Wake up

[blightee]

simple fact is the champions league is a step up, and we're not as good as we think we are.
our success so far has come in a closed environment which is vastly overrated, so yes we should focus on the premier league where we can actually compete

English teams have been in 7 of the past 8 CL finals, so we are clearly good enough mate.

Chelsea were clearly not the best team last season despite winning the cup,
the last time an English team could be considered one of the very best in the CL would be the 2009 rags. This new chelsea team could become great in time, but are not at the moment. rags and Arsenal are in strife at the moment and wont seriously contest this season. The only concerning thing is that this is the best we have ever been, and its really not up to scratch on the european stage.

 

[blightee]

Re: WAKE UP.

Because our group is stronger than last year. Last season Dortmund went backwards in Europe so what? Look at trends not blips.

http://clubelo.com/ManCity/

Our group is "arguably" stronger mate, it doesn't change the fact that out performances have gotten worse. I don't care who you are playing, there has to be signs of improvement, otherwise whats the point?

You are looking at too small a data set. The point is that we are getting better over the long term. People are reacting to a bad performance v Ajax. If we had won everyone would be happy yet there would be no significant difference in our overall standard. We could have lost to United at home or beat Real Madrid away...knee jerk reactions. The trend is up. Liverpool need to panic.

its actually not the results for me, its the performances.
In local matches we are able to dominate possession and dictate the game (the 10 man - WBA game is a perfect example)
However in europe we are forced into turn overs and constant lack of possession, or possession between our center backs with no go forward.
possession is all about your ball movement and off the ball movement vs the oppositions ability to press. Premier league teams are terrible at defensive pressure overall.
This is why we usually struggle vs Everton as well, because they're not too bad at pressing high up the pitch.

 

[Cobwebcat]

simple fact is the champions league is a step up, and we're not as good as we think we are.
our success so far has come in a closed environment which is vastly overrated, so yes we should focus on the premier league where we can actually compete

English teams have been in 7 of the past 8 CL finals, so we are clearly good enough mate.

Chelsea were clearly not the best team last season despite winning the cup,
the last time an English team could be considered one of the very best in the CL would be the 2009 rags. This new chelsea team could become great in time, but are not at the moment. rags and Arsenal are in strife at the moment and wont seriously contest this season. The only concerning thing is that this is the best we have ever been, and its really not up to scratch on the european stage.

So there is no point in us competing in the league cup in future either as we clearly can't compete after going out straight away.

Patience.

 

[mancity1]

Individuals , like Kompany, Silva, Yaya etc who were consistent in performance last year are well down on that level of performance so far.

Tinkering with formations has short term failings as is evident in Europe in particular as well.

Europe progress is gone this year and rightfully so because we have been outplayed and outperformed by better opposition on the days.

Its no disaster in the long term evolution of the club though.

Mancini's fate will be determined by the results in the domestic front.

 

[Belly]

I'd love for us to be finalists in the uefa cup this year. To get that far in a european competition and retain the English title would be.............well, more than I ever expected growing up following city. Might sound daft to some people but being a city fan has limited my expectations of success for some reason.

 

[Dethred]

We lost badly to an Ajax side that played only 4 of their 11 from last year, most of the newcomers being academy "grads". Mancini humiliated himself with shitty management mid-game (directly leading to a goal) and didn't adjust his tactics to stop the first goal (Even Martin Tyler was discussing the weakness on the right wing 5 minutes before it went in). Then he put all four strikers on, thus having absolutely no midfield system and expected something from it???

I've never seen anything like it at this level. Never seen a world class left back not know what his role is when a frantic change to the system we've done nothing but fail at (3-5-2). Never seen a manager in two consecutive games switch the formation to the system that everyone knows unsettles his squad. You could see Ajax push forward and pressurize our defense after Mancini made the call for 3 at the back. Can anyone tell me you honestly weren't shouting at him when he made that call? Then he goes and immediately changes it back to 4-4-2. He's lost the fucking plot.

This season, we've gotten one point (theft if we're all honest), and Mancini has made glaring tactical mistakes in each game. What other club in recent Champions League memory can look at three poor results and point directly to the manager as the cause? When have any of you seen a manager change formations no less than 3 times and confuse the hell out of his players?

Worse yet, not only does not playing knockout matches hurt our revenue and compliance with FFP, but what world class players are going to want to join a club with a manager that appears to be inept in Europe??? Its going to cost us that much more to sign the players to continue improving this squad when they can point to the risk of poor Champions League runs.

We can discuss how we should have gone through last season, but we got 6 of our 10 points from a team that ended up getting relegated from La Liga and lost every group game (came closest to drawing with us though), 3 of the 10 were from a reserves Bayern Munich squad at home, and one was from Napoli at home.

Sorry to say, guys and gals, but us being happy with the league and the occasional domestic cup is not what Mansour invested nearly a billion pounds for. Financial Fair Play is going to screw the entire club if we aren't pulling in extra revenue from the last 16. Five years ago I'd have told you I'd be happy being mid-table in early May, now I know that for this investment strategy to work, even Premier league titles aren't going to be enough.

