ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Manchester City- 2009-2010 Some Final Thoughts: Part Two

2009-2010 Some Final Thoughts: Part Two

Posted by Wallace Poulter on 07/20/2010

Following yesterday's Part one here's the follow up of the final thoughts from last season. My old Gran, bless her soul, used to use the phrase "your eyes are bigger than your stomach." I think a similar sentiment could be applied to City when the club thought 4th was in the offing. 6th the Chairman said and I thought 5th with players still learning to play as a team was a commendable job. The utter destruction of eventual champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge shows just how good this team can be. However you are a team when you add no more than a couple of players in a summer transfer window. Until then it's a collection of talented individuals. Onward with part two of my end of season thoughts.

6. Alex Ferguson may well have had his best managerial season last year. Yeah I know, kills me to say and praise Old Purple Nose, but look at it objectively. United lose Ronaldo who was clearly the best player in the world regardless of his antics and Tevez, while Hargreaves fails to make it back and United remain in the hunt until the very end of the season. If you matched up individual for individual I'd take more City, or Spurs players for that matter over United players (6-5 in each case) yet United played better over the course of the year. Lesson in continuity there for those who bother to look.

7. An England team with David Beckham remains infinitely more interesting than one without. I know Beckham has his detractors however I'm not one of them. For all his off the field interests has their ever been a hint that he didn't give 100% on the field at all times? And Beckham remains the only English player with any kind of dead ball competency. Moreover his passing is still of the highest quality and it was no surprise that Capello tried to recruit Paul Scholes at the last minute for the England squad. England needs a player who can make a 60-yard pass on occasion.

8. Roberto Mancini is a very good manager; Mark Hughes is merely good. I've nothing personal against Hughes and in fact thought he would be a great fit for Fulham. Mancini on the other hand shows a tactical acumen that leads me to believe that City will break their Silverware drought this season. I think the League will be very interesting and will discuss more in my pre season over view. The signing of Silva, Boateng and Small Berries is going to allow Mancini to play his Diamond formation and if the rumoured acquisition of Lazio full back Kolarov goes through then both full backs will be able to support the midfield. The first 30 minutes against Bolton this season was by far the most interesting tactically and showed how good City can be.

9. Spurs are not going anywhere and have a great team. Team is the critical word in this case and Redknapp has molded this group together very well. I happen to think that it would be a mistake for 'Arry to get rid of any of his four strikers but we'll see what the transfer deadline brings. There was a time when I hoped Mark Hughes would try and snap up Gareth Bale but I doubt Spurs would let him go for any amount of money these days.

10. Robinho is a great player, but I doubt we'll ever see it at City. To watch the play of Robinho and Elano at the World Cup was bordering on painful. Such incredible ability but Robinho gave a very telling interview in Brazil where he complained that managers in England require you to play a position with specific responsibilities. Robinho is the type of player that has to roam to be effective; we saw that at the world cup with Robinho and Kaka switching back and forth. Right now I'd say it is 50/50 that Roberto Mancini remains the boss at the end of 2010-2011. Maybe City will find a manager to get the best out of Robinho. Selling the player would be a mistake, see Elano, and instead City should look to find another loan situation.

Comments

Posted by lex on 07/20/2010

Mark Hughes was given no time at all by Sheikh Mansour. When Hughes was sacked, City had 29 points with two winnable games remaining until the half-way point. Hughes probably would have won those games, and then City would have taken 35 points from 19 games, right on target for the magical 70.

In his three full seasons at Blackburn, Hughes led them to 6th, 10th and 7th, while reaching the Carling Cup semi-final once, and the FA cup twice. Could Mancini take charge of a club like Blackburn and do better?

At City, it was the very frustrating run of 7 draws which cost him. But of those 7 draws, I think only 3 were bad results. Following the draws, City thumped Arsenal and then got in Chelsea's faces to recover from a goal down. The 3-nil loss to Spurs was always going to happen; every team has one or two of those. Were City shaky defensively? Yes. But I really think Hughes would have snapped them out of it. I think he could have given us a good season, and that's nothing against Mancini

Wallace Reply Hughes first season started in September. Yes not a full season but almost one and Blackburn finished 15th. This first season "hiccup" was repeated at City, Hughes appears to be a manager that needs certain players to function. And your stats actually back up my point. Hughes is good, edge of top 6, occasional semi final good. That's the problem, there's no evidence that Hughes has the ability to take a club to the next level and actually win something. Mancini won with "lesser" clubs in Italy before moving to Inter. I truly wish Hughes well and felt his dismissal was very poorly handled. Would he have finished 5th with City? I don't think so but 6th was a distinct possibility. But I never had a sense that Hughes was capable of doing anything more than building a foundation.

