Swansea (a) Post Match Thread

Dribble said:
If you think it isn't prove it! Put our current squad man for man against our 2012 version and prove it. I'll wait for you illuminating reply. Like I said there's an elephant in the room and you've totally missed him........ He's called Manuel Pellegrini and I would suggest the difference between he and Mancini is bigger than any difference you could pick over the two squads and even then I'm pretty confident this squad managed correctly will come out on top.
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How on earth can anyone 'prove' something that is entirely subjective you balloon? You can't anymore than I can! And I haven't missed the elephant in the room at all. I first called for Pellegrini's head nearly 18 months ago. He's been pants for a long time, and there are several current PL managers, who would have made a better fist out of managing this squad. This squad though has numerous flaws and key injuries have not helped. The failure has been collective IMO, although I would apportion the majority share of the blame to the manager
 
What can I say that hasn’t already been said?

Hart was hardly troubled, yet still looked hesitant.
Too many unforced errors and stupid free kicks conceded.
Navas should have a couple of assists, but sadly, his more more popular team mates fluffed their lines.
De Bruyne flirted between brilliance and anonymity.
Aguero and Iheanacho were both poor, and on the surface don’t appear to have much of an understanding.
We appeared to be cruising for the first 30 minutes, and maybe that was the problem.


It doesn’t matter now, but like many others, I need a cricket break.
Have a good summer everyone, and I look forward to arguing over the August signings, and the directions for the Ticket Collection Point in Azerbaijan.
 
I don't think fans leaving en masse last week was a specific gesture to Pellegrini I think it was more symptomatic of not feeling a lap of honour was particular appropriate after a relatively poor season (by our new levels of expectation).

Don't get me wrong, that includes Pellegrini's performances, but it wasn't limited to him, half the team fell under the same disdain.

As for why he broke some things up when he arrived - I think there were a number of characters seen as 'troublesome' behind the scenes and his alleged remit to calm things behind the scenes was a genuine factor. For the first 6 months we played some wonderful attacking flair football and fans really welcomed it. After that, I agree, things started to calm down and we were far less convincing. Still, it would be churlish to ignore winning the league and league cup. They still had to be won.

In my opinion though, he probably should have gone last season, and has been a caretaker manager for the last 12 months (some would argue he's been that for the full 3 years).

I think his tenure has largely been unremarkable (despite three trophies), and the transfers made during his reign much the same (barring KdB and maybe Fernandinho).
 
So it was a cock up at OT. A fake bomb used in a training exercise left there by mistake!

Hope they will compensate the Bournemouth fans who travelled for nothing.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
How on earth can anyone 'prove' something that is entirely subjective you balloon? You can't anymore than I can! And I haven't missed the elephant in the room at all. I first called for Pellegrini's head nearly 18 months ago. He's been pants for a long time, and there are several current PL managers, who would have made a better fist out of managing this squad. This squad though has numerous flaws and key injuries have not helped. The failure has been collective IMO, although I would apportion the majority share of the blame to the manager
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That's my opinion too. Pellegrini's contributed to our current situation, but there's an entire squad of players who have played a part too. I've seen with my own eyes a number of players slacking off, and even with a poor manager, they have to take some responsibility for their own professionalism. Tired of the all too easy accusation of 'the manager can't motivate them'. I want self motivated players, and a manager who can steer that motivation in the best direction.
 
Well...as far as I understand it....unless there is a miracle....

Congratulation on the champs league qualification ....

And now for a summer of rest
 
This ridiculous PL season has gone out the way it played out for much of the time with unbelievable cock ups all round.

Roll on 2016 - 17. Surely cannot be so bizarre.

And to think if Bony had hit his shot an inch lower last week and our strikers could hit a barn door today we could have actually finished 2 nd!
 
As a team performance today, from a team trying to qualify for the CL, it was a f**king shambles. Yes we have probably done it, but the performance of many was very sub standard, despite the chances we managed to create. Luckily Swansea didn't give a shite either, if they had we'd have lost.

There is no I in team, and today every player out there had an I in them.

Pep has a huge job sorting that mess out, and I hope that many blues give him the time, though I doubt it.

Thanks Manuel, some good memories from that first season, but I'm very glad you've gone, good luck wherever you end up, I doubt it will be in England.
 
FanchesterCity said:
It IS very hard to compare individual players etc, and we won't know the true measure of some players until they've been with us for longer, but as things stand right now, it's a tough job to argue that a lot of buys in the last 3 seasons have moved us forward. Doesn't matter if they are 18, or 35, it's about what measuring tangible progress. CL progress was great, but offset by poor league form.
In another 2 or 3 seasons, some of our signings may well prove their worth, but as it stands, their 'potential' is purely speculative.

