Defeat I can accept but a lack of effort not.

[Bluekiwi]

A few minutes after Dzeko scored we were in the Cardiff penalty area playing tippy tappy across the six yard box trying to walk the ball into the net. All it needed was a shot at (and in the) goal and Cardiff would have been sunk. Instead they equalised and then we all knew what was going to happen next - defeatism.
Directness in front of goal should be number one priority.

 

[sk3ptical]

Yesterdays result had nothing to do with lack of effort. Application was the issue.

I also think it's really easy for it to seem like there's a lack of effort when teams play as deeply as Cardiff did. There's simply fuck all space to run into, therefore not as much dynamic running as supporters like to see.

it as nothing to do with lack of effort how fast can we play when a team park the bus it just look like the players are not putting in the effort but just look at how we play when we play a open game with the bigger teams

 

[Britpop95]

I don't think you can throw in the 'lack of effort' accusation to a bunch of predominantly foreign players who don't quite understand the English game where "getting stuck in" is a supporter pre-requisite. They play/coach an alternate style of football which at times is going to come unstuck.......it'll be the downfall of City quite a few times this season in my opinion.

From a technical perspective the squad have quality all across the board and can out-football most but Cardiff showed us all how that extra bit of 'Bulldog spirit', that physical presence and arguably that extra pride/passion is going to cause issues.

I was going to say it's the cold and wet January weekday evening fixtures that might be the ultimate test of resilience but after losing to Cardiff on a warm weekend i'm starting to get a little concerned that perhaps the title is heading elsewhere already.

2 games though, know what I mean? The season has only begun so no need to start throwing darts at Pellegrini pictures!

 

[fathellensbellend]

we have a right winger, now lets get a left winger. We are the only team that suffers the same problem away from home nigh on every game.

It defies belief that a teams like Cardiff can continue getting wins off city, just by defending the edge of their own box.

I was amazed at the lack of homework we did on sunday, but I also thought we didn't earn the right to win, there felt like a distinct lack of desire.

what makes it more frustrating is that teams like Cardiff will adopt the same tactic at our place, and we will stick 4 or 5 past them.

 

[Stockton Heath Blue]

I can accept defeat, lord knows we've had so many down the years but what I can't accept is the predictable manner we allow it to happen time after time in these types of games. After losing to Wigan in the Cup Final when the general consensus was we lost the game due to the turmoil surrounding Mancini's apparent behaviour towards the players, the directors Soriano and Begiristain, Marwood and the transfer kitty, Vicky the Press officer, Stephen Aziz the ex-kitman, Rose the tea lady and no doubt Dave, John, Carol and Lucy from in the City store, I really thought we wouldn't see these types of performances again, or should I say at least not for a few months more until no doubt some of our precious footballers ego's had taken a kicking again.

I really don't go along with this ''lets wait ten games until Pellegrini gets his style of football across' because let's be honest here we are not inventing the wheel. And for the record I have no agenda against Pellegrini this is more to do with the attitude of our players. So yes I'll happily go along with having a degree of patience for the new style to knit together and I'm prepared for the team to need to have some time to understand what is being asked of them and at times I would guess it could look a little disjointed but I have no doubt players of this calibre have played many various styles before and should adapt quicker than for arguements sake the Cardiff players who would have been also working on new formations like 'parking the bus' compared to their more attacking style of last season which earned them promotion. They seemed to have managed it extremely well yesterday.

We have arguably the best squad in the Premiership, a squad full of world class players, internationlas in every position and whilst I accept over the next few months our style will change from Mancini's what I cannot accept is that these players are not clever enough or capable enough of putting in at the very least a performance showing motivation, tempo, urgency, passion and style and if we happen lose then at least we've done so with a degree of pride in our performance. The resulting defeat I can take and well done to Cardiff but it's the manner of our defeat and the complete lack of interest up until the 92nd minute when we could and should have scored two goals that makes it all the more frustrating that had we showed that effort much earlier then I feel we would have put the game to bed and would have been able to coast a little more towards the end. An all too familiar trait carried over from last season when at least they could use Mancini's abbrasivness as the excuse.

The style of football will change but the commitment and effort should be the very least given in every game.

Over to you Manuel.

i agree with some of your points but I think it has to be tempered with the fact that we were without our main CB pairing - still not convinced with Garcia as a CB and Lescott needs a leader next to him. This and the fact that Joe Hart should have been better on 2 crosses. I know it's all if's, buts and maybe's but it would have panned out differently if we had properly defended all 3 goals. Cliché I know, even though it's the same 11 v 11, on the same grass pitch, it's funny how the mindset can change from home to away games but that's football and City for you!