Mancini: Fight Fire With Fire!

[whydelilah]

Ok, fair enough.

I question whether you can match us in those areas though.

Based purely on our last 2 matches.

What about the game before those two?

Ding a ding ding ding...

You beat us.

That was when Hughes was in charge though, was it not?

You now have Mancini……things change….

 

[SWP's back]

In regards to “mentality”, Barry said something along the lines of “there was a lot at stake” as reasoning why the match between you and Liverpool was very flat, without many chances etc.

I don’t know about you, but as a fan I’d be expecting a lot more from my team. He’s basically saying “there was too much at stake, we were scared to lose the match or go for it”.

I know that’s not what he said but that’s how it comes across. There are 4 teams vying for that 4th spot and no one has stepped forward yet as the most likely to go for it and grasp it.

At home against Liverpool was a big chance for you to send out a message of intent to the rest and a chance to put a decent cushion between you both. As it turned out, you (or Liverpool) never really went for it and if I was a fan id be really disappointed with that.

Like I say, not trying to wind you lot up, just giving a viewpoint from the outside looking in.

Appreciate your input and viewpoint but you are throwing a lot of stones from that glass house of yours. I watched Pompey v Stoke and that was an awful game that by rights, you should have lost.

As a fan, I would have also been dissappointed with that. But I do not go onto your forum and tell you that. Neither team is playing great at the moment but you must remember that you are dealing with fans of a club that was fairly similar in terms of ambition (3 or 4 seasons ago) to your own team. You are telling me that if you drew at home with Pool and were level on 4th but wioth a home game in hand, that you would be upset or dissappointed?

 

[SWP's back]

What about the game before those two?

Ding a ding ding ding...

You beat us.

That was when Hughes was in charge though, was it not?

You now have Mancini……things change….

Hmm, good and very cunning point apart from one little bit. Mancini was in charge. Other than that, 10/10 for effort.

 

[Mr Rich]

I think if we cut of the supply of Snickers to Fuller we might be OK.

 

[whydelilah]

In regards to “mentality”, Barry said something along the lines of “there was a lot at stake” as reasoning why the match between you and Liverpool was very flat, without many chances etc.

I don’t know about you, but as a fan I’d be expecting a lot more from my team. He’s basically saying “there was too much at stake, we were scared to lose the match or go for it”.

I know that’s not what he said but that’s how it comes across. There are 4 teams vying for that 4th spot and no one has stepped forward yet as the most likely to go for it and grasp it.

At home against Liverpool was a big chance for you to send out a message of intent to the rest and a chance to put a decent cushion between you both. As it turned out, you (or Liverpool) never really went for it and if I was a fan id be really disappointed with that.

Like I say, not trying to wind you lot up, just giving a viewpoint from the outside looking in.

Appreciate your input and viewpoint but you are throwing a lot of stones from that glass house of yours. I watched Pompey v Stoke and that was an awful game that by rights, you should have lost.

As a fan, I would have also been dissappointed with that. But I do not go onto your forum and tell you that. Neither team is playing great at the moment but you must remember that you are dealing with fans of a club that was fairly similar in terms of ambition (3 or 4 seasons ago) to your own team. You are telling me that if you drew at home with Pool and were level on 4th but wioth a home game in hand, that you would be upset or dissappointed?

Our game against Pompey was poor. I don't deny that; I always thought it would be a scrappy game.

The point I mentioned before was "mentality" though, not quality of foobtall. You play much better stuff than us, are much higher than us and are a million years ahead of us also. Thats to be expected with the amount of money you have spent though. We can't compete on that front. What you spent on Lescott covers the majority of our outlay since gaining promotion.

Back to the point though; mentality. When we went down to 10 men against you at The Brit we still fought on and went for the win (and had it not been for Riley's incompetent decision, we would have got 3 points). The same at Pompey. We went down to 10 men yet carried on going and earned the 3 points.

I dont disagree with you about our play at times, it is poor. I hope and expect it to improve though if we have a few years in this league and invest in better players. That will take time; we don't have a Billionaire to speed that process up. Not that I'm complaining, I'm quite happy with the way we're moving along, especially in recent years.

