Lets Panic

[Ted Hughes]

Let's fucking kick that into touch & approach every game like we were about to be relegated. Let's fucking CARE instead of just accepting how we may miss out but it's not so bad. Lets not be calm & clinical in our football; lets go fucking apeshit & throw the kitchen sink at every cunt from now til May. Lets shout from the rooftops at every game & as the great Imran Khan once said to the Pakistan cricket team before they walloped England from a losing position: " Fight like cornered tigers "

The title is on the line & we're not really up for it imo . Lets panic a bit.

Your point is well-made but it is concentration and not making stupid mistakes to give goals away that will win us the league, not blood and thunder.

We have failed to score against West Brom, Sunderland & Swansea. Trying to be calm & clinical is not working, we are not creating enough chances & we are still making mistakes which cost goals. We need to approach each game as if we need 3 points to stay up & go absolutely 100% balls out. Draws are no use to us now, it's shit or bust. It's time to get emotional, fight & scratch & claw our way to the title. No prisoners.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Couldn't agree more Ted. And it pisses me off that every time we lose or draw a game we should win certain people on here say "yeah but 5 years ago we were playing Brentford" or some shit like that. Our attitude against Swansea was lethargic and that's putting it nicely. We just turned up and expected to win. We never forced the issue until it was too late. And your point about the Rags is correct, when they need a goal so often they get it. Why? Not because they play breathtakingly beautiful football because they up the tempo, they throw men into the box, put in cross after cross and attack as if their lives depend on it. That's why they get so many late goals, you just don't see the same urgency from us when we need a goal.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Let's fucking kick that into touch & approach every game like we were about to be relegated. Let's fucking CARE instead of just accepting how we may miss out but it's not so bad. Lets not be calm & clinical in our football; lets go fucking apeshit & throw the kitchen sink at every cunt from now til May. Lets shout from the rooftops at every game & as the great Imran Khan once said to the Pakistan cricket team before they walloped England from a losing position: " Fight like cornered tigers "

The title is on the line & we're not really up for it imo . Lets panic a bit.

Your point is well-made but it is concentration and not making stupid mistakes to give goals away that will win us the league, not blood and thunder.

We have failed to score against West Brom, Sunderland & Swansea. Trying to be calm & clinical is not working, we are not creating enough chances & we are still making mistakes which cost goals. We need to approach each game as if we need 3 points to stay up & go absolutely 100% balls out. Draws are no use to us now, it's shit or bust. It's time to get emotional, fight & scratch & claw our way to the title. No prisoners.

Agree with this....we have no choice really but to do exactly just that.

Can I just echo what the poster above has just said..and it applies to fans like KK and the history teacher John68...STOP LIVING IN THE FUCKING PAST..noone gives a shit what we were like back then and how grateful we should be now to be second ect ect ect ect ect ect ect ect ect.

Deal with today.

[Grob]

Couldn't agree more Ted. And it pisses me off that every time we lose or draw a game we should win certain people on here say "yeah but 5 years ago we were playing Brentford" or some shit like that. Our attitude against Swansea was lethargic and that's putting it nicely. We just turned up and expected to win. We never forced the issue until it was too late. And your point about the Rags is correct, when they need a goal so often they get it. Why? Not because they play breathtakingly beautiful football because they up the tempo, they throw men into the box, put in cross after cross and attack as if their lives depend on it. That's why they get so many late goals, you just don't see the same urgency from us when we need a goal.

Great post, couldnt agree more

[getdressedmctavish]

The other thing about the rags is they give you a chance then hit you on the break. We are so worried about keeping the ball we hardly get the chance to play on the break, its always us getting hit. This is because Mancini wont allow us to mix it up. We are one paced and predictable. We need shots, crosses and the occasional probing ball as well as the possession stuff.Remember Ya Ya's goal at QPR? How often has that been repeated?The coaches know this. Kidd was a master at converting the ball over the top or between the backs.Platt rarely touched the ball except to score.So the expertise is there.

