News: Official: Mancini in, Hughes out

About the chelsea game and those draws, I think you have to look at the positives. Even if chelsea could've have won the game, in the end, your team fought well and took the points, end of. About the draws, you have to look at them as points gained rather than points lost, a certain Historical Legendary team in red from up north would kill for those points. Sometimes a point on the road isn't that bad, especially when you consider the PL is the tightest it's ever been.

I bring up dunne and what Cook said, because your defense has been the biggest problem for City this year. when you consider his form for Villa, its hard to see how City let this guy go. It borders on Lunacy, and what i quoted WAS said by garry cook. The managers at most other clubs outside of ferguson, wenger, and benitez are just puppets, whatever hughes told dunne was probably because he was forced too, deep down, im sure he would've preferred him over toure or lescott.

And about sparky's statement, lol, come on now, its ALL about the $$$$$
has his settlement been agreed on yet? he was fired, so he's due his money.

 

Slagging off on Mancini's accomplishments in Serie A and his run of championships is madness at best.

That league has weakened, if anything, since Mancini departed Inter and he had much stronger AC Milan and AS Roma squads to deal with then his successor has to face these days. The level of consistent domination from his Inter teams was greatly impressive.

If City's priority is consistency in the league its hard to imagine a better hire. However, much like Inter did, if City reach the point of prioritizing European success they will likely have to jettison Mancini for a manager with more success in that competition (e.g. Hiddnik).

 

I agree with that assessment of Mancini. He had to deal with much better milan and roma side's than what those clubs are today.

All in all, he is probably the best option out there available TO city.

 

You are guilty of taking a simplistic view of a complex situation, on purpose, which leads to an incorrect and disingenuous assessment of the situation. This is continued in your post above.

Mancini was at Fiorentina for less than a year and left them languishing near the bottom of the table when he departed. While he won the Coppa Italia his time can hardly be called a success although given their financial problems he cannot be blamed. He initially had more success at Lazio and won another Coppa Italia but they soon faded as the club was hit with their own financial problems. It is difficult to judge Mancini on these two jobs because of the financial issues involved. While he initially had more success with Lazio he had better players at his disposal and he jumped ship, as he had done with Fiorentina previously, as they started to decline. At Inter he won the Coppa Italia again soon after joining and finished third in Serie A, narrowly ahead of Fiorentina, before the Calciopoli scandal changed the standings. The rest of his time at Inter has already been covered here. Mancini won the Coppa Italia three times but in Italy it is often a maligned tournament which makes your comparison, in terms of achievement, to the FA Cup incorrect. It is still a good achievement but not what some people are trying to make out. It is also not why he has been appointed to Man City as it is his success at Inter that has been the primary factor. A success that was the by-product of a national scandal and a severe weakening of his major rivals.

I am not the person choosing what to consider in regard to Mancini. I am also not the person making claims on the basis of a quick glance at the achievements on his Wikipedia page. You, and many others, have taken a superficial look at his management career which is being very disingenuous.

What poor results have Man City had this season? I can only think of a handful which is the same as the top four Man City are trying to displace. Considering the state of the season in general can you honestly claim that Hughes has done a poor job in terms of results?

You defense was always going to be a bit shakey when you consider the lack of minutes some of your key players have had (like Kompany) and the amount of new faces that were thrown into the side together. It takes time for a team to settle and gel with the defense taking longer and any teething issues having a big impact on the result.

I do not think you can disagree with what Hughes has said particularly in regard to the timing of his departure and the immediate appointment of Mancini.

I can only assume you do not follow Serie A.

 

Thanks Fern... good lookin out.

You may have missed his "Brilliant" Mark Hughes being like a young Arsene Wenger analogy. I assume He's like Teso in the fact that even his own club supporters cant stand him. I assume that's how they end up here.

 

The poor results I was referring to were our draws and several wins we could have easily lost (very easily, in some cases, without quite a bit of help from very poor performances from the opposition). Having followed city my entire life, watched every single minute of every single match this season (and extended highlights of every single one as well), I can say that much of our current position is more to do with poor opposition than our playing well. You shouldn't simplify to the point of just reading results and assuming they reflect actual quality.

Our defense is indeed shaky but, as I said before, it is not merely that gelling needed to occur. There seemed little evidence that it was progressing. We actually began in a better state than now half way through the season. There are many, many deficiencies we could all list. The point is it looked to be getting worse, not better, with those Hughes selected. His tactical prowess was less than needed to address it during matches as well.

And why did you reference Kompany? He has been one of our least utilised players this season. Unless you were making a point about Hughes having need to do so, which would be a criticism of the manager.

