ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Manchester City- Dear Mr. Mancini. Can we get Elano back?

Dear Mr. Mancini. Can we get Elano back?

Posted by Wallace Poulter on 07/30/2010

Elano has left the building. In football a player never goes back once a new manager joins. To do so would be for administrators to admit a mistake. Well a mistake was made and City should seriously consider making a move of historical precedent.

This isn't just about Elano, although this squad plus Elano would be my pick to win the title next year. Instead this is about Elano, Robinho and Kaka.

City's bid for Kaka 18 months ago was ill conceived and poorly timed. Kaka and Robinho for that matter, are players that add a finishing touch to a project, not the foundation. Luiz Felipe Scolari said as much at Chelsea, if he'd had Robinho he would have won the title and I happen to agree with him.

Kaka is a poor fit at a Mourinho Real Madrid. I doubt the Brazilian will be moved this summer however I'm fairly certain that next summer will be a different story. By then this City squad will have come together as a team. It will be looking for the one great signing to take them over the top. Kaka, despite the animosity of the first attempt to sign him, can still be that signing. But it will require a happy Robinho and the return of Elano.

Far fetched? I don't think so. City have, according to reports, told Santos that Robinho must return and will not be going back on loan. The excellent World Cup shows that Robinho is still a quality world class* talent, to sell on such a player is foolish.

Instead City should swallow their pride and look to bring back Elano. Still a fan favourite Elano had a poor season in Turkey and yet as with Robinho the World Cup showed just how much quality the midfielder possesses. More importantly the World Cup also illustrated just how devastatingly good Robinho, Elano and Kaka work together.

Worst case Robinho should be loaned out to a Spanish club he should not be sold under any circumstances. Mancini despite the vast sums afforded him this summer is on thin ice. Any prediction of a top four spot this season is wishful thinking at best given the significant additions to the club. Didi Hamann was correct with his recent observations about City.

"They should have finished in the top four last season and they didn't," Hamann told the Daily Mirror. "There is every chance they will not finish there again because Liverpool will be better next season and Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton will also be up there.

"I don't see City as title contenders. They need to bring some continuity to the club and stick with the players they have got. They have got to choose them carefully and buy the right ones. But if they keep doing what they are at the moment I don't see them challenging Manchester United or Chelsea.

"They have a turnover of 10 to 15 players every season and if they keep doing this they are not going anywhere. You need consistency and continuity at a football club. I don't agree with what they are doing now

That is the best analysis I've seen all off season, although not surprising from someone with such a smart footballing brain.

So keep Robinho, keep him happy by bringing back Elano and build a team. Then next season go after Kaka. If Mancini can't handle the personalities involved then he isn't the manager that City need.

Brian Marwood and Garry Cook need to man up and admit their mistake. The club should have never have shipped out Elano. The return would give the club back the quality play of not only Robinho but quite possibly Stephen Ireland who flourished when Elano was in the team. A quality City squad, playing as a team with quality at every position all of a sudden becomes a lot more interesting to a player of Kaka's stature...

*World Class is always an interesting definition. I mean true world class not merely incredible good. Liverpool have one world class player, Torres. Gerrard who could be called world class two years ago is no longer at that level. Arsenal have two world class players, Fabregas and Van Persie. The same with Chelsea with Ashley Cole and Drogba. Lampard like Gerrard has lost something the last couple of years. Spurs have one, Modric and United have two, Rooney and Vidic. Yes Rooney had a poor world cup however he's still class. Which leaves City with two true world class players, Tevez and Robinho. No one else in the Premier League has a world class player.

Comments

Posted by tublu on 07/30/2010

wow, would you -really- take advice from hamman ? on what ? investments, spread betting, staying out of trouble with the police ? no, I think not. so why the fek would you suggest we listen to his advice on football club management. If you compare hammans managerial or playing success to mancios what ARE you going to do with the rest of the time between 9.00am and 9.01am ? STOP trying to whip up a story where there isn't one. If you're a real blue get behind the team/club/players, if you're not, fek off because you're irrelevant.

Wallace Reply Established teams win championships, not a bunch of quality players brought together. There's a reason Spurs ended up fourth last year and City didn't. And City had, in my estimation, a better group of players than Spurs.

