Contrasting fortunes of two football managers:
Chris Hughton and Roberto Mancini
Chris Hughton and Roberto Mancini are two managers who have found themselves in the spotlight for the wrong reasons more often this season than for the right ones.
The weekend could not have been more contrasting for the pair. Newcastle met their local rivals Sunderland and just blew them apart in an emphatic 5-1 win. Mancini, on the other hand, without his captain Carlos Tevez, slumped to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat
away at the hands of Wolves.
There is no smoke without fire, but in Chris Hughton’s case there has been loads of smoke without any apparent fire. Strange, it may seem but it’s ridiculous to be honest. Houghton was the man who got Newcastle back to Premier League with a brilliant season
in the championship.
His team was ninth in the table before the start of the weekend and is now one place off the spot in Europe. A team, whose realistic ambition is to stay in the top flight, come the end of May, cannot be thinking of getting rid of their manager when he has
done so well in the past and more importantly, is doing more of the same this season as well.
It’s nonsense to get rid of a manager after only 9 games into the season. Even a club like Liverpool gave time to Roy Hodgson who have Champions League ambitions but found themselves in relegation zone after 9 games. They have now won 2 in 2.
Amazingly, Newcastle have been terrific this season. Apart from a few disappointments, which every team endures, they won away at Everton and Villa. Houghton’s only crime seems to be that he is not a big name. He will be put under pressure each time a result
goes against him.
He needed to respond to unnecessary media speculation and what better way to do that at home against your local rivals. It was also a chance for the players to show their faith in the manager and also the willingness to play for him.
The victory and the manner in which it was achieved went a long way to show that players have faith in Houghton. The fact that club captain Kevin Nolan came out and dedicated his goals to his under fire manager told all that was needed to be told.
It’s now the right time for Newcastle United to hand him a new contract and put a full stop to all the media speculation. They need to show faith in their manager rather than hope and wait for him to fail so that they have an excuse to get rid of him.
Life isn't quite the same down south of Newcastle, where Mancini has got multi millionaires whom he needs to work together as a team and show some team spirit, which was desperately lacking during their shock 2-1 defeat to Wolves.
When you have got an unlimited transfer budget and you go out and sign world class players, every result and performance is scanned under the microscope.
City, until last week looked impressive. If the 3-0 win over Liverpool was a confidence booster, than their 1-0 win against Chelsea made them title contenders.
The problem at City is unique. They have 16-20 players on huge wages and with even bigger egos. When your 18 million pound striker (Santa Cruz) can’t get a game and then he claims that club captain Carlos Tevez is home sick, then you know you have got a
problem as a manager.
Incredibly, Tevez went back to Argentina on a 10 hour flight to recover from an injury, which shows that Mancini has little power over his players. Even more so as Yaya Toure drives back home after being substituted at half time and Adebayor and Kompany
have a go at each other on the pitch.
There seems to be a clear lack of unity amongst the team mates. You can’t force them to love each other and that’s not what is required. It generally won’t happen either, what is required is that when the team leaves that dressing room, there should be passion,
team spirit and leadership.
City seemed to lack all three at Molinuex. The players need to be reminded of the wages they are being paid and the job they have been asked to do. They should feel pride in their performance.
It surely isn't an easy job for Mancini to hold all his stars in the same bracket but he needs to be more aggressive in his man management and also less cautious. At the end of the day, he is the boss and players have to honour that while showing respect
to him.
Manchester City have two big games coming up against Newcastle and Manchester United. It’s a chance for them and their players to show the same sort of support towards their manager as shown by the Newcastle players to their manager, Chris Hughton.
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