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Mancini's selections this week provide unpalatable messages for our England quartet who yesterday found themselves on the bench and above it in the stand. His faith in the younger players was only rewarded by Micah, Boyata and Boateng both failed to rise to the occasion. Harry Hindsight would have it that the experience of Lescott & Bridge should have been preferred but in truth I think the manager picked the most likely two, although there is clearly a big problem in the absence of Kolarov & Kolo. Balotelli replacing Barry ( and the non-use of AJ) is another message in the post I think.

Another reason why Lescott should have played. Sends out quite a message to an expensive and useful player that he isn't in the frame. Some might think that's a good thing but I don't.

Boyata made a poor choice, and in the first few minutes of the game so it's a little unfair to say he failed to step up. Did Vinnie fail to step up after making a mistake and giving away the penalty? Who's to say in the remaining 85 mins that Boyata wouldn't have gone on to have a great performance? His previous performances and attitude indicate he is someone who learns from his mistakes and I don't think it will have a lasting effect on him. In the longterm I think it will actually do him some good. Boateng is still new to the Premier League and finding his feet at the club but I thought he was reasonable considering he was moved around a few times during the match. Mancini only had one tactical sub left after two injury subs, his choice was either Balotelli or AJ, by that time the game was effectively over so I support his decision to get some virgin Prem minutes into Balotelli despite wishing he had brought AJ on. It's a long season with plenty of matches and a strong squad, all our players will feature sooner or later but we might need a little patience.

No doubt at all that he has given clear messages with his decisions.The plan had been to play Boateng in the middle with Zaba at left full back. The squad would have been fully aware of that so when Zaba had to miss out he then made 2 key decisions which will undoubtedly have hit a couple of players quite hard.

The man management part of the job was and still is going to be a key part of any success and I do feel he hasn't made things easy by doing what he did on Sunday.Whether right or wrong we will never know but Mancini will have added a little to the man management issue by those decisions.

In no fooooooookin way should Bridge have been preferred to anyone mate. Wasn't too pleased to see him come in after half time, although I did understand why Mancini brought him instead of Lescott as he probably though Bridge would offer more going forward. Bridge has been complete mess eversince Terrygate and needs to find new surroundings somewhere else. Wonder if Hughes would be interested (no joke)?

Lescott? Is he the man who failed the last three games with so poor performances on left-back as on the center of defense? Yes he is! Maybe we've to blast Zab was not in squad yesterday much more than Joleon!

Not quite sure if you are saying that Micah failed to rise to the occasion on yuor post (as you say both failed to rise to the occasion when you mention 3 names) but I thought he did really well yesterday. Seems that he can do no right for some people at the moment. He did really well going forward and cant really remember anything defensively he did wrong? Was one of our better players on the day.

Bridge on the other hand isnt good enough. Never has been and never will. Weird one really as I was delighted when we signed Bridge but from day one he has gone down in my estimation so much. Shame

Lees Alter Ego wrote:Not quite sure if you are saying that Micah failed to rise to the occasion on yuor post (as you say both failed to rise to the occasion when you mention 3 names) but I thought he did really well yesterday. Seems that he can do no right for some people at the moment. He did really well going forward and cant really remember anything defensively he did wrong? Was one of our better players on the day.

Bridge on the other hand isnt good enough. Never has been and never will. Weird one really as I was delighted when we signed Bridge but from day one he has gone down in my estimation so much. Shame

the clue is in the comma

Lees Alter Ego wrote:Not quite sure if you are saying that Micah failed to rise to the occasion on yuor post (as you say both failed to rise to the occasion when you mention 3 names) but I thought he did really well yesterday. Seems that he can do no right for some people at the moment. He did really well going forward and cant really remember anything defensively he did wrong? Was one of our better players on the day.

Bridge on the other hand isnt good enough. Never has been and never will.

Weird one really as I was delighted when we signed Bridge but from day one he has gone down in my estimation so much. Shame

This

johnny crossan wrote:

Lees Alter Ego wrote:Not quite sure if you are saying that Micah failed to rise to the occasion on yuor post (as you say both failed to rise to the occasion when you mention 3 names) but I thought he did really well yesterday. Seems that he can do no right for some people at the moment. He did really well going forward and cant really remember anything defensively he did wrong? Was one of our better players on the day.

