Will they fire Mancini?

[decmancity]

Can we afford to sack Mancini?

Not many managers come in and carry on with the squad they inherit. Mourinho will come in and want to spend and with FFP etc can we really go out and spend again. Not really.

This is why i think we will keep Mancini. Are we not already 1yr ahead of the "plan"?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

But your doubts about Mancini are long standing Tolm. They were there even before this season and continued during our amazing start. I have a feeling you simply don't like the guy.

-- Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:03 pm --


Spurs 3-2
Liverpool 3-0
Fulham 3-0
Porto 4-0
Blackburn 3-0
Bolton 2-0

You may say we were not "awesome" but I would say we were convincing in each of those games, would you not?

It would be wrong to label me as anti-Mancini, mate, certainly someone who has always had it in for him.

As I stated, his likeability is the one thing which puts the reign on me. He is a classy guy.

I simply have more reservations than answers during his tenure, most notably for me, city are a unique one-off in football history.

I do believe many results are in spite of him, not because of him.

We have an extraordinary group of players who can flick the switch on and off when the mood takes.

I still hold doubts the switch remains off too often.

Which is a scary prospect for our rivals!

You cannot seriously say you are not anti Mancini then in the same post say you believe many results are in spite of him and not because of him. Doesnt make sense.

Well it does to me;)

Maybe I phrased it wrong and can concede the contradiction in terms.

Simply put, I feel our squad is so good, there are times when Mancini only has to sit back and admire v cannon fodder.

However, I feel in his basic role as manager, he sometimes does not keep on top of them and crack the whip when needed.

A top racehorse can run fast with or without a rider in situ, but will have a better chance if someone is telling it when to bide its time, when to go, and when it needs to recognise use of a whip.

He's admitted it himself, to his credit, following Everton result, that he can underestimate both his own players and opposition.

I've yet to meet a blue who is anti-Mancini. The only people who accuse it seem to be those who can't accept others may not appreciate him as they do.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

JMW I have been pretty clear on my personal team selection for some time, despite getting abuse for it. Nasri should not start again and Aguero/Balotelli and Milner should start in every match.

I still don't think it's any coincidence that since Nasri has tried to be fitted in we haven't been anywhere near as good away from home. Cue the abuse.

I'll be honest and say I thought Nasri was our best attacking player yesterday. There you go, I said it. I also don't think he's been half as bad as people make out, he certainly hasn't done much wrong he just hasn't "blown the mind" like Silva CAN do, but hasn't been doing anyway.

Nasri gets hard stick because he plays that control game, but if we had a plan b and we had those 2 wingers like United/Madrid/Barca/Bayern the list of top teams who have quick guys who can pull a good ball in is just that, you know, it's what gets results because it's the only real thing bar genius skill that scares the shit out of defenders, and it's working for United.

Problem is like Dzeko, Milner played well for a spell, got dropped and they proceeded to be shit in games like Villa away, and Mancini won't drop Barry for him, which I think he should do, and play Milner where he belongs in the centre, but he plays him on the wing, where he becomes worse than anybody at holding up the play.

I think De Jong's fine, but you can't expect him to just turn into Yaya or Sneijder when we have the ball, and it's up to our attacking players to make it happen.

Again, people misunderstanding why I don't want Nasri in the team. You're the stat man, why don't you look at the away games Nasri has/hasn't started and see how the look? Until about November he wasn't starting much and then when he did come in, our form faltered. Maybe I've imagined it, but I don't think I have. The balance of our team is just better without him.

Okay, Nasri away from home () indicates sub appearances:

P:10(4) Gls: 2 Ass: 5 SH(OT): 25(9).

Games he played in:

Swansea L 1-0.
Lisbon L 1-0(sub).
Porto W 2-1.
Villa W 1-0(sub).
Everton L 1-0.
Liverpool A 2-2.
Wigan W 1-0.
Sunderland L 1-0.
West Brom D 0-0.
Arsenal W 1-0.
Liverpool D 1-1.
Napoli L 2-1(sub).
Villarreal W 3-0.
MUFC W 6-1(sub).
Blackburn W 4-0(1st half sub).
FC Bayern L 2-0.
Fulham D 2-2.
Spurs W 5-1.

Silva's away record:

P: 19(1) Gls: 3 Ass: 7 S: 45 OT: 17.

w/Nasri starting:

P: 11(1) Gls: 0 Ass: 5 S: 24 OT: 8.

