Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[SalfordCityBlue]

The man we should have had in charge was in the other dug out last night. I was a Pep in man long before becoming a Mancini outer. We are going to pay for the almighty cock-up of the summer of 2012 for some time but what is done is done. Everything is relatively but Pellegrini inherited a number of problems and now has to be given some time to put them right - and hopefully pave the way for Pep's English job.

We have to give Pellegrini time at this point. I cannot muster any dislike for him because he seems a good man, so there will be no rabid calls for his head from me.

However, many (the majority?) thought it at the time and many think it even more now - we made a mistake in May, and I'd say the casting of envious glances towards Mourinho and Guardiola from the fans during Mancini's last year, even after winning the title should teach us all a serious lesson about the greenness of the grass.

We landed neither, undermining the manager in the process and ended up in arguably a considerably worse position.

Hate to use Ferguson as a benchmark but each and every time a player even thought of challenging his authority they were dealt with - decisively - with no concern for who they were. And the club backed him to the hilt. We failed that test miserably.

We are where we are, we have what we have and I'd say there is no point in-fighting over it as we are backed into a corner and have to fight our way out. With the squad that we have and Pellegrini's managerial ability we should still be able to rescue the situation and reverse the current backwards slide. Whether we can progress as we would have had the club handled the Mancini situation correctly, I am not so sure, but we have to ensure this doesn't become a disaster of Moyes like proportion.

Wenger must be pissing himself laughing at events in Manchester lately.

 

[Eaglechief]

I gave him credit when it was due but to see him sat there fiddling with his wedding ring whilst the team was being torn a new one was gutting when everyone but him could see the problem,this subbing by numbers is a really bad tactic,david looked like he could have done a bit longer but the other subs were very late,If we were doing better in the league i would not be bothered about the c/l but we are not,i said at the start his style of football would not work in the premier league and i'm sticking to it

Agree.We are haemaoraging goals at an alarming rate.

It can't be doing the team's confidence any good conceding the number of goals we've let in this season.

Mancini's first full season was all about keeping the defence as tight as possible, which slowly built the team's confidence.

We seem to be going backwards at an alarming rate at the moment.

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

There are supporters on here who believed that Pellegrini was not a suitable appointment for City from the moment he was linked with the job. There are those who had serious doubts but wished him all the best and hoped that success would follow; this is probably the majority, to which I belong, and I have not yet given up hope by any means for this season, but the doubts are growing. Then there are those who wanted Mancini out at all costs, didn't really want Pellegrini, about which they knew very little until Guillem Balague wrote about him, but would have had the devil himself to see the back of Mancini. Mancini has gone - "get over it" they say . Well, I am over it, but the fact that Mancini was sacked doesn't mean that Pellegrini is inevitably a good appointment. That his supporters are now reduced to excusing him rather than endorsing him is an obvious sign that things are not going well; one point from nine in away games when we would have expected all nine and tolerated seven is little better (if at all) than disgraceful, and his performance in last night's match, against a side of true quality, was so inept, so feeble in all those things we were told were his great qualities, that it was truly frightening. His interview after the match really did suggest someone who was out of their depth. So much stress was laid on his ability to cope in Europe that those who jump to his defence by arguing that we were playing the best team in Europe miss the point; most of us on here accepted that it was a game we may lose, but we never expected a humiliation. Joe had a bad game, but the other lads were so abysmal because they were trying to play in a formation which was totally unfit for purpose, and with which they had to persevere for 90 minutes. I think it is too early to consider sacking Pellegrini after 3 months - but, come on lads, did you really believe that we would have come to this by the beginning of October? Surely, you cannot have believed that "the Pellegrini era" would have begun with such a shambles? Will one of those who welcomed his appointment please tell us, frankly and honestly, what you have made of him so far?

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

I really don't think he knows what he's doing.
He doesn't seem to know which is his best starting eleven for any given game, his tactics are hard to comprehend, his substitutions often invoke mass head scratching, he has spent a lot of money on a team that simply isn't gelling, our defence leaks like a fucking colander, and in my opinion we have gone backwards from last season.
I would gladly give a manager with a coherent plan all the time in the world to get things right, but frankly I don't see any signs that he has one, and that is worrying.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

I really don't think he knows what he's doing.
He doesn't seem to know which is his best starting eleven for any given game, his tactics are hard to comprehend, his substitutions often invoke mass head scratching, he has spent a lot of money on a team that simply isn't gelling, our defence leaks like a fucking colander, and in my opinion we have gone backwards from last season.
I would gladly give a manager with a coherent plan all the time in the world to get things right, but frankly I don't see any signs that he has one, and that is worrying.

Totally understandable - although, in his defence I would say - perhaps what appears to be indecision and lack of coherence - is down to fact he is still assessing the players. Not just in terms of their technical abilities but also their mental capacities and decision making during matches.

