Stay up, but as they look pretty nailed on to go down I'm glad they've had something to celebrate, even if I can't stand Martinez. I don't dislike him as much as Mancini, though, so I take double delight in seeing him walk away with nothing.

Wow. Wigan totally deserved that. Now Arsenal and Aston Villa to stay up. They don't make it easy for themselves!

That squad have acted like they don't give a shit for pretty much half the season. They need to stop playing like they can just walk every game and show some drive. Prick

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt by thinking you meant to put an 's' at the end of 'prick'

But yeah. I could accept that if it wasn't about players like Kompany, Hart, Tevez, Yaya Toure, who if nothing else are usually pretty driven, by anyone's standards. Just as happened at Chelsea with Villas-Boas, I think Mancini's completely demoralised that team. The way he dealt with Balotelli, and Tevez, showing clear favouratism and going back on his word, his undermining of Kompany. I think he'd pretty much lost the dressing room before the end of even last season.

Haha yeah I did sorry....prick :p

Don't worry. I once unconsciously put an x under my name on an email to a work colleague I barely knew. Very awkward.
x

Fuck me

Nnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggg

So glad Palace won and they're definitely the team I'll be supporting in the final.

Most of us City fans think he was due to go last year, before United's end-of-season collapse did so much to give us the title.

This season has been characterised by a seriously lame title defence, very poor Champions league campaign (admittedly in a tough group, but we are meant to be one of the tough teams now) and a host of summer signings that have done nothing.

Mancini has seemingly been unable to get tough performances out of the squad, last year's team spirit looking to often like a thing of the past. Not standing by players like Dzeko and Pantilimon (whose exclusion for the cup final was bizarre and hints at something wrong) hasn't helped.

Not sure about this Senor Pellegrini though.

Oh, and the clubs handling of the Tevez driving affair was, I think, entirely inappropriate.

City won the title last year despite five losses and five draws and despite being somewhat less than impressive this year, they will finish second. If I cared at all about the Premier League entity, I would be seriously worried about what that says about the other so-called contenders and the quality of the competition as a whole.

Most City fans I hear ringing up stations like Talksport seem gutted he's going but I agree with you. It may be simplistic but if proven top quality players suddenly stop performing the buck has to stop with the manager (just as they'll rightly take credit when they do perform).

as a spanish speaker, gotta say, that's one of the most awesome names ever.

comes out meaning something like "lemon panties"

i've found myself repeating that word often, in my head, after i first heard it: "pantilimón... pantilimón... pantilimón... pantilimón... "

great fucking name.

---

anyway the failure of mancini hadn't really sank in with me until recently but (i've said this before) with players like that to perform so poorly is a real shame. compare vs. klopp's ragtag team barely held by spit and bailing wire: 4 great players (2 still a bit green) and a decent enough supporting cast, and they are at the CL finals.

now, please don't take klopp away from dortmund.

I don't get. He won the league last year and came 2nd this year! You cant win everything every year, thats just not realistic

you can't win all, but don't you think he's underperforming given his awesome squad and deep bench though? he's got enough players for 2 good teams i reckon.

I don't think coming 2nd in both your countries major competitions is underperforming.

If it was to do with their shit CL form then why didn't they sack him months ago when they went out?

are they kicking him out now? i wasn't aware of this. i know demoño has been calling for his head since last year.

actually i liked them last year. this year watching them was zzzzzzzz, so i didn't do it much-- especially after balotelli left!

(here seen vs. weidenfeller)

I'm not a City supporter but they've always been my 'second' team (along with Everton - must be something about liking the more unfashionable big city clubs, which I suppose stems from supporting West Ham). Anyway, I was as happy as any non City fan could be about their new-found success so my anti-Mancini thing certainly isn't an anti Man City one. I'd love to see them topple Chelsea and MU so my frustration with Mancini is that he had all the resources to do it but not the necessary people skills.

I also noticed that he became increasingly 'eccentric' on a tactical level. Replacing Tevez for Rodwell in the final was just the latest example but his season-long tinkering with the defence was a big problem; really undermining what was one of their key strengths the season before.

I've heard good things about Pellegrini but it's always a lottery. There's certainly nothing to say they won't go backwards with him but I do think Mancini had taken them as far as he was capable of - which in fairness to him, given that he delivered them an FA Cup and a Prem title is pretty far. But I think it's his poor record in the CL that really did for him in the end.

It shouldn't be but if you compared City's squad with any other in the league, it ca't be seen as anything else.


I was under the impression they'd been sounding out managers all season. The owners were just waiting for the right guy to become available.

i just read a bbc article, it says it was due to "poor communications with the players".

which you've been saying since like forever! (yes, i am a witness).

you're hereby officially my premiere league oracle. 'zat cool?

can you help me pick a team to watch? i almost liked liverpool but they disappointed. you mentioned i might like spurs, should i follow spurs? i like attacking teams who win not bus-parkers. i like a bit of finesse, southamerican tikitaka style, but not pointless passing.

kindly recommend. fucking suarez! i could have liked liverpool... i really could have...

ps- i kinda like swansea too-- fuckers just can't finish!

Alleluia!! Sweet by and by we were waiting for you to finally stop apologizing for that dirty ass player!!