Silva's last 8 games: 1 goal, 0 assists.

EDIT: Just for balance, Nasri last 8 games: 0 goals, 0 assists.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Silva's away record:

P: 19(1) Gls: 3 Ass: 7 S: 45 OT: 17.

w/Nasri starting:

P: 11(1) Gls: 0 Ass: 5 S: 24 OT: 8.

Silva's last 8 games: 1 goal, 0 assists.

EDIT: Just for balance, Nasri last 8 games: 0 goals, 0 assists.

Cheers for that. It's pretty hard to make any solid conclusion on stats but my own eyes tell me that we, and especially Silva are better without Nasri. Again, it sounds tough but it's not personal

 

[Rammy Blue]

Whilst I appreciate I am stating the obvious, should we fail to win the title this year then it will be our away form that is our undoing.

What I can't get my head around is two-fold:

1. Considering our away form has been on the slide for a while now, why haven't we altered or worked on a different gameplan for sides that park the bus? Teams sit back and try and hit us on the break yet as soon as they concede possession we try and build slowly again giving them ample time to regroup so the same process starts again.

2. In the first half of the season, when we were flying, we prioritized the Prem over all comps including the Champions League. We unluckily go out of that comp with 10 points yet once we enter the Europa we suddenly start resting key players from the Prem to keep them fresh for the Europa games. Why?

It may appear that point 2 is irrelevant with regards my initial statement however I wonder what the change in mindset about Europe has had upon the players.

My relevance with the above being in this particular thread is that I believe point 1 is an obvious failing of the management whereas point 2 could well be to do with targets set by the board in which case I'd be mightily pissed if we lose the Prem (which potentially could result in Bob receiving the bullet...) due to some fascination about winning a fucking tin pot trophy...

 

[kiam06]

I like Mancini and think he is a really good manager but if Jose Mourinho becomes available to us we would be stupid not to get him, the guy is 10pts clear of Barcelona that says it all.

We would not be scrapping for the title like we are now it would already be won.

 

[santasa]

I don't believe he will survive this spring in case of title loss.

(Here in Milano/Milan he is Inter fans worst nightmare, despite of two titles, but not without the reason. In short this is what you get when talk to them - one title handed over by FA after he failed to produce with spending spree on most expensive Inter team in history and next season another in (calciopoli) devastated league without relegated Juve and severely punished Milan (stripped of points) but only with closest of margin since Milan almost catch with them. Both season in Champions League Inter was average at best. Then enters Mourinho and rest is history !)

I have no idea what to say on that....

 

[Mancio]

I don't believe he will survive this spring in case of title loss.

(Here in Milano/Milan he is Inter fans worst nightmare, despite of two titles, but not without the reason. In short this is what you get when talk to them - one title handed over by FA after he failed to produce with spending spree on most expensive Inter team in history and next season another in (calciopoli) devastated league without relegated Juve and severely punished Milan (stripped of points) but only with closest of margin since Milan almost catch with them. Both season in Champions League Inter was average at best. Then enters Mourinho and rest is history !)

I have no idea what to say on that....

you can say that is bullshit coz it is.

 

[Anonymous]

We'll win nowt with Tony Towers in the side. He'll take us down, mark my words.

 

[No17]

I don't believe he will survive this spring in case of title loss.

(Here in Milano/Milan he is Inter fans worst nightmare, despite of two titles, but not without the reason. In short this is what you get when talk to them - one title handed over by FA after he failed to produce with spending spree on most expensive Inter team in history and next season another in (calciopoli) devastated league without relegated Juve and severely punished Milan (stripped of points) but only with closest of margin since Milan almost catch with them. Both season in Champions League Inter was average at best. Then enters Mourinho and rest is history !)

I have no idea what to say on that....

you can say that is bullshit coz it is.

not sure it is bullshit mate because he did assemble the most expensive inter team, and won a title because of the calciopoli and all that...and after juve were relegated milan almost caught them as is stated above...and he lost a couple of finals to an inferior roma...he is a one plan manager...he has a fixed tactics he likes to play and finds players according to it...his problem is that he misjudges many of players hence the spending sprees and constant cry for more players, when he, in the eyes of many, has the most devastating strike force apart from real and barca right now, and he can't utilize it to it's full potential...