I think we will finish top 4. I'm not predicting anything.
Utd should be involved but have signed mostly shite players. They are a huge laughing stock failure but could still finish above us with an FA Cup
I got a PM off a mate of mine on here yesterday and he said that he still despises MP. I find it amazing that he can generate such levels of hate. It's almost impossible to understand.
I kinda hope we get Atleti in the semis. That battle between MP and Simeone would be amazing.
See, I have to take issue with that bit. If he leaves here after three years with one title and two league cups to show for it I don't think it's a given that it's a success. At best it's probably par, at worse you could say we've underachieved relative to spending and the squad he inherited.
We don't have the right to win every competition, but we do as fans have the right not to expect us to surrender at a whimper.
The CL could of course change the whole perception of his tenure. It's a funny game as they say.
You are though.
You are thinking worst case scenario and venting on it right now when it hasn't happened and the complete opposite is far more likely.
That's my only beef fella.
You not liking him, his selections or his football i have no issue with to be honest.
Way too balanced mate. Not needed. ;)
No yiu are missing my point. I'm saying he has already fucked up even if Utd don't win another game. They should be a distant memory already, now, not a potential challenger.
In Pellegrini's first season we had a decent Chelsea & a Liverpool side on a roll to deal with. Imo both of those would be 1&2 this season. We finished above both. That City would have won this title by now. Instead we are hoping to get enough points not to be overtaken by a bunch of muppets. We have spent a fortune & got much worse. And it isn't down to.the signings. They have kept us alive.
Do you admit injuries have done for us hugely this season and that it isnt all the fault of the manager?
He picked KdB and we sat 2nd in the league just 3 points behind Leicester when he got injured and by the time he comes back, we are 15 points adrift.
We have also had Merlin struggling all season, Kun too, Vinny our captain missing, Nasri gone for a huge bulk.
All players that would walk into most sides and sides that if missing those players would struggle and most would claim they have been very unlucky and its fair enough they haven't performed as usual.
Just take KdB and see how he transforms this side and how he is a match winner at the biggest stages.
Yes he has made mistakes but when he has been able to pick his best players, he wins us games along with those players.
(The 'you's in this reply aren't aimed at you meeesh, just want to make that clear)It will be a stadium of mixed emotions when they do a lap of honour after Arsenal match,some will wave at him,others will want to give him the fingers,but his time is up,and considering how fucked up we have been made lately,he will not leave as a legend,but a boss whose done OK,but in reality should have done a lot better,and before anyone else asks me what I will do,I'll probably give him a polite applause,but know that when I see him go down that tunnel it will be the last time I see him doing so,(as City boss),then reality will kick in of who will be stood in our technical area next season..........awesome thought
I agree with everything except for the lumping of the last 2 seasons together. It has become the new claim. We did not underachieve last season. We came 2nd to a very good Chelsea team. More likely than not, that team would have won the league. They cruised the last few weeks of the season. Last season was not a failure persee. We just lost to a better team.Am I the only one who thinks neither "side" to this argument is correct?
KDB comes back and the club plays better. Suddenly Pellers is a top manager, then?
I say he wasn't bad before. But our often terrible league form over most of the past two years doesn't suggest particular greatness either.
For me, more of a "replacement level" manager for a group stages CL-standard club. ie more or less no better or worse than what a club of our approximate profile is going to be able to hire circa 2013.
Also, for me, a better manager than his predecessor. But surely not as good as his successor :)
(The 'you's in this reply aren't aimed at you meeesh, just want to make that clear)
If he isn't clapped out of there, then we should be very, very embarrassed of ourselves.
Stop being such a bunch of entitled cunts. He's won us trophies whilst he's been here, he's taken us deeper into the CL than ever before and people aren't going to clap him on his last game?
It's not a matter of how you personally think he could have done or that you could have done better with your eyes closed, it's a matter of respect, dignity and class, Something that should be afford to Pellegrini at the very least. The people that don't clap him off, and I find it very hard to believe there'll be some, shouldn't be allowed to continue to 'support' city with the reason stated 'for being a petty ****'
Do you admit injuries have done for us hugely this season and that it isnt all the fault of the manager?
He picked KdB and we sat 2nd in the league just 3 points behind Leicester when he got injured and by the time he comes back, we are 15 points adrift.
We have also had Merlin struggling all season, Kun too, Vinny our captain missing, Nasri gone for a huge bulk.
All players that would walk into most sides and sides that if missing those players would struggle and most would claim they have been very unlucky and its fair enough they haven't performed as usual.
Just take KdB and see how he transforms this side and how he is a match winner at the biggest stages.
Yes he has made mistakes but when he has been able to pick his best players, he wins us games along with those players.
Do you admit injuries have done for us hugely this season and that it isnt all the fault of the manager?
He picked KdB and we sat 2nd in the league just 3 points behind Leicester when he got injured and by the time he comes back, we are 15 points adrift.
