Forget Recriminations, how do we sort this mess out?

[gaudinho's stolen car]

What's this, Tolm?

Mancini is directly quoted in most of the match reports today. Including broadsheets...


Mancini: "I didn't like the way we played but then we have not even worked well in training."


WTF - this is the biggest topic of concern for me. A manager who, for whatever reason, seems to concede we are not in it together.

Is there a "together" between "worked" and "well" that I have missed? All he seems to be saying here is that training hasn't gone as well as he would have liked. More fool him for his honesty when there are so many vultures around.

Who needs the fucking gutter press when we have fans to do the job.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It's one of my stock sayings but the art of a good manager is to:

1) make an average player into a good player,
2) make a good player into a great player,
3) make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

That's certainly what baconface has done for the last 20 years, what managers like Mercer, Shankly & Mourinho have done and what Ian Holloway is currently doing at Blackpool.

We've currently got some good players but too many are playing beneath themselves and we're certainly not more than the sum of our parts. Money might help accelerate the 3 processes above but it doesn't make them happen in itself.

But who do you blame? Should the manager have sole responsibility for getting it right or should the players (most of who are experienced internationals) be telling him that they don't think we're training properly or what we're doing doesn't suit the style of the players we have? Or are they just going through the motions even if they don't buy into it, which then reflects in their performance on the pitch?

The thing that strikes me is that when our defence was solid, the midfield stayed much closer to them, making it difficult for teams to break us down but also making it more difficult for us to be a more fluid attacking force. We got it right against Villa (at home) Fulham & West Brom (away) but as we try to become more expansive, the defensive solidity has gone. We're actually back to pretty much the same point we were under Hughes but without the same range of attacking options.

Perhaps the answer for the rest of the season is to go back to the more "negative" style and try to snatch 1-0 wins until we crack this conundrum of how to attack without exposing the defence.

 

[mancity1]

I am not too concerned about what Mancini says in post match interviews to be honest.

He basically says the same thing in different order only and has done from day one mainly because his grasp of the English language is to put it mildly poor.

We have to improve , we have to work harder , this is football, its the same if we win lose or draw to be frank.

We are 13-7-5 to date and I agree we have dropped of the boil in recent times and we need to arrest a growing trend of school boy errors in defense and lack of intensity and driving the advantage home when we have a lead as well as being able to score when we concede first which we managed to do more successfully last season.

We probably given the rub of the green should be 13-10-2 and I wonder if we were that whether the hysteria we have on the forum today and every day we do not win would be of the same level.

His remark about it being his fault for the performance and we have to train harder or are not training hard enough or well enough is again a line he uses and has used before in an attempt to answer a question he doesn't really understand the thrust of being is being asked.

You would have noticed all the interviewers struggle with Mancini and they make for poor interaction and information gathering because of his ordinary communication skills when answering in English.

He is not a wordsmith like some other managers but shows by example in training more to the point.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Mancini is directly quoted in most of the match reports today. Including broadsheets...


Mancini: "I didn't like the way we played but then we have not even worked well in training."


WTF - this is the biggest topic of concern for me. A manager who, for whatever reason, seems to concede we are not in it together.

Is there a "together" between "worked" and "well" that I have missed? All he seems to be saying here is that training hasn't gone as well as he would have liked. More fool him for his honesty when there are so many vultures around.

Who needs the fucking gutter press when we have fans to do the job.

Do me a favour, mate.

This quote is a direct one from the manager. You can't make City fans accountable for whatever he utters.

Fact is, the quotes are in TODAY'S gutter press, not anybody alerting them to the fact.

More fool Mancini, as you say, but an even bigger fool, perhapd, for selecting players who have not performed in training.

Which should tell us where the power is in the game today.

 

[jay_mcfc]

I really don't know. There have been subsequent leaks of bids for players from Lakuku, Larsson, a Belgian winger (name escapes me) Patore et al.

Just seems our usual proactiveness in this area was left to a day of panic.

I really don't believe the new rules have any bearing whatsoever.

Sure, we are actively trying to demonstrate that year-upon-year our spend will decrease.

But our plans to combat it aren't short-termism, and certainly not at the expense of being hamstrong in the marker any time soon.

Cheers for that, it feels very strange to me. It seems like we went into the Jan transfer window with just the intention of signing Dzeko but then we didn't change our plans after injuries, replays and outgoing players. To spend so much on a squad and have to play the likes of Vieira and Jo is baffling but hopefully it shows the owners and the manager that we cannot rest on our laurels and it is going to take more money and more players to turn us into the force we all want to be.