Under Mancini, rumours were that a number of players disliked his methods and things were stormy behind the scenes. Pellegrini (in theory) was supposed to bring a calming atmosphere - and it would appear he managed that very well - arguably though, it's resulted in too much calm! I wouldn't like to say which of the two managerial styles is better - they are just different, I just don't feel the change of style has benefitted us to any significant extent. I don't like to see any manager do badly at City, but I think Pellegrini's taken us as far as he could. I don't know if that's true of Mancini.

I think Klopp or Pep would have been significant upgrades on Pellegrini and Mancini though - and now we've secured that upgrade. Roll on next season.
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Tbh, I would say they were all upgrades on Pellegrini including Mancini who has 4 league titles to Manuel's one which happened to be with Mancini's team. I hated seeing what was happening to us and was desperate for Pellegrini to succeed, but he just seemed to be his own worse enemy. Against Arsenal recently, myself, my brother our mates, many fans at the ground, the commentators and the pundits knew at 2-1 up we needed to reinforce our midfield EVERYONE could see this, so why couldn't Manuel?

There have been too many similar incidences to mention, but suffice to say it's all over now and will soon be consigned to history. We've just about scraped 4th and I hope it's a very long time before we have to endure an end to the season like this one. Here's hoping.......
 
cleavers said:
As a team performance today, from a team trying to qualify for the CL, it was a f**king shambles. Yes we have probably done it, but the performance of many was very sub standard, despite the chances we managed to create. Luckily Swansea didn't give a shite either, if they had we'd have lost.

There is no I in team, and today every player out there had an I in them.

Pep has a huge job sorting that mess out, and I hope that many blues give him the time, though I doubt it.

Thanks Manuel, some good memories from that first season, but I'm very glad you've gone, good luck wherever you end up, I doubt it will be in England.
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Knowing our luck it will be managing the team we are drawn against in the qualifier - where he will suddenly turn into an instant tactical genius.
 
Dribble said:
If you think it isn't prove it! Put our current squad man for man against our 2012 version and prove it. I'll wait for you illuminating reply. Like I said there's an elephant in the room and you've totally missed him........ He's called Manuel Pellegrini and I would suggest the difference between he and Mancini is bigger than any difference you could pick over the two squads and even then I'm pretty confident this squad managed correctly will come out on top.
Click to expand...

Like many you hopelessly overrate the squad that has been available for most of this year. Some used to be great but are now on a rapid decline whether due to age, injuries or both. The key players to me have been Hart, Kompany, Zabba, Silva, Toure and Aguero. Four of them are not a patch on what they were with Zabba and Toure possibly on their way out and Kompany's career in the balance. Will Silva ever reach the same heights again? Add to that the absence of Nasri and the seeming inability to buy players (other than KDB) who are better than those who have left. Oh and by the way, a proper world class player, Carlos Tevez, was never even remotely replaced. I could go on. This is a far weaker squad that needs substantial improvement.
 
Healdplace said:
So it was a cock up at OT. A fake bomb used in a training exercise left there by mistake!
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The cynic in me says it wasn't a cock up at all, that someone was trying to gain an advantage, ie delay kick off, not get it abandoned, so that they knew what they needed to qualify, well now they do, win 19-0 and its yours, oh and I hope its replayed on Thursday night.
 
Dribble said:
Tbh, I would say they were all upgrades on Pellegrini including Mancini who has 4 league titles to Manuel's one which happened to be with Mancini's team. I hated seeing what was happening to us and was desperate for Pellegrini to succeed, but he just seemed to be his own worse enemy. Against Arsenal recently, myself, my brother our mates, many fans at the ground, the commentators and the pundits knew at 2-1 up we needed to reinforce our midfield EVERYONE could see this, so why couldn't Manuel?

There have been too many similar incidences to mention, but suffice to say it's all over now and will soon be consigned to history. We've just about scraped 4th and I hope it's a very long time before we have to endure an end to the season like this one. Here's hoping.......
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It's only my opinion, but he strikes me as a man that believes in a certain way, and keeps going at it until it works. Often though, it doesn't work and he keep sticking at it doggedly. Very much like Wenger in that regard and arguably it was a statesman like figure akin to Wenger that the owners wanted after Mancini.

