Stop moaning and get behind Mancini

[Damocles]

That is a dog! Magnificent animal.

You would have to name him Nige though ;-)

Actually, he's called Teflon, after the Teflon Don because I lost a bet to my "propa gangsta" nephew.

 

[Woodsy1977]

HE IS NOT DOING A GREAT JOB!!!!! Seriously, he is doing far from a great job. I know you can say that the team need time to gel. The players are finding their feet....blah blah blah. Well when we've spent as much as we have I find it a little ludicrous that he continues to pick a team and choose tactics that basically suggest he has absolutely no confidence that we can go to the bigger teams and get a victory. That is not a good sign!
Gareth Barry more often than not is very very average, but Mancini continually perseveres with him. He gives the ball away a lot, and when he does find a man it is usually sideways or backwards. He has got absolutely no vision whatsoever when it comes to playing a decisive pass. He needs dropping. Kolarov has done nothing this season to suggest he is good enough for a permanent left back slot. He hasnt been the attacking threat people thought as he can't seem to provide the crosses Dzecko needs to feed on. But as a defender, at times he looks woeful. I watched the Rags play Marseille last week and their second string left back behind Heinze is a guy we have been linked with in the past Taiwo. A beast of a man who outstripped Nani for pace twice and never got beat in the air. These are the type of players that will fit right in to the Premier League.
I for one have had my fill of the tactics Mancini has employed this season. It finally dawned on me after the 0-0 with the rags at our place. We should be putting them to the sword at our place, particularly when they have regularly shown their frailties this season.
I know us City fans like to show loyalty as often as we can, but there is a certain amount of pigheadedness sometimes that seems to cloud the judgement of a few. Yes we are having a season that is the best for a number of years, that cannot be denied. But I don't see how that is because of the effect Mancini has had on the squad. Put that group of players together and they are never going to be shite are they? I bet some of our previous managers whom we deemed unsuccessful could have done a job equal to, if not better than Mancini has, if they had had this squad at there disposal.
We have made it through to the semi final of the FA cup and play the numptys down the road at Wembley. But how many City fans can put their hand on their heart and say they fancy our chances if we approach the game in the same way we have against the big clubs in the second half of this season. It pains me to say it, but I fear the worst. Imaging the feeling of walking out of wembley having just seen us lose to THEM of all teams having parked a bus in front of them and conceded sloppy a goal in the 88th minute to go down 1-0. Well unless he drastically changes his vision of how the team should play. Its the only outcome I can see. I really hope I'm wrong.

 

[blueinsa]

That is a dog! Magnificent animal.

You would have to name him Nige though ;-)

Actually, he's called Teflon, after the Teflon Don because I lost a bet to my "propa gangsta" nephew.

Your a lucky man to have him mate.

Dont envy the food bill though ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

And this is where my faith in Mancini has evaporated. If the players are struggling with the system, he should've adapted it, because that's his job as manager. Just sitting back and berating them for not being good enough, isn't IMO good management.

As I say, he will be as aware of it as us, but frustratingly for us, he's the only one who gets to see what he does to remedy it on the training pitch!

Here's my analogy on Mancini's problem for you:

I have a 2 dogs, one of which is called Teflon, who is a bull mastiff. He looks a bit like this:

Now, Teflon is a big dog and as a puppy, he needs regular exercise. Near me, I have a choice of two places to take him out to when I go running; one is a pretty open field next to a river and a motorway, another one is a pretty narrow nature reserve path with fences every few hundred metres. The field is pretty wide open, and we could both run for miles there without major interruption whilst the nature reserve is more secure.

At first, I started to take him to the nature reserve. He was only a puppy and he wasn't yet aware how to behave properly. He couldn't really stretch his legs for a prolonged period of time but I enjoyed the safety of not having to worry about him attacking/getting attacked/running away, etc. Everything was fenced off, and it was nice and safe.