 

[Blue Tooth]

Mancini is directly quoted in most of the match reports today. Including broadsheets...


Mancini: "I didn't like the way we played but then maybewe have not even worked well in training."


WTF - this is the biggest topic of concern for me. A manager who, for whatever reason, seems to concede we are not in it together.

From memory the interview I heard had him using the word maybe( i have inserted above for clarification)...as in...'to be honest with you i am scratching my head a bit over this too'
Obviously my interpretation.
A quick scan of all the interviews available online and I cannot find one that verifies your quote word for word..Can you post a link so I can hear it from Mancini's lips?

 

[gaudinho's stolen car]

Is there a "together" between "worked" and "well" that I have missed? All he seems to be saying here is that training hasn't gone as well as he would have liked. More fool him for his honesty when there are so many vultures around.

Who needs the fucking gutter press when we have fans to do the job.

Do me a favour, mate.

This quote is a direct one from the manager. You can't make City fans accountable for whatever he utters.

Fact is, the quotes are in TODAY'S gutter press, not anybody alerting them to the fact.

More fool Mancini, as you say, but an even bigger fool, perhapd, for selecting players who have not performed in training.

Which should tell us where the power is in the game today.

You made "we have not worked well" into "we have not worked together well".

I know you know the difference between the two, and because of your status and the current climate on this forum the cat is now amongst the pigeons. Shameful.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

14 games pre Leicester in FA Cup ......Goals conceded 7

6 games post Leicester.......Goals conceded 11

There is the problem

Mancini needs to find the answer.

That may have to include dropping Dzeko to the bench especially in the away games. He isobviously talented but we dont play to his strengths. He has certainly disrupted out play and we have clearly become weaker at the back. For now perhaps home games and cup games might be the answer for him.

 

[jay_mcfc]

It's one of my stock sayings but the art of a good manager is to:

1) make an average player into a good player,
2) make a good player into a great player,
3) make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

That's certainly what baconface has done for the last 20 years, what managers like Mercer, Shankly & Mourinho have done and what Ian Holloway is currently doing at Blackpool.

We've currently got some good players but too many are playing beneath themselves and we're certainly not more than the sum of our parts. Money might help accelerate the 3 processes above but it doesn't make them happen in itself.

But who do you blame? Should the manager have sole responsibility for getting it right or should the players (most of who are experienced internationals) be telling him that they don't think we're training properly or what we're doing doesn't suit the style of the players we have? Or are they just going through the motions even if they don't buy into it, which then reflects in their performance on the pitch?

The thing that strikes me is that when our defence was solid, the midfield stayed much closer to them, making it difficult for teams to break us down but also making it more difficult for us to be a more fluid attacking force. We got it right against Villa (at home) Fulham & West Brom (away) but as we try to become more expansive, the defensive solidity has gone. We're actually back to pretty much the same point we were under Hughes but without the same range of attacking options.

Perhaps the answer for the rest of the season is to go back to the more "negative" style and try to snatch 1-0 wins until we crack this conundrum of how to attack without exposing the defence.

I like number 3 on your list and totally agree with that.

The problem for me is that player between defense-midfield-attack; we don't have one. I've said it time and again but until we sign a Gerrard/Fabregas type player we will always be struggling for balance. For me we play De Jong holding, Yaya as the attacking midfielder then bring someone else in because Milner and Barry are not good enough for the other midfield role.

 

[mancity1]

Is there a "together" between "worked" and "well" that I have missed? All he seems to be saying here is that training hasn't gone as well as he would have liked. More fool him for his honesty when there are so many vultures around.

Who needs the fucking gutter press when we have fans to do the job.

Do me a favour, mate.

This quote is a direct one from the manager. You can't make City fans accountable for whatever he utters.

Fact is, the quotes are in TODAY'S gutter press, not anybody alerting them to the fact.

More fool Mancini, as you say, but an even bigger fool, perhapd, for selecting players who have not performed in training.

Which should tell us where the power is in the game today.

He said he was responsible for the showing which to put some liberty of verbage license to his sentence was a performance that he believed was below par another one ofwhich he said has continued to be below the standard required of City and required to challenge for homours for some weeks now.

The reality is we have played worse than that this season and won but "this is football" and of course have played worse than we played last night and got the same result.