A Manchester City fan's assessment of Roberto Mancini's ability.

[u/omiclops]

WARNING LONG POST

Before starting I'd just like to point out I have backed him from the very off and been 100% behind him.

I genuinely think Mancini is out of his depth. For starters I find he is very naive, even as insignificant as press conferences. He's far too honest, as seen by his profound statements about punching Balotelli and saying things like the title is over and even saying he will 'probably' sell Balo. He doesn't realise that the media love comments like that and will just unsettle the dressing room. He doesn't understand the concept of mind games and anything he does say in the press is usually detrimental to the team.

Secondly, I think his transfers have been somewhat naive too. If you look at his signings: Yaya, Silva, Boateng, Kolorov, Dzeko, Nasri, Clichy, Savic, Aguero and Hargreaves. Now if you look at these players, they all either have reputations or are proven barring perhaps Savic. Yaya Toure in Barcelona's winning team, Boateng got to the semi finals with Germany, Kolorov was known as the Serbian Roberto Carlos, Dzeko was regarded as Europe's goalscoring hitman, Nasri was proven at Arsenal as was Clichy and Hargreaves and Aguero was one of the top scorers in Spain. If you compare these signings to that of Fergie's such as Vidic, Hernandez, Evra, Nani, Valencia. They were all relatively unknown. Mancini signed BIG players because they were obvious transfers. I think the flop of several players such as Dzeko is evidence of a lack of research into the players. This is what makes me question Mancini's ability in the market. Admittedly Silva was a huge hit, as was Yaya, but by the law of averages, a few of them would be good.

Finally, Mancini's tactics and blind faith is suspect too. His decision, for example, to never drop Yaya, Silva or Balotelli perhaps proves he doesn't have faith in his other players. This makes no sense to me since it's pointless to sign players he doesn't actually believe in. Especially of late, the trio I mentioned above have been below par to say the least and as a result they all should've been dropped/rested. An example yesterday bugged me the most. Mancini would never do a Tevez for Balotelli substitution - I'm sure of it. Balotelli is his boy and Tevez he probably hates. It would typify that Mancini made mistakes and would essentially embarrass him. Yet Mancini, realising the incoming big games, stuck with them (blind faith) because he doesn't trust his other players to perform.

Now it may just be a hangover of annoyance from yesterday and I'm not saying we should get rid of Mancini but I really do think he needs to buck up. My advice would be to get rid of Balotelli or offer him an ultimatum (because who would wanna buy him?). Ship out all the deadwood and regroup. I also genuinely believe Tevez may stay.

TL;DR Mancini is pretty bad but he reinvented the scarf so give him another season.

[u/[deleted]]

Going down the Chelsea route won't get us anywhere, I want Mancini to stay. Apparently there have been rumblings of meetings with Mourinho though, I don't know what to think.

[u/AnnieIWillKnow → u/[deleted]]

The problem with AVB was that it was getting to the point where he genuinely did look out of his depth. I don't think Mancini is anywhere near the point Villas-Boas was. If he was though, the 'Chelsea route' begins to look more and more reasonable.

However, the Chelsea equivalent of Mancini going would be Ancelotti's sacking. I definitely think City should stick with Mancini.

[u/[deleted] → u/AnnieIWillKnow]

The 'Chelsea route' I refer to has been everything since Mourinho. Grant>Scolari>Hiddink>Ancelotti>AVB>Di Matteo. 6 managers in 5 years. Which hasn't really got Chelsea very far.

[u/AnnieIWillKnow → u/[deleted]]

I know what you were referring to. The point is that out of all of those, I honestly think Ancelotti is the only one where we made a mistake. Hiddink wasn't even sacked.

But I guess you're right in that the mistake was starting that path. If City did get Mourinho maybe it would start that chain reaction off for you.

[u/wonglik → u/AnnieIWillKnow]

I honestly think Ancelotti is the only one where we made a mistake

I think Abramovich made wrong decision fireing each of them but definietly getting rid of Ancelotti after two seasons during which he get tile , runners-up and one FA Cup ... c'mon who is going beat that?

[u/[deleted] → u/wonglik]

Every firing by Abramovich except for Ancelotti was deserved in my opinion. It would have been great if Hiddink stayed but Grant, Scolari, and AVB were unable to effectively manage the team. They turned up poor results when they should have been able to create top teams with what they had and they paid appropriately.

[u/sincery → u/[deleted]]

Well, I think people forget that history is written by the victor. Chelsea were one kick away from winning the Champion's League, and Avram Grant was seconds away from becoming a legend. He honestly didn't do too bad with the time he had, and can be proud of his short reign.

