Mancini confirms what I always knew.

[Rammy Blue]

I find it staggering that people are even discussing whether we will make 4th or not.

We will breeze top 3.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I find it staggering that people are even discussing whether we will make 4th or not.

We will breeze top 3.

I certainly hope so, Rammy.

But I wouldnt be "staggered" that it's even being discussed.

There are no "Gimmes" with City. Never have been. Probably never will be.

You know that....!

 

[FEEDHIMGARY]

whilst id obviously like us to be a little more attack minded... playing ade and tevez together would suggest 442... be it a diamond or flat 4 midfield. Either way i dont think we are suited to this and doesnt get the best out of the majority of our players.

 

[Manc in London]

Mancini cannot win.

Even if he wins the league with City, some of our fellow fans would say "So he should have, after spending all that money".

What a pile of paranoid dogshit, mate, if you don't mind me saying.

Of course he can fucking win.

If we won the league every City fan I know would be ecstatic. He'd never have to buy a pint again. He'd be given the freedom of the City of Manchester. I would actually carry a picture of him around in my wallet and name my next son Roberto. I don't know a single City fan who wouldn't feel the same. In fact I don't belive there is another City fan out there (except perhaps Colin Schindler) who wouldn't feel that way.

LOL No offence taken.

Yes, the fans would be very happy, ecstatic and delerious. But some, albeit a small minority, would hold the view that the only reason Mancini won the league as City manager was because of the money spent by the club, not because of his coaching ability. It’s inevitable.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I find it staggering that people are even discussing whether we will make 4th or not.

We will breeze top 3.

I certainly hope so, Rammy.

But I wouldnt be "staggered" that it's even being discussed.

There are no "Gimmes" with City. Never have been. Probably never will be.

You know that....!

In years gone by, Dave, I would have agreed with you however not now.

I think Chelsea, Arse and scum will struggle to maintain any momentum as the season drags on especially with the chumps league to contend with in the new year.

We will be fine.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

What a pile of paranoid dogshit, mate, if you don't mind me saying.

Of course he can fucking win.

If we won the league every City fan I know would be ecstatic. He'd never have to buy a pint again. He'd be given the freedom of the City of Manchester. I would actually carry a picture of him around in my wallet and name my next son Roberto. I don't know a single City fan who wouldn't feel the same. In fact I don't belive there is another City fan out there (except perhaps Colin Schindler) who wouldn't feel that way.

LOL No offence taken.

Yes, the fans would be very happy, ecstatic and delerious. But some, albeit a small minority, would hold the view that the only reason Mancini won the league as City manager was because of the money spent by the club, not because of his coaching ability. It’s inevitable.

If we do win the league it will because of both those factors but the overriding one, of course, would be the money.

Without that it would never ever happen.

But it would still be an achievement by the manager to mould the players into a winnign team. That's his challenge.

 

[persvenality cult]

Both Chelsea and Arsenal built teams on solidity, no doubt. But they got forward in numbers and went out to win games, then shut up shop.

I can accept us grinding out results, I said on here after the Liverpool game "Expect lots of 1-0s this year".

But there's a time to send a team out not to concede and a time to send a team out to win. I hope that's the balance we get.

Sure, I think it needs some work.

The point I'm trying to communicate to people is that Mancini's philosophy, as far as I can tell, is 'not conceding, and keeping the ball, gives you the best chance of winning any football match'.

From that perspective, there is no difference between 'sending out a team not to concede', and 'sending out a team to win'. The two go hand in hand, just as they do for Mourinho, and countless others.

It's just a case of balancing, how much we need to do to stop the opponent from scoring, and how much we need to do to score.





On the topic of Benitez, I'm not a fan, but I feel I have to defend him a little.

I firmly believe he failed to win the league because he always made progress in the Champions League an absolute priority. You'll notice, one season without it, and they are in turmoil.

His Liverpool team made poor starts because he saved his best players for later in the season. Having his best players fresh in the Quarters and Semi's gave him a big advantage over teams going for the league. Liverpool lost 'easy' games because he would send out any rubbish the weekend before a CL fixture.

 

[simon23]

If he gets top 4 then he has done well

I am still waiting to see a run of games where we actually go out and attack teams from the start and take the game to the opponents....his tactics are restricitve to the players wew have at our disposal...Im hoping once he has a fully fit squad he will change the way he plays......

He now has ade fit along with tev..will he start two upfront against blackpool????????....i cannt see any reason not to as the team that was playing the last 15 mins against newcastle (before viera came on) was the most positive ive seen from RM....now id like to see him start with that team....if he does then he will get my support but the longer he goes on playing the one striker on his own the more and more people will criticise his approach and imho rightly so

it seems there are two groups of fans and they are ones who want to win at all costs (and they are the ones that support RM) and then there are people like me who want to see us win with attractive football which we believe we are capable of playing but arent. Its nto that these people necessarily want RM gone (i certainly dont) but we do want t see a better brand of football...which we certainly are capable of playing (and i believe the likes of tevez also believe this!)...but at present we arent playing (the first half vs newcaslt was pretty drab and theere have been numerous performances like that since RM took over

As usual I agree with most of that, Simon.

However, my issue with the cautious tactics is not because I want to see us win with style (although of course it would be lovely).

