What can we expect from Mancini then?

[Dronny]

His philosophy is simple; build a team - defenders are there to defend, midfielders are there to open up the opposition, forwards are there to score goals, or, when they are not scoring goals, to help the team score goals.

FANFUCKINGTASTIC WOW and I mean WOW!

I really hope football is that simple and that Im rejoicing in his success...I really fucking do.

[simon12]

His record as a manager reads:

[url]2001-02: ACF Fiorentina[/url]
Played 27
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 16

Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

[url]2002-04: S.S. Lazio[/url]
Played ?
Won ?
Drew ?
Lost ?

Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

[url]2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano[/url]
Played 227
Won 140
Drew 61
Lost 26

Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

So he drew 40% of his games at Inter...interesting.

[everyonehatesus]

This is a f#cking bad move, not only to get rid of Les but to apoint this bloke. This will only start an even worse string of games proving that money will not give all that you wish.
I for one am not happy with this and can only see the team become unsettled and have no structure for the rest of the season.
All those that wished foe this to happen i can only hope that your right, but have a very bad feeling this is not for the best.

[Lee_Kinda]

His record as a manager reads:

[url]2001-02: ACF Fiorentina[/url]
Played 27
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 16

Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

[url]2002-04: S.S. Lazio[/url]
Played ?
Won ?
Drew ?
Lost ?

Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

[url]2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano[/url]
Played 227
Won 140
Drew 61
Lost 26

Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

So he drew 40% of his games at Inter...interesting.

227 games played?
Drew 61?

How is that 40%???

Its about 25% isnt it? Therefore he won well over half of his games and lost well under a quarter!
Not a bad record IMO!

[10.Goater_Legend]

His record as a manager reads:

[url]2001-02: ACF Fiorentina[/url]
Played 27
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 16

Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

[url]2002-04: S.S. Lazio[/url]
Played ?
Won ?
Drew ?
Lost ?

Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

[url]2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano[/url]
Played 227
Won 140
Drew 61
Lost 26

Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

So he drew 40% of his games at Inter...interesting.

227 games played?
Drew 61?

How is that 40%???

Its about 25% isnt it? Therefore he won well over half of his games and lost well under a quarter!
Not a bad record IMO!

Win percentage of 61% after 227 games
Hughes left City with one of 47% after 77 games

[edge275]

This is a f#cking bad move, not only to get rid of Les but to apoint this bloke. This will only start an even worse string of games proving that money will not give all that you wish.
I for one am not happy with this and can only see the team become unsettled and have no structure for the rest of the season.
All those that wished foe this to happen i can only hope that your right, but have a very bad feeling this is not for the best.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

You silly sausage.

[everyonehatesus]

This is a f#cking bad move, not only to get rid of Les but to apoint this bloke. This will only start an even worse string of games proving that money will not give all that you wish.
I for one am not happy with this and can only see the team become unsettled and have no structure for the rest of the season.
All those that wished foe this to happen i can only hope that your right, but have a very bad feeling this is not for the best.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

You silly sausage.

Edge budy as i have said, i really hope im wrong.
I have a very bad feeling that im not, if i am i will be straight on here to say so. If you check my post's you will see that iv'e always been straight with my opinions and have been happy to admit when im wrong.
Please god make me wrong.

[Socrates]

This is a f#cking bad move, not only to get rid of Les but to apoint this bloke. This will only start an even worse string of games proving that money will not give all that you wish.
I for one am not happy with this and can only see the team become unsettled and have no structure for the rest of the season.
All those that wished foe this to happen i can only hope that your right, but have a very bad feeling this is not for the best.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

You silly sausage.

Edge budy as i have said, i really hope im wrong.
I have a very bad feeling that im not, if i am i will be straight on here to say so. If you check my post's you will see that iv'e always been straight with my opinions and have been happy to admit when im wrong.
Please god make me wrong.

Gosh,sounds like you feel almost half as bad as I did when we appointed Hughes!

[Kiss_The_Goat]

Good article on the bbc from Phil McNulty...

Mark Hughes - according to Manchester City chief executive Gary Cook - was the victim of a little-known law of life called "the bowling ball syndrome" last season.

Apparently, every time Hughes opened a cupboard a bowling ball fell on his head. Not literally of course, this was simply Cook's unique manner of explaining how the unexpected can throw even the grandest plans off course.

On Saturday, however, after his hasty sacking and even hastier replacement by Roberto Mancini, Hughes must have felt like all those bowling balls plus a 16-ton weight had descended on him with devastating force.

