Laziness/Local Pride?

[john@staustell]

I've just watched a re-run of the game and don't get where you're coming from? Stevie's sprinting back just prior to the header but the ball's passed in front of him, and let's not forget this is his first 10 minutes of football for a long time.

Shaun for me changed the game when he came on. He got past Evra a few times and got the free-kick on the edge of their box, as well as switching flanks. When the ball was lost he had just sprinted the near length of the pitch about 3 or 4 times and was still going forward from the momentum.
?

Sorry Beefy but in the time he was on the pitch several people strolled past ´Stevie` without him even breaking into a fast jog. SWP is as usual a liability except for a few flashes - you cannot keep losing the ball at this level. None of this is good enough for the top level.

I am now inclined to believe that both players were outstanding in a team full of the likes of Ball, Caicedo, Benjani and that lot, but surrounded by a team mostly capable of taking Scum to the wire, of international ´been there done it` players, they are both well out of their depth.

Which at the end of the day is why they are playing for City now, one because he wasn´t snapped up by the old ´Big 4`when we were complete shite at the end of the Sven season. And the other who went to Chelski and couldn´t cut it, so came back to a poor pennyless City side being desperately scraped together at the time by Mark Hughes.

Time to move on chaps, Mancini will know that.

[avoidconfusion]

What pissed me off most was his reaction after goal though. He didn't look arsed.

It looked to me like he was actually complaining and blaming his team mates or something.

[guv111]

Was it laziness, or had Mancini's negativity dictated to the players that they should stay back at all costs? I'm convinced that under Hughes City would have won this match extravagantly. Maybe we need two managers? Or probably just one good one.

[Ted Hughes]

What pissed me off most was his reaction after goal though. He didn't look arsed.

It looked to me like he was actually complaining and blaming his team mates or something.

He was & has been for months both attacking & defending.

[Im_Spartacus]

What pissed me off most was his reaction after goal though. He didn't look arsed.

It looked to me like he was actually complaining and blaming his team mates or something.

He was & has been for months both attacking & defending.

Looks like a player in terminal decline. I know he is only just back from injury, but there have been many times this season when he has been fit and has just allowed play to pass him by.

For those who declare that he was one of the best players in the league last year, yes he was. His transformation was incredible. However his transformation in the opposite direction now has been just as startling.

His decline has now shown him in an even worse light, because under sven we just thought we had a bit of a shit player. Now we know we have a top player, who just seemingly can't get his head around doing what the manager tells him to do. We praised him when he was doing well, its time he fucking mans up and accepts responsibility for his own performances instead of whining about former managers.

[Ted Hughes]

What pissed me off most was his reaction after goal though. He didn't look arsed.

It looked to me like he was actually complaining and blaming his team mates or something.

He was & has been for months both attacking & defending.

Looks like a player in terminal decline. I know he is only just back from injury, but there have been many times this season when he has been fit and has just allowed play to pass him by.

For those who declare that he was one of the best players in the league last year, yes he was. His transformation was incredible. However his transformation in the opposite direction now has been just as startling.

His decline has now shown him in an even worse light, because under sven we just thought we had a bit of a shit player. Now we know we have a top player, who just seemingly can't get his head around doing what the manager tells him to do. We praised him when he was doing well, its time he fucking mans up and accepts responsibility for his own performances instead of whining about former managers.

Ireland doesn't beat 6 players, or score curling free kicks, or use electric pace to burst from midfield & score, or ping vicious crosses into the box that people score from. He use flicks, nice little one two's, intelligent runs, finishes a few nice goals etc. That's not enough to be a playmaker in a top side, you need some of the other spectacular stuff too if you're going to be the focal point. He doesn't even demand the ball & take over the passing game like Eyel Berkovic used to (or Scholes did Sat).

He does however have enough talent to be a top top allround midfielder, IF you add workrate & a bit of tackling. He'd be priceless in that role. That's what he was doing, now he doesn't bother. Without that he's not good enough. As a pure playmaker, he'll never be Ronaldinho or even Elano for that matter & he doesn't have the balls to take responsibility & run the game like Scholes tries to do. He needs to adapt & work hard.

He's on the thinnest of ice at City imo.

[MaineRoadMemories]

When Bellamy got the ball on the left in the last minute and took it to the half-way line, nobody made a run for him. This resulted in him trying to play a diagonal ball across the pitch to SWP, the ball never got there and we all know what happened next.

Why wasn't Ireland bombing forward to give Bellamy an outlet? Why did SWP not try harder to get back after the ball had been intercepted?

People always talk about local lads/players who have come through the ranks understanding more about what a Derby game is all about, I didn't see much evidence of that today from the academy product subs!

It's a long time since we won a derby match, two years :-( Despite being more confident than ever before going into these matches we have not delivered since beating them at Old Trafford.

• 10 February 2008 - 2-1
• 30 November 2009 - 0-1
• 10 May 2009 - 0-2
• 20 September 2009 3-4
• 27 January 2010 3-4 agg
• 17 April 2010 0-1

Inside me thinks that this result hurt them so much (Munich Anniversary) that they play to every inch of their abilities (Neville, Giggs, Scholes etc) to get revenge in our games. Can't wait for that lot to piss off and retire with their manager as they currently have the edge over our players.

[Ted Hughes]

When Bellamy got the ball on the left in the last minute and took it to the half-way line, nobody made a run for him. This resulted in him trying to play a diagonal ball across the pitch to SWP, the ball never got there and we all know what happened next.

Why wasn't Ireland bombing forward to give Bellamy an outlet? Why did SWP not try harder to get back after the ball had been intercepted?

People always talk about local lads/players who have come through the ranks understanding more about what a Derby game is all about, I didn't see much evidence of that today from the academy product subs!

It's a long time since we won a derby match, two years :-( Despite being more confident than ever before going into these matches we have not delivered since beating them at Old Trafford.

• 10 February 2008 - 2-1
• 30 November 2009 - 0-1
• 10 May 2009 - 0-2
• 20 September 2009 3-4
• 27 January 2010 3-4 agg
• 17 April 2010 0-1

Inside me thinks that this result hurt them so much (Munich Anniversary) that they play to every inch of their abilities (Neville, Giggs, Scholes etc) to get revenge in our games. Can't wait for that lot to piss off and retire with their manager as they currently have the edge over our players.

They've been a little bit more careful against us since the 2 defeats; they used to just run at us expecting to win but now they try to keep the ball more. On Saturday though the game opened up toward the end because they had to win. That would have been our big chance but we'd taken off two of our best attackers & replaced them with lazy ineffective midfielders as well as losing our hardest grafting midfielder. I still can barely type it without shouting like I've got tourettes. It was a fucking scandal.