[Tokyo Blue]

Let's fucking kick that into touch & approach every game like we were about to be relegated. Let's fucking CARE instead of just accepting how we may miss out but it's not so bad. Lets not be calm & clinical in our football; lets go fucking apeshit & throw the kitchen sink at every cunt from now til May. Lets shout from the rooftops at every game & as the great Imran Khan once said to the Pakistan cricket team before they walloped England from a losing position: " Fight like cornered tigers "

The title is on the line & we're not really up for it imo . Lets panic a bit.

Your point is well-made but it is concentration and not making stupid mistakes to give goals away that will win us the league, not blood and thunder.

We have failed to score against West Brom, Sunderland & Swansea. Trying to be calm & clinical is not working, we are not creating enough chances & we are still making mistakes which cost goals. We need to approach each game as if we need 3 points to stay up & go absolutely 100% balls out. Draws are no use to us now, it's shit or bust. It's time to get emotional, fight & scratch & claw our way to the title. No prisoners.

We have been top of the league all season bar two weeks. How on Earth does that constitute "not working"?

If we had not made mistakes that cost us goals against, let's say, Swansea and Bayern away, we'd still be top of the league and we'd still be in the Champions League. Goals scored are not the issue. Giving stupid goals away is. Sometimes teams make good goals that you can do nothing about and that is the way football is but this has rarely been the case with City this season.

And if, as you say, eliminating mistakes doesn't matter, why have you been so upset about Savic?

A draw on Sunday would have kept us top of the league, so draws are clearly not "no use to us".

All your hard man language, "no prisoners", "fight and scratch and claw" and all that shit, will not win you the league. The team that wins, on the level of games and on the level of cups, is usually the one that does not make mistakes. It is that simple. It is the difference between a manager with a focussed approach, say an Otto Rehhagel, a Mancini or a Mourinho, and a Keegan/Pearce type - and it is hard to name a successful manager of that type.

[Original Dub]

Can anyone remember our results and performances after the 3 nil anfield defeat last season right up to the end?

I can't off the top of my head, but I remember feeling that bob had just taken the shackles off and "went for it".

Same again right now please.

[Grob]

If we had not made mistakes that cost us goals against, let's say, Swansea and Bayern away, we'd still be top of the league and we'd still be in the Champions League. Goals scored are not the issue. Giving stupid goals away is. Sometimes teams make good goals that you can do nothing about and that is the way football is but this has rarely been the case with City this season.

And if, as you say, eliminating mistakes doesn't matter, why have you been so upset about Savic?

A draw on Sunday would have kept us top of the league, so draws are clearly not "no use to us".

All your hard man language, "no prisoners", "fight and scratch and claw" and all that shit, will not win you the league. The team that wins, on the level of games and on the level of cups, is usually the one that does not make mistakes. It is that simple. It is the difference between a manager with a focussed approach, say an Otto Rehhagel, a Mancini or a Mourinho, and a Keegan/Pearce type - and it is hard to name a successful manager of that type.

ThIS thing with the individual errors isnt new. Players have made individual mistakes that have cost us goals throughout the season.

The difference is the mistakes are happening at 0-0 now rather than earlier in the season when we were already 2 or 3 goals to the good.

Goals scored is a big issue now, we've only scored 2 in our last 6 away games!! So these mistakes are starting to cost points.

I think there is great merit in people wanting the side to now play at a higher tempo, start games on the front foot, looking for goals, commit players forward, put balls into the box. Seems like the obvious way to negate the mistakes problem, wouldnt you say?

[Ted Hughes]

Let's fucking kick that into touch & approach every game like we were about to be relegated. Let's fucking CARE instead of just accepting how we may miss out but it's not so bad. Lets not be calm & clinical in our football; lets go fucking apeshit & throw the kitchen sink at every cunt from now til May. Lets shout from the rooftops at every game & as the great Imran Khan once said to the Pakistan cricket team before they walloped England from a losing position: " Fight like cornered tigers "

The title is on the line & we're not really up for it imo . Lets panic a bit.

Your point is well-made but it is concentration and not making stupid mistakes to give goals away that will win us the league, not blood and thunder.

We have failed to score against West Brom, Sunderland & Swansea. Trying to be calm & clinical is not working, we are not creating enough chances & we are still making mistakes which cost goals. We need to approach each game as if we need 3 points to stay up & go absolutely 100% balls out. Draws are no use to us now, it's shit or bust. It's time to get emotional, fight & scratch & claw our way to the title. No prisoners.

