Another Rags Default Title Season ?

[Ted Hughes]

On many occasions in the past, I've watched quality sides like the Arsenal of Henry etc, Mourinho's Chelsea, turn up looking bizarre & out of sorts, with unusual tactics/team selections & dropping points against inferior teams, whilst a fairly poor rags performance on the same day gets 3 points with a last min pen after the oppo miss 3 open nets & have a goal incorrectly disallowed.

I've looked at Arsenal/Chelsea & thought 'what the fuck are they playing at ?' .

Well so far, that's us. We should have beaten Arsenal & Liverpool & would have done, comfortably, if we'd just gone into those games with a simple solid plan & trustd our players to do the job, rather than Mancini trying to win the game himself with smart arsed tactical plans that the players don't carry out. We miss an opportunity, meanwhile the rags go to Anfield, play much worse than us & win. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS. They will probably do the same v Arsenal.

Chelsea today 1st half have not picked up anybody when Arsenal get to their box but they have NUMBERS in the midfield which has largely stopped Arsenal fron getting there & allowed them to create chances at the other end without over committing. Arsenal were 3 v 3 against our defence, time & again. They have NEVER been 3 v 3 v Chelsea because Chelsea have lined up to stop it happening & win the midfield battle. That's all we needed to do; just win the midfield like we did all last season; so we start with a fucking winger & two up front. Chelsea have shown how potentially shit they are by letting Arsenal have a goal for nothing.

Neither of those sides will win the Premier League.

This is one of those seasons where, unless we get our shit together, an average Utd side will stroll to the title unopposed, just like they have on several occasions in the past. We are the only thing that can stop them. It's time to get our fucking act together.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

In the first half against Arsenal I agree that Mancini got it wrong tactically, he recognised that and remedied it at ht. The concession of the late equaliser from a set piece wasn't Mancini's fault.

[Ted Hughes]

In the first half against Arsenal I agree that Mancini got it wrong tactically, he recognised that and remedied it at ht. The concession of the late equaliser from a set piece wasn't Mancini's fault.

The set piece was unlucky. Taking off Dzeko & fucking the team up yet again wasn't.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Fair point on taking Dzeko off, I was bemused by that myself, however I don't think his removal fucked the team up like you suggest. Our mentality fucked us up, we allowed them to take the game to us in the last 15, we need to be mentally stronger than that, see the game out by remaining focussed.

[Blue Since 76]

Fair point on taking Dzeko off, I was bemused by that myself, however I don't think his removal fucked the team up like you suggest. Our mentality fucked us up, we allowed them to take the game to us in the last 15, we need to be mentally stronger than that, see the game out by remaining focussed.

Aguero was out on his feet and we were completely losing the midfield battle. The obvious thing to do was bring on a midfielder in place of Aguero and release Yaya a bit. Two seasons ago he'd have taken off all the forwards and now we throw on attackers and even take off defenders. I'd like to say I like his Keeganesque attitude but I prefer the winning mentality.

Only listened to it today but sounded better. Another two must win games to come.

[PALUS]

Its simple we need to win them again like last season on the swamp on the Etihad and i thin from now on even do we miss today to much we play great we are going up with the form , and have problems with defence( us u see in Totenhem game) huge and this next two games they can lose more points and we have now better run of games,Chesky isnow a worry for me they have easy wins i would love at the ebd maybe five or 10 matches to the end not to have 3 teams up for grabs of Championship.

[brite blu sky]

On many occasions in the past, I've watched quality sides like the Arsenal of Henry etc, Mourinho's Chelsea, turn up looking bizarre & out of sorts, with unusual tactics/team selections & dropping points against inferior teams, whilst a fairly poor rags performance on the same day gets 3 points with a last min pen after the oppo miss 3 open nets & have a goal incorrectly disallowed.

I've looked at Arsenal/Chelsea & thought 'what the fuck are they playing at ?' .

Well so far, that's us. We should have beaten Arsenal & Liverpool & would have done, comfortably, if we'd just gone into those games with a simple solid plan & trustd our players to do the job, rather than Mancini trying to win the game himself with smart arsed tactical plans that the players don't carry out. We miss an opportunity, meanwhile the rags go to Anfield, play much worse than us & win. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS. They will probably do the same v Arsenal.

Chelsea today 1st half have not picked up anybody when Arsenal get to their box but they have NUMBERS in the midfield which has largely stopped Arsenal fron getting there & allowed them to create chances at the other end without over committing. Arsenal were 3 v 3 against our defence, time & again. They have NEVER been 3 v 3 v Chelsea because Chelsea have lined up to stop it happening & win the midfield battle. That's all we needed to do; just win the midfield like we did all last season; so we start with a fucking winger & two up front. Chelsea have shown how potentially shit they are by letting Arsenal have a goal for nothing.

Neither of those sides will win the Premier League.

This is one of those seasons where, unless we get our shit together, an average Utd side will stroll to the title unopposed, just like they have on several occasions in the past. We are the only thing that can stop them. It's time to get our fucking act together.

