Discuss Pellegrini...(cont)

[supercity88]

The issue for Nasri is that when Silva is out we expect him to take up some of the creative slack. He rarely does and continues in ball retention mode, which is great when we've got Silva to be more penetrative but he really needs to step up when he's meant to be the creative force. Silva doesn't have a problem doing this when deployed wide and cutting in and Nasri is good enough technically to do the same, he's just not got it upstairs imo.

To be fair mate, earlier in the season when Silva was out everyone was raving about how good Nasri had been in his absence. Seems to be a lot of revisionism going on (not you particularly) about just what kind of a season he has had. For me he has absolutely earned a new contract. He has played some of his best football since he joined the club this season. Again, yesterday without Silva it was Nasri's pass which Yaya ran onto to score. It was Nasri's little ball into Aguero that put him through earlier in the match too.

Personally I must admit I am always harsh on Nasri - you have to give credit to him for finding space centrally to play Yaya in - it is finding those pockets of space that is the sign of a good player and whilst he wasn't a stand out performer, he was tasked with a lot of defensive duties because of the 4-4-2. I think Nasri has done enough to deserve a contract - he started the season superbly and lots of people forget his goal contribution - he is better in that aspect than Silva. Both players are better centrally and Nasri is sacrificed further wide in order to allow others to occupy that space. I don't think anyone played particularly brilliantly - Dzeko, Yaya and Garcia were probably the best players for us - it was quite a compact and well organised Palace and we found luck with those central intricate moves which Nasri was part of. You need some guile to go with the commitment of Milner the other side - sometimes it can seem a bit one dimensional when both struggle to find space, Silva seems to make space for himself out of nothing where Nasri likes to drift with the ball... I still expect more from him but then I felt like that about many of the players. It was a professional job and the circumstances were huge so credit to them all for seeing the job through - it wouldn't have been overly surprising to rest on our laurels, instead we found the second goal to kill the game off.

Liverpool will struggle to break Palace down.

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be upset to see him replaced in the starting 11 next year though.

For me this is a different conversation. I think the same way we have Silva/Navas on the right who have totally different skill sets, Nasri needs a player competing for his position who has different qualities. We lack the pace of Hazard, Sterling, Di Maria, Robben, etc. on the left hand side and have done for a very long time now.

 

[supercity88]

I wouldn't be upset to see him replaced in the starting 11 next year though.

For me this is a different conversation. I think the same way we have Silva/Navas on the right who have totally different skill sets, Nasri needs a player competing for his position who has different qualities. We lack the pace of Hazard, Sterling, Di Maria, Robben, etc. on the left hand side and have done for a very long time now.

Got to say Di Maria remains the best player we could sign for this position. I feel he is able to mix up direct attacking with the more intricate link play - he is a goal threat and provider.

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be upset to see him replaced in the starting 11 next year though.

For me this is a different conversation. I think the same way we have Silva/Navas on the right who have totally different skill sets, Nasri needs a player competing for his position who has different qualities. We lack the pace of Hazard, Sterling, Di Maria, Robben, etc. on the left hand side and have done for a very long time now.

Got to say Di Maria remains the best player we could sign for this position. I feel he is able to mix up direct attacking with the more intricate link play - he is a goal threat and provider.

My number one would be Reus all day long for that position.

 

[inbetween]

Pellegrini has been given another chance to deliver now thanks mainly to his enemy Mourinho.

He must deliver now to be thought of as a great manager. If he doesn't deliver from here he may always be the nearly man.

I think he can deliver.......

I think he will too.

There is no way in hell we expected to be in this position after the results against Liverpool and Sunderland.

If we let this slip at the most important time then I don't know what to think because we've been handed it all on a plate now and to throw it all away again would be devastating.

We scored so many goals this season and it would be fitting that we win the league because of it and I hope the players believe now they can do it. We looked a different team yesterday and I think given this chance the players will make sure we win it.