Posted by James on 07/30/2010

Wow Wallace, what a garbage article. Try watching a few city games next season or maybe try understanding football before writing such tripe. I really wish i hadn't wasted 5 minutes of my life reading this...

Elano and Robinho both play well for Brazil because the formation suits them, they play together a few times a year and its not the premier league their playing in!! Elano was not suited to the premier league, he was disruptive and lazy - same goes for Robinho. Manchini has brought in pure quality to fill in for inadequate players we had last season. I and every other city fan am extremely excited about the new season and the future, without thinking about Elano!!!

Wallace Reply Completely disagree and the statistics back me up on this one. When Elano started for City they won 50% of the time. When he didn't play or came on as a sub that dropped to 25%. Not only is Elano suited for the Premier League but City would now be in the Champions League if he had not been sold.

Elano was "disruptive" because City, and Hughes, were playing clearly inferior players instead of him. When he had to play because of injuries and suspension City were far superior at the end of Hughes' first season in charge.

I too am really looking forward to this season but I curb my enthusiasm with the reality of many years watching the building of teams. City have a phenomenal collection of talent. I'm looking forward to it becoming a team.

Posted by jak on 07/30/2010

Robinho has a heart the size of a pea, and only puts in a shift when he feels like it. City must get rid,he will be a bad influence and try to undermine Mancini. Robinho even helped out the defence at the World Cup, something he has never done for City. He clearly does not want to play for us, so no point in keeping him, but I agree he is World Class, but only when he puts his mind to it.

Wallace Reply I think, I don't know, but I think Robinho felt isolated with the removal of Jo and Elano from the team. Elano's departure is well documented but Jo's addition to the team was mishandled from the start.

I've read that the Brazilian striker was a Thaksin decision, Jo certainly isn't a player Mark Hughes would ever like. But much more importantly Jo was the wrong skill set for the wrong team. If you watch the play of Jo when at CSKA Moscow his preferred play was a diagonal run from right to left to a ball played over the top to him. At City the focal point of the attack was via Martin Petrov down the left wing. Literally City couldn't have picked a worse striker to bring into such a system of play. Not surprisingly he struggled.

Posted by philh on 07/30/2010

Sorry pal, but you're tlaking (largely) bollocks. Yep Robinho and Elano are both very good players, but both-Robinho especially- are fatally flawed. Football is a team game and until Robinho discovers and accepts that fundamental fact, he will never achieve his potential. Work hard AND enjoy yourself should be his mantra. To be fair Elano is a different kettle of fish. He's a very good player who does indeed seem to understand the concept of 'The Team', but he has been misguided-whether by team mates or agents I dunno- If he focuses on being a team player for City, or indeed another team, he could certainly still make it, so long as he doesn't mouth off inapproriately.

However, if you asked me for the probality of all this occuring, I'd say 'less than 1%'. Sorry.

Wallace Reply Both agree and disagree on this one. Yes football is a team game and that is indeed the key. However you can incorporate the talents of a Robinho into such a team if you have the right parks. Take Hamann and Johnson. Johnson would move forward into attack, brilliantly, adding that extra attacker that over whelmed the opposition. If Hamann was not such a superb team player and defensive midfield rock it would never of worked because the back four would have been exposed. Similar were Berbatov and Keane at Spurs where Keane did all the grunt work which allowed Berbatov to ghost into positions. He too was called lazy yet the combination worked because Berbatov would score constantly.

You have to have players that fit together to make a team. Robinho can work in the correct situation, as it does for Brazil. If you ask him to play a rigid left midfield with straight defensive duties it isn't going to work... ever.

Posted by lex on 07/31/2010

Mancini will definitely be sacked if he doesn't make fourth. A cup or two MIGHT change that, but I doubt it. Since you don't think City are favorites for fourth, does that make Mancini the favorite for the sack?

Wallace Reply If the only criteria is qualifying for the Champions League then yes I have a strong suspicion that Mancini will be gone at the end of the year because given the current squads and circumstances I do not see City breaking into the top four.

I'll expand on this further in a future column but the absolute worse thing for City was Liverpool starting early in the Europa League and Hodgson winning with some of his youngsters and lesser stars. A winning mentality will make all the difference in the world.

That being said I happen to think that City will win our first silverware in years this year and given the opportunity this collection of players could turn into a fabulous team. That combination would be enough for me to keep Mancini for another year. I'm not sure that can be said for the owners.

