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Ending up playing 4-4-2 with Nasri and Yaya as the two in midfield was not the sign of a manager who had been brave and/or attack minded. It was the CULMINATION of stupidity and panic.

From the moment of Ajax's 2nd goal it all went totally wrong and it was all down to the decisions taken off the field of play.

STOP F*CKING AROUND Mancini - PLEASE !

Worst manager the world has ever seen when it comes to European football. The mind boggles

Kladze wrote:Ending up playing 4-4-2 with Nasri and Yaya as the two in midfield was not the sign of a manager who had been brave and/or attack minded. It was the CULMINATION of stupidity and panic.

From the moment of Ajax's 2nd goal it all went totally wrong and it was all down to the decisions taken off the field of play.

STOP F*CKING AROUND Mancini - PLEASE !

its worse than that for me. we were never set up for this game. we gave them all the room they wanted down our left side and only changed it too late, we just sat back, when we lost the ball we just filed back into a flat midfield 4 and applied no pressue. aguero and dzeko were totally isolated and we could not keep hold of the ball.

I feel sorry for the players because some of them will get slack for not putting a shift in but if you dont work on these things in training (pressurising as a team) then you get some players that run and close down and some that drop off and the other team gets space.

Although mancini fucked up the substitutions tonight, he also fucked up the preparation for the game and tactics and its not like tonight is a one off and he can get back on track tomorrow, he has been constantly fucking up preparation, tactics and substituions

It says it all when Richards admits in the post match interview that they hadn't really practiced the formation and that they'd prefer to play 4-4-2!!!

Good to know that despite the money and recent success typical city still have the endless ability to hit the self destruct button!!!

...was that Mancini committing career suicide....?

how are we still unbeaten in the league?

halnone wrote:how are we still unbeaten in the league?

'Bad situations' seem to be handled with a degree of care and no outright panic in our league games ........... don't ask me why he does differently in European competition, it's a mystery.

Because we're playing much better oppo's

Micahs interview tonight and joe harts the other week! Says a lot.

No player is bigger than the team, but in the same way the manager is not bigger than the club. He needs to sort himself out.

And now he has just openly said he prepared badly for this game, fuck sake mancini! This is not the first time!

He has no european pedigree and looks like he might never have. It was a small concern when he joined but the prem was all I wanted. It's now a bigger concern but still not reason for outing him yet.

Saying that, I wouldn't be overly suprised if the owners weren't throwing little glances over at pep and the like.

halnone wrote:how are we still unbeaten in the league?

Because the league is not what it's hyped up to be.

Is this all Mancini's fault? Ultimately No.

From a tactical point of view, yes.

The first goal tonight was in my oppinion Nasri and Barry's fault. Nasri didn't come back quick enough, and Barry, as the ball was a leg stretch away, was too fucking lazy to make the effort. Yaya was also ambling back which didnt help

Second goal was a mixture of Yaya, Lescott and Barry (I think). The third goal off Clichy was unfortunate.

Yes Mancini can be castigated for this obsession with going three at the back, but ultimately the players are professionals and should be able to adapt quickly to changing scenarios. I mean is going three at the back really any different to making adjustments quickly when going down to 10 men on Saturday?

All players want to be at a club playing Champions league to further their international ambitions. But do ours have the appetite, zeal and tenacity to go that step further, that extra mile, into the latter stages. I sadly, think not.

Finally, and its not an excuse, this is the group of death. Did any of us really think this would be easy. If we can win our last three games, and Borussia beat Real on their patch, we go through....simple. We dug ourselves out of one trough in April and May and climbed that Mountain...maybe it can happen again.

We have zero chance of winning in Dortmund.

i believe the players aswell need to take a BIG look at themselves, did they play well NO, is that the managers fault no entireley, out on the pitch it is only upto you if you play well, the player have to look at themselves and think did i do enough and i think the answer is NO

that said the tactica when we went 2 1 behind where shocking

Manx Blue wrote:Is this all Mancini's fault? Ultimately No.

From a tactical point of view, yes.

The first goal tonight was in my oppinion Nasri and Barry's fault. Nasri didn't come back quick enough, and Barry, as the ball was a leg stretch away, was too fucking lazy to make the effort. Yaya was also ambling back which didnt help

Second goal was a mixture of Yaya, Lescott and Barry (I think). The third goal off Clichy was unfortunate.

Yes Mancini can be castigated for this obsession with going three at the back, but ultimately the players are professionals and should be able to adapt quickly to changing scenarios. I mean is going three at the back really any different to making adjustments quickly when going down to 10 men on Saturday?

All players want to be at a club playing Champions league to further their international ambitions. But do ours have the appetite, zeal and tenacity to go that step further, that extra mile, into the latter stages. I sadly, think not.

