Are Mancini and City done?

JPA

Milner as the central attacking midfielder in a 3, wide right in a 4-4-2 or even central in a 4-4-2, where he excelled for Villa, are where he should play
Wide right in a front 3 though is not good for him as he doesn't have the pace for it.

Was he central today?

Xavi6

JPA wrote: »

Milner as the central attacking midfielder in a 3, wide right in a 4-4-2 or even central in a 4-4-2, where he excelled for Villa, are where he should play
Wide right in a front 3 though is not good for him as he doesn't have the pace for it.

Was he central today?

Left wing again :rolleyes:

JPA

Xavi6 wrote: »

Left wing again :rolleyes:

Bizarre. Clearly City and Mancini had been planning a bid for Milner for a while since they bid for him so early, they must have had him watched a lot and they must have seen where he was playing best. So why use him as a winger? I just don't know.
If he's a winger in a 4-4-2 then you will get more worth out of him as his tracking back and work rate is more evident as well as being further back the pitch to allow him to be involved more.

Yakult

The only man who I know could be capable to take over after Mancini is Mr. Steve Staunton.

Match made in heaven. (or Hell)

OneColdHand

From beeb website:

Man City manager Roberto Mancini: "Which pressure? For what? You continue to say I am under pressure. Which pressure? Because some supporters say I did not put two strikers on, or journalists say I am too defensive? I am not under pressure. We are in fourth position. We have some problems. Since the start of the season it has been the case that if Carlos Tevez doesn't score, no-one does. We must improve that. But we have only played 13 games."


If he says he's not under pressure enough, will people believe him?!

Jordonvito

City could do worse than try 4-4-2, three defensive midfielders at home is a joke.

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Hart

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--Boateing

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Kompany----Kolo

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Kolarov--

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NDJ

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Yaya

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--Milner

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Silva--

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Tevez

---

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Adebayor

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JPA

http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=197174

Diabhal Beag

R_H_C_P wrote: »

The only man who I know could be capable to take over after Mancini is Mr. Steve Staunton.

Match made in heaven. (or Hell)

Best idea I've heard all night. Hopefully Ian Harte is his 1st signing for City :pac:

v3ttel

Stick a fork in him, hes done

CorkMan

Ordinary man wrote: »

But who do you replace him with? Man city are one of the worst teams to watch and tbh i love it:D

They should give Real Madrid 1 billion euros for Mourinho.

steelcityblues

I'm sure Mark Hughes is saying to himself: "I told you so!"

Vurnon San Benito

Manchester City are a mess, as I've preached over over and over again.
Nothing in that squad that sticks out to you as a Premier League winning side.

As for Mancini, never rated the lad.
Italian football is his game, let him stick to it.

Xavi6

I've now slept on it, and looking back at yesterday's game I'm left with a lot of questions that are still bugging me.

Why is Milner played on the left?
Why is Toure seen as an attacking midfielder?
Why take off your start striker when you need a goal?
Why replace said striker with a defensive midfielder when there's a striker still on the bench?

Mancini is slowly losing the fans; the evidence was there today. He is also alienating some very good professionals who he may need to call upon at some stage.

Sure we're still fourth, and that is the ultimatw goal, but the sort of results we've been having mean that we will never go any higher with him in charge.

He won't be sacked now though.

everdead.ie

Xavi6 wrote: »

Why is Milner played on the left?

No idea why he's on the left possibly to cut in and shoot with his right?

Why is Toure seen as an attacking midfielder?

He does get forward a lot himself and Barry generally seem to get forward a good bit with De Jong doing the actual defensive work

Why take off your start striker when you need a goal?

I think it's because they didn't want to risk him getting injured after just coming back from an injury

Why replace said striker with a defensive midfielder when there's a striker still on the bench?

I have serious doubts over calling Barry a defensive midfielder he seems to spend a lot of time around the penalty area and is suspect defensively I do think he should of brought on Mario though

Xavi6

everdead.ie wrote: »

No idea why he's on the left possibly to cut in and shoot with his right?

