If we don't get 4th...

[CityGer]

Both a failure and a big disappointment at a missed opportunity.

We have performed so well against the 'big four' and have showed that we can mix it with them, we just haven't been at it consistently enough when we are expected to win. I felt at the time that lost leads at home to Hull, Burnley and Fulham would come back to haunt us and I still feel they will. Hope to god that I'm wrong.

[zuricity]

Ahhh ! but we will get fourth place.

[Fish111]

I said at the beginning of the season that a top 6 place was a more achievable target than a top 4 spot and the standard of football all year, under two different managers, hasn't convinced me otherwise. Typical City though have whet my appetite and we are tantalizingly close to 4th but i reckon this season it's a step too far with the players we have.

[btajim]

Its like flirting with the fittest bird everytime you go out and end up pulling a fucking dog rough one at the end of the last club night of the year and being told its best you could get.

Ian Holloway hijacks Disco's PC?

[carolina-blue]

Its still there for the taking , We are banging on the door , I me glad the crutch of well we have a game in hand has gone Now we roll up the sleeves and get stuck in , Pissed off about last night course I am but I bet the Chavs were equally as pissed off when we walked out of their place with 3 pts . It happens , Its how we react now , As someone has already said getting Into Europe without sneaking in through the back door is / would be a great acheivement in its self.. I agree though with the point about top players that might be available to us If we do make the Chumps league , But hey There will still be great players out there even ones that wont mind that it occasionally rains in Manchester.

[brite blu sky]

if we don't get 4th...we wont be a very happy bunch will we..

i can't believe that it is worth thinking about much really..

Last nights performance wasn't all that bad and the result flattered Everton. No, i think if anything it will have served as a good kick in the teeth at possibly the right time, we are still right in there, and the next 3 games we will respond and dismantle in short order Wigan, Burnley and a Hart-less Brum. thats 9 points that if it doesnt put us back at the top of the pile, will certainly put us very close, after that Spurs nightmare sequence starts, with Rags, Chelsea and Arsenal.. and im sorry but they will get Zero from that lot as it is totally the wrong time for Spurs to be playing those 3, they traditionally always seem to lose to all 3 of them . We have the Derby obviously, but we needn't fear that anymore than usual, then one of the clincher's for me.. when we stuff Arsenal in front of their own fans... im convinced we are going to take 6pts off Arsenal this season.. we have already beaten them up twice. Pool will still be lurking around pretending they are going to go on a winning streak but never getting started. So if we can grab the derby im seeing us as sat on a 6pt lead over 5th by the end of April.
So yes we missed our chance to take what looked like a good opportunity to stamp a bit of authority on the race for 4th, but instead we got a timely reminder that we still have a lot of work to do.

Bizarrely i am more convinced today that we will get fourth than i was before the game.. simply because i think we will now be less likely to slip up and psychologically we will be tougher for this and not weaker. Also Mancini will again have learnt alot from that. Everyone at City is going to be seriously pissed off at that result.. and unfortunately for Wigan they are going to find out just how pissed off.

[ruralblue]

At the start of the season I said I would be happy with 5th but thought we would end probably 6th. Now I will be unhappy if we end fourth, maybe not see it as a major failure. More so of a failure that we beat Arsenel twice and chelsea home and away, but get let down by losing to the likes of Stoke.

We need to strengthen certain areas in the close of season, a creative midfielder and another striker instead of RSC. Then and only then will we start to punish the teams we should have never let anywhere near us.

[lets all have a disco]

Its like flirting with the fittest bird everytime you go out and end up pulling a fucking dog rough one at the end of the last club night of the year and being told its best you could get.

Ian Holloway hijacks Disco's PC?

Great minds.

[mcfc1632]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

[gillie]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

I believe we will get 4th but my pre season prediction was runners up so i should be truly pissed off but i'm not as fourth takes us into the honeypot anyway.

[marvin]

At the start of the season I'd have been happy with 5th, but the way Liverpool have fallen away it would disappoint me if we don't get 4th now.

We've a great opportunity to do it. Think Spurs may nick it.

[Grob]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

[mcfc1632]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

Well I do not want to get back onto the Hughes topic - but just thought the entire rationale when sacking him when we were probably on target for 4th - at least 6th - was that the expectation was now no less than 4th - lots of posters who were anti-Hughes seemed to weigh in behind that decision.

