Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 3)

[Stoned Rose]

I said at the beginning of the season that I felt we would, by the end of the season, show the most improvement of all the teams in the league. The only trick was going to be staying in touch of the top whilst we took on board this new philosophy. Fortunately the rags have started worse than us and Chelsea barely no better, so providing no more injuries to key players (We must look for proper Kompany cover in January, and something happening to Aguero at the moment doesn't bear thinking about), we have a good chance of hitting stride after stride.

I think after next summer we could genuinely be standing toe to toe with the big boys too. No more Bayern humiliation scenarios. At the end of next summer Txiki and Pellegrini will have been able to bring in and shift out pretty much everyone they want (clearly couldn't have done it all in one window), the style of football will be more deeply embedded, and everyone will have a better idea of their role in the team. Only downside is unless the state of English football drastically changes in 10 months, we'll likely be a bit more foreign as well, but if they're the only ones who can play the football there's not a lot we can do!

I think we're progressing at an excellent rate in terms of our attacking play. We have looked in moments all season like we're unplayable, but against Norwich and CSKA we were particularly dominant which had little to do with the opposition being poor (even though Norwich were just that), and more to do with our own capacity to keep and move the ball, and the movement off the ball of players such as Aguero and Nasri.

What's important for me is that we clearly have played the best football in the league this season, and clearly look the most dangerous side in the league (well, outside maybe Arsenal) when attacking. I'd forgotten what it felt like to see your best players play at their best consistently, but we're seeing it with the front 6.

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes their first goal was in part due to the lucky bounce they got, but also due to Nastasic not reacting quickly enough and joining the rest of the 'line' who immediately tried to play offside. His awareness was poor and therefore his movement to slow and this played their guy onside.

I think it's really easy for us to say in hindsight, whilst watching a goal in slow motion, who did what wrong. I like Pellegrini looking at a goal like that and feeling it's unnecessary to have a go at the team or anyone in particular. I reckon there was no more than 3 seconds between the bounce which fell at Tosic's feet and the ball being played through to Doumbia. Yes I'm sure nasty could've/should've reacted a bit quicker, but really we're talking such fine margins sometimes you just hold your hands up and go "this is football".<br /><br />-- Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:17 pm --<br /><br />

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

Teams who do press us are going to struggle to cope with the one touch passing which passes directly through them. It's something I alluded to earlier today. What we have with Dinho, Yaya, and whoever of Nasri or Silva drops into the middle with them, is three players who's physical presence and technical quality allow them to play through/around the opposition with ease at times. Even Chelsea at the Bridge didn't bother pressing us for this reason.

 

[adrianr]

I said at the beginning of the season that I felt we would, by the end of the season, show the most improvement of all the teams in the league. The only trick was going to be staying in touch of the top whilst we took on board this new philosophy. Fortunately the rags have started worse than us and Chelsea barely no better, so providing no more injuries to key players (We must look for proper Kompany cover in January, and something happening to Aguero at the moment doesn't bear thinking about), we have a good chance of hitting stride after stride.

I think after next summer we could genuinely be standing toe to toe with the big boys too. No more Bayern humiliation scenarios. At the end of next summer Txiki and Pellegrini will have been able to bring in and shift out pretty much everyone they want (clearly couldn't have done it all in one window), the style of football will be more deeply embedded, and everyone will have a better idea of their role in the team. Only downside is unless the state of English football drastically changes in 10 months, we'll likely be a bit more foreign as well, but if they're the only ones who can play the football there's not a lot we can do!

I think we're progressing at an excellent rate in terms of our attacking play. We have looked in moments all season like we're unplayable, but against Norwich and CSKA we were particularly dominant which had little to do with the opposition being poor (even though Norwich were just that), and more to do with our own capacity to keep and move the ball, and the movement off the ball of players such as Aguero and Nasri.

What's important for me is that we clearly have played the best football in the league this season, and clearly look the most dangerous side in the league (well, outside maybe Arsenal) when attacking. I'd forgotten what it felt like to see your best players play at their best consistently, but we're seeing it with the front 6.

