Who'd Be A Football Manager!?

To be a football manager in this day and age certainly is no easy task, just ask Roberto Mancini. Calls for his head are deafening less than a year into his tenure. In fact after the same amount of games into the season Mancini’s City would be trailing Sven’s City by a mere 4pts.

Season W D L F A Diff PTS Manager

1. 2007 8 2 3 16 13 3 26 SGE
2. 1967 7 1 5 25 16 9 22 Mercer
3. 2009 5 7 1 24 17 7 22 Hughes
4. 2010 6 4 3 15 10 5 22 Mancini
5. 2005 6 3 4 15 11 4 21 Pearce
6. 1994 5 4 4 24 20 4 19 Horton
7. 2003 5 3 5 22 18 4 18 Keegan
8. 2002 5 2 6 14 19 -5 17 Keegan
9. 1992 4 4 5 14 13 1 16 Reid
10. 2006 4 4 5 10 15 -5 16 Pearce
11. 2008 4 2 7 26 20 6 14 Hughes
12. 1936 3 5 5 24 22 2 14 Wild
13. 2004 3 5 5 14 13 1 14 Keegan
14. 1993 3 5 5 12 13 -1 14 Reid/Horton
15. 2000 4 2 7 15 24 -9 14 Royle
16. 1995 1 3 9 5 22 -17 6 Ball
    
    Above is a table showing each of the previous first 13 games to each Manchester City start to a Premiership season since the Premiership started as well as the Championship winning seasons of 1967/68 and 1936/37. Currently, as in the regular table we are fourth behind only Sven, Joe and Mark Hughes’ second season.
    Interestingly we are closer to our best start than we are to Chelsea in the current Premier table.
    You will notice two things from the table, we have conceded less goals than all the other seasons (significantly less in some seasons) and our defeats so far are joined with Svens season, and the great start we had that year and only eclipsed by the start to last seasons campaign, but remember all the draws that go around?
    Results on the pitch, for the most part, have been good when you step back from the media stained light that is currently being shone on Mancini and the team. Pretty much the only disappointing results we have had so far would be the defeat against Wolves and possibly this draw against Birmingham. Compare that with the ‘disappointing’ results of previous season starts. Last season we already had lost to United (attacking gave us 0pts, tight at the back gave us a point this season). Then there were draws at home to Hull, Burnley and Fulham which was the start of the end for Hughes.
    Or the season before when we had already recorded losses at soon to be relegated Middlesboro and Bolton. We also drew at Newcastle (also to be relegated) and Hull City.
    Even the dream start we had while Sven was spotted with disappointments, losing to Blackburn and shipping six goals to a rampant Chelsea side.
    Even the great Joe Mercer and our Championship winning season started off inconsistent to say the least. In the first 13 games of that season we lost to Sunderland, Stoke and Southampton. (This was on the back of a poor finish to the previous season also, picking up only six wins from the beginning of December to the end of the season).
    My point is that the displays on the pitch may not be of the highest standard but the table doesn’t lie. We are fourth and we have been reasonably tight at the back. Some pundits say that City haven’t scored for two league games, well we also haven’t conceded a goal for three! The media see we are fighting among ourselves and they latch onto the poisonous atmosphere. Remember United also haven’t won for two league games but they are labeled as ’undefeated’ where we get the ’still looking for a win’ label.
    We all know we have talented players here that can win games and score plenty of goals when they are on fire, it just hasn’t clicked yet. On the plus side we do have, and have proved over past games, that our defense is tight. There are positives in the City season thus far, please do not let the media and so called ’analysts’ persuade you it is doom and gloom, it is not. If this is a blip to our season then consider where we are during this blip and you will see understand why there is so much negative attention put on Mancini. They are scared, because if we can be fourth and within touching distance of the top three during a period that has seen us go on a run of draws interrupted by the single win against West Brom then just imagine what could be when we become a well oiled machine!