3-0 yes but we were crap.

[Original Dub]

and different budgets....we should have no excuses to dish out dire performances.

If Mancini had spent £200m on on the players we have now then i would agree, but seeing as he has only brought in a 34 year old vertran on a free then the above statement from yourself is not fair on Mancini.

You seem to be a HUGE Mancini fan and that's fair enough. You must have been like I'd have been if we'd gotten Wenger after Hughes got the bullet....

So Ibra thinks Mancini prefers to play the game the way it should be? Well, he didn't have an awful lot to do from an attacking element when he came to us. He had to tweak/try to shore up a leaky defence that had been just put together a couple of months earlier and IMO that was all. We already had a team built for the way football should be played and he had a window to try and instill confidence in our midfield and/or defence and he signed Vieira. Bad move.

The thing is, no matter how anyone tries to dress it up, he has stifled our attack and made us look more of a negative team. A team that IMO has not performed and won convincingly since the Wolves game.

I don't mind if it takes us to fourth, but I don't feel confident going INTO each game. Do you? Honestly?

[DoomMerchant]

and different budgets....we should have no excuses to dish out dire performances.

If Mancini had spent £200m on on the players we have now then i would agree, but seeing as he has only brought in a 34 year old vertran on a free then the above statement from yourself is not fair on Mancini.

You seem to be a HUGE Mancini fan and that's fair enough. You must have been like I'd have been if we'd gotten Wenger after Hughes got the bullet....

So Ibra thinks Mancini prefers to play the game the way it should be? Well, he didn't have an awful lot to do from an attacking element when he came to us. He had to tweak/try to shore up a leaky defence that had been just put together a couple of months earlier and IMO that was all. We already had a team built for the way football should be played and he had a window to try and instill confidence in our midfield and/or defence and he signed Vieira. Bad move.

The thing is, no matter how anyone tries to dress it up, he has stifled our attack and made us look more of a negative team. A team that IMO has not performed and won convincingly since the Wolves game.

I don't mind if it takes us to fourth, but I don't feel confident going INTO each game. Do you? Honestly?

i'm shitting it everytime a team gets into our half...it's fucking edgy. Totally edgy. And yet we've conceded fewer goals. It just seems like it's so hard for us to score that 1 goal can kill us off. Under Hughes i honestly was confident even if we were down 2 that we had what it took to make a match of it. Not so under Mancini...results are results tho, so if he nicks fourth how could i complain? I'm just hopeful no matter where we end up he makes some shrewd midfield purchases to unlock some of the striking potential we have...and shores up the defense a bit on the flanks as well.

Same old shit really, isn't it?

cheers

[brite blu sky]

I'm reading this and wondering why is it down to either entertainment or resluts? Surely it's a mix of both?

If you don't entertain, it makes Jack a Boring supporter; if you don't win, then it makes Jack and Angry and Bitter supporter. Surely it's a blend of all things that will bring in the crowds. Tactics, skills, team performance, individual performances, goals and winning will keep us all interested one way or another, but take each one individually, then you're doomed to fail.

if you are going to be seriously sensible and put it like that Beefy, then im going to throw a spanner in the works and also say that a certain amount of unpredictability is also good. Sounds a bit crazy but looking at the pretty but predictable football of Arsenal and yes Barca starts to get.. well just that.. too predictable.. and football games lose some of the gloss. ( although i think having said that it is mainly so called neutrals who feel that ).

the best ever games are simply unpredicatable.. like the derby at the swamp.. and is why even with a stupid harsh loss we all felt strangely happy

[btajim]

and different budgets....we should have no excuses to dish out dire performances.

If Mancini had spent £200m on on the players we have now then i would agree, but seeing as he has only brought in a 34 year old vertran on a free then the above statement from yourself is not fair on Mancini.

Mancini must have walked in to one of the best Squads in English Football.

And he ONLY brought in a 34 year old veteran? ONLY? Who's wearing Number 11 now?

p.s. This message was brought to you on behalf of all Manchester City Fans.

[the_georgian_genius]

and different budgets....we should have no excuses to dish out dire performances.

If Mancini had spent £200m on on the players we have now then i would agree, but seeing as he has only brought in a 34 year old vertran on a free then the above statement from yourself is not fair on Mancini.

You seem to be a HUGE Mancini fan and that's fair enough. You must have been like I'd have been if we'd gotten Wenger after Hughes got the bullet....

