With the dust settled following Mark Hughes's sacking and Mancini's honeymoon period over, fans are becoming increasingly despondent about which direction we are going in. Mancini's reign so far has been a mixed bag. Played 12 games. Won 8 Drawn 1 Lost 3. Five of those games have been cup ties. Wins at Boro and Scunny were what you would have expected given the opposition. But the performances against Manchester United and Stoke were disappointing. The two home games were a let down given what was at stake. United were rocking at 2-1 down and we chose to sit back and defend. Stoke again was a game there to be won. We got the initiative with an early goal but again failed to capitalise. The league performances haven't fared much better. In all fairness results have flattered us a little. Our last two home games against lowly opposition, Pompey and Bolton were turgid affairs. Had Portsmouth had a decent forward we could have been denied the win and Bolton maybe deserved more than they got. Ok,maybe we did have the edge over the 90 minutes - just - but they were far from entertaining matches. The one shining light from the Bolton game was the home debut of Adam Johnson. There is a sense that negativity has become the way to play. Three defensive, holding midfielders for a home game and no wide men doesn't smack of ambition to me. Maybe it's the Italian way to defend what you have, but it ain't pretty! The way we now seem to play appears to be detrimental to the mindset of the players. The players - under Hughes - tended to go forward to break sides down. Sometimes at the cost of giving away a sloppy goal. But overall I still felt that was the way forward. Despite the blip we had towards the end of the year - with the run of draws - we were a more attractive proposition. The Hughes era was a little Keeganesque - if your going to concede goals, make sure you score more than the opposition!

Mancini's mantle appears to be one of 'let's not lose this one' rather than 'let's go out and win this one'. We have seen some good football over the past season and a half. Not always brilliant but you always felt that if we turned up and did what we were good at, we could beat most sides on our day. You can't say that now. At this moment in time our performances can be described as, well, er, in a word CRAP. The fifteen thousand plus who gave the Stoke cup tie a wide berth probably made a wise choice. The fact that the game was live on free to watch tv would have been a big factor in people staying away but I always feel that if youre doing the business, with some style and panache then the paying public will turn up. Those absentees were maybe voting with their feet.

It would be intriguing to know how Garry Cook and company are viewing events right now. I'm not convinced we would have been any worse off with Hughes at the helm. But that's something we will never know! Most fans I've spoken to are bitterly frustrated at how things are going. The fans blog sites are hugely critical of the Mancini style of management and with justification. Some are even calling for the suave Italian to be given his marching orders. Harsh maybe, but understandable. Whether such a move would be the way forward I'm undecided. I still feel we were wrong to sack Hughes but thats history now. I have a gut feeling that Bobby Manc may not have his initial six month contract extended, but that may be subject to the availability of the likes of Hiddink or Mourinho.

Our frustrations are probably borne from expectation levels. Expectation levels that somehow can cloud the realism of the situation. We have on paper a gifted set of players. But too many of the players are not reaching the levels required to sustain a real challenge for that elusive fourth spot. Adebayor and Toure have disappointed and maybe Arsene Wenger isn't a bad judge after all. Lescott prior to his lay off fell well short of what he achieved at Everton. Barry has played like a man running in treacle. SWP and Ireland have had poor seasons. Tevez and Bellers have done the business and are devoid of criticism. Petrov has failed to grasp the opportunities offered him. Even Shay Given has seemed to struggle since the arrival of Mancini. Boyata and Richards have looked pretty good when given the nod but Garrido and Zabba have looked weak links at times.Overall the picture don't look that brilliant but being the optimist I am I live in hope that that corner will soon be turned and that chink of light becomes a beacon of our progress.  

Geoff Stevenson

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