I don't want to start this blog by setting myself against the increasing minority of City fans to whom this is directed, but I am very disappointed by the number of blues who have been backing a campaign against Mancini in these early days as City manager.
Throughout my lifetime City have become a joke across the game for the constant merry-go-round of managers and nearly all City fans would agree that to achieve success we need a solid period of stability. A period in which a manager can work for a number of years building a team based on the players he wants, the mentality he wants and the style he prefers. It is needless to point out the success stories at football clubs who have benefited from a period of stability or those like Newcastle who have been affected by the opposite. Yet, the same fans who were complaining about this in December are calling for another managerial overhaul. Whether it was right or wrong for Hughes to go, whoever the replacement manager was to be needed to be given three or four years to fully establish the club.
There is no doubt Mancini needs time to bed himself into the English game, yet results-wise he has been a success. Despite the league positions of the teams he has faced, arugably they are the most polarised from the style he has known in Italy. There are no teams like Hull, Bolton, Stoke or even Everton in Serie A. There are games with biting tackles and aggression, but the tempo is a long way short, and to deal with this change of style is something Mancini must do. When Macini joined City, Mourinho sent his blessings - praising Mancini's qualities yet warning him he would need to adapt quickly to the style of the game. I think this has proved true. Mancini is perhaps still uncomfortable with the style Stoke may bring to the park - as evidenced by his show of anger to Alan Wiley at half-time in the week - but this is not to say he won't be learning from it. Seven weeks in charge certainly isn't the time to be calling for Mourinho or Hiddink.
Mancini is also only getting to know his squad and what they are capable of. There are some players at the club who have hardly trained under Mancini yet and evidently, despite having a transfer window to strengthen, he has the confidence (minus a Gago/Mariga/Flamini) that the players at his disposal are good enough for the task.
One of the most worrying things about Hughes's final weeks in charge was his vow to throw some more money at the defence. I believe the squad IS good enough to challenge the top four, and that can be our only goal this season, whilst with a small number of additions in the summer we should be in a position to advance from there. Mancini has made the most of what he has got and has restored the belief to players such as Micah Richards, who can be an invaluable part of the first team at full throttle. People still moan about the defence but Mancini's record is far superior to Hughes's - only six conceded in his eight games, compared to twenty seven in seventeen under Hughes.
In fourth with a game in hand, and a good opportunity to further that tomorrow, City are in the best position they have been in my entire lifetime. We have reached a semi-final for the first time in my lifetime and are still in the FA Cup. Despite intial calls that it would all "take time", the moaners seem to be the first casuality of the riches put into the club as their bloated expectations outmatch their memory.
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