Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 3)

[Didsbury Dave]

Great thread this.

I agree our set up was all wrong v Bayern and I stated so in the post match thread at the time.

We were way to open and Yaya and Fern were left really exposed. Dzeko's poor ball retention and sheer laziness didn't help either.

I think with a more appropriate formation (4-5-1) and our best personnel (inc Silva and Nasri) we would 100% keep possession better and give Bayern a really really tough game. We would also need Kompany back to full fitness and Hart to be in 2011/12 form.

The 1-3 wasnt a fair reflection on our ability in comparison to them.

If we shape ourselves properly and have total concentration and total belief we can beat anyone.

MP deserves huge credit for our CL progress and is imo a very astute manager who will bring success to our club.

Yep, that's how it was. It was easy to look at the game and wonder why the hell the manager didn't opt for a 451 type formation after 10 minutes of the game. I think he felt that if we could get posession of the ball we could cause them problems with that team. After the half time whistle we had a much better spell but then suddenly conceded again. As soon as Silva was on it was a different game. But the facts remain he should have selected Negredo and he should have brought on Silva or another midfielder much earlier. Lesson learnt.

I don't have any doubts any more that this manager will win trophies, and I think he'll do it this season. The way we are passing now is the best I have ever seen a City team. I think The Sheikh's vision is finally coming to fruition. I hesitate to say this after years of repeating it like a parrot, but we are in serious danger of becoming greater than the sum of our parts as a team.

 

[supercity88]

Great thread this.

I agree our set up was all wrong v Bayern and I stated so in the post match thread at the time.

We were way to open and Yaya and Fern were left really exposed. Dzeko's poor ball retention and sheer laziness didn't help either.

I think with a more appropriate formation (4-5-1) and our best personnel (inc Silva and Nasri) we would 100% keep possession better and give Bayern a really really tough game. We would also need Kompany back to full fitness and Hart to be in 2011/12 form.

The 1-3 wasnt a fair reflection on our ability in comparison to them.

If we shape ourselves properly and have total concentration and total belief we can beat anyone.

MP deserves huge credit for our CL progress and is imo a very astute manager who will bring success to our club.

Yep, that's how it was. It was easy to look at the game and wonder why the hell the manager didn't opt for a 451 type formation after 10 minutes of the game. I think he felt that if we could get posession of the ball we could cause them problems with that team. After the half time whistle we had a much better spell but then suddenly conceded again. As soon as Silva was on it was a different game. But the facts remain he should have selected Negredo and he should have brought on Silva or another midfielder much earlier. Lesson learnt.

I don't have any doubts any more that this manager will win trophies, and I think he'll do it this season. The way we are passing now is the best I have ever seen a City team. I think The Sheikh's vision is finally coming to fruition. I hesitate to say this after years of repeating it like a parrot, but we are in serious danger of becoming greater than the sum of our parts as a team.

I think their relatively early goal forced his hand somewhat. I think he thought we could attack with more effectiveness in the formation he chose as opposed to trying to play them at their own game. When we conceded we were chasing the game and Pellegrini perhaps felt there was little point in then going more defensive even if it meant possibly more of the ball. Either way we can all see it was a lesson learnt and a mistake made by many.

 

[aguero93:20]

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 --



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.

We started the game against Bayern with Silva on the bench. He made a very big impact when he came on.

Against a team of the quality of BM missing the magician that is David Silva is very difficult to cover.

He tore them to shreds 2 years ago, enough said.

 

[grahamgor]

Great thread this.

I agree our set up was all wrong v Bayern and I stated so in the post match thread at the time.

We were way to open and Yaya and Fern were left really exposed. Dzeko's poor ball retention and sheer laziness didn't help either.

I think with a more appropriate formation (4-5-1) and our best personnel (inc Silva and Nasri) we would 100% keep possession better and give Bayern a really really tough game. We would also need Kompany back to full fitness and Hart to be in 2011/12 form.

The 1-3 wasnt a fair reflection on our ability in comparison to them.

If we shape ourselves properly and have total concentration and total belief we can beat anyone.

MP deserves huge credit for our CL progress and is imo a very astute manager who will bring success to our club.

Yep, that's how it was. It was easy to look at the game and wonder why the hell the manager didn't opt for a 451 type formation after 10 minutes of the game. I think he felt that if we could get posession of the ball we could cause them problems with that team. After the half time whistle we had a much better spell but then suddenly conceded again. As soon as Silva was on it was a different game. But the facts remain he should have selected Negredo and he should have brought on Silva or another midfielder much earlier. Lesson learnt.

