looking for the players to take some responsibility for our results?
Generally accepted stats from the Brum game:
Shots (on Goal) 24(7)
Time of Possession 60% 40%
I'm not saying I'm happy for a draw, of course I'm not ... I wasn't happy about a draw at Utd. I'll never be "happy" about anything but winning. But I watched the whole game, and have gone back and re-watched portions and I do not think that we played too defensively. What I saw was tevez having an off day, johnson making poor decisions, milner working hard, and apart from a shot cleared off the line, not doing too much. I saw yaya run out of steam fairly early again. I saw poor crosses from boateng, et al.
Besides the fact that it's very easy to just say "oh the tactics were shit, mancini out","boring" and all the other throw away comments ... when are we going to look at the players underperforming / not performing as a team / making bad decisions as another major contributing factor to our recent performances. I know certain players get called out individually, but there is never any real responsibility associated with it. Everyone shouts for johnson to start, he does ... and is ineffectual, and nothing is ever said about that, nor will it be again ...especially when the calls come for him to start again.
Pulling tevez might seem like a strange decision at first, but tevez himself is very guilty of failing to perform in the match and making some poor decisions during attacking moves. Ok, he brought on barry ... we don't play with attacking midfielders, get over it. we play with 3 very attacking, almost totally free, players in attack, supported by 3 midfielders who do get into the box and push up quite high, barring nigel of course. Maybe mancini saw the need for a change and brough on someone who could make a pass, considering our creative passing had been letting us down in the game as well.
I am not saying that mancini has his tactics absolutely spot on, and I am not making excuses for him ... I am simple putting forth the idea that there needs to be more responsibility put on the players and their performances, and it needs to take up a more important spot in people's minds when they think about why we lost, or look for a place to throw the blame. That's my opinion anyway.
for right now, we sit 4th, we have the opportunity to push on and I think we need to get behind the team ... and I can tell you, if I had the privilege of being able to attend matches, I wouldn't be boo'ing and chanting the name of not in the team players ... disrespecting our manager and the team on the field. I think it's a bit shameful.