Why after today has Mancini lost the fans?

[beast]

Not sure I would put it that way.

Every club in the world will have had a period this year where results didn't meet expectations.

You're a pretty level-headed guy and don't get carried away with the sort of "We should be beating teams like that 5-0" thinking that we sometimes get on here. Of course every team, even the best, will probably go through a sticky patch of some sort during the season. That's why it can be dangerous to look at a run of a few games in isolation so I've actually compiled an 8-game rolling points total over this season.


That shows that 11 points from the last 8 games is our worst 8-game rolling points total of the season, at a time when we should be racking up the points for the run-in. Instead, we're showing the sort of form that teams making a decent fist of trying to battle relegation (such as Wolves & West Ham) are showing.

To get 4th we will need at least 17 points from the last 8 games. We've only hit that sort of form with any sort of consistency in the run-up to Xmas and that was mainly thanks to 3 home games - against Villa, Blackpool & Wolves, who are all relegation candidates. This means we can only afford to lose 2 of the final 8 games which include 2 trips to Merseyside, a visit from Spuirs and a trip to Bolton.

When you put it like that it don't look good. Maybe the international break might freshen things up,giving the players a change of scenery. Alternatively we could be fucked (again).

 

[Jim Tolmie's Underpants]

Good article - sums Mancini up for me:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8394317/Manchester-City-manager-Roberto-Mancini-could-cost-club-Champions-League-place-with-caution-in-Chelsea-defeat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... efeat.html</a>


Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini could cost club Champions League place with caution in Chelsea defeat

On 77 minutes, Roberto Mancini summed up Manchester City’s approach and the difference between these two sides.

His substitutes were warming up and he sent assistant Brian Kidd to call one over. The game was goalless and there to be won — would he call on a striker and go for it? Mario Balotelli pointed at his chest, hoping he would be the one. Mancini shook his head and asked for defender Dedryck Boyata.

Before the change could be made, City were a goal behind and it was a Chelsea defender who scored it, the new cult hero that is David Luiz, heading home a free-kick. Not unexpected — central defenders are supposed to get on the end of such attacking positions — except Luiz had won the kick, deep out on the edge of the City penalty area. But what was he doing out there in the first place? He was there because he had decided to try to win this match.

Once behind, Mancini did throw on Balotelli and Adam Johnson but it was too late. The game was up.

“We were ready to change when we conceded the goal,” Mancini said, concerned that City were struggling to gain a foothold of possession. But that change was to be a defensive one. City were not going to go for it and they paid the price. It was all the more galling as Luiz is a player they decided not to bid for.

City were well beaten when Ramires scored a wonderful second goal deep into injury time to add a gloss to the result which saw Chelsea overhaul their opponents and move into third place. The result will also add impetus to Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of finishing fourth, and they now appear to be in a head-to-head battle with City, just as they were last season.

And, just as they were last season, it may also come to down a meeting between the two, still to be scheduled, at Eastlands. Fail to finish in those Champions League places, the minimum requirement for Mancini, and it’s difficult to see him remaining beyond this campaign.

But such is City’s poor run of form, having crashed out of the Europa League in midweek, that they appear to be in a downward trajectory. They have just eight points from their last seven matches in the business end of the season and they have not won away from home since Boxing Day. In the absence of the injured Carlos Tévez, they appear more than ever to be a one-man team, which is ridiculous given the money spent.

They also play the same way. Always. Be it against Reading in the FA Cup, Dynamo Kiev in Europe or Chelsea away. There is no variety, no tactical innovation, no boldness. Mancini again blamed fatigue yesterday but that’s not an excuse which can be acceptable. “Had we won it would have been fantastic,” Mancini said. But first they had to try to win.

There should be greater ambition at such an ambitious club. Mancini will now hope that the tear to Tévez’s adductor muscle is quickly healed. The prognosis is two to three weeks but he desperately needs his captain for the home match against Sunderland on April 3. He also needs to get far more out of Balotelli — a £24 million signing — and the £27 million recruit Edin Dzeko. These are concerning times for Mancini. Even if he gains that fourth place he can count himself fortunate if he is not replaced for the next campaign. His innate caution may be his downfall.

