Didsbury Dave said:The thing is, I could live with boring football if it was playing to our strengths. But it isn't, is it? With Tevez, Johnson, Silva etc in there we should be looking to get at teams, and casue them problems. We actually did that against West Brom. So why not last night? Starting with Milner instead of Johnson was an immediate statement of intent. How many times did Milner get the ball in one on one situations? Yes, the kind of situations Adam Johnson excels in.DD said:I'm sorry mate but I can't agree. In comparison to the vast majority of other games I have seen on TV, our games have been bloody dire.
Wigan away is an absolute minger of a game, so if that is our idea of decent entertainment, then it just goes to show how low the level of expectation is.
I haven't seen a properly entertaining football in terms of chances, breathtaking moves at speed etc, all season
At half time the game looked there to be won. A bolder manager would have introduced Johnson, for Milner, then.
DD said:Project said:It hasn't just been those 5 games though has it? I could bring Timisoira, Juve at home. Salzburg away. All good games. Wigan and Sunderland away were decent.
Yesterday and probably Newcastle were the only games I could say were "mind numbing", although at the very least the derby offered an interesting tactical battle.
I'm sorry mate but I can't agree. In comparison to the vast majority of other games I have seen on TV, our games have been bloody dire.
Wigan away is an absolute minger of a game, so if that is our idea of decent entertainment, then it just goes to show how low the level of expectation is.
I haven't seen a properly entertaining football in terms of chances, breathtaking moves at speed etc, all season
JoeMercer'sWay said:Didsbury Dave said:The thing is, I could live with boring football if it was playing to our strengths. But it isn't, is it? With Tevez, Johnson, Silva etc in there we should be looking to get at teams, and casue them problems. We actually did that against West Brom. So why not last night? Starting with Milner instead of Johnson was an immediate statement of intent. How many times did Milner get the ball in one on one situations? Yes, the kind of situations Adam Johnson excels in.
At half time the game looked there to be won. A bolder manager would have introduced Johnson, for Milner, then.
A bolder manager would have introduced Hernandez and gone 4-4-2 with Berbatov and Hernandez when they were clearly on top in a game.
Works both ways, if Fergie was that scared of us to do that then I think we won the battle 2bh, we played that poorly in the 2nd half yet United wouldn't dare go for it.
BillyShears said:Project said:I dont believe this is the case. There is a middle ground that realises we simply must finish in the top 4 this season. Our entire plan rests on it with the FFP regulations soon kicking in. And Mancini's job rests on it. So at the moment we are in the results business. And the manager is doing what is necessary to attain those results. I don't think RM gives a fuck what kind of football it takes to do so right now.
Besides - Liverpool, Chelsea, West Brom, Poznan at home, even Blackburn at home certainly wasn't boring.
That's where a lot of peoples fears stem from though. Last season the same excuses about results being more important than performances were trotted out. In the end we fell short...
This season, although we are 4th, we still seem to be dropping the same kind of points. The word trajectory springs to mind. Two steps forward one step back isn't going to lead to us comfortably finishing 4th IMO....it's going to lead to us doing battle with someone like Spurs or Liverpool in the last third of the season for that spot as we did last season...
Project said:DD said:I'm sorry mate but I can't agree. In comparison to the vast majority of other games I have seen on TV, our games have been bloody dire.
Wigan away is an absolute minger of a game, so if that is our idea of decent entertainment, then it just goes to show how low the level of expectation is.
I haven't seen a properly entertaining football in terms of chances, breathtaking moves at speed etc, all season
Then I suggest your view of what counts as entertaining football is extremely narrow. Limited to pace, blood and thunder. Some of our stuff last week was sensational. Hopefully it becomes more consistent as the team gels further and important players return.
But ultimately there are no style points in football. Only those for results. And from that perspective we are doing well by most accounts.I'd love to be the most attractive side in the league as well as win things. If I had to choose one it would be to win. Mancini sees it the same way. If we can do so playing good stuff then fantastic.
maybe they would, but it would have automatically freed up Silva and Tevez and we'd have then bollocked them imo, their 3 in midfield and their negative setup prevented us playing any form of game. We played poorly nonetheless, but a point is an improvement on last season and a good result imo, the aim is to beat everybody we should beat, and get good results against the big sides to show we can cut it. We beat Chelsea, Liverpool, drew with Spurs and United and Arsenal was a write off. Who knows if we click in 3 months when we go to these places away, we've got those results by being inconsistant, incohesive etc.Didsbury Dave said:JoeMercer'sWay said:A bolder manager would have introduced Hernandez and gone 4-4-2 with Berbatov and Hernandez when they were clearly on top in a game.
Works both ways, if Fergie was that scared of us to do that then I think we won the battle 2bh, we played that poorly in the 2nd half yet United wouldn't dare go for it.
They were away and a point was a great result for them. Fergie knows we have the plyers to beat them.
We were at home and a point was a disappointment for us.
You really think Fergie wouldn't have gone for it at Old TRafford, second half, when it was obvious we were happy to contain?
Didsbury Dave said:malc'scigar said:Absolutely correct. Mancini has one goal and one goal only, to get us into the top 4.
He is a very calculating individual, he knows exactly what he needs to do to get us there and he is going to do it no matter what people on here think.
He'll open up when he thinks its a good idea, judge him in May, I am ultra confident taht we shall be at least 4th
I don't agree and it worries me that a lot of City fans talk this way.
4th is his absolute bare minimum. Even if we finish 4th there's a chance we could be dumped on our arse by some Poznan team in the qualifier. That's not a chance the Shiekh and chairman will want to take.
I'd say 3rd is his minimum target.
But behind the scenes, I believe he was told, and agreed, that the challenge was to push the front runners. All his interviews early this season, and that of the club staff, confirmed that.
But now I sense some people are happy for us to battle for 4th.
We're better than that.
DD said:Project said:It hasn't just been those 5 games though has it? I could bring Timisoira, Juve at home. Salzburg away. All good games. Wigan and Sunderland away were decent.
Yesterday and probably Newcastle were the only games I could say were "mind numbing", although at the very least the derby offered an interesting tactical battle.
I'm sorry mate but I can't agree. In comparison to the vast majority of other games I have seen on TV, our games have been bloody dire.
Wigan away is an absolute minger of a game, so if that is our idea of decent entertainment, then it just goes to show how low the level of expectation is.
I haven't seen a properly entertaining football in terms of chances, breathtaking moves at speed etc, all season
DD said:What is also interesting is that for the last three months, every City fan on here has been going on about United being a team in decline, nowhere near as good as they were, riding their luck blah blah.
Yet, we turn up, don't create a chance against them and all of a sudden it's not down to us, it's because United are a team of world beaters. :)