Really, piss off, Roberto!
If you haven’t read or heard from someone the idiocy that spewed from Man City boss Roberto Mancini today, I’ll give you a few tidbits, just so you have an idea of why he has left my pint 3/4 dry:
“In the last 15 months I am the best manager in England. Someone says for six months that Manchester City would change manager, Guardiola would come in, and after Guardiola went to Bayern Munich, now another manager. I won one Premier League, one FA Cup, one charity shield, there is not another manager that’s won like me in the last 15 months. I can do nothing but it is the reality.
Okay, two things. First, let’s just try and understand what it is he has achieved, and put that into perspective. I am obviously not going to argue the premier league title, nor the FA Cup. There is the Charity Shield, but who the hell cares about that? I’ve not met one Man City fan who even mentions it to me, and we all know they like to throw everything in our faces. So, two good wins in three years – kudos.
How about this year? How about a big, fat zero in trophy case? Other clubs can still claim to have had good seasons, even if they don’t win silverware, but that does not fly with Manchester City. With a payroll exceeding many countries’ Gross Domestic Product figures, Certainly I am not alone in thinking they are grossly underachieving. They were rudely and pathetically bounced from the Champions League (albeit a rather tough group) very early. And as for the Premier League season, if they think they can catch United than they must be hallucinating. It ain’t going to happen.
So secondly, let’s address whether his three trophies are indeed the best silverware from any team in the Premier League. Actually, I would argue they are not. Tell me, as a supporter of whatever team you support, would you rather:
A) Premier League trophy, FA Cup, and Charity Shield
or
B) FA Cup and Champions League
Some of you would certainly say three are better than two, but I would argue the Champions League win from Chelsea is greater than the Premier League + Community Shield simply because the competition they beat to earn it. Whereas City had United to contend with last season for the Premier League crown, Chelsea had to go through an always pesky Benfica, then arguably the two best teams in club football, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, to earn their CL trophy. At the very lease, DiMatteo’s accomplishments are every bit as good as Mancini.
And as always, an argument that Sir Alex is every bit as successful. His side is having a great year after coasting through the Champions League groups stages and playing a great first leg vs. Real Madrid at the Bernebeu, as well as clearly outclassing all others in the Premier League. At the very least I think United will win the Premier League, and have a decent run at the Champions League. With Mancini failing to win either, how can he claim to be more successful currently than Fergie?
It isn’t that I am arguing that Mancini is somehow not a good manager, nor am I trying to trivialize his accomplishments. Instead, I’ve attempted to show that he isn’t clearly the best manager. He will always have sceptics mostly because he manages a team of high paid, yet whiny, stars. But he just added a new group of naysayers who are every bit as choked as I am about his comments.
And now to finish what’s left of my pint…
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Main Photo Credit: Roger Goraczniak, via Wiki Commons
