What would you have done?

[guv111]

Just a hypothetical question to maybe help lighten the mood after another dispiriting evening.

Given the money spent on our squad, do you think City's cash has been spent wisely? We're now in a position where we are stuck with what we've got - even Tevez - and cannot buy big due to FFP. Who would you have representing City this season? No FIFA-style easy buys, either, just realistic signings at the kind of prices we might expect to pay.

There's no doubt in my mind that Kompany, Silva and Yaya have been successes, but then it all gets a bit muddy. Aguero looks flaky in front of goal, Johnson is inept, Barry is "slow and cowardly", Nasri disappears, Savic is hopeless, the much improved Milner lacks finesse, Clichy does a job but is hardly brilliant...

Top of the league or not, there are question marks over a lot of City's players, and no one can be entirely happy with everyone. So, could we have really done much better given where we began?

[Ted Hughes]

It's partially down to who would come. You can see how a player like Sanchez would cause Everton more problems than Nasri but we couldn't quite get him so we have our alternatives. Bale would be ideal but he may get an offer from Real Madrid before too long.

Kolarov & Savic are complete waste of money even if they end up doing a job for us; we could have done better than both. Other than that I think Bob has done as well as could be expected with the players available to sign other than wasting Bellamy, who once again would have been ideal tonight & is the dream 4th striker/wide player who ticks almost every box.

Now we've seen the players over a period of time though I think we can improve on Barry, Nige, Savic, Dzeko, Lescott, Kolarov, AJ, Milner, Nasri so far as a first 11 team is concerned. I also think we will try to do exactly that with some of them in the next couple of years.

[DoomMerchant]

what would i have done? i'd have won the fuclin match. End of story.

cheers

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I think most of those players are hard done by there. Nasir is working hard to improve, cliche doing well and Barry's been good overall.

AJ has lost the plot and Tevez is one of the weirdest stories in football history.

I don't think his purchases have let him down, it's just the use of the non 1st choice players that's let him down a little.

[john68]

According to most of themedia, the more you shell out on a team means the more you must win the League. Our problem is that we obviously didn't pay as much as we could have for our players. Money - success.....who sez? most of the media and many on here.

Conversely, put 11 players in a mug, add water...hey presto...instant success....

...or even more conversely....Buy a group of players, mix them with what you have inherited, Work with them and improve them as a team. Work out where your strengths and weaknesses are and try and resolve them. Continue til you find that there are some players who can't quite cut it and given the chance, replace them. Repeat the proccess as long as necessary, probably over a number of seasons, until you are satisfied that you have the squad you want at your disposal. Continue to improve and rectify mistakes and strengthen weaknesses ad infinitum.

IMPORTANT....ignore all the gobshites in the media who want to stop this process because they are frightened to death you may finally succeed...and take no notice of the idiot fans who have listened to the media and believed the shite they spew out.

[DoomMerchant]

According to most of themedia, the more you shell out on a team means the more you must win the League. Our problem is that we obviously didn't pay as much as we could have for our players. Money - success.....who sez? most of the media and many on here.

Conversely, put 11 players in a mug, add water...hey presto...instant success....

...or even more conversely....Buy a group of players, mix them with what you have inherited, Work with them and improve them as a team. Work out where your strengths and weaknesses are and try and resolve them. Continue til you find that there are some players who can't quite cut it and given the chance, replace them. Repeat the proccess as long as necessary, probably over a number of seasons, until you are satisfied that you have the squad you want at your disposal. Continue to improve and rectify mistakes and strengthen weaknesses ad infinitum.

IMPORTANT....ignore all the gobshites in the media who want to stop this process because they are frightened to death you may finally succeed...and take no notice of the idiot fans who have listened to the media and believed the shite they spew out.

i appreciate the balanced perspective John...the day after it's worth hearing for sure.

It's a season of mediocrity at the top of the table, and i suppose i have to live with this season's results as growing pains.

cheers

[guv111]

It's partially down to who would come. You can see how a player like Sanchez would cause Everton more problems than Nasri but we couldn't quite get him so we have our alternatives. Bale would be ideal but he may get an offer from Real Madrid before too long.

Kolarov & Savic are complete waste of money even if they end up doing a job for us; we could have done better than both. Other than that I think Bob has done as well as could be expected with the players available to sign other than wasting Bellamy, who once again would have been ideal tonight & is the dream 4th striker/wide player who ticks almost every box.

Now we've seen the players over a period of time though I think we can improve on Barry, Nige, Savic, Dzeko, Lescott, Kolarov, AJ, Milner, Nasri so far as a first 11 team is concerned. I also think we will try to do exactly that with some of them in the next couple of years.

