Better quality players v better organised team.

[Crossie]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

[Ted Hughes]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

Fair comment.

Can you expect Barry & Garcia or Yaya Toure together to play that game against a lively team or do you need more energy? And would Javi Martinez have been any use next to any of those ?

If we are going to play that game, sign the players to play it, not slow or lethargic ones.

[bluej]

I thought the Maicon sub was actually a decent call in terms of the way the game was going. Bring on a winger cum defender and switch Milner into the middle to plug the gap that Silva was leaving all game. Meant we kept the width, but moved an excellent exponent of breaking up the game into a more effective position.

I said before the game that bossing the midfield and preventing supply to the forwards was the one and only way to beat these into submission, but we surrendered the midfield all too easily and it took Mancini far too long to rectify it.

I'd agree had he not just out Milner out there 10 mins prior. He was just confusing them at that stage.

Milner was completely knackered at RWB and Liverpool were starting to exploit that when he brought Maicon on, I thought it was the right move.

[City64]

I agree with the Maicon substitution , he made a difference against a tiring Liverpool defence.

Also when all said and done Liverpools first goal should never ever have been allowed , it was a clear foul on Dzeko . I have watched the incident on Sky several times this morning and it is a clear blatant foul by Agger , he has cleaned Dzeko out from behind and a clear yellow card offence , the linesman is only yards away yet again ...... a fucking joke !!! Gerrards goal it what Gerrard does best . This shit just doesnt happen to the rags ...... get my drift .....

[Sideshow Bob]

This is NOT a Mancini out, thread, this is an honest opinion, that he got bitched tactically by Rodgers.

you're giving too much credit to rodgers imo. dippers always cause us problems and it's mostly due to their workrate (and/or our lack thereof).

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I agree with the Maicon substitution , he made a difference against a tiring Liverpool defence.

Also when all said and done Liverpools first goal should never ever have been allowed , it was a clear foul on Dzeko . I have watched the incident on Sky several times this morning and it is a clear blatant foul by Agger , he has cleaned Dzeko out from behind and a clear yellow card offence , the linesman is only yards away yet again ...... a fucking joke !!! Gerrards goal it what Gerrard does best . This shit just doesnt happen to the rags ...... get my drift .....

The thing that's pissing me off most about this is the angle the media are spinning on it. They are suggesting that the City fans were booing because the ball wasn't kicked out of play, bollox!!!, we were booing, well I was, because of the ref's incompetence in missing such a blatant foul. Instead of having a free kick in a dangerous area and one of their centre backs booked for going to ground from behind we faced a counter attack from which we ultimately conceded. This would piss off any fan.

Btw Dzeko pissed me off too for not playing to the whistle, not the first time either that he's done this and we've conceded, Everton away last season he did the same.

[City64]

I agree with the Maicon substitution , he made a difference against a tiring Liverpool defence.

Also when all said and done Liverpools first goal should never ever have been allowed , it was a clear foul on Dzeko . I have watched the incident on Sky several times this morning and it is a clear blatant foul by Agger , he has cleaned Dzeko out from behind and a clear yellow card offence , the linesman is only yards away yet again ...... a fucking joke !!! Gerrards goal it what Gerrard does best . This shit just doesnt happen to the rags ...... get my drift .....

The thing that's pissing me off most about this is the angle the media are spinning on it. They are suggesting that the City fans were booing because the ball wasn't kicked out of play, bollox!!!, we were booing, well I was, because of the ref's incompetence in missing such a blatant foul. Instead of having a free kick in a dangerous area and one of their centre backs booked for going to ground from behind we faced a counter attack from which we ultimately conceded. This would piss off any fan.

Btw Dzeko pissed me off too for not playing to the whistle, not the first time either that he's done this and we've conceded, Everton away last season he did the same.

Yes , but it was a clear foul and a clear yellow card and Dzeko had every right to stay down , that fuckin linesman pissed everyone off in the first half , in the second he was very very qiuet as if "someone" had had a word with him ! No wonder Dzeko got up and gave him verbals and got a yellow card , he was frustrated as fuck . Again , this shit just doesnt happen to the rags !

