What do we need?

[Green & Blue]

Stefan Savic... Since he left we turned to shit.

Deserves it's own thread.

[halnone]

Stefan Savic... Since he left we turned to shit.

Savic probably made the other players look better during training, therefore boosting confidence in their ability and giving them a winning mentality.

[phips]

im gonna get slated for this...but, a new manager. and to let go of a number of the training staff.
these problems have been there since the beginning of the season and its not been fixed..not even close.

[halnone]

im gonna get slated for this...but, a new manager. and to let go of a number of the training staff.
these problems have been there since the beginning of the season and its not been fixed..not even close.

do you honestly think that a complete overhaul of the club (after winning the title for the first time in far too long) will make us better?

[AG7]

Below is a great article with a lot of common sense ... I was going to start a new thread and post it there but I guess this thread will do just fine for it as it answers the question ... especially those calling for a new manager:


No conspiracy behind Man City's struggles

What ails Man City isn't a cloak-and-dagger issue. It's simple execution on the field.

We love to conjure up neat and clever theories to explain things in football. Sometimes, there's a logic to it, sometimes there isn't.

Take Manchester City, whose Champions League future is hanging by a thread following Tuesday's 2-2 home draw with Ajax. There are valid reasons to explain why a club with an astronomical transfer spend and an enormous wage bill could find itself with just two points.
For example, the other teams in Group D are either very good (Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid) or have performed better than expected against City (Ajax). David Silva, probably one of the most difficult players to replace on City's squad, was injured and missed the last two games.

Referee Peter Rasmussen did not grant a last-second penalty after Ricardo Van Rhijn's shirt-pull on Mario Balotelli. (Many complained about Sergio Aguero's disallowed goal too, but I assume the offside was for Edin Dzeko's touch to Aleksandar Kolarov. As I see it the assistant got that call right: he was either marginally off or close enough that you can't really blame him for raising his flag.)

Those -- and a few other injuries though frankly, everybody has injuries -- are the factors beyond Roberto Mancini's control. He might choose to cite them as mitigating circumstances and he'd be justified in doing so.

As a second seed, City might have ended up in Group A (with Porto, Paris St. Germain and Dinamo Zagreb) or Group F (with Bate Borisov, Bayern Munich and Lille). In both cases, you could realistically suggest that City, without playing substantially better than it has, would probably have four or five more points than it currently does.

Some think that Man City's lack of European experience is to blame, yet players like Yaya Toure won the Champions League prior to joining Mancini in Manchester.

The thing is, even with all those factors breaking Mancini's way and City well on the road to the Round of 16, it would not change a basic fact: this team has not played consistently well. Some of it is down to the players, a few of whom have made some grotesque individual errors, particularly against Ajax.

But some of it has to be down to Mancini, his tactics, his matchday decisions and his man-management. After all, it's his job to get City to perform to their potential and we've seen in the past that City can play well.

Those, as I see it, are valid, rational reasons. Now, for some of the non-sensical theories that have been bandied about.


Theory One: "Mancini has lost the dressing room, the players are divided, many don’t like him and so the team plays badly."

We've heard rumblings of this since his arrival at City and Mancini, admittedly, is not one of those cuddly managers who tries to be his players' best friend. But while there were leaks and complaints when he first arrived, they've tended to dry up. If anything, there was far more open dissent last season -- Remember Carlos Tevez's three-month holiday? Or Mario Balotelli going ballistic at being substituted? -- than there has been this year.

Beyond that, while squad harmony is important I don't quite buy that fact that players who don't like their manager or are unhappy will make the kinds of mistakes that City's stars have made. You presume these guys have ambition and want to go as far as they can.


Theory Two: "This team doesn't have the necessary Champions League experience."
This is something Mancini himself brought up and it's frankly silly, not least because City were in this tournament last season.

Plus, ten of the fourteen men who played against Ajax played in the Champions League before even arriving at City. Heck, in Tevez, Balotelli, Yaya Toure and Maicon, Mancini has four guys who have actually won the Champions League and know how it's done.

Besides, it’s not as if the Champions League is played under a different set of rules that require some kind of massive adjustment. That may have been the case in the 1970s when there really were deep differences between different countries and refereeing styles, but today it's much less of an issue. And most of these guys have played some form of international football since they were teenagers.


Theory Three: "Mancini doesn’t know how to win in Europe; his record in continental competitions is poor, as evidenced by the fact that he has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals in the Champions League."

First and foremost, past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Pep Guardiola had never advanced beyond the Champions League quarterfinals before he actually won the competition. Neither did Roberto Di Matteo, for that matter. Or Rafa Benitez.

More importantly though, why this arbitrary cut-off point at the quarterfinal? Could you turn it around and suggest that in six attempts -- four with Inter, one with Lazio and one with City -- Mancini's team advanced from the group stage four times, far from a horrible result?

