daztrueblue91
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 4 Jun 2009
- Messages
- 4,057
I might be a minority on here saying this but fair play to Pellegrini last night for trying to take on Bayern the way we did. The European Champions who are arguably the best club side in the world came to our back yard and our manager believed that our team, playing our way could beat them. There is no doubt that Pellers should have made the change to put 3 in the middle earlier but if we want to dominate Europe then we have to play our way against our opponents, especially at home. Bayern, Barca and Madrid all have their styles of football which has brought them success and made them feared across Europe. Sometimes their style doesn't work, (look at Barca Vs Bayern last year) but the majority of the time it does. That is the level we are aiming to be. With hindsight we should have realised that we are not yet at that stage and should have lined up to frustrate Bayern. But I for one am glad we have a gaffer who believes our team can take on the best.
Pellegrini has to learn from this though. If we were playing Bayern or another major team away then I would fully expect him to take a more cautious approach. But last night was a chance to see if we could take on the big boys and sadly we came short.
The thing what stood out for me in the match was that despite getting completely outplayed, if Joe Hart hadn't made a f*** up AGAIN then we would have gone in 0-0 at half time. And despite the 4-2-2-2 not working first half, I though we were the better team second half until they scored their 2nd. On a more positive note despite getting well beaten we could have even snatched a point. Yaya would have scored if he had not been took out, Silva hit the bar from the resulting free kick and Negrado missed a good header.
I think Pellegrini needs to learn from this game though. We are not quite there yet in terms of performances and he needs to be more tactically astute especially in our away games and against the better sides. I still fully respect what Pellegrini and our club are trying to do though. They are trying to give us a philosophy so we can match the Barca's, and Bayern's etc. Whether or not 4-2-2-2 is the right formation only time will tell. But the fact we are committed to reaching that level is very promising. Many teams win the CL and are nothing special look at Porto and Chelsea. They are teams who won it but you would be happy to be drawn against. The level we are aiming at is much higher than that.
Pellegrini has to learn from this though. If we were playing Bayern or another major team away then I would fully expect him to take a more cautious approach. But last night was a chance to see if we could take on the big boys and sadly we came short.
The thing what stood out for me in the match was that despite getting completely outplayed, if Joe Hart hadn't made a f*** up AGAIN then we would have gone in 0-0 at half time. And despite the 4-2-2-2 not working first half, I though we were the better team second half until they scored their 2nd. On a more positive note despite getting well beaten we could have even snatched a point. Yaya would have scored if he had not been took out, Silva hit the bar from the resulting free kick and Negrado missed a good header.
I think Pellegrini needs to learn from this game though. We are not quite there yet in terms of performances and he needs to be more tactically astute especially in our away games and against the better sides. I still fully respect what Pellegrini and our club are trying to do though. They are trying to give us a philosophy so we can match the Barca's, and Bayern's etc. Whether or not 4-2-2-2 is the right formation only time will tell. But the fact we are committed to reaching that level is very promising. Many teams win the CL and are nothing special look at Porto and Chelsea. They are teams who won it but you would be happy to be drawn against. The level we are aiming at is much higher than that.