Pellegrini didn't get the performance he expected from the eleven he put out and has stated as much. He trusted the players to give a better performance and they let him down. However it's no coincidence that the three centre backs all play better alongside Kompany.
DeMichelis lacks pace but so does Lescott and Nastasic, they all rely on their brains to get in correct position to defend against counter attacks.
Hart may have had a better chance with saving both goals today. He's a better shot stopper than Pantilimon and gets down quicker.
Rodwell and Richards lack match fitness and yet were playing in two of the most important positions for our team today. We know what Fernandinho brings to the team alongside Yaya. He covers a lot of Yaya's forward forays but today Rodwell didn't offer the protection that Fernandinho does.
Yaya lost the ball too easily for Watford's second goal. He has stated in the past that he struggles to raise his game for the "easier" games and I am not sure that Pellegrini is aware of this yet.
With the personnel changes in the second half the whole dynamic of the team changed. Lescott looked more settled next to Kompany, MDM held the midfield better than Rodwell, Yaya picked his game up and Zabaleta helped Navas more on the right flank. Jovetic looked much better on the left than Lopes.
The fans need to get real regarding Lopes, the lad is still only very young and there are always some fans who want us to produce a superstar but are then disappointed when the player doesn't quite reach the heights we expect. I think we all forget too soon that our last great hopes we soon started slating until they were sold. Richards is the last home made product we have and he isn't quite attaining the heights we expect, before this it was SWP, Ireland, Barton and Michael Johnson, non of these became the world beater we wanted, but we all expected too much from them and then started calling them when they didn't make the grade.
We got away with this game and got the result we needed. I still think we lack a bit of squad depth, mainly due to certain players having injuries and loss of form. We are also in a transitional period and Pellegrini is still getting his ideas across to the players, the fact we are still in with a shout of winning four trophies says a lot for how well the players and manager are coping with the demands from the fans and board for success. It wasn't quite the result or performance we expected today but it is another lesson learnt for the players and manager and we came through it with success.
