Laughing Stock

[zuricity]

we can only sit and watch what happens.

Or not in your case.

I can't comment on the game, I didn't see it.

Well mate, i wasn't commenting on the game . So get real

I'm talking about the rest of the season, so don't be a smart ass for no reason. Neither CARL or myself can predict what is going to happen.

Can you ? No. I thought so....

[Ted Hughes]

The most likely reason City might be considered a laughing stock could be down to the mixture of the immediate expectations we are perceived to have and the reactions of the fans when we fall over in a game like this.

We knew we were not going to win the league this year or even challenge for it but somehow the expectations grew and before you know it we lose a match or draw a few too many and a sense of panic comes in.It was inevitable that these things would happen and at times against teams that we really should beat.It was exactly at those times where we needed to be strong , accept it , learn from it and move onto the next one and do better.
By we I am talking about the club owners,management, players fans the whole lot. Rightly or wrongly the perception was there under Hughes that it wasn't going right quickly enough. No doubt there were a few really poor results in the home draws against weak sides but overall we were in a decent position.IT was a project wasn't it and it would take a few years wouldn't it?


Whatever , we changed manager and lo and behold after a few good early results ( just like we had at the beginning of the season) we have started to lose our way a bit. Granted the quality of the football has turned pretty bad as well but aren't we just falling into the same trap again. By we this time I am referring to the fans. Do we really want to change the manager already? Surely we have to accept nothing special is going to happen this year and just build on the excellent foundations we have?

There is no point in wild accusations that the players don't care or aren't trying and all sorts of OTT reactions just because we lose a game. Course it's not good enough and the next few games could be very painful unless we put in some great performances which don't look likely but is a new manager a guarantee of the success?

I just want football Doug.

[DoomMerchant]

we can only sit and watch what happens.

Or not in your case.

I can't comment on the game, I didn't see it.

classically rendered.

why your presence here matters to me really. thanks for that.

cheers

[Sheikhermaker]

As mentioned in an earlier post, if we make 4th then all is good in the eyes of the board and we get an opportunity to qualify for the CL. Cool. But if we are boring as f**k and sending speccies to sleep then its not all good.

If Mancini does get the opportunity to stay, regardless of our present thoughts, do people think Mancini could buy players who would play for him, or do you think it is a motivational issue?

Not a rhetorical question, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

[zuricity]

Can I remind people we are 5th in the table with a game in hand of the team in 4th.

If we finish 4th in the table at the end of the season it is "job done" by Mancini and his contract will get renewed. Simple as.

And will all the people saying he is shit be back on here to wipe the egg off their face ??? I bet not.

If we get 4th then I will be happy to hold my hands up and say he got the job done. But can you really see us getting 4th playing like this?

I think this is the only view we can take, and it's big of you to admit it. Because it might not be pretty getting there, but if we get top 4 then the result would be everything. The club would take off bigtime. Then the fun can start. Personally I don't give a toss if we bore our way to 4th. It's only 12 games. If it is dross to watch I don't a shit now. If he fails to get 4th he can pack his bags. Those are the stakes and he knew what he was taking on.

I firmly agree with that sentiment. It's an uphill battle, You've got the FA against us, referees making very strange decisions. (adebayor , nothing more than a yellow card, he wasbeing a little bit cheeky, but the ref's decision was preposterous).

We have to aim to win as manyas possible for a fourth , and depending on what happens with Arsenal a third position.

No game against PL opposition is 'easy'.

I hate to bring a dose of realism to the proceedings but look at the teams we've played recently, look at the teams we've beaten & how we performed in those games, look at the teams we've struggled against, look at the teams we've lost to, look at the fixtures we have coming up, look at how many teams are after top 6 & look at Everton's position & compare their current performances to ours.

If we don't improve very quickly we won't make the top 7. However anyone tries to be reasonable or objective & believe me I've tried, on the whole, in most games, WE ARE FUCKING SHITE.

