Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:05 pm  

El Pac Carnegie wrote:

I remember York giving a trial to a lad who looked brilliant on Youtube. Scoring for fun at an apparently decent level. He now plays for Harrogate Railway!

Thats great but I have seen him in four games and my point was it shows them on youtube.

If he shows up as good as the them games he will be a bargain if we land him.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:41 pm  

El Pac Carnegie wrote:

I remember York giving a trial to a lad who looked brilliant on Youtube. Scoring for fun at an apparently decent level. He now plays for Harrogate Railway!

A step up for the lad then!?!

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:47 pm  

Wire_85 wrote:

You only need to watch his highlights on youtube to see what hes got

Football Managertastic!

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:30 pm  

Mancini tactically naive? I have read some nonsense on this forum but that surpsses all in terms of stupidity. He has been negative, yes, but tactically he is very, very good. He's far superior to Moyes, in terms of tactical ability. Mancini's problem appears to be his man-management skills.

As for the games against Everton, our finishing let us down, certainly in the last two. He got it wrong at his first game at Goodison but tbf he had not long been in the country and hadn't encountered many teams who simply dive around the box so they can win free-kicks in order to lump high balls into the box.

If you simply go by head-to-head clashes in the PL then Mancini is far better than Ancelotti. Is that the case?


As for Mancini having a scattergun approah to signing players....I can't agree. Nasri is exactly what we need. Watch the Community Shield for evidence. Our central midfield is one-paced. We needed someone who could carry the ball, inject some urgency into our play, bring others into play, not require three touches before passing a ball forward and provide a goal threat. We also need someone who can play on the right as Johnson doesn't provide enough quality for a full 90mins.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:45 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Ive no doubt that Nasri is a quality signing....It just seems, from a distance, that Mancini has no firm idea on what formation he sees City playing in....He signs players, throws their names in a pot, and comes out with random ideas of what he wants from his squad.

Even in your post, you don't seem to clear on what City will play...Dzeko, a man who jus 7 or 8 months ago you were spending 20-odd million on, was seemingly on his way out, until he recently grabbed a couple of goals.

It seems to be exactly the same transfer policy that Rafa Benitez was often accused of, if a lot more expensive.....Buy players, discard them after a short period, gain zero consistancy or any sort of team spirit, because players don't have chance to form relationships.

Its a risky strategy, but as I said before, it can't go on forever...Mancini has to stop and prove his own worth pretty soon.

How many players has Mancini signed and then discarded? The players he's trying to discard were signed by previous managers.

As for the system he'll play, it will be 4-2-3-1 in most matches. The point I was trying to make, perhaps badly, was that he will not stick rigidly to that formation and seems intent on building a squad capable of playing different formations. For example against Swansea we started with 4-2-3-1, changed to 4-3-3 and ended up playing 3-5-2 complete with wing backs! Surely that sort of tactical flexibility should be commended?

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:46 pm  

Enfield Exile wrote:

As for Mancini having a scattergun approah to signing players....I can't agree. Nasri is exactly what we need. Watch the Community Shield for evidence. Our central midfield is one-paced. We needed someone who could carry the ball, inject some urgency into our play, bring others into play, not require three touches before passing a ball forward and provide a goal threat. We also need someone who can play on the right as Johnson doesn't provide enough quality for a full 90mins.

.....You highlight the scattergun approach in that paragraph.

Why sign all those central midfielders, if what you actually needed was a pacy one?...Just sign the pacy one at the start, rather than sign a barrel load of players who, 6 months down the line, prove to be poor.....Similarly, with Johnson, why sign him if he isnt good enough in the first place?.....There is a thing called scouting (Clubs used to do it, people like Mancini don't, because its unlikely he ever leaves the comfort of his FM11 game)..A good scout would have told you he was very raw and not really upto winning you a league title.

But why bother with normal transfer policy, when you are loaded, you can simply sign players to stop your rivals getting hold of them instead?...

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:48 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

How many players has Mancini signed and then discarded? The players he's trying to discard were signed by previous managers.

Balotelli??.....a year ago, a big £25million signing, now after realising he's not very good, he'd be allowed to leave with the first decent offer.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:44 pm  

Arsenal clinging on at 1-0 down. De Natale a constant threat. That said, Arsenal have had chances. Predict Arsenal lose 2-1 on the night and go through on away goals.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:53 pm  

As posted above, think Nasri will be a perfect signing for city. Not sure why they have put an image of Nasri scoring against MUFC on FIFA 2012 on their official site though?

Is it possible for them to sign a player withoit bringing MUFC into it?

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:07 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Balotelli??.....a year ago, a big £25million signing, now after realising he's not very good, he'd be allowed to leave with the first decent offer.

Balotelli is very talented. He's worth the risk. If he applies himself he will be world class.