have never felt so comfortable...

[Danamy]

I'm still not 100% convinced by RM but that's my thoughts and opinion...........................

I will let you all know when i come out of the closet

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, they're probably the best two wingers not currently at 'big' European clubs. It's a shame we didn't get Ozil, but it was either him or Silva, and I'm delighted we've got David...

Yes I wouldnt switch David for Ozil... I want them both in our team... :) One can wish!

And yes ofc you are right about the wingers... Elia and Sanchez is going soon to big clubs... and hopefully we can get one of them... but there must be more of them out there on the rooster... young hungry as our AJ... I just dont know who...

Someone posted in the thread I started that with a lot of 'pacey' players they really lack the footballing intelligence or technique required to cut it at the top level. Players like Walcott and Lennon, IMO, would never get into a Mancini team at City for that exact reason. It's tough to find wingers who are very quick, but have the technique and end product required to play at the highest level. I heard Udinese want big big money for Sanchez, and I imagine that unless Elia has a release clause in his contract, HSV will want big big money for him too...

 

[gman07]

Therefore from the very start of his time with City, Mancini has tackled the most pressing issue immediately and with great success.

First off the leaky defence - sorted. Next, new players - young,hungry,full of potential - sorted. Next; speed of play and tempo - lacking in the early part of the season - sorted. Next up on the agenda? probably the fine tuning of the squad that we will see in this Transfer Window and the next.

I really like your description here... has really has revamp the whole team one piece at a time... and still with the same mantra we need to improve and work hard... just watched Kidds Leicester interview and he was repeating that mantra several times... I like that... it shows that all know we have more to bring out of our players as you are quoting below!

We have all seen as well the impact of Mancini and the Coaching team on individual players - vast improvements in Zab,Richards and De Jong for instance.

Just dont forget AJ! He really has grown 2 sizes since he came here... awesome development... and more to come!

I like the way that he buys young hungry players that wants to improve and bring them further on instead of buying old and 'set' players... its all about building our team... to build players for the future... not buying ready old players that are set in their ways!

 

[Plain Speaking]

The main Italian managers in the English game, (Mancini, Ancellotti and Capello) are not as effective as they could be because of their lack of fluency. Contrast this with Roberto Martinez who is superb with his language skills. I am not saying its the most important skill but it is a real weakness for those Italians.

Contrast the performance of Mancini, Ancelotti and Capello to Martinez. You actually just disproved your own point.

I dont think so, I think Martinez is doing a good job with the resources he has at his disposal. Martinez has taken the time to learn an additional language that makes him a more effective communicator to his team. Mancini is slowly getting better but he has a long way to go.

 

[gman07]

Yes I wouldnt switch David for Ozil... I want them both in our team... :) One can wish!

And yes ofc you are right about the wingers... Elia and Sanchez is going soon to big clubs... and hopefully we can get one of them... but there must be more of them out there on the rooster... young hungry as our AJ... I just dont know who...

Someone posted in the thread I started that with a lot of 'pacey' players they really lack the footballing intelligence or technique required to cut it at the top level. Players like Walcott and Lennon, IMO, would never get into a Mancini team at City for that exact reason. It's tough to find wingers who are very quick, but have the technique and end product required to play at the highest level. I heard Udinese want big big money for Sanchez, and I imagine that unless Elia has a release clause in his contract, HSV will want big big money for him too...

There are some spanish ones that could really be great... just cant remember their names..
some are in the national team some just below it...

 

[steveb15]

Weird that we have so much positivity when we are in fact GOING BACKWARDS!
Of the 22 games so far, 5 have been against promoted sides leaving 17 which have a result from 2009/10 to compare against.
From these 17 games we have gleaned just 27 points compared with 30 last year!