And his sense of disbelief at his harsh and ruthless removal will have been even more acute given that a little over a month ago, in the words of Cook, City were "right on target for where we want to be."

Not anymore obviously. Not even after beating Arsenal to set up a Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United, or overcoming Premier League leaders Chelsea at a vibrant Eastlands awash with optimism only a fortnight ago.

And targets meant everything to City's Abu Dhabi rulers because the statement outlining the reasons for Hughes' sacking specifically mentioned they were agreed before the start of this season.

Mark Hughes remonstrates during the win over SunderlandMark Hughes leaves City with the club in sixth place in the Premier League

Hughes must have agreed to hit some tough targets if guiding your team to the last four of a major competition and to within six points of the Champions League places, with a game in hand and only two defeats ths season, is judged as failure.

Did the Eastlands hierarchy actually expect City to be challenging for the title before Christmas? This sacking begs that question - and if they did they are inhabiting an unreal world. Their money may be able to buy most things, but instant Eastlands success is not one of them.

It means Mancini - and make no mistake there is a large element of risk in the appointment of a man who has been out of football for 18 months and has no Premier League experience - inherits a team in reasonable health.

Of course, it is folly to suggest this season has been a smooth passage for Hughes. Too many draws and flaws in a defence reconstructed at vast expense have undermined City's start to the season.

I was critical of Hughes after watching a stodgy and negative display at Liverpool, warning that City's naked ambition off the pitch must not be let down by lack of ambition on it.

But where is the common sense in sacking a manager before Christmas after giving him £200m to spend - and when he has delivered reasons for cautious optimism in both league and cup?

After investing such financial faith in Hughes, common sense decrees that you invest footballing faith in the manager and give him at least this season to shape his vision. Common sense - you must remember that?

When we sat in front of Hughes at Eastlands after a deserved win against Chelsea and listened to him speak with such force about the club's future direction, it was nigh-on impossible to imagine he would be shown the door inside 14 days.

It appears the sands shifted fatally beneath Hughes after the 3-0 defeat at Spurs on Wednesday, his fate decided even before the 4-3 win against Sunderland that at least allowed him to end his reign with dignity and victory.

I have watched City regularly this season, and they have resembled exactly what they are, namely a team and a club in the process of a seismic transition. If targets were set pre-season, surely this has to be taken into account.

Hughes has had mixed returns in the market. Shay Given, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy have been unqualified successes. Kolo Toure at £15m and Joleon Lescott at an utterly ludicrous £22m must go down as minuses in the ledger.

Emmanuel Adebayor has lurched dangerously back towards the peripheral figure of his latter Arsenal days in recent times, while Roque Santa Cruz - not cheap at £18m - has still to convince.

Robinho, at £32m, has been a disappointment and should have been shown the door before the manager. And it is actually hard to reconcile him as a Hughes signing because he almost came as a rather expensive gift from the Abu Dhabi United Group on the day they took charge.

Hughes has every right to question how this decision has been arrived at so suddenly, with City lying sixth in the Premier League and within two games of Wembley and a first big cup final for 28 years.

Once speculation about an approach to Guus Hiddink surfaced - and Saturday brought a rash of headlines rolling the credits on the Hughes era at Eastlands without any denials - it was clear Sunderland was going to be his farewell. The silence was deafening.

Hughes and City have rattled some cages this season with their bold spending and proclamations of their ambition. Everton manager David Moyes was particularly bitter about City's courting of Lescott, Sir Alex Ferguson labelled them the "noisy neighbours", and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger pointedly refused to shake hands after the Carling Cup loss.

And if the inconsistency had shown no signs of abating at season's end, then it may have been time then to appraise the work of Hughes. To dispense with him now is premature and questionable.

The advent of the January transfer window may also have precipitated the departure of the former Manchester United and Barcelona striker. City have lavish wealth to disperse at any time, but the sub-plot to his sacking suggests the Eastlands board did not trust Hughes to spend it for them.

There has also been talk of Hughes not being the Abu Dhabi regime's man on the basis he was appointed before their takeover. Nonsense. They made him their man by allowing him to spend so much money.

Hughes' status as a Manchester United legend did not sit easily with many City fans, who could not quite bring themselves to fully accept a man who was an idol of Old Trafford for so long, despite his fine work with Wales and Blackburn Rovers.

