Ya, I bet we would get to their level eventually years down the road with Pep in charge. I doubt Mancini will get anywhere near that unless Sheik bestows him with so much money he can't possibly fail no matter how bad his system is.
Guardiola was born and bred into the Barcelona system and culture, he could find it difficult to impose his footballing ideology if he ever manages another team. I would not feel greatly confident with him at the helm like I would with Mourinho at the helm for example. Mancini has improved our team year by year since joining and had to clear up much of the mess Mark Hughes made with his mediocre signings. Just because we have money doesn't guarantee instant success as we've seen and the owners know that which is why they've kept him. These are very, very smart people in charge of the club (Mansour has Obama on speed dial, this is no myth!) and will have judged Mancini's progress as manager closely before deciding he is the man to continue the project. Mancini has made mistakes but will learn from them and what manager doesn't make mistakes? For example, Pep was tactically clueless against a Chelsea team we beat not so long ago and had no Plan B whatsoever for Barca. Mancini has instilled a very strong mentality at the club, the players work hard and the team has character and will it previously lacked. If we went 3-0 down to United in any other era, heads would have dropped and we would have been resigned to our fate. In the FA Cup with 10 men for 80 minutes after Kompany's ridiculous sending off, the team fought tooth and nail and pulled it back to 3-2 with United clinging on desperately by the end. This is the sort of thing that a billion quid can't buy, only a manager can instill that desire and mentality as Mancini has with a lot of hard work that included scraping out players he didn't think were mentally up to the task like Ireland and Adebayor. And of course, I shouldn't forget how we've remarkably clawed our way back into the title race when it seemed dead and our fate is in our own hand now. Beat the rags and we have a great chance of winning it despite the daunting Newcastle away fixture. In any other season we'd be runaway leaders now, our points total is very impressive but United have played out of their skin though and made a fight out of it. Mancini will know where we have gone wrong in the league, pretty much only against stubborn teams on the road, and I think he will fix that. Our eyes are on some top wingers/wide players like Hazard and Lavezzi for example who would give us the width we sorely lack against teams parking the Titanic against us. I've got faith that if we just miss out this season in our FIRST title challenge since 1977 (my point being we've have no experience in the title race for 35 or so years when we finished 2nd to Liverpool) we'll do it next season as we're only going to get stronger. Not just through new signings but our existing team continuing to improve together as remember, this is the first season for players like Aguero, Nasri, and Clichy. Aguero could be unstoppable next season, he's had a fantastic first year but his away form could improve and probably will do. One final thing, City fans LOVE Mancini, there is an affinity to him from our fans that I've not seen since Joe Royle brought us up two divisions back to the Premier League. So if it is he who leads us to glory it will please most fans even more as he is already a club hero for winning us our first trophy in 35 years last season.
There are a few flaws in this, but first and foremost I just want to say this is a great post. I can understand why long time fans like him, they've sat through decades of winning nothing, and he's clearly a better manager than Mark Hughes. I admit part of the reason I dislike him is my love for "tiki-taka", the attacking minded short passing/high pressure system that puts opponents under intense pressure when they have the ball and stretches them out when they don't. As for your post: -We've improved every year because ridiculous sums of money have been put into the team every year. Even Hughes signed Kompany, Lescott, Tevez, and Barry. In Mancini's first summer, he spent over 100 million pounds. If we didn't improve, that would be beyond catastrophic. That's not a good reason to think he's a great manager at all. -Pep played in Italy for 2 years, where he learned several defensive methods he applies today such as the double/triple cover system and the almost impossible to pass through full team 25-30 yard high pressuring defensive system. Something that always ges overlooked is that while Barca's offense is as good as it's ever been, its defense also improved when Pep took over. He learned that in Italy, not Spain. Thank god he soaked up their defensive tactics and not their ridiculously awful/boring attack style. - Mancini clearing out players who are questionable mentally? Are you serious? The man spent something like 25 million pounds on Mario Balotelli and is currently utilizing a player in a title race who didn't feel like coming off the bench in a crucial champions league game and then fancied a 5 month midseason vacation. That was the one thing I really strongly disagree with. As for City fans loving him, again I can see why for the long serving ones. They're not used to winning this much unless they were around for the 60's, I don't blame them for taking a liking to him. I started supporting City in 2006 when I was 12 because I hated Man U (still do of course), City had a few Americans, and I was playing as a agressive defensive midfielder so naturally Joey Barton was my idol at the time (pre jail sentence and everything else). I haven't been through what they have, and I just watch the games on tv because I live in America. So I don't have quite as strong an affinity for the manager as the fans do from Manchester, and judge more on tactics and other decisions such as that. Mancini has a history of doing well in domestic competetions but flopping in Europe, and I think it's due to his negative tactics that are less effective playing against teams outside of Italy. I honestly don't think that's going to change with City, even though I bet we win the league multiple times under him if he stays.
I'm by no means an old-timer. I've only been following City since about '96, but I've seen enough managers and enough promotions and relegations to welcome a bit of stability from management. Too many knee jerk reactions in regards to hiring and firing managers. Forza Mancini.
Since pretty much all you guys have been city fans longer than me, what are your opinions on city signing players that used to play for the rags?? What was the reaction when someone like schmeichel? The goalkeeper joined the club for one season after so many with united?
Personally I hated it when we signed both Cole and Schmeichel, and also when we signed ex-dippers Fowler and McManaman (who was awful for us!). But Schmeichel made himself quite well liked while he was here, did a good job. Jon Macken was a popular ex-rag at City but it probably helped that he never made a first team appearance for them. Goater was technically ex-United too and is a club legend. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ_Zqy6QqYI"]Shaun Goater vs. United, 9/11/2002 - YouTube[/ame]
Official Premier League Twitter account. United get Foy, the man who sent Kompany off in the FA Cup derby for a great tackle.
read it a few minutes after posting that We will finish with 10 men or at least one questionable call.
The love between Manchester City (its Players, staff and the club itself) and Shay Given is amazing. Between all the Fashion Kicks coverage that citytv and twitter did. Shows a great side of the club most people don't see. Then he goes out and defends the club for winning