Ted, that's almost an entire team, all of whom cost us a significant amount of money. Even if we could persuade the majority (say six of the nine) to go, the payments we would receive would be far less than we paid. De Jong may end up winding his contract down, no one with money would want Savic, Dzeko would probably only interest clubs from Germany, Barry is over thirty and Lescott is thirty this year, Kolarov is even worse than Savic...

A club like Liverpool could do a great job with Johnson, and Milner and Nasri would probably command decent money, too, but if we were to have a fire sale of some sort we would be looking at declining returns.

I suppose the best thing that could come of wholesale changes would be a vast reduction in our wage bill, and with money no object as far as buying players in concerned we could step up in quality. It's a nice daydream, because at the moment I'm feeling we've been seriously shafted by both Hughes and Mancini with a significant number of their buys

[guv111]

it's just the use of the non 1st choice players that's let him down a little.

I think this is the crux of the matter. Unlike what was being said of our squad, we clearly do not have two high quality PL teams which are almost interchangeable. We have a very good first eleven, on their day, then nothing much.

Our problem is that we obviously didn't pay as much as we could have for our players. Money - success.....who sez? most of the media and many on here.

It is quite perverse. We are the richest club in the world, and yet we have balked at spending really, really big bucks on really, really big players. We've therefore ended up with some good players, but not great ones - and quite a few shite ones.

[Socrates]

Conversely, put 11 players in a mug, add water...hey presto...instant success....

You want to boil their heads?

[Crossie]

Mancini is trying to take the blame to lift it off the players, but there are only 11 people worth blaming for this result. They were all on the pitch. Not one Everton player would make it in our team, not even ahead of Kolarov.

Every City player needs to take a look at themselves and feel their balls to see whether they still have any. We got taught a lesson in TEAMWORK last night.

[lets all have a disco]

Graft,play for each other,shoot and get crosses into the box.

[john68]

Conversely, put 11 players in a mug, add water...hey presto...instant success....

You want to boil their heads?

As the final whistle blew last night Jon, boiling their heads would have been one of the kinder things I'd have done to some of them.As a sop to your humane self, may I suggest cold water....and merely drown them?

[john68]

Guv,
With respect Mate, your post reflects some of what I said earlier. 11 players + water = instant success.

The elite players demand money and the CL. Not just a CL for one season but regular CL every season. It is only last year that we qualified and only this year that we have stamped our foot down and looked like a team who could qualify regularly.

When you are competing at the very top level, the number of players that fit your bill becomes very much smaller and they can usually pick and choose where they want to play, for how much and when. We havenot yetgot anywhere near the level of the Real Madrids, the Barcas, the MIlans or Bayerns, they are above us in the pecking order. (How long for????)

That is only one reason why evolution is the way a team improves. Often far too slowly for the media hacks and over demanding (instant success) fans.

[Socrates]

Conversely, put 11 players in a mug, add water...hey presto...instant success....

You want to boil their heads?

As the final whistle blew last night Jon, boiling their heads would have been one of the kinder things I'd have done to some of them.As a sop to your humane self, may I suggest cold water....and merely drown them?

won't mix properly with cold water, let's stick to plan A

[john68]

@ Doomie,
It took a long time to get rid of the anger and disappointment of last night's debacle Mate. Worked till the early hours so had plenty of time to think about it while others were off to the land of nod.

I don't think this season is any more mediocre than any other at the top Mike, The massively successful rags have suffered many phases like this and ended top. Over the last few seasons, the Champions have often been the team that has made the least mistakes, rather than gone out and took charge of the League and it is usual that the best teams have to spend much of the season grinding out results and escaping with last minute flukey winners....Eeeeeeeeees nooormaaaaaal Mate.

We know how good we can be, the job now is for Bob and the players to achieve that level more and more often....and yes Mate, as the final whistle blew, I would have gladly boiled or drowned a few of them.

[Ted Hughes]

It's partially down to who would come. You can see how a player like Sanchez would cause Everton more problems than Nasri but we couldn't quite get him so we have our alternatives. Bale would be ideal but he may get an offer from Real Madrid before too long.

Kolarov & Savic are complete waste of money even if they end up doing a job for us; we could have done better than both. Other than that I think Bob has done as well as could be expected with the players available to sign other than wasting Bellamy, who once again would have been ideal tonight & is the dream 4th striker/wide player who ticks almost every box.

Now we've seen the players over a period of time though I think we can improve on Barry, Nige, Savic, Dzeko, Lescott, Kolarov, AJ, Milner, Nasri so far as a first 11 team is concerned. I also think we will try to do exactly that with some of them in the next couple of years.

