Mancinis lack of creative flair in the squad will cost us.

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

The one thing you have to say though is the pitches in the two cup games have totally stifled our passing game and to ignore that is being a bit naive

The pitch WAS dire, a good cup tie for the armchair critics, onwards now, could do without the extra games tho!

And this is down to not playing our strongest team. Vieira and Jo are not good enough. Had he played his strongest side from the off in both cup matches we would not have been looking at needless replays.

 

[dctid]

Now AJ has got a long term injury and it looks like SWP is leaving this window that leaves us with no wide players. I find it disappointing that we've got to this point like this, Why didn't we replace Bellamy? If you wasn't going to play SWP why not look for another wide player this window?

Mancini doesn't play with wingers its simple, so he won't be that concerned by lack of wide players, even with them in the squad he mostly uses them as impact players, the width is to come from the full backs (see Micah today). Like it or not, this is how he will continue to play.

What we really need in that midfield is more pace, AJ alone isn't enough.

Agree - he is lookijg for the full back to give the team the width - sick of seeing Milner wasted on the wing - he needs to be more central yes some players may get rotated but tough shit

 

[blueinsa]

The problem is that the players he put out there with the job to create (Jo and Milner) did absolutely naff all. Without Silva we really struggle, perhaps worth a deadline day bid for someone like Kranjcar??

Disagree - our passing is too slow there is very little pace in the team and we move the ball from back to front too slow - we are one dimensional and play the same way regardless of the score.

We have no pace and the dingle pfact today is that Richards was our outstanding player today - his pace created two or three chances and the goal.

We play fookin Jo on the left whilst our best players last sseason we punt off to Cardiff and we pay the fookin wages

Dont blame fookin Milner he aint a fookin winger he is outstanding in the middle of the pitch

A combo of Vierra and Barry is too fookin slow fook drop Giggs or Scholes in and they would be faster more creative than these two today - Vierra / Barry No - Vierra or Barry and Milner yes.

We have no change of pace - when we went 1 down i am sure me like many other City fans went ohhh fook - at that poiny the beast i was hoping for was a draw - and even then instead of fookin going for it we dropped back and they had a coiuple of chances.

All in all it was dog shite and i think you know it - do we want Mancini out - no fookin way BUT playing this type of football accomodating players or playng them in the wrong position will see him through the door sooner rather than later.

And finally Dzeko aint a lone striker but he did well today

Good post mate, sums it up nicely.

Pitch, ref, this and that...blame it on whatever the fook you want but today and many performances this season has shown our faults and also shown that we are not as good as we think we are to be honest.

 

[cleavers]

I said it above, but at no point should Milner, Barry, Yaya, and Vieira play at the same time, only Yaya has any pace, and it takes him 50 yards to get up to it.

Yaya and Silva need to play at the same time always for me, as between them they create plenty, but if either doesn't play, then the other isn't as effective. Milner and Barry are neither good enough to be the main starter, but they should rotate, and we might get more out of both. De Jong will always be a main starter, and we struggle without him, for that reason, in games like today, I'd start him, get the game won hopefully, and rest him for as long as possible.

AJ won't survive at City because he's an out and out winger, and unless he can adapt into either a Yaya, or Silva type player (and he shows no signs of doing so for me) I think he'll spend most of his time on the bench coming on when we need something different.

 

[Palerider]

I tend to agree that we do lack creativity or perhaps too many similiar midfield players. For me a bid for Charlie Adams and/or Ashley Young ( Aston Villa must hate us! ) would be well worth it.

 

[PSmyth07]

Now AJ has got a long term injury and it looks like SWP is leaving this window that leaves us with no wide players. I find it disappointing that we've got to this point like this, Why didn't we replace Bellamy? If you wasn't going to play SWP why not look for another wide player this window?

Mancini doesn't play with wingers its simple, so he won't be that concerned by lack of wide players, even with them in the squad he mostly uses them as impact players, the width is to come from the full backs (see Micah today). Like it or not, this is how he will continue to play.

What we really need in that midfield is more pace, AJ alone isn't enough.

Then he's lining up for a big failure, how can he expect a full-back to get forward and back for 90 minutes and get constantly doubled up against with no-one to help him?

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Well Mancini should be then.

This was a league 1 side, and not a great one either, they're ONE point above a relegation place, and in the last 3 games at that level 2 draws, 1 defeat, 1 goal.

Credit to them that they raised their game, but we considerably lowered ours, because we didn't have the players playing to win the game, Silva and Tevez primarily, but without Silva, Yaya isn't as good, and Milner wide is as big a waste of a shirt as Jo, and that is a damning indictment of the lad.

Yaya had the best chance first half...should have scored....Dzecko would have scored more if he was up to speed...we were comfortable...they had one chance all game.We will murder them at home and get a home draw against a team we should beat.
Birmingham away concerns me far more and I am glad of players rested.

One chance all game? Even off the top of my head I can remember that shot that only just went over and that real sitter of a header Hughes missed as the clock struck 90mins!

 

[Marvin]

AJ is having a great season at City. Let's hope he makes a quick recovery and is back inside 3 months.

I think Mancini should have brought on Kolarov earlier as Zabeleta was struggling to cross the ball from the left. But it was a strong side we put out and you have to give County credit for their performance

They were lucky with the goal as it was a foul, and about their only attempt on target, but they restricted City, and I couldn't see City scoring until Richards made that great burst. I hope the idiots give him some credit for that.

Pleased with the effort from the City players. That might be expected, but I've seen plenty of City teams go out at lower League grounds without much effort.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

The pitch WAS dire, a good cup tie for the armchair critics, onwards now, could do without the extra games tho!

And this is down to not playing our strongest team. Vieira and Jo are not good enough. Had he played his strongest side from the off in both cup matches we would not have been looking at needless replays.

I agree. What's the fuckin point in playing a team who can't win games against hard working teams when we'll have to just play them again with probably some big hitters coming in to ensure the win, and just three says before the derby?!

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Disagree - our passing is too slow there is very little pace in the team and we move the ball from back to front too slow - we are one dimensional and play the same way regardless of the score.

We have no pace and the dingle pfact today is that Richards was our outstanding player today - his pace created two or three chances and the goal.

We play fookin Jo on the left whilst our best players last sseason we punt off to Cardiff and we pay the fookin wages

Dont blame fookin Milner he aint a fookin winger he is outstanding in the middle of the pitch

A combo of Vierra and Barry is too fookin slow fook drop Giggs or Scholes in and they would be faster more creative than these two today - Vierra / Barry No - Vierra or Barry and Milner yes.

We have no change of pace - when we went 1 down i am sure me like many other City fans went ohhh fook - at that poiny the beast i was hoping for was a draw - and even then instead of fookin going for it we dropped back and they had a coiuple of chances.

All in all it was dog shite and i think you know it - do we want Mancini out - no fookin way BUT playing this type of football accomodating players or playng them in the wrong position will see him through the door sooner rather than later.

And finally Dzeko aint a lone striker but he did well today

Good post mate, sums it up nicely.

Pitch, ref, this and that...blame it on whatever the fook you want but today and many performances this season has shown our faults and also shown that we are not as good as we think we are to be honest.

dctid, you're spot on!

blueinsa, I think our strongest XI (Hart; Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Kolorov; de Jong, Yaya, Silva; Tevez, Balotelli, Dzeko)(who haven't played together as an XI yet!) is really good. But these players who are coming in when we rest our strongest players are, you're right, not as good as we think, and basically not good enough.