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We spend over 200 mil and our attacking midfielder gets (injured) and we only have a DM to come on for him.No playmaker on the bench the question is why?.The answer is plain and simple our gaffer is like a rabbit in the head lights ne is shit scared of losing.And i blame the owners for this in the way they got rid of the last incumbent.I dont rate Mancini but i want him to do well for us but i think he is being too cautious at home and thats why we play 3DMs.

gillie wrote:We spend over 200 mil and our attacking midfielder gets (injured) and we only have a DM to come on for him.No playmaker on the bench the question is why?.The answer is plain and simple our gaffer is like a rabbit in the head lights ne is shit scared of losing.And i blame the owners for this in the way they got rid of the last incumbent.I dont rate Mancini but i want him to do well for us but i think he is being too cautious at home and thats why we play 3DMs.

Who do you think should have been on the bench then? The other players who could have filled an attacking midfield role (or freed someone else to do so) were either already on the pitch (Petrov, SWP), cup tied (A. Johnson) been sent on loan(Robinho, Weiss), injured (Bellamy) or on family leave (Tevez). Mancini seems very laid back and calm and very cool headed when considering changes mid match. He is far from your description of being "frightened in the headlights."

yes he is being cautious, but maybe because he knows the goalie and defence are not as good as we all thought they would be, hence all the draws Hughes got.

Toure has been awful, and the inconsistency in the back 4 has not helped one bit.

We have had this season so far used at various times:


RB: Richards, Zabaleta, Onouha
CB: Dunne, Toure, Onouha, Richards, Boyata
CB: Lescott, Kompany
LB: Bridge, Garrido, Sylvinho, Cunningham, Barry.

So we have had a different mix of all those players so far. When was the last time we played 2/3 games with the same back four?


As we are Mancini is still not sure of his best back four.

From what I have seen this season I would say it is:

RB: Richards
CB:Lescott
CB:Kompany
LB: Bridge

Don't think we have seen this combo yet. So I think this demonstrates as to why Mancini has been cautious and why we were shipping goals. WIth everyone back from injury, we should be defensively a lot tighter and Mancini will be able to take the shackles off, and feel more comfortable with a settled back four.

You post that as if Mancini WILL take off the shackles.
I HOPE he will take off the shackles but I have my doubts.
Time will tell but that is something that Mancini doesn't have.
I think he will stick to this strategy and try and hone it at least until the end of the season.

john68 wrote:I think he will stick to this strategy and try and hone it at least until the end of the season.

He probably will. If it works and he gets us to CL, then he will have a preseason to work on better attacking, and maybe still fine tune the defence if it needs it.

gillie wrote:We spend over 200 mil and our attacking midfielder gets (injured) and we only have a DM to come on for him.No playmaker on the bench the question is why?.The answer is plain and simple our gaffer is like a rabbit in the head lights ne is shit scared of losing.And i blame the owners for this in the way they got rid of the last incumbent.I dont rate Mancini but i want him to do well for us but i think he is being too cautious at home and thats why we play 3DMs.

Really? Well I'd have never guessed!

Seriously though, is it worth having another sticky for hughes? It seems that some people are totally incapable of getting over the fact that he has gone. Maybe we could have it as some sort of shrine to the great one? Leaving the rest of us to move forward!

King Kev wrote:

gillie wrote:We spend over 200 mil and our attacking midfielder gets (injured) and we only have a DM to come on for him.No playmaker on the bench the question is why?.The answer is plain and simple our gaffer is like a rabbit in the head lights ne is shit scared of losing.And i blame the owners for this in the way they got rid of the last incumbent.I dont rate Mancini but i want him to do well for us but i think he is being too cautious at home and thats why we play 3DMs.

Really? Well I'd have never guessed!

Seriously though, is it worth having another sticky for hughes? It seems that some people are totally incapable of getting over the fact that he has gone. Maybe we could have it as some sort of shrine to the great one? Leaving the rest of us to move forward!

I almost started it the other day but wasn't prepared to take the usual insults. I honestly think we should have Hughes sticky and try and keep all the discussions about him there. No wind up either. I honestly thought that after few weeks it would all calm down and we could move forward but it's simply not happening.

