da bet7： Roberto Mancini has been a success at Manchester City. Last year he delivered that long-awaited piece of silverware in the form of the FA Cup and sealed a Champions League spot and a chance for City to test themselves against the European elite. Mancini did a lot of this with a cautious, safety-first approach that earned him as many critics as it did fans. But last year’s glories are now in the past and Mancini must set his sights on the Premier League trophy. To do this the Italian has recognised the need to loosen the shackles and really go on the attack for the ultimate prize.
da 888： Ahead of the new season Mancini has highlighted the need for more attacking play at City and his desire to score “10 or 15 more goals than last season”. Mancini is right to target more goals and the signing of Sergio Aguero, who regularly found the net during his time in Spain, is an obvious answer to that problem.
Despite the abundance of money spent on more attacking flair over the last few years (David Silva, Adam Johnson, Carlos Tevez etc..), defence was often the key to City last season. Playing with a lone striker, Mancini would often deploy holding midfielders to shield the backline. This tactic is fair enough but he often approached the big games against title rivals with the attitude of not losing. Sometimes City came away with a hard-earned point (0-0 draws against Arsenal and Manchester United that made the neutral fan want to tear their hair out in boredom) and sometimes the tactic failed. But it is the team that takes risks that wins the title, how many times have we seen United burst forward with attacking intent (despite leaving the defence momentarily exposed) to claim a late winner and more crucial points?
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But is this a risky move, why change a system that isn’t really broken? Yes City didn’t successfully challenge for the title last season but no one can doubt that under Mancini the team are developing. In a style often compared to that of grinding out a result in Serie A, Mancini often earned crucial points that may have been lost if City had opened up to attack and left themselves exposed at the back. Whilst he has bought in that attacking flair, he also has many strong defensive minded players at his disposal. Mancini is right to utilise these sorts of players (Nigel De Jong, Gareth Barry etc..) when they were faced with an attacking threat. When Mancini faced the title rivals last season Mancini pinpointed the need not to get overrun and beaten in games often labeled as ‘six-pointers’ in the race for the title.
We got the first glimpse of Mancini’s approach this season when his side faced rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield last weekend. City went on to dramatically lose that game in the final moments but few could have anticipated City taking a 2-0 lead. Despite being outplayed by United, City showed fresh intent to try and take the initiative and only defensive mistakes denied them success at Wembley Stadium.
Despite the fact that Mancini has admitted the need for more adventure in City’s play, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his old ways creep back in when times get tough next season. The manager needed to reconsider his approach for the new season if City were to challenge for the title but the Italian should not throw away all of his principles that have brought recent success to the blue side of Manchester.
Should Mancini be more attacking next season? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5