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

This is a great point, but one I think will take a little longer to iron out. It also needs to be paired with the realistic expectations that teams like Dortmund, Bayern etc WILL have good spells against us when we play them. No matter how well we press, respond to pressing, defend or attack, those teams are very good at those things too.

Our play under pressure is where our centre halves are crucial too, which chopping and changing won't help.

 

[franksinatra]

I said at the beginning of the season that I felt we would, by the end of the season, show the most improvement of all the teams in the league. The only trick was going to be staying in touch of the top whilst we took on board this new philosophy. Fortunately the rags have started worse than us and Chelsea barely no better, so providing no more injuries to key players (We must look for proper Kompany cover in January, and something happening to Aguero at the moment doesn't bear thinking about), we have a good chance of hitting stride after stride.

I think after next summer we could genuinely be standing toe to toe with the big boys too. No more Bayern humiliation scenarios. At the end of next summer Txiki and Pellegrini will have been able to bring in and shift out pretty much everyone they want (clearly couldn't have done it all in one window), the style of football will be more deeply embedded, and everyone will have a better idea of their role in the team. Only downside is unless the state of English football drastically changes in 10 months, we'll likely be a bit more foreign as well, but if they're the only ones who can play the football there's not a lot we can do!

I think we're progressing at an excellent rate in terms of our attacking play. We have looked in moments all season like we're unplayable, but against Norwich and CSKA we were particularly dominant which had little to do with the opposition being poor (even though Norwich were just that), and more to do with our own capacity to keep and move the ball, and the movement off the ball of players such as Aguero and Nasri.

What's important for me is that we clearly have played the best football in the league this season, and clearly look the most dangerous side in the league (well, outside maybe Arsenal) when attacking. I'd forgotten what it felt like to see your best players play at their best consistently, but we're seeing it with the front 6.

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

I think it will be the away performances what will determine the success of our season. Two wonderful performances but if we drop points to Sunderland the shine will be take on the Norwich game and it will be the same in the Champs league. Bayern aside I think we will give anybody a game at Eastlands,

Fantastic to see Aguero return to the form we had seen in his first season. Players form plays such a key role in any team and irrespective of tactics etc players need to be firing on all cylinders.

 

[Danamy]

I think we're progressing at an excellent rate in terms of our attacking play. We have looked in moments all season like we're unplayable, but against Norwich and CSKA we were particularly dominant which had little to do with the opposition being poor (even though Norwich were just that), and more to do with our own capacity to keep and move the ball, and the movement off the ball of players such as Aguero and Nasri.

What's important for me is that we clearly have played the best football in the league this season, and clearly look the most dangerous side in the league (well, outside maybe Arsenal) when attacking. I'd forgotten what it felt like to see your best players play at their best consistently, but we're seeing it with the front 6.

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

This is a great point, but one I think will take a little longer to iron out. It also needs to be paired with the realistic expectations that teams like Dortmund, Bayern etc WILL have good spells against us when we play them. No matter how well we press, respond to pressing, defend or attack, those teams are very good at those things too.

Our play under pressure is where our centre halves are crucial too, which chopping and changing won't help.

We'll soon find out in a three day period in December, we have both Southampton and Bayern away in the same week, both teams like to press high so we need to deal with it.

 

[Anonymous]

I think it will be the away performances what will determine the success of our season. Two wonderful performances but if we drop points to Sunderland the shine will be take on the Norwich game and it will be the same in the Champs league. Bayern aside I think we will give anybody a game at Eastlands,

Fantastic to see Aguero return to the form we had seen in his first season. Players form plays such a key role in any team and irrespective of tactics etc players need to be firing on all cylinders.

We'll demolish Sunderland. We have dominated the last five away games we've played. The fact we've not won them all has nothing to do with form and everything to do with simple errors which really if we played those games again a hundred times, those errors in those crucial moments would not occur.

Players firing on all cylinders is something the manager deserves far more credit for than he's currently getting. Especially considering just how different not just Aguero, but Nasri, Silva, and Yaya also look in comparison to last season.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Yes their first goal was in part due to the lucky bounce they got, but also due to Nastasic not reacting quickly enough and joining the rest of the 'line' who immediately tried to play offside. His awareness was poor and therefore his movement to slow and this played their guy onside.

