Prestwich_Blue
Well-Known Member
As much as I've criticised Mancini, this is correct. He took us up the level we needed to be successful domestically. I suspect there is an element of sour grapes in what Given says but there's a very large element of truth as well. Mancini was an abrasive character who didn't believe in the 'arm round the shoulder' approach. Given's comments about his approach to injured players also rings true as Mancini fell out with and sacked Dr Batty. Batty stood up to him over injured players and it's almost certainly no coincidence that we had our best ever injury record while Dr Batty was here.
That continually abrasive and confrontational approach doesn't lend itself to longevity. It works for whipping under-performing squads into shape but you need more than that to deliver longer term success. But whipping the squad into shape was what we needed in 2010 and that's what he did.