After a while, both of us were getting to the fence without really pushing ourselves too hard and he was starting to misbehave a little bit. I mean, this went against all logic, why was he misbehaving when he was put in such a safe and secure environment; one that was pretty much suited to his needs?

The answer is in the question.

I had to learn to take him to the big field instead. Yes, he might jump in the fast flowing river and die. Yes, he might jump onto the motorway and get hit by a huge truck, but the decision has to be his. I refused to put my trust in him until it started to affect his performance when running. Only then did I realise that.

However, this time in the nature reserve taught him that he needs to run beside me, and taught him of the dangers of normal life. If I would have put him straight on the big field, he would have died because he's a bit of a balloon, and wouldn't have known how to handle it.

The key to everything is balance.

One day, Mancini will release the hounds, so to speak but only when he feels that they are ready. I personally feel that with much of our team regaining its fitness over the international break, we should start getting a bit more adventurous, movement wise, but I don't speak to them every day and don't have a complex understanding of their tactical awareness. I do think that we've become a bit more forward looking in the last couple of games.

Either way, my main point is that it's too early to judge anything and if you are judging the performances of the first season players and the first season coach now, you better have some extraordinary evidence or arguments to back this up, better than "omg he's Italian"

EDIT: That last part wasn't directed at you Billy, you know that I highly respect your arguments and opinions on football :)

The problem with the analogy for me is that pro footballers aren't pliable dogs - they are temperamental young men who have different needs, and will naturally pull in different directions. What the manager needs to do is harness and focus their abilities, and get the best out of them, and by proxy get results.

We talk a lot about Mou on Bluemoon. Here's some food for though, it's just my opinion, but I believe that Madrid began the season playing as we're playing now (little movement, an over reliance on a piece of magic to score a goal, playing at a slow tempo too often), however as the season has progressed they have developed into a top top top team. Excellent movement, excellent tempo, plenty of chances being created etc. Now I admit they have better players than us, but the point is that as a unit they have visibly improved since the season started. That's with a brand new manager and a host of new players...

I know you're last para wasn't aimed at me ! No need to qualify it...;- )

 

[Damocles]

We talk a lot about Mou on Bluemoon. Here's some food for though, it's just my opinion, but I believe that Madrid began the season playing as we're playing now (little movement, an over reliance on a piece of magic to score a goal, playing at a slow tempo too often), however as the season has progressed they have developed into a top top top team. Excellent movement, excellent tempo, plenty of chances being created etc. Now I admit they have better players than us, but the point is that as a unit they have visibly improved since the season started. That's with a brand new manager and a host of new players...

I know you're last para wasn't aimed at me ! No need to qualify it...;- )

Agree absolutely. This proves to me how fantastic of a manager Mourinho is, not how poor Mancini is though. I don't doubt that Mou is a better manager than Mancini; he's the best in the world with the possible exception of Ferguson (what? I value evolution across many years!). This doesn't degrade Mancini by any stretch. By the same measure, just because Ronaldo can do things that AJ can't, doesn't mean that AJ is underperforming.

Another example would be someone like Pellegrini at Malaga. He's a proven winner at Real Madrid and hit the jackpot at Malaga with their new owners. They bought in a whole new squad and are threatening to get relegated. Now, I'm not suggesting that they should be challenging for the title but they are far more talented as a squad than that. It's just hard to blend new guys in that quick. Look at Hughes, we were actually where Malaga were in December 2008 with a squad that featured De Jong, Kompany, Zab, Hart, Bellers and Robinho. Now those that are still here in that list are some of our best performers.

It's just a consequence of the "accelerated spending policy" or whatever the board are using as a euthanism now.

 

[Anonymous]

Agree absolutely. This proves to me how fantastic of a manager Mourinho is, not how poor Mancini is though. I don't doubt that Mou is a better manager than Mancini; he's the best in the world with the possible exception of Ferguson (what? I value evolution across many years!). This doesn't degrade Mancini by any stretch. By the same measure, just because Ronaldo can do things that AJ can't, doesn't mean that AJ is underperforming.