Mancini has experienced plenty of Champions League disappointment as a manager, yet his Euro "failures" include four trips to the knockout stages from six attempts. Hardly a terrible record.

What has been consistent about Mancini's teams in Europe has been drama, especially at Inter. One year he was drawn against AC Milan in the quarterfinal and Inter ended up forfeiting the game because the fans launched dozens of flares on to the pitch. Twice he went out on the away goals rule in the knockout phases (once, against Valencia, with an insane full-blown brawl at the final whistle). Against Liverpool in 2007-08, he had a man sent off inside an hour in both legs.
His fault? Maybe. But does it show an inherent inability to succeed in Europe? Not necessarily.

Besides, in knockout competitions, things change very quickly. Fools become kings and vice versa. What would you say about the manager of a big club who won just two of his first 11 Champions' League games? That he couldn't win in Europe? Well, that was Mourinho's record in Europe at Inter before he turned it around and went on to win it all.
Most of all as I pointed out before, there is no rational reason to think that success in European competition and in domestic leagues require different skill sets. The game is far more homogenous than it used to be. Anyone can come up with examples of guys who do well in one but not the other but the sample size simply isn't big enough. At most, you might argue that there is a special skill involved in interpreting the intricacies of a knockout format.

That may be true in some -- very few, actually -- cases, but it doesn't really apply to Mancini. After all, he did win no fewer than five domestic cups with four different teams. And in any case, the Champions League group stage (where he's struggling now) is not a knockout competition.

The bottom line? There is no reason to complicate matters with fancy theories. City hasn't had many breaks in the Champions League in the past two seasons but, given its vast resources, it shouldn't need them. City simply hasn't performed well enough, which is down to the manager and the players. At the same time, we know City can play well -- we’ve seen it as it didn't win the Premier League by accident.

At this stage it's simply a question of whether Mancini can help City regain its form. Also, how long the club is willing to give him.

- from: ESPN Soccernet

[Swales4ever]

What do we actually need to give these players the kick up the arse they need? Like does it need a big player different style off play? I dunno what are your thoughts cause I'm struggling to think what they need, except a massive kick up the arse!

A motivator, someone to make them want to chase every runner in the box, to move for each other and to run through brick walls for each other the way zabba does every game

SparkY.
failing that, Walmai.

[Blue_Manc]

I think we need a defensive midfielder who is solid. Yaya and Barry are like worn out condoms as they are not offering that protection and the defenders who aren't in the best of form are being exposed. I'm not saying we should sign Wanyama but we need someone who can play the role that he played against Barca yesterday. He was very effective

[phips]

im gonna get slated for this...but, a new manager. and to let go of a number of the training staff.
these problems have been there since the beginning of the season and its not been fixed..not even close.

do you honestly think that a complete overhaul of the club (after winning the title for the first time in far too long) will make us better?

i didn't say a complete overhaul. that would require selling the players who have drastically underperformed as well as the coaching staff. in my opinion, the players are fine. yes, mancini led basically the same group of key players to the league title last year, but this year we havent played well at all for longer than a half at most. sure, some players are performing poorly. however, mancini has done fuck all to fix it. nothing has changed from that southampton game where we had to claw back from 3-1 to a promoted side. part of being a manager is managing the team. if yaya fucking toure is underperforming, put his ass on the bench. we have cover, don't we? or why else did we buy rodwell and garcia. by putting the same group of underperforming players out there he isn't fixing the issue. then, apparently nothing is changing in training. we keep conceding from zonal marking and mancini hasn't done anything to fix it. if he has in training and the players aren't doing it in the matches, sit their asses down and teach them a lesson.

as mancini appears to have done none of this..the results speak for themselves...that is why I'm claiming for him to be replaced. by no means am i suggesting we turn into Roman and Chelsea but this just seems like a time to change it; the AVB firing by Roman last season was right--he had lost the team and was doing very very poorly.

[Wooders]

I think its time for the term "mancini lickers" to be introduced

[Dunnylad]

I can't believe some of the comments on this board by so called City fans!! Sack the manager, change the coaching staff??? We're the reigning league champions, I bet some of you wished it hadn't happened, then you could have more fuel to your argument - I'm sorry winning the FA cup & league over the last two years has pissed on your bonfire to some degree, as is currently unbeaten in the league, two points behind the rags - some of you would have sacked Mercer for the showing in '69!! Unbelievable - as for the article I think Mancini is on about experience as a club (not individual players) which equals co-efficient points that would see us in a more favourable pot

[aaron bond]

im gonna get slated for this...but, a new manager. and to let go of a number of the training staff.
these problems have been there since the beginning of the season and its not been fixed..not even close.

do you honestly think that a complete overhaul of the club (after winning the title for the first time in far too long) will make us better?