Posted by Jack on 07/31/2010

Alan Hansen said 'you win nothing with kids'. Mainly for the reason your stating, you need an experienced side who can play together. How did that season pan out? Hamman thinks we are signing to many players, but does anybody believe we could win the league with our current squad?
Mancini may not be the man, but he has addressed out weaknesses.
Next season, if we don't win the league lol, we should keep this squad together.
But in my opinion last seasons could have played together forever and would never have won.

I did like the article and would be buzzing if it happened. CTID

Wallace Reply Hanson will go to his grave with that particular comment hanging over him but in fact as a general rule he was and is correct. What he failed to realize was that those kids had played together as a team. That ironically having more kids was actually beneficial because of that. I doubt we'll ever see such a set of circumstances combine again.

Posted by Jack on 07/31/2010

Hansen will take that to his grave, your right. But, those kids hadn't played with the established players in the side. So they were new to the team.
We made massive changes in 2009 (including January transfer window) and gain five places.

Posted by The Archivist on 07/31/2010

Well, Wallace, this latest missive from you is surely a mouthful. I agree generally about Elano - yes, he was a pain-in-the-rear, but much of that was probably due to his mishandling by Hughes. Also agree that he is exactly what we've needed, and may still continue to be, unless Silva can be successful playing inside.
Robby is another kettle of fish. He simply refused to make the effort to earn his wage packet last season, and his attitude was equally poor under Mancini. You've missed the point about his play with Brazil, as he plays well for it because he wants to, but has not approached his club responsibilities in the same manner. It is up to him to demonstrate that he is simply willing to play for MCFC, and recent comments seem to indicate that he continues to be dead-set against that. My advice would be to bring back Elano while shipping Robby out, either via transfer or loan. Mancini, Cook, Marwood, et al. are boxed in here and it is largely due to Mark Hughes.....

Wallace Reply I think Robinho went from difficult when Elano and Jo were there to impossible afterward. One school of thought is you get rid of the players who while very talented are also high maintenance. The other school of thought is that you find a manager who can handle such players. I've seen it work both ways but in the long run a talented player is usually more valuable than a talented manager.

Posted by The Archivist on 07/31/2010

I loved Didi as a player, and his general point is well-taken, but given the UEFA "Fair Play" regulations kicking into effect at the end of this season, MCFC has to finish acquiring players NOW, not at some future date. I would have thought that would be obvious, not only to Didi, but also to a football blogger of your caliber. If I'm wrong about this, please provide a counter-argument in your response. Didi probably should have left his commentary to himself, given the very ugly facts of his personal life which have surfaced in the last year. He is one messenger who simply won't be taken seriously when he gives advice of a financial nature! It's kind of like listening to Bill Bennett preaching to the public about personal morality when he was losing 400K at the casino tables on a regular basis.

Wallace Reply As I understand it the UEFA Fair Play rules require that clubs not be in debt or receive hand outs from owners but instead live within their means from gate receipts and other commercial avenues.

But that's child's play to get around. All any owner does is set up a luxury suite, charge 50 million for it for the season and pay the amount. Instant cash flow that is all within the rules.

Posted by big bad blue on 07/31/2010

Totally agree with this article. Continuity is the basic rule of football. I hate to say this but a perfect example is Moyes at Everton. They rarely make big signings and just add by a couple each year. Not 1 star player in there ranks but each year there up there with a shout for top 4. Its in the management area where continuity is needed most. Managers need time to build a team so changing them every season just wont work. Its only when you know your team inside out that you know when and how to fine tune it.
Mancini is building his team and if given continuity will only be signing a player or 2 once our squad gels.
The media are right on our backs because theres not much to write about and there making out weve signed a full football team. Weve only signed 4!
The 25 man ruling is gonna affect all big clubs with Wenger already voicing his dissatisfaction. This is where it will hurt teams the most as were gonna see some of our fans favourite players leave.
If we can hit the mark running then I can see us definatly up there, but if we start having slipups its gonna be hard.
As for Elano and Robinho I would definatly have them back.

