Mancini or Pep era?

[Bill Walker]

Probably would have said Pep before this season but being so far behind Liverpool and Peps seeming inability to sort out the defence and a propensity to buy dodgy defenders for big money has led me to lean towards Bobby.
I must admit also to a persistent annoyance that he kept Sane on the bench too many games last season and his seeming reluctance to play Phil Foden regularly
Ripping that banner down meant so much.

 

[skiddypants]

Watching the older games whilst lockdown.
We now dominate games and squeeze them up and look very comfortable on the ball.
Looking back more exciting but not looking as in control.
Hard to say though when different players in the team.

 

[Coatigan]

Both amazing periods but Mancini brought all the "firsts" and had the bollocks to step to the scum and give them a kicking when they were top dog.

He broke barriers and blazed trails like no one has ever done for this club.

Playing wise I prefer Pep's style.

Imagine if we could combine Pep's attacking brilliance with Mancini's stoic "clean sheet" mentality. What a side that would be.

Both excellent but the Mancini era shades it for me.

Not ALL the firsts.

Not the first domestic sweep, first 100pt season, (that nobody has ever done before btw), some 20 odd records set, plus with a year left and this one seemingly resumed, might yet get our first champions league to add to the firsts. Not to mention the football we've seen, and the resilience in one if the closest contests seen.

I know what you mean though.

I find this thread fascinating, and how extreme (and selective) the ends of the spectrum can be. I get that it is an emotional preference mostly, but then trying to justify that with numbers and conclusions is when it gets messy.

I love Mancini. I loved his era. But he is also the one that angered me most. Because he bloody had it all, could really have built a proper dynasty, and (yes partly dice were stacked against him too) he just couldn't stop one little aspect of his personality getting in the way of it.

 

[eversince 76]

I’m just happy to have lived through the first 12 years of the Sheik Mansour area. It brought an area that I never thought I’d see at my club.

Mancini was great and had a streetboys fighting image. Pellegrini was a gentleman and the perfect step towards the Pep-area. Pep only needed to put cherries on the cake, but made the cake better than anything baked before.

 

[BrianW]

I admire Pep, in fact I'm in awe of him. I think he is a rare genius.

OTOH, I loved Mancini, for all his faults.

It's a Head v Heart match and the score is 1-1 at half-time.

 

[BringBackSwales]

Pep wouldn’t have developed the Kompany and Zabaleta Mancini inherited - he’d have just bought replacements. I have a feeling John Stones’ under Roberto would have become the complete defender, rather than the regressed £50m flop he is today.

Mancini took over a club in a much stronger league - the United dynasty were still getting to European Cup finals, Chelsea were in the best ever era with genuine world class talent like Terry, Lampard, Cech, Cole, Deogba etc; Arsenal has Fabregas, Van Persie......even Tottenham had Van Der Vaart, Modric, Bale. It was a genuinely elite league, and he conquered it.

Pep came here on the back of Leicester winning it, then a relatively poor Chelsea team that broke the points record for a season, and has now been eclipsed by a dubious Liverpool team that was on course to accrue a points total that exceeds those set by us and Chelsea, with a first 11 that would have gotten anhialated by their 2008 team of Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Gerrard, peak Torres that never won a trophy due to the strength of the competition.

If more points have been acquired by a raft of mediocre teams around our title wins, it ultimately exposes a collective lack of quality in the league, and puts Pep’s achievements into perspective - especially when you factor in the unprecedented depth of quality he’s been able to stockpile.

I was never a big Pellegrini fan, but when you look at his record of 1 title in 3 compared to Pep’s 2 in 4, with significantly worse players, thene even he deserves more respect; would Guardiola have done more with Navas, Fernando, Javi Garcia, Mangala, Negredo etc? I’m not sure.

Mancini redefined the club, and his victories felt like achievements, whereas Pep’s were inevitabilities due to the circumstances.

Bobby era, then the Eriksson season for me - in terms of synchronicity with the club, the characters on the pitch, and most enjoyable match-going experiences.

Hmmm first post May 20, and in less than 20 posts you have slagged off Pep, Raheem, Ederson (several times), Stones, Rodri, Fern, Gundogan, our entire scouting system, and even described Phil Foden as “raw and naive”. Get back to the swamp cafe sniff fucking sniff

 

[alexmcity]

Mancini's team is one of the greatest City teams.

Pep's team is up there with the greatest English teams and may become the greatest ever in August. It will take time to appreciate Pep's achievements. He doesn't get some fans and some fans don't get him.

 

[franksinatra]

Ladies and gentlemen, exhibit one in the "I used to like City when they were shit cos it made me feel cool by association in my own mind and then a manager came along who made us into winners and I, for one, will never forgive him for that"

People can and do have differing opinions on Mancini, and all of our managers, but to my mind it is IMPOSSIBLE to be a city fan and have any animus towards him. Hughes yes, for sure. Coppell, Ball, Clarke, yes absolutely. Several others, yes of course. But tell me how, as a city fan, you can have any bad feeling towards the manager who won us the first trophies of many of our lifetimes? And before you play the "he was horrid to the players and the man who washes their underwear " card , if that is your yardstick who appointed you as the arbiter of acceptable behaviour?

Have a listen to vinny talking about the 2012 team. In fact any of that team talking about themselves as a group. The consistent message is that there was a first class team spirit throughout the whole club.

Mancini turned us from a 40 year laughing stock into a team that every team in England feared and did so in record time. Without mancini there is no pep at city.

Yes, but the Aguero moment will always be tainted knowing poor chappy never got a high five and a hello in the corridor the next day.

 

[Damanino]

We brought in Pep to deliver us the CL which Mancini and Pelle was unable to do for many reasons.
Now I am not sure Pep will be able to deliver CL for City given he had 3 years to sort out defence and he still couldnt and when it comes to CL high pressure games in later stages every defensive mistake is punished and that will cost us imo again.

 

[alexmcity]

We brought in Pep to deliver us the CL which Mancini and Pelle was unable to do for many reasons.
Now I am not sure Pep will be able to deliver CL for City given he had 3 years to sort out defence and he still couldnt and when it comes to CL high pressure games in later stages every defensive mistake is punished and that will cost us imo again.

Pep's a flop then, couldn't deliver what he was supposed to.