I see what you are saying Ted, I'm just looking at it , one game at a time. The next game for us is Chelsea and they are probably not feeling too good either. The week after we've got a rest because Tottenham are in the cup. So just maybe we lick our wounds and come out of this week with a point against Chelsea and things might not be too bad. It will give the manager time to work with the players in training. These postponed games are at home too !

[DoomMerchant]

i felt so proud of this team in September. Now, i feel like we are truly a laughing stock.

We need to get it sorted, and unfortunately Cooke/Marwood/Mancini/Kidd are not the crew to sort it imho. Big changes his summer for some seasoned football execs and a proven PL winner have to be in the cards.

i love all of you City fans. Except Vhero.

That's all.

cheers

[BobKowalski]

OK I'll join but there is no point in going OTT after a result that frankly isn't the greatest surprise. And before anyone has a go yes i am totally gutted but what I want to hear thoughts on is the comment made on this thread which I seem to hear a lot of , namely:
" they do not play like they want to win it! Stoke outplayed us for most of that game, because THEY WANT TO WIN!"

Now forget the fact that I don't agree that Stoke outplayed us but the idea that we don't want to win the game baffles me! How can you tell that? What is it that suggests we don't want to win this game or any game?

Half-time I switched on 5Live they said we'd dominated the 1st half and should have been infront, maybe it's just too personal for us to be objective?

Yeah 1st half we should have put our chances away. We didn't and paid the price. I am not convinced by the lack of determination argument or that we didn't want to win. We should have won at home. We should have taken our chances in the first half. Not doing so cost us the tie. Ade getting sent off didn't help but personally the blame lies more with the team/management for not killing them off when we should have and got dicked as a consequence.

As to laughing stock. Well yeah the world wants to laugh at us and unless we win everything in sight every misstep is treated like its the end of the world. Wolves did the double over Spurs and no one really bats an eyelid but then our profile is higher so its to be expected. Mancini will get slaughted in the press and Harry is well good old 'arry.

Mancini was always destined to get ripped unless he transformed everything to a positive overnight and didn't drop any bollocks on the way. But then he's the man in charge so it goes with the territory. People are seemingly less willing to give him any leeway or time - "right you are meant to be better than Hughes so you had better be or else sunshine" is the default position so every comment, every move is subject to scrutiny and analysed to death usually with a hint of hysteria :)

Its going to be interesting how it plays out

[zuricity]

we can only sit and watch what happens.

Or not in your case.

I can't comment on the game, I didn't see it.

classically rendered.

why your presence here matters to me really. thanks for that.

cheers

Not classic actually but doing what politicians do . 'Sound bites'

[BobKowalski]

i felt so proud of this team in September. Now, i feel like we are truly a laughing stock.

We need to get it sorted, and unfortunately Cooke/Marwood/Mancini/Kidd are not the crew to sort it imho. Big changes his summer for some seasoned football execs and a proven PL winner have to be in the cards.

i love all of you City fans. Except Vhero.

That's all.

cheers

What happened in September?

[Dunne's Half-Time Pint]

we can only sit and watch what happens.

Or not in your case.

I can't comment on the game, I didn't see it.

classically rendered.

why your presence here matters to me really. thanks for that.

cheers

Not classic actually but doing what politicians do . 'Sound bites'

They're quotations actually. Soundbites involve sound.

[Mike J]

mancini - 'it was our best performance against stoke in all 3 games'

fucking hell :(

[Douglas Higginbottom]

The most likely reason City might be considered a laughing stock could be down to the mixture of the immediate expectations we are perceived to have and the reactions of the fans when we fall over in a game like this.

We knew we were not going to win the league this year or even challenge for it but somehow the expectations grew and before you know it we lose a match or draw a few too many and a sense of panic comes in.It was inevitable that these things would happen and at times against teams that we really should beat.It was exactly at those times where we needed to be strong , accept it , learn from it and move onto the next one and do better.
By we I am talking about the club owners,management, players fans the whole lot. Rightly or wrongly the perception was there under Hughes that it wasn't going right quickly enough. No doubt there were a few really poor results in the home draws against weak sides but overall we were in a decent position.IT was a project wasn't it and it would take a few years wouldn't it?