Will people stop crapping on about Defensive Midfielders. DM's.... Edit

When PV came on on Saturday he played in a forward - offensive role !

Furthermore talking about defensive play. Did you notice how often Stevie Ireland dropped deep in midfield during the game ?
Probably not. Although he was supposed to play in attack !

I firmly believe that if Mancini gets City to the top four, he will get all the resources he needs to build a top team.

I simply cannot believe that he is happy with Adebayors lazy football, or De Jongs / Barry's lack of creative play. Also, I'm sure he will replace Toure , given the chance.

Mancini can do nothing about Bellamy getting his head kicked-in in a night club can he ? Furthermore we don't know the circumstances behind Tevez's leave.

This is a silly thread. Absolutely no blame can be laid at Mancinis feet for the 200 mill spent

Quite right Zurich fella. Vieira was played forward, which he can do and did do fairly well.

How many negative threads do we need? One point takes us to 4th in the league, we were in the semi of the league cup and are still in the FA cup - not already out as some seem to think. All that alone makes it the best season for many a long year.

And the principle is simple - you build a rock-solid defensive line and don't let the other teams score at all. One way of doing this is by keeping the ball. You then score by having top class, counter-attacking forwards. The plan is clear, it's getting the right training, discipline and personnel that takes longer - especially the bit about not giving the ball away.

Personally I think our most devastating players in the last 14 league matches will be Tevez, Bellamy (when fit/not beaten up) and Johnson. None were available on Saturday.

john@staustell wrote:Quite right Zurich fella. Vieira was played forward, which he can do and did do fairly well.

How many negative threads do we need? One point takes us to 4th in the league, we were in the semi of the league cup and are still in the FA cup - not already out as some seem to think. All that alone makes it the best season for many a long year.

And the principle is simple - you build a rock-solid defensive line and don't let the other teams score at all. One way of doing this is by keeping the ball. You then score by having top class, counter-attacking forwards. The plan is clear, it's getting the right training, discipline and personnel that takes longer - especially the bit about not giving the ball away.

Personally I think our most devastating players in the last 14 league matches will be Tevez, Bellamy (when fit/not beaten up) and Johnson. None were available on Saturday.

You are not allowed to state those facts though. These are depressing times we are living.

zuricity wrote:Will people stop craping on about Defensive Midfielders. DM's....

When PV can on on Saturday he played in a forward - offensive role !

Furthermore talking about defensive play. Did you notice how often Stevie Ireland dropped deep in midfield during the game ?
Probably not. Although he was supposed to play in attack !

I firmly believe that if Mancini gets City to the top four, he will get all the resources he needs to build a top team.

I simply cannot believe that he is happy with Adebayors lazy football, or De Jongs / Barry's lack of creative play. Also, I'm sure he will replace Toure , given the chance.

Mancini can do nothing about Bellamy getting his head kicked-in in a night club can he ? Furthermore we don't know the circumstances behind Tevez's leave.

This is a silly thread. Absolutely no blame can be laid at Mancinis feet for the 200 mill spent

Precisely, he played every attacking player that was available to him. Cannot believe the criticism he is getting for not playing players he doesn't have!

Kev...NQDP,
You make the point regarding Hughes and quote Gillie. Gillie NEVER mentioned Hughes. He criticised Mancini but it was you who brought Hughes out of the cupboard.

Maybe it is you who needs a Hughes sticky. Most of the others have accepted that Hughes has gone and are merely analysing and debating the PRESENT situation.

HUGHES..[strike]IN[/strike]...[strike]OUT[/strike]...GONE....Please keep up.

Good to see the voices of reason out in force once again pointing out how a fair & even handed approach is what's needed; that you need to appreciate the effect of injuries etc etc on decisions made & that there's more than one way of looking at such decisions rather than just picking out every possible negative & looking for the vindictive agenda based angle. How crap & unfair that would be.

Vieira did indeed play further forward & looked better than Ireland doing it imo. Whether he could play that role for 90 mins I don't know but it is a role players without pace have successfully done in the past & an interesting idea by Mancini.

