MARKMAKAVELI wrote:
I'll never understand people who would rather watch shit football as long as they win.
Why do we all watch football? To be entertained. I know ideally everyone wants to mix the two together like Barca.
The fun in football is the entertainment, the trophies are a bonus/reward.
Funny i was just thinking in relation to this arguement. As i live here i started watching Barca games, but slowly but surely i have gotten completely and utterly bored of watching them! Sounds crazy no? but the thing is they play football in exactly the same way every game.. move the ball around sublimely and dominate the pitch, the oppo and eventually score and usually win the game. Apart from some one offs - like the Madrid game that has added spice, it just all gets too fuclin predictable, the football is beautiful yes.. but very predictable beauty. Ok Barca fans dont mind this obviously, when your team wins 6 comps in one year it is very difficult to pick fault. I have heard that Arsenal fans get frustrated with their over elaborate play at times, but i guess thats when they dont get a result more than anything and spills over into a general criticism eventually, cos they dont seem to have another way of playing.
SO perhaps my point here is about predictability rather than anything. Seems perverse to be critical of Barca, and if i was a fan i would be happy as larry, but as a neutral i now take more pleasure in them struggling and very rarely being outplayed by Getafe or someone.
The Prem is touted as the most entertaining league, possibly because it is so much more unpredictable than Serie A or La Liga... i dont know, but as a City fan i cant watch my team as a neutral. i shit bricks when we are under attack and my feet lose touch with the ground when we slice open the oppo with sublime attacking football. So addictive is the rush of watching us take some team apart.. it is something i am waiting and looking for every moment of the game. Is that not the same for all us, however much results orientated you are?
IMHO top quality players will always err on the side of producing that kind of play, Unless they are under orders to curtail it and stick to their prescribed jobs. So really the arguement here that NQDP is sponsoring is really about Mancini. ( see subplot re:continuation of inane Hughes arguements )
Unpredictabilty is great to watch, but unpredictability doesn't sit well with consistency, and lack of consistency will not win you very much.
Bobby's first task was to stop the inconsistency, ie get the defensive mindset and organisation sorted. As he is new to the Prem, the players and the club, has basically to work with what he has ( not what he might want ) starting from mid-season, it is as obvious as fuckl that he is going to err on the side of caution. It is way too early to say anything about what style of play he may try to adopt longer term, but for the rest of this season he is under intense pressure to get results. I would say though that his buying of Adam Johnson doesn't suggest that he is looking only at defensive solidity.. in fact it tends to suggest the opposite if anything.
I think in our heart of hearts we all know what the job Bobby has to do.. and we probs know that this seasons run in is going to be about results rather than anything else. It is doubtful that we will see the teams on the pitch that we would like to see, it is probable that most of our football will be cautious rather than expansive. Personally that is not what i want to see but hey, needs must and we really really do not have any time for luxury. That said i hope that Bobby Manc is starting to learn that in the Prem restricting an opponents chances is better achieved by taking the game to them.
We have a problem with our mental preparation and attitude at City which translates into giving opponents space to play far too easily. In my opinion Mancini's initial emphasis on formation and positioning has led to us adopting a position on the pitch far too deep.. but i am reasonably confident that is more of an effect of the transition of tactics from Hughes to Bobby, and that he knows that we are playing too deep and is very carefully trying to do something about it.
Every game fro the rest of the season is like a knife edge.. so the margin for cocking it up and getting it wrong is as fine as you care to imagine.. that isnt necessarily the ideal scenario for trying things out. It defo is not the scenario you would want if you are learning about the reality of the Prem half way through a season with a team leaking goals and a club demanding 4th place minimum. I say carefully because he brings in Vieira to get us to try and dominate at least our own half of the pitch, but he kept Nige and Barry there just to make sure in case PV wasnt up to Prem speed with just one of them. We all saw overcaution, Bobby probs saw we didnt lose to a stupid goal while all crowded in our own area.
expect more of the same boys.. at least in the league. FA cup might be better, and Bobby is under a bit less pressure there.
can i also suggest lancing the boil and starting a fixed thread for the benefit of those here who want to pursue the lost threads of discontent and missed opportunity that a Hughes v Mancini debate allows.
There are always people who want to flog a dead horse, so why not just admit it and give them just what they want?
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