Do NOT let the press manage our club.

LOL. Who the f*ck am I? I'm not in charge at City. I just posted an article that agrees with a lot of what us have already posted.

Whatever happens this season, Mancini will know where we are weak and where we are strong, and will react accordingly.

Mancini knew where we were weak LAST season. Fullbacks for example. Did he "react" accordingly? No - he bought two fullbacks who have been no better than what we already had! In the process he blew over £25M of the Sheik's hard earned cash.

If we are in this position next season, then i will understand the cause for concern.

 

[Soulboy]

Not sure I would put it that way.

Every club in the world will have had a period this year where results didn't meet expectations.

You're a pretty level-headed guy and don't get carried away with the sort of "We should be beating teams like that 5-0" thinking that we sometimes get on here. Of course every team, even the best, will probably go through a sticky patch of some sort during the season. That's why it can be dangerous to look at a run of a few games in isolation so I've actually compiled an 8-game rolling points total over this season.

That shows that 11 points from the last 8 games is our worst 8-game rolling points total of the season, at a time when we should be racking up the points for the run-in. Instead, we're showing the sort of form that teams making a decent fist of trying to battle relegation (such as Wolves & West Ham) are showing.

To get 4th we will need at least 17 points from the last 8 games. We've only hit that sort of form with any sort of consistency in the run-up to Xmas and that was mainly thanks to 3 home games - against Villa, Blackpool & Wolves, who are all relegation candidates. This means we can only afford to lose 2 of the final 8 games which include 2 trips to Merseyside, a visit from Spuirs and a trip to Bolton.

And don't forget that Blackburn away, and even Stoke at home are not certainties. And if West Ham play like they did at Spurs on Saturday...

We still have a mountain to climb just to get 4th.!

 

[moomba]

You're a pretty level-headed guy and don't get carried away with the sort of "We should be beating teams like that 5-0" thinking that we sometimes get on here. Of course every team, even the best, will probably go through a sticky patch of some sort during the season. That's why it can be dangerous to look at a run of a few games in isolation so I've actually compiled an 8-game rolling points total over this season.

That shows that 11 points from the last 8 games is our worst 8-game rolling points total of the season, at a time when we should be racking up the points for the run-in. Instead, we're showing the sort of form that teams making a decent fist of trying to battle relegation (such as Wolves & West Ham) are showing.

To get 4th we will need at least 17 points from the last 8 games. We've only hit that sort of form with any sort of consistency in the run-up to Xmas and that was mainly thanks to 3 home games - against Villa, Blackpool & Wolves, who are all relegation candidates. This means we can only afford to lose 2 of the final 8 games which include 2 trips to Merseyside, a visit from Spuirs and a trip to Bolton.

For me it comes down to whether we finish top 4 or not. Not too bothered how we get there this season, what style of football we play and what runs we go on.

Finish in 4th and thats good enough for me. Finish 5th, and it's not acceptable and changes will need to be made.

FWIW I have us finishing 4th on 71 points, 4 ahead of Spurs.

 

[inchy14]

THIS ISNT HOW CITY PLAY! its not how we made our name.

No we made it by being the laughing stock of football with constant shooting ourselves in the foot by sacking managers and constantly being a yo-yo club..oh wait we should sack one with 8 games left ffs.

Spurs aren't playing well so why does everybody assume they'll beat us at home all of a sudden, with the 3 teams in front all still to play eachother we're still in with a shout of third maybe even second with a bit of luck. As somebody said earlier it's only 5 games away without a win and some of them were against the top 3 teams so it aint all that bad plus our home form is excellent.

 

[Anonymous]

Mancini knew where we were weak LAST season. Fullbacks for example. Did he "react" accordingly? No - he bought two fullbacks who have been no better than what we already had! In the process he blew over £25M of the Sheik's hard earned cash.

So he spots a weakness at full back and addresses it by signing two widely tipped fullbacks who were being scouted by the likes of Milan etc, and whom most were pleased to be signing?

This has got to be Clarkie-bait, right?

 

[Joycee Banercheck]

I'm amazed that so many people see yesterday as some sort of tipping point. We've played no differently since the start of the season. The limitations have been there since day one. Post Christmas even the rest of the league had us figured out for all intents and purposes - hence our poor run of form.

