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Wanted to post after the game but held back.

I'm not looking to mindlessly slag the manager, I mean were 2nd ffs!

That said does anyone think Mancini is unnecessarily holding back sometimes? Ade and aj from the start or at least on of them would had been more positive without sacrificing all our destroyers. The counter attack tactics are perfect for the big clubs. Newcastle, Blackburn and Sunderland not so much.

To me it just seems as he's only attacking just enough to scrape the points and that won't always work. Should we be more ambitous or is he spot on as the league table suggests? Not sure what to think, not having a go, but I'm torn as were flying high whilst looking average.

I think that the table is a fair representation of how we have played...but...POTENTIALLY...and taking the Blackburn and Sunderland games into consideration, I think if we had played to our true potential, we could actually be 5pts better off and be sat right at the top.
I am happy with 2nd at the moment, it is a useiul place to be sat at this stage but feel it could be so much better.

I think he's biding his time. I think he really needs Balotelli and Kolarov for his plan to come together. I'm a believer.

There just is no pleasing some people.

If you were offered to win most games 2-1, lose less than 5 games and finish top 3, but you had to watch your team play shit week in week out would you take it?

Honest question, honest answers please.

kinkylola wrote:There just is no pleasing some people.

If you were offered to win most games 2-1, lose less than 5 games and finish top 3, but you had to watch your team play shit week in week out would you take it?

Honest question, honest answers please.

Of course we'd all take 2-1 wins all the time. But playing poorly is hardly the best way to guarantee it now is it?
We nearly cocked up against Newcastle as we did at Sunderland and at home to Blackburn. We won't keep getting away with it and if you can't see the warning signs you're a fool, which I'm sure you aren't.
These sides should be put away in the same that the top teams do season in season out if we really want to be successful. And we have the players to do it.

Over many years ive watched the rags, chelsea and others win the league, i have always loved that city try to play fast flowing attacking football but we either finish mid table or get relagated. I always see at the end of the season pundits saying the table never lies, i think yeah it does because city are a better attacking team than most of the teams in the league but looking at this season and how we are playing im starting to think yeah we have to control our game and not be so open as we have been in the past. Its strange because i always love a game to watch that is end to end, but i have faith in mancini and what i think he is trying to do.

Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:

kinkylola wrote:There just is no pleasing some people.

If you were offered to win most games 2-1, lose less than 5 games and finish top 3, but you had to watch your team play shit week in week out would you take it?

Honest question, honest answers please.

Of course we'd all take 2-1 wins all the time. But playing poorly is hardly the best way to guarantee it now is it?
We nearly cocked up against Newcastle as we did at Sunderland and at home to Blackburn. We won't keep getting away with it and if you can't see the warning signs you're a fool, which I'm sure you aren't.
These sides should be put away in the same that the top teams do season in season out if we really want to be successful. And we have the players to do it.

Obviously you have a point, playing shit isn't a good way to guarantee a win ... but if we look at arsenal, playing beautiful attacking orientated play is not a guarantee either. Which leads me to the conclusion that we need to do what works. Right now we are 2nd place, so it's working. I will be concerned if we start dropping down the table, but until we do I cannot have any legitimate gripes besides "it's not pretty enough." Mancini's plan is Mancini's plan, and that is how he thinks we have the best chance to win. I think it's great that we have defensive stability for the first time in my life as a city fan, and as long as we keep winning I will not complain.

The way I see it, Mancini has set us up defensively and put it in the hands of the attacking players to make something happen. When those players gel, I think that is the best way to play them.

On the AJ debate, I just do not feel our current team suits wingers. Tevez and Silva are far too small to handle whipped in crosses and Ade is not a good header of the ball. I hope that once super Mario is fit we will see a return of AJ, but that then means dropping 2 players to fit them both in...

sweenyuk wrote:On the AJ debate, I just do not feel our current team suits wingers. Tevez and Silva are far too small to handle whipped in crosses and Ade is not a good header of the ball. I hope that once super Mario is fit we will see a return of AJ, but that then means dropping 2 players to fit them both in...

Imo we could easily play AJ in this system. His play is hardly based on getting down to byline and whipping crosses. In fact I'd almost say it's Milner who does that the most!

Tony P wrote:I think he's biding his time. I think he really needs Balotelli and Kolarov for his plan to come together. I'm a believer.

Aye. When we see all his buys on the pitch at once and see how they're set-up, I'll reserve judgement.
Right now, I'm happy with 2nd as I think we can only improve.

kinkylola wrote:There just is no pleasing some people.

If you were offered to win most games 2-1, lose less than 5 games and finish top 3, but you had to watch your team play shit week in week out would you take it?

Honest question, honest answers please.

Honest question, did you actually read my post?

I think we're limited with the striking options we have. jo is shit and Adebayor isn't playing anywhere near his potential so we are so reliant on Tevez and that isn't an ideal situation to be in. Performances have been good but our potential is awesome.

Adebayor may not be at his best, I think that's fair comment. However he does make a difference to the threat we pose. We look like we might score when he is partnering Tevez. did we look any worse defensively for taking one of the three defensively minded midfielders off? Not in the slightest. It was better all round.

