Just noticed...

[s1ty m]

We lost the fewest away games (Sunday not included) in the entire premier league. Interesting.

[Goataldo]

We lost the fewest away games (Sunday not included) in the entire premier league. Interesting.

That is pretty mad stattage as it goes.

[Beefymcfc]

Just had to chexk that! It sounds a nice stat doesn't it, and it does show how far we have come. For next year though, I'd rather turn a couple of our 8 draws into wins and lose a few, ie. go and attack them instead of playing not to lose.

Saying that, I'm still very pleased.

[bernabias_right_boot]

I can remember seasons where we haven't won away at all, so we're definitely getting better!

[mr_nool]

I can remember seasons where we haven't won away at all, so we're definitely getting better!

I also remember (half of) seasons where we didn't win at home ....

[Kiss_The_Goat]

Just had to chexk that! It sounds a nice stat doesn't it, and it does show how far we have come. For next year though, I'd rather turn a couple of our 8 draws into wins and lose a few, ie. go and attack them instead of playing not to lose.

Saying that, I'm still very pleased.

Yeh definitely. Looking back at the season its that run of ridiculous draws under Hughes that have cost us top 4. If that series of results had gone more along the lines of the rest of the season then we'd be looking at sitting pretty comfortably in 3rd.

[Nick]

People always say the draws under hughes but mancini has lost more games and 3 more home games than hughes zero!

IMO we should have beaten Everton and home and Hull Away and that would have done us. We should have also attacked united.

[Kiss_The_Goat]

People always say the draws under hughes but mancini has lost more games and 3 more home games than hughes zero!

IMO we should have beaten Everton and home and Hull Away and that would have done us. We should have also attacked U***d.

I dont really want to be drawn into an argument on what theoretically might have been under Hughes but I very much doubt we were we ever going to go the whole season without losing a home game? Not defending like clowns and giving teams like Burnley 2 goal head starts.

Hull away was poor but losing to United in the hunt for the title and an inform Everton are not exactly poor results when compared to the draws against Wigan away and Fulham, Burnley and Hull at home. Those dropped 8 points would have us sitting in 3rd place.

[Beefymcfc]

1 win = 3 draws.

[edge275]

1 win = 3 draws.

Bang on mate. This is conveniently ignored when discussing Hughes.

[Dameerto]

Compare it to last season's and it's a move in the right direction.

[john@staustell]

People always say the draws under hughes but mancini has lost more games and 3 more home games than hughes zero!

IMO we should have beaten Everton and home and Hull Away and that would have done us. We should have also attacked U***d.

I dont really want to be drawn into an argument on what theoretically might have been under Hughes but I very much doubt we were we ever going to go the whole season without losing a home game? Not defending like clowns and giving teams like Burnley 2 goal head starts.

Hull away was poor but losing to U***d in the hunt for the title and an inform Everton are not exactly poor results when compared to the draws against Wigan away and Fulham, Burnley and Hull at home. Those dropped 8 points would have us sitting in 3rd place.

Totally right. The season was lost in that run of draws. One thing Mancini has shown is an increasing ability to trash those inferior teams, which is what you need to win the league.

[Grob]

A draw is a draw and a loss is a loss regardless of manager.

We shouldnt have drawn at home to Burnley, Fulham and Hull in theory, we also shouldnt have lost to Everton twice, Hull away, 3 times at home, and messed up against Stoke in the FA Cup in theory.

It seems to me that posters use the games we didnt win under whichever manager they didnt want to explain why we are not in the Champions League. I use the Mancini games more as they are more current from a personal perspective.

At the end of the day, if one of the games Hughes failed to win and one of the games Mancini failed to win had actually been wins then we would be in 4th, only needing to match Spurs's result on Sunday. Why cant that be a fair point of view?

[Slim]

Well if we are not getting into a Hughes vs Mancini debate, I won't point out that Mancini managed as many away wins in 4 months as Hughes did in 18, but of course, I am not pointing that out.

[john@staustell]

A draw is a draw and a loss is a loss regardless of manager.

We shouldnt have drawn at home to Burnley, Fulham and Hull in theory, we also shouldnt have lost to Everton twice, Hull away, 3 times at home, and messed up against Stoke in the FA Cup in theory.

It seems to me that posters use the games we didnt win under whichever manager they didnt want to explain why we are not in the Champions League. I use the Mancini games more as they are more current from a personal perspective.

At the end of the day, if one of the games Hughes failed to win and one of the games Mancini failed to win had actually been wins then we would be in 4th, only needing to match Spurs's result on Sunday. Why cant that be a fair point of view?

Mainly because the soft home draws all came under Hughesy. People were actually discrediting Bobby's away draw at Arsenal, an excellent result, because by then we NEEDED the win. Everton and Spuds were both in top form when we played them, and you can lose to Scum anytime I'm afraid(until we get better next year!) But the results against Fulham, Burnley, Brum and Wigan show what surely would've happened in those draws if played later in the season.

I dont 'support' either manager, only CITY, but I know improvements when I see them, and still with some inadequate playing staff soon hopefully to be replaced.

[Ted Hughes]

A draw is a draw and a loss is a loss regardless of manager.

We shouldnt have drawn at home to Burnley, Fulham and Hull in theory, we also shouldnt have lost to Everton twice, Hull away, 3 times at home, and messed up against Stoke in the FA Cup in theory.

It seems to me that posters use the games we didnt win under whichever manager they didnt want to explain why we are not in the Champions League. I use the Mancini games more as they are more current from a personal perspective.

At the end of the day, if one of the games Hughes failed to win and one of the games Mancini failed to win had actually been wins then we would be in 4th, only needing to match Spurs's result on Sunday. Why cant that be a fair point of view?

Mainly because the soft home draws all came under Hughesy. People were actually discrediting Bobby's away draw at Arsenal, an excellent result, because by then we NEEDED the win. Everton and Spuds were both in top form when we played them, and you can lose to Scum anytime I'm afraid(until we get better next year!) But the results against Fulham, Burnley, Brum and Wigan show what surely would've happened in those draws if played later in the season.

I dont 'support' either manager, only CITY, but I know improvements when I see them, and still with some inadequate playing staff soon hopefully to be replaced.

I think either would have got us to the next stage. Hughes better attacking, Mancini better defending but both completely capable of doing the job at this stage. The big difference was whether we could get top 4 immediately which became suddenly crucial under Hughes but then became suddenly unimportant under Mancini. Hypocricy of monumental proportions from both the club & some fans.

I'm very happy we now have a manager with an official mandate again though (after the club pissing about for 6 months) & I believe in him, at least to get us to the next level. He'll know more about the PL next season too & hopefully not get caught unawares by the muggers.

Imo the real test for both would have been when we reach the next stage though. I have no doubts we WILL get there & I have no doubts that either manager could get us there. I do however have doubts about both getting us to the absolute top & keeping us there, which is what the owner wants. It's not going to be easy to take that final step & may require a manager with more personality to go with the football knowledge. That only becomes a problem in the future though.