Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[Graffin]

Pellegrini is his first year as coach

 

[BillyShears]

Haha sounds like a plan. Can't say I care what formation we play as long as we're winning, come the end of the season if we have trophies no one will give a hoot either way.

Eggzactlee!

As an aside you can tell some of last season's criticism stung Pellegrini as he made two points in his last post match press conference. "Not bad for a dead man walking" and "we won because we changed to 442". Both apparently said with a wide grin and a twinkle in his eye!

 

[stablemcfc]

Just one problem with that mate. We played one up front in the derby.

And we actually started that match so much better than the matches before hand, I remember thinking this.

Away at United is a tough fixture no matter the scenario, we were in horrible form, they were in good form. That particular match was lost by tactics, Toure not doing his job - he was supposed to mark Fellaini but never did and time and time again we were punished.

Either way, 5 out of 7 matches lost in 442 changing to 10 wins out of 11 in 4231 with that only loss being away at United. For me it's a no brainer what formation suits us more, but as I've already mentioned as long as we're playing good football and winning I won't care what formation we play - just, for me, with our personnel it was a poor decision to use 442 but Pellegrini obviously recognised something wasn't right and has now rectified it be it formation or something else and if he can keep us playing the way we are then hats off to him, he's doing a great job at the moment.

 

[Proy]

It will be 4-2-3-1.

It's started that way and will remain that way. I'm fairly certain we'd have gone after a 4th striker if we were playing with 2 up top. Instead it's 3 and one of those is a young kid.

I've aired my case against Dzeko numerous occasions and he's now gone, but he did make a 4-4-2 look a lot worse than it actually is.

The way we are set up now is the right fit for us.

 

[Badensbluemoon]

Every system can be successful if you have the right players and the commitment from them to the system. 4-4-2 worked right for us when we had Negredo-Aguero up top. Then we had Dzeko-Aguero. The thing is Dzeko was a bit too lazy to put it someway. And the we have Yaya in the middle. Last year the hunger was gone as well. Everything is back this season, we want to probe a lot of people wrong, specially those saying we were not going to make top 4. Guess what... we are going to walk the league this year, no matter what system we use. I really like the look of Sterling-Silva-Kolarov on the left. All the players look very much up for it. Good days ahead.

 

[andersmcfcdk]

Pellegrini is his first year as coach

That picture looks old, is it from his time at Universidad de Chile?

 

[OB1]

Funnily enough someone said to me last week that Pellegrini is going to get a 4th season too as Pep won't go straight from Bayern to City because he doesn't want to disrespect Bayern. Makes sense in a way although I suppose you'd get the same noise then in the final year of MP's contract.

Maybe.

I sincerely hope that Manuel merits a 4th season, regardless of wether he gets it. I believe he has the best squad in league and about the 4th best in Europe, so results have to continue to reflect that. However, he needs to be judged at the end of the season, taking all facts into account. It will be interesting to see the reactions when we lose a game, which we will...

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

And we actually started that match so much better than the matches before hand, I remember thinking this.

Away at United is a tough fixture no matter the scenario, we were in horrible form, they were in good form. That particular match was lost by tactics, Toure not doing his job - he was supposed to mark Fellaini but never did and time and time again we were punished.

Either way, 5 out of 7 matches lost in 442 changing to 10 wins out of 11 in 4231 with that only loss being away at United. For me it's a no brainer what formation suits us more, but as I've already mentioned as long as we're playing good football and winning I won't care what formation we play - just, for me, with our personnel it was a poor decision to use 442 but Pellegrini obviously recognised something wasn't right and has now rectified it be it formation or something else and if he can keep us playing the way we are then hats off to him, he's doing a great job at the moment.

We might have played 1 up front for the derby but we were ragged at that point and the players didn't look like they knew what they were doing. Neville said something after the game along the lines of this

Either way there's no doubt we've looked a different proposition with 1 up front, contrast in results speak for themselves

 

[OB1]

I dont agree with that. I don't agree that 442 was the problem. I don't agree that Yaya in a midfield two (same as this season) is or was a problem. Fundamentally Pellegrini did the best he could with the make up of the squad he had in terms of tactical shape. We lost the title because some of our players couldn't arsed against the lesser likes leading to an inordinate amount of points dropped against shit teams.

Tend to agree; although I'm would not go quite as strong on the players couldn't be bothered angle. I think team shape was a much smaller issue than some of our resident football geniuses like to make out: we've still, as you point out, tended to play with a midfield two. In three of our four games, the formation has been more like 4-2-4 than 4-2-3-1. Only against Chelsea were Navas, Silva and Sterling markedly less advanced than the "centre-forward"; in two games Silva's average position was more advanced than the striker.

 

[bluemoon98]

4-2-3-1?

sagna kompany mangala kolarov
fernandinho toure
de bruyne silva sterling
aguero