Whatever , we changed manager and lo and behold after a few good early results ( just like we had at the beginning of the season) we have started to lose our way a bit. Granted the quality of the football has turned pretty bad as well but aren't we just falling into the same trap again. By we this time I am referring to the fans. Do we really want to change the manager already? Surely we have to accept nothing special is going to happen this year and just build on the excellent foundations we have?

There is no point in wild accusations that the players don't care or aren't trying and all sorts of OTT reactions just because we lose a game. Course it's not good enough and the next few games could be very painful unless we put in some great performances which don't look likely but is a new manager a guarantee of the success?

I just want football Doug.

I know what you mean Ted and there is no doubt that if we are going to "fail" I would like to do it playing decent football. Tonight for a while we saw that it is possible to play quite well and half decent football without many really natural attacking players and even one of the ones we had ( at least one) wasn't actually playing that well. I thought there seemed to be an attitude out there that was positive , quite aggressive and we were going to win. Trouble is we missed the chances that would probably have won us the game.

Then what happened was all too familiar , we started making mistakes. Although their first goal was a good move it did need Bridge to just get it wrong and be on the wrong side. We recovered from that but then Shay makes a big cock up and we are down again and thhe last one was just error after error.

Make those sort of mistakes and you lose matches. Most of the draws we had in a row were more down to silly mistakes than over attacking or tactical things. Bad mistakes cost goals and we keep finding out the hard way.

Did I really hear Mancini after the match saying he was happy with the effort and performance? Now that worries me.

[zuricity]

we can only sit and watch what happens.

Or not in your case.

I can't comment on the game, I didn't see it.

classically rendered.

why your presence here matters to me really. thanks for that.

cheers

Not classic actually but doing what politicians do . 'Sound bites'

They're quotations actually. Soundbites involve sound.

Yes but you mixed two seperate issues together to make it look smart.

[Dunne's Half-Time Pint]

There's nothing I, or anyone else, could do to make you look smart.

[zuricity]

cheers

Not classic actually but doing what politicians do . 'Sound bites'

They're quotations actually. Soundbites involve sound.

Yes but you mixed two seperate issues together to make it look smart.

There's nothing I, or anyone else, could do to make you look smart.[/quote]

Eh ???

[Dunne's Half-Time Pint]

cheers

Not classic actually but doing what politicians do . 'Sound bites'

They're quotations actually. Soundbites involve sound.

Yes but you mixed two seperate issues together to make it look smart.

There's nothing I, or anyone else, could do to make you look smart.

Eh ???[/quote]

It's irony. revel in it.

[BobKowalski]

The most likely reason City might be considered a laughing stock could be down to the mixture of the immediate expectations we are perceived to have and the reactions of the fans when we fall over in a game like this.

We knew we were not going to win the league this year or even challenge for it but somehow the expectations grew and before you know it we lose a match or draw a few too many and a sense of panic comes in.It was inevitable that these things would happen and at times against teams that we really should beat.It was exactly at those times where we needed to be strong , accept it , learn from it and move onto the next one and do better.
By we I am talking about the club owners,management, players fans the whole lot. Rightly or wrongly the perception was there under Hughes that it wasn't going right quickly enough. No doubt there were a few really poor results in the home draws against weak sides but overall we were in a decent position.IT was a project wasn't it and it would take a few years wouldn't it?


Whatever , we changed manager and lo and behold after a few good early results ( just like we had at the beginning of the season) we have started to lose our way a bit. Granted the quality of the football has turned pretty bad as well but aren't we just falling into the same trap again. By we this time I am referring to the fans. Do we really want to change the manager already? Surely we have to accept nothing special is going to happen this year and just build on the excellent foundations we have?

There is no point in wild accusations that the players don't care or aren't trying and all sorts of OTT reactions just because we lose a game. Course it's not good enough and the next few games could be very painful unless we put in some great performances which don't look likely but is a new manager a guarantee of the success?