Tony P wrote:I think he's biding his time. I think he really needs Balotelli and Kolarov for his plan to come together. I'm a believer.

this is what im hoping.
i hope this 1 up front thing will change when balotelli comes in to take the pressure off tevez on his own

This is a debate without answer at the moment. Im probably coming down on the side of us all being impatient.. because we see the potential and we have been very attacking with the same players before. The difference is that we are a much more highly effective defensive unit and we needed to be to win anything.

Now we have got that ability it is surely all about developing the forward play without losing what has been developed. Im not sure what others think but i would say that isnt as easy as it sounds. Also so far we just haven't had a second striker on form, it is frustrating but it is also true. If we had had Balotelli fit and playing we may well not be having this debate and instead be talking about tweaks that are needed.

Im not saying im happy, but personally im going to wait until Adebayor, Balotelli and Silva are all fit and up to speed. Kolarov and Boateng will probably make a difference to the way Mancini can set up the midfield, especially when attacking.

It is seriously frustrating, but if we continue to grind out results at this stage while the injured return and the new players bed in then that is good enough. Even if we dont manage to start to fulfill our potential until after xmas that wont be too bad, as it will be at the right time of the year to start to get it together for a serious challenge. Teams that we have played and think they know us will be in for a shock as we will be like a different team.

Yaya, milner, silva and even barry are not defensive midfielders. At worst, they're what used to be called midfielders. None of them played well, particularly offensively, on Sunday, hence Tevez was isolated. That doesn't make it a defensive formation, just a poor performance by most of the players.

If we'd started with AJ against a not-tired defence, he may have had no impact. Who do we then bring on to change the game? Barry? De jong? For such a poor performance, i thought it was possibly mancini's most attacking subs, surrendering 2 midfielders for a winger & a forward. It could have easily cost us the game, but we got the result, so his gamble played off.

As for Sunderlad, we murdered them for 45 minutes, but poor finishing and a brilliant keeping display kept us out. Same for blackburn, with a defensive cock up thrown in. We could gave easily won both those games, but lost to spurs (bale's late chance) and chelsea (a lot of headers). That's what makes football so interesting - there's no such thing as a guaranteed 3 points for anyone

Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:Adebayor may not be at his best, I think that's fair comment. However he does make a difference to the threat we pose. We look like we might score when he is partnering Tevez. did we look any worse defensively for taking one of the three defensively minded midfielders off? Not in the slightest. It was better all round.

I agree that Ade is not at his best but he's getting there. He and Tevez looked very good together for the short time they were both on against NC.
By the way, at 1 stage we had only Nige on as DM and as you said it did not make the slightest differnce.

I think its very easy to say we have players like Tevez, Johnson, Silva, Ballotelli ect and expect us to be attacking teams like no tommorrow and scoring 3 or 4 goals every game. It's just not gonna happen, especially 6 weeks into a new team.

I think Mancini is cautious at the minute and who can blame him? He can be cautious for the first 2-3 months and get enough points on the board so that when he feels more comfortable with the players he has got (meaning they have settled and gelled as a team) we can then kick on and show our potential or he can do it from the start, get mixed results and face losing his job.

Anyone who has watched Mancini's teams in the past especially Inter will know that his teams are attacking and exciting but as with any great manager and any italian, you build from the back and that is what he is doing.

the Potential vs Performance title heading was i presume aimed at the players but it can also be aimed at Mancini. He is giving us satisfying performances at the moment with the results but it is nowhere near his potential as a manager. He's only been here for 10 months, i cannot wait to see what he produces in 2-3 years if we are paitent.

Who can blame him? Well me for a start.
We played a newly promoted team who have had an indifferent start to the season and it nearly cost us.
Ok he eventually got it right but we should never have been in that situation.
Murdered Sunderland? Well we nearly bored them to death but that's the closest we came to murder! We were awful.
People can say Yaya, Barry, Milner and Dejong aren't defensive midfielders, but it is so abundantly clear that our midfield lacks creativity as it is.

the_georgian_genius wrote:I think its very easy to say we have players like Tevez, Johnson, Silva, Ballotelli ect and expect us to be attacking teams like no tommorrow and scoring 3 or 4 goals every game. It's just not gonna happen, especially 6 weeks into a new team.

I think Mancini is cautious at the minute and who can blame him? He can be cautious for the first 2-3 months and get enough points on the board so that when he feels more comfortable with the players he has got (meaning they have settled and gelled as a team) we can then kick on and show our potential or he can do it from the start, get mixed results and face losing his job.

Anyone who has watched Mancini's teams in the past especially Inter will know that his teams are attacking and exciting but as with any great manager and any italian, you build from the back and that is what he is doing.

the Potential vs Performance title heading was i presume aimed at the players but it can also be aimed at Mancini. He is giving us satisfying performances at the moment with the results but it is nowhere near his potential as a manager. He's only been here for 10 months, i cannot wait to see what he produces in 2-3 years if we are paitent.

I do like this post very much. The only thing I would add is that we could lift our tempo in the attacking third more often.