Mancini is the man

[Avalon]

You don't neeed to be fucking Barca to turn in a decent performance against an injury ravaged Liverpool team. Just being as good as Wolves or West Brom will do. We have been shite in most games we've played against even half decent teams all season. Our only convincing performances have been against the weakest teams or teams in the middle of an injury crisis or slump.

Look at our recent away performances (the rags defeat was a triumph performance wise compared top the others) Liverpool a: shite, Chelsea a: shite, Kiev a: shite, Aris a: shite, Utd a: ok Birmingham a: shite, Notts County a: shite Villa a: ok but shite up front, Leicester a: shite, Arsenal away: desperate backs to the wall point.

Manyt of these dreadful performances are since Bob has tried to put his 'strongest' team out; Dzeko or Balotelli into formations that don't suit them or that weaken the team. He's made an absolute fucking arse of the job & has been blundering from one mistake to another whilst using every excuse in the book. Luckily for him, he has some of the best players on the planet enabling him to get away with it just enough.

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season. Rags Utd were poor at the start. Chelski had an amazingly poor form this season after an amazing start. I again state the question: "Who are we kidding?" We're acting like we're supposed to be world beaters when we've only recently got the finances to build such a team. I agree that we have to play better away, though that is definitely not down to just Mancini. He makes mistakes, but the players have been lacking as well. Like how Silva picks up the ball from the defenders, dribbles into the opponents half and gets surrounded by 11 players, thus forcing him to play back.... AGAIN. Johnson, instead of curling the ball in high, driving the ball in low. Tevez not passing to opponents when this is a much better option, or like Silva, running near the defenders. Nigel de jong not passing the ball forward at all, Kompany's recent lapses in concentration. We've got great players, but we're not a team yet. Teams like Rags Utd, Barcelona, AC Milan, Liverpool, Juventus didn't got such a rich history by buying 11 players each season. They had a strong team and build upon that. We now have a strong team and we need to build on this. But let's not delude ourselves and think we were actually going for any silverware this season. If we win the FA Cup, fantastic! If not, it wasn't meant to be. I expect a lot more from next season than that I am from this. As long as he reaches 4th spot, I am pleased.

People seem to think we HAVE to play better, because of our players, we HAVE to play entertaining. Bogus. Play to win. At the World Cup, Germany played entertaining, Ghana played entertaining, Spain played entertaining, yet it was the pragmatic Dutch that was facing Spain. There is no rule that a team has to play entertaining. That's just media dripe. We have to player BETTER, away, yeah. We don't have to play entertaining.

[Kladze]

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season. Rags Utd were poor at the start. Chelski had an amazingly poor form this season after an amazing start. I again state the question: "Who are we kidding?" We're acting like we're supposed to be world beaters when we've only recently got the finances to build such a team. I agree that we have to play better away, though that is definitely not down to just Mancini. He makes mistakes, but the players have been lacking as well. Like how Silva picks up the ball from the defenders, dribbles into the opponents half and gets surrounded by 11 players, thus forcing him to play back.... AGAIN. Johnson, instead of curling the ball in high, driving the ball in low. Tevez not passing to opponents when this is a much better option, or like Silva, running near the defenders. Nigel de jong not passing the ball forward at all, Kompany's recent lapses in concentration. We've got great players, but we're not a team yet. Teams like Rags Utd, Barcelona, AC Milan, Liverpool, Juventus didn't got such a rich history by buying 11 players each season. They had a strong team and build upon that. We now have a strong team and we need to build on this. But let's not delude ourselves and think we were actually going for any silverware this season. If we win the FA Cup, fantastic! If not, it wasn't meant to be. I expect a lot more from next season than that I am from this. As long as he reaches 4th spot, I am pleased.

People seem to think we HAVE to play better, because of our players, we HAVE to play entertaining. Bogus. Play to win. At the World Cup, Germany played entertaining, Ghana played entertaining, Spain played entertaining, yet it was the pragmatic Dutch that was facing Spain. There is no rule that a team has to play entertaining. That's just media dripe. We have to player BETTER, away, yeah. We don't have to play entertaining.

Biggest bollox post of the season for me mate.

Football is a sporting AND entertainment business.
If you only want to see your team win rather than entertain as well, then you may as well just look at the result without watching the game.

