Swansea (a) Post Match Thread

[Centurions]

We were clinging on to 4th place prior to kick off, and only just got there by full time. That's clinging on in my book. You're looking at it from a micro level of us dominating in the game, I'm looking at it from a macro level that it came down to the last game was therefore clinging on to 4th in the final game. Ultimately were just one goal from Swansea away from not making top 4. That's cutting it way too fine for my liking.

Even during the game, the last half hour was us settling for a draw. Yes we were the better side all game, but to me, playing for a draw In the last 30 mins) to scrape into the top 4 is clinging on.

We weren't 'clinging on' as we were in the driving seat and in full control of our own destiny. And we weren't 1 goal away from not qualifying as you're presuming the rags will beat Bournemouth (it's not a gimmee).

 

[Sunny Coast Blue]

it was the right result, but my word what a shocker of a performance.

i felt sorry for sergio, you could see he wanted that golden boot today.

i can't see mangala, fernando, clichy and navas playing much under pep, they are just not of the quality needed to go forward in my opinion.

Really wanted??????? My arse he did!

 

[whos_kompany85]

Appropriate performance that summed up the season. We were not good today. Defensive mistakes, poor decision making from both CBs, didn't control things in the middle and unfortunately kelechi had a stinker apart from the goal.
Nasri has impressed me since he's come back though, a player that has so much ball control (bit of a rarity with us) and lots going through him for last 15 mins or so, also means kdb can move behind Aguero.
Weird season, plenty of disappointing times but it's not been a disaster, we'll see what the next months bring.
Thank you pellegrini, there were some fucking excellent times.

 

[Sky Blue]

Appropriate performance that summed up the season. We were not good today. Defensive mistakes, poor decision making from both CBs, didn't control things in the middle and unfortunately kelechi had a stinker apart from the goal.
Nasri has impressed me since he's come back though, a player that has so much ball control (bit of a rarity with us) and lots going through him for last 15 mins or so, also means kdb can move behind Aguero.
Weird season, plenty of disappointing times but it's not been a disaster, we'll see what the next months bring.
Thank you pellegrini, there were some fucking excellent times.

Nasri should have been on earlier.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

Bollocks...... you have no argueament for that.....his trophies show he wasnt. 2nd most successful manager in the clubs history..some ppl are just never satisfied. Deary me.

So our decline is bollocks??

13-14 - Finished 1st. 86 points, 102 goals scored, 37 conceded.

14-15 - Finished 2nd. 79 points, 83 goals scored, 38 conceded.

15-16 - Finished 4th. 66 points, 71 goals scored, 41 conceded.

How would you describe this?

 

[Eds]

Nasri should have been on earlier.

Nasri should have started

 

[FanchesterCity]

We weren't 'clinging on' as we were in the driving seat and in full control of our own destiny. And we weren't 1 goal away from not qualifying as you're presuming the rags will beat Bournemouth (it's not a gimmee).

I'm not sure 1-1 was our ultimate intended destination. Being in the driving seat doesn't mean you're in control!
We were the better team, and 1-1 was enough, but it was hardly comfortable. I would say it was a nervy finish (both in the game, and the season as a whole) and we've 'clung on' to a top 4 finish.

Had we lost, we would not have qualified.
We may have qualified after the United game. Strictly speaking only a win guaranteed qualification, but for all intents and purposes the draw suffices.

 

[Dribble]

Well, then it all shifts into 'who is buying the players' etc. Hand on heart I didn't see any of Sterling / KdB / Bony / Mangala / Otamendi / Delph / Fernando being bad buys. I was quite excited by most of them, even if I did think we'd paid over the odds for most of them. There was nobody in that list that had me thinking 'he is total waste of space'. However, now I'm asking which of those has truly improved us, and I can only name one (KdB) and that's not good for a club aspiring to win a domestic league, let alone CL. We're hardly alone in not buying too well, but that's no excuse.

Or - we have bought well, and the manager just isn't getting the best out of them. We'll only discover that once Pep arrives.

I can look for positives / potential in most of those players, but I'd be struggling to say Sterling's moved us any further forward than Bellamy, or that Mangala's been any more effective than Lescott etc.
Bony's certainly been worse than Dzeko, and Delph / Fernando aren't any better than the De Jong or Garcia days. I understand why we got Delph and can't say he's a bad player, I'm just talking about tangible improvements to us as a squad, and don't think we're any better than when Pellegrini arrived.

And this is my point. Sterling is a 21 year old boy and Bellamy was a seasoned professional so comparing the two is a bit unfair. Delph and Benteke were practically keeping Villa up single handedly. We get Delph, play him on the left wing and wonder if even at £8m he was a waste of money.

Tbh, I don't wonder at none of it and just like I was sure we would regress under Pellegrini unless he changed his train crash all out attacking philosophy, I'm pretty confident any decent top level manager would have made a better fist with what Pellegrini had than he did. I'm also sure we wouldn't have needed Pep Guardiola to prove that theory either.

Fans, pundits, football professionals have all at times been at a loss as to what the hell Pellegrini was thinking whilst managing us and they can't all be wrong. When he came here all that was needed was evolution not revolution and to build upon the solid foundations left by Mancini, but the first thing he did was to needlessly tear it all apart. Why?

All the character traits of the last 2 seasons were there in the first if his sympathisers care to look. The only difference was, our team still had Mancini's fear factor, but it only took a couple of teams to have a go and within a season the whole league was at it and we were well and truly found out. Lest you forget, Alladyce, Pardew, Rogers, Pulis they all commented that we were defensively vulnerable and there was a way to beat us and one by one that's what they did. Did Manuel react? Did he fuck, he just came out and said 'We always play the same way'.

His disciples may have turned out in force to see him off today, but the when given the chance to do so at the Etihad, the vast majority of fans fucked off home showing exactly what they think of this charming man and the way he has (mis) handled our once feared team. This is why his sympathisers are now laughably claiming Manuel has suffered because he has a worse squad now than when he took over! Total bollocks, the only thing that is considerably worse now than when Manuel took over is the manager and we have year on year league points tallies to prove that.

 

[FanchesterCity]

So our decline is bollocks??

13-14 - Finished 1st. 86 points, 102 goals scored, 37 conceded.

14-15 - Finished 2nd. 79 points, 83 goals scored, 38 conceded.

15-16 - Finished 4th. 66 points, 71 goals scored, 41 conceded.

How would you describe this?

I think you have to look at things in the context of the entire league. Winning with 100 points doesn't make a squad better than one who wins with only 80 points (for instance).
I personally think we have declined, so agree with you, but the points totals aren't the best measure. League position probably spells it out much better.

 

[Dribble]

If you think the current squad, even without the incredible catalogue of injuries, is stronger than the 2012 version you can't be helped

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.