We have also had Merlin struggling all season, Kun too, Vinny our captain missing, Nasri gone for a huge bulk.
All players that would walk into most sides and sides that if missing those players would struggle and most would claim they have been very unlucky and its fair enough they haven't performed as usual.
Just take KdB and see how he transforms this side and how he is a match winner at the biggest stages.
Yes he has made mistakes but when he has been able to pick his best players, he wins us games along with those players.
I don't think Pellers has been a failure but he has not made the most of his opportunity...but, and it's a big but, the season is not over and there is the tantalising possibility of a glorious ending that would radically change the perceptions of the last three years.
We need pep a top coach who does get stuffed by 3 goal margins hahaI would expect any decent coach in charge of this excellent squad to win us games when able to pick the best players. It's managing it when players are absent or out of form or blending in youth to ease physical and mental pressure on key players when appropriate and winning key games against immediate rivals or at the very least not losing those games. It's about building a formidable home record so that teams turn up beaten rather than fancying their chances. It's about not getting stuffed by three goal margins. Pellers was handed the golden key to countless riches and has struggled on too many occasions to open the door.
I don't think Pellers has been a failure but he has not made the most of his opportunity...but, and it's a big but, the season is not over and there is the tantalising possibility of a glorious ending that would radically change the perceptions of the last three years.
Don't have much energy or time to spare for this debate but I have no doubt that injuries have been an absolute killer. The frustration for me with Pellegrini is that he is quite clearly capable of doing things differently and more pragmatically but stubbornly chooses not to. If he had set the team up consistently in the fashion we saw vs PSG, we could quite easily have made a better fist of the league. However, let us not forget he was not employed to produce a side that plays like Leicester do: he was brought in to try and follow the strategic brief of how we want to play and win and this is a long-term approach. I would expect that if the club, as embodied by the likes of the Chief Exec and DoF, felt a more pragmatic approach being employed to get things won this season waht they wanted, they would have given the manager that direction or the (early) boot.
Regardless of the foregoing, I think we should have been more pragmatic more often but we haven't. Let's see what Pep does next season; I suspect he won't be trying to emulate Leicester.
He'll get a fantastic send off in the ground. We might have a whinge on here and in pubs up and down the land but anyone thinking he'll get anything but applause from everyone in the stadium are crackers.
I agree injuries have played a big part. Moreso as the injuires were far from minor and happened to players, really important to the team. Anyone knows the numbers of games our spine of Hart-Kompany-Yaya-Silva-Aguero played back to back games with non of them just back from a long term injury? One hand with five fingers will do. It reflects on the team in the long course. Add to that long term injuries to creative players like KdB and Nasri, with Silva hardly ever 100% fit, options to Pellegrini were often limited with players running out of breath with the number of games that had to be played. Any team would have suffered.
Injuries is obviously not the sole reason why our performances in the league and especially at home are so indifferent. The number of players missing would have allowed Pellegrini to change the game of style i.e. attacking and outscore the opponent, to a like you say more pragmatic approche.
Finally we are not the only team with indifferent performances this year. Chelsea, last years champions, Arsenal, Liverpool (even after Klopp arrived) to name a few. So the league participants of the PL itself have made it harder.
Anyway, Pellegrini is too decent a man not clapp and thank him for the three years, when he will be managing City in his last game home and away. You can diagree with his decisions, you can say he has not been a great manager, but you have to respect the man for being an exemple to other PL-managers by behaving with dignity. The ones who can't wait to see his back will be the first to critisize Pep. The players will be sorry to see him go and that was slightly different when Mancini waved goodbye.
Do you admit injuries have done for us hugely this season and that it isnt all the fault of the manager?
He picked KdB and we sat 2nd in the league just 3 points behind Leicester when he got injured and by the time he comes back, we are 15 points adrift.
We have also had Merlin struggling all season, Kun too, Vinny our captain missing, Nasri gone for a huge bulk.
All players that would walk into most sides and sides that if missing those players would struggle and most would claim they have been very unlucky and its fair enough they haven't performed as usual.
Just take KdB and see how he transforms this side and how he is a match winner at the biggest stages.
Yes he has made mistakes but when he has been able to pick his best players, he wins us games along with those players.
I would expect any decent coach in charge of this excellent squad to win us games when able to pick the best players. It's managing it when players are absent or out of form or blending in youth to ease physical and mental pressure on key players when appropriate and winning key games against immediate rivals or at the very least not losing those games. It's about building a formidable home record so that teams turn up beaten rather than fancying their chances. It's about not getting stuffed by three goal margins. Pellers was handed the golden key to countless riches and has struggled on too many occasions to open the door.
I don't think Pellers has been a failure but he has not made the most of his opportunity...but, and it's a big but, the season is not over and there is the tantalising possibility of a glorious ending that would radically change the perceptions of the last three years.