Did Mancini put his own CV ahead of City's interests?

[persvenality cult]

Isn't it bizarre how the Mancini supporters on here shift the goalposts with such regularity?

I remember going to West Brom for the Carling Cup game and was absolutelky furious that I had shelled out £120 to watch us fail dismally.

But, I was assured, that it was for the best! We had to reduce our involvement in Cup games because finihsing top 4 was the be all and end all of our season.

Similar comments were made when we slid out of the UEFA cup.

Yet now, surprise surprise... we need to rest players in the vital league games because there's a chance of a Cup trophy!

You really could not make this up!

Some posters on here are about as consistent as Yaya Toure...

How on earth does a decision made in the run up to a wembley semi-final against our deadly rivals equate to a decision made in the run up to a second round carling cup game against WBA?

One is the biggest game for years, the other isn't.

It's not changing the goalposts, it's just common sense.

 

[Bigga]

Even WITH De Jong and Silva we haven't mustered a win away from home in 2011. I don't see why we would have won at one of the toughest grounds in the country anyway. I reckon Mancini thought we wouldn't win with the current system why not try something different and rest two important players for a huge game in 5 days.

This, in a nutshell.

I mean, hasn't Our Nige accrued a dangerous amount of yellows? Wouldn't he have missed the semi if he'd gotten one in the Dipper game?

As for Silva, Tévez was always a suitable replacement, whilst Edin was due a start against a seemingly weak defensive back line.

 

[howfen blue]

I remember going to West Brom for the Carling Cup game and was absolutelky furious that I had shelled out £120 to watch us fail dismally.

But, I was assured, that it was for the best! We had to reduce our involvement in Cup games because finihsing top 4 was the be all and end all of our season.

It worked, we beat Chelsea the following Saturday, that was the reason for playing the kids in the Carling Cup match. It wasn't about reducing the involvement it was a calculated gamble to try and get the best of both worlds. It's what Wenger and Ferguson do in the early rounds of the Carling Cup every season, sometimes it pays off sometimes it doesn't.

No it didn't we lost and went out the cup that FUCKING BIRMINGHAM ended up winning!!!!!

 

[m27]

Even though it pains me to say it, you don't hear the Govan pisscan complaining either that they have a game every 3 days.

And they still manage to carry it off.

It's down to mentality and unfortunately we don't the positive mental attitude to carry us through.

Spot on.

At this stage of the season we should be playing our BEST team every time.

No need for rest or rotation, it's down to the wire and every player should now be up for it. As well as the manager...

His thinking has become scrambled again and he no longer has conviction in his own decision-making.

Many saw his admission of guilt as refreshing. I didn't. I now see a man doubting himself probably for the first time in his entire life.

Extremely worrying at this stage of the season.

 

[persvenality cult]

No it didn't we lost and went out the cup that FUCKING BIRMINGHAM ended up winning!!!!!

I prefer to think of it as the cup that FUCKING ARSENAL ended up losing ;)

 

[Soulboy]

Isn't it bizarre how the Mancini supporters on here shift the goalposts with such regularity?

I remember going to West Brom for the Carling Cup game and was absolutelky furious that I had shelled out £120 to watch us fail dismally.

But, I was assured, that it was for the best! We had to reduce our involvement in Cup games because finihsing top 4 was the be all and end all of our season.

Similar comments were made when we slid out of the UEFA cup.

Yet now, surprise surprise... we need to rest players in the vital league games because there's a chance of a Cup trophy!

You really could not make this up!

Some posters on here are about as consistent as Yaya Toure...

How on earth does a decision made in the run up to a wembley semi-final against our deadly rivals equate to a decision made in the run up to a second round carling cup game against WBA?

One is the biggest game for years, the other isn't.

It's not changing the goalposts, it's just common sense.

The principles are the same.

Management is about prioritising. Mancini has to prioritise the Top 4 place. A Cup is a bonus.

Even beating the rags will not be good enough if we fail to get top 4. So he should have played his strongest team against Liverpool... or were you happy that he didn't and we lost because of it?

Even worse is that he cocked up the Liverpool game... and then we lose to the rags as well!

Now that would be fucking ludicrous management. One game at a time at this stage of the season, involving your best team each time.

 

[persvenality cult]

Spot on.

At this stage of the season we should be playing our BEST team every time.

No need for rest or rotation, it's down to the wire and every player should now be up for it. As well as the manager...

Isn't it odd that every single manager makes these decisions? Fergie didn't pick his best team for the Fulham game or the Chelsea game.

The truth is that what we call tiredness is probably the lack of no more than the final 5% of a player's energy level. But it's enough to make all the difference at such a high level.

 

[AdamManCity]

Ohhh please you just have to take one look at his face during the game and listen to his post match interview to tell that this isn't the case, will people stop getting on his back we have a derby semi final at wembley in 72 hours now get behind the manager!!!

 

[Soulboy]

Even WITH De Jong and Silva we haven't mustered a win away from home in 2011. I don't see why we would have won at one of the toughest grounds in the country anyway. I reckon Mancini thought we wouldn't win with the current system why not try something different and rest two important players for a huge game in 5 days.

This, in a nutshell.

I mean, hasn't Our Nige accrued a dangerous amount of yellows? Wouldn't he have missed the semi if he'd gotten one in the Dipper game?