We have been top of the league all season bar two weeks. How on Earth does that constitute "not working"?

If we had not made mistakes that cost us goals against, let's say, Swansea and Bayern away, we'd still be top of the league and we'd still be in the Champions League. Goals scored are not the issue. Giving stupid goals away is. Sometimes teams make good goals that you can do nothing about and that is the way football is but this has rarely been the case with City this season.

And if, as you say, eliminating mistakes doesn't matter, why have you been so upset about Savic?

A draw on Sunday would have kept us top of the league, so draws are clearly not "no use to us".

All your hard man language, "no prisoners", "fight and scratch and claw" and all that shit, will not win you the league. The team that wins, on the level of games and on the level of cups, is usually the one that does not make mistakes. It is that simple. It is the difference between a manager with a focussed approach, say an Otto Rehhagel, a Mancini or a Mourinho, and a Keegan/Pearce type - and it is hard to name a successful manager of that type.

Where the fuck have I said it's a good idea to make mistakes ? Of course we don't want to let goals in ; who does ? Are you seriously not picking up on the fact that scoring one goal would have given us the same results you are suggesting ? ONE goal.

You have picked out two games, v Swansea and Bayern, to prove your point, yet have not mentioned that we beat Bayern at home but only scored once (from a free lick ) v Napoli, which is the result which cost us the Champion's Lg & not the Bayern games which actually cancelled out. V napoli, we played (for the first time this season ) the kind of dithering, indecisive football we have started playing away from home in recent months. It used to be just in the Chump's Lg, but now we look like that all the time & have pretty much since we beat the rags.

You have mentioned letting in one goal v Swansea but omitted our failing to score v WBA, Sunderland, Swansea & Everton.

At the start of the seaon, if someone said Utd would concede goals v those 4 teams away from home you'd say "so what, why mention it ? " If they then said Utd would fail to score against all four you'd say " bollocks ". Champions let in the odd goal in these games sometimes but they don't fail to score v four such teams & win leagues vry often.

Our position in the league is down to our fantastic start where we played most games quickly, with freedom, & scored shitloads of goals away from home & also our home form, which has been incredible. If that had slipped even slightly, the title would be gone already.

If you think we're getting it right away from home nowardays, you're off your head, we are bleeding slowly to death. Unless we change our attitude immediately, the title will be gone in a few week's time. One of those teams will find a way to stop us scoring unless we drastically up our game. We can practice this shit all summer to get it perfect but right now, we don't have the time. We have to go for it v these teams. We have a plethora of attacking talent; that is what sets us apart from them. We have to use that advantage now.


And successful managers who do what I'm advocating in these circumstances: Ferguson, Shankley, Mercer to name 3.

[Blue Since 76]

Interesting take on defend or attack from a neutral. Can't post article from my phone, but link is:

http://www.football365.com/f365-says/7595562/F365-Says

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I've said it all season but we badly lack wide players or any sort of a plan B. We always try and pass the ball into the net but sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective. We don't have a single out and out byline winger nor anyone who can consistently cross a ball to a high standard.

[Chinners]

[Im_Spartacus]

I've said it all season but we badly lack wide players or any sort of a plan B. We always try and pass the ball into the net but sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective. We don't have a single out and out byline winger nor anyone who can consistently cross a ball to a high standard.

Absolutely. Just need to be more direct on occasions - would bring Kolarov, Dzeko, Balotelli et al much more into play.

Count how many times in our next game that one of our players receives the ball facing goal. Our players' first touch is always to try and turn, or a pass horiozontal which makes us reasonably easy to defend again if you defend the space in front of the ball. At home, overwhelming weight of posession usually does it for us, but we only won the Blackeye game because we started slinging it in, and scored 3 times from balls delivered from out wide - if that wasn't the wake up call I honestly despair of our chances this season

I remember when everyone ripped the arse out of the article by Oliver Kahn before the bayern game about us passing the ball and getting nowhere......how right he was, spotted something we were all missing back in September

[Nigels Tackle]

I've said it all season but we badly lack wide players or any sort of a plan B. We always try and pass the ball into the net but sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective. We don't have a single out and out byline winger nor anyone who can consistently cross a ball to a high standard.