[s1ty m]

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season. Rags Utd were poor at the start. Chelski had an amazingly poor form this season after an amazing start. I again state the question: "Who are we kidding?" We're acting like we're supposed to be world beaters when we've only recently got the finances to build such a team. I agree that we have to play better away, though that is definitely not down to just Mancini. He makes mistakes, but the players have been lacking as well. Like how Silva picks up the ball from the defenders, dribbles into the opponents half and gets surrounded by 11 players, thus forcing him to play back.... AGAIN. Johnson, instead of curling the ball in high, driving the ball in low. Tevez not passing to opponents when this is a much better option, or like Silva, running near the defenders. Nigel de jong not passing the ball forward at all, Kompany's recent lapses in concentration. We've got great players, but we're not a team yet. Teams like Rags Utd, Barcelona, AC Milan, Liverpool, Juventus didn't got such a rich history by buying 11 players each season. They had a strong team and build upon that. We now have a strong team and we need to build on this. But let's not delude ourselves and think we were actually going for any silverware this season. If we win the FA Cup, fantastic! If not, it wasn't meant to be. I expect a lot more from next season than that I am from this. As long as he reaches 4th spot, I am pleased.

People seem to think we HAVE to play better, because of our players, we HAVE to play entertaining. Bogus. Play to win. At the World Cup, Germany played entertaining, Ghana played entertaining, Spain played entertaining, yet it was the pragmatic Dutch that was facing Spain. There is no rule that a team has to play entertaining. That's just media dripe. We have to player BETTER, away, yeah. We don't have to play entertaining.

Biggest bollox post of the season for me mate.

Football is a sporting AND entertainment business.
If you only want to see your team win rather than entertain as well, then you may as well just look at the result without watching the game.

I agree Kladze. I don't think it's a lot to ask either. Mancini's side is not entertaining, that's the long and short of it for me.

[david yearsley]

Scum haven´t exactly set the world alight with attacking flair have they? Infact I´d say it´s possibly the dourest they´ve had since Sky and the PL handed them the league but they get the job done coz they know how to and still want it enough. When you have that players will pull together knowing they´ll be remembered as winners even if as individuals they are average

[Kladze]

Scum haven´t exactly set the world alight with attacking flair have they? Infact I´d say it´s possibly the dourest they´ve had since Sky and the PL handed them the league but they get the job done coz they know how to and still want it enough. When you have that players will pull together knowing they´ll be remembered as winners even if as individuals they are average

HAHA!

Classic.

Tell me how many chances it was we created last night? In fact, tell me how many times we managed to get the ball into their penalty area.

Now watch any of those bastard rag games and make a comparison.

I am fucking dreading this weekend for the potential for embarrassment, that's not how it should be ....... is it?

[Avalon]

Football is a sporting and entertainment business? Maybe you should buy your own club then.
I consider football a sport and a sport only. There is no rule, anywhere in the game, that states you have to play entertaining. It doesn't exist. Never has and never will. Winning 1-0 by playing defensively grants you the same 3 points as winning 10-8. Sure, the latter will be the more entertaining match, but you don't get points for entertainment in football. You get points for winning, regardless of how. If you consider that bollox, maybe you're watching the wrong sport. Maybe you should watch diving, or figure skating, or something like that, because in football, 3 points are always 3 points, whether you won 1-0, or 10-0. It doesn't matter how you won. It is a SIMPLE fact.

[Ted Hughes]

Football is a sporting and entertainment business? Maybe you should buy your own club then.
I consider football a sport and a sport only. There is no rule, anywhere in the game, that states you have to play entertaining. It doesn't exist. Never has and never will. Winning 1-0 by playing defensively grants you the same 3 points as winning 10-8. Sure, the latter will be the more entertaining match, but you don't get points for entertainment in football. You get points for winning, regardless of how. If you consider that bollox, maybe you're watching the wrong sport. Maybe you should watch diving, or figure skating, or something like that, because in football, 3 points are always 3 points, whether you won 1-0, or 10-0. It doesn't matter how you won. It is a SIMPLE fact.

You are wrong in almost everything you are saying.

If you want to take football off the TV & have amateur players then fine. Otherwise it's part of the entertainment business & that's the reason big money is involved. THERE IS NO OTHER REASON.

There's probably room for one piss boring team who everybody hates just to have a villain to Utd's hero. Is that the role you see for City? To be the ugly rivals to Utd ? The fat wrestler who everyone boos knowing that sooner or later, the good guys will beat him ? Our job to show everyone how dire football can be so they can all be ecstatic when we fail? That's what we're becoming.

I the points you keep making though you keep missing an important one: We're not very good.

If Bob starts winning lots of games, I'm sure the Sheikh will let him carry on for a few years, boring or not. At the moment we are only where we are because the other teams are also average. If they get back to the standard they were a few years ago, we will be left behind unless we improve greatly. Ferguson will soon spend money as will Chelsea, Spurs & Arsenal. If the current trend of their signings compared to ours continues, Bob will spunk another £200m mostly on players with no pace who add nothing & they will sign effective players & leave us for dead.