Finally, and its not an excuse, this is the group of death. Did any of us really think this would be easy. If we can win our last three games, and Borussia beat Real on their patch, we go through....simple. We dug ourselves out of one trough in April and May and climbed that Mountain...maybe it can happen again.

West Brom was a much tougher game than tonight.

The team we see in the Champion's League is not City & would not finish in the top half of the Premier League.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Manx Blue wrote:Is this all Mancini's fault? Ultimately No.

From a tactical point of view, yes.

The first goal tonight was in my oppinion Nasri and Barry's fault. Nasri didn't come back quick enough, and Barry, as the ball was a leg stretch away, was too fucking lazy to make the effort. Yaya was also ambling back which didnt help

Second goal was a mixture of Yaya, Lescott and Barry (I think). The third goal off Clichy was unfortunate.

Yes Mancini can be castigated for this obsession with going three at the back, but ultimately the players are professionals and should be able to adapt quickly to changing scenarios. I mean is going three at the back really any different to making adjustments quickly when going down to 10 men on Saturday?

All players want to be at a club playing Champions league to further their international ambitions. But do ours have the appetite, zeal and tenacity to go that step further, that extra mile, into the latter stages. I sadly, think not.

Finally, and its not an excuse, this is the group of death. Did any of us really think this would be easy. If we can win our last three games, and Borussia beat Real on their patch, we go through....simple. We dug ourselves out of one trough in April and May and climbed that Mountain...maybe it can happen again.

West Brom was a much tougher game than tonight.

The team we see in the Champion's League is not City & would not finish in the top half of the Premier League.

Players should still be able to adapt Ted....do you not agree there?

Im dissapointed beyond belief, bottom in the group. This is piss poor to be frank.

He seems very stubborn, in his football choices and as a man.

The formation thing is just another one of his things. I personally believe he wants to show the world he's a great manager and is sacrificing the performance of the team for it. Win today 3-2? Mancini the genius for switching to a new formation.

Ultimately, it comes back to bite him on the bum and he reverts to what's best for the team. A bit like when he said the two players we heavily relied on at the end of the season would "never play for City again".

I know i can name ten managers who would not lose this game tonight with team we have and that is fact not opinion.It must be said if we did not have luck in leugue score late goals we be somewhere down on the tabele he lost hes grip on team , hes lost.

Ted Hughes wrote:
West Brom was a much tougher game than tonight.

The team we see in the Champion's League is not City & would not finish in the top half of the Premier League.

But why is this so? Do we have an inferiority complex when it comes to Europe? I just can't understand why we can't or won't impose our game on teams in Europe as we do in the premiership. Ajax would do well to get on the top 10 in the premiership yet we treat them with the kind of respect you would expect us to reserve for a team like Barcelona. I just don't understand our mentality in Europe and think that we are far too negative. At 1-0 up, admittedly against the run of play, we should have pushed on and looked to increase our lead and dominate the game. Instead we retreated into our half and let Ajax dominate possession and the game and score what was from then on an inevitable equaliser

Manx Blue wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:

Manx Blue wrote:Is this all Mancini's fault? Ultimately No.

From a tactical point of view, yes.

The first goal tonight was in my oppinion Nasri and Barry's fault. Nasri didn't come back quick enough, and Barry, as the ball was a leg stretch away, was too fucking lazy to make the effort. Yaya was also ambling back which didnt help

Second goal was a mixture of Yaya, Lescott and Barry (I think). The third goal off Clichy was unfortunate.

Yes Mancini can be castigated for this obsession with going three at the back, but ultimately the players are professionals and should be able to adapt quickly to changing scenarios. I mean is going three at the back really any different to making adjustments quickly when going down to 10 men on Saturday?

All players want to be at a club playing Champions league to further their international ambitions. But do ours have the appetite, zeal and tenacity to go that step further, that extra mile, into the latter stages. I sadly, think not.

Finally, and its not an excuse, this is the group of death. Did any of us really think this would be easy. If we can win our last three games, and Borussia beat Real on their patch, we go through....simple. We dug ourselves out of one trough in April and May and climbed that Mountain...maybe it can happen again.

West Brom was a much tougher game than tonight.

The team we see in the Champion's League is not City & would not finish in the top half of the Premier League.

Players should still be able to adapt Ted....do you not agree there?

One can use a system/formation which suits the players at your disposal ... you can't force players INTO a system/formation for which they are not suited (square pegs round holes and all that).

At 1-2 tonight I didn't even see the need to make a substitution, let alone make wholesale tactical changes - we were playing well enough at that point that we could have trusted the players already out there to mount a comeback , at least for 10/15 minutes.