I think I can and will disagree with sections of his statement, including the bit about his being confident they would have attained 70 points (if you extend current form or even slightly better to the end of the campaign we would not have). It seemed in many ways to be an attempt to assure he received as much sympathy as possible, which I do think he deserves on some level. And let's not assume that we know all the goings on behind the scenes in the last few months based solely on media reports and his statement. Such oversimplification of a complex and less than transparent situation is silly.

My thoughts are based on my attempts to gather and analyse as much of the very small amount of information available to all of us as possible. Let's not pretend to know more than we do, shall we?

 

Teso Dos Bichos, you constantly attack the opinions of members who do not share your same soccer ideologies. Calling them superficial, or not 'mature' enough for your highly sophisticated standards. Your first paragraph starts off with a personal attack, then you proceed to share your wisdom, and if anyone DARES to challenge you, you attack their maturity level once more.

Moving on. While I agree with most your writing (the Italian cup is a joke, the top teams often field experimental reserve lineups), I have to point out a few new facets of this situation which haven't been explored.

Mancini created the dominant Inter. He brought in the players who are mainstays at the club.. Here is the list: Dejan Stankovic, Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso, Maicon. He brought in Maicon from Monaco, and turned into arguably the best right back in the world.

Mourinho on the other hand, arrived to Milan with arrogance kicked into 6th gear. He decided to change the entire Inter formation, which had for years been a typical 4-4-2. To make his 4-3-3 work, he convinced Moratti to waste around 40 million Euro's on two wingers who he thought would thrive in his system.. The players: Ricardo Quaresma (voted the biggest bust in the serie A), and the brooding Amantino Mancini. After that disaster, he reverted back to the formation used by Roberto Mancini.

My point being, Mancini has a great eye for talent, and put together the key players that are still thriving today at Inter. His formations are balanced. Yes, he won because of the Calciopoli scandals, but that's not the point of my post.

Manchester City will improve with Mancini at the helm. Expect a more 'Italian' defensive mentality, and probably a few Italian players arriving in the January transfer window.

 

Man City lacks balance, but has what it takes to become a champion. Mancini will instill some balance IMO, which seems to start on the defensive end.

 

Re: Cook sucks

Mancini news conference:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aht5bxlJMzQ"]YouTube- Roberto Mancini First Press Conference at Manchester City[/ame]

 

Re: Cook sucks

1 cambiasso was at inter before mancini im pretty sure.

2 hughes is a good manager, but looking at this season and last, and the huge investments since the year before hughes got there under shinawatra, followed by the investments in hughes time, you can see it has been a disaster. hughes will get it together at another club, hell, even lippi has flopped with inter in his time.

3 gary cook is a total incompetent moron, look at any interview and you can see his iq is minimal. in this press conference he spent the whole time talking about what he wanted, rather than what city wanted, pretending to get worked up just to he could pompously slap his fists down on the table, it was all posture. the sooner the new chiefs work that out and get rid of him, city will be in much better hands.

4 anyone slating mancini for city is not making total sense. winning two serie a's is fine for any manager regardless of the circumstances. add 4 italian cups with 3 sides, all in a short number of years, and it is clear that he is a competent manager. he will be experienced with walking into different sides and imposing himself on the club, so city and their stars should not be a problem for him to handle. he will also bring a very solid defensive mentality to city as well. i dont know if he is better than erikson, he would be seen as a pupil of eriksons due to his years playing uner sven. to be honest, i think that if city had kept sven you would have been in the cl this season already, and may have even got hold of kaka that time. oh well.

yes, he will struggle to ever win the cl as a coach with his style of football, but his job is to just get into the top 4. luckily for him, this season is a write off already. top 6 of 7 and europa league will be fine for him to get the summer and a stab at next season, and he will get this.

 

The way I see it, the Arab were extremely patient with Hughes in light of the fact that he wasn't even "their" guy.

I was never a a big Hughes fan, but I was willing to give him a chance. After all the money that was spent it was obvious City were going to struggle this year to make the top 6.

For the owners that just wasn't good enough.

I'm excited about Mancini, he wouldn't have been my first choice, but now the owners have no one to blame but themselves if City don't get that long overdue silverware all Blue mancs have been waiting for...

 

It is a results driven business. The top four can all point to similar games in which they have not been at their best but still managed to salvage points. Winning while not being at your best is what successful teams need to do. It is even more important given the nature of the league this season. I fail to see how anyone can complain about Hughes when you consider the results you have achieved with a team that is still coming together. The sad part is any success will now be down to Mancini and any failure down to Hughes. Hughes cannot win either way.