So Ibra thinks Mancini prefers to play the game the way it should be? Well, he didn't have an awful lot to do from an attacking element when he came to us. He had to tweak/try to shore up a leaky defence that had been just put together a couple of months earlier and IMO that was all. We already had a team built for the way football should be played and he had a window to try and instill confidence in our midfield and/or defence and he signed Vieira. Bad move.

The thing is, no matter how anyone tries to dress it up, he has stifled our attack and made us look more of a negative team. A team that IMO has not performed and won convincingly since the Wolves game.

I don't mind if it takes us to fourth, but I don't feel confident going INTO each game. Do you? Honestly?

I wouldn't say i was a HUGE Mancini fan because there hasn't been enough time for him to show me what he can do, what he has done so far has been a reasonable job when you look at the bigger picture and not just how we play each game.

Who else could we have signed in January? We were close to signing a decent midfielder in Mariga but David Pleat, Dave Bassett and the goverment fucked that up.

To be honest i've not felt confident going into any game this season under Hughes or Mancini for the simple fact that it's still a new inconsistent side that is far away from being a successful one and by successul i mean winning continuous silverware and not just doing a Portsmouth 2008 FA Cup and i don't know which side is turning up. I'm shitting it going to Burnely on Saturday, purely for the fact that we still have that typical city tag hanging round us and if they get fired up and get at us we could go a goal down and then be chasing the game for the remainder of the match.

I think fans are taking the easy option and just looking at what happens in the 90 mins on the pitch and not the bigger picture, comments such as "what was he thinking playing Vieria" without realising that that was all we had available, yes we had Barry on the bench but he was in dire need of a rest which resulted in him being out of form for many weeks and Wigan at home was an ideal oppourtunity to give him a rest for the all important tough away games we have coming up.

Comments such as "he's negative, we don't play entertaining football" as if we've just got rid of Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger as a management team.

I could almost guarantee what Mancini's philosphy is and has been since he came here. To qualify for the champions league at all costs, at the cost of playing entertaining football, at the cost of going all out and battering sides, for the simple fact that he will then have a contract, a summer, a pre-season and the one and only transfer window where good players move so he can express his managerial abilities on the squad.

It is something i have told myself to put up with and others should take note of it aswell, if we are sitting here in a years time saying the same stuff then i will hold my hands up, just like i did when me and NQDP had heated discussions over Hughes where i criticised him for wanting rid after so little time and that we needed to give him time to prove he could do it, only this time i have confidence in being right with my opinions.

[the_georgian_genius]

and different budgets....we should have no excuses to dish out dire performances.

If Mancini had spent £200m on on the players we have now then i would agree, but seeing as he has only brought in a 34 year old vertran on a free then the above statement from yourself is not fair on Mancini.

Mancini must have walked in to one of the best Squads in English Football.

And he ONLY brought in a 34 year old veteran? ONLY? Who's wearing Number 11 now?

p.s. This message was brought to you on behalf of all Manchester City Fans.

Yeah the 5th best squad in English football and where are we are the moment?

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

[btajim]

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

So Mancini is a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him? i.e. Let's sign this Lad! This would end in tears if we had a true Manager. I hate the concept of a Technical Director within English Football.

I bet you swagger around Manchester with one of those scarves wrapped round your neck.

[the_georgian_genius]

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

So Mancini is a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him? i.e. Let's sign this Lad! This would end in tears if we had a true Manager. I hate the concept of a Technical Director within English Football.

I bet you swagger around Manchester with one of those scarves wrapped round your neck.

PMSL, Oh Jimmy boy, listen if you want to have a go at me and belittle me then at least be decent at it.

Mancini isn't a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him, he recommended him to Mancini and Mancini gave the club the ok to sign him after breifly seeing him against us in the cup and on a few DVD's. You really think Mancini in less than a month in English football had already scouted the lower leagues :D

[mr_nool]

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

So Mancini is a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him? i.e. Let's sign this Lad! This would end in tears if we had a true Manager. I hate the concept of a Technical Director within English Football.

I bet you swagger around Manchester with one of those scarves wrapped round your neck.

I think it's a fair assumption that someone other than Mancini was the one pulling the string in the Johnson deal. Mancini was new in the country and I don't think he had scouted the English second division very thoroughly before moving here. Thus, a good word/a strong recommendation from someone like Marwood, paired with what Mancini himself saw in the cup game was probably all it took to convince him to nod his head. That doesn't make him a nodding dog, though.