Posted by vimal on 07/31/2010

I agree with u in bringing back elano because he is a quality player and know well abt city and city ambitions.It will be useful addition to coach if he came back here.If player r happy they will conformly give their best in the pitch,manager also known abt this.So mancini wants to bring the team 2ger to win everything this season it's tough for mancini to get this team 2ger soon,but with player like viera,toure and elano mancini experience it will be easily achieve.city have a strong squad in the world to win everything it can done only by putting this team as gel.All other team will surely be fear of facing city as u hear in past abt gibbs & scholes speech.
I think jo play well in pre season so keep him.The player like robinho,tevez,viera and young player like silva,jo,weiss,richards will definitely made this city best in the world

Posted by johnny crossan on 07/31/2010

The reason why Shaktar, City and now Galatasary couldn't wait to get rid of Elano is that he is an appalling influence on team morale. Althouogh he is a good player he actually thinks he is a galactico and behaves consistently like a spoilt child. He resents training and considers other players inferior. He is utterly disloyal to the clubs who pay him and without his friend Dunga picking him unjustifiably ahead of many far better players for the national side (and touting him around the world) he would be long forgotten by now.

Wallace Reply Who would you play ahead of Elano for Brazil?

Posted by Basterd Samurai on 07/31/2010

I want Elano back so bad it's sad, but I don't want to be thought of as a nostalgist. Still, yeah. Please, can we have Elano back?

I think Kaká is kind of a cringing thought at this point. No City fan wants to be reminded of that.

Didi Hamann's punditry was basically correct. His point was kind of obvious. Still, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise if we qualify for the Champion's League and/or win silverware.

Posted by Alphie Izzett on 07/31/2010

Wallace, your childsplay method for getting round the Fair Play rules is rubbish and will not work. thee are rules built into the Fair Play Scheme to prevent 'non-commercial' scams like this.
City are buying in quality now and paying hard cash for it, not buying on deals where the cost is spread through the contract. This will mean that the players costs can be written off immediately BEFORE the rules come into force rather than amortised over the life of the contract which produces an annual write off on the P&L.
The club will also have to accelerate the development of asociated income streams from the wider Eastlands project but things like debentures and fwd contracts could help this.

Wallace Reply You may be right. The relevant section of the Fair play rules, page 73 for those of you who want to look it up on the UEFA site, talks about such issues but what is fair value seems open to interpretation.

Posted by faisal on 07/31/2010

now stop this elano thing again,he is not goin to comeback and buying him means we are still lookin behind.loook for other options,dont tell me theres no one like elano.i think we must ozil rather then millner.he is young and tallented.

Posted by Neil on 07/31/2010

FIFA rules prevent side-stepping the restrictions by the paying of £50 million for a suite because it would clearly not represent its fair value. There may be ways around the rules but your suggestion is not one of them.

Interestingly, debt is not a problem either as long as the club can service that debt within their revenue stream.

City need to increase substanially its international profile to increase revenue. The buying of players is therefore beneficial in two aspects - it increeases the chance of immediate success and secondly everyone now knows about City. A slow build, while more financially prudent, would fail in both regards.

Wallace Reply It's UEFA rather than FIFA but your point is taken. That being said I haven't seen anything in the regulations about who gets to determine "fair value" as it relates to revenue streams. Would, for example, a Manchester City broadcast channel made available around the world be judged in contravention of the rules if in certain countries the broadcast rights were bought for large sums?

Posted by Nik0teen on 07/31/2010

Utter Crap!!
Hamman is also quoted as saying "big names don't win you games or win you titles." (A quote taken from your pages). In your article you yourself say nited, Arsenal Chelsea (and the spuds) are the only teams with world class players. So it's just a coincidence the teams with these "world class players" have dominated the premier league for the last god knows how many years. What have Liverpool done in the close season for Hamman to think there going to be any better this time round. Don't take anything said by this ex Liverpool has-been as anything other than jealousy towards a club that is going places

Wallace Reply Liverpool finished artificially low last season because they had, in my opinion, a very poor manager. The sale of Alonso destabilized the team on the eve of the season and injuries to crucial players exasperated this. This is still in large part the same squad that should have won the Premier League two seasons ago if not for the tinkering of The Clueless One.

If you add in Joe Cole, a fit Aquilani, a smarter formation and defensive tactics, a useful looking Milan Jovanovic and an up and coming Danny Wilson that combined with getting rid of The Clueless One is a huge upgrade for Liverpool.

