Questions from yesterday

[Douglas Higginbottom]

First one is why the hell am I awake at this time? Just buzzzing,can't sleep.

Thinking of that thread about Yaya ,what does he actually do? I think the answer is whatever the hell he wants.A subdued role yesterday as a central midfielder but again he was excellent.Not exactly a defensive role,not really an attacking role with surging threatening runs but a controlling role prompting the awesome attacks.

What exactly was Milner's brief. Easy to see he was on the right helping Micah quash Young's threat and Evra I guess but how come he was also setting the first goal up from the left wing? He was all over the place and just superb.

Same for Silva. Started left side and was part of telling Nani he should not have bothered coming but did such great work on the right side both in creating goals and scoring his one.Whilst I still think of Colin Bell as my all time best I watch Silva and think I really enjoy watching his skill and style as much as any other City player I have ever seen.The guy is just sublime on the ball and he works hard as well.

Are there still any fans who don't rate Gareth Barry? Another game where he didn't stand out but if you can find the time to watch him closely he is such an intelligent player.Fills holes constantly,always available,plays simple effective passes.We know in a straight race he hasnt got the pace to beat anybody so how come he almost always seems to be where he is needed.

Clichy. Considering all the high transfer values and premiuims we have had to pay ,how come we didnt for this guy? Looks a top professional and was totally in control of Nani yesterday. No real attacking from him as a result but we know he has that in him as well.

Micah.Awesome yesterday.Difficult for a little while as the scum needed Young to be a success for them to perform but he never really got the better of him and after a while itwas all about Micah going forward rather than defending.Did we see Evra attacking? I think not.

How come baconface chose that centre back pairing and left their latest world star on the bench? Ferdinad has gone,Evans never will be and clearly he thinks Jones isnt quite ready yet.Looks like he must also think that Vidic has had his day.Smalling just isn't that good when the ball isnt lumped in the air at him.

And what about that midfield pairing.Silva's boot laces has more creative quality than those two put together.Did he underestimate City completely or is he losing it.

What happened to shrek? We all know he is a good footballer but not on yesterday's performance.Where was his fighting spirit.Totally squashed along with his team.

Was Nigel originally selected and then changed due to a little niggle or were we misinformed about the team initially?I have to say I have seen him happier on the bench especially given the tonking we were handing out.

Very pleased to hear the interviews with Mancini ,Vinnie and Clichy all about it was only 3 points and keeping the feet on the floor.Quite right too but what a day,what a great day.

And then there is Mario. Not exactly starring until he stroked in that great first goal and we saw a moment of real Mario as he turned to greet the adulation and show off his T shirt. Quality and his game just grew.I loved it when he scored the 2nd and unusually ran across in delight to thank/congratulate Silva and Milner for the set up.Top moment that for me and it was a class class goal.

I am priviledged to watch City in training every week and that stuff at the end was pure training ground stuff.They often practice attacking movements against no opponents and that was just what it was for those last 3 goals.In fact maybe for the last 5 goals.How good is it to be able to say "those last 5 goals"

No special plaudits for either Vinnie or Lescott.They were just very good and hardly gave a sniff at all.A very very good defensive partnership and probably the best in the premier league.

I think I should try to get some sleep now but there is no chance.Anyway Ronnie Irani is on soon and he is bound to make me laugh.

No training today I expect but I might still go along for some exercise and see who's about

[Kladze]

That's as much your opinion as it is questions Doug, and I agree with every word of it.

Re two points in particular :

Sleep ....... I often have trouble getting to sleep/staying asleep BEFORE a derby but I've never had the same trouble AFTER one.

Balo's second goal celebration ........ was great to see. Either he suddenly became part of the team, or he always was and simply couldn't restrain himself. :-)

[Tokyo Blue]

There was a short passage of play around the 70-minute mark whch to me summed up Gareth Barry. He was challenging for the ball near their penalty area. OK, the bloke beat him fair and square and then played it forward to another of their players. However the City player coming in to challenge the recipient of the pass 40 yards further up the field was ... Gareth Barry.

