Mancini on his team selection and The Carling Cup:

[sboroMCFC]

Are people really this fucking stupid?! No Premiership team put their full side out (including WBA) nevermind one with major defensive injuries, an early Saturday kick off against the best team in the country and Juve next Thurs. We only lost 2-1, if the free kick has been given before their equaliser than we could well have gone through so it wasn't as if the side he put out were completely out of their depth.

Mancini isn't brushing the Carling Cup aside, I guarantee he would like to win it as much as any supporter. The problem is that THIS match was at a really bad time for us.

 

[K.Reeves right foot]

I have no problems at all with the team he put out and that team losing. Probably only 1 player in that line up that would ever start for us if we had no injuries or other issues at this stage.

At the end of the day chelsea lost at home to Newcastle with loads of first team regulars playing, liverpool lost at home to a pub side 60 odd league places below them. Everton lost to a pub side in the cup this weak as well with a near enough full strength side out.

Yet we lose 2 - 1 to west brom away with a youth / reserve team with a huge game in 2 days time in mind and its "City in crisis pressure mounts on mancini" on ssn.

Pissed myself laughing when I heard that, they said nothing about Liverpool, chelsea, everton losing in MUCH worse circumstances....

If you look at the side Chelsea and the rags put out, it becomes clear our squad is still no where near strong enough to compete and challenge for 4 competetions at this stage certainly not with the injuries we have. So more than happy to focus on what is really important getting into the champions league and maybe a decent run in the fa cup and europe.

THIS type of argument to back Mancini up really gets on my nerves.......it's somehow fine for us to go out of the comp last night because so did chelsea, spurs, everton and liverpool........so f**king what? I don't give a sh*t about those clubs........and the fact they all went out makes it even more galling as our chances of winning were heightened once they are out of the way..............
These excuses about injuries make us look ridiculous.......we spend hundreds of millions on players and have to live with the jealousy and negative press.....fine......i can.......but then 5 weeks into the season to start to complain of a lack of players when you've publicly stated as a manager you want 2 players for each competition just makes you look stupid and INVITES ridicule from the watching world.......as someone said previously very well, Mancini has created a huge problem for hinself here, I would have been ok with a few changes to take into consideration injuries, but that team was a shambles and gave us no chance.....god help Mancini if we don't beat Chelsea on sat......oh, but according to some we WILL, like chelsea are a tin pot side who will roll over......makes me cringe listening to some City fans these days.........

 

[yozzer]

dont bother praying for champs league ....cos the clown dont think we can play 2 games a week ....so it be kids on wednesdays ....proper team saturday .....palace away carling cup laste season...to the wba a premiership team last night ....no players should be looking for a rest already ..after 20 games we should be using the squad we have ..if tevez,de jong.barry,yay.kolo and so on ..need a rest after about 10 games this season ...give up

 

[BurnCK]

Exactly. Did a single team put out out a full strength side ?? It just goes to show that in an already congested fixture list (even more so when you're in Europe) that teams will not risk important players.

 

[K.Reeves right foot]

"I don't regret making the changes. I have big problems at the moment and we couldn't take any risks.

"If I had more players available it would be a different team. But when you play like us and Chelsea, on Saturday at 12.45, the time to recover is very short.

"They would need minimum three days so to play tonight would have been dangerous."

"Saturday is more important, the FA Cup is more important. The Europa League is more important.

"I did not regard this as a necessary sacrifice. We wanted to win. That is why I had four senior players on the bench.

"But I knew there was a chance we could lose because we started with six young players.

"I am happy with these guys. We might have lost the game but they can improve. If they do not play tonight, when will they ever play?"


Hopefully all will work out for us this season. Our manager has clearly prioritised. I personally think we have blown a big chance this evening of silverware. Its not the end of the world of course, Liverpool can hang their heads in shame and Chelsea to. Yet I cant help but feel, we should be winning these games.

It's common sense, our second squad is effectively injured. Hava a go at picking a team for last night which will not include starters for Chelsea (and that's not even taking into account we have Juve a few days after).

I'll have a go:

Given
Vidal (Richards for Chelsea, Boateng Injured)
Boyata (Kompany for Chelsea)
Mee (Toure for Chelsea, Lescott Injured)
Cunningham (Bridge Injured, Kolorov Inhured, Zab for Chelsea)
Vieira (De Jong for Chelsea)
Ibrahim (Barry for Chelsea)
Johnson (Silva for Chelsea)
Wright Phillips (Milner for Chelsea)
Santa (Tevez for Chelsea, Balotelli Injured, Ade Injured)
Jo (Yaya for Chelsea)

Pretty much Mancini's side with SWP in for Guidetti

But by your logic we can't risk Kompany, Kolo, deJong et al for Chelsea as we have an inportant game against Juve on thursday......you see? your argument is flawed on every level......in football you simply cannot pick and choose which games players are fit for.....what if Kompany gets injured in training today? what if Kolo gates injured against Chelsea? To wrap players up i cotton wool for fear of injury is self-defeating and has ultimalty cost us a trophy.............

 

[grim up north]

It's common sense, our second squad is effectively injured. Hava a go at picking a team for last night which will not include starters for Chelsea (and that's not even taking into account we have Juve a few days after).

