Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[waspish]

Doing a great job but I'll only be truly convinced if we win a trophy

 

[Troubadour]

Zabba & Clichey as fullbacks with Milner in for Navas.
Kun, Silva & Negredo will terrify John Terry & co.

 

[Anonymous]

Much less of a concern with vinny back. I'd go into this game with clichy and Richards at full back and is put Milner in for navas to solidify the midfield.

I only have one slight concern with the way we are going about things and its central midfield and yaya's inability to tackle and play in tight spaces. Chelsea could exploit that, but they won't fancy holding off silva, aguero and negredo in their form.

Are you suggesting he drops Nasri ? :)

For me Richards v Hazard will be the key battle. Yaya/Fernandinho against Lampard/Mikel (or Ramires) will be a non contest.

Also there's plenty of niggle and history between Pellegrini and Mourinho. I reckon both men will be doing their utmost in the build up to make sure their team's are fully prepared. If we play at our capacity though, our better players will see us take all three points.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I still don't see much by way of tactical changes, to be honest.

It's not tactical Pellegrini has changed, it's simple positive thinking.

I though we were crap last night and on other nights, just like Mancini, we would have had our arses served on a plate by a better team.

For me, he has to find a better balance between the two. We have gone from one extreme to the other and it's open season running off the back of our midfield.

Case in point, West Ham at the weekend.

Reminded me so much of our games at Norwich and Newcastle last season. Lovely stuff to watch but a failure to take chances left the game hanging in the balance for far too long.

 

[Anonymous]

I still don't see much by way of tactical changes, to be honest.

It's not tactical Pellegrini has changed, it's simple positive thinking.

I though we were crap last night and on other nights, just like Mancini, we would have had our arses served on a plate by a better team.

For me, he has to find a better balance between the two. We have gone from one extreme to the other and it's open season running off the back of our midfield.

Case in point, West Ham at the weekend.

Reminded me so much of our games at Norwich and Newcastle last season. Lovely stuff to watch but a failure to take chances left the game hanging in the balance for far too long.

We're creating more chances and taking more chances though than we did last season. For me the number of chances we create will continue to grow as the players get to know the manager's system better. We're improving each week at present and the only weakness we have is losing Vinny to injury and the knock on effect that has. With him back in the team, which he will be on Sunday, we're more than equipped to score more than Chelsea, or any team in our league, does.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I still don't see much by way of tactical changes, to be honest.

It's not tactical Pellegrini has changed, it's simple positive thinking.

I though we were crap last night and on other nights, just like Mancini, we would have had our arses served on a plate by a better team.

For me, he has to find a better balance between the two. We have gone from one extreme to the other and it's open season running off the back of our midfield.

Case in point, West Ham at the weekend.

Reminded me so much of our games at Norwich and Newcastle last season. Lovely stuff to watch but a failure to take chances left the game hanging in the balance for far too long.

We're creating more chances and taking more chances though than we did last season. For me the number of chances we create will continue to grow as the players get to know the manager's system better. We're improving each week at present and the only weakness we have is losing Vinny to injury and the knock on effect that has. With him back in the team, which he will be on Sunday, we're more than equipped to score more than Chelsea, or any team in our league, does.

It's not the scoring I am worried about, mate.

The whole philosophy can't live or die with Vinny being fit from one week to the next.

That's where we seem to be at.

We were terrible last night, I really do feel that. There were times lacking so much cohesion and general shape.

I retain hope he knows we need a new top class left back and centre back.

 

[hgblue]

really - This guy is an improvement on Mancini football wise - some glaring misses last night - this would have been an easy stroll

For me it was a relatively easy stroll. CSKA deserved fuck all and got fuck all. All the ifs and buts about the chances they created are irrelevant unless you also acknowledge the sackful of chances we created to really kill the game off.

We're getting better with each passing match IMO, particularly as players like Negredo and Fernandinho find their feet in the starting XI.

I fear for Chelsea on Sunday. Those players know we have the beating of them, and more importantly, our players know they have the beating of them. I expect a win and for people to finally start sitting up and taking notice of the fact that we're the team comfortably the best equipped to win this league.