That's certainly one decent way of looking at it, at least in respect to the other teams. Personally I feel that Mancini should continue to experiment for as long as he feels comfortable. There is a cut off point and we should be careful not to lose touch with the better squads, but at the moment there is plenty of time. Bob has upped his own ante by declaring we will win the league again, he has also mentioned not having the group together over summer has slowed the development.
My take is that he is looking for something extra over last season and will have in his own mind how much he can afford to piss about with things and how the squad is developing towards what he wants in playing terms.
I'll take the mistakes on the chin for now and see if something comes of the formation messing. If by the run into xmas it isn't showing anything then I'd be all for reverting to what they know best and slog it out for the rest of season.
Mancini is looking for an edge to give us that bit extra, they won the title, so when is he supposed or allowed to go about finding that extra?

There is a very very fine line between holding the nerve to gain something and just being stubborn. I'm confident Bob's team are fully aware of that and have methods to assess progress as they go along.

[Ted Hughes]

On many occasions in the past, I've watched quality sides like the Arsenal of Henry etc, Mourinho's Chelsea, turn up looking bizarre & out of sorts, with unusual tactics/team selections & dropping points against inferior teams, whilst a fairly poor rags performance on the same day gets 3 points with a last min pen after the oppo miss 3 open nets & have a goal incorrectly disallowed.

I've looked at Arsenal/Chelsea & thought 'what the fuck are they playing at ?' .

Well so far, that's us. We should have beaten Arsenal & Liverpool & would have done, comfortably, if we'd just gone into those games with a simple solid plan & trustd our players to do the job, rather than Mancini trying to win the game himself with smart arsed tactical plans that the players don't carry out. We miss an opportunity, meanwhile the rags go to Anfield, play much worse than us & win. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS. They will probably do the same v Arsenal.

Chelsea today 1st half have not picked up anybody when Arsenal get to their box but they have NUMBERS in the midfield which has largely stopped Arsenal fron getting there & allowed them to create chances at the other end without over committing. Arsenal were 3 v 3 against our defence, time & again. They have NEVER been 3 v 3 v Chelsea because Chelsea have lined up to stop it happening & win the midfield battle. That's all we needed to do; just win the midfield like we did all last season; so we start with a fucking winger & two up front. Chelsea have shown how potentially shit they are by letting Arsenal have a goal for nothing.

Neither of those sides will win the Premier League.

This is one of those seasons where, unless we get our shit together, an average Utd side will stroll to the title unopposed, just like they have on several occasions in the past. We are the only thing that can stop them. It's time to get our fucking act together.

That's certainly one decent way of looking at it, at least in respect to the other teams. Personally I feel that Mancini should continue to experiment for as long as he feels comfortable. There is a cut off point and we should be careful not to lose touch with the better squads, but at the moment there is plenty of time. Bob has upped his own ante by declaring we will win the league again, he has also mentioned not having the group together over summer has slowed the development.
My take is that he is looking for something extra over last season and will have in his own mind how much he can afford to piss about with things and how the squad is developing towards what he wants in playing terms.
I'll take the mistakes on the chin for now and see if something comes of the formation messing. If by the run into xmas it isn't showing anything then I'd be all for reverting to what they know best and slog it out for the rest of season.
Mancini is looking for an edge to give us that bit extra, they won the title, so when is he supposed or allowed to go about finding that extra?

There is a very very fine line between holding the nerve to gain something and just being stubborn. I'm confident Bob's team are fully aware of that and have methods to assess progress as they go along.

Having seen what he was trying to do at Fulham, I don't care about dropping points if he wants to continue with that experiment, as the end product will be fantastic. If however he reverts back to a normal system, I want to see the strongest team played. We weren't pressing v Real Madrid like we were v Fulham, so imo he fucked up completely with his team selection.

I can now withdraw some of my criticisms v Arsenal, as he was trying to get the team pressing early on & I now see that's why we kept being caught 3 v 3, but selecting a winger in that system was stupid & later in the game when we'd changed to a more solid team, his decision to take off Dzeko was stupid & imo cost us the game.

In conclusion; if he wants to experiment with the pressing game, I'll take it on the chin if we lose a few, but he still needs to get his act together at other times, with solid sensible team selections. To win the title, we need to get our back 4 together again playing regularly. Many sides will be a lot better going forward than Fulham were.

[brite blu sky]

Cant argue with most of that. Maybe playing a winger was a sub plot plan that just didn't work.
Ultimately we trust Bob and the staff to judge it. He/they seem to know what they are looking for.. the big question is if they have the time to get there. I imagine that once you start on a process to do something in a new way then there are obvious doubts that creep in and it is a game of holding the vision and the nerve till it works or you are forced to give up. Now he has said we will win the league he has really upped the ante for himself the staff and the players... it is almost like an overt do it or die challenge to City as a whole. I'm actually quite surprised at that and think it shows Mancini's true colours, If I were him I'd have more likely kept stum and allowed myself the extra margin of error. Maybe he has seen all he needs in training and felt the difference was more mentality.. <throws gauntlet in front of press>

One major factor in Bob's favour is the teams ability to rescue games.. it won't work all the time, but it gives him a lot of leeway to try things particularly on setting up v certain oppositions.

[feedthegreek]

sylvestre back in training with the scum. hell soon be on a 3 year deal.
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... ter-united