Absolutely. Just need to be more direct on occasions - would bring Kolarov, Dzeko, Balotelli et al much more into play.

Count how many times in our next game that one of our players receives the ball facing goal. Our players' first touch is always to try and turn, or a pass horiozontal which makes us reasonably easy to defend again if you defend the space in front of the ball. At home, overwhelming weight of posession usually does it for us, but we only won the Blackeye game because we started slinging it in, and scored 3 times from balls delivered from out wide - if that wasn't the wake up call I honestly despair of our chances this season

I remember when everyone ripped the arse out of the article by Oliver Kahn before the bayern game about us passing the ball and getting nowhere......how right he was, spotted something we were all missing back in September

i don't buy this. yes, we pass the ball around a lot but we average c.20 attempts on goal in every game home and away. we had 18 attempts on sunday, 13 of them on target. we are wasteful... i started a tongue in cheek thread entitled 'livid' after the blackburn game a few weeks back in response to the missed opportunities in that match. we should have scored 8 that night and then a similar number vs bolton. ok, so keepers making great saves comes into it but home many times have we seen our boys blast the ball high over the bar or hit it straight at the keeper from close range in recent weeks??

start taking our chances, and we'll piss the next 10 games.

edit:

to back up my argument....

everton away 17 attempts on goal 11 on target
west brom away 18 and 9
sunderland 25 and 11
swansea 18 and 13

that's 78 attempts on goal 44 of which were on target yielding no fucking goals. that's embarrassing

edit 2:

stats from 3 of the rags luckiest wins this season

spurs 6 attempts, 5 on target - 3 goals
norwich 11 attempts, 9 on target - 2 goals
everton 7 attempts, 6 on target - 1 goal

in 3 games that they won, they had fewer attempts on goal than we did in our game vs sunderland. the reason that they are ahead of us is because they take their chances. we don't.

[Im_Spartacus]

I've said it all season but we badly lack wide players or any sort of a plan B. We always try and pass the ball into the net but sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective. We don't have a single out and out byline winger nor anyone who can consistently cross a ball to a high standard.

Absolutely. Just need to be more direct on occasions - would bring Kolarov, Dzeko, Balotelli et al much more into play.

Count how many times in our next game that one of our players receives the ball facing goal. Our players' first touch is always to try and turn, or a pass horiozontal which makes us reasonably easy to defend again if you defend the space in front of the ball. At home, overwhelming weight of posession usually does it for us, but we only won the Blackeye game because we started slinging it in, and scored 3 times from balls delivered from out wide - if that wasn't the wake up call I honestly despair of our chances this season

I remember when everyone ripped the arse out of the article by Oliver Kahn before the bayern game about us passing the ball and getting nowhere......how right he was, spotted something we were all missing back in September

i don't buy this. yes, we pass the ball around a lot but we average c.20 attempts on goal in every game home and away. we had 18 attempts on sunday, 13 of them on target. we are wasteful... i started a tongue in cheek thread entitled 'livid' after the blackburn game a few weeks back in response to the missed opportunities in that match. we should have scored 8 that night and then a similar number vs bolton. ok, so keepers making great saves comes into it but home many times have we seen our boys blast the ball high over the bar or hit it straight at the keeper from close range in recent weeks??

start taking our chances, and we'll piss the next 10 games.

Being wasteful is fine, but had we continued trying to thread the ball through the eye of a needle, we wouldn;t have scored all weekend against Blackburn as Robinson made some decent saves.

IF we continue to be wasteful, or an approach is not working, at the arse end of the season when you are being hunted down, draws are no good - you have to have a kitchen sink approach from 60/70 mins on which involves using Kolarov, Dzeko to their strengths, not in a tippy tappy game that its clear neither are any good at

[brite blu sky]

Strictly speaking it isn't about being direct as such.. more about trying to be direct.. a mentality if you like to always look first to be urgent and forwards.

This exert from a for once decent bbc article would make good reading for bobby manc.

"Our simple ethos is this: we try and win the ball back as quickly as possible from our opponents as far up the field as we can," Bielsa told me. "And by that I mean everyone is involved in regaining the ball, from the forwards through to anyone else.

