Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Well, we're through to the 2nd round of the Carling Cup - improvement, we've got 3 points from 2 games in the CL which is also better than same stage last year and we're not far off what we had at the same point in the league campaign so it's not like we're miles worse than under Bobby 12 months ago. I'm not saying everything is fantastically wonderful to date under MP and I have some concerns about certain aspects (this apparant religious devotion to the 4-4-2 being one) but on the other hand, some bits have been better.

Please tell me the cl point was typed in error..we played plzen mate..a pub team..come on.

You start to lose the argument when you start to undermine the team you claim to support, decrying any of our victories makes you look small time

Im not here to argue ducado so please give it up.plzen were shit.we played madrid.dortmund.ajax last yr.no comparison my friend.

 

[Ducado]

It's perfectly understandable for us to be angry after last nights non performance, true there have been some bad games, but I think most sane and sensible blues will give Pellegrini some more time.

Hmmmmmm..........you was doing well until you got to the bit in bold. ;-)

I have had my insane moment of the year now, it's back to sanity

It's easy to see how some of the hysterics get on a band wagon and find it difficult to get off

 

[OB1]

Part of Pellegrinis' problem is that (in my opinion) there is a core of players who have a lazy arrogance that is undermining all the good things that have happened in the recent past. Watching the almost total lack of effort for much of last season started this train of thought and the abysmal non-performance at Wembley convinced me it was real.

These players hated Mancini because he wasn't prepared to indulge them and they will treat Pellegrini with contempt as he is a nice guy in comparison and so will be seen as a soft touch.

Pellegrini is not a soft touch. How many times do people have to be referred to Riquelme?

 

[Shaelumstash]

The strongest mental toughness in the world won't get you the ball back when you're playing the European Champions 6 against 4 in midfield.

For the most part it was 6 against 2, never mind 4. Our fullbacks didn't appear to spend much time as part of the defence either, so once they got past our 2 midfielders it was 4 against 2 at the back. Meanwhile our 2 strikers might as well have been on a different pitch.

I completely agree! If you take in to account they pushed their two full backs up as well it was often 8 against 4 in the middle third, as ridiculous as that sounds, it's actually true!

There were numerous occasions where they had the ball on our left flank and had 4 men on the flank within ten yards of the ball compared with our two! Never seen that before.

It was football from the future, and as much as I've critcised Pellegrini's incompetence last night, you also have to applaud the brilliance of Bayern and Pep.

 

[Ducado]

Please tell me the cl point was typed in error..we played plzen mate..a pub team..come on.

You start to lose the argument when you start to undermine the team you claim to support, decrying any of our victories makes you look small time

Im not here to argue ducado so please give it up.plzen were shit.we played madrid.dortmund.ajax last yr.no comparison my friend.

It does not matter, you are attempting to prove your point by undermining the team you claim to support it's small time, any victory away for us whatever the manager is no mean feat

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

It's perfectly understandable for us to be angry after last nights non performance, true there have been some bad games, but I think most sane and sensible blues will give Pellegrini some more time.

Last night didn't bother me that much.
Bayern are a class act, playing with tactics that suit them, with a manager who knows exactly what he is doing.
It could and should have been a lot worse.
Conceding three goals to a Villa side bereft of their best striker was utterly fucking abject.
But then I want Pellegrini sacked, so clearly I am not sensible according to your rationale.

 

[John.des]

Would be madness to fire him. Two years at least what I would give to him.

But if he fails to get into top 4 in the league then fire him instantly. I couldnt believe that tho, I mean finishing 5th or 6th with this squad behind the likes of Spurs maybe.
(Also Pellegrini said before the season he thinks we have the best squad in the league, now if he would make that best squad finish 5th or 6th what would that make him?)

Not going trough from group stages in CL after we have been told he is master tactician in CL, gets small teams far, better man management than Mancini and extra 90m spent in the summer that would reflect very bad on Pellegrini and also on Txiki/Soriano. He should survive that tho and given another shot next season (when we could get a harder CL group as our coefficents wouldnt be lot better) if he gets a good league run or FA-Cup run...

 

[sam-caddick]

Mancini is gone.
I didn't want it to happen, but it did.
I dealt with it.
But I kinda hoped that his much-vaunted replacement would be an improvement.
He spent a lot of money, and yet the team are now disjointed and often look like strangers who have met up for a knockabout on the beach on holiday.
He frequently looks confused and lacking ideas.
His substitutions often make no sense.
4-4-2 went out with flared trousers, yet the current gaffer considers it cutting edge.
Players are underperforming on an epic scale.
Right now, and I feel dirty even thinking it, Harry Benttwat would be an improvement.

Well, we're through to the 2nd round of the Carling Cup - improvement, we've got 3 points from 2 games in the CL which is also better than same stage last year and we're not far off what we had at the same point in the league campaign so it's not like we're miles worse than under Bobby 12 months ago. I'm not saying everything is fantastically wonderful to date under MP and I have some concerns about certain aspects (this apparant religious devotion to the 4-4-2 being one) but on the other hand, some bits have been better.

Last season's league campaign was shocking so I wouldn't want to judge this season to last, plus there was only one team really in it last season compared to the 4-5 now, United ran away with it as everyone else in the title race had all sorts to deal with.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

It's perfectly understandable for us to be angry after last nights non performance, true there have been some bad games, but I think most sane and sensible blues will give Pellegrini some more time.

Hmmmmmm..........you was doing well until you got to the bit in bold. ;-)

I have had my insane moment of the year now, it's back to sanity

It's easy to see how some of the hysterics get on a band wagon and find it difficult to get off

Im on that wagon mate and at the moment the brakes are well and truly bollocksed.

 

[Marvin]

Marv-The loss against Bayern is not a problem. The manner of the loss and the total lack of tactical nouse shown by the manager to stem the flow is what is concerning.As Fetters has said,If myself,my 12yr old lad and every other city fan could see what was happening,then why couldn't the boss?
He needs to turn our away form around.

The manner of the loss had nothing at all to do with tactics

I said the same last season about our losses In Europe. It's mental and has little to do with the respective managers

I saw player's confidence ebb as they made silly errors. Just like Ajax at home last season. hart making a handling error was far more key than what formation we were set up in

I agree we need to improve our away results, but our performances have improved

I think it's wrong to dwell on a European game where we struggle, especially when it's against a team who are arguably the best ever team

We need to put a run of results together now, starting with a difficult game against Everton

I think tactics played their part last night but I agree that the mental side of it was a big factor and is a constant issue for City. I just watched the tv coverage of the game up to the first goal and we were doing OK up to that point and then conceded needlessly: Hart should have stopped that shot. I think that goal lifted Bayern and Some of the City players had that "oh here we go again in Europe" going on in their heads.

I also looked at the other goals and the second is another absolute horror, which came after we made an OK, start to the second half. Terrible defending by Clichy and Hart could have done better. Again this had nothing to do with tactics but I am damn sure it affected the players mentally.

Pellegrini got things wrong last night but I can still sympathise with him sticking to his guns on how he wants his team to play. I also sympathise with what I see as one of the problems he has to overcome with the players he inherited: their mental fragility. There is hope though on that score: if successive bayern managers can bet Robben pressing and tracking back, Pellegrini can hope to intstil more mental strength in his players. I think he is already having a positive effect on Nasri.

The only way we will get over the mental weakness in Europe is through beating teams in that competition. Chicken and the egg / vicious circle which we may get out of as we have a relatively easy group