Posted by Cody on 07/31/2010

elano was great. hughes was miserable. end of story.
robinho was great. hughes was miserable. end of story. i remember back in 08-09 watching the games and thinking to myself, "where's elano?" He was clearly our best player from the season before and nothing had changed in our performances that year. If you look at that same season, you will also find something interesting, perhaps the fact that robinho played as a forward, not a left midfielder. one reason he hated being at madrid because he felt he was a forward and not a left winger. hughes put him right back there and boom his performances suffered. i think shay givens also right to point out that robbie was injured for much of the first half of last season and should be given another chance. his away form is the only thing that strikes me as poor. but even then we have such a deep squad we could account for that, or perhaps even build up his confidence in away fixtures. bring robbie back, play him alongside tevez and ade

Posted by It's Grim Oop North on 07/31/2010

Interesting theorising, but you obviously don't follow the fortunes of MCFC as avidly as many of the poster on here, otherwise you would recognise that the Premiership has vastly different challenges from international football, especially played in more clement climes.
In brief, what I'm saying is the three Brazilians couldn't hack the weather, the speed and physicality of the English game for a full season.
Elano and Robbi both succumbed to the whack 'em in the first five minutes defenders and midfielders, choosing to sulk and wimp out of challenges for the rest of the match, occasionally shining when left alone by the better teams more concerned in playing footy on the ground, like the Arse.
Shame it worked out this way, and that we signed three soft Brazilians, instead of the tough ones available like Maicon, Danni Alves etc.
I would bet my house that if you asked all three of them if they wanted to play in the EPL again, they would rather eat their own boots first.

Wallace Reply Elano's record when starting for City would seem to counter this argument. Certainly Brazilians have struggled in the Premier League but Elano wasn't one of them. When he played City were demonstrably better.

Posted by johnny crossan on 07/31/2010

Following his injury in the WC he was replaced by Ramires and Danni Alves - both superior players who should have been picked ahead of him anyway. Julio Baptiste played in one game and I think Elano would have played on merit instead of him. In the latest squad he has been replaced by the likes of Ganso or Leiva alongside Alves, Ramires & Leiva both younger and better.

I don't think you realise just how disruptive Elano is. At City he led a clique of Brazilians - Jo, Robinho and Berti - who showed nothing but contempt for their manager, their fellow professionals and the club. When he left the situation improved markedly. Sven was warned by several people before he signed him and afterwards admitted its was a gamble that didn't come off.

Posted by Alphie Izzett on 07/31/2010

The "Value" issue on commercial contracts under the fair play rules will be adjudicated by a Uefa appointed hatchetman, the proposed person being a marginally failed EC finance minister from one of the G12, can't recall whether it's Luxembourg or San Marino :-)

Anyway, one of Splatini's bum buddies, no doubt.

The most 'likely to be succesful' commercial answer to the problem is to pay off the bent shower of wasters at Eufa.

Wallace Reply Not sure whether you are joking or serious on that one - which is in of itself a wonderful indictment of European politics! I'll admit I got glassy eyed trying to read through all of the regulations so if such an appointment, or similar is in there, then I missed it.

Posted by Mick Travis on 07/31/2010

As someone else said, Elano's track record as a troublemaker is well documented.
Even discounting that, the role model for the midfielder we need to complete the team for 2101-11 is not Elano but Fabregas - with an equally good eye for a killer pass, a fine taker of free kicks and penalties but with more energy and much more guts.
Find someone in this mould - hard, I know - and the last bolt is in place. We then have a team that would be able to 'compete for' (words chosen carefully) the Premiership title against an ageing Chelski, a not-quite-settled Arsenal and a United playing largely from memory. I don't think Liverpool will be as resurgent as you seem to think under Hods.
Robinho would be great at performing entertaining cameos when we were already 3-0 up but all the evidence is he does not have the stomach for a fight. Before we shipped him to Santos it was noticeable that he was playing much deeper and the dangerous runs into the edge of the box were getting fewer and fewer.

Wallace Reply Pretty reasonable assessment. I'm of the opinion that Chelsea are ripe for a fall this year.

I think Robinho's deeper play was a direct result of Mancini's tactics, Robinho alluded to this in an interview in, I think, a Brazilian newspaper some months ago.

