Now The Dust Has Settled...

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Losing is part of the game of football - without losing you can't appreciate winning.

Allus said after every derby defeat - sooner or later, probably much later rather than sooner, we will beat MANUre. An' the longer yer wait, the sweeter it becomes.

Welcome to the Land of Milk and Manuka Honey on the 16th!

 

[daveduke67]

If we'd have lost with even a hint of a whimper people wouldn't be as wound up.

But it was 5 days before a semi final derby, and we were awful.

Just....awful.

agreed, but would we have been as awful if nigel and silva had started? I think we would have won with those two starting and Mancini has now almost admitted the same. Its been how long since the Forrest game?

Imagine the uproar had one or both got injured though - we should have left them on the bench and saved them for Saturday - when we could be playing 90 minutes plus injury time and then another 30 minutes.

We can manage without Tevez or Silva but not both. NDJ is going to be our rock with Kompany - who had to play as there was nobody else - I reckon he'd have been on bench had Kolo been out of rehab. All the other positions we have pretty much covered so Mancini always has options there - but not with Silva or Tevez they are both one offs in our squad

 

[Happy Feet]

It wasnt so much the defeat, it was the couldnt give a shit attitude of the players that has wound people up

 

[salfordblues]

The problem with some city fans is that they do not understand that things don't happen overnight.

It takes years of building, progress and crucially stability in order to progress.

Yes, we've had money and there is obviously a comparison to be made with Chelsea. However, people fail to understand that when Chelsea were taken over they were already in the Champions League and even then it took them two (?) years to win the league.

Whereas, when we were taken over we were a mid table side and only now are we starting to reach the level which Chelsea were at when they were taken over.

We have to understand that money doesn't instantly make you the best team in the world.

The key to success is TIME. You have to stick with the manager allow him to build and mould his own team and only after a good few years if there is no sign of improvement should the manager be sacked.

 

[Yawning Donkey]

...it's time that some people learned how to be gracious in defeat.

If you think that losing to Liverpool in a PL match is worthy of pages of doom and gloom what is going to be like when we get knocked out of the CL or lose a cup final.

Losing is all part of the experience - unless you want to take on board the rag attitude - we are who we are and we expect to win all the time - if we lose we'll throw our toys out of the pram, blame whoever we can and sulk about it.

There was a lot learned by the team and the manager on Monday - I know Mancini made the wrong decisions but I'm sure he's learned by his mistakes. Saying that they won't be his last.

Losing is part of the game of football - without losing you can't appreciate winning. We should know that more than anyone in the top five. People have got carried away with our recent success and expect it all the time. When we don't meet their new levels of expectations all hell breaks loose on here and it's as though we've been relegated the the third tier again. The reality is that have suddenly been shot into the limelight and we weren't ready for it. It'll take time to build a squad to compete with the teams above us.

There are/were people who genuinely thought that we were just going to blow the rags, Chelsea and Arsenal clean out of the water and brush aside anyone who got in our way. The reality is that we are going to be able to compete with them in the near future - there is no way that the rags are simply going to buckle under the pressure and become another Blackburn/Leeds and fade away after winning the PL. They will not go bust either - if the Glazers do get them into trouble there'll be a queue waiting to snap them up.

It's time we enjoyed the good times, took the bad ones on the chin and accepted that things don't always go our way. Unless you want to be like the rags of course?

I agree with the sentiments of the OP but my disappointment isn't with this defeat - it's the manner of the defeat.

It's with the way the team was selected, prepared and the way in which they appeared not to have any fight in them at all......

 

[Lucky Toma]

The manner of our victory over Sunderland proved to be our undoing at Liverpool.
Mancini was surprised by just how impressive we were when he took the shackles off (something that surprised the fans far less) and he attempted to do likewise at Anfield.

Unfortunately he is so entrenched in a cautious approach to big games that he just couldnt bring himself to commit to it fully.

So, with both team selection and mentaility, we fell smack bang between two stools.

Even if Liverpool had been underpar we still would have struggled I think. We were disjointed throughout and nobody appeared to know exactly what was expected of them in their given roles.
A strong leader would have helped but as per fucking usual nobody stepped up to the plate there.

However, what made it infinitely worse was that Liverpool were anything but underpar.
The criticism on here aimed towards Mancini and the players was, in my opinion, totally deserved.
But it saddened me a bit to see us being so unmagnanimous towards Liverpool's tenacity and aptitude right from the off.
From the very start they got at us and caused all manner of problems. Our lads - who were struggling to adapt to a half-and-half system they hadnt been asked to perform all season - simply didnt have time to settle. They were harried and hustled throughout.

As much as it pains me to say this....Dalglish has got them looking really together and up for it at home. If it continues they will be a threat once more next season.
Thankfully they still look vulnerable away.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

If we'd have lost with even a hint of a whimper people wouldn't be as wound up.

But it was 5 days before a semi final derby, and we were awful.

Just....awful.

This ^^

It was the total lack of anything that was so bitterly disappointing.....the manager is allowed to make mistakes because they serve as learning experiences but this was on another level and indicative of the 'quirks' some carzy, weird, italians have....I have some as relatives believe me some of their ideas are fucking mental and not only defy logic but all known reason too..

 

[andy h]

Dave Duke is right. The eggs and basket analogy is spot on.
However, if we lose on Saturday then they have shot themselves in the foot. Like many others on here, the thought on taking on the rags without Tevez is hard to imagine us getting a result. It makes you wish that we still had Adebayor to call on (another no recall, loan deal blunder?)

This time next week the pessimism could be even worse esp if we are embarrased by the rags.

If the target was a top 4 finish and CL qualification, then the Liverpool game was the priority, not the FA cup semi. We should have been giving 100% effort in maintaining the distance between us and spuds.