mozo

Thats understandable tbf. Not everyone is psychologically fit for that kind of stuff. That's why I didn't become a pro footballer and decided to instead write shit on a football forum... ...that and I was rubbish at football...

On the checkout?

Supporting City is rarely boring and always ridiculous

Yep, totally agree, and I was just elaborating on your point from my own perspective.

And likewise, there are a number of OTIB regulars that I could name that have been pretty busy posters after Manning's less convincing games, and yet have seemed to have lost their log ins during and after the indisputably decent performance v Norwich (and other games previously). Was the same under Nige who had his haters on here. I've been backing Manning simply based on how I've interpreted the football, but I've written here many times that if I turn out to be wrong, I'll come on and say it. I think for some people, it's more important to pick a side and win an argument, than to present a fair assessment.

But that's not a culture war. It'll never work...

Do you have a big tattoo of Nige on your chest? "I'm just a fan Nigel, your biggest fan!"

One thing he said during his time with us that surprised me was alongside lines of: "At Watford, we knew what the owners are like so when the opportunity came we thought, yeah let's have some fun with it while it lasts." I suspect that will come up on the pod.

So we need to be more creative and clinical in the final third, which I guess is why we are strengthening our attack in the summer.

I don't think Nige would fire shots at SL even if he's entitled to. I reckon he'll say things like, "We felt that we'd laid the foundations for success", "Year on year improvement", "Confident that we could have acheived given time", "Chairman/board saw it differently", "Fans and players believed in what we were doing", "Nothing surprises me in football these days."

Coventry 2-2 springs to mind, and dlfew 2-1s either way. I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary. We've won 1-0 seven times this season. Of those, 4 were under Manning, 3 were not.

The thing that stands out to me when we come up against the more technically talented teams is the speed of thought of the players, and the consistency of execution. We've got players like Bell, Mehmet and Sykes that are capable of top quality attacking play (in different ways), but you can't depend on them to execute consistently. In a lot of our games under both Manning and Pearson I've seen a midfield capable of high quality build up play, only for the possession to break down in the final third. So it's not just a case of having a set style, it's also dependent on who's playing, and what version of that player turns up. The general passing style might be consistent, but other variables may change depending on personnel. For example, if ball carrying defenders like Atkinson or Dickie are on the pitch, the passing options in midfield increase, and the sum of the parts is different. Equally, Roberts can be trusted on the ball in defence, whereas Vyner might be better off launching it under pressure. I'm rambling, and I guess trying to make the point that whether you play a possession based style or a mire direct counter attacking style, the effectiveness will always depend on variables, and for that reason, neither Pearson nor Manning have been able to garner consistent performances. When either style works, it looks beautiful. When Nigeball was bad, it descended into long balls and wasted energy. When Manningball is bad, it looks tentative, ponderous and negative. The challenge for the head coach is to pick a style (identity etc), and to make it work with all the limitations that our players have. I genuinely think that quality in the final third has been letting us down for years; ever since Andi Weimann decided he was going to be Andriy Shevchenko for a year.

It's interesting, I'm not sure what my one question would be... Would like to hear some suggestions?

Of course, under Manning we've won 5-0, 4-1, 3-2 (twice) and 3-1, so it's not likely that we'll become a dull 1-0 team next season.

Pearson used to talk about process too. Its obvious what they're saying; do the right stuff, and you'll get the right outcomes. But if the right outcomes don't happen all the time, don't give up on doing the right stuff.

Even if that's the case, I've got no issue with him being in the match day squad for the unlikely event that we get a flurry of injuries and need an extra forward. He's not doing any harm sitting there. It's just disappointing for him that he didn't prove himself during his stay.

Love this post! Can't wait for 2026 now!

He's not good enough passing in crowded areas

And after the Birmingham and Stoke games to be fair. But yes, OTIB is insane.

Love it mate!

I know I shouldn't be mean to the players, but there were a few things to mark off your bingo card... A classic Tanner backward pass; Joe Williams is two yards square of George and instead of playing the simplest of passes to keep the pressure on Norwich, he goes backwards into our own half. Max, who obviously is having a great season, still manages to fulfil his quota for at least one bad kick per game. This time, dangerously rifling the ball into the midfield which luckily wasn't snaffled. And poor Cornick, his luck continues. He scores via a wild deflection, but a dodgy offside flag rules it out. And people say we're not consistent...

I disagree. I think if we hit the levels shown today every game next season, we get in the playoffs. Unfortunately, getting the players to consistently hit the levels is incredibly difficult.

The impressive bit wasn't that we had a lot of the ball, but what we did with it, and also what we did without the ball. The Norwich commentator said something like, "You don't see away sides coming to Carrow Road and doing this to Norwich City". So, this was definitely not on the cards.

We've got no idea if Manning will turn out to be a proper success at City, but he's absolutely proved that any accusations that he's out of depth or totally inept were unfair. There's speculation on this thread that Manning was under pressure and facing the axe, and if that's true, then even more credit to him for keeping his cool, remaining upbeat and guiding the team to a major turnaround in form. People have commented that Manning has constantly referenced the Southampton game, and also credited the coaching too much, well, if rumours of the ultimatum are true, then you cam hardly blame him! We'd do the same. I'd love it if we keep those run going til the end of the season, so that the general mood amongst fans is that he deserves a bit of support next season. I'm not looking forward to when we do next go on a poor run, and seeing all the noise saying "See, I knew he was rubbish!" But hey, that's football forums for you!