 

[Santiago Street]

It's not been handed to us on a plate at all

The chances of us beating Everton are slightly better than 50/50

We're on course for between 80-85 points which I said months ago would be a good 1st season for Pellers regardless of finishing position

 

[Damocles]

To be fair mate, earlier in the season when Silva was out everyone was raving about how good Nasri had been in his absence. Seems to be a lot of revisionism going on (not you particularly) about just what kind of a season he has had. For me he has absolutely earned a new contract. He has played some of his best football since he joined the club this season. Again, yesterday without Silva it was Nasri's pass which Yaya ran onto to score. It was Nasri's little ball into Aguero that put him through earlier in the match too.

I'm going to look into this because I think you're wrong.

Silva's first injury this season was picked up in late August during his Spain duties. This kept him out until October, with a sub return in the Bayern game and his first start against Everton.

During that period we played:

0-0 versus Stoke. Nasri was subbed in the 73rd minute. Here is the post match thread. You already know how those things go after a draw or loss but there wasn't much praise for Nasri here. Here is a thread after this game which criticised him and talked about how people were disappointed in him.

3-0 against Plzen. Here is the post match thread. Many comments in here talk about Nasri being the Man of the Match and him putting on an excellent display. After remembering that game, I'd agree.

4-1 against United. Here is the post match thread. Another one in your column it seems, there are many remarks that Nasri was great that day and I've mentioned this and the Swans game in my other posts.

A Wigan game Nasri didn't play in.

2-3 against Villa. Nasri was subbed in the 66th minute. Here is the post match thread. The general feeling is that we lost the game through a patch of bad luck and Pellegrini dropped a bollock by taking Nasri off, which would support the idea that he had a good game.

Out of the 4 games he played in, he was excellent in 1 and very good in 1 and above average in another (I use that for Villa as he got some stick in that thread too but everybody gets stick when we lose). I'm pretty sure that if you are talking about this period alone then you're definitely right but I would say that basing a new contract decision on the back off 3 good games in September is a poor way to do business.

I'll look at the other Silva injuries that he covered.

Silva's second injury of the season was suffered in the game against CSKA Moscow in 8th November until December 10th for the Bayemn away game.

During this time City played:

1-0 loss to Sunderland. Here is the post match thread. I admit that I skipped half of that thread to get a better reading once people had calmed down ("That's it, the league over" - it was November) and most were pretty critical of Nasri saying that he wasn't incisive enough and needed Silva with him.

6-0 against Spurs. Nasri was subbed in the 77th minute at 5-0. Here is the post match thread. It would be hard to play badly in a 6-0 win buyt the main praise went to Navas as the creative force. Thos who did mention Nasri mentioned him in favourable terms and said he did well. I remember thinking during this game that Nasri always seemed to turn it on against Spurs so he must have impressed me.

4-2 against Plzen. Nasri was subbed in the 75th minute at 2-2. We didn't seem to have a Plzen post match thread for some reason. For context though, Nasri came second in the POTM for November which would speak to the idea that he did well that month.

3-0 against Swansea. This was his best game in a City shirt in my opinion. Post match thread for completeness but I loved him that day.

3-2 against West Brom. Nasri was subbed in the 77th minute at 3-0. Post match. As you imagine from the result, all of the talk was about the close capitulation so wasn't much analysis going around. The only bit I really found said that Nasri "did well at times" so I guess we can take that one as a good game for him.

1-1 with Southampton. Post match thread. Much of the discussion here was that Nasri needed to play in a different position and was wasted out wide which would suggest he didn't have a great game.

Out of the 6 games he played without Silva there, he played badly in 2 of the games and the rest played well with the exception of Swansea in which he was excellent.

Seems you were right Billy, when Silva was injured for those pre-Xmas games the general consensus is that Nasri stepped up to the plate in a creative role. However, if you look past that to the January and March injuries then the situation seems to have switched with Nasri being the butt of many frustrations.

I'm not sure if this is indicative of anything at all but it seems that every thread that was praising Nasri was commenting on how lost Dzeko looked and every thread that slagged off Nasri was saying how much more alive Dzeko looked. I wonder if they get in each other's way?

