There is a lot of discussion right now of why we are struggling to play well. Obviously i dont have any better answer than any of you.
I have an intuitive feeling that we are slowly starting to get it. By get it i mean the switch to a tactical style of set up and play.
I feel that we are all taking for granted the idea that there would not be and should not be a consequence of switching manager mid-season.
I rekon it is safe to say we would all agree that the players now under Bobby have to play with a lot more discipline in terms of their role and positioning. I rekon it would be safe to say that during the transition towards having that discipline installed as second nature, there would be a dip in each players effectiveness and therefore the team as a whole.
No-one here on the board has so far been able to pin point what exactly the problem is.. we know as the rest of the PL knows we have some very good players. We have all seen various glimpses of what they can do in an attacking sense with some truly sublime play. But it has always been like little cameos in games where the game as a whole shows us as kind of basically struggling to hold it together.
For me this shows that we are simply struggling for form. I think we know this, i think the players all know this, and there has been a sense for a while that on the day we get it right some sorry fuclers are going pay for it badly. I am simply hoping that day is at Stamford Bridge, simply because of the damage it would do and the boost we would get.
However that is just a hope and wishful thinking at best. My point here is to say that the transition to a new manager with a totally different approach was always going to involve some negative side effects if not outright pain. So the watchword for me has to be patience. I have been watching carefully to see what signs of change and improvement there have been. (particularly since the game at Goodison).
The fact that we are still in the running for a top 4 spot despite changing regime is basically a credit to the players. we have some very very good football players now at City. You could kind of estimate what sort of percentage we are off being in form.. i might go for about 10% to 15% off the boil. In other words this same set of players have another 10% in them collectively... consistently game in game out. But while they are all learning the new set up, it is more unlikely that gaining the extra fluidity will be easy.
I mentioned that stopping the Scoucers was as important if not more important than winning that game, why?, because the aim since Bob arrived has been to solidify our play.. at all costs. Mancini has inferred as much many many times. He seemed actually quite pleased with the display against Pool, citing that they had only one good chance to our two. I think that is what it is all about at present for him. I also think that we showed improvement to achieve that and perhaps most importantly that this now allows us to turn the corner.
If i try to put myself in Bobby's shoes, i would think that the efforts to change the team have just about started to work, i would want to see more of it to be sure that the discipline was second nature and the players didnt suddenly revert to what they were used to. So i would want to see another really solid performance against Stoke.. working very hard on stopping them playing their game, frustrate them and take our chances when they come.
If we can keep this mentality 100% then we can go to Chelsea knowing we are going to give them a really difficult game and them knowing it too. That is the hallmark of a top football team.
Another point to bear in mind is the idea of rythm.. phases... cycles. The successful teams at the end of this season will be the ones that can get themselves together for the run-in. Normally i think most people would agree that changing manager and playing style half way through the season is NOT a good idea in terms of getting consistency and getting a rythm together, but whatever it's done.
If you see the signs that we are improving slowly in our new approach, then the timing could be really quite good, there is just enough time to steadily improve and sure up a hold on a top 4 finish. In other words, having chopped our season in half and then having had to deal with that, we have in effect come back from a very difficult situation of adversity just in the nick of time.. and unlike our competitors who have to try and hold together what they already know, we can take advantage of only just starting to get into form.
Let me put it this way, it is a bit like going 1-0 down because your not playing well as a team. If and when you pull it together, the opposition is then at a disadvantage, because when the goal comes to level it up, they quite often have lost the momentum and cant get it back.
What i am saying is that City right now are in a great position to grab that momentum. I would like to see it slow and steady ( so we dont do a City and start bragging before we have actually achieved anything ).
There are some potentially season defining games coming up, obviously starting with Stoke, Chelsea at the Bridge, Spurs at home, Fulham away ( we really have to get that one for once ), rags at home and Arse away.
If we can stop, or get very close to stopping Chelsea, then we can go to any away ground with confidence for the rest of the season.
I know there are a lot of IF's here, but i am fairly convinced from what i have seen that this is what Mancini is trying to bring about and the next two games will define it. If we fail in these games we wont have any momentum at all and will just be another Spurs type team, if we do well then the momentum is ours and we could even go on to knock Arsenal out of 3rd.
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