Posted by Greenjob on 07/20/2010

The opening months of the coming season will tell us all just good (or bad) Mancini is tactically. He is building a squad of quality players make no mistake and once he has rid the team of the negativity then players will have no option but to buckle down and get the job done. The good Sheik Mansour is building a dynesty at Eastlands and I believe that he has total faith in Roberto Mancini. As a life-long City fan, so do I. My one gripe here is that we still have not found the one player that unlocks stubborn defences ala Georgi Kinkladze, Ali Bernabia type. David Silva goes some way toward that kind of player but hey, we shall see. Superbia In Proelia

Wallace Reply Indeed I said it last year and it is still relevant today. Who will pass the ball?

Posted by lex on 07/20/2010

Hi Wallace, thanks for the reply. I think you're quite right that Hughes needs certain players to function.

"But I never had a sense that Hughes was capable of doing anything more than building a foundation."

This is the point we disagree on. I think "edge of top 6, occasional semi-final" in the Premier League is actually quite good, especially at a club like Blackburn. But this brings up an interesting question:

Besides Redknapp and the Big Four managers, is there any manager in the premier league that has won something? I don't think so. In that case, would you deny someone like David Moyes the chance to manage at the top? I suppose you could say he finished 4th, but he won't do that again, and I think he will only be Mark Hughes good going forward. He won't win anything as long as he stays at Everton, but in my mind he's worked wonders with them, and deserves his shot.

I agree that Mancini is a better manager than Hughes. I just think Hughes would have benefited from longevity.

Wallace Reply Interesting you bring up Moyes, he seems a good manager and for the longest time I thought he would succeed Ferguson at United but there is a section of Everton fans who are incredibly anti-Moyes and hate his tactics. I was quite surprised. I'm more than happy for Hughes to prove me wrong at another club, potential is in the eye of the beholder. I still rate David O'Leary for example and apparently am the only one on the planet! lol

Posted by fred daka kamwada on 07/20/2010

well guys , i sometimes agree with you Wallace but you seem to be obsessed with the CV of the manager form the previous works.

there is always the first time for everything. mark Hughes could have made it if he had been allowed some time at east lands-lets agree on that.

manicini is now buying everyone without focusing on the particular needs of the club.
city need a player like yossi benyaoun more than they would need drogba or Baloteli
CITY IS SUFFERING BECUASE THEY DONT KNOW THEIR PRIORITIES. PERIOD

ITS FRED KAMWADA FROM UGANDA

Posted by Daniel on 07/20/2010

Could Silva be that passer (supplemented with Yaya Toure?) They both seem to have good ball skills. I'm also hopeful that Adam Johnson continues to develop his passing skills as well.

Wallace Reply Johnson at the top of the diamond worked really well before the first goal was scored against Bolton. A repeat of the performance on a regular basis would be excellent.

I don't know about Silva. Buying from Spain worries me as Spaniards have generally not been thick on the ground in the Premier League (Torres' brilliance notwithstanding)

Small Berries is a defensive midfielder first and foremost with the occasional cavalier charge forward.

Posted by Daniel on 07/20/2010

Okay, I see where you're coming from. Do you think that City might still go after Milner? It just seems the asking price is astronomical.

And thanks for responding!

Wallace Reply It's all a matter of formation. Mancini has played different formations since he joined the club. There's a place for Milner and I rate him very highly but City are in danger of having too many really good players. I know that sounds strange but you build teams not accumulate players. You need a mix of "obvious" first team players, quality role players who can play multiple positions, a couple of talented youngsters, sprinkle an aging veteran or two and let them play together for a couple of years adding a player or two max to the mix each year. Who does that sound like? Yeah I know, blasted Rags. But it's true, that's the way you win. If you asked 20 City fans to name the starting line up you'd get 20 very different teams. This time last year I didn't have Bellamy penciled in as a starter that would dominate.

Posted by Zeke on 07/20/2010

I think that small berries will grow and develop at Manchester city. Adam Johnson, i just gotta say that Johnson will become a star in the premier league if he decides to stay for long.

