Is Mancini the right man for City?

Right so lets dust these cobwebs off, following reports today that Mancini is not wanted at the club by his own players, is he the man for the job?
Now I have to admit I have a few problems with Mancini myself, so I wouldn't be surprised if the players have as well.
For me it started right at the beginning of the season, getting rid of Craig Bellamy was one of the most ridiculous decisions I have seen. He is one of our best players and for good reason, we all know what he is capable of and letting such a sought after player leave, I thought made us look arrogant. I'm not sure how Mancini justified spending so much money on new players whilst at the same time getting rid of one of the Premier Leagues most consistent players, but obviously he did. Oh and before anyone mentions the supposed rift between the two being the catalyst behind Bellamy's move, I am not taking that as a valid reason. Grown men should be able to sit down, talk it out and push it to one side. I honestly think once Mancini does not like someone then that's it and I don't like that attitude when it could cost us on the pitch.
The second player I wasn't impressed with being allowed to leave on loan is Nedum Onuoha, now while he isn't as influential as Bellamy, he is a player that I believe should be in our squad. When Nedum was allowed to leave I was quite surprised, you could see us being short in defence if we were to have an injury crisis, or you could also consider that the new defenders may not have adjusted to the Premier League. Well, the injury concern that I had has been proven correct because Mancini has had to play Dedryck Boyata. I am a massive Boyata fan so don't think I am criticising him, it's just that I don't think he is ready for starting Premier League games just yet. Mancini would certainly have been better off keeping Nedum in my opinion.
So two players have been allowed to leave that I think should have stayed but those disappointments ended up being really minor to me after seeing the way Mancini is setting the team up. One up front! That has really been annoying me, at times it has worked because Tevez is pulling it off but why should he have to keep putting in the work of two strikers considering the kind of quality that City have in the squad. It is really disappointing to see Tevez dropping off into midfield to collect the ball because he hasn't got a second striker to link up with, as well as that in the long run it will take its toll on Carlos and he will end up burnt out. Mancini needs to follow through on his comment about preferring two up top and do it a lot more often.

It isn't just the one up top thing that I have a problem with as far as the tactics are concerned, the midfield area is a sore point for me as is playing people out of position. At times we have Milner, De Jong, Barry and Toure on the same pitch, why? The latter three like to sit in the middle and are far too similar to have on the pitch at the same time, then you have Milner who goes forward but likes to get in the thick of the action in the middle of the park as well. It packs the midfield out far too much and if Mancini had the guts it would be Yaya Toure that would be long gone for me because he has been awful.

Leading on from that, Milner who I mentioned likes to go forward, really does just not on the left hand side by the looks of things. It is obvious he is far more comfortable on the right why can Mancini not see that, just like he can't see that Boateng has to keep coming on to his right foot whilst playing at left back.

There are other things I could mention but I won't otherwise I will be typing for a while, all I know is the problems we have when isolated are all quite minor in the grand scheme of things but collectively they are spoiling our performances and that includes when we win games.

I would probably not care to much if Mancini left City apart from the fact it would mean yet another managerial change. I do also have a little bit of faith in Roberto coming through and being a good manager but I stress only a little at this moment in time. I think we should give him his chance to get people back from injury so that he has a full team to choose from and if he still isn't doing the business when that happens, maybe then it should be time to worry about what should happen to him.

Is Mancini the right man in your opinion?

P.S. I'm sorry for blurting that out, I have been frustrated with City lately as well as itching to get my first post since returning out of the way.

Frustration is mounting!

The way the team are performing at the minute is really annoying City fans, we are used to City teams that attack and that is just not what Mancini is setting out to do at the moment.

Apart from the first couple of games under Mancini City fans have been angry to see our style of play, we are very flat and not exciting to watch or more simply we are an Italian team playing in the Premier League.

We want attacking football at City because that is what we are used to, you could argue that watching slightly boring football that is effective is not so bad except it isn't effective!

I could not believe it when I saw that we were only starting with one striker yesterday, we shouldn't be playing a lone front man at home against any team particularly one that isn't top notch opposition. Adebayor was receiving the ball but then had nobody there to pass to, it was a pathetic decision by Mancini.

When Mancini first came I was very pleased with his tactical decisions because he was doing things that we used to want Hughes to do, Mancini seems to have taken some backward steps since arriving though. When he did change it yesterday he didn't even have any options on the bench that would positively affect the game apart from Santa Cruz who played well after coming on, it left me asking why he has allowed the likes of Weiss, Benjani and even Donal McDermott to go out on loan.

He seems scared to play a proper formation and line up, why not use your strengths to good effect? We have two good English wingers now who know that in the Prem they will have to work back, then play just two defensive midfielders and I am sure that we would have enough to help out defensively. Instead Mancini wants to only think about not conceding before the plans how to score a goal come in to his thoughts, why I do not know!

You can take these problems right back to why Hughes was sacked, we certainly didn't play like this under him that's for sure. Hughes would never have been so negative and these performances of late cement the fact that he should not have been sacked.

Will the owners see fit for Mancini to be sacked after some dodgy performances, who knows.

I dub him MANC - CINI!!!!

So Roberto Mancini is our new manager, he has a good pedigree as a manger and was also a very accomplished player.

As a player Mancini has played for Bologna, Sampdoria, Lazio and the most glamorous of all Leicester City.

As a manager he has took charge of Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter Milan.

He won the Coppa Italia in his first and only season in charge of Fiorentina, he then moved to Lazio where he stayed for two years winning one more Coppa Italia. His best period as a manager was at Inter Milan, in four years he won three Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia's. He has also won plenty of top honours as a player which gives us a huge indication that he is a winner.

Although he wouldn't have been my choice I am not disappointed with Mancini's appointment, up until Inter saw fit to replace him with Mourinho he had a growing reputation as one of the best managers in Europe. Although he has only managed for seven years he has an average of one trophy per season, on top of that his reputation may mean he has more pull when it comes to signing players.

Hopefully another good thing about him is that Italians are renowned for defending and the way our defence is playing at the moment we could sure do with his expertise helping us out in that area of the pitch.

We will just have to wait and see what he does now and fingers crossed he will turn out to be a good appointment.

This is not the first of the Mancini family to be associated with City, His son Filippo was at the club on loan in 2008, he didn't stick around for long lets hope that his Father can do a little better.

What do you think? Is Mancini a good or bad choice?

City confirm change in manager!

It has now been confirmed by City that Mark Hughes has been sacked, he will be replaced by Roberto Mancini who will be joined by Brian Kidd as his assistant.

The statement from our Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on our website reads.............

“Prior to the current season beginning, with significant investment in players and infrastructure in place, the consensus between the Board and coaching staff was that appropriate agreed targets should be set for the 2009/2010 season.

“The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer as a result of very favourable conditions for any buying club. It was also based on the fact that the infrastructure of the club had been overhauled completely at great cost in order to create the best possible environment for the team.

“A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set. Sheikh Mansour and the Board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change. This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career.”

“Roberto is a hugely experienced manager with a proven track record of winning trophies and championships. His experience and track record speak for themselves. What is absolutely clear is that Roberto believes in Manchester City’s potential to achieve at the highest level and importantly in his own ability to make this happen. My hope is that our incredible fans will join us in welcoming Roberto to the football club.”

I am not very happy about this if I am honest, what do you think?

More reaction to come when I have got my head around it!