Leaving the obvious gulf in talent between anderson/carrick and Milner/Barry aside, our midfield simply outworked the united midfield. Got to do this every week. Every game. To be fair they have done for the vast majority of the season so far. But the exceptions of 30 minutes at Fulham and away at Bayern have to be eliminated.

de Jong. If I were him I'd sign whatever contract City put in front of me sharpish and change agents just as fast. He is looking less and less essential as time goes by.

shrek? Who cares? Not me. But I do expect another outburst like last year's any time over the next eight weeks, which would be no bad thing for us, in my opinion.

[Dronny]

Don't know about them being questions as such Doug, just a joyous, insomnia induced blue rant.......love it!!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Don't know about them being questions as such Doug, just a joyous, insomnia induced blue rant.......love it!!

hahaha spot on.Totally knackered and off to bed again now

[shortagain]

I have a question Doug which you, being on the inside may be able to answer. Who won the pie eating contest between Tevez & Anderson (are those guys fat or what)

[spiny]

Totally concur with OP's assessment. Dougs training pitch insights always a must for me.

I too rate Barry and my one worry is lack of cover for the role he fulfils so efficiently. When he came on against Villarreal we regained shape, retained possession, were better balanced and the ball moved faster to change the game.

And the subs? Dzeko continues to score. Nasri is taking time to settle into the City style but so did Jimmy Milner and look at him now. The challenge for NDJ is to raise his game. Same for all players who want to get a game.

[s1ty m]

I think that's a great post Doug and I agree with every word of it.

Clichy at 7m looks a total steal. Milner is looking every inch the player we hoped we weere buying. Barry remains the most underestimated player, by some, in the Premier League. I thought he was quietly fantastic yesterday.

I think NDJ is our best player, well Silva obviously is, but you know what I mean. We handed out that leathering without NDJ. And Tevez. Go back a year and you would have laughed at the suggestion we could win at The Swamp without those 2, let alone 6-1. Our development and evolution is amazing. It could go all City on us and pear-shaped, but we could run away with the league as things look this morning; we look so much better than anyone else, certainly never happened like this remotely closely in my lifetime.

I've never been a great Mancini fan but I know jack shit. He's taught me that. I'll just sit back and watch him at work because his selection, etc yesterday was masterful.

[Goaters 103]

Great post Doug.

Imagine how good we could be if we actually had "team spirit" and the players didnt all hate each other, and weren't just at City "for the money" and actually really wanted to go to Utd instead!!!

Was in London yesterday for the NFL Game at Wembley and watched the match in The Green Man Pub. There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

[Mase]

There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

I got that too. Liverpool fans, Arsenal fans, Rovers fans all called me and were absolutely buzzin about it.

[brite blu sky]

Good to see some opinions Doug.. you should stay up more often, either that or City should win by .. oh hang on.

Good points as usual and tbh we all want to read as much as possible on all things City for some reason!

I am drawn to the comments on free roles for players. It has been highly interesting watching Mancini since arrival, shoring things up and never being deflected in carrying out a process. He comes across as a man with a definite plan and methods worked out to back it up. I thought last season he had a horrendous time with the strikers, injured or not performing/not carrying out instructions and as a result substantially hindering the overall aim.... which gets to the point of roles.

My take on your illumination of Bob's technique in training to position everyone.. each day every day to drill in the both the importance and the practice; read it at face value though and it might seem like tight control of the players. imo that's missing the point entirely, failing to see Mancini's methods show someone who has broken down the nature of football discipline to see what constituent parts are required to be known by the players as second nature. Not leaving that to chance but taking whatever time is necessary to instill it in the players.
Together with bringing in intelligent players, imo he has instilled the basic structure that allows a unit to operate without thinking and be in the right places. Putting that together with clever inspired footballers and then giving them the responsibility to dynamically choose how they then organise to play in any one moment results in what we are now seeing.

As players know what they have to do in responsibility terms not just for one rigid position but all the positions relative to where they are on the pitch. In other words they are trained to know what basic structure and shape is required by the manager for any game, but then are encouraged to move at will to create opportunities but super aware of what everyone is doing so that pretty much at all times the basics are covered. Barry is good at this, Milner is good at this, Balo is good at it and Yaya is good at it, Nasri should be good at it, Micah is good at it... Clichy.... etc etc and Silva.. he IS it.