Wish we could find a young Ali Benarbia. Talk about a killer pass...

Posted by Nik0teen on 07/31/2010

Teams don't finish in artificial places!!!!
Liverpool finished where they deserve to finish. End of!
If City had won a couple of games more when we had that run of draws (games we should have won) then we'd be in the Champions League. We didn't and we finished in 5th. Where we deserved to finish, there is nothing artificial about either situation.
Didn't the "clueless one" win them a cup a while back? Maybe he knows more than you give him credit for. Or was that just an accident or maybe just won by a world class player!! The type Hamman reckons don't win you anything.

Wallace Reply Liverpool should have won a second Champions League under The Clueless One. AC Milan had a back four that was close to pensionable age yet Bellamy didn't start. One of the worst selection decisions, if not the worst, in the history of major finals.

Posted by It's Grim Oop North on 07/31/2010

With regards to the stats showing Elano to be effective in securing victories in City's games when he appears, this does not take into account all the other variables, especially taking into account the effect he had on the team's morale, how well he trained, how disruptive he was around the club, how he undermined the manager etc.
City's season under Sven fell apart after Xmas when the rest of the Prem worked Elano out - again, give him a whack in the first five minutes and he goes missing the rest of the game. That's why he ended up coming on as a sub towards the end of the season.
The stats do not paint the true picture of Elano's human impact on the club, and the timeline of his demise, I for one hope to never see his feckless face at Eastlands ever again.

Wallace Reply We may have to agree to disagree on this one Jim. Elano was injured in (and this is from memory) a November Brazil game and was not fully fit for the rest of the season. That to me had more to do with the downward spiral of Sven's season.

Posted by Duke on 07/31/2010

Stability and consistency are the key, As my father has always said; A star team will always do better than a team of stars. Mancini's job is to make these stars play well as a team. that’s what he is paid to do.

Wallace Reply Yes. Which is why City will struggle I suspect more than most think. And yes, I'd love to be proved wrong.

Posted by Gratian on 07/31/2010

We need something to add a finishing touch to first. At the moment we have a great looking squad but we don't know what lies in store this season. Only next summer will we know if an Elano or Kaka would be a real finishing touch.

Elano was a lazy trouble maker no matter what the stats say. He was at Shakhtar and he is now in Turkey. We don't need Brazilians, we need Argentinians as they have a much better work ethic to match the talent.

Wallace Reply The contrast between the two nations and their relative success in the Premier League is quite striking.

Posted by Rob on 07/31/2010

Any City fan who saw Elano play V Notts Forest in the Fa Cup two seasons ago know he isn't welcome back he sulked he spat the dummy was average in most games he played...then when he realised his future was on the line he loved the club started playing well. Thankfully the club saw straight through it and sent him packing

Wallace Reply I'm not sure any City player played well in that contest... I know statistics can be made to say just about anything but I still return to the fact that City won 50% of the games that Elano started and were just terrible when he didn't.

Posted by It's Grim Oop North on 07/31/2010

Wallace,
I think after a bit of pondering you're hoping City will sign a proper Berkowicz / Benarbia type playmaker, the sort of player who can make defence splitting passes, retain possession for fun and generally make the oppo look like leaden-footed buffoons?
Me too!
Elano isn't that guy, not sure who is outside of Barca, lets hope one of our squad steps up to the plate, or Bobbymanc signs someone of that ilk, if he does, we'll win everything in sight!

Wallace Reply yes that's exactly the type of player I'd like to see.

Posted by Zorrin on 07/31/2010

Agreed.

Elano brings out the best in Robinho and Ireland. Robinho was our top scorer with Elano in the side. Also, I will never forget Elano's free kick goal against Newcastle - an all-time great moment.

You would think, given Elano's pivitol role in the Brazil team, that Barcelona etc would be trying to sign him. They're not.I think his difficult reputation precedes him.

Unfortunately, you can never go back, especially with our 25 man squad limit. The pink panther obviously has other ideas for our team formation than Sven or Hughes. He deserves a chance, having made only one cash buy in the christmas window - the bargain Adam Johnson.

For City fans, the transfer window is now a thing of wonder, rather than dread.

Wallace Reply The Pink Panther... nice! I like that.