Exactly what I have been thinking. Personally I'd have played Milner yesterday and saved Navas for Sunday as he will have his work cut out. I fancy a win v Chelsea but expect a very defensive game from Jose and we must watch out for Hazard and Oscar who will be there go to guys imo. A three man midfield is crucial.


--------------------Fernandinho----------------------
-----------Milner------------------Yaya----------------
Navas----------------Aguero-------------------Silva

We would dominate the midfield and have Milner and Fernandinho tracking back which will be our hardest task.

Not fearful one bit of Chelsea, I think they are definitely beatable and the trick is to penalise Luiz for any bad positioning or lackadaisical passes.

Nasri should play alongside Yaya. Milner or Navas wide right.

 

[flb]

Not sure if mentioned but why the fuck are we not playing Micah CB instead of Garcia?

Micah is quick, strong and can head a ball.

We will come unstuck if he keeps playing circles in square holes.


For a manager as long in the tooth as Manuel it worrys me that he thinks Javi can play CB

 

[crystal_mais]

He obviously went like for like to keep a bit of freshness about players who will start on Sunday, and to keep the system the same because we looked like we were going to score every time we attacked. He's clearly a very bold manager who thinks that if you are a better team you should stay on the front foot instead of inviting teams on.

DD my only concern is Chelsea will play on the counter. Would you play an extra midfielder and play Yaya in an advanced role with Negredo on the bench

Much less of a concern with vinny back. I'd go into this game with clichy and Richards at full back and is put Milner in for navas to solidify the midfield.

I only have one slight concern with the way we are going about things and its central midfield and yaya's inability to tackle and play in tight spaces. Chelsea could exploit that, but they won't fancy holding off silva, aguero and negredo in their form.

Thats my concern - so easy to bypass him and it leaves Dinho and the back 4 exposed

Watched abit of Chelsea highlights last few games and they tend to hit teams near their box and break quickly - just hope we are ready for them

 

[cibaman]

We've played the same system, formation and tactics in all 12 competitive games. There are some obvious benefits to this, its enabled Pellegrini to bed his system in quickly. It demonstrates confidence. And when we're on song it results in brilliant performances.

But on Sunday we're up against the best manager in the world at exploiting his opponents weaknesses. One thing that can be guaranteed is that, if we play exactly the same way again, Mourinho will have a plan as to how to expose our defense.

I'm sure we'll see some brilliant performances this season. But I can't see us winning the league or progressing much beyond the group stage of the CL unless we show greater tactical flexibility.

Does this mean if we beat Chelsea on Sunday we in fact have the best manager in the world? :)

Seriously though ... you seem to be talking about flexibility for the sake of it. Ultimately there's two ways based on the PL currently ... you play with a three man midfield, or a two man midfield. Some managers switch between the two, whilst others have one way and stick to it dogmatically. Neither way is the right way, they're just different way.

One thing I think people need to forget about, is the idea that Pellegrini will ever go into a game playing with 3 pure central midfield players (any three from Fernandinho, Yaya, Rodwell, Milner, Garcia). It may be that we see at some point a 4231 with with Silva/Nasri/Navas or Jovetic behind a lone forward, but never the kind of 3 man wall that more negative managers would employ. Anc certainly not against an inferior to team to ours like Chelsea.

I'm not talking about flexibility for the sake of it. But I do think that if we play the same system every match it makes it easier for opposing managers to set up their teams to take advantage of our weaknesses. And we clearly do have defensive weaknesses. We're good, very good, but not so good that we can telegraph the way we're going to play because we know that we'll always outshoot the opposition.

We are better than Chelsea, but not that much better when home advantage come into it. We didn't play that badly at Cardiff and Villa but crumbled when they got up a head of steam. Mourinho's Chelsea are more than capable of embarrassing us if we aren't at our best.

And, irrespective of Sunday's result, surely MP will have to modify the system eventually? He won't really play the same system as yesterday at Barca, RM or PSG will he? We might have the odd glorious win, but eventually we'll get mullered if we try to play that system against the top European sides, as we were by Bayern. So why not start developing a more compact system against Chelsea?