[getdressedmctavish]

Maicon was right in front of me. He was excellent and the triangular move up the right with I think Milner and Aguero when Maicon got to the line in their penalty area was only our second quality move of the game. Cant fault Maicon or Mancini on that. The failure was to persevere with an unfit Silva. He was purposefully clobbered in front of me and Taylor didn't even book the perpetrator. Nasri who I dislike should have been on at half time. That was the failure. No wonder he does fuck all 43 minutes later, he's totally pissed off.This is Mancini's talent for pissing players off I'm afraid. Yes Tevez should have been on, but at 70 minutes it would surely have been for a lethargic Aguero so we can't complain about that too much.Overall two flat performances but we are playing slightly better than at this stage last season. I would be astonished if lightening struck twice but I still have great faith in de Gea!

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I agree with the Maicon substitution , he made a difference against a tiring Liverpool defence.

Also when all said and done Liverpools first goal should never ever have been allowed , it was a clear foul on Dzeko . I have watched the incident on Sky several times this morning and it is a clear blatant foul by Agger , he has cleaned Dzeko out from behind and a clear yellow card offence , the linesman is only yards away yet again ...... a fucking joke !!! Gerrards goal it what Gerrard does best . This shit just doesnt happen to the rags ...... get my drift .....

The thing that's pissing me off most about this is the angle the media are spinning on it. They are suggesting that the City fans were booing because the ball wasn't kicked out of play, bollox!!!, we were booing, well I was, because of the ref's incompetence in missing such a blatant foul. Instead of having a free kick in a dangerous area and one of their centre backs booked for going to ground from behind we faced a counter attack from which we ultimately conceded. This would piss off any fan.

Btw Dzeko pissed me off too for not playing to the whistle, not the first time either that he's done this and we've conceded, Everton away last season he did the same.

Yes , but it was a clear foul and a clear yellow card and Dzeko had every right to stay down , that fuckin linesman pissed everyone off in the first half , in the second he was very very qiuet as if "someone" had had a word with him ! No wonder Dzeko got up and gave him verbals and got a yellow card , he was frustrated as fuck . Again , this shit just doesnt happen to the rags !

Sorry, don't agree with him having every right to stay down, play to the whistle even when the ref has fucked up.

[Ted Hughes]

This is NOT a Mancini out, thread, this is an honest opinion, that he got bitched tactically by Rodgers.

you're giving too much credit to rodgers imo. dippers always cause us problems and it's mostly due to their workrate (and/or our lack thereof).

There is some truth in that too, definitely. Not just when chasig the ball either. I noticed one particular time in the first half when Garcia got the ball under pressure from Liverpool but there was an opportunity for a forward pass, unfotunately Silva, Dzeko & Aguero were all stood perfectly still & failed to move the ten yards or so needed to Give Garcia an angle, so back to Nasti or Lescott it goes.

But imo, well put it this way: I knew we would have a problem with Suarez getting between the lines & he plus Sturridge then running at a slowish cb pairing and also people like Gerrard sneaking up behind to pounce on loose balls around the edge of the box in the next phase.

The 20 yards of pitch outside the edge of our box was key to this game; dominate that area & Liverpool are finished.

We were often outnumbered there. Poor poor tactics by Mancini & good organisation by Rogers.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Guess I'm in the minority with the Maicon sub then.

Sorry guys for me Milner looked excellent wide and whether he did ok or not, he's just back from injury and we had Tevez sat waiting to play.

[City64]

I agree with the Maicon substitution , he made a difference against a tiring Liverpool defence.

Also when all said and done Liverpools first goal should never ever have been allowed , it was a clear foul on Dzeko . I have watched the incident on Sky several times this morning and it is a clear blatant foul by Agger , he has cleaned Dzeko out from behind and a clear yellow card offence , the linesman is only yards away yet again ...... a fucking joke !!! Gerrards goal it what Gerrard does best . This shit just doesnt happen to the rags ...... get my drift .....

The thing that's pissing me off most about this is the angle the media are spinning on it. They are suggesting that the City fans were booing because the ball wasn't kicked out of play, bollox!!!, we were booing, well I was, because of the ref's incompetence in missing such a blatant foul. Instead of having a free kick in a dangerous area and one of their centre backs booked for going to ground from behind we faced a counter attack from which we ultimately conceded. This would piss off any fan.

Btw Dzeko pissed me off too for not playing to the whistle, not the first time either that he's done this and we've conceded, Everton away last season he did the same.

