Mancini's Way...

[Anonymous]

Exactly. If we start winning away I'll be happier. But with the attacking flair we have we can do better than dour wins and shite performances.

Winning ugly is a necessity now and again. Let's set up like we did tonight at Stoke and Chelsea, I've no problem with that.

At home to Bolton though? Like you say Dave, we can do better, much much better.

Are you sure we can do much much better? It was in home games exactly like tonight that Hughes lost his job by being unable to grind out results from winning positions.

Mancini seems to be being criticized for making a team who were leaking goals focus on defending. The law of averages says that if you stop conceding, but don't stop scoring, you're going to be a winning team. No matter shit performance or good performance, we haven't stopped scoring goals. Barring our two worst performances of the season (Everton and Spurs away), we've created and scored in every match we've played.

Give it time. If we're still this dour and negative in six weeks, I'll be very surprised...

 

[m27]

Winning ugly is a necessity now and again. Let's set up like we did tonight at Stoke and Chelsea, I've no problem with that.

At home to Bolton though? Like you say Dave, we can do better, much much better.

Are you sure we can do much much better? It was in home games exactly like tonight that Hughes lost his job by being unable to grind out results from winning positions.

Mancini seems to be being criticized for making a team who were leaking goals focus on defending. The law of averages says that if you stop conceding, but don't stop scoring, you're going to be a winning team. No matter shit performance or good performance, we haven't stopped scoring goals. Barring our two worst performances of the season (Everton and Spurs away), we've created and scored in every match we've played.

Give it time. If we're still this dour and negative in six weeks, I'll be very surprised...

Well I've slept on it and had a look at the table and everything seems a lot less dramatic than last night (as it usually does).

Billy, I take your point and it's impossible to disagree in principle when we have won a game and kept a clean sheet. BUT...I'd argue very strongly that if we had started with SWP on the right and kept one of Barry, De Jong and Viera on the bench we would have been no easier to play against but would have created a load more chances.

My problem with last night's formation and team selection was not that we didn't play scintilating football, it was just that I don't think it's our best team. I caveat all that by saying that winning is everything though, and we won. So I'm happy. I think.

 

[Craig]

Mancini's way....pragmatic, efficient, very Italian....I'm wondering if people would take success if it meant learning to love these ground out, dour wins...?

I dont think you can get success playing this way in the Prem, Sven tried it and it worked for half a season until teams got wise to us. The same will happen with Mancini, he will have to change his style if he wants success in this league!

Totally agree with the Sven comparison mate,Ive thought it myself for a while.We have already been found out in the two away games and we soon will be at home unless he changes it.The difference being of course he has a much more talented squad to choose from so he has noe excuse.

 

[BlueBronco]

I dont think you can get success playing this way in the Prem, Sven tried it and it worked for half a season until teams got wise to us. The same will happen with Mancini, he will have to change his style if he wants success in this league!

Totally agree with the Sven comparison mate,Ive thought it myself for a while.We have already been found out in the two away games and we soon will be at home unless he changes it.The difference being of course he has a much more talented squad to choose from so he has noe excuse.

I'm interested to know what has been 'found out' about us away from home and how this affects the teams that we play?

 

[stockportblue]

Play at the proverbial high tempo.Close City down quickly in the defensive third.Watch City play sideways ans back until they hoof the ball and concede possession.

Basically City have a problem getting the ball from back to the attacking third-especially when put under pressure like Pienaar and Felaini did at Goodison Park.

 

[Nils]

Spot on Depps, good post.

It's not just the entertainment. I've read a lot about grinding out wins, sacrificing expansive football to win at all costs, and throw in mourinho about entertainment, but as you said depps, if we were playing a side with just a little more wit and attacking bite we would have lost. How many times did we test their keeper?

Not just last night or hull either....Pompey at home, pompey who got murdered by united, they were unlucky against us i though and could quite easily come away with something.

At chelsea, until the latter part of Mourinho's reign, chelsea never looked like losing (they never did at home) and always looked like scoring from open play or a set piece....a defence of cech, cole, terry, carvallho, l, in the midfield , Lampard bombing forward from the centre...robben and cole out wide, drogba upfront, they had a bit of everything.

 

[BobKowalski]

Mancini's first task was to stop us conceding a bucketful of goals every game

Mancini's next task (and long term aim) is to teach City how to win. Not draw or lose but win. I don't think Mancini cares much how this is done as long as it is done and a top 4 spot is secured.

Once a top 4 spot is secured then next season is a different ball game and with different players.

And whilst in the meantime we can all bemoan the fact that we are not playing like Barca under the new regime it has to be said we didn't play like Barca under the previous regime either. In fact I don't recall us ever playing like f**king Barca so its not as if Mancini has 'betrayed our glorious heritage' or similar bollocks.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Play at the proverbial high tempo.Close City down quickly in the defensive third.Watch City play sideways ans back until they hoof the ball and concede possession.

Basically City have a problem getting the ball from back to the attacking third-especially when put under pressure like Pienaar and Felaini did at Goodison Park.

That's why we've lost most of the away games under Mancini.

Teams take advantage of the huge gap he leaves between defence and attack.

It's the same reason we're not murdering teams at home.

 

[simon23]

mancini's way is defensive football...that is obvious to everyone

last night was some of the worst football ive seen since SP was manager....and all the games under mancini have been of that type of performance in my opinion.....all dour and negative

now i will conceed that he has made us better defensively but he is blunting our attack so much that we will struggle to start to score goals.....last night, we got a penalty that was against the run of play and then sat back and let bolton play....they actually played better football than us at times.

our midfield was sat so deep that when we broke up attacks the back four and midfield 3 were sat so close they had no way out other than to knock a long ball up to tevez/ade....who were so isolated for long periods of time

against better teams this wont work....we have akready lost to everton, utd and hull tyring to play like this......the same will happen against chelski, liverpoo, villal and spurs....if we dont attack those teams they will score eventually and then we will be chasing the game, and they will the hit us on the break....

the next month or so will determine mancini's credentials as far as im concerned......he has a lot to prove at the moment. I can understand his tactics away from home....but against a bolton team that were theere for the taking (just like utd were at COMS) then its very very poor....3 defensive midfielders, one out let in johnson (playing on the wrong side) and then tevez and ade isolated......he needs to show he can be more flexiable in his tactics and at present he has shown he has only one way

 

[GStar]

Mancini's first task was to stop us conceding a bucketful of goals every game

Mancini's next task (and long term aim) is to teach City how to win. Not draw or lose but win. I don't think Mancini cares much how this is done as long as it is done and a top 4 spot is secured.

Once a top 4 spot is secured then next season is a different ball game and with different players.

And whilst in the meantime we can all bemoan the fact that we are not playing like Barca under the new regime it has to be said we didn't play like Barca under the previous regime either. In fact I don't recall us ever playing like f**king Barca so its not as if Mancini has 'betrayed our glorious heritage' or similar bollocks.

He hasn't done task 1 yet! We've conceded 11 in 11... i tihnk the majority of us wouldnt demand we play Barca-esque football yet or even soon or perhaps ever! But the way were setting up currently is stiffling our best players and making it harder for the team going forward. A middle ground is needed between all out attack and this all out defend we're currently employing, imo.