by steveo_88 » Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:31 pm
IMO we do not have sufficient quality depth to play with an A and B team which is why last night you saw a mix of first team players such as Milner, AJ, Kolo, Boateng and Mario all starting alongside fringe players like SWP, Jo, Vieira and Lescott. Mancini in the past couple of games only had the chance to play his best team on paper and it will take until the end of Jan for them to be flying on all cylinders, at the earliest. The instinct to know what your teammate is going to do isn't there at the moment. I think we can go all the way in Europe but the further we progress the more Mancini will fall back on his regular first team players and the league form will probably suffer. The best thing to come out of the last month is there is a definate first team forming that is capable of defending against anyone home or abroad and breaking any team down, (Hart, Kolarov, Kompany, Kolo, Boateng, Aj, Milner, Yaya, De Jong, Barry, Silva, Tevez and Mario). Once this undisputed core of players settles in then Mancini can develop a high quality B team. The pieces are beginning to fit together!
I'm glad we got European football this season and I was hoping for Europa not CL, CL would have been a bonus but the priority last year was to get back into Europe. This season it's to stay in Europe and progress to CL and perhaps pick up a cup along the way.
South Stand Blue