Mancini does like his inverted wingers, however it's not playing to Milner's strengths and City fans are unfairly getting on the player's back over it.

He does get forward a lot himself and Barry generally seem to get forward a good bit with De Jong doing the actual defensive work

But he's not an attacking midfielder. At Barca he won the ball and laid it off the Xavi and Iniesta who did the creative work. His passing and vision are nowhere near good enough to occupy a role that Silva should have nailed down.

I think it's because they didn't want to risk him getting injured after just coming back from an injury

Possibly, but why do it with 7 or 8 minutes left? If he was that worried then he should have dragged Tevez after an hour.

It smacked of settling for a point.

I have serious doubts over calling Barry a defensive midfielder he seems to spend a lot of time around the penalty area and is suspect defensively I do think he should of brought on Mario though

Well Balotelli was suspended so wasn't an option.

Barry is like Toure - he is only playing further forward because somebody has to support from midfield. He is not creative either and at a push could be described as a box to box midfielder, and even then he's not the best at that at the club.

By playing three defensive minded players you leave a situation where at least one of them is forced into a more attacking role which is outside their comfort zone. It simply isn't working.

Yaya needs a week on the sidelines imo. Apart from WBA last week he's been average at best so time to give Milner at shot in the middle of the park with Silva and De Jong.

everdead.ie

Xavi6 wrote: »

Mancini does like his inverted wingers, however it's not playing to Milner's strengths and City fans are unfairly getting on the player's back over it.



But he's not an attacking midfielder. At Barca he won the ball and laid it off the Xavi and Iniesta who did the creative work. His passing and vision are nowhere near good enough to occupy a role that Silva should have nailed down.



Possibly, but why do it with 7 or 8 minutes left? If he was that worried then he should have dragged Tevez after an hour.

It smacked of settling for a point.



Well Balotelli was suspended so wasn't an option.

Barry is like Toure - he is only playing further forward because somebody has to support from midfield. He is not creative either and at a push could be described as a box to box midfielder, and even then he's not the best at that at the club.

By playing three defensive minded players you leave a situation where at least one of them is forced into a more attacking role which is outside their comfort zone. It simply isn't working.

Yaya needs a week on the sidelines imo. Apart from WBA last week he's been average at best so time to give Milner at shot in the middle of the park with Silva and De Jong.

I would be intresged in seeing City take up a formation like

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De Jong

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Milner

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M. Johnson
A. Johnson

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Silva

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Tevez

That would be a great Attacking team IMO that can defend

eagle eye

I'd really like to see them playing similar to Chelsea in a kind of 4-1-2-3 formation. I know Johnson is not in that lineup but I don't think there is place for him tbh ahead of those players in that type of system. I think its a system that could easily work with so many interchangeable players in the team and so many suitable replacements on the bench should anybody go down.

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Hart

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Boateing

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Kompany----Kolo

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Kolarov

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De Jong

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Yaya

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Milner

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Tevez

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Adebayor

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Silva

Fromvert

He should be sacked, he has some good attacking players but refuses to play any sort of attacking team. If Leyton Orient turned up on Wednesday he'd play defensive. Why is Adam Johnson not playing?

mike65

Macinci is not to thrilled with young Master Johnson right now, I think he thinks that Adam J is starting to believe the hype and not actually delivering.

PHB

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

With players like Tevez, Johnson, Silva, Balotelli and Milner, Mancini's negativity is criminal. They could be sensational. Being cagey away from home is one thing, at home against a mid table side is another.

Xavi6 wrote: »

The players are there. It's the tactics that are killing us.

IMO he needs to go with a forward two with Silva in the hole behind. Adebayor deserves more of a chance, and if not him then Balotelli up front with Tevez.

De Jong can hold in the middle with Johnson and Milner out wide. Easy really.