Bridge on the other hand isnt good enough. Never has been and never will. Weird one really as I was delighted when we signed Bridge but from day one he has gone down in my estimation so much. Shame

the clue is in the comma

ha just read it again and yes it makes perfect sense. I for some reason read it wrong thinking you meant Mancini rewarded young players Micah, Boateng and Boyata with a start. Thanks for the clue with the comma though. I completely agree with your post.

Putting two kids next to each other on the left side of the defence v Arsenal is a fucking joke. It's a stupid gamble that went predictably wrong & yet another example that Mancini is tinkering with team selections for God knows what reason. Everyone knows that a settled back 4 is an essential part of a winning team & if you can't have that, you get as close to it as possible. Every time he does this kind of thing, the defense is way below par & we've been fucking lucky to get away with it.

I said after the last game that if we keep making big changes to the team, especially in defence, but even more especially, in combination with other changes to personnel & formation, we would run out of luck sooner or later & pay for it.

We were all over Arsenal but twice they played the same pass between the two kids. 1st time they almost got through, the 2nd time Boyata was off. It took Arsenal less than 4 fucking minutes to spot the weakness; they probably discussed it as a possible weakness before the game. I know I fucking did.

Mancini; play the fucking strongest team that you can. Stop fucking about.

Ted Hughes wrote:Putting two kids next to each other on the left side of the defence v Arsenal is a fucking joke. It's a stupid gamble that went predictably wrong & yet another example that Mancini is tinkering with team selections for God knows what reason. Everyone knows that a settled back 4 is an essential part of a winning team & if you can't have that, you get as close to it as possible. Every time he does this kind of thing, the defense is way below par & we've been fucking lucky to get away with it.

I said after the last game that if we keep making big changes to the team, especially in defence, but even more especially, in combination with other changes to personnel & formation, we would run out of luck sooner or later & pay for it.

We were all over Arsenal but twice they played the same pass between the two kids. 1st time they almost got through, the 2nd time Boyata was off. It took Arsenal less than 4 fucking minutes to spot the weakness; they probably discussed it as a possible weakness before the game. I know I fucking did.

Mancini; play the fucking strongest team that you can. Stop fucking about.

I'm puzzled why Kompany didn't play on the left side - there was an issue about this the last time our Belgians teamed up in the middle. You are still Harry Hindsight though and I claim my prize!

Ted Hughes wrote:
We were all over Arsenal but twice they played the same pass between the two kids. 1st time they almost got through, the 2nd time Boyata was off. It took Arsenal less than 4 fucking minutes to spot the weakness; they probably discussed it as a possible weakness before the game. I know I fucking did.

that is all true Ted but do you not also think that the lads in midfield need to shoulder a portion of blame for the pressure that we were put under for both of those balls that were slotted through.

there was no real pressure on the ball in both cases and Arsenal slotted an identical (good but totally preventable) ball straight between our two defenders

Mancini; play the fucking strongest team that you can. Stop fucking about.

Starting to agree with this sentiment now - too much tinkering - surely he knows all his players now so I expect to see an end to this (apart from Europa games of course)

johnny crossan wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Putting two kids next to each other on the left side of the defence v Arsenal is a fucking joke. It's a stupid gamble that went predictably wrong & yet another example that Mancini is tinkering with team selections for God knows what reason. Everyone knows that a settled back 4 is an essential part of a winning team & if you can't have that, you get as close to it as possible. Every time he does this kind of thing, the defense is way below par & we've been fucking lucky to get away with it.

I said after the last game that if we keep making big changes to the team, especially in defence, but even more especially, in combination with other changes to personnel & formation, we would run out of luck sooner or later & pay for it.

We were all over Arsenal but twice they played the same pass between the two kids. 1st time they almost got through, the 2nd time Boyata was off. It took Arsenal less than 4 fucking minutes to spot the weakness; they probably discussed it as a possible weakness before the game. I know I fucking did.

