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

I personally think Mancini is doing a great job at City and was/is exactly what they need.

When he first arrived at City they had a ridiculous bloated squad, with a large amount of distinctly average overpaid players.

I think since then he's tried to skim the fat (Adebayor, Bellamy, SWP, Santa Cruz, Bridge etc) and go Chelsea-esque where you have a squad of 20 players, all of whom are absolutely quality, and after that you have the youngsters who can hold their own.

With the champions league this year he'll be able to rotate the side as much as he likes safe in the knowledge that there is quality right behind it.

As for him not knowing his formation, i think he knows his first choice defense, and that (if fit) the midfield will contain Toure, De Jong + Silva. I think continuity is important in those areas alone really, I feel as though the players they have up front can come in and out of the side and they are all that good they can do what is required. (and tbh, Dzeko is the one that has really really impressed me so far this year, he should be the lone target man, and Aguero plays out wide).

Another thing I respect about Mancini is that the big(ger) ego's and trouble makes seem to be either getting beaten down (Tevez) or shipped out (Bellamy, Adebayor). The one enigma in this case is Balotelli, but I think City are now in a position where he is back to being a luxury, they don't rely on him so they can drop him and leave him out if they need to. I don't think they had that last season when Tevez was injured and Dzeko was MIA.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:10 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

:lol: .....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?...

I guess you didn't read Cibaman's post before coming out with that vitriolic nonsense. I think you should give up as you are beginning to embarras yourself.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:13 pm  

Inside_man. - What a well-thought post. You should post more often.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:18 pm  

Karlos13 wrote:

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?

What are you doing on our site, you sad get? . Great site though, don't you think?

Aye it is a bit sad showing him scoring against United. Saying that I would think Blues find it amusing rather than a kind of fist-pumping-aren't-we-great attitude.

Tbf mate, you should be enjoying the rivalry and look forward to our future battles. I am sure you would prefer to be fighting us rather than, let's say, a London team.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:33 pm  

Great to see Danny Nardiello bang one in tonight. Not good enough for United but still has enough to put one past the best keeper in the world.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:22 pm  

Yes, penalties are hard to score these days...

Will we see Arsene splash the cash now that Arsenal are through to the Champions League?

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:25 pm  

Pristine irony there flower.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:18 am  

Enfield Exile wrote:

What are you doing on our site, you sad get? . Great site though, don't you think?

Aye it is a bit sad showing him scoring against United. Saying that I would think Blues find it amusing rather than a kind of fist-pumping-aren't-we-great attitude.

Tbf mate, you should be enjoying the rivalry and look forward to our future battles. I am sure you would prefer to be fighting us rather than, let's say, a London team.

Pretty sure either City or United are going to win the league. Are you gonna post when City don't win this season? Or just be allover it when your winning as per?

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:12 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote: You have to wonder if Mancini is simply sat in his office, scanning a computer, putting random bids in for all the big-priced players?......His transfer policy is so scattergun its unbelieveable....Yes, Nasri is a good player, but nothing significantly better than what they already have....Its signing players simply for the sake of it. You obviously don't know what you are talking about. There was an article on City's scouting network posted which you can read here. Enfield Exile wrote: 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. I'm not sure I agree with that particularly the man management. I think he's done very well on the latter saying the right things in the press about players e.g. Adam Johnson who says needs to work harder without the ball. Tactically last year I think he was still finding his feet in the competition which resulted in the conservative play of last year which is why this year is interesting. He found out last year that in this league it is not enough to get a goal up and sit back, especially at home and he has acknowledged that by saying we need another 25 or so goals to challenge for the title. Knowing that now he has more or less committed himself to being more expressive with the ball which is interesting because now, if he shuts up shop in games we should be winning, he'll be called into question and with good reason. We had problems opening up teams who just sat back against us and employed our own countering tactics and its looking like he's recognised that, hence the purchases of Aguero and Nasri to give us more options, hopefully in our starting 11 and not just from off the bench if the game isn't going our way.

Dita's Slot Meter wrote: You have to wonder if Mancini is simply sat in his office, scanning a computer, putting random bids in for all the big-priced players?......His transfer policy is so scattergun its unbelieveable....Yes, Nasri is a good player, but nothing significantly better than what they already have....Its signing players simply for the sake of it. You obviously don't know what you are talking about. There was an article on City's scouting network posted which you can read here. Enfield Exile wrote: 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. I'm not sure I agree with that particularly the man management. I think he's done very well on the latter saying the right things in the press about players e.g. Adam Johnson who says needs to work harder without the ball. Tactically last year I think he was still finding his feet in the competition which resulted in the conservative play of last year which is why this year is interesting. He found out last year that in this league it is not enough to get a goal up and sit back, especially at home and he has acknowledged that by saying we need another 25 or so goals to challenge for the title. Knowing that now he has more or less committed himself to being more expressive with the ball which is interesting because now, if he shuts up shop in games we should be winning, he'll be called into question and with good reason. We had problems opening up teams who just sat back against us and employed our own countering tactics and its looking like he's recognised that, hence the purchases of Aguero and Nasri to give us more options, hopefully in our starting 11 and not just from off the bench if the game isn't going our way.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:30 am  

Catalancs wrote:

Great to see Danny Nardiello bang one in tonight. Not good enough for United but still has enough to put one past the best keeper in the world.

Tim Howard?

Nardiello had a couple of really good chances. Could have had a hat trick.

I see Jordan Henderson is learning the ropes at Liverpool very well. He's the new Steven Gerrard alright. His one two and surge into the box was so Gerrard-esque, as was the subsequent dramatised tumble and cricket-esque appeal to the referee.