Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[mancity1]

The responsibility for this is with the players, they don't turn up when we are playing supposedly "lesser" sides.

This is my main concern at the moment to the point where I'm not overly bothered that we've had supposedly easier fixtures than our rivals.

Bring on the tougher games, I'm confident in the ability if our squad to get a result against anyone if they can be arsed.

It will come. I'm convinced. The issues we have had are easily rectifiable and the good things that we've seen are tremendously exciting. Our new signings look terrific and our experienced players look hungry. All the ingredients are there for us to grab this league by the scruff of its neck. Vinny kompany nailed it when he said about the villa game "if we'd played this game ten times we'd have won nine". We are still gelling.

Talk is cheap and excuses wear thin.

9 times out of ten don't mean anything.

If we played this game again and played with the same mind set and the same arrogance and half baked approach to our defensive duties we would lose it again simple as gell or no gell , bedding in new system or old system or whatever.

Its the second time we have led away from home against sides we should be beating and come up with nix but an excuse for why we lost.

Its not nearly good enough and should not be tolerated and after a good win against Manure its almost defies belief how we can let a side undermanned and with such a defensive mindset at home off the hook.

Captain the side with aplomb against Bayern and ensure he plays his part in a victory against Everton and he will go up a tad in the area which matters most.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

The responsibility for this is with the players, they don't turn up when we are playing supposedly "lesser" sides.

This is my main concern at the moment to the point where I'm not overly bothered that we've had supposedly easier fixtures than our rivals.

Bring on the tougher games, I'm confident in the ability if our squad to get a result against anyone if they can be arsed.

Its been down to a lack of concentration thats all we, ve been at our weakest agsinst the lesser teams when we have taken the lead upto that point we, ve been the dominant team sure this will be beaten out of us just need to be there or thereabouts come xmas and we, ll walk away with this lge.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Yeah, upon reflection I feel a bit embarrassed about that.

Haha. You didn't did you?

No, Dave.

Did you really need to ask? ;-)

I'd have been stunned if you did, fella, put it that way ;-)

 

[Skashion]

The league is there for the taking. I'll be disappointed if we don't win it now. Chelsea don't look half as strong as I thought they'd be and in getting rid of Lukaku and Moses, I think they handed us the impetus to go and win the title. We've played easily the best football in this league. Some away form is all we need.

 

[TGR]

This is my main concern at the moment to the point where I'm not overly bothered that we've had supposedly easier fixtures than our rivals.

Bring on the tougher games, I'm confident in the ability if our squad to get a result against anyone if they can be arsed.

It will come. I'm convinced. The issues we have had are easily rectifiable and the good things that we've seen are tremendously exciting. Our new signings look terrific and our experienced players look hungry. All the ingredients are there for us to grab this league by the scruff of its neck. Vinny kompany nailed it when he said about the villa game "if we'd played this game ten times we'd have won nine". We are still gelling.

Talk is cheap and excuses wear thin.

9 times out of ten don't mean anything.

If we played this game again and played with the same mind set and the same arrogance and half baked approach to our defensive duties we would lose it again simple as gell or no gell , bedding in new system or old system or whatever.

Its the second time we have led away from home against sides we should be beating and come up with nix but an excuse for why we lost.

Its not nearly good enough and should not be tolerated and after a good win against Manure its almost defies belief how we can let a side undermanned and with such a defensive mindset at home off the hook.

Captain the side with aplomb against Bayern and ensure he plays his part in a victory against Everton and he will go up a tad in the area which matters most.

Superb post.
I too am not buying this 'we are still gelling' crap. It was an excuse used against Cardiff, Stoke and now Villa. Those 3 points on Saturday have been pissed away and they could more than likely come back to bite us in the arse come the end of the season. That result was indefensible and we need to stop trying to make excuses. Its results what count - nothing else.
Lets try and get back on the front foot tomorrow night but a harder to team to do it against we could not have.

 

[mancity1]

So far this season I've been on a real roller-coaster with my feelings on Manuel & how the season is going to pan out. One minute I think it's all going to click & we're absolutely going to walk the league, the next I'm concerned that it's actually going to be one big clusterfuck and we'll struggle to get top 4!