The point I was making with regard to your match against Liverpool was the negative and disappointing approach you took. I don't know whether that comes from your manager or the mentality of your players but I think that should have been a game you approached in a much more positive attitude.

WD

 

[whydelilah]

You beat us.

That was when Hughes was in charge though, was it not?

You now have Mancini……things change….

Hmm, good and very cunning point apart from one little bit. Mancini was in charge. Other than that, 10/10 for effort.

I stand corrected

 

[bluwes]

We've played you 3 times so far this season, remind us all who has the best results so far ??

We're not as easy to beat either as you seem to be thinking, we've lost just 5 in 35 games (all competitions).

We don't see you as easy to beat. We all know that you've got some fantastic players and are getting to the level where on your day, you can dole out a good thrashing on any team. However, at home we don't really have any reason to fear anybody after last season, when only Chelsea really cruised past us. The other thing is that you seem a bit like a mini Arsenal - that visage of attacking, passing football with a dodgy spine that we could utilise to transform you into halfway-line tippy tappy merchants. Can you say that in your last two games at Stoke, you've had it easy, or that you've even been the better team? Even with ten men we were still able to give you a very good game. We know that we're very likely to lose, but are hoping that if we can get right up you, we can snatch a result. We should have done it last week, we can still do it this week. Walton is the referee while he hasn't put in any particularly bad performances against us, he always seems to preside over heavy Stoke defeats. Bad omen.

Now, who wants a bet on the Stoke player to be dodgily sent off, as is the norm in games against you?

Thats it then, we might as well just let em have the game now cos we have no chnace with him in charge after his performance against the Bin dippers on sunday.

The only saving grace is he watched the video of the game and realised wahat a t**t he made of himself

 

[SWP's back]

Hmm, good and very cunning point apart from one little bit. Mancini was in charge. Other than that, 10/10 for effort.

I stand corrected

Fair play, I nearly hit send after writing good point until I realised it was Mancini's first game.

As for your point about awful ref-ing and us not going down to 10 men. It works both ways, on Sunday Pool should have been one man down atleast and we should have had a penalty.

Pompey scored a perfectly good goal against you that was dis-allowed and Fuller was lucky to stay on the pitch.

These things happen in football so there is little point in keep bringing them up. Especially as we have Peter Walton tomorrow so you will get most decisions as the guy hates Man City and his last two or three performances officiating out games have shown (now look - you have made me do what I said there is little point in doing.

 

[Tricky_Rici]

I only read the first six pages but thought it would be worth reminding everyone that a draw followed by extra time and a penalty shoot-out starring the best shot-stopper in the Premiership might not be a surprising outcome. After all, Poke and City have drawn 10 league games each, the highest number in the division.

Got a feeling you may just be right with this one mate.

Having said that, even though i rate Given massively (apart from crosses where he seems to stay put too often) you need to remember how good Sorenson's penalty saving record is. I'm not one of these stattos who has the numbers at his fingertips but i think he's saved 6 out of his last 9 or something close to that.

 

[whydelilah]

I stand corrected

Fair play, I nearly hit send after writing good point until I realised it was Mancini's first game.

As for your point about awful ref-ing and us not going down to 10 men. It works both ways, on Sunday Pool should have been one man down atleast and we should have had a penalty.

Pompey scored a perfectly good goal against you that was dis-allowed and Fuller was lucky to stay on the pitch.

These things happen in football so there is little point in keep bringing them up. Especially as we have Peter Walton tomorrow so you will get most decisions as the guy hates Man City and his last two or three performances officiating out games have shown (now look - you have made me do what I said there is little point in doing.

Yeah, I suppose you’ve got to hope these decisions even themselves out over the course of a season.

Pompey’s disallowed goal was definitely onside so the luck was on our side for that one.

I still think we get punished as the ref’s have a pre-conceived idea of us (see Wilko’s second yellow against Pompey!) but there’s no point banging on about it. You’ve just got to get on with it.

You tend to find Ref’s are equally inept across the board for all teams!!