Posted by Mick Travis on 07/31/2010

A 'young Ali B' is definitely what we need. Trouble is, they don't grow on trees. I'm still of the opinion that Cook and Marwood should trot off to Spain and come back with Kun Aguero and hang the expense. I'd rather pay over the odds for Kun than be held to ransom for the very ordinary James Milner.
Yes, Elano's free kick v The Barcodes was a joy to behold but if you picked a player on account of him soring a wondergoal from a dfc Garrido would not be on the plane to Rome.

Wallace Reply I'd love for City sign Aguero... quality player.

Posted by pj demers on 07/31/2010

I think the point that both Wallace and Didi Hamman are correctly stating is that you have to build a house from the foundation up, something that is made difficult by constantly bringing in new players each season while discarding others. Its hard to establish a solid foundation if you don't let the cement dry. It takes time for new players to gel to new surroundings and styles of play, regardless of being "world class".

One thing that might prove beneficial would be for both the board and fans to stop putting a clock on City achieving success. Patience seems to be a rare commodity at City at the moment, which is a pity as I for one would like to see sustained success which is usually achieved by patience and perservence and i'd like to see City actually give a manager more than a year to keep the club evolving.

That said the spine of the team looks solid. An Elano style player with an eye for the pass would certainly add to that, something that has been sorely lacking.

Wallace Reply Exactly

Posted by AK on 08/02/2010

As a die hard City fan I'm cringing at the continuous signings and rumours flying about. Too MUCH! We need a team, not more quality players. Hamann was right: we BARELY missed 4th place last year, all we needed is 1 extra win. Had we kept the bulk of that team to grow together and added a FEW choice quality players (David Silva, Yaya Toure and Boateng were quality signings) that would've been more than enough to grow.
I'm not overly confident we'll finish in Top 4 unless this team gels really quickly and everyone believes in Mancini as a coach. I hope so, and hope we don't get a Hamann comment sometime next May saying "I Told you So...".
As for Elano, disruptive or not, he showed pure class this world cup and without 1 other brazilian on our team, Robinho will amount to nothing. And we need him to be Santos/Brazil Robinho.

Wallace Reply I have a similar concern about the top four I'm afraid. That City have quality players is undeniable and to me the club is one world class central defender away from putting together something special. But then it has to be allowed to grow, lumps and all...

Posted by Jesse on 08/03/2010

ONE MORE TIME, if Elano is so great, than why are the ZERO established European clubs after him? ZERO, NIL, NONE... not even Spurs, not even Athletico Madrid, not even Lazio, PSV, or Werder Bremen... NONE!!! Surely not every manager is blind to the talents you see?! Or could it be that everyone has figured out what I and other City fans know -- he is a liability in the locker room, and drifts out of physical matches.

You keep bringing up stats showing that City are better with him than without him. Well then surely he must have set the table for numerous goals by Tevez, Adebayor, AJ... oh wait, the team is completely different now from the team he left. Besides, we aren't playing with a central playmaker this year anyway... 4-4-2 with a right wing, Silva on the left, Tevez with Ade/Super Mario/ Dzzeko up front, Yaya and NDJ in the middle of the park.

Wallace Reply I would be surprised to see a 4-4-2 as the standard formation.

You can't win in the Premier League without someone, or two, to open up the negative defensive formations of the clubs struggling against relegation. Hughes got rid of the only decent passer that City had and didn't replace him which led directly to the string of draws where the club couldn't break down relegation candidate defenses. and ultimately cost Hughes his job.

Posted by Martin on 08/04/2010

I disagree that Elano was the one who broke down the defenses of relegation strugglers. If you look at our record against teams in the bottom half in 2008-9, there is not much of a difference whether Elano is in or out of the lineup. With Elano, we were 7-1-4, without we were 4-2-2. The points per game were almost identical, 1.83 with Elano to 1.75 without.

What really made the difference was not whether Elano played, but whether we were at home or on the road. At home, we won all 10 games against the bottom half teams. On the road, we were a terrible 1-3-6 (and that one win came without Elano).

That said, I do think Elano was a good player for us. Our shots on goal increased a lot when he was in the lineup, our possession was higher, and our goal differential improved. However, the evidence suggests that the one area he was not helping was in breaking down defenses with eleven men behind the ball.

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