IS Bobby Mancini THE MAN?

[brite blu sky]

not having scored against U***d, liverpool, arsenal, everton etc, I would be very concerned for our prospects in those two games

Mancini's tactics against teams in the upper part of the table has been to not concede and try and nick a goal with a long ball counter attack. It worked at Chelsea but is looking more likely the exception to the rule.

Everton 2-0 : Liverpool 0-0 : Chelsea 2-4 : Everton 0-2 : U***d 0-1 : Arsenal 0-0

For us to have any chance of beating Villa and Spurs he has to change his culture and attack teams of this nature. He's surely aware of this and quite possibly has played this way so far this season to take it down to the two crunch games against Spurs and Villa ensuring that we have our final league position in our own hands.

I really hope so because watching an unleashed City team is so exciting.

Absolutely right and in those two games we will find out whether we have it or not.

We have had to wait a long time to get a sense of any patterns emerging from this team and Mancini's approach.

Im starting to think that as we all know we have a problem with the forward mid position. Lack of link up play due to no-one who is good enough or on form to play that role. So in the absence of that the team itself struggles against the better sides and the battlers because that lack shows up in serious fashion. Once again Everton saw that and targeted our problem and squashed the life out of us. At Goodison you could see that Mancini had no options and nothing he could do about it, it was written all over his face. He went on afterwards to say that Vieira would have made a difference in such games, as he knows full well what we are missing. With hindsight we see that Patrick perhaps helps but is defo not at the level required. so the top teams become difficult challenges for us imo as the extra quality they have highlight what we lack in in that part of the field. The difference for me is if or not the two wingers have any joy with against their respective defenders, so once again those teams that have some of the best defenders have a good chance of stopping the other options we have to link play and be effective.

So for me it isnt so much that Mancini is setting us up negatively or even cautiously, it is that the team is kind of knobbled by the lack of an outlet in the center of the park.

I think i would try dropping Tevez back to a forward mid role to start games off. But then we might not have any more games left where we will be exposed to level we have by the very top teams.. also considering we are at home for the next 2.

[johnny crossan]

Yes he is in the MAN, the reason he is?, because before the Arsenal game yesterday I never felt City would lose with Mancini's tactics. I was that confident in Mancini and the boys, in my life time I can NEVER recall being 100% certain that we would come home form the Emirates/Highbury with something. When Hughes was here I always thought there was a big chance we would lose away in any game.

That to me is a sign of real progress, I think the Shiekh and Khaldoon have pulled off a master class bringing this man in, because if we don't finish 4th this year you can bet your blue arse we will next season.

A top manager and we are lucky to have him imo.

Do you feel 100% certain we will beat Villa and Spurs?

Do you feel 100% certain we won't? It's in our hands completely and I'm backing Mancio & His Men for two home wins. Job done!
Watch that 50% vote soar on Election Day.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Yes he is in the MAN, the reason he is?, because before the Arsenal game yesterday I never felt City would lose with Mancini's tactics. I was that confident in Mancini and the boys, in my life time I can NEVER recall being 100% certain that we would come home form the Emirates/Highbury with something. When Hughes was here I always thought there was a big chance we would lose away in any game.

That to me is a sign of real progress, I think the Shiekh and Khaldoon have pulled off a master class bringing this man in, because if we don't finish 4th this year you can bet your blue arse we will next season.

A top manager and we are lucky to have him imo.

Do you feel 100% certain we will beat Villa and Spurs?

Do you feel 100% certain we won't? It's in our hands completely and I'm backing Mancio & His Men for two home wins. Job done!
Watch that 50% vote soar on Election Day.

Let him answer himself JC. But if we set out to play how we have in the last 4 tough home games yes I do feel 100% certain we will not win the Villa and Spurs games. But if we adopt a different approach and play well ( we don't have to be great) then I think we have a decent chance to win both games.

It's in our hands completely and I'm backing Mancio & His Men for two home wins. Job done!

Correct and I am backing the team and manager as well but with realistic concerns.

Watch that 50% vote soar on Election Day

Must mean something but it's over my head:)

[btajim]

It's in our hands completely and I'm backing Mancio & His Men for two home wins. Job done!

It's in our own hands in the sense that we must beat Tottenham in order to secure 4th. My concern is that City have had situations where something special has been in our hands yet we've not gone on to do the business. i.e. Numerous Quarter Final disappointments or not putting Man Ure out in the Semis when we went to The Swamp with an advantage.

A secondary concern would be that our impatient Board would then push Mancini out of the door for not meeting his target of 4th place.

[Original Dub]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

I think you are spot on OD." You lot have no reservations it would seem." That's the weird bit to me.

[btajim]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

You got the usual smugness from certain quarters after the brilliant win at Chelsea - but you can't live on just one result when City have only earned one point from their last two Matches. Man Ure have now twice stunned Mancini's City with a late winner and yesterdays performance against Arsenal was lacklustre.

We simply can't play like this and expect to finish 4th when there's good sides to come to City. We're now in 6th and will stay there unless things improve.

