I said he had 8 games to prove me wrong, I'm sorry but....

[taconinja]

So what you are saying is that over time Mancinis system started to work?

So even great manegers need time?

Mancini hasnt changed anything his footballing philosophy is exactly the same as it was at Inter.

It also helps when we're not using Milner as a winger and Boateng as a RB.

It's taken Milner almost the entire season to find his way back to his natural position.

Because Barry is injured

Plus for a central player, he was certainly on the right side of the field an awful lot.<br /><br />-- Wed May 18, 2011 4:44 pm --<br /><br />

My opinion for what it's worth:

You can look at formations, graphs, diagrams and stats all day long but the one thing that's happened over the last month and made us look better as a team is our mentality in the last third.

We seem to be pressing the ball further up the field (dare i say like Barca) rather than dropping off and letting the opposition have it until they get in our last third.

We also seem to be breaking with pace and switching the ball quicker from flank to flank, instead of taking 3/4 passes to switch flank it's taking 1/2.

This maybe down to us getting a second wind after our Europa exit i don't know but it's something that is certainly making us tick.

Player confidence which I think stems from us winning the semifinal.

 

[Blue Haze]

So what you are saying is that over time Mancinis system started to work?

So even great manegers need time?

Mancini hasnt changed anything his footballing philosophy is exactly the same as it was at Inter.

It also helps when we're not using Milner as a winger and Boateng as a RB.

It's taken Milner almost the entire season to find his way back to his natural position.

Because Barry is injured

Yes, but he should never play as winger. It destroyed his confidence for nearly the entire season. God knows how many points we pissed away with nothing from the right side of the pitch with Milner and Boateng out of position.

Also recall Jo playing as a left forward.

Glad those days are behind us.

 

[City Raider]

i don't know which annoy me more, the total over-reactionary OTT threads asking for everyone to be fed to the baying dogs after a bad run of results or the apology threads for getting it wrong that follow, like we should get on our knees and thankyou for blessing us with your apologies after making life on here a misery for weeks

it's too easy to just say one word 'sorry' and everyone is supposed to forget the torrents of abuse certain players and the manager got

doesnt work for me

 

[Felix Krull]

Roberto > Jose

 

[Danamy]

i don't know which annoy me more, the total over-reactionary OTT threads asking for everyone to be fed to the baying dogs after a bad run of results or the apology threads for getting it wrong that follow, like we should get on our knees and thankyou for blessing us with your apologies after making life on here a misery for weeks

it's too easy to just say one word 'sorry' and everyone is supposed to forget the torrents of abuse certain players and the manager got

doesnt work for me

Tough and ruthless world isn't it?

I can't hear anyone saying sorry to be honest, i will be posting my opinions along with others next season aswell wheather results are going good or bad.

Like a certain manager said...........this is football

 

[stavros]

iv noticed we are pressing the opposition in their own third

rather than conceding posession until they get to our third.

therefore we have to defend less crosses and the opposition have to play it long usually.

well impressed with us lately

long may it continue

 

[Cake]

Re: Re: Re: I said he had 8 games to prove me wrong, I'm sorry b

Yeah, spot on mate that's exactly what I am - I am so negative all the time.

Ask Billy Shears and Didsbury Dave and many others about my constant negativity I am sure they will back you up.

I enjoyed doing several Poznans last night as well but lets not ruin a good theory eh!

I think I saw you do at least 3 Poznans, possibly a 4th! Thoroughly enjoyed meeting you last night FBloke.

I can vouch that he's certainly not a 'moaning ****' as you so eloquently put it.

Ha ha ha you only saw me do Poznans as I was sat behind you ;-)

Mine were of the advanced variety as well as I had one tall guy on one side, but his missus next to me NOT doing it and one short guy the other side bouncing at twice the rate of the tall dude.

Itwasunbelievablejeff

My egg chasing mate wondered what the fuck was happening when the bloke next to him dragged him up out of his seat, spun him round and started singing 'lets all do the Poznan!' and making him bounce up and down, was hilarious!

 

[VOOMER]

Re: Re: I said he had 8 games to prove me wrong, I'm sorry but..

he's done the biggest u turn in football since kaka, he realised we'd win jack shit playing the italian way.
full marks to him for listening to the likes of myself.

as you say he deserves a lot of credit.

Utter garbage.

De niro is spot on. But more likely if was Cook & Khaldoon had a word on his ear after Liverpool.

"Up your game or piss off" or words to that effect.

It's quite obvious to the more perceptive members of this forum that there was an almighty u-turn before the semi.

We just laugh at the "He knew what he was doing" and "We never doubted him" brigade.

geez, you really are full of yourself.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

My opinion for what it's worth:

You can look at formations, graphs, diagrams and stats all day long but the one thing that's happened over the last month and made us look better as a team is our mentality in the last third.

We seem to be pressing the ball further up the field (dare i say like Barca) rather than dropping off and letting the opposition have it until they get in our last third.

We also seem to be breaking with pace and switching the ball quicker from flank to flank, instead of taking 3/4 passes to switch flank it's taking 1/2.

This maybe down to us getting a second wind after our Europa exit i don't know but it's something that is certainly making us tick.

Good post danamy. A lot of this comes from self-belief amongst the players, mainly stemming from the semi final victory . Throw into the
Mix kolo's absence and the partnership between kompany and lescott, which has stopped teams playing against us on the air and scaring us from setpieces. The re-emergence of Richards and aj has helped too and given us width all of a sudden. Yaya has learnt how to play in the hole and has stopped passing backwards and that's given us fluidity. And the biggest blight on the season so far, defending too deep and pedestrian build up play, has nearly gone. Boateng's put the picture and Milner is suddenly not wasting possession in wide areas any more. Hopefully kolorov has been found out at last too.

Very unusually, and very luckily, we emerged into the business end of the season with a full strength squad competing with faltering competitors. That, and the great cup draw, made it something of a perfect storm.

I've loved it, I really have, and credit has to go to the entire squad and management team. Ive said all season on here we are as good as anyone in the division. For the last half dozen games we've started to play to that potential .

Mancini deserves big praise for this because 2 months ago he looked like he'd run out of ideas. There was that weird week where we changed formation, the chairman got involved and dark rumours flew around. We won 5-0 then lost 3-0 and there was a big swing against Mancini in popularity. And then suddenly after half an hour against united it all started to click.

Ill always be grateful to mancini and the lads for this seasons success. But he's still got to maintain this progress next season to convince me he's the man for us in the future.

What I really hope is that this season's success ups his credibility level across the staff and enables him to continue to impose himself on the club. Because I want more trophies ......!!!!!

 

[taconinja]

Dave, I will maintain until it's proven otherwise that Mancini taking full blame in that press conference after the horror show at Anfield had an effect he had struggled to effect the entire time he had been here: He convinced the players he's on their side. They're his team. When he started screaming at them to press higher in the next match (that awesome semifinal) they did something they really hadn't done before... they paid attention and did what he said and pressed higher. They trusted his judgement and it paid off in spades.

This is the belief that someone like Mourinho instills and it was why I kept saying I wanted Mourinho. I think if he can maintain it--and winning that cup goes a long way towards doing that--then we're going places, Baby!