I know that this is a bit of a bold statement to make about a man who has kept his side at the summit of the Premier league table practically since it kicked off back in August. But watching City huff and puff against Liverpool in the League Cup semi final poking at them with the imagination and creative spark of a spineless hedgehog it was plainly obvious that Mancini, the manager, has nothing up sleeve. It is fast coming to light that he is no tactical magician to compete with the likes of Guardiola or Mourinho and there is no doubt that the miserable git is no motivational speaker like Sir Alex Ferguson. The Liverpool match was not the only game in recent weeks where City have been found wanting. A 0-0 draw with West Brom and defeats to Sunderland and Chelsea all followed a similar pattern. City kept the ball well without creating too much before relying heavily on knocking the ball to Aguero in the hope that he can conjure something special. But if their league form has been dismal of late then their Champions League campaign was a total disaster and one that simply underlines my point, Mancini is not a great manager.
Yes Mancini’s side look fantastic on occasions but when you have spent 1 billion or whatever it is on top notch players you would expect them to click and be able to perform, but it is when things are not quite going to plan that you need your manager to work his magic and it is here that Mancini falls short as he seems to be very limited when it comes to making quick, sharp tactical decisions. Chelsea had a similar problem when Roman Abramovich took over the club. They had Italian tinker man Claudio Ranieri at the helm and the Russian billionaire gave him all of the money he needed to bring success to Stamford Bridge. But it was soon clear that Ranieri lacked what was needed to make the team gel and Abramovich wielded the now infamous axe and brought in Jose Mourinho instead and we all know what happened next.
Roberto’s man management skills also have to be called in to question. A number of stars including Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebyour and Carlos Tevez have left questioning his methods, his personality and his attitude.
Now all you City fans out there can sit up on your high horses and start singing “Who is top of the league,” at me, and yes I agree with you that City will probably win the Premiership this season, but lets take a look at the other contenders. Manchester Utd’s squad is paper thin, Chelsea have become distinctly average, Arsenal are re-building and although Liverpool have the best defence in the league goals are proving harder to come by than a sober Irishman for the Merseyside club especially with the 35 million flop Andy Carroll leading the line. In fact City’s main challengers might end up being Tottenham Hotspur, but again only if they can stay clear of injuries.
City are a good team no doubt about it but I feel that last season’s FA Cup win only papered over the fact that Roberto Mancini is not the man to lead them to greatness. If City’s super rich board really do want to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid then the tough decision to sack the Italian will have to be made and sooner rather than later.
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Manchester City Needs To Sack Italian Manager Roberto Mancini
