Graham Potter's thoughts on how to succeed as a manager - and why some of City's recent managers may have failed.

[Don Corleone]

I disagree. I believe that if Malky hadn't shot himself in the foot, we would have stayed up. And we were only a couple of points from surviving under Warnock. If Sala had played, perhaps we would have survived. Warnock was clearly affected by that saga. Both Malky and Warnock were competent managers.

Agree, we were doing okay under Malky until the falling out with Tan ( though at least that did eventually end with getting rid of those damn red shirts!) and Warnock almost kept us up , as you say , a few goals from Sala may well have made the difference , sadly we will never know

[Rjk]

Agree, we were doing okay under Malky until the falling out with Tan ( though at least that did eventually end with getting rid of those damn red shirts!) and Warnock almost kept us up , as you say , a few goals from Sala may well have made the difference , sadly we will never know

I think we were always going down under Malky.

the Sala signing could have kept us up though

[City123]

I think we were always going down under Malky.

the Sala signing could have kept us up though

I don't know, results only started to dip from that Liverpool game on and up until that point were averaging about a point a game, that would have kept us up fairly comfortably

[Rjk]

I don't know, results only started to dip from that Liverpool game on and up until that point were averaging about a point a game, that would have kept us up fairly comfortably

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

[Cyclops]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

'From the start'? Is that so? Even after we beat Man City in the opening game?
My memory is that we had a slightly easier run-in of fixtures to the end of the season after MM was dismissed.

[Rjk]

'From the start'? Is that so? Even after we beat Man City in the opening game?
My memory is that we had a slightly easier run-in of fixtures to the end of the season after MM was dismissed.

lol Malky was sacked on the 27th December, I think the run in was the same as everyone elses

[Cyclops]

lol Malky was sacked on the 27th December, I think the run in was the same as everyone elses

I knew that, but I think our home games in the second half of the season were easier (on paper at least).
All academic now.

[City123]

'From the start'? Is that so? Even after we beat Man City in the opening game?
My memory is that we had a slightly easier run-in of fixtures to the end of the season after MM was dismissed.

We had a pretty easy run in at the end of the season - West Brom, Palace, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Newcastle, Chelsea. Picked up 5 points and got embarrassed in back to back humiliations in the North East

[City123]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

That's a surprise, I don't recall us ever looking massively out of our depth under Mackay

[Fatty Thornton]

our xg stats suggested we were the worst team in the league from the start - it usually catches up with you in the end.

we might not have finished bottom under Malky but I think we would still have gone down.

Under Malky we were getting progressively deeper every week to the stage we were practically defending on our goal line at Anfield! Despite the bright start and a few decent results at home, we were only going in one direction, Ole got us there in a different way.

[2b2bdoo]

Under Malky we were getting progressively deeper every week to the stage we were practically defending on our goal line at Anfield! Despite the bright start and a few decent results at home, we were only going in one direction, Ole got us there in a different way.

Totally agree, I wanted him gone after Villa away, didn’t even try and win that game.

[stan butler]

Under Malky we were getting progressively deeper every week to the stage we were practically defending on our goal line at Anfield! Despite the bright start and a few decent results at home, we were only going in one direction, Ole got us there in a different way.

We were dreadful under Malky in the promotion season and limped over the line.
I believe we were going down under him he didn't have what it takes.
He's more or less been shit everywhere he's been since to..

[Cyclops]

We were dreadful under Malky in the promotion season and limped over the line.

That's just not true. City won the first ten home games of the season, led the league for most of it and were unbeaten for the final eight games, although a number of these were drawn.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

I don't know, results only started to dip from that Liverpool game on and up until that point were averaging about a point a game, that would have kept us up fairly comfortably

My feelings about our time in the Premier League with Malky was that we were far too defensive and didn't offer enough in attack. Our midfield was unadventurous and we had little width. Fraiser Campbell was a waste of space up front who missed lots of chances yet was also starved of service.

We started the season ok and Mutch's winner at Fulham put us 11th, 4 points clear of the bottom 3. We lost at home to Newcastle and got a feeble draw at Norwich. Victory over the Jacks meant we were still 4 points clear of the bottom 3.

Our next group of fixtures saw us well beaten at Villa, gain a dismal 0-0 at Stoke and saw us lose to Palace, meaning we were just a point off the bottom 3. Victory over West Brom brought about the 4 point gap with the bottom 3 again, but with 12 goals scored in 16 games, it was clear Malky's defensive displays were hampering our chances.

I remember us being beaten 3-0 by Southampton and thinking this could have happened to us before. It is true that we were never in the bottom 3 under Malky, we managed to find the odd win when we needed it to that point, but there was enough in those 18 games that made me think that if we did end up in the bottom 3, we wouldn't have the attacking mentality or firepower to sort the situation out.

There's maybe a comparison to be made with Warnock's season. After 18 games we'd won 4 in both seasons. Under Malky we'd scored 12, Warnock 18. We had 3 more points under Malky but were only a point outside the bottom 3, we were 2 points clear under Warnock. The big difference was that under Malky we'd conceded 28 goals, 10 less than we did under Warnock, though we did have some real beatings against Man City and Man Utd.

We won promotion under Mackay by being defensively very difficult to break down. We didn't have enough at the other end of the pitch when we were in the Premier League. Cornelius would have made little difference.