Which five players should Mancini build his team around ?

My selection of who City should build their team around moving forward would be:

Shay Given
Nigel De Jong
Garreth Barry
Stephen Ireland
Carlos Tevez

These five have showed consistant effort and dedication and while others have had better moments these five have remained steady throughout their time with the club. I think SWP, Adebayor, Toure, Robinho, RSC, and Bellamy are important pieces as well but it is obivious that great pieces don't always fit the puzzle. Ignoring injuries and remaining hopeful that we can attract some great new players during the window I would like the the team to enter the second half under Mancini with selections along these lines:

GK: Given
LB: Lescott/New Signing (Criscito or Ansaldi)/Bridge
CB: New Signing (Cheillini or Upson)
CB: Toure/Onuoha
RB: New Signing (Maicon or Srna)/Richards/Zabaleta
CDM: De Jong/Kompany/New Signing (Yaya Toure)
LM: Barry/Petrov/New Siging (Montolivo)
RM: Ireland/SWP/Weiss
CAM: Tevez/New Signing (Stankovic, Jovetic or Dzagoev)
ST: Robinho/Bellamy/New Signing (Vucinic)
ST: Adebayor/RSC/New Sigining (Balotelli - On Loan).

Clearly we need to aquire one if not two more true central defenders due to injuries, inability and the african cup of nations. In addtional depending on the formation Mancini elects, we need to aquire a creative and versitile midfielder.

Dzagoev would be a great choice or if we need someone to make an immediate impact this season a Stankovic would do well for the short term as he has played under Mancini and must share time in a similar role with Sneijder joining Inter this season.

I think aquiring Cheillini and Upson would be a good move getting a exerpiance EPL player and one of the top defenders in the world in Cheillini would give Mancini options in the back.
 
Dickov 99 said:
Ok so here we go again, January comes and more signings will surely arrive and a new team is beginning to be built by Roberto and his team, exciting times ahead I think!.

The question is If you were Roberto Mancini which five players in our current squad you be most excited about working with, be ideally planning to build your team around, keep happy and form the bed rock of our bright future ?

Please give reasons for all players you would include in this catergory.

Mine would be the following.

Shay Given

The best keeper in Europe IMO and consistantly a 8 or 9 out of 10 performer. Can't think of any occasion in recent years where he has been at fault and a top professional who all premier league clubs would love in their side.

Nigel De jong

For me the best defensive midfielder in the PL and will only getter better. I must admit when he first joined I felt we potentially paid far too much, now however I feel we could have made one of the best signings in the prem over the last 10 years. Not the finished article yet which is frightening as he is currently performing at a terrific level of consistancy.

Steven Ireland

One of my concerns with Hughes and getting the best from some players this season was Superman. Last season brilliant and head and shoulders above the rest, this season stop start and now I think Mancini will get him going again. Still young and another player that all sides would love to have.

Craig Bellamy

For the best player this season so far and his drive, determination and work rate especially in our side at the moment is essential. We need him and I really hope Mancini sees that for every Robinho there is a Bellamy and its Bellamys in this league that IMO are better suited.

Carlos Tevez

Was just starting to find his feet recently before last weekends events. I feel that Tevez, like Bellamy not only gives us the required level of work rate and effort but has a incredible level of ability. Only matched by Robinho in terms of the forwards.

So there you go that would be my five, thoughts ?

CTID
Click to expand...
Not convinced by De Jong yet but maybe Mankini can teach him the art of pushing play forward and sort out his distribution.
 
100% agree with orgiinal poster spot on. People saying play Robinho instead of Bellamy based on form over the last 12 months are either idiots, rags or wums.
 
1: ireland - he has the reactions of a cat, touch of an angel and is still improving, just get him in his right position
2: tevez - perfect player to dovetail with ireland. find the solution to playing these two together, in the same way that Capello had to shuffle things about to find a balanced way of getting Rooney and Gerrard into attacking positions
3: barry - combination of passing ability, nous and stamina, perfect midfielder, can't understand his recent form, but he will fit into any system he has to.
4: given - no explanation required.

my fifth comes with a big asterisk

5: adebayor* - if mancini presses the right buttons, he could be unstoppable.

bellamy is a fine player, who has turned in numerous excellent performances but I worry how he affects the balance of the team. he is a speed merchant and goal getter, he might not be suited to a more patient approach. i'm sitting on the fence with him. tbh I'd use SWP a lot more sparingly, he's played well but still gives the ball away. He and Bellamy benefited a great deal from the 'high-pressing' game that I believe is the cause of our terminal defensive failures. the big question is, would Bellamy still be the same positive influence if he was a squad player rather than a first-pick?

ndj is an incredible stopper but his lack of passing range means he is only suitable for a very specialist role. if we had two fine attacking fullbacks he would be ideal, but, we don't right now. we need more craft in midfield, more ability to keep the ball, pass and move in tight areas. If I'm honest I'd prefer a more technical player in that role, if we play a more patient game with a more compact shape, we might not have to rely on his last ditch abilities so much.


kompany and zab are fine squad players, but I have the feeling we might need more specialists in defence and midfield, less jack-of-all-trades.

bridge could well be the first casualty, toure the second.

Lescott I'm still undecided about. A good player but not decisive enough.

richards must continue to improve.

robinho, well, let's wait and see. for all the hate, we know he has an incredible talent in and around the box, and I think the 4-4-2 system kept him too near the centre circle, and exposed his lack of track-back-ability.
 
robiniho is not on form at all but if mancini puts his faith in him he will come back to his best form¬!!!!!!!!!!!
 
mancini might be able to persuade robinho that his game should be a mix of hustle and tricks. seriously, we should back of robbie for a bit, let mancini decide. in the ten minutes he played last night there where encouraging signs.

as for NDJ. what is going on with him? obviously he is fitting beautifully into the midfield shape, offering himself and then giving it short... and barry has been given more of a 'quarterback' role, less jaunts upfield, so NDJ isn't being asked to play the ball up to the forwards so much.... but even so, the quality of his passing has definitely improved.
 
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