Ted, that's almost an entire team, all of whom cost us a significant amount of money. Even if we could persuade the majority (say six of the nine) to go, the payments we would receive would be far less than we paid. De Jong may end up winding his contract down, no one with money would want Savic, Dzeko would probably only interest clubs from Germany, Barry is over thirty and Lescott is thirty this year, Kolarov is even worse than Savic...

A club like Liverpool could do a great job with Johnson, and Milner and Nasri would probably command decent money, too, but if we were to have a fire sale of some sort we would be looking at declining returns.

I suppose the best thing that could come of wholesale changes would be a vast reduction in our wage bill, and with money no object as far as buying players in concerned we could step up in quality. It's a nice daydream, because at the moment I'm feeling we've been seriously shafted by both Hughes and Mancini with a significant number of their buys

It's an evolution all the time. People slaughter Hughes for signing certain players at the time but they were what was available for where we were & he was given unlimited funds to purchase them. Most of them did what they weresupposed to. Many of those have or will be moved on whilst some have done a great job at the club & are the backbone of the team. Bob has added to that & most of his signings have done well but some of Hughes successes & Bob's successes still show weaknesses in their game when you are asking them to perform at the very top level. You don't really want Barry & DeJong for example, no matter how well they play, you want K**ne & Gerrard or Bell & Robson. You don't want Nasri, you want Zidane. You want Shearer not Dzeko, Ronaldo not AJ etc etc.

That's not to say they are poor players, just not 'A' list, Barca/ Real Madrid standard players.

One day we want 22 players most of whom are good enough to play regularly for Barca, forming our squad. Then when we swap players we are just as good, every game. If one loses form, his mate takes over & vice versa. That wins us the league regularly & also the Chump's Lg. We are not there yet & it was never possible for us to be there this quickly. It will take time.

[john68]

Ted,
I have already ordered the open top bus. When will you be available to tour the City centre on it, displaying that message to all and sundry, until it sinks in?

[ashton287]

It's an evolution all the time. People slaughter Hughes for signing certain players at the time but they were what was available for where we were & he was given unlimited funds to purchase them. Most of them did what they weresupposed to. Many of those have or will be moved on whilst some have done a great job at the club & are the backbone of the team. Bob has added to that & most of his signings have done well but some of Hughes successes & Bob's successes still show weaknesses in their game when you are asking them to perform at the very top level. You don't really want Barry & DeJong for example, no matter how well they play, you want K**ne & Gerrard or Bell & Robson. You don't want Nasri, you want Zidane. You want Shearer not Dzeko, Ronaldo not AJ etc etc.

That's not to say they are poor players, just not 'A' list, Barca/ Real Madrid standard players.

One day we want 22 players most of whom are good enough to play regularly for Barca, forming our squad. Then when we swap players we are just as good, every game. If one loses form, his mate takes over & vice versa. That wins us the league regularly & also the Chump's Lg. We are not there yet & it was never possible for us to be there this quickly. It will take time.

But can we realistically have 22 players of CL winning quality? Your talking 22 of the best players in the world. Think of the 2 best players in every position in the world and you realise it's not possible.

[Ted Hughes]

It's an evolution all the time. People slaughter Hughes for signing certain players at the time but they were what was available for where we were & he was given unlimited funds to purchase them. Most of them did what they weresupposed to. Many of those have or will be moved on whilst some have done a great job at the club & are the backbone of the team. Bob has added to that & most of his signings have done well but some of Hughes successes & Bob's successes still show weaknesses in their game when you are asking them to perform at the very top level. You don't really want Barry & DeJong for example, no matter how well they play, you want K**ne & Gerrard or Bell & Robson. You don't want Nasri, you want Zidane. You want Shearer not Dzeko, Ronaldo not AJ etc etc.

That's not to say they are poor players, just not 'A' list, Barca/ Real Madrid standard players.

One day we want 22 players most of whom are good enough to play regularly for Barca, forming our squad. Then when we swap players we are just as good, every game. If one loses form, his mate takes over & vice versa. That wins us the league regularly & also the Chump's Lg. We are not there yet & it was never possible for us to be there this quickly. It will take time.

But can we realistically have 22 players of CL winning quality? Your talking 22 of the best players in the world. Think of the 2 best players in every position in the world and you realise it's not possible.

Easily. If we had them now we would be in 4 competitions. We would need every single one of them. Most of the time several would be injured, suspended or lacking form. Very few would be short of games over a season. The reason players miss more games than others is simply because Bob doesn't trust them. We could change every single game if we had players good enough. The players who don't get picked would be sold on & replaced.

[Goataldo]

Boob job