I just want football Doug.

I know what you mean Ted and there is no doubt that if we are going to "fail" I would like to do it playing decent football. Tonight for a while we saw that it is possible to play quite well and half decent football without many really natural attacking players and even one of the ones we had ( at least one) wasn't actually playing that well. I thought there seemed to be an attitude out there that was positive , quite aggressive and we were going to win. Trouble is we missed the chances that would probably have won us the game.

Then what happened was all too familiar , we started making mistakes. Although their first goal was a good move it did need Bridge to just get it wrong and be on the wrong side. We recovered from that but then Shay makes a big cock up and we are down again and thhe last one was just error after error.

Make those sort of mistakes and you lose matches. Most of the draws we had in a row were more down to silly mistakes than over attacking or tactical things. Bad mistakes cost goals and we keep finding out the hard way.

Did I really hear Mancini after the match saying he was happy with the effort and performance? Now that worries me.

I thought the attitude was ok as well but not taking our chances in both ties when we were on top is what is annoying. Then comes the slip up, followed by the sending off, followed by the cock up and then its Fred Karno's bloody circus. Fact is if want to be a top side then eliminating this sort of shit is what we need to do and eliminate it for the full 90 mins or 120 mins. If we don't then a top side we will not be and its up to Mancini to sort it. Which I guess is what he is trying to do but not quickly enough.

The Ade sending off has pissed me off as much as the result - it just seems we cannot get a fucking break sometimes. Think I need more coffee

[Dazzacity]

I miss the old City. This money has fookin ruined us. At least even in our days in div 2 we had good honest players playing good honest football. Im gettin to the point where Id say bollox to trophies, Id rather have my club back. I never loved City through trophies. I loved City as a club.. its sad to say, but Im losing that love.. Even goin up on the train there were loads of City. I used to be the only one and now I find myself on a train surrounded by loads.Where were they before we had this cash?? We'll be a club like the rags and Chelsea soon enough with fookin arseholes that just jump on a bandwagon.. Id rather have the lesser, but loyal fans, thank you..I feel like we are sacrificing the soul of the club in order to get success.. Id keep the soul any day..

I miss the old days..

[Man Blue]

Bellers should have put away 1st chance and had a couple of good ones other than that, great touch for the goal though and he kept battling throughout.

Barry missed his first soft right footed chance and a straightforward header not long after, then disappeared until he was subbed. He will come good though.

Stevie started well but after 20 mins or so disappeared too! He will get back to his best.

Defence went to sleep for first goal and its clear we haven't got to grips with a total change of defending style. Shay shouldn't have come for that Rory the Twat throw... but at least he left his line!!

Ade played well, held up play and fed well til he got sent off which was a poor decision from the ref IMHO.

If RSC was a Race horse he'd have been led away and turned into glue by now!

We weren't that bad tonight I thought. Stoke were at home and wanted it more. Just like the bin dippers they kicked us off the park and stopped us playing.

I can't jump on the band wagon and say that Bobby Manc should go though. Our club needs a manager for more than a season or two. In that time we'll be up and down no matter how much money we throw at it surely.

I never thought that the Sheiks money would change things overnight. We are City, Super City, but it's going to be a couple of seasons til we are there.

Keep the faith!

[getdressedmctavish]

Well its disappointing but most of the criticism is unfounded. The team selection was sound. We were by far the better team til Ade unfortunately but rightly got sent off. Then two goals found our Achilles, Shay in the air and Bridge completely losing his man. We certainly tried and the tactics looked fine. Once we spurned two one on ones the writing was on the wall. Its not about managers. We have several players who are performing badly and we are having no luck. We are far from being a team, spirit wise. But this has been the case since the project started. We try to play like a big team but we aren't convincing the oppos or ourselves. It just aint gonna be easy, full stop.And it aint a lot of fun at the moment.So just try and have a lot of sex, or drink loads or play your guitar. What ever you do, dont rely on City cos that way lies insanity.