Easy to feel the way you have described but I'd give him until the end of November until I can or cannot say I have confidence in him getting it right.

 

[BlueRockape]

He has single handed fuked up the best defence in the league FACT so for me he can fukoff or drop Hart and return to zonal marking.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Do you think the more intelligent and tactically astute managers like mourinho, Benitez, Wenger, Klopp, laudrup, Rogers, etc would have set the team up like that tonight and left it so late to change things ? Are we being over critical because he hasnt got the personnel to change it to another system?

But that's the thing he has got the personnel it's a complete mystery to me he looked like a rabbit in the spot light last night absolutely clueless, I am just hoping that the DOF has noticed as well

I've had a night to sleep on it, but it's no better in the cold light of day. 4-4-2 against an interchangeable 6 man midfield, and he just sat there for 70 minutes and waited til we were 3-0 down to change things. Oh, and one of our swamped midfield quartet was Ya Ya Toure, a fabulous player, but a man who is 6ft 3' and 14 stone, and very obviously not built for shuttle running back and forth to close opponents down. Last night was one of the most tactically inept performances from a manager I've ever seen at City, albeit that the opposition were top class. If you include pre-season, we have conceded 3 goals in 5 out of 10 games against serious opposition, been outplayed for long periods by Hull and Stoke, and looked convincing just twice, against a shambolic 10 man Newcastle and the rags, whose chronically slow central midfield coupling of Carrick and Hair Bear handed us the game on a plate.
The alarm bells are ringing at deafening levels, and unless the manager starts taking a more pragmatic outlook, I can see this season being over by the end of the month once we've played Everton and Chelsea

One of the best posts I've ever read on Bluemoon.

The fact so many on here think we lost last night due to lack of work rate is absolutely astonishing to me.

We lost because essentially we were playing 4 against 6 in midfield and got passed to death.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Manuel has clearly not seen enough of Dzeko to realise Negredo should be starting in the majority of games now, certainly last night.

Don't think the result would have been much different last night if Mancini had held the reigns.

But I must admit to being a little concerned that Pellegrini would not rectify the glaring mis-matches as the game played out. Mancini was dogmatic, but he was quick to change things if needs be.

I watched Bayern against Arsenal at the Emirates last season and it was pretty much the same, completely schooled 'em.

What he needs to do now is keep an unchanged team for a few weeks, barring injury, and allow his ideas to be implemented.

It's a worrying state of play when I feel we are one good win or one bad win away from whatever direction the season will go.

 

[OB1]

The man we should have had in charge was in the other dug out last night. I was a Pep in man long before becoming a Mancini outer. We are going to pay for the almighty cock-up of the summer of 2012 for some time but what is done is done. Everything is relatively but Pellegrini inherited a number of problems and now has to be given some time to put them right - and hopefully pave the way for Pep's English job.

We have to give Pellegrini time at this point. I cannot muster any dislike for him because he seems a good man, so there will be no rabid calls for his head from me.

However, many (the majority?) thought it at the time and many think it even more now - we made a mistake in May, and I'd say the casting of envious glances towards Mourinho and Guardiola from the fans during Mancini's last year, even after winning the title should teach us all a serious lesson about the greenness of the grass.

We landed neither, undermining the manager in the process and ended up in arguably a considerably worse position.

Hate to use Ferguson as a benchmark but each and every time a player even thought of challenging his authority they were dealt with - decisively - with no concern for who they were. And the club backed him to the hilt. We failed that test miserably.

We are where we are, we have what we have and I'd say there is no point in-fighting over it as we are backed into a corner and have to fight our way out. With the squad that we have and Pellegrini's managerial ability we should still be able to rescue the situation and reverse the current backwards slide. Whether we can progress as we would have had the club handled the Mancini situation correctly, I am not so sure, but we have to ensure this doesn't become a disaster of Moyes like proportion.

Wenger must be pissing himself laughing at events in Manchester lately.

I'm not going to get into a Mancini debate. My position on Mancini is that City were right to dispense with his services but they did it 12 months too late: they did not have the balls to let a title winning manager go; that is understandable.

Pellegrini was not my first choice indeed, had I extended my own list out, after Pep agreed to join the Bavarians, Pelle would probably have featured somewhere between 6th and 10th. As I've said a few times, Wenger, who you mention, would have been my third choice.

I do think we have to give Pellegrini a decent crack at it. I happen to think that he will make a decent fist of it if we show some patience and plenty of support. If I'm wrong or the club decide that they have made the wrong choice of manager, they could do worse than trying to tempt Heynckes out of retirement. However, I don't believe that it will need to come to that.

I do think that we might see some culling of players and January could be and interesting window. I still hold to the belief that Mansour should show his middle digit to Prattini and spend whatever it takes but I'll defend his right to do whatever he chooses with his dosh i.e. spend or save.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

The spanish mafia are quiet in all this.

I would love to know what they are thinking.

They will be held accountable as well should this all go tits up!