As for Silva, Tévez was always a suitable replacement, whilst Edin was due a start against a seemingly weak defensive back line.

Yeah, would have been terrible had de Jong got another booking in the Liverpool game.

So why bring him on as a sub then?

 

[Joycee Banercheck]

I don't think it was a CV building exercise. I think he just fucked up.

I'm still waiting to see if we play for a draw on Saturday.

 

[m27]

This, in a nutshell.

I mean, hasn't Our Nige accrued a dangerous amount of yellows? Wouldn't he have missed the semi if he'd gotten one in the Dipper game?

As for Silva, Tévez was always a suitable replacement, whilst Edin was due a start against a seemingly weak defensive back line.

Yeah, would have been terrible had de Jong got another booking in the Liverpool game.

So why bring him on as a sub then?

Precisely.

It was like Wolves away all over again. He completely lost the plot.

 

[howfen blue]

No it didn't we lost and went out the cup that FUCKING BIRMINGHAM ended up winning!!!!!

I prefer to think of it as the cup that FUCKING ARSENAL ended up losing ;)

haha it really frustrates me how people come out with "it's only the league cup" but at the end of the day there is only so much silverware available so why throw an oppurtunity away?? And this resting players at Liverpool when the lads hadn't played for 8 days and then bringing them on when the game was already lost beggars belief imo.

 

[Boff]

he took a calculated risk, unfortunately his calculations were wrong.

 

[TFC]

I just think he underestimated Liverpool, nothing more sinister than that.

 

[moomba]

We are going to need to rotate our team if we're going to successful in multiple competitions. Every top team does it.

I was pissed off when we lost in the league cup, but managers don't ever have a decent defence when the risk doesn't pay off. But if we had beat Liverpool (as the 11 out there were more than capable of doing) and rested the likes of Silva and De Jong it would have been a masterstroke.

It didn't work, and Mancini will rightfully cop it for it.

But it doesn't make rotation wrong.

 

[persvenality cult]

The principles are the same.

There are no 'principles' here. It's risk and reward. The loss hasn't damaged our hopes of fourth THAT significantly. We're strong favourites. A win would have been great news but the chances were slim, because we had players with one eye on the cup and Liverpool had absolutely nothing to lose. Selecting De Jong might have made a big difference but it might well not have. If he'd pulled a Tevez we'd be going into the game with that same midfield duo. And it's a ONE-OFF GAME. How hard is that to understand? We have 6 more cracks at securing top four. We have only one chance at getting to the final.

Management is about prioritising. Mancini has to prioritise the Top 4 place. A Cup is a bonus.

In the real world management is always about balancing priorities.

Even beating the rags will not be good enough if we fail to get top 4. So he should have played his strongest team against Liverpool... or were you happy that he didn't and we lost because of it?

Even worse is that he cocked up the Liverpool game... and then we lose to the rags as well!

It would be horrible. But the truth is we'd still be in a hugely strong position with 6 games left to secure fourth.

Now that would be fucking ludicrous management. One game at a time at this stage of the season, involving your best team each time.

But no manager with cup and league targets EVER does this!

 

[law1974]

Mancini has not got a clue about setting up a team for any match. He has got it wrong on so many occasions this season already and Liverpool was another example. If he stays he really needs help, move over Brian Kidd and welcome Butch Wilkins. He would be a real asset.

 

[Bigga]

This, in a nutshell.

I mean, hasn't Our Nige accrued a dangerous amount of yellows? Wouldn't he have missed the semi if he'd gotten one in the Dipper game?

As for Silva, Tévez was always a suitable replacement, whilst Edin was due a start against a seemingly weak defensive back line.

Yeah, would have been terrible had de Jong got another booking in the Liverpool game.

So why bring him on as a sub then?

Cos it's less likely that he would have been booked when he's under to the strict instruction not to get himself into trouble, especially when there wasn't long left on the clock.

So, essentially it was a run out and to prevent a higher goals against margin.

 

[GStar]

Good point.

So why change the philosophy and drop star players for the vital league games to try and win a less important Cup game?

We really do have to stop defining ourselves in terms of beating the rags...

We didn't... that game was no more or less important than the other 38 of the season.

We don't seem to be able to grasp the concept that we are a 'team'... therefore we should be able to rotate certain players and still perform.

Silva and De Jong have both been injured this season and we've won without them.

Infact, you really are looking at thigns very one sided. Since when was an FA Cup SF final at Wembley just another game to define as 'beating Utd'?

 

[persvenality cult]

This, in a nutshell.

I mean, hasn't Our Nige accrued a dangerous amount of yellows? Wouldn't he have missed the semi if he'd gotten one in the Dipper game?

As for Silva, Tévez was always a suitable replacement, whilst Edin was due a start against a seemingly weak defensive back line.

Yeah, would have been terrible had de Jong got another booking in the Liverpool game.

So why bring him on as a sub then?

The amnesty has been and gone since our previous game, thus a booking wouldn't have meant a suspension. Still, a red card or injury would have been dreadful.

I really don't know what he hoped to gain from bringing him on but it's reasonable to say that in the last 30 it's extremely unlikely that he would get sent off, injured, or run himself too hard.