My concern is that in our league cautious, safety first tactics won't work well enough to get right to the top.

I want to win at all costs, to be honest, but I doubt that we'll get enough wins with 3/4 defensive midfielders on the park. Especially in a team with no pace.

Will he play 2 up front v Blackpool? I don't believe he will.

i agree...playing like we do will carry the risk of freak results like sunderland (last minute goal) and the blackburn game (freak goal).....we hadnt done enough to win either of those games before the opponents scored and then were incapable of winning them due to the way we are set up after they had scored (in the blackburn game)...people will point to the tev miss vs sunderland but strikers miss goals sometimes (even the most simple tap ins)...we should be creating enough clear cut chances to score that where those misses happen we dont suffer as we will get one in the end...that isnt happening at present

 

[johnny crossan]

Both Chelsea and Arsenal built teams on solidity, no doubt. But they got forward in numbers and went out to win games, then shut up shop.
I can accept us grinding out results, I said on here after the Liverpool game "Expect lots of 1-0s this year".
But there's a time to send a team out not to concede and a time to send a team out to win. I hope that's the balance we get.

Sure, I think it needs some work.
The point I'm trying to communicate to people is that Mancini's philosophy, as far as I can tell, is 'not conceding, and keeping the ball, gives you the best chance of winning any football match'.
From that perspective, there is no difference between 'sending out a team not to concede', and 'sending out a team to win'. The two go hand in hand, just as they do for Mourinho, and countless others.
It's just a case of balancing, how much we need to do to stop the opponent from scoring, and how much we need to do to score.
On the topic of Benitez, I'm not a fan, but I feel I have to defend him a little.
I firmly believe he failed to win the league because he always made progress in the Champions League an absolute priority. You'll notice, one season without it, and they are in turmoil.
His Liverpool team made poor starts because he saved his best players for later in the season. Having his best players fresh in the Quarters and Semi's gave him a big advantage over teams going for the league. Liverpool lost 'easy' games because he would send out any rubbish the weekend before a CL fixture.

This seems a fair response to a fair point.

 

[simon23]

If he gets top 4 then he has done well

I am still waiting to see a run of games where we actually go out and attack teams from the start and take the game to the opponents....his tactics are restricitve to the players wew have at our disposal...Im hoping once he has a fully fit squad he will change the way he plays......

He now has ade fit along with tev..will he start two upfront against blackpool????????....i cannt see any reason not to as the team that was playing the last 15 mins against newcastle (before viera came on) was the most positive ive seen from RM....now id like to see him start with that team....if he does then he will get my support but the longer he goes on playing the one striker on his own the more and more people will criticise his approach and imho rightly so

it seems there are two groups of fans and they are ones who want to win at all costs (and they are the ones that support RM) and then there are people like me who want to see us win with attractive football which we believe we are capable of playing but arent. Its nto that these people necessarily want RM gone (i certainly dont) but we do want t see a better brand of football...which we certainly are capable of playing (and i believe the likes of tevez also believe this!)...but at present we arent playing (the first half vs newcaslt was pretty drab and theere have been numerous performances like that since RM took over

What about the people who want to win 'at all costs', support Mancini and actually enjoy the football we're playing at the moment? I love watching teams who dominate possession and can keep the ball and keep probing until an opening comes while keeping it as tight as possible at the back and we're sort of trying to get into that way of playing based on what i've seen so far this season. I'm not a firm believer of going all out attack from the off as you can leave yourself exposed, i much prefer a patient way of playing. Theres times when i feel Mancini can be a little more attacking and chance things sooner but overall i've been quite impressed by the way we've gone about our business on the pitch so far this season

The problem with a lot of fans is that if we're not a goal ahead early doors they start getting impatient and any misplaced paces are met with sighs and negative comments, whereas i think you need to realise that you don't always have to score early because playing possession football means the opponants will be doing a lot of work off the ball and come the second half they're more than likely to be tired and more chances will come. Football is not as easy as just setting your team up to attack and expecting it all to click, theres got to be a certain degree of patience both from the players and the fans

well if thats the type of football that floats yor boat then fair enough...btu its not some peoples and ive been watching football long enought to have seen many different ways of playing....i much prefer watching the arsenal style of football that watching the style of football we are playing at present...and i prefered watching some of the football under KK than watching the SP style......i thought Sven had a nice balance in the first half of the season and i liked MH attackig approach but he couldnt defend to save his life which was very frustrating

i dont think its the possession football that people get frustrated with...i think against teams like chelski, uts and other very good teams people will accept that...but against the likes of newcastle, blackburn et al....we should be going for themm and letting them worry about us.....thats the way that lot down the road have done it for years (home or away) and it has been the most successful formula in football for years...yes they play on the break sometimes (but we cannt even do that at present) btu in the most they go out and hammer teams into submission(or at least they use to)...they use to create a bucket load of chances and eventually would score....even if a team put all 10 men behind the ball

at present when teams come to us and set up to defend as many do, then we struggle cause we dont have the creativity to break them down...we have 3 players inthe middle of the park while not all completely defensive, none of them can either be called fully attacking...though yaya is playing that role (and he aint that good at it to be honset)...all 3 of them often leave tev and the other two attacking players very very isolated.