I'm in a dip at the moment (hopefully posters on here are aware that I'm not usually a doom merchant!), not actually because of the games we've lost but because of how we've won the games we have & who we've played...


Newcastle - Decent performance against a team in complete disarray who were really unsettled by problems with their best player.

Hull - Frankly, we were really poor and were quite lucky.

Plzen - Decent performance against a pretty crap team who will struggle to get a sinle victory in the group.

United - Yep, excellent performance. However, results so far show that the Rags, in terms of form at the moment, are a million miles away from the best sides in the league.

Wigan - Good performance. Minimum that was expected though really against a team that is now no more than a mid-table Championship team.


As I said earlier, sorry for the negativity! Give me an hour or so and I'll be posting about how, when it all comes together, we'll do the quadruple :)

Valid points and the next two games will show where we are at present.

We play a side who has done it all has a new manager who is lauded as one the best going around and appears hungry for more success on every front on Wednesday.

We then play a side undefeated in the league , playing some exciting football without any other games to distract them from giving it their best shot on Saturday with a second to none record at our place in the recent past.

Anything but a win on Saturday and rightly so MP will be talked about in similar terms to Moyes by all and sundry.

Every game is important and the next one always more important than the previous one but the pressure on the players and MP if they don't come up trumps against Everton on Saturday will jack up another level.

Despite the games we have played to date and the stuff ups away from home and as you say the lousy performance against Hull , Saturday is our first real test of the season.

If we fall at the first hurdle we might not be talking about winning the title for too much longer and we know what is left for us after that as far as qualification for next years Chump League is concerned.

Some think there is much improvement to come from us this season and I would sincerely hope that is the case because we are currently seventh on goal difference playing like a side that deserves to be in mid table at best.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

So far this season I've been on a real roller-coaster with my feelings on Manuel & how the season is going to pan out. One minute I think it's all going to click & we're absolutely going to walk the league, the next I'm concerned that it's actually going to be one big clusterfuck and we'll struggle to get top 4!

I'm in a dip at the moment (hopefully posters on here are aware that I'm not usually a doom merchant!), not actually because of the games we've lost but because of how we've won the games we have & who we've played...


Newcastle - Decent performance against a team in complete disarray who were really unsettled by problems with their best player.

Hull - Frankly, we were really poor and were quite lucky.

Plzen - Decent performance against a pretty crap team who will struggle to get a sinle victory in the group.

United - Yep, excellent performance. However, results so far show that the Rags, in terms of form at the moment, are a million miles away from the best sides in the league.

Wigan - Good performance. Minimum that was expected though really against a team that is now no more than a mid-table Championship team.


As I said earlier, sorry for the negativity! Give me an hour or so and I'll be posting about how, when it all comes together, we'll do the quadruple :)

Valid points and the next two games will show where we are at present.

We play a side who has done it all has a new manager who is lauded as one the best going around and appears hungry for more success on every front on Wednesday.

We then play a side undefeated in the league , playing some exciting football without any other games to distract them from giving it their best shot on Saturday with a second to none record at our place in the recent past.

Anything but a win on Saturday and rightly so MP will be talked about in similar terms to Moyes by all and sundry.

Every game is important and the next one always more important than the previous one but the pressure on the players and MP if they don't come up trumps against Everton on Saturday will jack up another level.

Despite the games we have played to date and the stuff ups away from home and as you say the lousy performance against Hull , Saturday is our first real test of the season.

If we fall at the first hurdle we might not be talking about winning the title for too much longer and we know what is left for us after that as far as qualification for next years Chump League is concerned.

Some think there is much improvement to come from us this season and I would sincerely hope that is the case because we are currently seventh on goal difference playing like a side that deserves to be in mid table at best.

You've hit the nail on the head that there is much improvement to come overall.

I honestly believe it will. I've got faith in these players and the new manager to get it right every week, not every other week.

The title is there for the taking.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Fuckin brilliant. now Ric's going to put all 57000 of us on the naughty stair because of you lot.

