BlueMooney said:I would hasten to say that the calling of our fans are "shit" as has been said several times on Blue Moon and around Twitter and the like is a little misplaced. I understand where the point of view comes from, but the problem isn't with our fans - it's with fans of a team who are successful. We've been spoilt in the last few years with performances and results, and, when that sort of thing starts to become a regularity, fans begin to expect it. And understandably so.
Something clearly hasn't been right with City this season and a lot of the frustration comes from the fact that we played much better for the mostpart of last season with, what, in theory, should be a weaker team - we've strengthened, yet it all hasn't clicked. And we're dropping points we didn't drop last year. Throw in that our nearest rivals are ahead of us and in control of the league and the frustration doubles.
When expectations are upped and winning becomes a more regular event, defeats like at Sunderland become hard to take. I reacted VERY badly to that defeat to the point where I was sulking with football up until about 20 minutes ago - yet we've lost much more embarrassing games in much more embarrassing ways and it's not affected me so badly; it's all because of the original expectations we have pre-match rather than what we used to have.
We have to make sure, though, that we do not overreact to bad situations. Ok, we're seven points behind and, truthfully, I haven't quite thrown in the towel yet (and I'm an early towel thrower-inner, I did it last year after we drew with Stoke - we still had a draw with Sunderland and a defeat to Arsenal to go before we dropped as far behind as we did!). However, I think now our biggest error was not signing van Persie: We're creating chances, but not scoring them... van Persie's converting them at a similar-performing United side.
But who knows what can happen in the next half of the season? van Persie could get injured, Tevez could go on a scoring spree and finish top scorer, City's 3-5-2 might be the answer when the right full backs are fit.
Because we've been spoilt for success in recent years, we've become hungry for more. And when it looks like it's not going well, it's understandable we are frustrated with it. But sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture: We're still doing better than most of our fans have ever seen. We might get it wrong this season, but that's not a reason to start booing the team or start moaning at players or consider sacking the manager - they should be reserved for when we're consistently getting it wrong.
And we're not. Not yet.
If we get it wrong this season and win nothing, so be it. But that doesn't mean the same will happen the season after. We're in a brilliant position to build on our successes. So just because we've had some successes recently, let's not get impatient for more - because there WILL be more soon.
If we can still afford it ;-)mancityvstoke said:The owners will do what is necessary for success...
and if they don't we'll all still be here next season anyway.
And the season after that......
cleavers said:If we can still afford it ;-)mancityvstoke said:The owners will do what is necessary for success...
and if they don't we'll all still be here next season anyway.
And the season after that......
I'm using 'sorted out' because he met them several times and it was at the point where they believed they had got their man. I'm taking the Daniel Taylor story as fact because there wasn't one squeak of denial from them, Mancini or city. I can't say it was a dead cert he was gone in the summer but for him to get that far down the line it was certainly a distinct possibility, if not a probability.cleavers said:I think "sorted out" is a little far fetched.Didsbury Dave said:We did, and Mancini saw fit to go and get himself another job sorted out.
Do we know who approached who ? Assuming he was the guy they wanted, I'm sure Monaco were watching our situation closely, and when it looked like we had blown the league, then made some contact. Whether optimistic or pessimistic Mancini would have to be a fool not to have had a back up plan, assuming he still wanted to work.
Nothing I have seen has convinced me that it was a dead cert he would have gone in the summer if we hadn't won the league, whether sacked or walked.
This year I think he probably has to retain the title, or he will be gone, given that europe has gone already.
The people who stay stuff like that aren't worth listening to, mate.ANY1aBLUE said:FantasyIreland said:Didsbury Dave said:Well for me it isn't just since last August. I think the cracks have been there for most of mancini's tenure. A managers ability manifests itself in the way his team perform according to their combined abilities. A great manager makes a team better than the sum of its parts. Look at Dortmund this year, or Swansea, or even man united. Their managers make them play as a unit and they get results against teams with better individuals but less team ability. In the whole of mancini's three years I'd say there was a period which started in April 2011 and finished in December 2011 where you could say that our team fulfilled its potential. Luckily, that spell won us the fa cup and the league. But outside of those periods we have, apart from in patches, underachieved on the field. And this year we have had a spell of nearly 30 games where we have played badly. That's not a blip, it's a trend. In fact it's rapidly moving towards a crisis.
Throw in two abysmal champions league campaign(and a couple of Europa leagues too). These games have been a benchmark for the city of the future. There is no doubt that adug have targeted europeAn success for Manchester city. And there has been no evidence at all that Mancini can achieve That with his squad. In fact it's worse, because he's shown constant European underachievement at his previous clubs. He also has a terrible reputation within the club for his people management skills. He's disliked by a lot of people.
So for me that's the bigger picture, and you can't ignore several other key factors: mancini's Monaco offer makes it obvious his job was under threat last season. So we know from that there are question marks about him in the board's minds. There are also two world class managers, both who can easily be linked with us, coming available soon. And we have a new director of football in place who is watching things like a hawk.
I'd say that the bigger picture is precisely the reason why.mancini is on very thin ice right now. This is not a case of 'hero to zero' in half a season. It's increasingly looking like mancini's chickens are coming home to roost.
A brilliant summary Dave of why i and many others are unhappy with Mancini.It baffles me how people refuse to see his glaringly obvious faults and weaknesses yet somehow award him Messiah like status because he was fortunate enough to be granted the golden ticket.
He isn't the right man for us and,i'll go further,i don't believe he ever was.
Exactly, and, as usual, you and I are in complete agreement, Didsbury.
Never mind the 'rats deserting a sinking ship' crass analogy for not blindly following an unliked regime, being pedalled herein
- what about the 'moles' who daren't speak out for fear of being called 'rags' and 'traitors' on this site.
I totally agree that Mancini was never right for the post, and I never liked Platt either. The tactics and team selections have always been baffling and we won the League INSPITE of the 'leadership' and not because of it...............there I've said it and it doeant make me less loyal - it makes me more so as i care about MY Club and I think we're going backwards.
Bert Trautmann's Parachute said:My guess is people think we've lost the league already. It feels like it but the truth is we've still got a great chance of winning it, with some very serious provisos....
I'm not sure its the majority view yet, but despite some protesting otherwise, he is under real pressure now. To attain that target, virtually every game has become must win, there will be more twists and turns yet in the title race, the gap tomorrow evening could easily be 4 points, but equally it could be 10 with 2 difficult games to come.Didsbury Dave said:I actually agree that his absolute minimum target this year now is the title, but I think that's partly because he has been badly damaged by Europe. I think the title now looks very unlikely so mancini's future looks bleak. I think that's now the majority view amongst our support.
I would say this statement was wholly incorrect.Didsbury Dave said:I think the title now looks very unlikely so mancini's future looks bleak. I think that's now the majority view amongst our support.