Xavi6 wrote: »

Sure we're still fourth, and that is the ultimatw goal, but the sort of results we've been having mean that we will never go any higher with him in charge.

He won't be sacked now though.

I think Mancini is doing what he has to do with the squad he has. Yes he has talented attackers. Silva, Tevez, Johnson, Balotelli, Milner could all form a decent front 6. You could do something like this.

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De Jong

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Yaya Toure

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--Silva

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Milner

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Johnson-

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Tevez

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That on paper, is a pretty good front 6. The striker isn't perfect for the system, but it's a pretty good front six. The problem is though, the defence is pretty poor relative to the top 3.

City have conceded 10 goals this season.
Arsenal have conceded 11.
United have conceded 15.
Chelsea have conceded 5.

Looking at that, you might think that City's defence is good. But you need to realise that it conceded 10 goals with

- Three defensive midfielders
&
- One Central midfielder on the right wing
&
- The most defensively (from the front) talented forward in the league

City's entire team is set up to protect a weak back 4.

I have no doubt in my mind that if he had Cole, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra as his back four, he might go for that attacking front 6, but he doesn't, he's got Kompany, Toure, Kolorav, and Boetang. They are good defenders, certainly top 7-8 defenders, but they are not premiership winning defenders.

Nobody has won the league in 6 years without having a top top class defence. It's what gets you through those games tough 1-0 games, it's why United are behind Chelsea this season.

Mancini knows this. He has to adjust his team accordingly. He's set up not to lose, because he knows that there is enough talent up front even with just Silva, Milner and Tevez, that will nick him enough goals here and there.

His goal is 4th place. That's what he is aiming for. Personally, I don't think he has a better chance of getting fourth going for the attacking system. I think his best chance is what he is doing. If he gets fourth, he can bring in the defenders he needs to push on and go for first. But right now, he's doing what he must because of his weak defence.

At the same time, he is letting Yaya, Balotelli, Silva, Johnson all get used to the English system. Maybe one of Kolorav or Boetang will get enough playing time to become top class, I think that the latter might have a good shot at it.

It's a transitional season for City. They need to get 4th place to push onto the next level and attract players. Frankly, and it pains me to say it, I think that they are the most likely team to do it. I hope Spurs do. I even hope that Liverpool get it ahead of City.

But frankly, the points don't lie, and after 13 games, which is over one third of the season, City are sitting in 4th place in the league. 3 points off the 5th place team. Bedding in new players. Building up confidence. I think he's frankly done an extremely good job.

racso1975

Should of been gone after wednesday. No chose after yesterday imo. His defensive style does not suit the epl at all. Plus the fact he has kept with barry when he has done sweet FA all season is beyond me.

I'm not sure who you'd bring in. I would be concerned about the amount of change that has happened and will happen change wise at city.

There really cant be that good of a feeling in the dressing room either.

ironbluedun

PHB wrote: »

City's entire team is set up to protect a weak back 4.

I am not so sure about. I think that Citys defense is a good as Arsenals right now, and look where they (arsenal) are.
The problem relates to a total lack of creativity in midfield. OK assuming that Dejong is the holding player that leaves Barry and Y Toure and neither are never going to create enough. Milner is out of position on the wing. The 'balance' of the team is bad with 3 'defensive' lads in the middle all beside each other very narrow not really creating much relying on silva tevez and Milner to do the business. But sorry its a team game.
No creative 'box to box' mid-fielder, look at what Fabregas does at Arsenal and Lampard at Chelsea how many goals have Barry and Y Toure got from midfield this year?
City have to face facts Y Toure is a beaten docket and not an offensive midfielder. Milner for Barry in the middle, A Johnson wide. Another good creative midfielder needed, having said that i would love to see M johnson avoiding injury and getting a chance in there.
Anyway bottom line Barry and Y Toure not good enough for me.

smackbunnybaby

Sven is the only person that can mould all those egoes into a team

I think City's problem is they have too many good players and no set line up.