Abstractly; this is a system of utter simplicity that allows for serious complexity.

I don't think as yet there are any pundits that have quite understood this but they are kind of waking up now they are actually looking at what City do. The only pundit i have heard get anywhere close was Dean? Sturridge co-commenting on the BB game, responding to the usual ' they were so defensive last season' he immediately says No, Mancini was evidently building from the back to create a solid framework, we are now seeing what that produces.

I am really seriously amazed by the lack of analysis of Bob's methods and when it dawns on all these fuckers as I have already posted before they will start to say he should be asked to manage the Engerlanders. <sigh>

As far as i am aware Cruyff installed Barca with the same kind of discipline of means to an end and ten years later Spanish football adopted it en masse in youth academies. The idea is basically the same learn to do something till it second nature then build on that. Barca are like robots, the national side less so but still with a drill so natural to them it is almost scary compared to the trad English style.
The football pundits lack of intelligence to see that there is need for an intrinsic discipline behind any creativity is mind boggling. Perhaps even though they admired Arsenal they still saw and thought that the rags 'way' was still the better, perhaps 'english style'.
But basically the UK has pretty much determinedly ignored any re-assessment of footballing basics... until the end of this season perhaps?

Can anyone really say that watching Micah hare down the wing a few years ago and then.. er look for someone to pass it to, although exciting, was better than him interchanging passes with Silva, Yaya, Milner, Balo and surging forward that way with support and the confidence that he wont be isolated or run into a dead end. It is a non argument and as you can see with Micah a player that is well capable of playing football is fucking loving it.

We will now go through a period of re-assessment of Mancini in the press and the punditry as they shed their bias and start to really observe. The really great thing in Mancini and City's favour in relation to the press and fans of other clubs is the attractiveness of the football, get that right and football fans are like putty. quite rightly too.

[Sideshow Bob]

Great post Doug.

Imagine how good we could be if we actually had "team spirit" and the players didnt all hate each other, and weren't just at City "for the money" and actually really wanted to go to Utd instead!!!

Was in London yesterday for the NFL Game at Wembley and watched the match in The Green Man Pub. There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

Same here. Even the Chelsea fans were giddy. A lot of pent up hate was released yesterday by fans of many clubs. Tbf thoug the rag fans at the pub were actually pretty gracious and well impressed with our play.

[Mike J]

i was thinking exactly the same re de jong. maybe mancini had a last minute change of heart and thought 'fuck it, lets just have a go'.

[ronk]

i was thinking exactly the same re de jong. maybe mancini had a last minute change of heart and thought 'fuck it, lets just have a go'.

He said that he wanted to play 2 forwards and if he'd played a defensive midfielder he was only going to play one forward. It was the right move, having a go at their defense was productive.

[Kladze]

Great post Doug.

Imagine how good we could be if we actually had "team spirit" and the players didnt all hate each other, and weren't just at City "for the money" and actually really wanted to go to Utd instead!!!

Was in London yesterday for the NFL Game at Wembley and watched the match in The Green Man Pub. There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

Same here. Even the Chelsea fans were giddy. A lot of pent up hate was released yesterday by fans of many clubs. Tbf thoug the rag fans at the pub were actually pretty gracious and well impressed with our play.

The rags I've met, and there's been a good few of them, have mostly been irritatingly magnanimous.

Cunts!

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Great post Doug.

Imagine how good we could be if we actually had "team spirit" and the players didnt all hate each other, and weren't just at City "for the money" and actually really wanted to go to Utd instead!!!

Was in London yesterday for the NFL Game at Wembley and watched the match in The Green Man Pub. There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

Same here. Even the Chelsea fans were giddy. A lot of pent up hate was released yesterday by fans of many clubs. Tbf thoug the rag fans at the pub were actually pretty gracious and well impressed with our play.

The rags I've met, and there's been a good few of them, have mostly been irritatingly magnanimous.