[Alex Sapphire]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

You got the usual smugness from certain quarters after the brilliant win at Chelsea - but you can't live on just one result when City have only earned one point from their last two Matches. Man Ure have now twice stunned Mancini's City with a late winner and yesterdays performance against Arsenal was lacklustre.

We simply can't play like this and expect to finish 4th when there's good sides to come to City. We're now in 6th and will stay there unless things improve.

sixth with a game in hand. That rings a bell

[Original Dub]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

You got the usual smugness from certain quarters after the brilliant win at Chelsea - but you can't live on just one result when City have only earned one point from their last two Matches. Man Ure have now twice stunned Mancini's City with a late winner and yesterdays performance against Arsenal was lacklustre.

We simply can't play like this and expect to finish 4th when there's good sides to come to City. We're now in 6th and will stay there unless things improve.

sixth with a game in hand. That rings a bell

It certainly does!

I suppose if we're going to think like winners, we need to be looking at what we can achieve instead of looking at current form and coming to conclusion that we might very well not win these games. At least that's what I was told :)

[The Man In Blue]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

good luck getting an answer on that mate!

[btajim]

sixth with a game in hand. That rings a bell

One point in our last two Matches and only one good win against another Top side since he came in.

Ding Dong.

[The Man In Blue]

sixth with a game in hand. That rings a bell

One point in our last two Matches and only one good win against another Top side since he came in.

Ding Dong.

i'll say it again, good luck getting a response from any of the former hughes out/mancini in crew about this!

still on not sure, have been since he came. yet to see any real, tangible progression really. Granted we are conceding slightly less but what does it matter if we cannot score against and beat good sides?

[Blue Since 76]

I don't think we'll lose to spurs or villa, but i doubt we'll win either and that is no longer enough.

The big problem is that spurs will spend big if they get 4th and if liverpool get new owners and investment, they'll be a force as well. Our best, and perhaps only, chance for 4th has probably been blown by a manager who couldn't defend and then one who couldn't attack.

The sheikh had obviously never heard the phrase 'typical city', but i bet he uses it on a daily basis now. I honestly think we could spend every penny he has and still not win anything.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

We will get there dont worry about that. But as was said right at the start it will take a little time and 18 months isn't enough.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

I think you are spot on OD." You lot have no reservations it would seem." That's the weird bit to me.

ridiculous effort for pointless argument from both of you.

I've said all along that I think we have right man in charge and I'm personally going to be critical of him once he has had few months to adjust to Premier League and summer to get his own players and pre-season under. Latter will be more important than many people understand. We constantly run out of steam in the end and it seems there's something wrong with base fitness of some players.

[Ted Hughes]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

I think you are spot on OD." You lot have no reservations it would seem." That's the weird bit to me.

ridiculous effort for pointless argument from both of you.

I've said all along that I think we have right man in charge and I'm personally going to be critical of him once he has had few months to adjust to Premier League and summer to get his own players and pre-season under. Latter will be more important than many people understand. We constantly run out of steam in the end and it seems there's something wrong with base fitness of some players.

I also think that the players look like they're not fit enough but it seems much worse now than earlier. Whether they're overtrained, undertrained or if it's just because the weather's warmer, I don't know but they look more tired from where I sit.

I'm not convinced at all by Mancini. I'm sure he can do the job but so could many others imo with our finances. I don't see anything special so far. As I've already said, imo the club should stick with him but I can only see one improvement that Mancini has made so far which is the defending at set pieces etc. Imo nothing else has improved whatsoever & our forward play has largely gone backwards. We rarely look like a good attacking side now. Also I don't know how much of the defensive improvement is down to Mancini or the fact that Kompany is playing very well. We still conceded v teams like Everton/Stoke & got caught out at short corners etc v rags. If Mancini doesn't improve considerably next season & ends up being moved on we will have chucked another year down the toilet & if we do have to totally revamp the squad to suit him, we've wasted time by not immediately sacking Hughes when the takeover happened rather than saying we'd let him build a team. That could end up with 3 wasted seasons.

I think it would be wrong for us to sack him, even for Mourinho but from my own point of view I'm not enjoying watching City at all on the whole & I was loving it before he came. I like cavallier football & wish we had a manager who played like that. If Mancini starts to be consistantly positive I'll be happy but if he builds a negative attitude in the club I'll only be happy when he's gone, no matter how many trophies we win.

I actually think we had a decent chance of 4th without him as I fully expected results to improve & now I think we still have a great chance but I really hope he doesn't think a point v Villa is good enough. This is our cup final & we need to go out & win it. Now is the time for him to prove that he can win big games. If we can't win then at least lets go down fighting & attacking.

[btajim]

I've said all along that I think we have right man in charge and I'm personally going to be critical of him once he has had few months to adjust to Premier League and summer to get his own players and pre-season under.

Two points on that. First of all, he's been here since December and was allegedly approached in November. It's now late April. How long can it take to adjust? How patient can we afford to be? And the Squad was very strong when he arrived. Full of Internationals. If Vieira was the one transfer he was solely responsible for then I'm looking forwards to Maradonna and Pele next season.