Mancini; play the fucking strongest team that you can. Stop fucking about.

I'm puzzled why Kompany didn't play on the left side - there was an issue about this the last time our Belgians teamed up in the middle. You are still Harry Hindsight though and I claim my prize!

If I could be arsed finding my posts on Mancini's selections for the Blackpool game when everyone was having a Mancini wankfest about what I saw as a complete gamble & requested that he stops fucking the defence about, you'll find hidsight has nothing to do with it.

ant london wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:
We were all over Arsenal but twice they played the same pass between the two kids. 1st time they almost got through, the 2nd time Boyata was off. It took Arsenal less than 4 fucking minutes to spot the weakness; they probably discussed it as a possible weakness before the game. I know I fucking did.

that is all true Ted but do you not also think that the lads in midfield need to shoulder a portion of blame for the pressure that we were put under for both of those balls that were slotted through.

there was no real pressure on the ball in both cases and Arsenal slotted an identical (good but totally preventable) ball straight between our two defenders

Oh it's by no means just the fault of Boyata etc but you're not going to get 100% midfield cover v Arsenal imo. The defence will have to work at times. The defensive line was all to shit & imo Boateng wasn't close enough, hence the gap. Boateng was a disaster defensively & shouldn't be playing v Teams like Arsenal. He's all over the place & had a hand in all 3 goals. He didn't react to Barry's ineptitude at LB & spot the danger, he didn't react to Bridge's bad control & jump in to save the situataion (like lumpo Dunne would have) & he was absolutely fucking hopeless beyond reason for the 3rd.

He's a great talent but he's absolutely nowhere near it defensively atm. He needs time. Playing him & Boyata together was ridiculous. Kolarov may need time too & also Balotelli. I said this last week. Too much change too soon will fuck us up.

If but maybe,

At the end of the day Boyatta was a Gnats cock away from turning that pen into a fucking first class tackle, the Arsenal player JUST nipped a touch on the ball, a touch that would very likely have ended the ball up in Harts hands.

Those are the margins we are talking about, gnats cocks.

Crossie wrote:If but maybe,

At the end of the day Boyatta was a Gnats cock away from turning that pen into a fucking first class tackle, the Arsenal player JUST nipped a touch on the ball, a touch that would very likely have ended the ball up in Harts hands.

Those are the margins we are talking about, gnats cocks.

True but there were quite a few elephant dicks in the rest of the game which were excused because we had 10 men. Boateng was involved in most of them, including the one where he took a dive in our penalty area hoping Cuntenburg would give him a free kick rather than stay on his feet & deal with the danger. The pairing of him & Boyata on the left was a disaster waiting to happen.

Did the team selection yesterday work?

Ted Hughes wrote:Putting two kids next to each other on the left side of the defence v Arsenal is a fucking joke. It's a stupid gamble that went predictably wrong & yet another example that Mancini is tinkering with team selections for God knows what reason. Everyone knows that a settled back 4 is an essential part of a winning team & if you can't have that, you get as close to it as possible.

I would suggest his preferred back 4 would be Kolarov Kompany Toure Boateng. Not once has he had chance to play that. At right back, zab, Richards and Boateng have all had injuries. For left back, Kolarov, Bridge, Boateng and zab have all had injuries, often at the same time.

He could have played Lescott at left back yesterday, but I suspect that would have been even worse, as he's not mobile enough to be full back. If we were playing Stoke, we'd get away with it, but not against Arsenal. With zab injured, his choices were Boateng, who played there in the world cup for Germany or Bridge, who is possibly the worst full back (defensively) in the league. I'd suggest he therefore made the only real choice available.

Maybe he should have played Kompany to the left of Boyata, but we didn't get chance to see how that would have actually panned out.

As for the messages this sends out, I'd go for:

Bridge isn't good enough
Lescott isn't as good as Boyata

It's only my opinion, but I'm in total agreement with him. The fact that we spent about £36m on Bridge and Lescott isn't really Mancini's problem. If they're upset about being left out, I suggest they pull their fingers out or cry into their enormous pay packets. Can't imagine Bridge is too concerned though, as he was happiest at Chelsea keeping the bench warm.