"Then once we have the ball, we try and find a way of getting forward as quickly as possible, in a vertical direction if you like. But we don't get frustrated if we can't get it forward immediately, we aim to be comfortable on the ball, and if it's not a case of going forward straight away, we keep it."

about Bilbao v rags

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thefootballt ... sas_a.html

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I just don't understand why against Swansea we played at such a slow tempo. It was at a walking pace, barely breaking sweat and that's easy to defend against.

[DoomMerchant]

If we had not made mistakes that cost us goals against, let's say, Swansea and Bayern away, we'd still be top of the league and we'd still be in the Champions League. Goals scored are not the issue. Giving stupid goals away is. Sometimes teams make good goals that you can do nothing about and that is the way football is but this has rarely been the case with City this season.

And if, as you say, eliminating mistakes doesn't matter, why have you been so upset about Savic?

A draw on Sunday would have kept us top of the league, so draws are clearly not "no use to us".

All your hard man language, "no prisoners", "fight and scratch and claw" and all that shit, will not win you the league. The team that wins, on the level of games and on the level of cups, is usually the one that does not make mistakes. It is that simple. It is the difference between a manager with a focussed approach, say an Otto Rehhagel, a Mancini or a Mourinho, and a Keegan/Pearce type - and it is hard to name a successful manager of that type.

ThIS thing with the individual errors isnt new. Players have made individual mistakes that have cost us goals throughout the season.

The difference is the mistakes are happening at 0-0 now rather than earlier in the season when we were already 2 or 3 goals to the good.

Goals scored is a big issue now, we've only scored 2 in our last 6 away games!! So these mistakes are starting to cost points.

I think there is great merit in people wanting the side to now play at a higher tempo, start games on the front foot, looking for goals, commit players forward, put balls into the box. Seems like the obvious way to negate the mistakes problem, wouldnt you say?

i agree...unleash hell on these bastards. We have the firepower to win every match 5-2 if we want. here's my beef: Why the fuck is it that Mancini has to wait until we're on the ropes until he decides to come out swinging? So goddam italian it's not even funny. This is the fearful side of Mancini that i hated in parts last season. And the attitude he took in CL.

Now instead of Rocky Marciano, someone who would not lie down and could not be beaten no matter how wild and aggressive his style was for purists -- which is coincidentally what we should have been all year, but no...now, now we have to make like Rocky Balboa and pull the fuclin upset of upsets and craft a stunning knockout in the 15th round when we're behind on the scorecard.

And no, i haven't given up...but i just wonder sometimes...

Puzzling.

[Original Dub]

i agree...unleash hell on these bastards. We have the firepower to win every match 5-2 if we want. here's my beef: Why the fuck is it that Mancini has to wait until we're on the ropes until he decides to come out swinging? So goddam italian it's not even funny. This is the fearful side of Mancini that i hated in parts last season. And the attitude he took in CL.

Now instead of Rocky Marciano, someone who would not lie down and could not be beaten no matter how wild and aggressive his style was for purists -- which is coincidentally what we should have been all year, but no...now, now we have to make like Rocky Balboa and pull the fuclin upset of upsets and craft a stunning knockout in the 15th round when we're behind on the scorecard.

And no, i haven't given up...but i just wonder sometimes...

Puzzling.

High five.

[Ted Hughes]

I'm totally happy with our 10,000 passes philosophy & I hope we continue with it in the future BUT it's stopped working away from home. If we go 2 up at Norwich early on, sure pass it sideways for 70 mins if you want but if they block us out, or Stoke or Newcastle do, we need something else.

Norwich were wide open v the rags & just left them with acres of space to run into, but so did Chelsea when rags played there. Against us, they shut up shop after our early goal & we hit the brick wall again & couldn't get the second, leaving us open to refs. It may be that Norwich will attack us too but they know our players are better than Utd's so they may just form a wall. If they do, our Barca imitation may not work (it hasn't worked for Barca away from home this season either ).

They also have Lionel Messi, who is responsible for breaking the deadlock about 90% of the time when Barca are being kept at bay.

We don't have Lionel Messi, we need to unleash everything we've got in order to make up for it.