In his first season,
for the most part, he didn’t disappoint either. And at the end of 2011/2012, he
of course went on to lift the league title with us; playing a big part in City
obtaining what was…is…sure to be the
first of many trophies/titles to come.
He could only get better, I said to myself. That was just his ‘settling in’ season, I thought.
Balotelli MkII
Then, this season, he
suddenly turned into the midfield version of Mario Balotelli – all the talent
but no application OF that talent. Overnight (over the close season) he’d
turned into ‘Le Sulk’. Whereas Mario would give us about 1 good-performance
game in 8; Samir wasn’t far behind with about 1 in 6.
He was starting to
look like a bullied child at school and even appeared in a couple of YouTube
‘incidents’; where he was being jeered by Liverpool fans whilst in his car on a
Motorway and Arsenal fans as he walked to The Emirates.
In between all of
that, he looked like a frustrated kid who was totally fed up and wanted to
lash out…and so did just that by getting himself sent off against Norwich City
Then, in the Semi-final post-match interview, he knew all too well what the interviewer was alluding to
when asked about his ‘return to form’.
It might not have
been a very nice way of putting it (but most of us, I’m sure, agreed at the
time); but Samir’s ‘return to form’ came shortly after Roberto said he felt like
punching the French international because of his inconsistency and all-to-often
languid displays.
Why didn’t Roberto beat up Mario more often
then?!
Samir needed to be
loved, it transpired; he NEEDED a father figure as a Manager. Wenger was that father figure at Arsenal
and what he got at City - as we all know
all too well by now - was a cold, heartless fish!
Now some would say
he should be professional enough – and
gets paid enough – to rise above not liking his boss and should play his
heart out for the club/shirt regardless. I wouldn’t disagree with that
whatsoever.
But in the real
world most modern footballers just don’t have the same mentality as you &
I. In fact a few weeks back I wanted him out of our Club ASAP! Let PSG have him in the summer, I thought, and we can
put £20-odd Million to good use to get a much better replacement.
Arrival of ‘the daddy’
All too soon (most
likely anyway - I don’t want to tempt
fate) we are going to see the arrival of that very father figure Samir has
been longing for. Roberto & Manuel, in terms of personality we are told,
are as different as Italian parmesan and Chilean salsa.
To quote Diego Forlan, who worked under our potential-future manager,
“He’ll speak to you and take an interest in
your life”.
“If things are not going well, then he’ll
talk to you and lift your confidence”.
Superman?
Other comments, from
other people, in other articles, also have the ex-Villarreal & Real Madrid
Manager down as a bloody nice bloke when it comes to his players & staff.
Apart from, we’re told, him-being a good tactician who likes his teams to be on
the ‘front foot’ AND provide the paying fans with good entertainment to-boot;
he makes a particular point also of concentrating on the ‘human side’ when it
comes to his players & staff.
Is all of that possible?
The arrival of
Manuel Pellegrini may well also see the arrival of Isco from Malaga
But should he wish
not to bring the 21-year old, Spanish, creative midfielder with him from Malaga
Either way, what a
nice position to be in hey?
No comments:
Post a Comment