Silva is a tough player to break down, because comparing the premier league and la Liga, it just shows that Silva has a different kind of style playing football.

Posted by Justin on 07/20/2010

I know most of this "review" has turned into a "window" discussion. But what of Milner? At times he appears to be a DM similar to de Jong (harsh tackles with never say die attitude), but he also seemed to be developing into the playmaker at Villa. My biggest worry is the the departure of Ireland and Bellamy that seems inevitable. Ireland for what he can be, and Bellamy....I just don't want to play against him!

Wallace Reply Ireland was one of the top five players in the entire Premier League two seasons ago. Bellamy was the best player in the Premier League the first couple of months of last season. Robinho and Elano were stars at the World Cup. One has gone, one is on loan and two are on their way out and that is a bad trend regardless of the money the club has.

Posted by James McPherson on 07/20/2010

Interesting - and probably correct - point about Sir Alex and perhaps his finest season as manager. That ManU's talent base has "eroded" seems pretty unquestioned, but it leads to a more provocative question: Can ManU continue to outperform the quality of their personnel solely because of Old Rednose's managerial skill? That he doesn't tolerate losing is well proven. Can you foresee a day where he steps aside, knowing that his tactical and personality-managing acumen has led him to an overinflated opinion of himself and what ManU can do?

Wallace Reply While you can argue that City and Spurs have better starting first teams and Liverpool certainly did two years ago, United have the better squad and a manager who uses it wisely. Darren Fletcher is a great example of a role player who has matured into a quality player. So out performing the quality of the personnel is a hard one to quantify because to a certain extent United are better because they have those levels of players. Only once in recent memory did Ferguson make the mistake of having too much quality challenging for the same first team spot and you saw what happened with Tevez. He wasn't happy because he knew he should be playing. There are distinct pecking orders to each position at United.

There are a couple of good youngsters at United as well, Diouf in particular caught my eye in the recent game against Celtic with his willingness to search out Berbatov.

No this isn't a United blog, but it is wise to understand the strengths and weaknesses of City's primary opponent.

Ferguson will walk away, I'm pretty sure in 3 to 4 years and unless something very strange occurs Mourinho will replace him.

Posted by Cody on 07/20/2010

I love mancini, i think he's making the right buys and I agree completely with you about the bolton game. Hughes usually stuck with gameplans especially when they weren't working, but mancini switched things around instantly in that game when things weren't working and it produced better play and goals. I have seen some negative tactics from mancini as well, but I think that is actually a result from our lack of a playmaker midfielder (our midfield was too defensive, we had 0 options through the middle) so i'm excited to add silva just for that spark in the middle (he may end up on the wing but I think that will only happen if we sign milner). I think Boateng is an excellent signing (i would love to see more micah but boateng is great) and kolarov is a perfect signing for our team (provided it does actually get done). I also think everbody needs to stop hating on adebayor. 14 goals in 28 games amidst the terrorist attack. im sick of people calling him a lazy african in it for money

Wallace Reply Adebayor is a confidence player. When he is playing with confidence and happy he is phenomenal and it feeds upon itself. At that moment Adebayor is World Class. The opposite is true where once he has a negative experience, such as the response to his Arsenal scoring celebration, then it becomes a downward spiral and it is difficult to justify his place in the side. Probably the hardest player to manage that City have.

Posted by DanCTID on 07/22/2010

I'm going to have to disagree about Bellamy and Ireland leaving. first Bellamy, was a stupendous player for us this past season, and he completely deserved the player of the year award from the club, but at the same time, i cant help but remember his volatile nature, and given that he has already allegedly had a bust up with Mancini, it may be a wise choice to let him go before he further disrupts the dressing room. also, he is only getting older, and given his past injury problems and suspect knee, i can only see one, MABYE two good seasons out of him, especially in the physical EPL.
Ireland is a bit tougher call. he may have been great two years ago but football is based on what you can do now, not what you did two years ago. also, his head hasn't seemed to be right since that season as well. i don't even rate him that high of a performer under Hughes, and he will only have more trouble getting into the 1st team now. we should just cut our losses on him, we can make at least 10mil

Wallace Reply My worry is that Ireland will go to Liverpool where playing the right side of midfield would be a good spot and allow Kuyt to move forward.

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