Bob has to improve in everything or go & he has to do it very quickly. At the moment, he is to Sheikh Mansour, what Frank Clark was to Francis Lee.

[Avalon]

I reiterate my point: "There is no rule, anywhere in the game, that states a game has to be entertaining. There is no rule that gives points for entertainment. There's no rule that states entertaining teams are, by default, better than defensive teams." It is not difficult to look at this. No matter how much you want super attractive football, in the end 3 points are 3 points, whether you played defensively, or attractively. Just because a company, a person or whatever throws in big money doesn't mean teams have to play entertaining. That is such a ridiculous misconception. Companies like ESPN and BSkyB buy the rights to show the matches on tv, so that people can watch it at home and earn money from it, not because a team is entertaining, or because a team promises to be entertaining. There simply is no rule.

As for our results, I already said that in my other comment. We have a poor away form and it needs to improve. However, we're not the only team that has/had a poor form. Real Madrid hasn't been great, Rags Utd haven't been great all season, Chelski was playing terrible for most of the season. We're playing poor and it needs to improve, but this happens in football. We've seen it happen to any big team. Heck, Barcelona played brilliant against Inter Milan last CL, yet they lost.

However, the main gripe I have at the moment is the player's individualism, which I explained before, which I am not going to repeat again. It is not just Mancini that makes mistakes, it is the players too. A combination of both and that is what I believe needs to be worked on.
However, we're still on course of getting 4th and as long as he reaches that, I am fine. Everything else is just a bonus for me.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

But we are shit boring and losing.

Mancini sends out a team with no pace and no flair, surprisingly that makes it unlikely we'll score.
If we don't score we aint gonna win.
If we aren't playing to win don't be surprised if we lose!
If i supported Wolves, WBA or Stoke I'd be unhappy with our performances. But we're Manchester City with a ton of cash and world stars. We aren't meant to look like frightened men.
I would seriously take Mick McCarthy over Bob.
He wouldn't do any worse.

[john@staustell]

Personally I thought the team selection was appalling. And that is because he abandoned his defensive-first principles which would mosr likely have seen us win 1 or 2 nil and played a completely wide-open formation. Now is that because:

1) He started to think we were better than we were
2) The semi matters more
3) He's pandering to these lunatics on here and in the media that say we should always play an attacking formation and Adam Johnson should play every match?

It was a ludicrous formation, De Jong on the bench and AJ, who never, ever plays well starting an away match.

As someone who was willing to give Mancini time I just dont understand it. Madness.

If he'd stuck to his usual game Monday would not have happened.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Personally I thought the team selection was appalling. And that is because he abandoned his defensive-first principles which would mosr likely have seen us win 1 or 2 nil and played a completely wide-open formation. Now is that because:

1) He started to think we were better than we were
2) The semi matters more
3) He's pandering to these lunatics on here and in the media that say we should always play an attacking formation and Adam Johnson should play every match?

It was a ludicrous formation, De Jong on the bench and AJ, who never, ever plays well starting an away match.

As someone who was willing to give Mancini time I just dont understand it. Madness.

If he'd stuck to his usual game Monday would not have happened.

If he had stuck with the same 11 that played against Sunderland, Monday would not have happened.

[freshie]

As usual we're chastising a man that's giving us the best season we have ever had. I still fail to see why he is disliked so much when we're friggin fourth, on course with a Champions League spot and still a chance of winning the FA Cup.

I think you've answered your own question Avalon

Yeah, he got his tactics wrong, yeah, he has an ego and yeah, there's rumours that players are disgruntled with them.

And again

As for Liverpool, I am still confused why he took off Balotelli, to play de Jong. I mean, if you're down 3-0, why take a player of, that regardless whether he is liked, or not, whether he plays well, or not, has infinitely more chance of scoring a goal than de Jong has. Mancini should try to play de Jong and Milner in midfield once and let Yaya get some rest. Yaya has been running non stop since early season, he could use a rest. Also, play Johnson on the left side of the field and for the love of god, cross the ball into the box. We have length in there. Why the fuck are we not using that? People moan about Dzeko, yet he hardly gets a good ball. Every ball he gets is just over the half way line in a counter attack and he does great at flicking the ball on, chesting it down, holding it, whatever, yet in the box he gets the ball passed to his feet when he has 4 men around him. He's not a miracle worker. He can do so much more, if only he gets the service he needs.

