Discuss Pellegrini...(cont)

[adrianr]

Now I know I pick two extremes, but our "good days" and "bad days" should not differ that much. Thank God we have had much more of the former than the latter. I hope we can be a bit more consistent next season. No more "we don't get going until the 2nd half".

Very true. What's also important is maintaining a certain level whilst incorporating a few changes. Every team has it's most important players, but we need their back ups to be capable of playing the same way. They don't have to be as good, they never will be, just able to not drop the average performance of the team through the floor because they can't play the system.

Micah for Zab is a perfect example. Micah is a good player when he's fit, but when we've had to bring him into the team this season it's almost worse than playing with ten men. The average performance drops far too much with his introduction and it diminishes the effectiveness of the rest of the team. Garcia for Fern is another, they're just too different and the system is heavily compromised.

Two world class players for every position is an exercise in futility IMO. A soundbite managers use to set a very high expectation for transfers. A world class 11/12 is all that's needed, you just need their backups to not be 30% as capable and make sure you have a banging medical department adorned with plenty of horse shoes and four leaf clovers.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I'm more in agreement with this than the culling idea. Ignoring financial implications, replacing close to half of the squad due to a perceived underperformance isn't very sensible. It isn't the message to send to players; that if they have a bad run of form then they'll be immediately sold. Nobody can work under those constraints.

As Dave says, we already have our solid core and we already have our edge performers that can come in and still do a job. There are certain parts of the squad that do need a freshening up but we need controlled evolution rather than revolution.

Every signing is a risk, there's no guarantee that we'll get a more complete player than we sold. This type of squad upheavel carries immense risk with it and I don't think it really brings in much return. You just aren't going to get two Kompanys, three Yayas and four Agueros in a squad no matter how much you spend.

There is some truth in this and the bigger problem is if they are at that level they won't want to warm the bench either.

Our main problem is our best striker and to a lesser extent centre half and captain appear injury prone,which is a big part of the spine gone.Two of our back up players are permenant crocks in Rodwell and Richards and Jovetic is looking the same,so the latter two,if not three need replacing with similar quality but hardier players.

Where Pellegrini has cocked up in my humble opinion is instisting on playing the same way no matter what the personnel at his disposal.It is ok going on all out attack when you have your first choice eleven out there,we will outgun most teams as we did Spurs,Arsenal and the rags.When some are missing he needs a more conservative plan B to get the job done,something he seems to lack at times.

I think his method this season has been to get his brand of football through to the players - getting them to play the way he wants them to and learn the systems and methods to attack and defend as a team. Most definitely we have dropped points because he has stuck with it, but on the flipside we have won games because of it too. The team struggled to adapt at first and we had a lot of issues at the start of the season but he stuck with it and it will put us in better stead for next season. We will have a core of players who know how Pellegrini wants to play and then we can fix the rest of the squad around that. I think it would have been detrimental in the long term to play a different way early on because we had players unavailable. You also have to accept that Pellegrini wasn't fully aware of the best combinations at first but has picked up on the pros and cons of certain personnel. You also have to accept that he is tactically astute despite criticism because of the way he played against Barcelona. We didn't have many other options when we played that fateful game against Chelsea - and our tactics were brilliant for the first 20 mins. I will be expecting a repeat from the Liverpool v Chelsea game this weekend and hope that Chelsea keep a clean sheet and win the game.

We will be much better next season with a settled core and a settled manager. 89pts is generally a title winning total. We can get 86pts despite various teething problems in early games. What games do you look at and say - yeah okay we lost that one fair and square, we were awful. The Sunderland game away from home and the Norwich game are the only two where I can say we never looked like winning. But we haven't had a Southampton away like last year, or an Arsenal away like the title winning season. Had we managed to take that point from Stamford Bridge, or keep the lead at Cardiff or Villa, we would be on 81pts with 4 games left... the future is bright. We are concentrating on the negatives too much.For me the biggest disappointment is because of how close we will be if we miss out. It will be difficult to accept - but there are so many positive signs there - for all our errors and Pellegrini's criticisms, we are very very close to being an excellent side.

Southampton away we didn't deserve to win, sunderland at home we were lucky to get a point and stoke away we were poor. Other than those you are right.

My concern is that in the second half of the season we haven't been as fluent as in the first. I hope that is due to injuries and not through teams sussing us out a bit.

 

[robbieh]

I don't think we will win the league but I would like a strong finish. Everton is eminently loseable, always is, but if Pellegrini is anything like as good as some on here say we should get a minimum of 9 points from our last 4 games.

Anything less and for me he can do one.

 

[cleavers]

Anything less and for me he can do one.

So you'd get rid of the manager who in his first season at City, in England and the Premier League, who has achieved our second best points total in the Premier League.

If the next bloke doesn't get any more points what then ?

Only one team can win the title each year, and we as a club can only affect 2 of their results, if Liverpool win it, we're 3 points each, and its 4-4 on aggregate with them, their winner at anfield was undeserved, and a bit of luck, a draw, and it would still have been in our hands.

I guess I'm one of the deluded then.

 

[robbieh]

Anything less and for me he can do one.

So you'd get rid of the manager who in his first season at City, in England and the Premier League, who has achieved our second best points total in the Premier League.

If the next bloke doesn't get any more points what then ?

Only one team can win the title each year, and we as a club can only affect 2 of their results, if Liverpool win it, we're 3 points each, and its 4-4 on aggregate with them, their winner at anfield was undeserved, and a bit of luck, a draw, and it would still have been in our hands.

I guess I'm one of the deluded then.

Unlike when he tackled Barca with his star studded Madrid team he has with our similarly star studded side not been able to beat a Chelsea side with no strikers or a Liverpool side with only strikers but not much else. That is why he has failed. Not saying we should sack him. I just don't buy the idea that he has done all that well.

 

[cleavers]

Anything less and for me he can do one.

Not saying we should sack him.

OK

 

[robbieh]

Anything less and for me he can do one.

Not saying we should sack him.

OK

Feeling a bit schizophrenic tonight I admit.

 

[Beezer]

Keep Pellegrini, and infuse more fearless youngsters in the side. Harder to do than say. When does youth trump experience, you only know when you see it.

 

[Del_Bosque]

Can't seriously believe there's talk of selling our better players and buying young British players

England haven't produced a world class footballer since Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard came through

 

[Santiago Street]

Anything less and for me he can do one.

So you'd get rid of the manager who in his first season at City, in England and the Premier League, who has achieved our second best points total in the Premier League.

If the next bloke doesn't get any more points what then ?

Only one team can win the title each year, and we as a club can only affect 2 of their results, if Liverpool win it, we're 3 points each, and its 4-4 on aggregate with them, their winner at anfield was undeserved, and a bit of luck, a draw, and it would still have been in our hands.

I guess I'm one of the deluded then.

Can't argue with any of that