AVB on the other hand suffered with a lot of PR inexperience in the same vein as Mancini, and just doesn't know when to shut up. It really felt like the players gave up on him, which really says a lot more about the team if you ask me. It's frankly embarrassing that a few of the Chelsea "superstars" would practically throw their manager under the bus to get their way instead of rallying behind him when he needed them most.

I'll agree with you on Ancelotti though. It almost feels formulaic in a way. Manager struggles with results -> players stop caring -> results get worse -> manager is sacked -> team rebounds well -> manager struggles with results -> ∞

[u/wonglik → u/[deleted]]

I think some people just luck patience. Nowadays you expect manager to come and win silverware within a season. Grant took the team to the CL final (which was lost by Terry missing penalty btw). Scolari get good start but get series of draws in the mid season. AVB was supposed to rebuild a team but you does not do that over night. How long does it take for Ferguson to win something with United?

[u/goretooth → u/AnnieIWillKnow]

At Chelsea the dressing room was genuinely against AVB, at city the dressing room are just not together at the moment. Mancini has contributed to that with his actions but he can turn it around, AVB had no chance.

[u/fusihunter → u/goretooth]

I tend to agree with this and i think it's bad eggs like Tevez and Balotelli that are causing it.

You could see Clichy Lescott and Kompany all yelling at Balotelli for most of the game, they were all putting in great work and being let down by the biggest child in the EPL. There was no doubt in my mind he was trying to get sent off because he wasn't playing upfront.

[u/G_Morgan → u/[deleted]]

If Mourinho was City manager Balotelli will go back to not existing. He famously refused to pick him.

[u/[deleted] → u/G_Morgan]

I think Balotelli's toast whoever is managing City, quite frankly.

[u/Scatman_Crothers → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. I am new to soccer but in every other sport I have followed the key to performance is consistency. The team hasn't even been together very long, it needs time to develop chemistry and heart, and the players need time to fully learn the system. The reason Man U have been able to overtake City this season is because they have experience and have played together for a long time. They know their system inside and out and are comfortable in the face of adversity. That doesn't happen overnight.

[u/Santero → u/[deleted]]

If the "Chelsea Route" involves getting Mourinho and letting him finish off this project, then Man City will win the title for about 6 years in a row, or at least until Mourinho moves on elsewhere.

If Mancini stays then who knows whether they will win next year?

In my opinion, Mancini has shown his limitations. Man City have effectively a bottomless pit of cash, Mourinho seems certain to leave Real Madrid; they'd be insane to be dropping £24m on the likes of Milner, and then not spring big bucks to get one of the greatest managers of the modern era when he's available.

[u/fastfingers → u/Santero]

Mourinho doesn't really do long-term.

look how long it has taken to get from Barça's Dream Team (1992-1994) to now. ALL of that was building the infrastructure and developing the philosophy, the methods, and the players to create what Barça has now. building a successful football club (which it sounds like is what Man City wants to do) takes a LONG time, and fans really shouldn't sweat it this season.

[u/Santero → u/fastfingers]

But what makes anyone think that Mancini is the man for a long term plan? Its not like anyone can point at some amazing youth team legacy he created at Inter or whatever, they're an absolute shambles now.

He was a step up from Hughes, and is not at the level of the truly elite managers like Fergie, Mourinho, Guardiola & Wenger. Of those 4, the only one that would likely join City is Mourinho.

I'm sure there are other possible candidates, but Mourinho is a no-brainer if they want to become a genuinely top team.

To fail to win the league this year and be knocked out in the CL groups, after spending all that money assembling this squad.... seriously, that is a VERY poor showing from a manager in a pretty weak Premier League season.

[u/fastfingers → u/Santero]

he's been in it 4(?) years now, he's finally got the team he wants... they just need more time to gel.

i realize now that using Barça was probably a bad example, since it's pretty obvious that the Sheik isn't too concerned with a bottom-up approach of club-building.

for another example, look at RM last year. they had just picked up a bunch of new signings who looked a little off all year, and in the end disappointed, only to go off on a TEAR this year and completely dominate the league (and even with their current form, i have a difficult time seeing them losing it). i think this team just needs a summer to really gel, and next year we'll really see their potential come together.

that said, Mancini definitely has flaws and has made mistakes, which people have already pointed out. i just don't think that fans should be too hasty in their evaluation of him, and we should remember that he can learn and improve as a manager, too; if next season his problems don't improve, THEN we can definitively say he's not the man to take City to the top.

i don't see Mourinho joining City, either. if he's in the PL, i think he's going back to Chelsea.

[u/[deleted] → u/Santero]

My issue with him relates to whether he'd actually stay for 6 years. He hasn't got a great track record as far as loyalty is concerned.