I think it's really easy for us to say in hindsight, whilst watching a goal in slow motion, who did what wrong. I like Pellegrini looking at a goal like that and feeling it's unnecessary to have a go at the team or anyone in particular. I reckon there was no more than 3 seconds between the bounce which fell at Tosic's feet and the ball being played through to Doumbia. Yes I'm sure nasty could've/should've reacted a bit quicker, but really we're talking such fine margins sometimes you just hold your hands up and go "this is football".

-- Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:17 pm --

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

Teams who do press us are going to struggle to cope with the one touch passing which passes directly through them. It's something I alluded to earlier today. What we have with Dinho, Yaya, and whoever of Nasri or Silva drops into the middle with them, is three players who's physical presence and technical quality allow them to play through/around the opposition with ease at times. Even Chelsea at the Bridge didn't bother pressing us for this reason.

Naive Billy. I didn't see Bayern 'struggling to cope' when they pressed us.

Also, neither Silva nor Nasri come under the 'physical presence' category.

 

[City Raider]

if he can plot a victory at sunderland any debate is over ;)

 

[dancity19]

I think it will be the away performances what will determine the success of our season. Two wonderful performances but if we drop points to Sunderland the shine will be take on the Norwich game and it will be the same in the Champs league. Bayern aside I think we will give anybody a game at Eastlands,

Fantastic to see Aguero return to the form we had seen in his first season. Players form plays such a key role in any team and irrespective of tactics etc players need to be firing on all cylinders.

We'll demolish Sunderland. We have dominated the last five away games we've played. The fact we've not won them all has nothing to do with form and everything to do with simple errors which really if we played those games again a hundred times, those errors in those crucial moments would not occur.

Players firing on all cylinders is something the manager deserves far more credit for than he's currently getting. Especially considering just how different not just Aguero, but Nasri, Silva, and Yaya also look in comparison to last season.

Without causing any arguments, therin lies the reason many people wanted a change. Last season those players were nowhere near their potential. Now they are all there or thereabouts, and what a difference it makes, certainly in terms of the enjoyment we all get now from watching City.

To have all of those players at their peak at the same time is something we haven't never seen, or certainly not for over a year and a half.

 

[GXCity]

Yes their first goal was in part due to the lucky bounce they got, but also due to Nastasic not reacting quickly enough and joining the rest of the 'line' who immediately tried to play offside. His awareness was poor and therefore his movement to slow and this played their guy onside.

I think it's really easy for us to say in hindsight, whilst watching a goal in slow motion, who did what wrong. I like Pellegrini looking at a goal like that and feeling it's unnecessary to have a go at the team or anyone in particular. I reckon there was no more than 3 seconds between the bounce which fell at Tosic's feet and the ball being played through to Doumbia. Yes I'm sure nasty could've/should've reacted a bit quicker, but really we're talking such fine margins sometimes you just hold your hands up and go "this is football".

-- Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:17 pm --

Both teams (along with every other team we've played at home except Bayern) didn't press us.

If you dont press us we'll hammer you. You dont give our front 6 space and time and expect anything other than a very sore bumhole.

Its what we now do against the teams that press that will shape our CL journey.

Teams who do press us are going to struggle to cope with the one touch passing which passes directly through them. It's something I alluded to earlier today. What we have with Dinho, Yaya, and whoever of Nasri or Silva drops into the middle with them, is three players who's physical presence and technical quality allow them to play through/around the opposition with ease at times. Even Chelsea at the Bridge didn't bother pressing us for this reason.

Exactly what the opposition are doing, except now we can break them down.

Looking from a different perspective it is the same as what happened to us against Bayern. We tried to press in the first 15 minutes and they passed it around us. We back off for the next 15 minutes and they passed it round us. When you are on another level to your opponents, which we are 95% of the time, then we will be able to adapt to whatever tactic they deploy. Home form isn't the issue though. We just need some consistency away from home then the confidence will grow and we will surely win the league.