DJS

And in an even more disgusting piece of nonsense, he awarded a penalty to Reading, for an almost identical replica of the Degen 'diving' incident. Chelsea and Man Utd's counter attacking against Arsenal exposed their weakness in wide areas - based on that, perhaps Degen at RB would be a decent option. He did well there for the Carling Cup game earlier this season.

City's run of fixtures is: Tuesday 9th Feb Bolton (h) League Saturday 13th Feb Stoke (a) FA Cup Tuesday 16th Feb Stoke (a) League Sunday 21st Feb Liverpool (h) League Saturday 27th Feb Chelsea (a) League Saturday 6th March Spurs (h) League I wouldnt be too disheartened if Stoke kick them up in the air for two games on the spin before we go to Eastlands.

Never had a problem with Walton to be fair. Mason, on the other hand - interesting stats about him. How often has Clattenburg reffed us since he gave Gerrard a peno at Goodison and sent off Hibbert?

Not that i wish to take anything away from Leo, but he's just reworded the dialogue and script from a Simpsons episode and changed the relevant details/names

If they're good enough, then the manager isnt getting it out of them - which is surely his job. If it's about Alonso - well that was down to a major misjudgement by Rafa too. Whichever way you put it, the manager's got it very wrong and we're now seeing the consequences.

If they're not good enough, why are they there?

It's hardly as basic as that though, is it? It's about instilling the kind of character whereby heads dont drop - or if they do, it's rare and they're raised again. Via either the bench or leaders on the pitch - or both. If i'm being brutally honest, i dont personally see a lot that suggests the players want to do it for the manager - they seem to just be going through the motions and to me, it implies that some of them at least, are struggling to retain faith in the manager.

That's not far wrong in truth. It comes down to that scenario where, sadly, you cannot sack 10-15 players so ultimately, it falls on the manager.

I can take that on board, fair enough. My point still stands though in my opinion - just change the second half of my question to refer to being able to finish above the likes of Villa and Spurs. Not to mention Brum, who are embarrassingly close to us. Paupers of the 'big four' we might be, but a squad containing Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Gerrard, Torres and Benayoun - shouldnt really be facing an uphill struggle to finish ahead of Villa and Spurs. I'd even go as far as to say we should be finishing above City, who IMO havent yet really bought players of the standard that their wealth has the potential to do. They'll keep buying and getting better - if we dont finish above them this year, then change of ownership/serious investment aside, we wont do in the immediate future either. To summarise though, our squad should be easily capable of dismissing challenges from the likes of Villa and Spurs, at least. But we're not, because we're not getting anywhere near enough out of what we have to work with.

Spot on. I cant believe that some people genuinely think that, if players heads drop, a manager's within his rights to just shrug his shoulders about it.

It's immaterial whether or not Rafa 'tells them' to put in bad delivery - of course he does not. The more relevant point is whether Rafa can actually get them performing - and the evidence says not. Of course he can control players reactions - it's called motivation and man management. There are managers who get players performing to their absolute maximum and wanting to play for the shirt - Rafa doesnt seem able to do this and hasnt done for a while. As for the balancing of the books - please spare me mate, are you seriously suggesting our 'books' and fincances havent provided us with a squad/team that can beat a Championship side at home?

I really wish i could disagree with this.

I'm not sure, if i'm honest. I'd love to say yes and i'd love to say that i genuinely believe he'll get it sorted soon and we'll get ourselves into a run of form, good results and make the top four - but sadly, i just cant say with any conviction, that i do believe that. I think we probably both agree that failing to get into the CL would be a disaster for us - so it just boils down to whether or not we think Rafa will get us there. In basing it on what i've seen this season (and yes, he's done brilliantly in previous years but i dont think that holds a great deal of relevance in the here and now) i'm struggling to answer that positively.

Define for me, in terms of timescale, what you consider a 'chance' to be. This isnt a minor blip, after all.

Dont get me wrong, i'm sure Rafa's trying - but to what effect? Our set pieces are dire. Our ability to defend them is dire. Neither are showing signs of improving. Little evidence is available, that we're looking to try something different - the same woeful corners hit the same man on the near post time and time again. The same slow, pedestrian, easy-to-defend-against style, the same lack of pace, lack of width and lack of drive. The players have been woeful for sure, and they have to take their share of responsibility, but i'm also left wondering why Rafa cant seem to motivate them to perform better. Most of them dont even look like they want to be there. If it was 2 or 3 players, then clearly they're being idiots and are wholly to blame but when it's virtually the whole team (and when it's as on-going as this), i cant help but think you have to look deeper.

Well as i'm so obviously a 'stupid t**t', i'd be delighted for you to enlighten me. What circumstances would it take for you to think the manager should be replaced? Would it be, as i suspect, at the end of the season, when it's all too late?

There certainly is of course, but you'd be sticking your head in the sand if you're ignoring the notion of a new manager coinciding with an upturn in effort and, often, results too. Even if it's only temporary. But in our situation, that would probably do. A run of wins and a change of atmosphere would certainly help confidence.

I agree that he's earnt the opportunity to change things around, but two problems niggle away at me with that. Firstly, the very same issues dont look anywhere near as if they've even been worked upon, let alone being close to solving. Secondly, whilst i'd love to see Rafa stay and get it right, we dont have the margin for error to wait and wait and wait for it - we have 18 games left to get into the top four and it doesnt look like happening. Failure to get in the CL next season will have a disasterous impact IMO. If we think our financial position is woeful now, we're in for an even ruder awakening should we finish outside the top four.

Yes, because aside from Yossi's contribution to the game, we were dominant, creating chance after chance, and in clear control. Werent we?

Well i'd imagine then, that even if we were to get relegated, you'd still not understand my logic. There are some who wouldnt want to change manager, regardless of whatever happened. Changing manager seems to have City in pole position for 4th place. Or maybe i'm imagining the league table.

I dont know. I know the current, doesnt-look-remotely-like-changing form certainly wont though. The same problems are there, with no sign of any solution. Is this beyond-a-blip level of consistently poor play and form the sign of a club that's heading for a top four finish?

Yes, it's only been one game...

Do you really not know what i'm on about? Last season's achievements, great as they were, will not get us into the CL for next season. We're already skint and struggling to maintain that level of competitiveness. So losing out on the CL money will be a massive blow and make an already trying task, infinitely more difficult. What part of previous seasons' achievements can change that for us?

Our 'do just enough' mentality has bitten us on the a***. Reading havent only wanted it more than us, but they've actually looked more skillful and better technically than we have. I dont really know what kind of justifiable excuse there can possibly be for that.

Nobody's only looking at just this season, but sadly past season achievements wont get us into the Champions League and keep us on the cusp of being competitive. I have the sense to understand that.