Players made scapegoats and unfairly treated by fans

[kinky's boots]

Sterling

When he first started doing really well under Pep a lot of fans were in denial for a long time and refused to give him any credit. It took two amazing seasons for some to change their minds.

As soon as his form dropped off they were back to being all over him again. This was despite players like Bernardo being poor for 12 solid months, before his recent return to form, and getting little stick for it.

Goater was another player who got a lot of abuse before he won the fans over. For whatever reason he got miles more stick than Dickov despite him having a miles better record.

Dickov was terrible but he ran around a lot

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Dickov was terrible but he ran around a lot

But he scored that goal so I forgive him everything, personally.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

In Megson's case it was deserved

Megson played an important role in Howard Kendalls tight disciplined midfield set up.he got a foot in,and maintained his shape/ posistion...along with other seasoned veterans brought in by the new manager...a world away from the talented,but young and tactically naive team assembled under Mel Machin.

Under Machin,in the old 1st division,city couldnt win away from home,often scoring first or playing well intially ( backed by a huge vociferous away following) before collapsing like a pack of cards as soon as the home team applied a bit of sustained pressure.

Veterans like Megson,Harper, Ward and Reid toughened up Manchester City to the extent where we we went from losing away at Southampton under Machin,after taking the lead(lost 2-1)and being bottom of the league...to scraping a nil nil draw at Goodison park under Kendall against one of the most powerful sides in the top division at the time,especially at home,on a ground where both fans and players ran the gauntlet when visiting...

Shortly after that,still towards the bottom of the league we travelled to Villa park and beat top of the table villa 2-1,our first away win of the season,reid and ward both scoring,in a gritty determined,swashbuckling performance which shocked everybody.

Megson played his part in the complete transformation of Manchester Citys season,and we fiinished a creditable 14th in the league,an outstanding achievement in the circumstances and one based around kendall picking a team which stuck to his game plan.
Megson played his part.

 

[mayo31]

Megson played an important role in Howard Kendalls tight disciplined midfield set up.he got a foot in,and maintained his shape/ posistion...along with other seasoned veterans brought in by the new manager...a world away from the talented,but young and tactically naive team assembled under Mel Machin.

Under Machin,in the old 1st division,city couldnt win away from home,often scoring first or playing well intially ( backed by a huge vociferous away following) before collapsing like a pack of cards as soon as the home team applied a bit of sustained pressure.

Veterans like Megson,Harper, Ward and Reid toughened up Manchester City to the extent where we we went from losing away at Southampton under machin,after taking the lead(1-2) and being bottom of the league...to scraping a nil nil draw at Goodison park under kendall against one of the most powerful sides in the top division at the time,especially at home,on a ground where both fans and players ran the gauntlet when visiting...

Shortly after that,still towards the bottom of the league we travelled to Villa park and beat top of the table villa 2-1,our first away win of the season,reid and ward both scoring,in a gritty determined,swashbuckling performance which shocked everybody.

Megson played his part in the complete transformation of Manchester Citys season,and we fiinished a creditable 14th in the league,an outstanding achievement in the circumstances and one based around kendall picking a team which stuck to his game plan.
Megson played his part.

Went to villa Park that day

Strangeway riots was kicking off as we got back to town

 

[FantasyIreland]

Dickov was terrible but he ran around a lot

Dickov wasnt terrible by any stretch,he was limited in his ability and industry/tenacity made up much of his game......but that never say die attitude,and giving 100% every game,buys a player a lot of credit with the majority of supporters.

 

[vicblueman]

The worst one i have ever seen getting the bird was rag sammy mcllroy foolishly joining city ,when i think he was discarded at utd .
Sure it was his home debut game (may be wrong) but he was doing ok, but for him unfortunately did a mistake resulting in a goal conceded .
He got ripped to pieces from what seemed every section of the city crowd in the ground, fuckinhell i thought he was going to get strung up ,city fans wanting blood !
Never heard booing & heckling so loud in my life ,he had to be substituted right away, head bowed down in shame heading for the main stand tunnel . Think he moved to stoke right away .

 

[SK14BLUE]

The worst one i have ever seen getting the bird was rag sammy mcllroy foolishly joining city ,when i think he was discarded at utd .
Sure it was his home debut game (may be wrong) but he was doing ok, but for him unfortunately did a mistake resulting in a goal conceded .
He got ripped to pieces from what seemed every section of the city crowd in the ground, fuckinhell i thought he was going to get strung up ,city fans wanting blood !
Never heard booing & heckling so loud in my life ,he had to be substituted right away, head bowed down in shame heading for the main stand tunnel . Think he moved to stoke right away .

We bought him from Stoke, think he fucked off somewhere in Norway, I was at his debut at Coventry first game of the season I think, he got dogs abuse.

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

Hart's problem is that he never worked on his weaknesses.

Top goalkeepers need to be like opening batsmen, constantly refining their game to cover up any weakness as it gets exposed.

David Preece has spoken a few times about this and as I assume goalkeeping coaching is a small community he is probably well informed. Under Mancini's GK coach, Massimo Battura, Hart was forced to work on the aspect of his game that he hated working on. Battura had known him since he arrived at the club as a no one and was like a school teacher - not unlike Mancini.

When Pellegrini came in, we hired Xabi Mancisidor, who is considered one of the best in the business, but he took over a seasoned international goalkeeper with a high standing in the club and had a more collegiate way of training. He wasnt going to scream and shout at a grown man to force him to work on things he wasnt interested or refused to.

Thats when Hart really started to go downhill and also it would likely have been Mancisidors analysis of Hart that made Pep decide so early that he wasnt good enough.

Since then I've seen no evidence of Hart fixing the fundamental technique problems he exposed towards the end of his time here. His positioning is still wrong and he still concedes too many to his left. He isn't great coming for crosses and he is rooted to his line.

So if he still hasn't fixed those issues he never will.

I respect your opinion but think you're being way too harsh. There is quite a difference between not being good enough for Pep and just not being good. Joe Hart should be regularly keeping for another PL club.
Okay, he had areas he could improve but can you name any player who doesn't?
I will always fondly remember Joe as an integral part of our success. One of the markers for me is when you go to the game or watch on TV are you thinking "shit, I hope our keeper doesn't have a mare". That never entered my mind watching Joe but it certainly did with Claudio Bravo

 

[mat]

SeeThe worst one i have ever seen getting the bird was rag sammy mcllroy foolishly joining city ,when i think he was discarded at utd .
Sure it was his home debut game (may be wrong) but he was doing ok, but for him unfortunately did a mistake resulting in a goal conceded .
He got ripped to pieces from what seemed every section of the city crowd in the ground, fuckinhell i thought he was going to get strung up ,city fans wanting blood !
Never heard booing & heckling so loud in my life ,he had to be substituted right away, head bowed down in shame heading for the main stand tunnel . Think he moved to stoke right away .

I vaguely remember his name being on team sheet for a match and my old man going full tourrettes. He never stood a chance.

 

[domalino]

I respect your opinion but think you're being way too harsh. There is quite a difference between not being good enough for Pep and just not being good. Joe Hart should be regularly keeping for another PL club.
Okay, he had areas he could improve but can you name any player who doesn't?
I will always fondly remember Joe as an integral part of our success. One of the markers for me is when you go to the game or watch on TV are you thinking "shit, I hope our keeper doesn't have a mare". That never entered my mind watching Joe but it certainly did with Claudio Bravo

You're looking at this with incredibly blue tinted specs.

Forget City. He was terrible at Torino, West Ham and Burnley, and he's been poor in the Europa League for Spurs.

He's not good enough to play in the Premier League or he would be.