Forget Recriminations, how do we sort this mess out?

We have Aris coming up and they are in poor form right now... worse than ours! Not sure if it will matter come match day but they lost in their "Stadium of Hell" a few days ago.

Tue 04/01/11 SUL Aris 1 - 0 Kavala
Sat 08/01/11 SUL Panathinaikos 1 - 0 Aris
Sun 16/01/11 SUL Aris 0 - 2 Panionios
Sun 23/01/11 SUL Ergotelis 0 - 0 Aris
Sun 30/01/11 SUL Aris 0 - 0 PAOK
Sat 05/02/11 SUL AEK vs. Aris
Sat 12/02/11 SUL Aris vs. Olympiakos Piraeus
Tue 15/02/11 UEL Aris vs. Manchester City
Sat 19/02/11 SUL Atromitos vs. Aris
Thu 24/02/11 UEL Manchester City vs. Aris
 
Great thread, lots of debate, little sniping....ahh, it's like the Bluemoon of old...

(That's a joke before anyone gets offended!)

For me right now it seems that the overriding issue is that we have issues in each part of the team.

At the back we have full backs who for the most part seem to struggle. As a unit the back four aren't anywhere near as cohesive as they were earlier in the season. My opinion, this is due to far far too much 'rotation'. We don't have a natural partner for Kompany.

Midfield - well, where do I start. Picking 3 players for their 'defensive' qualities in a midfield trio. Not saying they are all sent out as 'defensive midfielders' but ultimately, their primary qualities are strength and work rate. Why not let Silva occupy the 'attacking' midfield role? Answer in the next section...

Attack. Asking 3 attacking players to do the job of 4 because our full backs aren't good enough to make up the extra man means you rely on the spectacular. Think about how many goals Carlos has scored from nothing in games - allowing 'the system' to then revert to 'contain', so we pick up points. People still lampoon him as being greedy, yet without him we have absolutely no goal threat right now.

Dzeko. Wide left? Yeah, get fucked. Not having that. If the mark of a Mancini player is a robot who'll happily go and stand on the left wing and do fuck all except keep his shape and be a target in the air ala Jo then frankly I'm concerned. Dzeko/Tevez is a partnership waiting to happen, but for it to happen a system has to be put into place. Shoehorning him into the existing system in the hope that his touch/technique/aerial ability is good enough for him to do damage from the left is clutching at straws. Okay, I accept it's more fluid than that, but fuck me he spent a lot of time on the left against Villa.

Anyway, that's what I think is wrong. I remember after the derby starting the "Italian Benitez" thread and getting fucking lampooned for it - and yet it feels just like that. Square pegs in round holes, strikers as wingers, an inability to kill teams off, a system which it seems doesn't suit some players.

Ah well, watch us go and smash West Brom and the rags and be back to talking about the title. That's how fine the margins are though - just as they were last season...
 
BillyShears said:
Great thread, lots of debate, little sniping....ahh, it's like the Bluemoon of old...

(That's a joke before anyone gets offended!)

For me right now it seems that the overriding issue is that we have issues in each part of the team.

At the back we have full backs who for the most part seem to struggle. As a unit the back four aren't anywhere near as cohesive as they were earlier in the season. My opinion, this is due to far far too much 'rotation'. We don't have a natural partner for Kompany.

Midfield - well, where do I start. Picking 3 players for their 'defensive' qualities in a midfield trio. Not saying they are all sent out as 'defensive midfielders' but ultimately, their primary qualities are strength and work rate. Why not let Silva occupy the 'attacking' midfield role? Answer in the next section...

Attack. Asking 3 attacking players to do the job of 4 because our full backs aren't good enough to make up the extra man means you rely on the spectacular. Think about how many goals Carlos has scored from nothing in games - allowing 'the system' to then revert to 'contain', so we pick up points. People still lampoon him as being greedy, yet without him we have absolutely no goal threat right now.

Dzeko. Wide left? Yeah, get fucked. Not having that. If the mark of a Mancini player is a robot who'll happily go and stand on the left wing and do fuck all except keep his shape and be a target in the air ala Jo then frankly I'm concerned. Dzeko/Tevez is a partnership waiting to happen, but for it to happen a system has to be put into place. Shoehorning him into the existing system in the hope that his touch/technique/aerial ability is good enough for him to do damage from the left is clutching at straws. Okay, I accept it's more fluid than that, but fuck me he spent a lot of time on the left against Villa.

Anyway, that's what I think is wrong. I remember after the derby starting the "Italian Benitez" thread and getting fucking lampooned for it - and yet it feels just like that. Square pegs in round holes, strikers as wingers, an inability to kill teams off, a system which it seems doesn't suit some players.

Ah well, watch us go and smash West Brom and the rags and be back to talking about the title. That's how fine the margins are though - just as they were last season...
Click to expand...

title's gone, it was never really there 2bh, people just got carried away.
 
This mess, the fact we are 3rd? I am staggered we have done so well to get where we are.

We haven't learnt one lesson of anyone building and sustaining a winning team.

The owners have been here 3 transfer window, we have had 2 managers, we have had a huge turnover of players, we have changed the academy, we have changed seats, we have even changed a whole stand of people.

Can anyone actually understand it will be another 2 seasons before we can sustain a consistant season long challenge for top spot.
Ferguson took years. Wenger walked into a winning team and has won nothing for 5 years, Ranieiri built Chelsea up into a top 4 team before Mourinho moved it on. Liverpool changed things and imploded.

It took 6 seasons of Xavi reguarly playing before Barcelona saw regular league titles.

We as City fans give it 3 matches.

Its a joke.

We have a young team that will gell over the next 2 years when they will all enter their mid twenties. At that point they can challenge for trophies and have had the time needed to understand, implement and show how a team, like Utd lacking in so many stars can overcome the likes Us, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spuds as they have had the time required.

