Most city fans will know I'm a big fan of the maverick italian's football ability.Maybe in some cases I'm overly protective but in most instances I do try to back up my reasoning.
Over the weekend on premier league review a panel of Craig Burley and Andy Townsend found fault with the way mancini looked away as mario went down the tunnel.Now obviously mancini was not happy with marios performance but both panelists felt a tap on the shoulder to acknowlege the young italian was the least he could do.
Now I know in this country there is a culture among a lot of people to find fault in Mancini, it doesnt matter what he does! Like Arsene Wenger his personality doesn't suit the Traditional british gaffer of being confrontational or media savy like Harry so any opportunity to punch cheap holes into their ability is grabbed with both hands by people who wouldn't even make it into the respective managers backroom staff even for u8 football teams.
I know italians are a bit passionate in terms of how they handle issues but I believe with a young player especially one that still has to find his feet in professional football encouragement can go a long way.
Maybe Mancini has given up on him but just wants to keep him so he can have a bench of quality reserve strikers but for all his faults Mario has shown amazing discipline on the pitch even though its obvious how much he has been targeted.
Contrary to what a few fans think Mario does not dive but he is VERY good at playing for contact especially around the edge of the box.Yes he slows down play but at times he has won some crucial free kicks that City go on to score from.In most cases it is always a foul.He is actually one of the few players I have seen who can do that so well, chose a sopot around the 18 yard box and move the ball quickly so that the defender fouls him.Its all legitimate.
The other issue I have with Mancini lately is he plays Mario for like 50 minutes and hauls him off, but when say Tevez or Dzeko have the same kind of game they are kept longer.
The last point of discussion by the panel was why Mancini plays him on the left?he is not Thierry Henry and never will be.
Mario accepts he is not as good as Aguero and Tevez at the moment sand he has played in squads with excellent players like Eto, Figo so i believe he is patient enough but Mancini needs to figure out what he wants to get out of him.i believe he can be a useful impact sub for City this season along with Dzeko.
Like I said uptop I might be looking at it the wrong way but Im starting to doubt if mancini will be able to harness marios ability.
i wouldnt be surprised if he goes on to score goals for Italy on this break, I guess he will just be happy to play.
Is Mancini poorly managing Mario!
posted on 9/10/12
Mario could be brilliant but he's his own worst enemy, he's a child trapped in a mans body!
An mourinyho did say he was unmanageable did he not.
posted on 9/10/12
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posted on 9/10/12
@The_Red_Cognoscente (U9741)
thats a funny passage quality, however i think its still lazy to say a young player is unmanageable unless if he is mentally ill.
posted on 9/10/12
Scrummy
The guy just isn't as good as he thinks he is.
He's one of those players that you detest one day then laugh the next
He has the workrate of Berbatov and Berbs is more technically gifted
He plays for City and gets paid well for it. His attitude needs to be an awful lot better than it is.
City don't need him. There are tons of better strikers out there
posted on 9/10/12
TRC I never read that before
Actually pretty funny although I really doubt Jose, or the inter fans, found it particularly funny at the time
posted on 9/10/12
Macca and Scrummy,
It was funny indeed. He was speaking to CNN
This is the clip, about four days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3I8QzpvfU
posted on 9/10/12
I don't think anyone is particularly qualified to talk about Mancini and Balotelli apart from themselves. Balotelli has said numerous times that he sees Mancini as a father figure and judging from the way he has reacted in the past to other managers, I don't see any reason to doubt that.
I would also say that Manciki has been incredibly complementary in the past about Balotellis ability, but knows that he reacts better to criticism from
him than he does praise. Balotelli has always said he views scoring goals as his job, so he is not the sort of player that needs that recognition all the time. Due to that, he reacts better when he believes he hasn't done that and let Mancini down.
Put it another way, do you think Balotelli would be happy playing the way he is and as often as he is under any other manager? I highly doubt it, he would have been long gone, and that is due to the high regard he has for Mancini.
posted on 9/10/12
I would love Mario to remain at City. Last season, some folks thought that he would cost us the title. But I argued that he would win us the league. Look at some piotal moment last season when Mario rose up to the occasion - Everton at home when I had given up hope of victory and just praying the Toffees don't nick a last minute goal, Mario came on and scored. Against United away - scored against the run of play and was instrumental to getting Evans sent off. Spurs at home - high pressure moment but Mario stood up and scored. Sunderland at home - 3-1 down, Mario scored to put more pressure and also lift the team. Against QPR, immediately he came on, the game changed. He almost scored with a header before providing the pass to Aguero to slot in the winner. Mario is Mario. The media is biased against him. All the treatment he has been receiving from defenders recently has been ignored. They are all waiting for him to react then they will call for his head. I hope Mario continues to stay strong and win more titles with us.
posted on 9/10/12
I feel the trouble with Mario is he over exaggerates the contact made by the opposition. Sure they do needle him but crying to the ref all the time only puts the ref on the back foot. When as on Saturday he did get blatantly fouled twice in off the ball incidents the ref saw the boy who cried wolf. He always appears so hard done by and if things do not go his way he sulks. That is hardly condusive to team spirit, or helps the team when trying to obtain a result. Mancini was spot on in taking Balotelli off as he had contributed very little in adding to the scoreline. Within 3 minutes of Aguero entering the fray it was 2-0. Latching on to a pass from Kolarov. Balotelli has to realise that there are 10 others out there relying on his contribution to acheiving a result that all 11 & Mancini can be happy with. Getting sent off or going out onto the park with the knowledge of how is Mario going to perform today is hardly going to have a stabilising effect on the rest of the team.
As for Mancini's handling of Balotelli, the amount of time spent in pre match interviews answering questions about Balotelli from Journalists must be monotonous. It is the same week in week out. Mancini is always defending Balotelli to the hilt in full view of the public. Privately though i wonder how many times Mancini has thought do i really need these type of side issues when we are trying to focus on the next game. Mancini seems to have the patience of a saint when it comes to Balotelli.
That patience will wear out eventually unless Balotelli realises what he has to lose.
posted on 9/10/12
Scrummy how often doses Prandelli see Mario over the season maybe for 8 weeks tops. So it is easier for him to put up with Mario's antics for 10 days or so, at a time over the course of a season rather than put up with those antics nearly every week for the season.