I'll have a go:

Given
Vidal (Richards for Chelsea, Boateng Injured)
Boyata (Kompany for Chelsea)
Mee (Toure for Chelsea, Lescott Injured)
Cunningham (Bridge Injured, Kolorov Inhured, Zab for Chelsea)
Vieira (De Jong for Chelsea)
Ibrahim (Barry for Chelsea)
Johnson (Silva for Chelsea)
Wright Phillips (Milner for Chelsea)
Santa (Tevez for Chelsea, Balotelli Injured, Ade Injured)
Jo (Yaya for Chelsea)

Pretty much Mancini's side with SWP in for Guidetti

But by your logic we can't risk Kompany, Kolo, deJong et al for Chelsea as we have an inportant game against Juve on thursday......you see? your argument is flawed on every level......in football you simply cannot pick and choose which games players are fit for.....what if Kompany gets injured in training today? what if Kolo gates injured against Chelsea? To wrap players up i cotton wool for fear of injury is self-defeating and has ultimalty cost us a trophy.............

Durrrr!

 

[Gelsons Dad]

couple of things I don't really agree with.

the thing about selection.

I don't think it was wilful, so much as it was inevitable.

Once he decided Kompany, Barry, NDJ, Yaya, Kolo, Tevez were all irreplaceable/overplayed and off-limits, who else do you pick?

and why is the Europa unwinnable? I cry defeatism!

Given
Zabaleta Richards Boyata Cunningham
SWP Vieira Milner Johnson
Silva Jo

Is that a better team?

And for those concerned about getting injuries... we suffer more injuries on the training ground than we do in matches!

Richards and SWP were injured. So Zab may need to play RB on saturday. Now who do you pick?

 

[PSmyth07]

Don't understand why the Chelsea game dictated the players we selected last night. I'd love to beat Chelsea or even get something from the game but it shouldn't be priority. Its the other teams in the league we should be going all out for the win.

Chelsea, Arsenal and to a degree Utd are games where if you pick up points then its a bonus. This is where we went wrong last season, going all out at these teams and then screwing up at teams which we should be beating.

 

[BlueRockape]

Are people really this fucking stupid?! No Premiership team put their full side out (including WBA) nevermind one with major defensive injuries, an early Saturday kick off against the best team in the country and Juve next Thurs. We only lost 2-1, if the free kick has been given before their equaliser than we could well have gone through so it wasn't as if the side he put out were completely out of their depth.

Mancini isn't brushing the Carling Cup aside, I guarantee he would like to win it as much as any supporter. The problem is that THIS match was at a really bad time for us.

So WBA put out a weak squad ?

It just makes it more of a fukin joke we have spent millions and cant beat WBA SECOND STRING FUKIN SICK

 

[YourBirdCanSing]

To be honest, I think the pressure's getting to Mancini.

At the beginning of the season he seemed pretty comfortable with all kinds of questions. But in the last few days, he's seemed very bothered by the number of games, the relentless press questions, and the fact that he's got so many players unavailable.

I think it all got to him a bit yesterday, and he went over the top with his selection. It almost seemed like he was trying to prove a point about how difficult his job is.

He's said from the beginning of the summer that we want to compete for everything, but the team he put out last night showed he believes that's not actually possible.

But the problem with throwing away the Carling Cup, as others have said, is that it's actually counter-productive, because just ends up heaping MORE pressure on us in the difficult and un-winnable competitions. (The league, Europa League etc..) The Carling Cup was a chance to help us find our feet as a winning side, and a trip to Wembley buys us (and him) some breathing space.

It reminds me a bit of O'Neill throwing away the Europa League 2 seasons ago for the same reason - and look what happened to Villa's league form after that ...

In the meantime, over the road, Ferguson hasn't got the squad to compete in ONE competition, never mind four. But he shuffles his tired old pack, and puts out patchwork teams that do just enough every time, and more importantly, shrugs off the pressure every time.

Mancini better steel himself for the realities of English football, and quickly. Because if Ferguson sees Mancini's feeling the pressure, and starts exploiting it like he did to Benitez, it'll be a slippery slope for him.

HUGE gamble to take at this stage. Didn't come off. Over to you Roberto ...

couple of things I don't really agree with.

the thing about selection.

I don't think it was wilful, so much as it was inevitable.

Once he decided Kompany, Barry, NDJ, Yaya, Kolo, Tevez were all irreplaceable/overplayed and off-limits, who else do you pick?

and why is the Europa unwinnable? I cry defeatism!

Well, firstly, I don't agree that Barry, NDJ, Yaya should have all been "off limits."

NDJ or Yaya could have played 45 mins. Secondly. And EVERYONE (manager, player himself, other players ...) keep telling us that Silva needs more games.

Second, the Europa League may not be un-winnable, but it's much more of a long shot than the Carling Cup. There are 13 games to win, and just some of the teams left in it are: Porto, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Sevilla ... and others.

There are 5 games to win the The Carling Cup, and the only big teams left in it are Arsenal and (a beatable) United.

Sometimes you have to risk key players for part of the 90, to get results. Fergie takes huge risks with his players in order to get key results at the right times.

Winning last night, based on how winnable the cup is for us, would have been a key result. Losing to Chelsea on Saturday might not be key, losing to Juevntus might not be key.

Based on the massive injury list, and the number of games, Mancini decided the Carling Cup wasn't worth taking any more risks for. Most long-suffering City fans, who saw it as a very winnable cup, disagree.

Big gamble to take at this stage. Be interesting to see who was right.