The performance last night...

[Anonymous]

A very fair point. However as average as that midfield is, is there really any excuse for our inability to impose any pressure on their midfield? We conceded so much ground so many times, that at times it looked like we were playing with 4 up front and 4 at the back, and were happy to give Wigan the ball anywhere in the middle of the park...

If Wigan had just a little bit more nous going forwards, they would have scored at least a couple of goals in the first half...

de jong sits and vieria stands, there is no mobility in the middle of the park.

barry is cumbersome, but has good positional sense.

the things that worried you last night came to fruition against everton, where there busier, more effective midfield totally bossed ours.

we are blessed, we have tevez, but the inspiration from others is sadly lacking, step forward swp.

That's the root of my worries to be honest. I'm certainly not someone who thinks that if we don't finish 4th it will be an unmitigated disaster....

But I'd like to see us go into games with the correct team selection, motivation, and tactics, rather than constantly having to look second best for large parts of a half before things change for the better...

 

[Bluemoonbaldboy]

It is a worry that a team like Wigan can come away having opened us up at the back so often. Barry was the big miss in midfield for sure

 

[fathellensbellend]

de jong sits and vieria stands, there is no mobility in the middle of the park.

barry is cumbersome, but has good positional sense.

the things that worried you last night came to fruition against everton, where there busier, more effective midfield totally bossed ours.

we are blessed, we have tevez, but the inspiration from others is sadly lacking, step forward swp.

That's the root of my worries to be honest. I'm certainly not someone who thinks that if we don't finish 4th it will be an unmitigated disaster....

But I'd like to see us go into games with the correct team selection, motivation, and tactics, rather than constantly having to look second best for large parts of a half before things change for the better...

we win games because of tevez, he literally makes things happen, he must look around at times and think what the fuck is going on.

we have match winners, and for that we are lucky, a new midfield a the future will be brighter.

 

[davymcfc]

but if it was under hughes we would have conceded. it was bobby and we didnt concede

agreed.

 

[Anonymous]

That's the root of my worries to be honest. I'm certainly not someone who thinks that if we don't finish 4th it will be an unmitigated disaster....

But I'd like to see us go into games with the correct team selection, motivation, and tactics, rather than constantly having to look second best for large parts of a half before things change for the better...

we win games because of tevez, he literally makes things happen, he must look around at times and think what the fuck is going on.

we have match winners, and for that we are lucky, a new midfield a the future will be brighter.

I tend to agree with that. To be fair, I thought Ade looked a little rusty last night, nothing more, but there was some evidence that him and Carlos were trying to work in tandem rather than as individuals.

It was a worry though the number of long balls that were pumped from our back four up towards Ade. It was hardly an effective passing game...

 

[Failsworth_Blue]

The problem is we have an extremely one dimensional centre midfield in respect of the lack of quality of the players in the final 3rd. We can't impose any pressure due to our inability to pick a pass in the final 3rd. Ireland can be this player but he's badly out of form and was injured last night so we had to pick from Barry, Vieira and De Jong

That means we're very rarely going to look like we're in control of games and why the opposition always have lots of possession. Sadly Mancini has been left with an unbalanced midfield and has to do his best to work with what he's got and he's doing a decent enough job at the moment but he'll have to sort it out in the summer

 

[fathellensbellend]

but if it was under hughes we would have conceded. it was bobby and we didnt concede

agreed.

more by luck than judgement.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I'd say the majority of performances under Mancini have been poor overall.

We haven't dominated a game from start to finish for a long, long time.

We are missing some key players but last night's first half was the worst at home of the season.

We won 3-0 so job done. But things still haven't "clicked". Time's running out - but we're still in the running so there is hope. I'd feel much better with the back four we were settled on of Richards, Kompany, Lescott and Bridge.

We must get 6 points from the next two games, and start to play well, to have any chance of the top four.

 

[Benarbia]

I'd say if Wigan had all 11 on the pitch it would have stayed 0-0 which about sums up Mancini's tenure so far.

 

[Dave S]

The performance - if you can call it that - was woeful to say the least. Vierra's passing was, at times, atrocious whilst at other times he looked about sixty. I can't see twitchy Harry worrying too much about us overtaking Spurs going off this performance. A decent team would have battered us last night.