Manchester City close on Pellegrini (merged)

[hallstreetblue]

If Mancini is to be replaced in the summer then it has to be for somebody at the very pinnacle of their career, somebody who could walk in and demand instant respect with the players and the press who have spent most of Bobby's reign mocking him for one reason or another - for me there aren't many available who can do this. Klopp has made no real noises about leaving Dortmund, Pep has already gone elsewhere and Heynckes is too old to be considered anything but a stop gap.Only Mourinho has that aura who's looking for a new job, and as everything we see and read leads him to anywhere but here it seems daft to rock the boat and bring in somebody who, whilst obviously being a very good manager in his own right doesn't come close to the man who we already have in charge.
Mancini has done enough to keep his job for the next year. A second place finish and FA Cup win will only cement that.

You can't disagree with that but there's one huge assumption in there which, if incorrect, renders it logically perfect but essentially meaningless.

I count about 3 assumptions but i'll happily go along with the first 5 words of your post. ;-)

Heynckes too old? Third successive year in a CL final with Bayern. Granted the first year wasn't exactly all his doing. However, this time round it's all credit to him and the way he can motivate a group of multi millionaires. He's won the league by a huge margin, is in the DFB cup final and to top the lot, is in the CL final and his team scoring 7 without reply, against apparently the best footballing side in the world. I respect your opinion, however, have another think.

 

[blueparrot]

We emulate the ***** across the road. Sit deep, lure into a false sense of security and confidence and hit them on the break with quick counters and score. United have made a trade on it for years.

And how many more trophies, and how much better in Europe has that got them in the last 2 years.

And before that?
.

How is before 2 years ago relevant to the discussion

 

[inchy14]

We emulate the ***** across the road. Sit deep, lure into a false sense of security and confidence and hit them on the break with quick counters and score. United have made a trade on it for years.

And how many more trophies, and how much better in Europe has that got them in the last 2 years.

And before that?

Too many to respond to at the moment and I'm packing up at work in minute so will carry on tomorrow.

In short when we are teams camping out a change of tactics should be deployed. Counter attacks win games, see Napoli v us last season for example.

The way we play is great don't get me wrong but when teams have no ambition and look to survive its a drab affair trying to score. Reading, QPR, Sunderland, Everton etc. United have shown a blueprint on how to beat these teams and that's stretching play and beating on the break.

If teams came to play there'd not be a problem, thing is the league has many ambition-less teams who look to survive each season. To consistently win leagues we have to prepare for such teams and circumstances. We currently don't have the players to do so hence why many call for quick wide men.

Just my take, not saying I'm bang on the money. Football = opinions. As I said, its something we need to solve because its something we will continue to be troubled by otherwise.

They lost to Everton, an own goal won it for them at Sunderland, conceded 4(?) at reading and a 1 in a million goal won it at QPR, they've conceded loads of chances in these games as well as others, Southampton, Villa, with their style of football and if these teams had finished better they'd have dropped more points, they're wide open in every game. We're not apart from 1 or 2 games when we know we've underperformed.

 

[lust overlord]

@Nipholmes,

Can I get your thoughts on a couple of stats mate if you wouldn't mind.

You say Mancini is a defensive manager yet we scored 93 goals last season, the third highest tally ever in the PL.

We have created more chances this season than last according to Opta.

We play the majority of our games in the opposition's third of the pitch.

Not very defensive is it?

As for chances created, it's about quality of chances! Normally when we have 'play' we have a box full of opposition players and we look for an intricate defence splitting pass for Sergio to latch on to.

Having possession in another teams half is a good thing but not when their team is camped out there limiting us to long strikes. When this happens it is best to then sit deeper yourself and then stretch play with counters, by doing so more space is opened up and we will then have abetter chance to score because we won't be facing as many defenders.

-- Tue May 07, 2013 3:59 pm --

That's where I question you, you lack of understanding.

We can beat any
team if they turn up to play against us. If a team comes to us looking for a result then we can 'turn it up' with our play. It's when they come to defend a point and snatch a possible 3 points we struggle.

BTW United won v us at home, we were lucky to draw v Liverpool if not for Skrytel, Chelsea got a draw and had reasons to feel hard done to in FA Cup and Arsenal hold their own v us normally and went to 10 men against us at their place hence we cruised.

Why did Chelsea have reasons to feel hard done by in the FA cup,we smashed them to bits for 3/4 of the game and should've been 5-6 up .

A game finishes after 90 mins + stoppage. They had it 2-1 and should've had a penalty in all honesty. That may have made it 2-2, game on at this point.

Didn't happen though did it.
As I've said already we should have put the game to bed long before Ba's goal.
Strikers and Midfielders picking the wrong option........That'd be Mancinis fault then.

 

[George Hannah]

I know it was only one game, but I went to the Malaga v Atletico Madrid game and I don't recall a single attempt on goal (by either side) in the whole 90 minutes!!!!

If you were a top class club looking for a new manager and you'd gone to the City v Wigan game recently you'd have signed Martinez rather than Mancini.

and a few years before Christian Gross and Juande Ramos looked good too....

 

[bluemoon27]

give it a rest

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I think this thread is the ultimate expression of grass is greener syndrome.

And you know how you make grass greener of course ;-)

Paint it? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9907169/China-officials-caught-spray-painting-grass-green-in-Chengdu.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... engdu.html</a>

That's a typical socialist trick of applying the same simplistic solution to all blades. Spend lots of public money and ensure all blades conform to the same standard.

The good old free market solution is to allow those blades to compete for the available resources by giving them the tools to do so at minimal cost and leaving it up to them. If one blade happens to be greener than another then that will give the others something to aspire to and they have the opportunity to do so.

 

[adrianr]

Why swap our PROVEN winner of a manager for one who isn't? Askin'.

Like many foreign owners it seems like ours is quite interested in European competitions. And, if anything, Mancini is a proven failure in Europe, with us and Inter.

In that case we should get in Rafa. At least he's actually won the damn thing.

 

[M24-CRC]

Why swap our PROVEN winner of a manager for one who isn't? Askin'.

Like many foreign owners it seems like ours is quite interested in European competitions. And, if anything, Mancini is a proven failure in Europe, with us and Inter.

Whereas Pellegrini has a glowing CV.
You have utterly avoided addressing Danny's post by stating the bleeding obvious.
So how is Pellegrini an upgrade on Mancini, exactly?

after 40+ pages of assumptions/opinions or bullshit as it is known, i'm looking forward to seeing Nips answer to this...........no opinions though Nip, only facts please.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Why swap our PROVEN winner of a manager for one who isn't? Askin'.

Like many foreign owners it seems like ours is quite interested in European competitions. And, if anything, Mancini is a proven failure in Europe, with us and Inter.

In that case we should get in Rafa. At least he's actually won the damn thing.

I keep saying, like you have a one-day captain in crcket and then a different test captain, we should have a domestic manager and a European one. Rafa is ideal for the latter job.