To Mr Mancini ...

[remoh]

We were lucky. Up to 25 minutes into the semi our season could still have gone to shit quite easily. Arsenal & Spurs then blew it in the league. He won't get away with that next season.

You really don't like Mancini do you.
Still each to there own.

All I can say is if he's lucky then ALL THE BETTER as lucky managers win more trophies than unlucky ones.

For me we defend excellently - something we were incapable of before Mancini arrived. We now can also defend higher up the pitch (e.g. Stoke in the FA Cup Final) something the Mancini detractors were complaining about until the end of March.
We can now keep possession for long periods too - again something we were incapable of before Mancini arrived .
Going forward, well it's not the roller-coaster ride under Hughes - but it is improving. we need to get the ball a bit earlier to Dzeko for him to start scoring by the trolley-full but that will come when the quality of the team is improved for next season.

I certainly don't hate Mancini although I was very suspicious about his ability to adapt to the Premiership. Those doubts are going and if we play this coming season the same way we finished last then we will be in with a serious shout of the title.

And your point about being lucky is exactly the one I've been trying to make. We've had plenty of unlucky ones and often luck is needed more than ability. I'm sure Arsene Wenger would agree.

Yes, of course managers need luck and Mancini got more than his fair share in the under-performance of all the other contenders, and the performances of some excellent players, most of whom were in place before he came, who were often able to overcome his limited tactics. Given a better crack of the whip, those players could have won us the League, and hopefully, now that Roberto seems to have learned a few lessons about English football, they may do so next season.

 

[BlueAnorak]

I certainly don't hate Mancini although I was very suspicious about his ability to adapt to the Premiership. Those doubts are going and if we play this coming season the same way we finished last then we will be in with a serious shout of the title.

And your point about being lucky is exactly the one I've been trying to make. We've had plenty of unlucky ones and often luck is needed more than ability. I'm sure Arsene Wenger would agree.

Some good points. I was beginning to wonder myself until the Dynamo Kiev game. For sure we lost the tie, but that was down Balotelli's stupidity - but when down to 10 men the team rolled their collective sleeves up and with a bit of luck we could have still won that game by 2 or more goals. From that point in we seemed to acquire the will to win that has been the hallmark of the rags for the last 20 years

Yes we lost 3 times in the league from there till the end of the season: Chelski(A), Dippers(A) and Everton(A) but even so we had a better run-in than everyone else around us (Dippers aside) - and only the Dippers game was really poor (probably because the players didn't want to get injured for the semi.) The injury to Tevez in the Chelski game allowed us to be find a way to play without him and if we'd have had our shooting boots on we'd have been 4-0 up at half-time at Goodison.

We have our weaknesses but I'm sure they will be overcome with some good buys during the summer.

 

[Bill]

Can you win the Carling cup with a draw?

yes but not with a tame defeat.

takes me back to that Fans Forum and your stirring call for Bob to attack attack attack with the best players in the land! If only he'd taken your advice we could have been champions and cup winners as well that year (or he could have got the black spot in June of course.)

well rather odd that despite a lengthy delay he finally took my advice and went on to finish the season strongly including winning the cup (not lucky) and qualifying for the CL.

better late than never.

 

[johnny crossan]

yes but not with a tame defeat.

takes me back to that Fans Forum and your stirring call for Bob to attack attack attack with the best players in the land! If only he'd taken your advice we could have been champions and cup winners as well that year (or he could have got the black spot in June of course.)

well rather odd that despite a lengthy delay he finally took my advice and went on to finish the season strongly including winning the cup (not lucky) and qualifying for the CL. better late than never.

he was weighing you up dn, had to make a few calls to Sicily...

 

[Bill]

if Hughes was in charge we would've never gotten players like silva , Yaya , Kolarov last summer ,

Kompany would not be the Kompany we know under Mancini's influence (he would propably be playing in midfield or even on the bench cuz he cant take nigel's place in DM )

Mancini did his magic and look how lucky we are to have a Rock at the back 1 of the 3 best CBs in the world with Vidic and Pique , give the guy some credit for God sake !

i think if Hughes was still in charge this year and we're going into the champions league we would be chasing N'Zogbia and Adam instead of A.Sanchez and pastore :/'


P.S: i have to say ive never seen Mancini playing but i saw the Video in this thread im impressed , the guy was a legend 0_0 , if he was playing now i bet he would be one of city's top transfer targets haha

agree totally with this, bob ability to attract the top players is his greatest asset.<br /><br />-- Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:16 pm --<br /><br />

takes me back to that Fans Forum and your stirring call for Bob to attack attack attack with the best players in the land! If only he'd taken your advice we could have been champions and cup winners as well that year (or he could have got the black spot in June of course.)

well rather odd that despite a lengthy delay he finally took my advice and went on to finish the season strongly including winning the cup (not lucky) and qualifying for the CL. better late than never.

he was weighing you up dn, had to make a few calls to Sicily...

lol, he knows the score now johnny.

 

[VOOMER]

We were lucky. Up to 25 minutes into the semi our season could still have gone to shit quite easily. Arsenal & Spurs then blew it in the league. He won't get away with that next season.

agreed, we also could have got the 2 wins against everton, away at sunderland, away at stoke and birmingham wins at home to blackburn, birmingham and a draw at the rags which our performances on the day all merited.
That would have been 18 extra points and 2 less for the rags and therefore the league.

 

[johnny crossan]

We were lucky. Up to 25 minutes into the semi our season could still have gone to shit quite easily. Arsenal & Spurs then blew it in the league. He won't get away with that next season.

agreed, we also could have got the 2 wins against everton, away at sunderland, away at stoke and birmingham wins at home to blackburn, birmingham and a draw at the rags which our performances on the day all merited.
That would have been 18 extra points and 2 less for the rags and therefore the league.

and the UEFA Cup of course - we would have seen off Porto for sure - and then where would the London Boys be?

 

[greeny-ctid]

 

[Cully]

Thank you Roberto for ending the 35 years without a trophy and shutting the scum up, you gave us hope after the massive disappointment of Mark Hughes. Thank You Roberto!

hughes would have ended our drought two years ago with the carling cup.

Can you win the Carling cup with a draw?

Obviously