Edit: Late ...

[walmai]

3-0 and you're having a pop.

Crap? I shit it.

[Burt]

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

So Mancini is a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him? i.e. Let's sign this Lad! This would end in tears if we had a true Manager. I hate the concept of a Technical Director within English Football.

I bet you swagger around Manchester with one of those scarves wrapped round your neck.

I think it's a fair assumption that someone other than Mancini was the one pulling the string in the Johnson deal. Mancini was new in the country and I don't think he had scouted the English second division very thoroughly before moving here. Thus, a good word/a strong recommendation from someone like Marwood, paired with what Mancini himself saw in the cup game was probably all it took to convince him to nod his head. That doesn't make him a nodding dog, though.

Edit: Late ...

I'm not quite with your reasoning on this mate. Bobby would ave been privvy to loadsa potential players to sign and he duly gave his approval to signing Jinky cos he saw a decent player. Are you implying that if Bobby didn't want to sign him then we would ave anyway? If so IMO you underestimate his authority and integrity. I think that he would just walk if someone like Marwood was given authority to sign players over his head and without his say so.

[zuricity]

After 31 games last season in the PL City had scored 45 goals.

After 31 games so far this season City have scored 58 goals. It would appear we are more attack minded this season.


This season after the number of games compared to last season, under Hughes when he was sacked (Sunderland game)

City had played 17 games scoring a total of 33 goals.

Last season after 17 games City had scored 30 goals. So we appear to be more attack minded than last season ( still under Hughes). Mind you, last seasons first 17 includes the Pompay 6-0 rout.

If we take the last 14 games of Hughes reign compared to Mancinis 14 games so far in the PL .

Hughes last 14 games total is 29. His first 14 games this season would be 26 goals.

Under Mancini's first 14 games City have produced 25 goals.

So under Mancini, there really isn't much difference at all in our attacking play, certainly as far as goals are concerned.


As far as the 'crap' bit is concerned.

It wasn't very attractive in the first half. Just like Fergie and other managers, Mancini opted for a bit of squad rotation.

When Mancini does it it's tinkering, when Fergi(t) does it it's squad rotation !

We've all referred to the tinkerman syndrome, but he hasn't tinkered with the team any more than Hughes did ( whether through injury or poor performances) or any other manager in the league, they all do it.

If the goalies' face and neck hadn't stopped Teves early chance, who knows what might have happened last night in the first half ?

It's easy for us to criticise when we don't get the result, but we DID get three points. Sometimes we just need to leave it at that and bask in the joys of the victory.

The game is played over 90 minutes, there will always be highs and lows in the game. It's not possible for two teams to play

high pressure football, end to end stuff for 90 minutes.

Wigan had a couple of good chances and they didn't come off. It doesn't make it a crap game .

City had four cast iron penalties not given. Three hand balls and a foul. any one of those being given and scored would have
opened the game up AND that was before the sending off !

[mr_nool]

Brian Marwood brought Adam Johnson in.

So Mancini is a nodding dog to everything that Brian Marwood tells him? i.e. Let's sign this Lad! This would end in tears if we had a true Manager. I hate the concept of a Technical Director within English Football.

I bet you swagger around Manchester with one of those scarves wrapped round your neck.

I think it's a fair assumption that someone other than Mancini was the one pulling the string in the Johnson deal. Mancini was new in the country and I don't think he had scouted the English second division very thoroughly before moving here. Thus, a good word/a strong recommendation from someone like Marwood, paired with what Mancini himself saw in the cup game was probably all it took to convince him to nod his head. That doesn't make him a nodding dog, though.

Edit: Late ...

I'm not quite with your reasoning on this mate. Bobby would ave been privvy to loadsa potential players to sign and he duly gave his approval to signing Jinky cos he saw a decent player. Are you implying that if Bobby didn't want to sign him then we would ave anyway? If so IMO you underestimate his authority and integrity. I think that he would just walk if someone like Marwood was given authority to sign players over his head and without his say so.

I'm not saying that at all - or at least I'm not trying to say that ;-)

I don't think Mancini is a nodding dog, but I also don't think that he was the driving force behind the signing. Put it like this: I doubt that Manicini himself would've come up with the idea of signing Johnson, especially since he - despite having made a great impact already - is one for the future. I'm sure that Mancini gave his approval, though, and I thought I made that pretty clear. Would Johnson have been signed without Mancini's approval? I doubt it, but maybe if it was officially and exclusively a signing for the future and there was no pressure on him to play the kid.