i didn't say a complete overhaul. that would require selling the players who have drastically underperformed as well as the coaching staff. in my opinion, the players are fine. yes, mancini led basically the same group of key players to the league title last year, but this year we havent played well at all for longer than a half at most. sure, some players are performing poorly. however, mancini has done fuck all to fix it. nothing has changed from that southampton game where we had to claw back from 3-1 to a promoted side. part of being a manager is managing the team. if yaya fucking toure is underperforming, put his ass on the bench. we have cover, don't we? or why else did we buy rodwell and garcia. by putting the same group of underperforming players out there he isn't fixing the issue. then, apparently nothing is changing in training. we keep conceding from zonal marking and mancini hasn't done anything to fix it. if he has in training and the players aren't doing it in the matches, sit their asses down and teach them a lesson.

as mancini appears to have done none of this..the results speak for themselves...that is why I'm claiming for him to be replaced. by no means am i suggesting we turn into Roman and Chelsea but this just seems like a time to change it; the AVB firing by Roman last season was right--he had lost the team and was doing very very poorly.

So we're 3 months into the season, unbeaten in the league and 2 points off the top with a clear gap already opening up between the top 3 and the rest of the league and you want to sack the manager??? Get a grip!

Yes, the Champions League performances haven't been good enough and the players and management need to improve but we're still well in the title race and our league performances have been improving recently.

There is no reason to sack the manager now - none whatsoever. Some of the comments on this forum recently have been nothing short of embarrassing.

[Stannaz1988]

We need somebody who is willing to sit at the back of midfield and just pass to Yaya, silva, nasri, and just defend giving vinnie and nasti more support.... There's only one man for that job and thats de Rossi, he is a must in January, he will take so much pressure off the team

[Hazy2]

We need somebody who is willing to sit at the back of midfield and just pass to Yaya, silva, nasri, and just defend giving vinnie and nasti more support.... There's only one man for that job and thats de Rossi, he is a must in January, he will take so much pressure off the team

Will this be the signing that does not happen, which may lead onto, toys out of the pram, he is good but never ever 30 mill.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

We need somebody who is willing to sit at the back of midfield and just pass to Yaya, silva, nasri, and just defend giving vinnie and nasti more support.... There's only one man for that job and thats de Rossi, he is a must in January, he will take so much pressure off the team

Rossi might well be the answer, in spite of his now advancing age (apart from the Scum, which club in their right mind would pay an arm and a leg for a 29 year old ??) but, in the interim we'll have to find such a player from within our own ranks.

Milner could be well qualified for such a role and, when Micah eventually returns, PabZab could also provide this function. With the value of hindsight, perhaps Big Nige would have been an asset in the situation we now find ourselves, even though he was getting less game time last season, before he left.

The frustrating aspect to my mind, though, is that we never adequately dealt with what I thought was our main problem area last summer i.e. by bringing in a top notch centre-half.

I've mentioned this a few times in the past but make no apologies for repeating it here :- Neven Subotic was the one we should have gone after.

[Nigels Tackle]

a 25 year old steven gerrard

[ashton287]

Drop kompany, drop aguero, drop Balotelli, drop every fucking one.

Play that absolute CUNTHOLE tevez and a load of kids.

[Stannaz1988]

Ageuro needs some new boots

[Ted Hughes]

The player many people thought they were signing when we brought in Yaya, was a world class box to box grafter who would be also like an extra defender when the shit hit the fan, stand in front of the cbs winning everything, clearing important headers from our box, generally boss the team & allow Silva etc to play.

What we got was a world class attacking midfielder who is ok at defending sometimes, hardly ever wins a header in our box & spots defensive danger less efficiently than Mario Balotelli but creates shitloads going forward.

From what I've seen, there currently exists no experienced, quality, player who can athletically go box to box, play out from deep & also protect the defence but there is a 29 year old who can do most of it.

DeRossi will be overpriced but he could, (if he adapts to the Prem) easily still be playing at 35. He has the strength, ability & the knowhow to do it. He could teach people like Garcia & Rodwell (if still here) to become twice the players they are. He can dish out bollockings for the kind of crap we saw v Ajax.

IF he is available, we have to try again. It will mean the end of Barry or Milner or Garcia going straight back out, but that is something we have to accept. We can get Tricky to try & find a youngster to be his successor.


Oh & we need more attacking flair in the mid, but we knew that anyway.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We need to play like we did in the second half against Ajax on a consistent basis.

It's that simple.

[Mase]

a 25 year old steven gerrard

You're not wrong. We definitely need a player who will grab the players by the scruff of the neck during matches. Yaya did it towards the end of last season but so far hasn't cared.

I hate to say it; but if we had a Roy Keane bollocking players we wouldn't get half arsed performances!