 

[daxman]

If he wants to challenge in the PL he needs to re-think the balance between attack and defence. If we were anything like as solid at the back as we've been in previous years we'd be top by now. Wenger has recognised that a solid back four with enough goals is the right formula. The team with the best defence will win the title - it won't be about who scores the most goals. Looking ahead to Everton, I'd definitely play Lescott at CB to go against Lukaku.

Again, these are one of those false claims that get annoying. Watching the games, it is easy to see the improvements in the team's play. But for those who doubt it, Let the facts be your guide.

Defensively, we are conceding fewer shots per game now than we did in either the championship winning season or last season:
2013-2014: 9.2 shots per game
2012-2013: 10.2 shots per game
2011-20 12: 10.5 shots per game

Also, even though we have conceeded 2 freekicks in the first few games, we are actually fouling less now than we did in either of the past 2 seasons.
2013-2014: 10.5 fouls a game.
2012-2013: 12.4 fouls a game.
2011-2012: 11.3 fouls a game.

Tackles per game:
2013-2014: 19.3 per game
2012-2013: 18 per game
2011-2012- 18.3 a game

Reality is, we are a more cohesive team now, better at defending, and attacking, than we were in either 2011 or 2012. Granted the sample size for this season (6 games) is small to start drawing any overall conclusions. But so far, we have been improving with every game. Even the Villa game showed some improvements. Sure, mistakes were made that cost us, but improvements in play, possession and even defending was clear to see.

I wouldn't go as far as saying we are a better team now than we were in either of the previous 2 season, but we look like we will be.

As for Pellegrini, I think he is doing a very good job. But we will know how good at the end of the season.

 

[mancity1]

It will come. I'm convinced. The issues we have had are easily rectifiable and the good things that we've seen are tremendously exciting. Our new signings look terrific and our experienced players look hungry. All the ingredients are there for us to grab this league by the scruff of its neck. Vinny kompany nailed it when he said about the villa game "if we'd played this game ten times we'd have won nine". We are still gelling.

Talk is cheap and excuses wear thin.

9 times out of ten don't mean anything.

If we played this game again and played with the same mind set and the same arrogance and half baked approach to our defensive duties we would lose it again simple as gell or no gell , bedding in new system or old system or whatever.

Its the second time we have led away from home against sides we should be beating and come up with nix but an excuse for why we lost.

Its not nearly good enough and should not be tolerated and after a good win against Manure its almost defies belief how we can let a side undermanned and with such a defensive mindset at home off the hook.

Captain the side with aplomb against Bayern and ensure he plays his part in a victory against Everton and he will go up a tad in the area which matters most.

Superb post.
I too am not buying this 'we are still gelling' crap. It was an excuse used against Cardiff, Stoke and now Villa. Those 3 points on Saturday have been pissed away and they could more than likely come back to bite us in the arse come the end of the season. That result was indefensible and we need to stop trying to make excuses. Its results what count - nothing else.
Lets try and get back on the front foot tomorrow night but a harder to team to do it against we could not have.

The sad thing is that these " unlucky " results can quickly add up to the point where the ass goes beyond being bitten.

Our away form has been a disgrace in the premiership this season and was well below what was required to challenge last season and has to be rectified IMMEDIATELY if we are to challenge this year.

It will put extra pressure on us to perform to the level we need to win at home and we know we will drop more points at home than we did in our championship winning season.

Lets see how we cope with Everton on Saturday for example.

Winning titles is all about accumulating points when you have the opportunity to do so.

You cannot predict how things will go down the track and necessarily expect all will correct itself because we will get better and the opposition get worse and lie down and gift us wins.

Cardiff didn't , Villa didn't , Stoke didn't and for what its worth there results at home this season suggest most of our rivals will get points off them without much fuss come the equivalent game.

Lets face facts for the first six games we have been a mid table side playing mid table football getting mid table results and that's beyond dispute.

I like all of us expect it to get better starting this Saturday but like all games there are no guarantees it will go they way we expect or hope it should.

Points are what matters and to date we are 6 points worse off than what we should be , I hope its not 7 or worse still 9 points after Saturday.