Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[Ducado]

I am impressed and have been since he got here he is calm and measured (like me) but I am aware of the schizoid nature of this forum one day he is as bad as Alan Ball the next he is the new Joe Mercer

People need to understand that we will have bad games, another test this weekend

 

[bernabias home shirt]

The single biggest difference is that the players all look hungry as fuck.

They all seem motivated and the work rate of all the players is great.

They all seem happy and working as a team.

The new signings all look fantastic, and are all team players.

You can tell Jovetic has a great attitude , he was thrilled to get off the mark and the other players love him. Tunnel cam after the derby he waited ouside the dressing room and genuinely seemed buzzing for the other lads who played.

Just seems like we are a much tighter happier ship, and once we fully click into gear I think we could be unstoppable. The scary thing is I think the best is yet to come.

Must win game at villa on Saturday to keep up this momentum

Indeed

One hurdle at a time, next up our away form............

True
Should be a good opportunity against villa to get the away form going
Looking good now though,goals goals goals.

 

[scotty123]

There's plenty to go round....

I like pie.

Ditto, but with a BARM with lots of butter

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

There's plenty to go round....

I like pie.

Ditto, but with a BARM with lots of butter

Yes, because a pie never has enough carbs on its own ;-)

 

[Chippy_boy]

the biggest single statement is 12 goals in a week without silva - unthinkable last season

And bizarrely, we have done that without breaking a sweat.

We packed up tools and took our 4 goal win home after 60 minutes on Sunday. Had we carried on we could (and would imho) have scored 7 or 8. And then last night we had the B team out. Some B team!

Had we really been "going for it", it could have been 16 or 17 : 1 Quite astonishing.

 

[OB1]

the biggest single statement is 12 goals in a week without silva - unthinkable last season

And bizarrely, we have done that without breaking a sweat.

We packed up tools and took our 4 goal win home after 60 minutes on Sunday. Had we carried on we could (and would imho) have scored 7 or 8. And then last night we had the B team out. Some B team!

Had we really been "going for it", it could have been 16 or 17 : 1 Quite astonishing.

It wasn't quite a B team though: three quarters of the back four were mainstays of the title win, Fern is a starter, Dzeko is, well, Dzeko...; and, Yaya, Navas and Negredo all came on. Pelle mixed it up nicely and made it clear to everyone that he is taking the competition seriously and that his players should. Sadly, I could not travel up for the game but it did not sound like City had a bunch of players going out there with an "oh we're just the second string" attitude; instead, it was guys fired up to show that they want to be part of it. Long may that continue.

 

[moomba]

Just enjoying a bloody good week for the club and Pellegrini.

Much tougher tests to come.

 

[Chippy_boy]

the biggest single statement is 12 goals in a week without silva - unthinkable last season

And bizarrely, we have done that without breaking a sweat.

We packed up tools and took our 4 goal win home after 60 minutes on Sunday. Had we carried on we could (and would imho) have scored 7 or 8. And then last night we had the B team out. Some B team!

Had we really been "going for it", it could have been 16 or 17 : 1 Quite astonishing.

It wasn't quite a B team though: three quarters of the back four were mainstays of the title win, Fern is a starter, Dzeko is, well, Dzeko...; and, Yaya, Navas and Negredo all came on. Pelle mixed it up nicely and made it clear to everyone that he is taking the competition seriously and that his players should. Sadly, I could not travel up for the game but it did not sound like City had a bunch of players going out there with an "oh we're just the second string" attitude; instead, it was guys fired up to show that they want to be part of it. Long may that continue.

Agree with all of that, but the fact remains that at the weekend we started with:

Hart, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Nastasic, Kompany, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Navas Nasri, Aguero and Negredo.

(Presumably we felt that was the A team).

And then last night we started with:

Pantilimon, Richards, Clichy, Boyata, Lescott, Milner, Fernandinho, Garcia, Lopes, Dzeko and Jovetic

So it might not be the B team in the sense that it's a bunch of no-hopers, but barring Fernandino it's a completely different team. Yes I know we brought Yaya on in the match last night and yes Milner came on on Sunday etc.

But the point remains that we won 5-0 last night without fielding as strong a team as we possibly could and we also beat the rags 4-1 when only really going for it for 60 minutes at most.

It's quite a mouth watering prospect to think that our team last night, playing like they did, would imho have given any side in the league real problems.

 

[supercity88]

Pellegrini played it perfectly last night, rested the majority of players from the derby thrashing which was well deserved considering it also followed a Champion League game away from home with the pressure of knowing we needed to win really to ease the nerves. The team he put out gave players a chance to get time on the pitch back from injury and settle in the side. He now has Jovetic, Dzeko, Aguero and Negredo scoring goals. He now knows the character of the squad is good, the players are all getting time on the pitch and are all enjoying their football. He also gave Lopes a chance to impress which was nice to see. That team despite not being the strongest 11 on paper is still a very strong side and if Pellegrini wins the League Cup it is still a major trophy and the majority of us will love winning it as we would any trophy. It is a chance for him to get off the mark in terms of success and because of priorities is perhaps the easiest to win depending on the draw we get. I am gutted when we are knocked out of any cup competition so I am impressed with Pellegrini's approach to last night considering we have an away league game and our toughest Champions League game to come.

 

[Jimfv1]

It was also an interesting bench, Hart, Aguero, Kompany and Nastasic all had the night off, which was good to see. Also interesting to see both Fernandinho and Yaya play some part in the game. Obviously both Silva and Rodwell are both still injured so couldn't play any part, but I think it shows how little depth we have in the centre of midfield, which will hopefully be addressed either in Jan or next summer at the latest. I know Garcia was involved but he still doesn't convince me that he can step up for the biggest games.

I guess the centre backs are wrapped in cotton wool because we can't afford any injuries there at the moment. We clearly have a wealth of attacking talent and can rest Aguero when possible. He has recently come back from injury himself and was subbed before the end of the derby, so maybe he did get a slight knock. So it seems clear to me that central midfield and centre-back is still our weaker area for depth of squad players.