tolmie's hairdoo
Well-Known Member
Apologies, I originally posted the below in the Pellegrini thread but it's maybe more a wider question for our owners?
A perfect storm has been contrived, and we've simply not been able to wing it.
We've been doing it since the day that ball left Aguero's foot.
Due to the restrictions imposed on the club by UEFA, the owners thought we could get away with treading water, adding family staples to the small supply of fine foods we had previously bought.
Baked beans taste fine and dandy, every now and again. What they don't taste great with is being slopped on the same plate as caviar.
We have put together an ill-conceived menu for the last 24 months and much as I love our owner and chairman for everything they have done so far, I would now urge them to take stock of what they really want out of this association?
If it is to win friends and influence people, they are shit out of luck. They have enabled Manchester City, of previous ridicule, to bring out the very worst of British and European traits - envy and spite of someone else's success.
They have allowed their eye to be taken off the ball, trying to jump through hoops, in the hope of presenting a more acceptable, watered-down threat to the so-called establishment of the game.
Mancini, for all his faults, and he had many, knew that a team that had come from nowhere, still needed to spend on the very best, however vulgar it may be perceived by people who will never find City acceptable, regardless of what we do off the pitch.
Mancini managed his final season with one hand tied behind his back and cut his throat with the other one.
I could not believe the team when it was announced last night, although was relieved to see Pellegrini make the correct decisions at half time in replacing the appalling Jovetic and Navas, in terms of addressing an extra man in the middle and also trying to introduce Nasri's ball retention.
But to then undo that thought process by taking off Fernando pretty much summed up the manager's state of confusion this season. He is wasting substitutions because he is simply not setting the team up with the correct platform from the outset.
I stand by what I observed on Sunday, the removal of Milner against United was tactical naivety in the extreme.
Sadly, results dictate, but this current group of 'over-ripe' players won't allow me to be fooled for a second time, with or without David Silva, they should be good enough to beat the majority of cannon-fodder.
Pellegrini, if he can somehow make it through to January, needs a frank discussion with Khaldoon and Begirsitain. He should not be made the patsy for players such as Clichy, Fernandinho, Dzeko, Nasri and Jovetic.
Perhaps Pellegrini does deserve the absolute backing from Abu Dhabi to address the weaknesses in this squad, regardless of cost?
I'm on the fence if Manuel has it in him, but the solution remains the same, somebody needs to decide if they want City to wither on the vine, or go again, regardless of the consequences.
I think most blues would accept the trade-off being expelled from Champions League football for a year if the result is a couple of hundred million (and that's what it will take) to set a City team up for the next five-year cycle.
You can only be a nice guy for so long, or it starts to stink of weakness.
1) Should we spend without fear of UEFA to rebuild?
2) Should Pellegrini be given the chance to manage those players?
3) If City is supposedly a PR exercise for Abu Dhabi, is it in danger of going tits-up?
A perfect storm has been contrived, and we've simply not been able to wing it.
We've been doing it since the day that ball left Aguero's foot.
Due to the restrictions imposed on the club by UEFA, the owners thought we could get away with treading water, adding family staples to the small supply of fine foods we had previously bought.
Baked beans taste fine and dandy, every now and again. What they don't taste great with is being slopped on the same plate as caviar.
We have put together an ill-conceived menu for the last 24 months and much as I love our owner and chairman for everything they have done so far, I would now urge them to take stock of what they really want out of this association?
If it is to win friends and influence people, they are shit out of luck. They have enabled Manchester City, of previous ridicule, to bring out the very worst of British and European traits - envy and spite of someone else's success.
They have allowed their eye to be taken off the ball, trying to jump through hoops, in the hope of presenting a more acceptable, watered-down threat to the so-called establishment of the game.
Mancini, for all his faults, and he had many, knew that a team that had come from nowhere, still needed to spend on the very best, however vulgar it may be perceived by people who will never find City acceptable, regardless of what we do off the pitch.
Mancini managed his final season with one hand tied behind his back and cut his throat with the other one.
I could not believe the team when it was announced last night, although was relieved to see Pellegrini make the correct decisions at half time in replacing the appalling Jovetic and Navas, in terms of addressing an extra man in the middle and also trying to introduce Nasri's ball retention.
But to then undo that thought process by taking off Fernando pretty much summed up the manager's state of confusion this season. He is wasting substitutions because he is simply not setting the team up with the correct platform from the outset.
I stand by what I observed on Sunday, the removal of Milner against United was tactical naivety in the extreme.
Sadly, results dictate, but this current group of 'over-ripe' players won't allow me to be fooled for a second time, with or without David Silva, they should be good enough to beat the majority of cannon-fodder.
Pellegrini, if he can somehow make it through to January, needs a frank discussion with Khaldoon and Begirsitain. He should not be made the patsy for players such as Clichy, Fernandinho, Dzeko, Nasri and Jovetic.
Perhaps Pellegrini does deserve the absolute backing from Abu Dhabi to address the weaknesses in this squad, regardless of cost?
I'm on the fence if Manuel has it in him, but the solution remains the same, somebody needs to decide if they want City to wither on the vine, or go again, regardless of the consequences.
I think most blues would accept the trade-off being expelled from Champions League football for a year if the result is a couple of hundred million (and that's what it will take) to set a City team up for the next five-year cycle.
You can only be a nice guy for so long, or it starts to stink of weakness.
1) Should we spend without fear of UEFA to rebuild?
2) Should Pellegrini be given the chance to manage those players?
3) If City is supposedly a PR exercise for Abu Dhabi, is it in danger of going tits-up?