 

[inbetween]

It's not been handed to us on a plate at all

The chances of us beating Everton are slightly better than 50/50

We're on course for between 80-85 points which I said months ago would be a good 1st season for Pellers regardless of finishing position

Had Liverpool gained anything from yesterday we'd be relying on them dropping points no matter what whereas now it has completely swung to the point where only we can lose ourselves the title. We have control over our own destiny now and I think Everton are a different proposition under Martinez, they also have some key injuries which will have an effect on them. Southampton beat them comfortably on Saturday so we SHOULD be able to go there and more than fight for 3 points. This is especially true if Arsenal more than likely get a result tonight against Newcastle because that puts Everton's 4th place hopes pretty much to bed.

Arsenal hammered them in the FA Cup, Liverpool hammered them and even Palace got a result against them. I think they will be a very different Everton team to the one we are used to but I'm not at all saying it will be easy. We can go there though with the confidence that the most difficult game of the title run in can put us in an amazing position, I can't see the players throwing that away after the gift we got yesterday from Chelsea.

Anything above 4th is a good result for Pellegrini but we'd have to be mad to not snatch the title now that we have the power over who wins it.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

Personally I think we need to show the calmness we showed today. If you contrast the way our players reacted to the final whistle versus the way the scousers have in recent weeks, it strikes me that that calmness could be our biggest asset.

If the players step up for the boss in the remaining games as they did today then the title will be ours and Pellegrini will have done a fucking double in his first season in the league.

It's not a debate that I will take much part in (because I'm in U.S. on business most of week) but Pellegrini does need to get his team selection and tactics right for Everton. However, I can't see him straying too far from his norms. If we are to win the title, we might as well do it in the way that we have gone about things so far.

I also think that it is far more about the players now. Composure or calmness will be crucial. It's about bottle and seeing the job through. Everton are the first obstacle of the end of the run-in and a tough opponent but City can go there and dominate if they put their minds to it.

I think edins post match interview spelled it out

"This Everton team like to play"

On song, which we will be, I feel we'll have to much, yaya had the eye of the tiger back yesterday, that spells danger (:

-- Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:02 pm --

Personally I think we need to show the calmness we showed today. If you contrast the way our players reacted to the final whistle versus the way the scousers have in recent weeks, it strikes me that that calmness could be our biggest asset.

If the players step up for the boss in the remaining games as they did today then the title will be ours and Pellegrini will have done a fucking double in his first season in the league.

It will be a amazing first season for pellers if we do indeed take the title
I'll be honest I thought it would be abt par or just under had we only won the LC and faded in the last few league games,now no matter what we are near enough certain to be taking it to the last day & favs to win it again
I think your right abt us being pretty calm abt things too.

Forgot about you cookie lad

No chance you say??? (:

I don't think I've ever said that mate,Tbh I've been saying we would win it right upto the Sunderland game,then I've got to admit I thought we had blown it
Back in the game though and all my early season bets on us looking good again :)

 

[chris85mcfc]

It's not been handed to us on a plate at all

The chances of us beating Everton are slightly better than 50/50

We're on course for between 80-85 points which I said months ago would be a good 1st season for Pellers regardless of finishing position

Had Liverpool gained anything from yesterday we'd be relying on them dropping points no matter what whereas now it has completely swung to the point where only we can lose ourselves the title. We have control over our own destiny now and I think Everton are a different proposition under Martinez, they also have some key injuries which will have an effect on them. Southampton beat them comfortably on Saturday so we SHOULD be able to go there and more than fight for 3 points. This is especially true if Arsenal more than likely get a result tonight against Newcastle because that puts Everton's 4th place hopes pretty much to bed.

Arsenal hammered them in the FA Cup, Liverpool hammered them and even Palace got a result against them. I think they will be a very different Everton team to the one we are used to but I'm not at all saying it will be easy. We can go there though with the confidence that the most difficult game of the title run in can put us in an amazing position, I can't see the players throwing that away after the gift we got yesterday from Chelsea.

Anything above 4th is a good result for Pellegrini but we'd have to be mad to not snatch the title now that we have the power over who wins it.

Still doesn't mean its been handed to us, we've had to hang in there while they have been on their 14 game winning streak

Handing it to us would be us drawing against Everton and them losing at Palace and then at home to Newcastle

They've done well for the last few months but Chelsea was a bridge too far for them and now they'll have to sit and wait to see if we can capitalise