johnny crossan
Well-Known Member
MANCHESTER CITY BOSS ROBERTO MANCINI FAILS TO COPE WITH SPECIAL OCCASION
19th April 2010 By BRIAN WOOLNOUGH (aka Sheephead)
IT was one of the biggest matches in Manchester City’s history and manager Roberto Mancini blew it. Big time.
City had no passion in Saturday’s Manchester derby. Not once did they get into the faces of their bitter rivals.
Mancini’s tactics were poor and what we witnessed at Eastlands was a typical Italian performance.
Too cautious. Too careful. A draw was no good to them and yet they never looked like beating United. City’s oh so disappointing display could signal the end of Mancini’s short reign as manager.
He is not the personality this club needs as they reach for the stars and Saturday proved he isn’t a winner. Jose Mourinho, the man who replaced him at Inter Milan, is again linked with his job in a return to English football and the Premier League next season.
Starsport reveals today that United have lined up Mourinho as Sir Alex Ferguson’s eventual replacement and there could be a tug of war.
How embarrassing for City if they lost out to their rivals again. The Special One would not have lost to United on Saturday. He would have demanded more fi re from these players and certainly not allowed Paul Scholes to dominate the game.
It was fi tting 35-year-old Scholes should win the match in the last minute as he had kept City on a piece of string throughout United’s 1-0 victory.
Mancini watched Scholes run the game and didn’t do anything to stop the player who continues to roll back the years and has just signed a new one-year contract.
If Scholes played against City every week he could carry on playing until he was 40.
Only Mancini knows why he didn’t change tactics and why he had so many players behind the ball for so long. Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor were left all alone with no help and support.
The City hierarchy were not impressed and you can’t blame them.
Mancini isn’t the manager City need. What this club is crying out for is a personality to catch the imagination of the public.
A leader, and someone to drag City into a new era of success. They have the money and it’s clear they don’t have the right manager.
They called this the biggest and most important Manchester derby since 1968 and you felt the anticipation, hope and expectancy outside Eastlands before the lunchtime kick-off.
They believed this was their moment. It ended in a complete anti-climax for them and the atmosphere from the fans afterwards was one of being let down.
City remain behind United in every sense. Mancini has to take responsibility for that and he just couldn’t entice a performance from his players when it mattered most for a football club desperate to join the big boys. They were lambs instead of lions.
For the third time this season United scored deep into injury time to beat their rivals and that only tells half the story of City’s frustration.
They were completely outplayed in midfield while up front, Tevez apart, they have no real threat. It took them 85 minutes to threaten a goal.
This was a big step back into reality for City and they remain a long way off from where they want to be. Mancini talked afterwards of winning their last four matches and Spurs do have to play at Eastlands before the end of the season.
They might still qualify for the Champions League and yet what happened was confirmation that City are still behind the best.
The game didn’t feel like the big occasion it was supposed to be and in every way City were the losers.
The biggest loser is likely to be Mancini and my advice to him as the season draws to a close is watch his back. Jose is coming.
19th April 2010 By BRIAN WOOLNOUGH (aka Sheephead)
IT was one of the biggest matches in Manchester City’s history and manager Roberto Mancini blew it. Big time.
City had no passion in Saturday’s Manchester derby. Not once did they get into the faces of their bitter rivals.
Mancini’s tactics were poor and what we witnessed at Eastlands was a typical Italian performance.
Too cautious. Too careful. A draw was no good to them and yet they never looked like beating United. City’s oh so disappointing display could signal the end of Mancini’s short reign as manager.
He is not the personality this club needs as they reach for the stars and Saturday proved he isn’t a winner. Jose Mourinho, the man who replaced him at Inter Milan, is again linked with his job in a return to English football and the Premier League next season.
Starsport reveals today that United have lined up Mourinho as Sir Alex Ferguson’s eventual replacement and there could be a tug of war.
How embarrassing for City if they lost out to their rivals again. The Special One would not have lost to United on Saturday. He would have demanded more fi re from these players and certainly not allowed Paul Scholes to dominate the game.
It was fi tting 35-year-old Scholes should win the match in the last minute as he had kept City on a piece of string throughout United’s 1-0 victory.
Mancini watched Scholes run the game and didn’t do anything to stop the player who continues to roll back the years and has just signed a new one-year contract.
If Scholes played against City every week he could carry on playing until he was 40.
Only Mancini knows why he didn’t change tactics and why he had so many players behind the ball for so long. Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor were left all alone with no help and support.
The City hierarchy were not impressed and you can’t blame them.
Mancini isn’t the manager City need. What this club is crying out for is a personality to catch the imagination of the public.
A leader, and someone to drag City into a new era of success. They have the money and it’s clear they don’t have the right manager.
They called this the biggest and most important Manchester derby since 1968 and you felt the anticipation, hope and expectancy outside Eastlands before the lunchtime kick-off.
They believed this was their moment. It ended in a complete anti-climax for them and the atmosphere from the fans afterwards was one of being let down.
City remain behind United in every sense. Mancini has to take responsibility for that and he just couldn’t entice a performance from his players when it mattered most for a football club desperate to join the big boys. They were lambs instead of lions.
For the third time this season United scored deep into injury time to beat their rivals and that only tells half the story of City’s frustration.
They were completely outplayed in midfield while up front, Tevez apart, they have no real threat. It took them 85 minutes to threaten a goal.
This was a big step back into reality for City and they remain a long way off from where they want to be. Mancini talked afterwards of winning their last four matches and Spurs do have to play at Eastlands before the end of the season.
They might still qualify for the Champions League and yet what happened was confirmation that City are still behind the best.
The game didn’t feel like the big occasion it was supposed to be and in every way City were the losers.
The biggest loser is likely to be Mancini and my advice to him as the season draws to a close is watch his back. Jose is coming.