Blue Moon Rising [Official Manchester City Thread]

[Rudi]

Best performance of the season thus far. Kolies goal was awesome.

[seaplus]

New Contract for Guidetti

i really want to see him play soon and hope he isn't another Weiss for the club

[seaplus]

best comment about the match on ESPN FC

I hope Dzeko leaves in January so Balotelli can get some well deserved playing time.

[Rudi]

That was one of the most exciting City matches I can remember [besides the last game last year against QPR, obviously]. The second half was wide open after a brutal first half with a bunch of cards. West Bum had a flurry of chances at the end after SUPER SUB Dzeko scored the game winner.

Richards looked great playing forward, Its GREAT to have him back. I think he's one of the most underrated players on the team, he's a monster. Obviously Dzeko coming on scoring 2 goals is great as well.

[Chrispy]

Something for u too fap too

[Rudi]

Already fapped twice.

[Rudi]

City must get 3 points tomorrow at Ajax or this season's Champions league run is over. Silva did not make the trip due to his hamstring injury. On the bright side, neither did Jack Rodwell.

Will be interesting to see if Dzeko gets the start after his recent heroics.

[seaplus]

had a dream City tied 0 - 0

[seaplus]

i agree with his view on formations but think it is obvious the 3-back formation isn't something the players are comfortable with or just don't like ....... judging by what the announcers were saying Clichy was doing on the field

sounds like it needs more work in training before it is used again

[seaplus]

[Rudi]

A very hard earned 3 points today against Swansea. First half we did not look very good, but we came out a whole different side in the second half. Tevez dropped back to a more central mid role and was fantastic. His goal was well deserved.

Hopefully the injury to Richards isn't bad...I really think we missed him when he was hurt earlier this year he sures up our back line.

Nice to see a clean sheet for a change as well.

[seaplus]

City Creates Two New Positions and Seaplus is Validated

Brian Marwood, as co-architect of the CFA project has chosen to take on the role of Managing Director of the City Football Academy with all associated international responsibilities and will be responsible for the recruitment, development, training and management of up to 400 players in Manchester and at other global training centres.

In an interlinked role, Txiki Berigiristain will join Manchester City FC as Director of Football. Txiki, a former footballer at Real Sociedad, FC Barcelona, Deportivo A Coruna, Urawa Reds and the Spanish national team, held the position of Director of Football at FC Barcelona in the period 2003-2010. His new role at Manchester City will see him take responsibility for supporting the first team manager, Roberto Mancini, in first team recruitment and operations.

...

Sustainability has always been central to Sheikh Mansour’s investment in Manchester City Football Club. The long term future of the football club is dependent upon our ability to recruit and develop young players all the way through to the first team squad. The focus must be on both Academy and First Team and the close coordination between them.

so in the CL thread, fans of other clubs said i was wrong or expressed doubts when i said there was a new focus on the academy, a long-term outlook by the owner/top-level management, an effort to try to emulate Barcelona, and when i said i expect big things in the future development of youth players.

[Rudi]

Manchester City set to appoint former Barcelona executive Txiki Begiristain as the club's new director of football

[kyhadley]

The last few plus City+ whatever maked me lolll.

[Bigpapa42]

so in the CL thread, fans of other clubs said i was wrong or expressed doubts when i said there was a new focus on the academy, a long-term outlook by the owner/top-level management, an effort to try to emulate Barcelona, and when i said i expect big things in the future development of youth players.

So when we said that the real measure of a commitment to a youth policy was actually giving the young players an opportunity with the side, that just got ignored? Appointments and words are no more of a genuine commitment than signing up youth players, spending some money or giving the reserves a fancy name. Having a genuine commitment comes down to giving those players a genuine chance with the club.

As I said before, I believe what I see. And what I see is that the club had a genuine chance to show that commitment this summer. When Mancini was whining about needing squad depth, the club could have shown genuine commitment to developing their own youth by having the manager make use of the existing youth players on a regular basis. Instead, they do the opposite and buy several players.

Mancini is the key and why a genuine commitment to developing the young players probably won't happen. Which is not a condemnation of the manager but rather recognition of his circumstance. He's under pressure to win now. Consider the Sheik patient all you want, but there is every indication that if City don't consistently get the expected results, Mancini is gone. And so long as he has the authority to select the squad, he's going to pick the best possible side to get results. His continued employment hinges on that. So what does he really care about developing players that will come good in 3-4 seasons, if committing to that could get him fired this season? As kyhadley pointed out, that's one of the major reasons that Chelsea has never really followed through on its youth policy, because managers there are always under pressure to produce results.

Its never a bad thing for a club to work on its infrastructure, but there are elements of the club culture that will have to change for it to be truly effective.