Exactly. I have no problem with telling a player that he will be chosen *if he performs up to the necessary standard*. Shouldn't there be some accountability? When you're hired for a job it's with certain expectations, when you fail you're replaced. It's not personal, it's the cost of playing at the highest level.He's not been vindicated at all with his decision imo. He should never be promising players the opportunity to play in cup finals.
He put his relationship with a player in front of the best interests of the club.
Absolutely disgraceful that he has said he would rather lose.
Fair play to Willy he came up trumps in the end. Manuel may be a nice man but his priority should be Manchester City and not Willy.
Very true. I'm afraid a defeat, and especially if Willy had blundered like his opposite number, would have provoked a response of predictable hostility from those of us who disagreed with his decision. I still think he was wrong to promise Willy a berth in the team irrespective of form but I admire his principles.Very few of us, including myself, supported Pellegrini's decision to start Caballero, but he's been vindicated in a huge way.
It's easy to say with hindsight, and the reaction to that quote would have been very different had we lost, but you have to admire Pellegrini's loyalty, and indeed balls, for making that call.
It wasn't based on the heart, I don't know why people keep saying this. It's a decision made prior to the season. You have 2 goalies, you are able to attract good goalies as backups if you give both goalies competitions to play in.Thats the way i feel.And while his statement is all lovely and fluffy,it certainly doesnt have the interests of the group as its intention.Fortunately things could not have worked out better yesterday which has made his statement somewhat untouchable,however,given recent,relevant,evidence.......it could have been very different,,as a decision based on the heart wasnt,imo,the right one.
Well some of us said it before the game, and there are those who's rather have lost the league xup with Willy than win it with Joe.if we would have lost yesterday I'm sure most would be saying pellers should not have promised willy anything in the first place, but we win so we can say it's great to have a manager who values trust so highly
I care about my club end of.I can see how little you care about this Dribble by the 2000 word post you just made on it.
Yes and that is exactly what he did.He didn't say it and we didn't lose. Had we lost he would have been ridiculed for such a statement.
Task
Team
Individual
This is the correct priority according to pretty much every great military and sporting leader.
I think the key point many of us are making is that it's a promise he should have never made, and I noticed it's one you also made on the citywatch podcast.
I see the credence to the trust of the squad argument, and I fully recognise its importance, but Manuel backed himself into that corner, it's a promise he never had to make. And it led to him playing Russian roulette yesterday.
There were some serious potential drawbacks to either choice, he started a player in poor form due to a previous promise going against all conventional wisdom costing us the cup final and losing the support with it (potentially derailing the whole season), or he dropped the out of form player for a superior alternative and we lost anyway, and we'd be plotless and Pellegrini would have lost the trust and respect of the squad (potentially derailing the whole season).
Thankfully it went perfectly, fairytale stuff. But make no mistake, Pellegrini made a huge error making that promise in the first place, and it led to him taking a huge gamble.
Personally, hearing his comments when I got back really jarred with me. We knew that was his thinking going into the game, and that's what angered so many of us. If things hadn't gone so well and we'd lost I'm sure he wouldn't have been so forthcoming in his post match interview.
But, I'm of course delighted it went the way it did. Especially for Willy to be the hero the way he did, could see how much it meant to him and the rest of the squad, could inspire us on now in the league, fingers crossed.
All about those margins in football, a hair' breadth from catastrophe and euphoria.
Eh?Bollocks to this, you never here people use the opposite of this to back pellegrini, numerous times this season we've been unlucky due to refs and poor finishing, what about "if we had won those".
Give the man credit. His dignity adds to the occasion
I disagree with both of you. The only way he should have been dropped is if his form and effort collapsed. There was no proof of that. Willy certainly didn't fail before the cup final. Anyway all these people now saying Manuel was wrong are, (in my opinion) the same people who just don't like Manuel and have wanted him replaced for months and in some cases years. He has been 100% vindicated in his thoughts, words and actions.Exactly. I have no problem with telling a player that he will be chosen *if he performs up to the necessary standard*. Shouldn't there be some accountability? When you're hired for a job it's with certain expectations, when you fail you're replaced. It's not personal, it's the cost of playing at the highest level.
He helped win all the games to get us to that final. One would think that's accountability enough. Not to mention, the club knowingly gave up on his other competitions. Pretty much dicking him out of a chance to succeed. Yet some thought the right decision was to callously take away the competition he worked to get into the finals. This is shocking!!Exactly. I have no problem with telling a player that he will be chosen *if he performs up to the necessary standard*. Shouldn't there be some accountability? When you're hired for a job it's with certain expectations, when you fail you're replaced. It's not personal, it's the cost of playing at the highest level.
Only on this site do we see City fans criticising the manager , who has just won his 3rd trophy in 2.5 seasons, for picking the team that won a cup at Wembley.
"I'm happy we won (hmmm) but he should have picked a different team that might not have won" seems to be the prevailing wisdom from some.
Only on this site.
Mods/Ric can we do something about this rising tide of absolute negativity on here. Its been steadily increasing now for months if not years and is spoiling what is an otherwise brilliant site.
Be it marriage, business, team sport or any other enterprise involving more than one human being, the biggest ingredient for success is trust. Ruthlessness is fine but it is a managers job to keep people motivated and on board. That involves having to accommodate everybody involved. If for whatever reason that promise is given, then that promise has to be kept. Not only if possible, or maybe, or if the circumstances are right, but at all costs. If not then that is the slippery slope of losing the confidence of everybody that has any dealings with you and you find yourself in the same situation that Mourinho finds himself in every 3 years at every club he goes to. It goes beyond football and to the core of what it means to be a good, decent and honest human being. Given the choice of a Mourinho and a Pellegrini, it'd be Pellegrini every time. I would be willing to bet that Pellegrini, whatever you think of his abilities as a manager, has the full respect of everybody at the club.
He certainly has mine.
If the best manager in the premier league is a clown can you describe the other 19 please? Maybe you went to see a Circus managed by Einstein as a youngster.If I sold all my possessions - went to the casino and bet on black at roulette and won I would have double my money. Would that vindicate my decision, or is it only by pure dumb luck I am not destitute? Pelligrini was a prat that got lucky - still a clown for what he did. On the bright side only at City can we make a hero out of a cabbage
So what you are saying is that we shouldn't laud him whether he wins or whether he loses. So the man is condemned to being a failure in some peoples eyes whether he wins or loses. The reason probably is that people would prefer someone who jumps up and down on the touchline, courts controversy at every opportunity and generally brings attention to the club for the wrong reasons. The point is that his dignity doesn't appeal to certain people. That says more about them than it does about him.
I think a proportion of that 99% would have been happy for us to lose yesterday just so their perception of Pellegrini could be justified.
The man made a massive call in the teeth of opposition from according to you, 99% of the fanbase. He was right you were wrong. Events have proved it. I think the honourable and right thing to do would be just put your hands up like many have done on here and accept it. It saddens me but doesn't really surprise me to see that people will still push their argument regardless of having been proved conclusively wrong.
I don't think it's too much to ask to give somebody credit when they have so publicly earned it.