I hope we don't expect miracles from Pep. The British media will be all over him (negatively) right from the off - waiting for him to fail and we'll need to get right behind him from the off. There's going to be ups and downs along the way, but he's got to be better right?
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
How on earth can anyone 'prove' something that is entirely subjective you balloon? You can't anymore than I can! And I haven't missed the elephant in the room at all. I first called for Pellegrini's head nearly 18 months ago. He's been pants for a long time, and there are several current PL managers, who would have made a better fist out of managing this squad. This squad though has numerous flaws and key injuries have not helped. The failure has been collective IMO, although I would apportion the majority share of the blame to the manager
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Balloon? Lol

Iirc you were one of Pellegrini's most fervent and vocal supporters and were one of the posters who regularly attacked ANYONE who uttered a critical word against Pellegrini and you were as convinced you were right then as you are now. You didn't trust or show any interest in what I and many others said from the get go, but to your credit when the penny finally dropped at least you were honest enough to call it as you saw it when others you were associated with continued to dig their stiletto's in until the bitter end......

You didn't trust many people's judgement then, but I'm asking you to consider my judgement now. I read a blog a few months back where the author laid out the squad's of all the title favourites and included those of Leicester and WHU so it was easy to contrast and compare. Once the squads were all laid out in front of you, it was clear to see Manchester City had on paper the most desirable squad closely followed by Chelsea and Arsenal.

Imo the squad we have now is the best we've had overall in my lifetime and stronger than the one Mancini had to play with. I had the benefit of seeing the competing PL squads side by side and it was an eye opener. Try it, you'll be surprised with what you find and will be even more dismayed with the way this season has panned out. The thing that will hit you is the difference a good manager can make.

As for calling me a balloon, you can have that one for free as this must be an emotional day of closure for you. :-)
 
Poor game. Poor performance. Lot of players half arsed.

Players that need to leave: Sterling, Sagna, Clichy, Mangala, Navas.
 
Glad to see the back of Pellogrini but not too sure Pep's the answer most of the premier leagues managers could've won something with Barca or Bayern I would've been a lot happier with Ancelotti
 
pardoeofftomexico said:
Like many you hopelessly overrate the squad that has been available for most of this year. Some used to be great but are now on a rapid decline whether due to age, injuries or both. The key players to me have been Hart, Kompany, Zabba, Silva, Toure and Aguero. Four of them are not a patch on what they were with Zabba and Toure possibly on their way out and Kompany's career in the balance. Will Silva ever reach the same heights again? Add to that the absence of Nasri and the seeming inability to buy players (other than KDB) who are better than those who have left. Oh and by the way, a proper world class player, Carlos Tevez, was never even remotely replaced. I could go on. This is a far weaker squad that needs substantial improvement.
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We'll have to disagree then mate. If you lay the both squads side by side, the only player I miss from 2012 would probably be Tevez. The biggest difference which many seem to be overlooking is the effect of the managers with the different squads. Would Pellegrini achieve what Mancini did at the same point in time and what would Mancini have done with this season's squad.

Having had time to see both, I've no doubt who I would prefer.
 
FanchesterCity said:
It's only my opinion, but he strikes me as a man that believes in a certain way, and keeps going at it until it works. Often though, it doesn't work and he keep sticking at it doggedly. Very much like Wenger in that regard and arguably it was a statesman like figure akin to Wenger that the owners wanted after Mancini.

I hope we don't expect miracles from Pep. The British media will be all over him (negatively) right from the off - waiting for him to fail and we'll need to get right behind him from the off. There's going to be ups and downs along the way, but he's got to be better right?
Click to expand...
Like all managers Pep has his faults. I simply adored his Barca side and the fact my company has offices in Barcelona explains why I have always had an affinity with the city and its people. However, in his final season Pep took his philosophy too far and seemed to be trying to create a team of Xavi's in every position which I just knew would go tits up and it did.

Pep says he's a better manager now than he was when at Barca and has said he's learned a lot from managing for 3 years in Germany. I may have high hopes for us under Pep, but I'm not foolish enough to think it will be as easy as ABC. Pep is no mug though, and he will be fully aware that the Premier League is the most competitive in the world and on their day, any team is capable of carving out a victory.

We need to rebuild to a degree and we need to refocus and rediscover our playing identity. What I can say though is that if I had a choice of any manager in the world to steer us through this next stage in our development, I would have chosen Pep above all others. I don't think it will be easy for him and I just hope the fans give him time to settle in and start our transformation to where we were 3 years ago in the first instance and then move us beyond that to the levels of Bayern and Barca.
 
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