Cunts!

I know. it's weird.
Then again, I've only found one 'proper' one all day

[Kladze]

Great post Doug.

Imagine how good we could be if we actually had "team spirit" and the players didnt all hate each other, and weren't just at City "for the money" and actually really wanted to go to Utd instead!!!

Was in London yesterday for the NFL Game at Wembley and watched the match in The Green Man Pub. There were maybe 10-15 cheering for Man U, but the rest of the packed Pub were cheering wildly as each City goal went in, and from my viewpoint yesterday the neutrals and fans of other clubs loved us stuffing it to them.

Same here. Even the Chelsea fans were giddy. A lot of pent up hate was released yesterday by fans of many clubs. Tbf thoug the rag fans at the pub were actually pretty gracious and well impressed with our play.

The rags I've met, and there's been a good few of them, have mostly been irritatingly magnanimous.

Cunts!

I know. it's weird.
Then again, I've only found one 'proper' one all day

Maybe 'magnanimous' is the only tactic they have and it works.

My son has made up for it anyway - not speaking to me LOL

[Original Dub]

Good to see some opinions Doug.. you should stay up more often, either that or City should win by .. oh hang on.

Good points as usual and tbh we all want to read as much as possible on all things City for some reason!

I am drawn to the comments on free roles for players. It has been highly interesting watching Mancini since arrival, shoring things up and never being deflected in carrying out a process. He comes across as a man with a definite plan and methods worked out to back it up. I thought last season he had a horrendous time with the strikers, injured or not performing/not carrying out instructions and as a result substantially hindering the overall aim.... which gets to the point of roles.

My take on your illumination of Bob's technique in training to position everyone.. each day every day to drill in the both the importance and the practice; read it at face value though and it might seem like tight control of the players. imo that's missing the point entirely, failing to see Mancini's methods show someone who has broken down the nature of football discipline to see what constituent parts are required to be known by the players as second nature. Not leaving that to chance but taking whatever time is necessary to instill it in the players.
Together with bringing in intelligent players, imo he has instilled the basic structure that allows a unit to operate without thinking and be in the right places. Putting that together with clever inspired footballers and then giving them the responsibility to dynamically choose how they then organise to play in any one moment results in what we are now seeing.

As players know what they have to do in responsibility terms not just for one rigid position but all the positions relative to where they are on the pitch. In other words they are trained to know what basic structure and shape is required by the manager for any game, but then are encouraged to move at will to create opportunities but super aware of what everyone is doing so that pretty much at all times the basics are covered. Barry is good at this, Milner is good at this, Balo is good at it and Yaya is good at it, Nasri should be good at it, Micah is good at it... Clichy.... etc etc and Silva.. he IS it.

Abstractly; this is a system of utter simplicity that allows for serious complexity.

I don't think as yet there are any pundits that have quite understood this but they are kind of waking up now they are actually looking at what City do. The only pundit i have heard get anywhere close was Dean? Sturridge co-commenting on the BB game, responding to the usual ' they were so defensive last season' he immediately says No, Mancini was evidently building from the back to create a solid framework, we are now seeing what that produces.

I am really seriously amazed by the lack of analysis of Bob's methods and when it dawns on all these fuckers as I have already posted before they will start to say he should be asked to manage the Engerlanders.

As far as i am aware Cruyff installed Barca with the same kind of discipline of means to an end and ten years later Spanish football adopted it en masse in youth academies. The idea is basically the same learn to do something till it second nature then build on that. Barca are like robots, the national side less so but still with a drill so natural to them it is almost scary compared to the trad English style.
The football pundits lack of intelligence to see that there is need for an intrinsic discipline behind any creativity is mind boggling. Perhaps even though they admired Arsenal they still saw and thought that the rags 'way' was still the better, perhaps 'english style'.
But basically the UK has pretty much determinedly ignored any re-assessment of footballing basics... until the end of this season perhaps?

Can anyone really say that watching Micah hare down the wing a few years ago and then.. er look for someone to pass it to, although exciting, was better than him interchanging passes with Silva, Yaya, Milner, Balo and surging forward that way with support and the confidence that he wont be isolated or run into a dead end. It is a non argument and as you can see with Micah a player that is well capable of playing football is fucking loving it.