Roberto ManciniMancini has an impressive reputation but is unproven in the Premier League

But the appointment of Mancini is unlikely to be unanimously received by the Eastlands faithful either. You suspected they rather liked the idea of Hiddink or (and this was the dream) Jose Mourinho, to oversee the next stage of the building of an empire if Hughes bit the dust.

Instead they have Mancini, not exactly top of their wish list, who has appeared from nowhere and out of exile to move City forward. He won three Serie A titles with Inter Milan and also impressed in charge of Fiorentina and Lazio, but he is unproven in the Premier League and will be under pressure immediately.

Unusually in these instances, he has inherited a side in a promising position. He will be expected to build on that, to meet the targets Hughes has apparently failed to achieve.

Time will tell if this is a wise move or a designer-manager decision by a hierarchy simply keen to have a bigger, more high-profile name, on the door at Eastlands.

And what if he is in a similar position this time next year after a spending spree? Presumably there will talk of missed targets and "we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to..." The precedent has been set.

There has not been much sympathy for Manchester City this season. Indeed there has been jealousy in many quarters about their new-found wealth and willingness to use it, but there should be some for Mark Hughes. He has been harshly dealt with.

[10.Goater_Legend]

Top read that was Goat. Hughes was harshly dealt with for sure, let's hope that Mancini hits the floor running because if he struggles, the owners will come in for alot of shit from the fans for being so hasty with Hughes.

[dazby]

If we were more defensively secure I could have understood this position. However, Shay's brilliance covered up a real problem ever since he was signed.

[Lacky]

I expect better, than what we; got from Mark Hughes.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

His record as a manager reads:

[url]2001-02: ACF Fiorentina[/url]
Played 27
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 16

Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

[url]2002-04: S.S. Lazio[/url]
Played ?
Won ?
Drew ?
Lost ?

Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

[url]2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano[/url]
Played 227
Won 140
Drew 61
Lost 26

Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

So he drew 40% of his games at Inter...interesting.

227 games played?
Drew 61?

How is that 40%???

Its about 25% isnt it? Therefore he won well over half of his games and lost well under a quarter!
Not a bad record IMO!

Win percentage of 61% after 227 games
Hughes left City with one of 47% after 77 games

that'd be roughly 16 points more in a season. Pretty good I'd say.

[Goataldo]

Nice hair. A posh scarf. Hopefully a need to order some Brasso.

If seen conflicting reprts over his style of football, but am well encouraged by the Inter fan quoted near the start of the thread. I have also heard that he can be rather defensive with his teams style of play. But given our current team's play, shoring up a porous defence will be all we need to push on - we're always gonna score goals with the players we've got.

I remember him as a player for Samp actually, and used to really like him; clever forward. I just hope he doesn't ship in a load of Bianchi style primadonnas that can't find a decent restaurant in Manchester.

[simon12]

His record as a manager reads:

[url]2001-02: ACF Fiorentina[/url]
Played 27
Won 6
Drew 5
Lost 16

Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

[url]2002-04: S.S. Lazio[/url]
Played ?
Won ?
Drew ?
Lost ?

Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

[url]2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano[/url]
Played 227
Won 140
Drew 61
Lost 26

Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

So he drew 40% of his games at Inter...interesting.

227 games played?
Drew 61?

How is that 40%???

Its about 25% isnt it? Therefore he won well over half of his games and lost well under a quarter!
Not a bad record IMO!

Win percentage of 61% after 227 games
Hughes left City with one of 47% after 77 games

that'd be roughly 16 points more in a season. Pretty good I'd say.

My apologies I used the 140 not 227 figure and I work in finance

[OliverHardy]

Bobby Manc and the Bluemoon Kidd will do just fine

[sandman]

2001-02: ACF Fiorentina
Honours
Coppa Italia 2000/01

2002-04: S.S. Lazio
Honours
Coppa Italia 2003/04

2004-08: F.C. Internazionale Milano
Played 227
Won 140
Honours
Seria A 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Coppa Italia 2004/05, 2005/06

4-3-1-2. Inter scored more than 2 goals a game on average so not 1-0s.

Mourinho won the league with 84 points last year. Mancini won the year before with 85 points.

Win percentage of 61% after 227 games
Hughes left City with one of 47% after 77 games

He's good in the transfer market. He signed such players as:

Maxwell, Maicon, Chivu, Balotelli, Ibrahimovic

The way I sum him up is that all of the above is all factual, figures cant lie, he is successful and knows how to spend his dough.

I think the hughes-in brigade need to remember some of the cases they used in the welshmans defence and be wary of hypocrisy!!

[dikdik]

Man management.