Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:42 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

We turned a few 3s into 1 last year when we were trying to be more attacking.. 3-3 against Burnley and Bolton, 2-2 against Fulham, for example. Plus a few 1s into 0s.

Those draws were nothing to do with us being too attacking. They were everything to do with defensive lapses in concentration. Granted, Mancini has helped our players in this department but there is no need to take away our ability to attack just to get the likes of Kolo Toure to stop daydreaming.

After the arrival of Mancini, if we'd have attempted to attack more, 4th was there for the taking. In several games I can think of, we threw away chances of three points that were there for the taking to safeguard a point; Liverpool at home, Arsenal away, Stoke away, United at home (and we didn't even get the point) etc.

His negative tactics are going to ruin our chances of success and they are going to drive fans away in their droves and the first cracks will show in the attendance on Saturday.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:03 pm  

El Classic, Barça v Madrid will be played on... Monday 29th November.


Ta ra Ray Wilkins

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:01 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Everton with Louis Saha starting = Mid table at best this season

Everton with a world class striker = Top 3


The first half against Bolton was absolutely ridiculous looking at it Football First. Sky could have saved a few quid by just having one fixed camera pointing at the Bolton box it's been that one sided. Yet somehow they manage to not score despite creating chance after chance after chance after chance.

Second half is exactly the same... It's just a never ending stream of near misses.

Edited for accuracy

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:20 pm  

Catalancs wrote:

El Classic, Barça v Madrid will be played on... Monday 29th November.

Oh well, that's the night in the pub watching the game gone for a Burton!

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:21 pm  

D.D. wrote:

Oh well, that's the night in the pub watching the game gone for a Burton!

It was announced at around midday and I've already lost count of the number of people who've mentioned the beer limitation

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:37 pm  

D.D. wrote:

With a decent manager and decent tactics, we'd have been around six or seven points better off by now, cemented in the top four with an outside chance of winning it, not hoping that the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton all drop points so that we can maintain our advantage.

As I text you the other day (to no reply btw ), who do you replace Mancini with at this stage of the season? It's all very well throwing a strop about the football you play, but you're in the top 4 and doing OK in Europe. I'd see how you do this season and then if you don't hit the targets set at the start of the year then look to replace Mancini and be ambitious with the next choice of manager. He's been in the job for less than 12 months and still has alot of Hughes players to work with. I'm sure if he could use his golden boy, Ballotelli, and his two new full backs Kolarov and Boateng a bit more, you'd have better balance on the flanks aswell.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:04 pm  

D.D. wrote:

Those draws were nothing to do with us being too attacking. They were everything to do with defensive lapses in concentration. Granted, Mancini has helped our players in this department but there is no need to take away our ability to attack just to get the likes of Kolo Toure to stop daydreaming.

After the arrival of Mancini, if we'd have attempted to attack more, 4th was there for the taking. In several games I can think of, we threw away chances of three points that were there for the taking to safeguard a point; Liverpool at home, Arsenal away, Stoke away, United at home (and we didn't even get the point) etc.

His negative tactics are going to ruin our chances of success and they are going to drive fans away in their droves and the first cracks will show in the attendance on Saturday.

lol.

Do you want to win trophies or not?

You ain't gonna start winning overnight. You need to give the manager time.

Mancini is proven, with the funds available he will build a championship winning team. It's not a question of if, with city, it's a question of when? Sooner or later the right balance will be struck and you'll be nigh on unstoppable.

But that may still take 2 or 3 years.

Mancini has made you a much more solid outfit, you don't concede as much. You are currently 4th and will finish in the top 4 come the end and get CL. That's progress. Once you are getting cl football, that's when you make the step up and become title contenders.

The biggest problem i see for city in all this is dumbf*ck fans like yourself creating unrest and forcing managers out.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:11 pm  

100% Wire wrote:

Joey Barton punched MG Pedersen right in the midriff.. not so much a changed man eh

I didn't see it as a punch.

It was flat palmed, not clenched fist, it was more of forceful push then a punch.

I like how pederson falling down like he'd been shot has been completly overlooked. Any other player than barton does that to pederson and his theatrics get more scrutiny.

As it is, because it was a barton, it was some sort of deadly knock out punch that left pederson fighting fior his life.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:17 pm  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11728764 what a mess

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11728764 what a mess

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:58 pm  

RedTez wrote:

2 points dropped for United. Poor. If you can't beat a team with a midfield 3 of Yaya Toure, De Jong and Barry you've got major problems. Carrick played well last night, as did the full backs before they went off. Shame we played our best football in midfield. Park and Nani were woeful. Couldn't believe Vida was given MOTM. He had very little to do. What he did do he did well granted, but I thought Carrick or maybe Fletch were more deserving.

Biggest let down of the night was Silva totally bottling it on the big occasion. That's probably why he wasn't used in the world cup.

Hahaha

Silva not a big game player? How do you explain that he was Spain's best player, and arguably the player of the tournament, at Euro 2008? It is arguable that no United player has performed so well on such a big stage. Silva was by no means top drawer last night but what doylu expect when he often had no-one in front of him, and when he did we were outnumbered 3 to 1. He also spent more time in our half. He is still a far better player than Scholes was at his peak. As proven by performances at international level.

As for Fletcher and Carrick they did nothing to warrant any accolades. They
worked hard but simply played in front of our defence and created SFA. You must have low expectations of them, fella.



As for the debate between Dave and the Leyther, I believe that we have to give the team time to gel. I am bored by the football at the moment but Rome wasn't..... I certainly hope we start to play better football because at the moment we are no more entertaining than we were under Pearce. Pearce did have an excuse though.

Dave, you talk about our defence last year suffering due to individual mistakes. We have pretty much played with the same defenders this year. The reason why we conceded so many under Hughes was individual mistakes but these were due to sheer weight of pressure on the defence. Mancini knows our defenders are not the best and that's why he brought midfielders in to help out defensively. I think the formation we are using demands attacking full-backs. That's the missing ingredient. Until Kolarov and Boateng settle down
and get fit we will look laboured. Boateng is a WIP centre-half IMO. Maybe we should have signed a RB too.

DD - What do you think of Pascal's performances since he moved to LB? I think he has been far better than Bridge. He's not a great player but he's a good player to have around the squad.