I don't have any doubts any more that this manager will win trophies, and I think he'll do it this season. The way we are passing now is the best I have ever seen a City team. I think The Sheikh's vision is finally coming to fruition. I hesitate to say this after years of repeating it like a parrot, but we are in serious danger of becoming greater than the sum of our parts as a team.

You're right that Silva nearly transformed the game when he came on- sending Milner away for a shot which was denied only by Neuer's world class save, setting up Negredo's goal, pouncing on Dante's error to send Yaya through leading to Boateng being sent off - and only narrowly failing to convert the freekick which came from that. But MP's explanation for Silva's belated introduction was that, coming back from a long layoff, he had 20-25 minutes in the tank at most. I also agree with you that we improved after half time. This was after MP told Aguero to drop back into midfield and urged fernandinho to get tighter on Kroos.But it was all undone by Clichy going asleep when they varied their approach with a long pass to Muller. I agree with you both in your praise for MP. My only concern about him is his misplaced faith in Clichy after a string of errors( at the Britannia Stadium, at Stamford Bridge and again last night). It would be an absolute shame to see wonderful attacking football undermined somewhere along the line by mundane individual defensive errors.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

You're right that Silva nearly transformed the game when he came on- sending Milner away for a shot which was denied only by Neuer's world class save, setting up Negredo's goal, pouncing on Dante's error to send Yaya through leading to Boateng being sent off - and only narrowly failing to convert the freekick which came from that. But MP's explanation for Silva's belated introduction was that, coming back from a long layoff, he had 20-25 minutes in the tank at most. I also agree with you that we improved after half time. This was after MP told Aguero to drop back into midfield and urged fernandinho to get tighter on Kroos.But it was all undone by Clichy going asleep when they varied their approach with a long pass to Muller. I agree with you both in your praise for MP. My only concern about him is his misplaced faith in Clichy after a string of errors( at the Britannia Stadium, at Stamford Bridge and again last night). It would be an absolute shame to see wonderful attacking football undermined somewhere along the line by mundane individual defensive errors.

Clichy's still miles better than Kolorov, so I don't see the manager has a great number of options at left back. Whilst I agree his form has been patchy, I think he is getting back towards his best. I accept he's making errors, and last night he cost us a totally unnecessary goal at a time when they weren't threatening at all. Personally I think he'll be fine with another game or two under his belt.

 

[without a dream]

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.

Sadly I have no answer for the Bayern game ... although I will say it's shame that it's referenced quite so often on Bluemoon. Feels like I'm watching Sky at times.

It gets referenced a lot because it's the only time we've faced good opposition who've pressed us high up the pitch and that's been our weakness for about 3 years now.

I'm confident we can beat them and said as much after the game it just requires a different approach, you could pick a world 11 and they'd struggle to beat them playing 442 with not a lot of workrate from the front two.

We're playing magical football at the minute but we still look frail at the back, I suspect I'm just going to have to get used to that but it takes some doing considering the huge difference in style from Mancini's team.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Bayern should have been the Chelsea system which I pretty much said at the time.

I still think we need that shape in defence, this high pressing in fits and starts is going on a bit too long without a proper resolution or adaptation, and the CB's still aren't talking to each other enough.

 

[southstand117]

off topic but thought id share that i met the boss in Ikea in Ashton on monday afternoon. he was shopping for a new dining room table lol. had a quick chat about the norwich game, and the cska game. said he was really happy with the season and had his pic took with me and my kids. just thought id share that haha

 

[Didsbury Dave]

off topic but thought id share that i met the boss in Ikea in Ashton on monday afternoon. he was shopping for a new dining room table lol. had a quick chat about the norwich game, and the cska game. said he was really happy with the season and had his pic took with me and my kids. just thought id share that haha

Very disappointed he chose that cheap shit at Ikea. Would never have happened with Mancini.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

off topic but thought id share that i met the boss in Ikea in Ashton on monday afternoon. he was shopping for a new dining room table lol. had a quick chat about the norwich game, and the cska game. said he was really happy with the season and had his pic took with me and my kids. just thought id share that haha

Very disappointed he chose that cheap shit at Ikea. Would never have happened with Mancini.

Must have been chuckling at that result in Kobenhavn last night.