Nani 24, 4 years. Rafael 20, 3 years. Park 29, 6 years. Anderson 22, 4 years, Evra 29, 6 years, Gibson 23, 6 years, Dletcher 27, 9 years even Evans, 23, 5 years.
Throw in the experience of van der Saar, Camelgob, Vidic, Scholes, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney, Hargreaves and Carrick.
The next set is beginning Valencia, Chica, Smalling, Baby, Lindegaard ad those fuckers will be winning something before ours, because they have learnt the art of consistancy, patience and continuity.

I cant think of anyone bar Richards who has been here 5 years. Who do the kids learn from, the revolving door manager or revolving door first team?

We are currently sat 3rd, IF everyone pulled together we can do this, but we wont because its far easier to blame and moan.
 
How many Bluemooner's reading this thread would have taken third in the league..(With fifth placed several points behind) at this stage of the season way back in August?

BUT, the writing is on the wall, and our defence needs to wise upquickly.....we are far too sloppy defending set pieces..Plenty of work needed at Carrington on this.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Our form has dipped alarmingly since Christmas. We're conceding goals. Teams have worked out how to play us. We're not winning enough. Our confidence has dipped alarmingly.

Forget about recriminations, what do we do right now to sort it out?

I think it's time for radical action because this season is far from over.

Joe Hart is going to have to be taken out the firing line and be replaced with Shay Given. He's cost us too many goals. He's a great keeper but his confidence is shot to bits. Get him in the reserves and let him get back to where he was.

Never ever pick Jo or Vieira again. It is unbelieveable to me that either of these two are even in our squad. Surely the manager has to admit this mistake and get them out of the firing line.

Look at the formation. The 4-2-3-1 isn't working well enough. We're too narrow and aren't getting enough balls into the box. The problem is we haven't got the wide men to go 4-4-2. However I think we should look hard at it and build our bridges with SWP. Silva's good enough to play wide left drifting in, with Kolorov overlapping.

Work incessantly defending setpieces. Bring back Lescott to partner Kompany.

Work at attacking setpieces. Lescott also adds to this.

DO what it takes off the field to bring some unity and confidence back to the camp. Have a "let's have it out" session. Do some bonding work. Get them fired up again. MAybe going all out to thump Sunderland will do some good.

Also, I think the Sheikh needs to be having a few strictly off the record discussions behind the scenes with a few people who are otherwise engaged. Purely as a precaution of course.
Click to expand...

Sack Mancini and bring in the guy who should have been here in the first place - The chosen one.
 
Mancini is a con

Right, I fully expect to be bombarded by the 'facepalm' and 'utter shit' brigade but this is my opinion and here goes...

Mancini is a con, his tactics and substitutions are absolutely baffling, his work in this January window was poor at best, he knows we need back up in some positions but didn't act.

He treats cups like they don't matter...we've won fuck all for 35 years yet he sets us up for an upset vs Notts and Leicester...luckily we didn't lose these games, but it could have easily happened.

The West Brom away game was a complete disgrace...enough said, we don't need to go into detail.

Our defending is set pieces is awful and our set piece taking is piss poor, yet he doesn't sort this out, with evidence backing this up by him saying 'we don't train hard enough' or something along those lines.

I honestly believe we won't win anything under this guy but he wears a club scarf and is a pretty slick fella so people fall for it.

Before anyone calls me a shit fan, I was at the game last night and I attend most games.
 
BillyShears said:
Great thread, lots of debate, little sniping....ahh, it's like the Bluemoon of old...

(That's a joke before anyone gets offended!)

For me right now it seems that the overriding issue is that we have issues in each part of the team.

At the back we have full backs who for the most part seem to struggle. As a unit the back four aren't anywhere near as cohesive as they were earlier in the season. My opinion, this is due to far far too much 'rotation'. We don't have a natural partner for Kompany.

Midfield - well, where do I start. Picking 3 players for their 'defensive' qualities in a midfield trio. Not saying they are all sent out as 'defensive midfielders' but ultimately, their primary qualities are strength and work rate. Why not let Silva occupy the 'attacking' midfield role? Answer in the next section...

Attack. Asking 3 attacking players to do the job of 4 because our full backs aren't good enough to make up the extra man means you rely on the spectacular. Think about how many goals Carlos has scored from nothing in games - allowing 'the system' to then revert to 'contain', so we pick up points. People still lampoon him as being greedy, yet without him we have absolutely no goal threat right now.

Dzeko. Wide left? Yeah, get fucked. Not having that. If the mark of a Mancini player is a robot who'll happily go and stand on the left wing and do fuck all except keep his shape and be a target in the air ala Jo then frankly I'm concerned. Dzeko/Tevez is a partnership waiting to happen, but for it to happen a system has to be put into place. Shoehorning him into the existing system in the hope that his touch/technique/aerial ability is good enough for him to do damage from the left is clutching at straws. Okay, I accept it's more fluid than that, but fuck me he spent a lot of time on the left against Villa.

Anyway, that's what I think is wrong. I remember after the derby starting the "Italian Benitez" thread and getting fucking lampooned for it - and yet it feels just like that. Square pegs in round holes, strikers as wingers, an inability to kill teams off, a system which it seems doesn't suit some players.

Ah well, watch us go and smash West Brom and the rags and be back to talking about the title. That's how fine the margins are though - just as they were last season...
Click to expand...

We wont 'smash' anyone - we're not potent enough. As for beating the scum.........dream on. We rely on Gareth Barry for christs sake!
 
Re: Mancini is a con

mcfcliam said:
The West Brom away game was a complete disgrace...enough said, we don't need to go into detail
Click to expand...

Apart from the small detail that we won 2-0.
 
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