So for me it follows that for all that supported that decision - then surely anything less than 4th is a failure - or what am I missing?

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

Bullshit. Really sad to see you lower yourself to level of that wind up clown.

Most people, me included, have stayed pretty much the same with their targets from the beginning of the season. It's only Hughes fanatics who were satisfied with any shit under their favourite boy that bang on now about sacking changing the targets.

[bluej]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

Bullshit. Really sad to see you lower yourself to level of that wind up clown.

Most people, me included, have stayed pretty much the same with their targets from the beginning of the season. It's only Hughes fanatics who were satisfied with any shit under their favourite boy that bang on now about sacking changing the targets.

But surely the targets changed with his sacking? Given that we were 5th when he was sacked the target must be 4th?

I would deem this season a failure if we don't get 4th for those reasons. (although I personally would be happy with any european football)

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

Bullshit. Really sad to see you lower yourself to level of that wind up clown.

Most people, me included, have stayed pretty much the same with their targets from the beginning of the season. It's only Hughes fanatics who were satisfied with any shit under their favourite boy that bang on now about sacking changing the targets.

[highlight]But surely the targets changed with his sacking? Given that we were 5th when he was sacked the target must be 4th?[/highlight]
I would deem this season a failure if we don't get 4th for those reasons. (although I personally would be happy with any european football)

We were NOT fifth when he was sacked. When the decision over his sacking was taken we were 8th. When he was sacked we were 6th.

[Original Dub]

Is it just me? - or do others when they read this thread think back to the 'anti' threads in October - December - the threads that harped on about ambition and the how we should be demanding 4th absolutely - despite pre-season targets of 6th - and think - double standards????

Surely anything les than 4th is a major failing - especially with the squad we had and the position we were in at December??

Why all the reversing of positions?

The guys whose opinion that was hated Mark Hughes. The point raised was handy when trying to belittle him.

Bullshit. Really sad to see you lower yourself to level of that wind up clown.

Most people, me included, have stayed pretty much the same with their targets from the beginning of the season. It's only Hughes fanatics who were satisfied with any shit under their favourite boy that bang on now about sacking changing the targets.

[highlight]But surely the targets changed with his sacking? Given that we were 5th when he was sacked the target must be 4th?[/highlight]
I would deem this season a failure if we don't get 4th for those reasons. (although I personally would be happy with any european football)

We were NOT fifth when he was sacked. When the decision over his sacking was taken we were 8th. When he was sacked we were 6th.

Irrelevent.

The target was 70 points and we were on course to achieve it. There is no such thing as a hughes fanatic, so I don't know why you're trying to provoke people there mate.

But you're making stuff up to suit yourself and you've become a lot calmer about performances and targets since Mancini took over. That's obvious for everyone to see, so you shouldn't get offended when its pointed out.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Irrelevent.

The target was 70 points and we were on course to achieve it. There is no such thing as a hughes fanatic, so I don't know why you're trying to provoke people there mate.

But you're making stuff up to suit yourself and you've become a lot calmer about performances and targets since Mancini took over. That's obvious for everyone to see, so you shouldn't get offended when its pointed out.

Irrelevant or not, he was twisting the truth.

And of course there are Hughes fanatics. People who go on and on how this and that would've been alright for Hughes and raise the bar for someone else. Only reason I can see for that is the fact that there are people who prefered Hughes in charge. I can understand people who support whoever is in charge but there are people who were constantly praising Hughes, usually twisting the truth like above, and now are constantly having a pop at Mancini.

I'm no way calmer about results than I ever was. I just try to avoid this site after and during the games these days. There have been people moaning after games won and I'm not going to waste my time on that when I'm enjoying a post-win euphoria.

[bluej]

Irrelevent.

The target was 70 points and we were on course to achieve it. There is no such thing as a hughes fanatic, so I don't know why you're trying to provoke people there mate.

But you're making stuff up to suit yourself and you've become a lot calmer about performances and targets since Mancini took over. That's obvious for everyone to see, so you shouldn't get offended when its pointed out.

Irrelevant or not, he was twisting the truth.

Hardly - 5/6th = Europa League

4th = Champions League.

If we were on target for the Europa League and he got sacked then the target must be Champions League. Or, to put it another way, 70 points as Dub said.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Haha playground bickering returns :)

For the record where were we when we played away at Spurs as I have been told Hughes was aware what was coming by then.