TheMightyQuinn said:Didsbury Dave said:I'd say that broadly represents the view of the majority of blues I know, and I know quite a few
Besides, I know 2345 blues and they all agree with me, if you don't believe me you can ask my mum who also agrees with me.
One day, Dave someone will call you a 'top blue' and we can all breathe a fucking sigh of relief.
Didsbury Dave said:The most important part of his job he's done, which is designing a balanced team who fullfil their potential on the field. The current team is doing that and have been since the cup semi. He deserves huge praise for that and i will be eternally grateful for last weeks win.
He still does things I don't like, like picking kolo in Munich. I also think his people management skills are patchy and he loses his cool under pressure.
But the ends obviously justify the means at the moment -in spades.The season could still collapse of course , but I don't think it will. I've said since the end of last season the title is the target because we are the best team and I am very optimistic that we will win it. Last season I didn't think he had that in him but he's proved me wrong.
Do I still have doubts about him? Yes, if I'm brutally honest, but a lot less than I had 12 months ago. The best thing is that as a manager, the more success you have, the more the weaknesses I perceive become less important. What I mean by that is that the more you win things, the more respect the players have for you, and the more you learn about your team.
This season is the litmus test. So far so good. So far so fucking brilliant in fact . These days as a blue are like living a dream.
Prestwich_Blue said:The trouble is that people confuse legitimate & well-argued criticism with out-and-out negativity and there was plenty of both applied to Hughes & Mancini. I criticised Mancini as did others on here but also said it takes time for managers to build sides, even with virtually unlimited money.
His first job was to shore up the defence and any half-decent manager can do that. Even thick-as-two-short-planks Pearce managed it. You just don't commit men forward and keep little space between your midfield and defenders. Last season I thought we were far too conservative in some games and switched off too early in others, thereby missing a chance to have a crack at the title. We got third place more by Arsenal blowing up in the last dozen games than through our efforts but we didn't blow up so we got it. It was the FA Cup semi when we really started to show what we could do and we really haven't looked back since. It was quite legitimate to ask if Mancini could adapt to the Premiership as many highly rated foreign managers haven't managed it. I think he's answered that criticism pretty convincingly.
Obviously we've managed to combine solid defence with a far more potent attack this season but let's not forget that after 10 games last season, Chelsea were 5 points clear with a +24 goal difference but fell back, only winning 1 of their next 8 games. However Chelsea only picked up one point on the road at the other six of the top seven (and we only picked up one more) whereas we've already got six out of six so far this season. Plus there's the CL but not doing that well this season won't bother me too much as anything beyond the last 16 would be a bonus.
So he's doing pretty much everything right at the minute but the real judgement will involve how we do over 38 games.
I'm an old-school City fan. We're City and it always goes tits up.bobmcfc said:Prestwich_Blue said:The trouble is that people confuse legitimate & well-argued criticism with out-and-out negativity and there was plenty of both applied to Hughes & Mancini. I criticised Mancini as did others on here but also said it takes time for managers to build sides, even with virtually unlimited money.
His first job was to shore up the defence and any half-decent manager can do that. Even thick-as-two-short-planks Pearce managed it. You just don't commit men forward and keep little space between your midfield and defenders. Last season I thought we were far too conservative in some games and switched off too early in others, thereby missing a chance to have a crack at the title. We got third place more by Arsenal blowing up in the last dozen games than through our efforts but we didn't blow up so we got it. It was the FA Cup semi when we really started to show what we could do and we really haven't looked back since. It was quite legitimate to ask if Mancini could adapt to the Premiership as many highly rated foreign managers haven't managed it. I think he's answered that criticism pretty convincingly.
Obviously we've managed to combine solid defence with a far more potent attack this season but let's not forget that after 10 games last season, Chelsea were 5 points clear with a +24 goal difference but fell back, only winning 1 of their next 8 games. However Chelsea only picked up one point on the road at the other six of the top seven (and we only picked up one more) whereas we've already got six out of six so far this season. Plus there's the CL but not doing that well this season won't bother me too much as anything beyond the last 16 would be a bonus.
So he's doing pretty much everything right at the minute but the real judgement will involve how we do over 38 games.
so your basically just waiting for it to go tits up..
Prestwich_Blue said:I'm an old-school City fan. We're City and it always goes tits up.bobmcfc said:Prestwich_Blue said:The trouble is that people confuse legitimate & well-argued criticism with out-and-out negativity and there was plenty of both applied to Hughes & Mancini. I criticised Mancini as did others on here but also said it takes time for managers to build sides, even with virtually unlimited money.
His first job was to shore up the defence and any half-decent manager can do that. Even thick-as-two-short-planks Pearce managed it. You just don't commit men forward and keep little space between your midfield and defenders. Last season I thought we were far too conservative in some games and switched off too early in others, thereby missing a chance to have a crack at the title. We got third place more by Arsenal blowing up in the last dozen games than through our efforts but we didn't blow up so we got it. It was the FA Cup semi when we really started to show what we could do and we really haven't looked back since. It was quite legitimate to ask if Mancini could adapt to the Premiership as many highly rated foreign managers haven't managed it. I think he's answered that criticism pretty convincingly.
Obviously we've managed to combine solid defence with a far more potent attack this season but let's not forget that after 10 games last season, Chelsea were 5 points clear with a +24 goal difference but fell back, only winning 1 of their next 8 games. However Chelsea only picked up one point on the road at the other six of the top seven (and we only picked up one more) whereas we've already got six out of six so far this season. Plus there's the CL but not doing that well this season won't bother me too much as anything beyond the last 16 would be a bonus.
So he's doing pretty much everything right at the minute but the real judgement will involve how we do over 38 games.
so your basically just waiting for it to go tits up..
Prestwich_Blue said:I'm an old-school City fan. We're City and it always goes tits up.bobmcfc said:Prestwich_Blue said:The trouble is that people confuse legitimate & well-argued criticism with out-and-out negativity and there was plenty of both applied to Hughes & Mancini. I criticised Mancini as did others on here but also said it takes time for managers to build sides, even with virtually unlimited money.
His first job was to shore up the defence and any half-decent manager can do that. Even thick-as-two-short-planks Pearce managed it. You just don't commit men forward and keep little space between your midfield and defenders. Last season I thought we were far too conservative in some games and switched off too early in others, thereby missing a chance to have a crack at the title. We got third place more by Arsenal blowing up in the last dozen games than through our efforts but we didn't blow up so we got it. It was the FA Cup semi when we really started to show what we could do and we really haven't looked back since. It was quite legitimate to ask if Mancini could adapt to the Premiership as many highly rated foreign managers haven't managed it. I think he's answered that criticism pretty convincingly.
Obviously we've managed to combine solid defence with a far more potent attack this season but let's not forget that after 10 games last season, Chelsea were 5 points clear with a +24 goal difference but fell back, only winning 1 of their next 8 games. However Chelsea only picked up one point on the road at the other six of the top seven (and we only picked up one more) whereas we've already got six out of six so far this season. Plus there's the CL but not doing that well this season won't bother me too much as anything beyond the last 16 would be a bonus.
So he's doing pretty much everything right at the minute but the real judgement will involve how we do over 38 games.
so your basically just waiting for it to go tits up..