Man City's squad

If Bobby Manc doesn't start using the squad better we are going to come unstuck. I know players should be fit enough to play twice a week but it seems they are not. We have now played 5 matches in 13 days so no wonder many players look tired.

But we have Michael Johnson, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Edin Dzeko, Dedryk Boyata, Alex Nimely & John Guidetti. I haven't included Jo coz he's just pants

Why on earth doesn't Bobby give these players more game time. I'm not saying play all of them but a half or 30/35 mins for these players may just be the missing spark in many of our performances

Lescott, Yaya, Barry & Vieira have all played the last 3 games & none of them are exactly the fittest players in the PL

I thought Milner and SWeep were Injured and with Johnson not playing for over 12 months I would have thought it best that he comes on as a sub. I know what you mean about blooding some but I think its a balancing act between experience tired legs and youthful enthusiasm and not knowing how they will react. Lets face it TMG this is City and weve lost games with 30 minutes to go.
I'm not saying I think Mancini has it right but I can see his reasoning behind it.
Look as Spuds, they've had a rest for 8 days and still looked jaded for the first 20 minutes and last 10 minutes.

Agree Lee but Sweep & Milner were both on the subs bench for the Fulham game. Milner played 13 minutes, SWP didn't come on. Dzeko has played 4 minutes in the last 2 games. Why did we pay £30 million for him?

Johnson, Guidetti or Nimely could have been given 20 minutes against Notts County & Aris if eligible

This is starting to annoy me. Mancini is saying that the players are knackered yet he's using the same 13/14 players game in, game out. Some of our recent league games have been crying out for SWP to add something different or to run at tired FB's for the last 20 minutes. Yaya has looked like he's going to collapse with exhaustion and there's Milner sat on the bench, fresh as a daisy.

Totally agree here with you Boris. Why keep playing players that are fucked?

Poor SWP is busting a gut for a chance and you just know he'd love to stick around a bit longer but the same dead on their feet players are being used game after game, after game, after game, after game.

If Bobby isn't careful we'll crash out of both cups and finish 5th.

Utilise the squad man that's what it's there for!

I agree, I know we've had a few injuries, but with the size of our squad he has enough players to play two games a week with pretty much two completely different starting elevens. Everyone else goes on about our squad depth, but I think Mancini's utilisation of our squad is quite poor.

He bangs on about players being tired, but generally only makes subs in the dying minutes, seemingly more for the sake of it rather than to give a player a rest. Yaya Toure in particular struggles to make it through 90mins a week, let alone 180.

Dzeko, Balotelli, Tevez & Nimley

Barry, De Jong, Yaya, Milner, Silva, SWP, M Johnson, A Johnson & Viera

Kompany, Toure, Lescott, Boateng, Richards, Zaba, Boyata & Kolarov

Hart & Given

You look at that list of players there, and you have to say there are several players that have barely featured this season, the main one for me being Milner. I like this lad, but he has been used sparingly, to the point that there's been no chance of him showing any consistency or form. Then you add to that list the likes of; SWP, Boyata and Boateng (in the sense that he is usually played out of position), and the young lads like Nimley and Wabara. These are all players that surely could have been utilised in Europa and FA Cup matches at the very least?

Is it a coincidence that our dip in form since Christmas has come at a time when we are playing two matches every week? Probably not, but for me it's summed up by his decision to bring on Jo instead of Michael Johnson in the last 15 minutes of the Villa game when we were three up.

I agree witht the guys that Bobby needs to use the whole squad and stop picking the same guys game after game in every competition. I particularly cannot understand why Barry seems to be the first name on every team sheet, to me he seems no better than ordinary and to continue to bring Jo on as a sub in any games is mind boggling.
If we are cruising against Reading that would be an ideal opportunity to give Johnson, and the young lads mentioned a run out if only for 20 - 30 minutes, surely that would be more productive and beneficial to the team than bringing Jo on?