He needs to get the players to attack with the same vigour they did for the 1st 15 minutes which was very similar to our previous attacking style. If he can do that but get rid of the stupid defending (which he hasn't yet, not at all) then we're halfway there. If it was his idea to be more cautious then he overdid it.

Why the fuck did we let Elano go ?

Gloryhunter123 wrote:Why the fuck did we let Elano go ?

Dont even go there! Cos he's fucking shite basically.

It's not enough.

Taking that old shower and making them a bit better is gonna cost double. sorry.

john68 wrote:Kev...NQDP,
You make the point regarding Hughes and quote Gillie. Gillie NEVER mentioned Hughes. He criticised Mancini but it was you who brought Hughes out of the cupboard.

Maybe it is you who needs a Hughes sticky. Most of the others have accepted that Hughes has gone and are merely analysing and debating the PRESENT situation.

HUGHES..[strike]IN[/strike]...[strike]OUT[/strike]...GONE....Please keep up.

Exactly how I see it John.It is possible to have an opinion about Mancini without it relating to a previous manager.

And as for Vieira looking better than Ireland as an attacking midfield player I think I was watching a different game. For that opening 10 or 15 minutes Ireland was excellent and played just as we all know he can. What happened after that I don't know. He might have got his injury early or it might have been down to the caution of the manager adapting his role as we were ahead. When Vieira came on we weren't ahead anymore so whoever it was replacing Ireland would naturally get forward more but I have to say his forays into the box and past Ade must have bypassed me. He can play a more attacking role for sure and find key passes but he won't ever be able to play it asIreland can .

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

john68 wrote:Kev...NQDP,
You make the point regarding Hughes and quote Gillie. Gillie NEVER mentioned Hughes. He criticised Mancini but it was you who brought Hughes out of the cupboard.

Maybe it is you who needs a Hughes sticky. Most of the others have accepted that Hughes has gone and are merely analysing and debating the PRESENT situation.

HUGHES..[strike]IN[/strike]...[strike]OUT[/strike]...GONE....Please keep up.

Exactly how I see it John.It is possible to have an opinion about Mancini without it relating to a previous manager.

And as for Vieira looking better than Ireland as an attacking midfield player I think I was watching a different game. For that opening 10 or 15 minutes Ireland was excellent and played just as we all know he can. What happened after that I don't know. He might have got his injury early or it might have been down to the caution of the manager adapting his role as we were ahead. When Vieira came on we weren't ahead anymore so whoever it was replacing Ireland would naturally get forward more but I have to say his forays into the box and past Ade must have bypassed me. He can play a more attacking role for sure and find key passes but he won't ever be able to play it asIreland can .

It really is laughable how we're all expected to just toe the party line & be like the wise monkeys after the crap we've had to listen to & as for the voices of reason that seem to be advocating it... well!

Anyway it was the 'what happened to Ireland' part I was refering to. He had 15 minutes then was absolutely useless creating nothing & losing challenges. I didn't notice him making great runs but I did notice him making runs into positions where he couldn't possibly have done anything with the ball apart from lose it & I noticed him stood on the edge of the opponent's box in time & space but niether creating or shooting. I don't think Vieira can do what Ireland can do but I thnk he did more than Ireland was/is actually doing & he creates problems in a simple, unfussy way like his assist for Adebayor v Bolton.

john68 wrote:Kev...NQDP,
You make the point regarding Hughes and quote Gillie. Gillie NEVER mentioned Hughes. He criticised Mancini but it was you who brought Hughes out of the cupboard.

Maybe it is you who needs a Hughes sticky. Most of the others have accepted that Hughes has gone and are merely analysing and debating the PRESENT situation.

HUGHES..[strike]IN[/strike]...[strike]OUT[/strike]...GONE....Please keep up.

I didn't direct it at Gillie but general observation. Surely you have noticed how much people still talk about him?

john@staustell wrote:

Gloryhunter123 wrote:Why the fuck did we let Elano go ?

Dont even go there! Cos he's fucking shite basically.

Elano shite ? well that basically sums up what our midfield is then because id have Elano over Barry , and Paddy .
The only person that is better or as good as Elano is Ireland and at the moment he is playing shit , So i had have Elano back in a wink.