 

[Freestyler]

We lost badly to an Ajax side that played only 4 of their 11 from last year, most of the newcomers being academy "grads". Mancini humiliated himself with shitty management mid-game (directly leading to a goal) and didn't adjust his tactics to stop the first goal (Even Martin Tyler was discussing the weakness on the right wing 5 minutes before it went in). Then he put all four strikers on, thus having absolutely no midfield system and expected something from it???

I've never seen anything like it at this level. Never seen a world class left back not know what his role is when a frantic change to the system we've done nothing but fail at (3-5-2). Never seen a manager in two consecutive games switch the formation to the system that everyone knows unsettles his squad. You could see Ajax push forward and pressurize our defense after Mancini made the call for 3 at the back. Can anyone tell me you honestly weren't shouting at him when he made that call? Then he goes and immediately changes it back to 4-4-2. He's lost the fucking plot.

This season, we've gotten one point (theft if we're all honest), and Mancini has made glaring tactical mistakes in each game. What other club in recent Champions League memory can look at three poor results and point directly to the manager as the cause? When have any of you seen a manager change formations no less than 3 times and confuse the hell out of his players?

Worse yet, not only does not playing knockout matches hurt our revenue and compliance with FFP, but what world class players are going to want to join a club with a manager that appears to be inept in Europe??? Its going to cost us that much more to sign the players to continue improving this squad when they can point to the risk of poor Champions League runs.

We can discuss how we should have gone through last season, but we got 6 of our 10 points from a team that ended up getting relegated from La Liga and lost every group game (came closest to drawing with us though), 3 of the 10 were from a reserves Bayern Munich squad at home, and one was from Napoli at home.

Sorry to say, guys and gals, but us being happy with the league and the occasional domestic cup is not what Mansour invested nearly a billion pounds for. Financial Fair Play is going to screw the entire club if we aren't pulling in extra revenue from the last 16. Five years ago I'd have told you I'd be happy being mid-table in early May, now I know that for this investment strategy to work, even Premier league titles aren't going to be enough.

absolutely spot on.

 

[Dethred]

Its no disaster in the long term evolution of the club though.

Mancini's fate will be determined by the results in the domestic front.

Not a disaster, but a serious setback. FFP is looming and the domestic front does fuck all to remedy our income/spending deficit. Champions League knockout qualification was the bar set by Mubarak and Mansour, and its essentially gone. Mancini's fate might now be tied to the domestic front, because anything short of the league will probably end in his sacking.

 

[Rocket-footed kolarov]

We lost badly to an Ajax side that played only 4 of their 11 from last year, most of the newcomers being academy "grads". Mancini humiliated himself with shitty management mid-game (directly leading to a goal) and didn't adjust his tactics to stop the first goal (Even Martin Tyler was discussing the weakness on the right wing 5 minutes before it went in). Then he put all four strikers on, thus having absolutely no midfield system and expected something from it???

I've never seen anything like it at this level. Never seen a world class left back not know what his role is when a frantic change to the system we've done nothing but fail at (3-5-2). Never seen a manager in two consecutive games switch the formation to the system that everyone knows unsettles his squad. You could see Ajax push forward and pressurize our defense after Mancini made the call for 3 at the back. Can anyone tell me you honestly weren't shouting at him when he made that call? Then he goes and immediately changes it back to 4-4-2. He's lost the fucking plot.

This season, we've gotten one point (theft if we're all honest), and Mancini has made glaring tactical mistakes in each game. What other club in recent Champions League memory can look at three poor results and point directly to the manager as the cause? When have any of you seen a manager change formations no less than 3 times and confuse the hell out of his players?

Worse yet, not only does not playing knockout matches hurt our revenue and compliance with FFP, but what world class players are going to want to join a club with a manager that appears to be inept in Europe??? Its going to cost us that much more to sign the players to continue improving this squad when they can point to the risk of poor Champions League runs.

We can discuss how we should have gone through last season, but we got 6 of our 10 points from a team that ended up getting relegated from La Liga and lost every group game (came closest to drawing with us though), 3 of the 10 were from a reserves Bayern Munich squad at home, and one was from Napoli at home.

Sorry to say, guys and gals, but us being happy with the league and the occasional domestic cup is not what Mansour invested nearly a billion pounds for. Financial Fair Play is going to screw the entire club if we aren't pulling in extra revenue from the last 16. Five years ago I'd have told you I'd be happy being mid-table in early May, now I know that for this investment strategy to work, even Premier league titles aren't going to be enough.

absolutely spot on.

Candidates for replacement; Benitez, Mourinho, Guardiola and Klopp all quite different but would all make good appointments under the right structure for the job and two are available on a free.

 

[Jaskosss]

BENITEZ? SERIOUSLY?

I know we're in a state of crisis but you are overdoing it