There was a thread ("Mancini-haters, Hughes outers,...") posted just after the match yesterday. I made the same point as your first sentence. Out of all the games this season, why choose the Chelsea match to be the thistle that broke the donkey's jaw?

Yesterday's match would have been one where I'd have actually settled for the tactics used against Arsenal (and teams below them to a certain extent). I just don't like using these tactics against every team in the league or against lower-league opposition in the cups.

After boring the keks off me at the start of the season, I thought Mancini had started to play with a bit more attacking threat before xmas. It seemed that the players we have who can attack were being allowed to, but we've reverted to type since then.

We don't break with pace (as we've offloaded most of the players that could run). By the time we are at the halfway line, the other team have managed to get bodies back.
Milner is not a winger
Dzeko - Please don't play him upfront on his own. I'm not slating Dzeko as I think he'll be good, but when you've only got Yaya supporting you, then you're not going to link up coz he's like a snail with cramp after 45 minutes.
Kolarov - Is he fit yet? If he is, then he's slow and I can't believe folk were saying that AK would be the final piece of Mancini's masterplan jigsaw that saw Inter rip teams apart.

It aint all bad though, just the bad seems to outweigh the good for me.

 

[Soulboy]

Mancini knew where we were weak LAST season. Fullbacks for example. Did he "react" accordingly? No - he bought two fullbacks who have been no better than what we already had! In the process he blew over £25M of the Sheik's hard earned cash.

So he spots a weakness at full back and addresses it by signing two widely tipped fullbacks who were being scouted by the likes of Milan etc, and whom most were pleased to be signing?

This has got to be Clarkie-bait, right?

Are you on a wind-up?

Boateng was always a centre half who filled in at right back... Kolarov might very well have been touted for Milan... but Premiership full backs are a different breed.

Do you not think Leighton Baines would have been a better bet than AK?

 

[Cellarite]

he's not lost me as a supporter but i have grave concerns. the list of excuses at the minute are plentiful.

a lot of the players are settling into a new league : they are but players at other clubs come from abroad and settle in within a couple of months.

he's only been in the job for 15 months : true, but look at the impact that redknapp had at spurs. alright, they were in a false position but he took them higher than us and spent less.

the players had to play until the later stages of the world cup : so did most other clubs' star players.

he's been unlucky with injuries : so have arsene wenger and baconface.

we've played a lot of games (every 3 days) : we've only played 2 games more than the champions league sides, and obviously against lesser opposition.

i'll keep backing mancini and hopefully we'll end the season in third and with the fa cup on the mantelpiece. the nightmare scenario is looming though and even if we get into the champs league, are we going to go through the same again next year?

this is the biggest chance we've ever had to do something. i don't want to look back in twenty years and recall the glory night as being all "remember that night we shut arsenal out at their place? frustrated the fuck out of 'em we did."
united are shite compared to what they used to be but still hold a massive card - fear. teams are still frightened to death of them because of the reputation they've built up over the last 20 years.teams won't be scared of us if we carry on trying to pinch results.

i'd love to think that bobby manc is the man to lead us forward through our most glorious period but he is yet to explain that the policy of drawing at the homes of the big 4 is a tactic to be used while we get our foot in the door and once there, we'll become this rampaging outfit that'll terrorise the premier league and beyond.

 

[jonny689]

Long time reader first time commenting!! To be honest I think he has lost the majority of supporters and rightly so. How can we expect to get points in big games when we dont even set out to win or even score a goal in a match?? Its embarrasing for us we have top class players and yeah granted we have some really average players (ie Milner, Barry, Kolarov etc) we are still underperforming.
I've bin to every home game and a good few away games this season and to be honest i have rarely bin excited by the way we play apart from the odd flash of genius from Tev, Silva, and occationally others!! We need to be looking to build a team around these players aswell as De Jong, Kompany and Zab! We need winners with class who want to win games and bring the club forward and going back to my original point this is not Mancini, negative, boring and constantly making excuses its just not good enough and for me the sooner he goes the better. He aint gonna take us forward!!!