What about Rednapp then? Spurs improved markedly in his first season in charge, even though he bought in five new players in January. Then in the summer he bought another five or six players, and last season did better than us whilst playing much better football than we play...

The point is that there's no formula for when a team should improve, or when they should begin performing. The point is progress - both managers' teams have improved. Can you honestly say our team has improved since we played Liverpool at the beginning of the season?

 

[Damocles]

What about Rednapp then? Spurs improved markedly in his first season in charge, even though he bought in five new players in January. Then in the summer he bought another five or six players, and last season did better than us whilst playing much better football than we play...

Ahh, Redknapp.....the luckiest man in world football.

To be fair, if you analyse his purchases, he already had the core of the team there thanks to Ramos (Bale, Lennon, King, Dawson, Jenas, Modric, Woodgate, etc were all there already), and all he did was go out and buy some of his core Pompey players (Crouch, Defoe, Kranjkar) as well as a few additions, many of which were blunders (Dos Santos, Keane, Bassong, etc).

Lucky stroke number 1:
Redknapp took over a team that was behaving erratically as it wasn't yet settled. When he took over, he got the best out of the players as they had been there a longer term, not unlike why Mancini has to partially thank Hughes for this season's performers.

I want to make this post on it's own, but the remarkable amount of luck and goodwill given to Redknapp cannot be overstated enough. He's literally the only professional in football who I have zero respect for tactically.

It's worth nothing that last season was also Redknapp's first season in charge. In Mancini's first season in charge, he is currently doing better than Redknapp, without the advantages given to him of a core group. He's also spent more than Mancini if my memory serves.

The point is that there's no formula for when a team should improve, or when they should begin performing. The point is progress - both managers' teams have improved. Can you honestly say our team has improved since we played Liverpool at the beginning of the season?

Depends. The style of play hasn't improved much since the start of the season, but individual players have certainly improved. I think nearly every squad player has improved markedly under Mancini, with the exception of Barry.

 

[samharris]

Actually, he's called Teflon, after the Teflon Don because I lost a bet to my "propa gangsta" nephew.

Your a lucky man to have him mate.

Dont envy the food bill though ;-)

With a dog like that on the end of yer lead....you dont actually pay for it..

 

[hitRECORDSam]

Good signings and more astute than that bitter prick Hughes but the Catenaccio tactics are embarrassing given the money we have at our disposal.

 

[SamTheGuru]

Just to make a few generalisations over the last few weeks I thought I would identify how our squad should be next year according to bluemoon:

Stay
----
Hart - Seems to have survived the cull as he is young
Lescott - Found some form lately
Kompany - A Rock
Richards - Good player this season
Zab - Hard Working
Silva - Top Class
AJ - Entertains people
Weiss - The 2nd coming
Bellamy - Would have won us the league this season

The Cull
--------
Boateng - Shit
Kolarov - Slow and Shit
Bridge - Gone anyway, shit
Kolo - Druggy
Barry - Useless, adds nothing to the game
Yaya - Tired
Vieira - Old, Crap, Useless, Tired
MJ - Sicknote
SWP - Headless Chicken
Milner - Younger headless chicken, adds nothing
Nige - One dimensional, only passes backwards and sideways
Ade - Gone
Mario - Looney toon
Tevez - Already left and gone to Inter 6 months ago
Dzeko - Championship player at best

Please let me know if I have made any mistakes.

So here we have it:
Hart
Richards Kompany Lescott Zab
Weiss Silva AJ
Guidetti Bellamy
Jo

Then we will make a £150m pound bid for Pastore. Any players that do not adapt within 45 mins of game time will be blacklisted and given the boot.

Oh and Harry Redknapp/Mourinho will be joint managers.

Bring on next year. With that squad we will win the League, Champion's League, Cup Winner's Cup, World Cup, Autowindscreen shield and the Coppa Italia! Long live Bluemoon and thank god for all the professional managers on here! Cheer up you miserable bastards. 9-10 games to go!