RSC: Mancini Has Already Laid Down The Law

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I just hope all this shite about Bellamy and Given supposedly wanting to leave is bollocks too. By the same token I hope Mancini won't play Robinho just because he is Robinho but because he deserves it... and at the moment I cannot see why he would start ahead of Bellamy.

Personally I hope he plays Robinho in a free role that suits him best. I'm sure Shay will calm down eventually. Not sure about Bellers.

[Wooders]

RSC should have been at the press conference yesterday in place of cook !

Bellemy will calm down, he wears his heart on his sleeve but he'll do the right thing by the fans of this club I am sure

[Chinners]

Is RSC the mouthpiece for Manchester City? Funny how a Mirror article is believed because is says decent things for a change. Beware is my advice

[King Kev]

Is RSC the mouthpiece for Manchester City? Funny how a Mirror article is believed because is says decent things for a change. Beware is my advice

To be fair it does include a lot of direct quotes which usually is a sign that the article contains at least some truth.

[Chinners]

Putting "at either end of a sentence does not make it a quote" ... "althou it might actually be in this case"

[simon12]

Is RSC the mouthpiece for Manchester City? Funny how a Mirror article is believed because is says decent things for a change. Beware is my advice

Yes as the FRONT PAGE of this mornings issue is Mancini holding a shirt with the headline "City of shame". It should also have in the top right corner "Paper of shite" but they left that bit out.

[Grob]

Santa seems to feel the team wasnt balanced correctly under Hughes as we all did so at least he's on the same page.

If Mancini can balance it correctly then we will be fine. The pieces are all there. Even our comedic defence has enough good players in it to become more water tight.

Hughes in his career has always had a few good players to build a team around. Now the squad has 15 to 20 good players in it to build a team out of. That seemed beyond Hughes, he had no idea what the best team or the best set was anymore, but Mancini has done this before at Inter with silverwear winning success. Hopefully it shouldnt be too much of an issue for him.

[ashton287]

I just hope all this shite about Bellamy and Given supposedly wanting to leave is bollocks too. By the same token I hope Mancini won't play Robinho just because he is Robinho but because he deserves it... and at the moment I cannot see why he would start ahead of Bellamy.

Personally I hope he plays Robinho in a free role that suits him best. I'm sure Shay will calm down eventually. Not sure about Bellers.

definately that way they cant just try and lock him out of the game, given space to roam he would cause havoc.And I dont beleive that bellers is making such a fuss anyway, he knows its too late in his career for him to try and start again(AGAIN) you can tell by the diffrence in his play that he's matured alot since his "golfing days" so he'll be fine. Papers just being children again is all it is.

[Citizen of Oslo]

I find it promising that he has already started the defensive work. This obviously must have been an issue with the players as the team kept leaking easy goals and with increasing rate. Closing down and putting pressure on is basics. This will improve.

we will take massive steps forward just by Mancini teaching them how to defend set pieces. I think Mancini is zonal marking man so it might take him while but I feel we will see improvement on next few games.

I understand that you mean Mancini is a believer of zonal defense as opposed to marking defense? If so I find it a good thing. In football's academical world zonal defense has been viewed as superior to a marking defense since the 90's based on huge statistical data. The drawback is that it takes a bit longer to learn and get used to because it demands more understanding than the simple message 'he is your responsibility, you mark him'. However, with quality coaching improving our defense should be made in no time anyway!

[Wonderwall]

I find it promising that he has already started the defensive work. This obviously must have been an issue with the players as the team kept leaking easy goals and with increasing rate. Closing down and putting pressure on is basics. This will improve.

we will take massive steps forward just by Mancini teaching them how to defend set pieces. I think Mancini is zonal marking man so it might take him while but I feel we will see improvement on next few games.

I understand that you mean Mancini is a believer of zonal defense as opposed to marking defense? If so I find it a good thing. In football's academical world zonal defense has been viewed as superior to a marking defense since the 90's based on huge statistical data. The drawback is that it takes a bit longer to learn and get used to because it demands more understanding than the simple message 'he is your responsibility, you mark him'. However, with quality coaching improving our defense should be made in no time anyway!

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

[CityFanFromRome]

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

Yes, zonal marking is great but when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. AC Milan under Ancelotti were another team constantly applying zonal marking and they conceded a lot from set pieces because there was always someone making a mistake.

[Citizen of Oslo]

I find it promising that he has already started the defensive work. This obviously must have been an issue with the players as the team kept leaking easy goals and with increasing rate. Closing down and putting pressure on is basics. This will improve.

we will take massive steps forward just by Mancini teaching them how to defend set pieces. I think Mancini is zonal marking man so it might take him while but I feel we will see improvement on next few games.

I understand that you mean Mancini is a believer of zonal defense as opposed to marking defense? If so I find it a good thing. In football's academical world zonal defense has been viewed as superior to a marking defense since the 90's based on huge statistical data. The drawback is that it takes a bit longer to learn and get used to because it demands more understanding than the simple message 'he is your responsibility, you mark him'. However, with quality coaching improving our defense should be made in no time anyway!

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

There are good and bad ways to do both zonal and marking.

[Wooders]

Santa seems to feel the team wasnt balanced correctly under Hughes as we all did so at least he's on the same page.

If Mancini can balance it correctly then we will be fine. The pieces are all there. Even our comedic defence has enough good players in it to become more water tight.

Hughes in his career has always had a few good players to build a team around. Now the squad has 15 to 20 good players in it to build a team out of. That seemed beyond Hughes, he had no idea what the best team or the best set was anymore, but Mancini has done this before at Inter with silverwear winning success. Hopefully it shouldnt be too much of an issue for him.

grob sums up my feelings on the matter very succinctly here

[Citizen of Oslo]

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

Yes, zonal marking is great but when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. AC Milan under Ancelotti were another team constantly applying zonal marking and they conceded a lot from set pieces because there was always someone making a mistake.

By e.g. set pieces, zonal marking must give way to marking. As a basically marking defense must give way to zonal principles when the opposing striker(s) drops very deep into their own territory. It's not all black and white. Most important is that the players understand their way, have a common understanding and are comfortable with the way they play. I agree fully with you that zonal defense can go very wrong. It is absolutely essential that the players understand it, or they will look like constantly making schoolboy errors. Zonal, marking or libero/sweeper, the Italians are traditionally good defensively. With our record, I'm optimistic independent of formation or system.

[King Kev]

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

Yes, zonal marking is great but when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. AC Milan under Ancelotti were another team constantly applying zonal marking and they conceded a lot from set pieces because there was always someone making a mistake.

Zonal marking at set pieces is better than no marking at set pieces I suppose.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I find it promising that he has already started the defensive work. This obviously must have been an issue with the players as the team kept leaking easy goals and with increasing rate. Closing down and putting pressure on is basics. This will improve.

we will take massive steps forward just by Mancini teaching them how to defend set pieces. I think Mancini is zonal marking man so it might take him while but I feel we will see improvement on next few games.

I understand that you mean Mancini is a believer of zonal defense as opposed to marking defense? If so I find it a good thing. In football's academical world zonal defense has been viewed as superior to a marking defense since the 90's based on huge statistical data. The drawback is that it takes a bit longer to learn and get used to because it demands more understanding than the simple message 'he is your responsibility, you mark him'. However, with quality coaching improving our defense should be made in no time anyway!

looking at liverpools shambolic zonal bollocks, I hope we do better

their problem is that they have completely wrong sort of defenders. You need intelligent players who are great at reading the game. Carragher, while he has lot of good qualities, is far from that. Skrtel is no nonsense crazy tackler. Agger would be just perfect but perennially injured.