[btajim]

I think it's a fair assumption that someone other than Mancini was the one pulling the string in the Johnson deal. Mancini was new in the country and I don't think he had scouted the English second division very thoroughly before moving here. Thus, a good word/a strong recommendation from someone like Marwood, paired with what Mancini himself saw in the cup game was probably all it took to convince him to nod his head. That doesn't make him a nodding dog, though.

Edit: Late ...

I'm not quite with your reasoning on this mate. Bobby would ave been privvy to loadsa potential players to sign and he duly gave his approval to signing Jinky cos he saw a decent player. Are you implying that if Bobby didn't want to sign him then we would ave anyway? If so IMO you underestimate his authority and integrity. I think that he would just walk if someone like Marwood was given authority to sign players over his head and without his say so.

Not so. A Technical Director is a very established system in Italy and Mancini won't even think about having shared responsbility for signings. Hughes rightly didn't want Marwood coming in above him - so he and his Nike Pal Cook got together and forced him out before replacing him with someone who does what he's told.

I just want a Manager who is in control of what he does and answers to nobody. Perhaps take a look at the examples in this Country where is has worked...

[Beefymcfc]

I'm reading this and wondering why is it down to either entertainment or resluts? Surely it's a mix of both?

If you don't entertain, it makes Jack a Boring supporter; if you don't win, then it makes Jack and Angry and Bitter supporter. Surely it's a blend of all things that will bring in the crowds. Tactics, skills, team performance, individual performances, goals and winning will keep us all interested one way or another, but take each one individually, then you're doomed to fail.

if you are going to be seriously sensible and put it like that Beefy, then im going to throw a spanner in the works and also say that a certain amount of unpredictability is also good. Sounds a bit crazy but looking at the pretty but predictable football of Arsenal and yes Barca starts to get.. well just that.. too predictable.. and football games lose some of the gloss. ( although i think having said that it is mainly so called neutrals who feel that ).

the best ever games are simply unpredicatable.. like the derby at the swamp.. and is why even with a stupid harsh loss we all felt strangely happy

I like your gib man, and you are very correct, unpredictability makes for a great and intense atmosphere such as Derby days. However, those unpredictable days shouldn't be a weekly event and we should feel that in the main, we can win the game. You've gotta remember, like many on here, we've supported City through thin and thin, stood on terraces and sat in the seats at Maine Road knowing that whatever the score, whatever the way we played, we'd still be there next week, next season and until 'Death do us part'. Unpredictability is a big part of the 'Typical City' tag, and I for one would not change that for the world. I love this Rollercoaster, and the day my ticket expires will be when I feel the Gods have given me my equal share of everything football. Looks like I'm in for another very unpredictable but very exciting 40 years.

BRING IT ON!!!

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

3-0 and you're having a pop.

Crap? I shit it.

I know this makes us look like spoiled kids in front of supporters of most other clubs.

[Beefymcfc]

3-0 and you're having a pop.

Crap? I shit it.

I know this makes us look like spoiled kids in front of supporters of most other clubs.

Not really mate, it shows that there is still a Hughes rift going on. That much resentment cannot be ironed out overnight.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

3-0 and you're having a pop.

Crap? I shit it.

I know this makes us look like spoiled kids in front of supporters of most other clubs.

Not really mate, it shows that there is still a Hughes rift going on. That much resentment cannot be ironed out overnight.

sorry but I don't really understand. What has reacting negatively to a win has got to do with Hughes? Or am I missing something?

[zuricity]

3-0 and you're having a pop.

Crap? I shit it.

I know this makes us look like spoiled kids in front of supporters of most other clubs.

Not really mate, it shows that there is still a Hughes rift going on. That much resentment cannot be ironed out overnight.

Huge doesn't have the extra 'h' and 's'' in it.

I honestly don't think we are playing crap football. sometimes the team don't play too well, but on the whole , even under Hughes the football hasn't been poor. We are in fifth position and controlling our destiny ( fourth position). Not to bad and the season is dead yet.

[Patrick]

I have to agree that crossan is a cunt but that is my view of his " Christian" hypocrasy more than anything else

unfortunately I have to agree with the cunt that actually we don't play football as well as scum arse or Chelsea and don't really look like a top 4 side

truth is I wish we were doing what the spuds are doing - tevez aside we are mid table at best