Ok i will put it another way .....

Van Pussy could have been killed from that challenge and we would never hear the last of it ..... Edin was taken out , he had every right to stay down expecting a free kick and a yellow card for Agger, the situation was made worse as scouse scored from the incident. This shit just doesnt happen when the rags are involved and rooney always stays down and then tells the ref and linesman to fuck off week in week out and no yellow card !!!!! Dzeko got a yellow though for dissent ! AGAIN one rule for the rags and another for us !

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

You can either press, or find shape when the ball changes hands. Sadly we did neither and got raped on the counter time and time again.

[Hazy2]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

You can either press, or find shape when the ball changes hands. Sadly we did neither and got raped on the counter time and time again.

If the dippers were decent we could have been mullered. The space behind our midfield like against the rags leaves us open to C.A we never had the problem when NDJ was sitting. Shape was all over the shop Sunday. We looked leggy and clueless at times.

[sheblue]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

There was little pressing from us yesterday. We made it too easy for them to come at and go through us. Then we had to defend way too deep. To me it comes down to coaching. When we do get the ball back bar the odd counter were very slow at getting forward. I really would love to see a bit of 'organized pace' in the team, if there is such a phrase to describe it.

[MilnersJaw]

after a good run of form. mancini IMO has made some terrible choices over the last two games. having nasri start for example against qpr, taking off tevez for rodwell etc. and against liverpool, bringing on nasri again with tevez just sat there.

dzeko again, missing all game apart from the goal he grabbed. And if he didn't roll around on the floor like he'd been shot, scouse bastards probably wouldn't have scored.

[Ted Hughes]

Its called pressing and it only works if all 10 outfield players are doing it properly.

You can either press, or find shape when the ball changes hands. Sadly we did neither and got raped on the counter time and time again.

If the dippers were decent we could have been mullered. The space behind our midfield like against the rags leaves us open to C.A we never had the problem when NDJ was sitting. Shape was all over the shop Sunday. We looked leggy and clueless at times.

We did have the same problem when Nige was there, in fact we had the problem v Liverpool, Napoli & Bayern when they beat us last season & when Nige played v Southampton this season.

We are weak tactically as a team in that area when teams have a bit of pace & are well drilled.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Ted, the problems go beyond this game.
We won the league on goal dfference. Since then, we lost two good players and haven't replaced them. We went backwards - or sideways. They signed RVP, massively improving them as a team, it's no surprise they're in the lead.

The main issue is that, winning the league clouded everyones judgement and we all forgot about our (sometimes blatant) weaknesses of last season. We still moved the ball too slowly last season at times, were wasteful in and around the box etc. None of these issues were adressed. Defensively we're the same but we've gone backwards offensively.

You watch them play, they move the ball twice as quick as we do, spread the play and flood the box.
We seem intent on walking the ball into the net.

[phips]

I think this thread kind of touches on the gripe I've had with Mancini.

Football is not just about buying the best players at each position from all over the world and
assembling a super squad that turns into insta-winning. not even close. our current problems
will not be fully solved by acquiring Cavani or Falcao. They surely weren't by acquiring Aguero
last year.....yes, those guys are banging in the goals. well, they're in different, weaker leagues.
but, football is about having an organized team with good communication and some skilled players
without..not necessarily all world class players.

so, Mancini doesn't need to go out and blow 50m euros on Cavani. he needs to work on the organization
and tactics of the squad. the solution to losing isn't just to buy buy buy.

[Ted Hughes]

Ted, the problems go beyond this game.
We won the league on goal dfference. Since then, we lost two good players and haven't replaced them. We went backwards - or sideways. They signed RVP, massively improving them as a team, it's no surprise they're in the lead.

The main issue is that, winning the league clouded everyones judgement and we all forgot about our (sometimes blatant) weaknesses of last season. We still moved the ball too slowly last season at times, were wasteful in and around the box etc. None of these issues were adressed. Defensively we're the same but we've gone backwards offensively.

You watch them play, they move the ball twice as quick as we do, spread the play and flood the box.
We seem intent on walking the ball into the net.

We have always had problems defensively against that kind of play imo. It's just that we haven't seen so much of it domestically, more in europe. Now the Premier League is learning.

Imo we need both Mancini to up his game to the next level, & the club to bring in several top players.

I think both will happen.