Will this game prompt Mancini to buy?

[john@staustell]

Most conceded goals seem to come back to Richards or Zabaleta - with his 'free kick on the edge of the box' routine. Heaven knows what Richards was doing. Yes 'everybody grabs the shirts', but not with no-one else within 15 yards, giving a clear view!

Not sure they can be bettered in this window though.

[avoidconfusion]

I don't know why people keep saying that Mancini won't decide who we will buy or not. I sincerely doubt that we will just buy players without Mancini having the final say or without him actually proposing names.

[simon12]

So you guys think the owners are dishing out the orders on who to sign? When they probably dont really know THAT much about football?

Hmmm...

I was more leaning towards Marwood

Yes ok, Brian Marwoods knowledge of football is obviously alot better than the owners, but I still cant honestly think that he would be calling the shots when it comes to signing players.

Whos signing do you think Vieira was?

No doubt. I think Marwood has been given the task of finding talent. Manc will have his own ideas and will probably say yes/no to Marwoods ideas. Manc will have already informed Marwood who he wants and will have been given assurances before he signed his contract.

Ok, now I see what your getting at. To me though Vieira was a Mancini signing, having worked with him at Inter.

I`m in hope he gets on with Maicon & chellini. Not too bothered about Italian CF`s.A nice Italian style defence is what is needed.

[david yearsley]

Was gonna start a new thread on this but in tune with these times of austerity (as well as getting a few Brownie points off the mods!), I,ve dedcided to bang it in here.

We´ve got off lightly this weekend with our main rivals dropping points unexpectedly - we find ourselves joint 4th (albeit behind on G.D.) Looking at it our owners , Cook and Mancini have a huge and unenviable decision to make. We have an unprecedented chance of C.L. football next season. Do they : -

Take a chance , bring in some modest reinforcements in one or two key areas and risk just missing out , resulting in a problem recruiting the best in the summer and putting in jepoardy future C.L. qualification - or :-

Make BOTW offers for the best players available now , again with no guarantee , but knowing if we qualify it´s effectively "lift off" , 2 years into the 5 year plan
A crucial 15 days ahead ?
What think you guys and gals?

[Wonderwall]

Was gonna start a new thread on this but in tune with these times of austerity (as well as getting a few Brownie points off the mods!), I,ve dedcided to bang it in here.

We´ve got off lightly this weekend with our main rivals dropping points unexpectedly - we find ourselves joint 4th (albeit behind on G.D.) Looking at it our owners , Cook and Mancini have a huge and unenviable decision to make. We have an unprecedented chance of C.L. football next season. Do they : -

Take a chance , bring in some modest reinforcements in one or two key areas and risk just missing out , resulting in a problem recruiting the best in the summer and putting in jepoardy future C.L. qualification - or :-

Make BOTW offers for the best players available now , again with no guarantee , but knowing if we qualify it´s effectively "lift off" , 2 years into the 5 year plan
A crucial 15 days ahead ?
What think you guys and gals?

totally agree, I think a decision will have been made this weekend and it will be a stick or twist decision. The next week will tell us.

[john68]

I would be very suprised if any decisions were made solely on the Everton performance. I would hope that Mancini was already forming his ideas regarding strengthening the squad.

Mancini is experienced enough to have seen what needs to firmed up and strengthened.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Was gonna start a new thread on this but in tune with these times of austerity (as well as getting a few Brownie points off the mods!), I,ve dedcided to bang it in here.

We´ve got off lightly this weekend with our main rivals dropping points unexpectedly - we find ourselves joint 4th (albeit behind on G.D.) Looking at it our owners , Cook and Mancini have a huge and unenviable decision to make. We have an unprecedented chance of C.L. football next season. Do they : -

Take a chance , bring in some modest reinforcements in one or two key areas and risk just missing out , resulting in a problem recruiting the best in the summer and putting in jepoardy future C.L. qualification - or :-

Make BOTW offers for the best players available now , again with no guarantee , but knowing if we qualify it´s effectively "lift off" , 2 years into the 5 year plan
A crucial 15 days ahead ?
What think you guys and gals?