We will now go through a period of re-assessment of Mancini in the press and the punditry as they shed their bias and start to really observe. The really great thing in Mancini and City's favour in relation to the press and fans of other clubs is the attractiveness of the football, get that right and football fans are like putty. quite rightly too.

A fine essay. Now stored on my e-book :)

[gillie]

Good to see some opinions Doug.. you should stay up more often, either that or City should win by .. oh hang on.

Good points as usual and tbh we all want to read as much as possible on all things City for some reason!

I am drawn to the comments on free roles for players. It has been highly interesting watching Mancini since arrival, shoring things up and never being deflected in carrying out a process. He comes across as a man with a definite plan and methods worked out to back it up. I thought last season he had a horrendous time with the strikers, injured or not performing/not carrying out instructions and as a result substantially hindering the overall aim.... which gets to the point of roles.

My take on your illumination of Bob's technique in training to position everyone.. each day every day to drill in the both the importance and the practice; read it at face value though and it might seem like tight control of the players. imo that's missing the point entirely, failing to see Mancini's methods show someone who has broken down the nature of football discipline to see what constituent parts are required to be known by the players as second nature. Not leaving that to chance but taking whatever time is necessary to instill it in the players.
Together with bringing in intelligent players, imo he has instilled the basic structure that allows a unit to operate without thinking and be in the right places. Putting that together with clever inspired footballers and then giving them the responsibility to dynamically choose how they then organise to play in any one moment results in what we are now seeing.

As players know what they have to do in responsibility terms not just for one rigid position but all the positions relative to where they are on the pitch. In other words they are trained to know what basic structure and shape is required by the manager for any game, but then are encouraged to move at will to create opportunities but super aware of what everyone is doing so that pretty much at all times the basics are covered. Barry is good at this, Milner is good at this, Balo is good at it and Yaya is good at it, Nasri should be good at it, Micah is good at it... Clichy.... etc etc and Silva.. he IS it.

Abstractly; this is a system of utter simplicity that allows for serious complexity.

I don't think as yet there are any pundits that have quite understood this but they are kind of waking up now they are actually looking at what City do. The only pundit i have heard get anywhere close was Dean? Sturridge co-commenting on the BB game, responding to the usual ' they were so defensive last season' he immediately says No, Mancini was evidently building from the back to create a solid framework, we are now seeing what that produces.

I am really seriously amazed by the lack of analysis of Bob's methods and when it dawns on all these fuckers as I have already posted before they will start to say he should be asked to manage the Engerlanders.

As far as i am aware Cruyff installed Barca with the same kind of discipline of means to an end and ten years later Spanish football adopted it en masse in youth academies. The idea is basically the same learn to do something till it second nature then build on that. Barca are like robots, the national side less so but still with a drill so natural to them it is almost scary compared to the trad English style.
The football pundits lack of intelligence to see that there is need for an intrinsic discipline behind any creativity is mind boggling. Perhaps even though they admired Arsenal they still saw and thought that the rags 'way' was still the better, perhaps 'english style'.
But basically the UK has pretty much determinedly ignored any re-assessment of footballing basics... until the end of this season perhaps?

Can anyone really say that watching Micah hare down the wing a few years ago and then.. er look for someone to pass it to, although exciting, was better than him interchanging passes with Silva, Yaya, Milner, Balo and surging forward that way with support and the confidence that he wont be isolated or run into a dead end. It is a non argument and as you can see with Micah a player that is well capable of playing football is fucking loving it.

We will now go through a period of re-assessment of Mancini in the press and the punditry as they shed their bias and start to really observe. The really great thing in Mancini and City's favour in relation to the press and fans of other clubs is the attractiveness of the football, get that right and football fans are like putty. quite rightly too.

A fine essay. Now stored on my e-book :)

You posh fucker Ronan.

[Original Dub]

You posh fucker Ronan.

Why thank you my dear man.

We should share a glass of port and a fine cigar before we retire.

;-)