With the squad we have and the relative inconsistency of all the top teams we should be making a serious challenge for the title, not looking over our shoulders at Spurs as we battle to hang on for 4th place. In addition to this he makes baffling team selections, uninspiring substitutions and despite a wealth of attacking options that would be the envy of most prem teams he sends his teams out with the most negative tactics to play the most boring style of football seen since Stuart Pearce was in charge. As for his signings, despite spending close to £150m on players we are no better off than we were last season and David Silva is the only signing he can be proud of - the rest have been abysmal. To top it all off he has fallen out with Bellamy who was one of our best players last season and has clashed on numerous occasions with Tevez (who now looks like he may have played his last game for us) yet signs an extremely difficult player in Balotelli who quite frankly has been more trouble than he is worth. Balotelli or Bellamy? I'm with the fiery little Welshman.

Rant over ;)

[13021J]

I know where you are coming from but it will take years to build the cohesion needed to sustain excellence over the season in all comps like the Scum. In the meantime we will struggle in parts of the season no matter how much we spend.

Incremental improvement is the only option unfortunately. You can't buy the title in 2-3 years.

Therefore as long as there are signs of progress, and that is certainly the case currently, we should allow Mancini to see out hus contract.

[freshie]

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season.

I would hardly call 10 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats a poor away record. Do some research before posting

People seem to think we HAVE to play better, because of our players, we HAVE to play entertaining. Bogus. Play to win.

Well we're playing ugly and still not winning so what next?

I reiterate my point: "There is no rule, anywhere in the game, that states a game has to be entertaining. There is no rule that gives points for entertainment. There's no rule that states entertaining teams are, by default, better than defensive teams.

You're right, there is no rule that states a game has to be entertaining. But then by your logic there is no point trying to win games either because there is no rule that states teams have to win. The reason we go to watch football matches is because we want to be entertained. If the only reason you watch football is to watch your team win then you are no better than the glory hunters who 'support' the scum. Unless my memory fails me we have won fuck all in the last 35 years so why support City?

The reason the Premiership is the most watched league in the world is because it is the most entertaining. It's massive worldwide appeal ensures that we get the highest possible revenue from worldwide television rights and the subsequent inflow of money allows English teams to buy some of the best players in the world. If every game finished 1-0 or 0-0 would this be the case? I think not. The Sheikh's vision is to make City one of the biggest clubs in the world which includes increasing our global support - this will happen by being successful and playing attractive football as that is what fans want to see. There is no reason why being successful and playing attractive football have to be mutually exclusive

[Im_Spartacus]

I know where you are coming from but it will take years to build the cohesion needed to sustain excellence over the season in all comps like the Scum. In the meantime we will struggle in parts of the season no matter how much we spend.

Incremental improvement is the only option unfortunately. You can't buy the title in 2-3 years.

Therefore as long as there are signs of progress, and that is certainly the case currently, we should allow Mancini to see out hus contract.

You really have to be taking the fucking piss with that last statement. Dour,football, dreadful tactics, Kolarov, Balotelli, hanging onto 4th for dear life, in a semi-final against the rags, what fucking progress have we seen from when he took over? Its like groundhog day.

If it hadnt been for Tevez' one man show, we'd have been royally fucked this season. Now we don't have him, the whole fucking show is set to fall apart because this clueless cunt has dined out on Tevez for 18 months.

[freshie]

Therefore as long as there are signs of progress, and that is certainly the case currently, we should allow Mancini to see out hus contract.

What signs of improvement? You must be watching a different Manchester City to me if you can see any signs of improvement from last year. We are in the same league position as we were this time last season with a worse points total. Last season Mark Hughes left us in the semi-final of the Carling Cup, this season we are in the semi-final of the FA Cup. Hardly the signs of progress

[carl_feedthegoat]

I know where you are coming from but it will take years to build the cohesion needed to sustain excellence over the season in all comps like the Scum. In the meantime we will struggle in parts of the season no matter how much we spend.

Incremental improvement is the only option unfortunately. You can't buy the title in 2-3 years.

Therefore as long as there are signs of progress, and that is certainly the case currently, we should allow Mancini to see out hus contract.

You really have to be taking the fucking piss with that last statement. Dour,football, dreadful tactics, Kolarov, Balotelli, hanging onto 4th for dear life, in a semi-final against the rags, what fucking progress have we seen from when he took over? Its like groundhog day.

If it hadnt been for Tevez' one man show, we'd have been royally fucked this season. Now we don't have him, the whole fucking show is set to fall apart because this clueless cunt has dined out on Tevez for 18 months.

you couldn't make it up could you...

[colonel_muck]

@ original post. no he won't. get in anyone who wants to play attacking football.

[Blue in the face]

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season.

I would hardly call 10 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats a poor away record. Do some research before posting

I would call that a great away record. Unfortunately its not ours.

[carl_feedthegoat]

We have a poor away record. We are, however, not the first team to have that. Real madrid had a poor away record this season.

I would hardly call 10 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats a poor away record. Do some research before posting

I would call that a great away record. Unfortunately its not ours.