Mancini plays (proper) football

[Bluebee2]

what does this mean?

We came 5th thanks to Mancio and his record was better than Hughes' and he did't bring in any of his own players (except Vieira).
Now we have people moaning about the style of football and people who think they know better than a manager who has proved he knows what he's doing.

Exactly, he promised 4th! We sacked Hughes to get 4th. Failure springs to mind!

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

i just hope he's been at the English phrasebook over summer. Like Capello, i think an inability to speak the language comfortably is a massive failing in a manager.

Not been a problem for Baconface.

 

[1.618034]

i just hope he's been at the English phrasebook over summer. Like Capello, i think an inability to speak the language comfortably is a massive failing in a manager.

Not been a problem for Baconface.

Baconface can communicate just fine... He speaks only in the vernacular!

I think the arrival of Mr Platt has something to do with this communication issue. I'm not sure Brian Kidd's Italian is that great.

Oh and on the OP's point... I agree.

The English/British style will only get you so far. You have to play from-the-back-possession/swift counter-attacking football to win anything these days.. Fact.

See rags, Chelsea, Barca, Inter, Germany, Holland, Spain... But we didn't have the players to do that last season, Hughes didn't leave us with anything but defensive midfielders and wingers... now we've got Yaya and Silva with perhaps one other to come (Milner or Arteta, either will do me) and the balance looks a lot lot better. Just add Edin Dzecko please and we'll be very well stocked and very happy. Mancini seems, in going for versatile players, to be basically wanting Total Football. Suits me. Just can't see Micah or Ned getting much of a chance if that's the case. Ah well.


Just imagine if we could get the Robinho we saw in South Africa back too... If only!

But I'll bet anyone anything that Robi doesn't end up at the swamp...

1. He'd still be in "Manchester". At the wrong club.
2. They can't afford him. If they couldn't afford Joe Cole on a free then they can't afford Robinho for £20M minimum.
3. He's too old. They've said they won't spend big money on players at that age, haven't they?

 

[Braggster]

Safety first Italian football will not succeed in the PRemier League. It's too high tempo, too aggressive.

I think that's one of those things that get repeated so often everyone think's they're true, but I am not so sure.

How else can you explain José's championship winning sides? Off the top of my head one of them only scored 75 or so goals, with many 1-0s, conceding only 15, and they were the by-word in defensive solidity and being boringly obsessed with tactical discipline.

75 goals really isn't a lot for the champions so I can't accept that you have to have a really attacking mentality to win the league here.

 

[Bay Area Blue]

Everyone seems to have forgotten the 3 match run of Wolves, Burnely, and Birmingham, in which we had 3 goal spurts in a matter of minutes each time. Going into the United match, City were easily playing the best football in the country. Obviously, weak opposition helped, but I'd hardly call that "dire and dull".

 

[DTKOAG]

Just read a comment on the transfer thread by DeNiro, a much respected friend and mod....

To suggest Mancini is not playing proper football is just plain wrong and this view and approach underpins the reasons why England were so shit at the world cup this year.

That is everything what is wrong with the game today.

What Mancini is trying to do is play posession football, always asking the team to work and give the man on the ball an easy "out" and not to pass three times and then just punt the ball upfield more in hope than expectation.

England were embarassing at the World Cup as is the majority of (so called) football that is played in the Prem (Arsenal, and soon to be us, excepted).

We are going to have to be patient, but under Mancini success will come!!

Why wernt you prepared to be patient with Hughes ?
You wanted Hughes out after 16 months.
So we can judge Mancini then come this time next year then.

 

[EL APACHE TEVEZ]

what does this mean?

We came 5th thanks to Mancio and his record was better than Hughes' and he did't bring in any of his own players (except Vieira).
Now we have people moaning about the style of football and people who think they know better than a manager who has proved he knows what he's doing.

City were 5th when mancini took over.

 

[persvenality cult]

I'm not pretending he got everything right (who does), but really the emphasis placed on the whole subject is a bit of a nonsense. We could not continue to concede 3's and 4's. Our only chance of success was to stop that, so that's obviously where the focus was going to be.

But how many times did we score 3 or more under Mancini? plenty. We could demolish some teams but not all, simply because we didn't have the midfield to play a more progressive game consistently at the highest level. One quality passer out of four midfielders is three too few, two or three fewer than other top team. With a couple of games remaining Mancini was getting as many goals per game as Hughes, with fewer left. I'm as disappointed that we didn't manage to keep that up, right to the finishing line, but I think it's simpler to say that pressure got the better of some individuals, rather than the whole tactical-edifice crumbled and everything that had happened up to that point was part of a fatally flawed plan, every success having been an anomaly.

People say we lost the Semi's by being too defensive. Well, that's just odd. We clearly, evidently lost out by conceding in the last minute. Any other theory is nothing more than 'what if', and requires some pretty complicated explanation.... avoiding certain facts such as, how we had as many shots on target in the second game as Utd... how we went out in the second half and ripped them to shreds for 10-15 minutes until the Bellamy coin incident, the goal that came immediately after that.

Ultimately I agree with the OP. Some people are fully adjusted to expect what the foreigners describe as 'Basketball Football'. If you stray from that, and don't conclusively, 100% shut everyone up with your results (that never happens, every loss, every draw is a disaster to at least one person), then these people say every draw, every defeat, every short coming is 'because we're not playing proper football'.

 

[ClintBusterPhillips]

I just hope next year when it comes to the crunch games like this years semi away at Salford and spurs at home we dont dissapoint and Mancini puts us out there with a load of passion and guile!

PS( Never mind Mancini speaking clear english i would love to see who understands Adebeyor on the pitch or in the dressing room??? after his punditory during the world cup for BBC!!)

 

[moomba]

City were 5th when mancini took over.

6th I think.