[Dronny]

I got shouted down for mentioning it the other day, but of all the top sides we've faced under Mancini in the league, only the second half v Chelsea did I ever see us GO FOR IT... and subsequently win.

It has to end NOW or we will not get fourth. Its that fucking simple and I'm not having anyone question my support again for pointing out what is now painfully obvious - the man has not done it against the top sides in the league. And I mean the top EIGHT teams.

Chelsea are the only ones we managed to even score against. Now can all you lads who have accused me of being anti-Mancini and all the other bollox honestly sit there and tell me that I have an agenda and that he is tactically spot on when facing decent opposition?

Otherwise explain what he's doing wrong, because I've not heard ONE CRITICISM from the likes of NQDP, Slim, Johnny Crossan, Bob Kowalski and many others since the guy took over and it fucking stinks much stronger than the shite I'm being accused of.

I have reservations about the guy against top sides and I said I was apprehensive about our run in. You lot have no reservations it would seem. My opinion is based on what I've seen.... could you please explain to me what your opinion is based on, because right now it seems that this board has done a full ironic u-turn and there is now in fact people who are Mancini lovers at all costs, no matter how we perform and no matter what he does.

I think you are spot on OD." You lot have no reservations it would seem." That's the weird bit to me.

ridiculous effort for pointless argument from both of you.

I've said all along that I think we have right man in charge and I'm personally going to be critical of him once he has had few months to adjust to Premier League and summer to get his own players and pre-season under. Latter will be more important than many people understand. We constantly run out of steam in the end and it seems there's something wrong with base fitness of some players.

I also think that the players look like they're not fit enough but it seems much worse now than earlier. Whether they're overtrained, undertrained or if it's just because the weather's warmer, I don't know but they look more tired from where I sit.

I'm not convinced at all by Mancini. I'm sure he can do the job but so could many others imo with our finances. I don't see anything special so far. As I've already said, imo the club should stick with him but I can only see one improvement that Mancini has made so far which is the defending at set pieces etc. Imo nothing else has improved whatsoever & our forward play has largely gone backwards. We rarely look like a good attacking side now. Also I don't know how much of the defensive improvement is down to Mancini or the fact that Kompany is playing very well. We still conceded v teams like Everton/Stoke & got caught out at short corners etc v rags. If Mancini doesn't improve considerably next season & ends up being moved on we will have chucked another year down the toilet & if we do have to totally revamp the squad to suit him, we've wasted time by not immediately sacking Hughes when the takeover happened rather than saying we'd let him build a team. That could end up with 3 wasted seasons.

I think it would be wrong for us to sack him, even for Mourinho but from my own point of view I'm not enjoying watching City at all on the whole & I was loving it before he came. I like cavallier football & wish we had a manager who played like that. If Mancini starts to be consistantly positive I'll be happy but if he builds a negative attitude in the club I'll only be happy when he's gone, no matter how many trophies we win.

I actually think we had a decent chance of 4th without him as I fully expected results to improve & now I think we still have a great chance but I really hope he doesn't think a point v Villa is good enough. This is our cup final & we need to go out & win it. Now is the time for him to prove that he can win big games. If we can't win then at least lets go down fighting & attacking.

As a "named and shamed" licker (Hughes and not windows btw) I don't want to see Mancini given the old tin tack but I fail to see the lure of the way he sets up for games against the so called bigger teams. It is inherently Italian in that you will not score and we may score one on the break. The two plainest examples are the games against the Arse and u*d, Saturdays game was turgid and so inspiring I ended up decorating whereas the home match was a little bit we'll score more than you type football. Same for the u*d games, we lost both but which game was more inspiring, better value and more edge of the seat??? Add to that, that the scores could have been somewhat more understandable if the scores had been reversed for home and away.

Its an interesting point raised by NQDP and endorsed by DH when he talks about stamina and the players flagging towards the end of the game......who is the coach and why after four plus months is that the case?

[Alex Sapphire]

all I know is that we're "sixth with a game in hand" (again), except now 2/3 of our remaining fixtures are against teams above us in the table.
We need to double our win ratio to get 4th. We could as easily finish 7th.
The question from the OP has the words "THE MAN" in capitals.
Bobby Mancini is our manager and has my support, but "THE MAN" he is yet to prove himself to be.

[brite blu sky]

Everyone here is making valid points imo.. yet i remain unconvinced at the arguments. OD has a good point, but as i keep suggesting it is the better sides that are able to exploit our lack of connection between midfield and attack. When we play sides that are not quite as good they cant that as easily and we get the better of them. Ok so thats one point that i feel is still the case and is a genuine problem. However that alone doesn't explain how the team can get it together when we go 1-0 down for instance.. suddenly they find the urgency, push up and close the gap with the strikers and we look and are very dangerous. So maybe it is a bit of both.. midfield problem compounded by not going out there to win the game from the start.
Unlike Grob i dont think that Villa and Spurs are as good as the rags, and i think that will make a difference on the day.
But like OD and others it would be good to see this team really going for it.. it is after all when we appear at our best and there is always a good argument for playing to your strengths..