Kudos to Mancini "takes blame for City's Defeat"

[JoeMercer'sWay]

inexcusable.

 

[SWP's back]

Well it wasnt my fault was it.................He needs to explain why he cant motivate the players, they come to City we big reputations and all go backwards under him,we haven had one player that has improved

De Jong, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Toure, AJ, Silva, arguably Tevez

 

[Blue Haze]

It's too bad this guy has no football sense.

I like him so much personally it will be a sad day when he's canned. He has loads of class above twitcher.

I disagree that he should take full blame. The players looked like the mercenaries they get labeled. Hungry for paycheck and little thirst for battle.

 

[Juan King]

For him to say they did not prepare very well for one of the most important games of the season says it all for me. He does not know what he is doing. The players were not "100 %" either, most of the team were very poor last night.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I am in a minority here - but I don't actually believe Mancini believes he made a mistake. I believe it was pure sport psychology. Take the heat off the players by directing attention towards him. And to some extent it's worked. The truth is - he did make mistakes. The players made mistakes. It's called collective responsibility. To merely absolve the players of blame and take credit for it himself is bollocks.

It appeared from the telly that he changed from 4-4-2 to the more typical 4-2-3-1 after Tevez went off, although I'd need that confirmed by someone who was there.

I wonder if he was pressured by Khaldoon to look at the playing style last week, hence the formation change. He stuck with it last night and the midfield got overrun.

So could it have actually been an expression of arrogance: "I made a mistake in not following my instincts"...?

 

[gio's side step]

I am in a minority here - but I don't actually believe Mancini believes he made a mistake. I believe it was pure sport psychology. Take the heat off the players by directing attention towards him. And to some extent it's worked. The truth is - he did make mistakes. The players made mistakes. It's called collective responsibility. To merely absolve the players of blame and take credit for it himself is bollocks.

It appeared from the telly that he changed from 4-4-2 to the more typical 4-2-3-1 after Tevez went off, although I'd need that confirmed by someone who was there.

I wonder if he was pressured by Khaldoon to look at the playing style last week, hence the formation change. He stuck with it last night and the midfield got overrun.

So could it have actually been an expression of arrogance: "I made a mistake in not following my instincts"...?

The absence of De Jong and Silva was ludicrous.

However, the real mistake last night was this. Liverpool are not a technically gifted side (other than Suarez). They are efficient, well coached, and fit. Anfield is perhaps the worst ground in the country to go as an away side - if you start poorly. I am not advocating a cautious performance here. Absolutely not. However, the first 10 minutes should have been about control. Taking the steam out of the game. Not allowing Liverpool to set a high tempo and keep the crowd reasonably quiet other than a few huffs and puffs. We do that by keeping posession, across the back four, into midfield, back again etc, as we did against Utd at Old Trafford, and then when the pass is on, move the ball out wide to Johnson. We rushed this, had poor retention, and allowed Liverpool to dominate the midfield in the first 10 minutes - and subsequently press us extremely high.

That's why De Jong was crucial incase that happened. And Silva because he would have occupied space between the lines, thus making Lucas and Spearing sit deeper - and giving us more space in midfield.

It was a season definining 30 minutes

 

[hgblue]

It appeared from the telly that he changed from 4-4-2 to the more typical 4-2-3-1 after Tevez went off, although I'd need that confirmed by someone who was there.

I wonder if he was pressured by Khaldoon to look at the playing style last week, hence the formation change. He stuck with it last night and the midfield got overrun.

So could it have actually been an expression of arrogance: "I made a mistake in not following my instincts"...?

The absence of De Jong and Silva was ludicrous.

However, the real mistake last night was this. Liverpool are not a technically gifted side (other than Suarez). They are efficient, well coached, and fit. Anfield is perhaps the worst ground in the country to go as an away side - if you start poorly. I am not advocating a cautious performance here. Absolutely not. However, the first 10 minutes should have been about control. Taking the steam out of the game. Not allowing Liverpool to set a high tempo and keep the crowd reasonably quiet other than a few huffs and puffs. We do that by keeping posession, across the back four, into midfield, back again etc, as we did against Utd at Old Trafford, and then when the pass is on, move the ball out wide to Johnson. We rushed this, had poor retention, and allowed Liverpool to dominate the midfield in the first 10 minutes - and subsequently press us extremely high.

That's why De Jong was crucial incase that happened. And Silva because he would have occupied space between the lines, thus making Lucas and Spearing sit deeper - and giving us more space in midfield.

It was a season definining 30 minutes

Here, here. The replacement of De Jong and Silva with Barry and Milner was lunacy.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

I am in a minority here - but I don't actually believe Mancini believes he made a mistake. I believe it was pure sport psychology. Take the heat off the players by directing attention towards him. And to some extent it's worked. The truth is - he did make mistakes. The players made mistakes. It's called collective responsibility. To merely absolve the players of blame and take credit for it himself is bollocks.

It appeared from the telly that he changed from 4-4-2 to the more typical 4-2-3-1 after Tevez went off, although I'd need that confirmed by someone who was there.

I wonder if he was pressured by Khaldoon to look at the playing style last week, hence the formation change. He stuck with it last night and the midfield got overrun.

So could it have actually been an expression of arrogance: "I made a mistake in not following my instincts"...?

Well if he doesnt actually believe he made a mistake( mistakes) then we really do have big problems.

Doubt if it was Khaldoon related but it seemed to me he put more importance on the semi than this game plus he might actually have believed some of the crazy hype about the Sunderland game.Resting key players was just nonsense.

Liverpool did nothing unexpected and yet we were not prepared for it.It didn't help that individually we were poor but tactically we were dreadful.Even when he got a chance to change the plan he actually made it worse by bringing Balotelli on and playing with 10 men.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

It appeared from the telly that he changed from 4-4-2 to the more typical 4-2-3-1 after Tevez went off, although I'd need that confirmed by someone who was there.

I wonder if he was pressured by Khaldoon to look at the playing style last week, hence the formation change. He stuck with it last night and the midfield got overrun.

So could it have actually been an expression of arrogance: "I made a mistake in not following my instincts"...?

Well if he doesnt actually believe he made a mistake( mistakes) then we really do have big problems.

Doubt if it was Khaldoon related but it seemed to me he put more importance on the semi than this game plus he might actually have believed some of the crazy hype about the Sunderland game.Resting key players was just nonsense.

Liverpool did nothing unexpected and yet we were not prepared for it.It didn't help that individually we were poor but tactically we were dreadful.Even when he got a chance to change the plan he actually made it worse by bringing Balotelli on and playing with 10 men.

I don't believe he did "rest" them. De Jong's only played about 3 or 4 games in three months! I think he rotated them which makes it even more ludicrous. Maybe it was some attempt to keep Milner, BArry and Dzecko happy.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

Well if he doesnt actually believe he made a mistake( mistakes) then we really do have big problems.

Doubt if it was Khaldoon related but it seemed to me he put more importance on the semi than this game plus he might actually have believed some of the crazy hype about the Sunderland game.Resting key players was just nonsense.

Liverpool did nothing unexpected and yet we were not prepared for it.It didn't help that individually we were poor but tactically we were dreadful.Even when he got a chance to change the plan he actually made it worse by bringing Balotelli on and playing with 10 men.

I don't believe he did "rest" them. De Jong's only played about 3 or 4 games in three months! I think he rotated them which makes it even more ludicrous. Maybe it was some attempt to keep Milner, BArry and Dzecko happy.

I didn't mean rest in the sense of saving their weary legs but simply they were left out to avoid injuries. Mancini sees them as key to our game and thus wanted to guarantee them not getting injured by "resting them"

A mistake of course.