good. There has been very little sign of much improvement.

Sorry but not yet convinced. Most of us on here should be able to get this squad to play.

I think I preferred John the positive. But it's true that consistency is the key to winning titles and as yet we aren't there. Our success was always going to be about how well we can defend and so far so bad.

The changes needed in the back 4 because of Vinnie's injury have been a problem but so too has the poor form of most of the defenders and the nonsense mistakes that have been made.It isn't just one player either with Joe and obvious candidate but Zaba wasn't his best early on and then we have Garcia,Nasti and Clichy all contributing to the problem.

Will Pellegrini sort it out? No reason to think he won't but it needs to happen quickly so we don't lose any more ground.

Agreed on the problem areas and need to sort, but sadly with Kompany now absent so often its gone beyond a joke, you simply cannot see this team putting together a 10-12 game winning streak that it now needs to do.

We look a classic Cup side, who can beat or lose to anyone on any given day. With that in mind I do hope we take the Capital One and FA Cups with extreme seriousness this year as they are looking realistically like the only things we can win.

Call me old fashioned but Id take 4th spot and a Capital One Cup win right now if you offered it to me.

[Breks]

I was just looking at the 2010-2011 Premier league table and the Rags won the league by winning only 23 games. Granted they only lost 4 but had 11 draws. I'm confident we can get around 26 wins. Does anyone know how many games is the most games lost by a title winning side during the Premier league era?