It is a matter of opinion and you will find many on the other side of the fence. If you think the defense was playing poorly but still getting results then surely they deserve the time to prove what they are capable of when in form? What Man City needs is time to settle down instead of constant upheaval and speculation. It will take more than half a season for your players to become a team and iron out any issues. Unfortunately it looks like your owners as the type who ignorantly believe in instant success. I mentioned Kompany because once he is fully back and integrated I think he improves your defense considerably.

I do not see the 70 point target as being a problem and form is not a season long constant. You have 21 games left and need 41/63 points. You can lose seven times and still achieve it. You also have a favourable run of games until February and no European distractions. If you are in this position despite not playing that well as you claim then what happens when you start to play well and find some consistency? The amount of squirming and lack of transparency to simple press questions by Cook at Mancini's unveiling in addition to what Mancini revealed says more to me and any outsider than Hughes' statement.

 

There have been no attacks but merely legitimate criticisms of faulty logic or a lack of knowledge. If you are referring to thejuggernaut I am currently ignoring any of his immature outbursts that have nothing to do with the thread. He acts like this on numerous boards so sometimes you have to write at his level to get anything through to him.

It is good to know that when you put everything aside you actually agree with my assessment of the situation.

I think you are giving Mancini a bit too much credit for creating a dominant team. In his first season he only finished in third place two points ahead of Fiorentina. From the players you mentioned did Stankovic not arrive midway through the previous season and Cambiasso at the start of the summer before Mancini? He signed Samuel in his first season with Maicon and the rest of their key signings, like Ibrahimovic, occurring in the aftermath of Calciopoli. It was the scandal that put Inter ahead of everyone else as Moratti saw an opportunity to go into the market and take advantage of the situation.

I do not deny that Mourinho messed up big time with his two wing signings. It is someone I have discussed when defending Ibrahimovic. You know that guy who dominated Serie A despite playing in a team full of defensive midfielders with help from Maicon and the odd cameo from Balotelli. You might have heard of him now that he has suddenly been rated since joining Barcelona rolleyes.

Will Man City improve with Mancini? No-one knows. What Man City need is time to settle down as a team and a new manager does not help that. They are also doing well despite not being at their best. They will only find top form when they get a chance to develop into a team and get used to each other. It takes time. Whatever happens Mancini wins because people will claim that any improvement is down to him and any problems down to Hughes.

 

Re: Cook sucks

Agreed. Too much reading, too much acting. I'm surprised the owners haven't at least assigned an official spokesperson. Gary Cook is a terrible representative for this club (and I thought it became somewhat apparent after the whole Kaka saga).

 

PLEASE

Given the circumstances the line of questioning was obvious. Cook should have been prepared for it and handled it a lot better. Man City should have handled the entire situation a lot better and only have themselves to blame. The press are ruthless particularly when they know they are being taken for a ride by the likes of Cook. I do not think Mancini's feelings were hurt. He knew his appointment was a contentious issue and it would not be an easy press conference as a direct result. The press have been perfectly fine with the others clubs seriously chasing the top four over recent years.

 

Get over yourself - you really aren't that important.

I'll be back in May when we go though this all over again.

 

and if mancini was worried, or not comfortable, he would certainly not have struggled along in broken english, he would have just spoken in italian, which is perfectly respectable to have done in his first media interview in england. he has managed in rome and milan debys, plus the derby d'italia and a fiorentina juve fixture, so i dont think an interview will scare him at all.

 

You do realise how ironic your reply is, yes?

 

I think that what the club did to Hughes was disgraceful. The man only lost two games and was in a good position to push on from there and he was sacked. This is the kinda of shit foreign owners do. They think they know how to run a football club cause they have tons of money, but all they are really doing is making football look bad.

I feel for Mark as I thought he was doing a good job I mean you can't expect to buy players throw them into a team and then expect them to play together like they had been playing together for years. Mark was doing a good job and in the press conference Mancini told it like it was and now you like you have egg on your face. Disgraceful from Man City.

Also a lot of you have the Chelski mentality, but you lot haven't even won anything and I doubt you will this year so I mean will that be considered a failure. I think fans have lost track of things when money is thrown into the mold. Just cause you have money doesn't mean you win everything all the time. Also for Man City fans to act like this arrogant bunch and say things like:

"Clearly, it's us vs. the world now. The media is relentless in it's attempt to destabilize us, terrified of the threat we pose to the established cabal."

Is just purely garbage. The way I see it they are very favorable of you guys cause of the glamour of the big money. You have been the toast of the town and while that went on we silently made our push and now are finally getting recognized for it.

 

Is there a 'silent push' for irony from trollers today or is it just a humourous confluence of events?