Slightly adjusting stats to suit an arguement, Ray Charles can see we're not going backwards

I think you are right sir other than I haven't adjusted any stats!
It certainly doesn't feel worse than last year does it?
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Someone posted in the thread I started that with a lot of 'pacey' players they really lack the footballing intelligence or technique required to cut it at the top level. Players like Walcott and Lennon, IMO, would never get into a Mancini team at City for that exact reason. It's tough to find wingers who are very quick, but have the technique and end product required to play at the highest level. I heard Udinese want big big money for Sanchez, and I imagine that unless Elia has a release clause in his contract, HSV will want big big money for him too...

There are some spanish ones that could really be great... just cant remember their names..
some are in the national team some just below it...

Navas at Sevilla and Pablo Hernandez at Valencia are two I can think of, although Pablo doesn't have blistering pace...Navas I believe a lot of big clubs have looked at but he suffers from chronic homesickness and IIRC up until last season didn't even travel to away games!

 

[jay_mcfc]

I doubt we will forever be playing for draws under Mancini against the top teams, maybe he just doesn't have the confidence in our team just yet and thinks it needs a little more time to gel before we take on the big boys? If we only ever play for draws against the big teams then we're asking for trouble IMO, but I doubt that's the long term plan. That said, I think we've only been content to draw in two games - arse away and rags at home.

As for the pace thing, I thought it would be a major problem at the start of the season. Our squad ticks almost every box, but there's a severe lack of pace. Early into the season it became apparent that, like Chelsea, we just don't really play at pace. We're well organised, intelligent and just knock it about and create openings. If we had a particularly fast player in the team I'm not sure we'd use his pace so much. I'd prefer we did play with a bit more pace at times myself. I've also noticed that in the past month or two we've showed early signs of a willingness to catch teams on the counter. I think this is a string that we could really do with adding to our bow, the rags have made a killing out of it

I tell you what Al, you're a bloody good poster on here. The first paragraph especially; you've hit the nail on the head. The way we play in the big games is a bit negative at the moment but then again we have years of catch up on those teams. We've shown in some of the games that 1 we're difficult to beat and 2 we are capable of scoring goals and winning these games when we get the balance right. It's similar to the start of this season when we were perceived to be a negative team. We weren't negative for negatives sake, we were negative because we hadn't quite got it right and many fans could see that whilst others couldn't. Thankfully it seems 95% now see what he is trying to do. Take the game at Arsenal, had we played better in the first ten minutes I very much doubt we'd have been as defensive but as the game panned out that's the way it went.
The acid test for this season if everything goes to plan is going to be at Old Trafford. If we're serious about winning the league then we have to go there and win.

Billy you've posted some sensible stuff in this thread, long may it continue!

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Contrast the performance of Mancini, Ancelotti and Capello to Martinez. You actually just disproved your own point.

I dont think so, I think Martinez is doing a good job with the resources he has at his disposal. Martinez has taken the time to learn an additional language that makes him a more effective communicator to his team. Mancini is slowly getting better but he has a long way to go.

you do realise martinez has lived in this country 15 years right?

 

[Plain Speaking]

i think there is only Tevez who doesnt seem to have tried to learn English. However the best coach around, (Mourinho), is fluent in a number of languages. Apparently United have identified the skill set for Fergie's replacement and fluency in principal languages is rated highly. The main Italian managers in the English game, (Mancini, Ancellotti and Capello) are not as effective as they could be because of their lack of fluency. Contrast this with Roberto Martinez who is superb with his language skills. I am not saying its the most important skill but it is a real weakness for those Italians.

football is not politics mate. nor is as to have to sell ice at the north pole. language skills may be required for politicians and charlatans but the language of football is universal. history is full of winning managers managing in countries which they did not know a word of the language , spalletti this year in Russia as last exemple.

You need language in football at all sorts of different levels. For team tactics you may get away with using an interpretor but to inspire and motivate as the best managers do, it is most effective when people can understand directly what you are saying. Going through a third party interpreter dillutes the effectiveness. I have played team sports at a senior level and a motivating manager can transform ordinary players into extra-ordinary performers through inspirational words. Look at Brian Clough if you want an example.