I'm not sure to be honest. One or two places need strengtening but I'm not sure required quality is available. Even for decent back up players. People went on about Vieira but as far as short term signings goes, I reckon that's the best we can do this january. Going for Kenwyne Jones or someone like that will only lead to Benjani situation later on.

Furthermore, this is exactly the kind of situation that has put Benitez in situation he is with his squad. 6 million here.8 million there for players that have added nothing but momentarily depth maybe.

[CityFanFromRome]

I agree with NQDP. It's useless to buy if we can't get top quality, and it won't probably be available now. We can take a punt on promising youngsters, like Azpilicueta for the full back position, and hope they can develop into world class with time, but we won't probably be able to buy real quality in January, so why bother. I'd just go for Ansaldi or, as mentioned before, Azpilicueta, because FBs are our weakest areas and they can play on both flanks so they would give us options there, but especially on the right if we keep Richards as CB. Zabba, as much as I like him, can be a liability as we saw on Saturday.

[lythamblue]

Even though we are owned by one of the wealthiest men in the world there's no guarantee that every manager of ours would get unlimited budget to buy players... I for one wouldn't be surprised at all if Mancini didn't have any money to spend in Jan

Absolute nonsense, you honestly think that they would bring in a new manager, especially one with Mancini's reputation and then not back him financially? He has said all along that he will assess what he's got before looking elsewhere. He decided quickly that we were light in MF so brought in cover but just because he didn't spend over the odds on transfer fee as was Hughes' style you think the Sheikh has said no more spending!

I don't think the problem is commitment of finances. I don't think top players will want to come until we prove that we have a settled and stable football management structure.

Let's face it, the way we got rid of Hughes, the common opinion now is that if Mancini does not achieve top 4, he will be gone at the end of the season too. On that basis, few top players will commit to leaving where they currently are to join a team where there is debate as to who their 'boss' will be from next season onwards.

Vierra was a one off because he was virtually finished at Inter and was offered the 'deal of a lifetime' to join us and for him it would have been a no brainer. Interesting to see that his contract is for six months with a potential extention after that ..... which tends to tie in exactly with what is generally considered to be the terms of Mancini's contract.

Neither the Club or potential players will want to enter into long term contracts until the 'Manager' situation is considered to be resolved and someone is publically backed for the medium to long term. Until then, I think that short term Vierra type deals are the only signings that will be contemplated by all parties.

[john@staustell]

There are conflicting messages coming out of the club on this.

Firstly it was stated several times that they had spent about 3 years' transfer budget in one go last summer, and so only 'special' purchases would be made if they became available.

But, maybe deriving from this, they showed an impatience with Hughes because they expected much better progress from such an outspend.

However now that this impatience has been displayed, it must be obvious to even Cook, Mubarak and Sheik M that we need still better, more expensive signings and that if they are really that impatient they have to give Bobby more dosh now.

Whether the desired people can, or will, come to City as yet is the key point, as others have said. I also agree that Bobby has already found out about most of his players (and is probably a little dismayed here and there), but Saturday he gave Robinho a big chance and he blew it. So if anything the Everton game could be the defining Robson moment.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[avoidconfusion]

I wonder if Mancini really thinks he does not have to buy any more players this month. I think he risks setting himself up for a big problem here.

RSC - out for a month and a sicknote
Adebayor - on indefinite compassionate leave, god knows when he is back and what kind of player he will be
Benjani - whilst earning major brownie points for his effort and workrate he is not good enough for a team with our aspirations
Bellamy - dodgy knees and there is always a risk playing him more than once a week and even then his knees could give him problems sooner or later
Tevez - I don't even want to think about what happens if he gets injured, the warning signs were there against Everton, him feeling his hamstring was not a sight I enjoyed
Petrov - Injured again I suppose? His attitude leaves a lot to wish for
Robinho - I don't think I even need to comment on this guy anymore.