Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 3)

[BobKowalski]

Several made reference to enjoying this season more which is an interesting point. Am I enjoying it more? After the emotional roller coaster of 11/12 I took a relaxed view of last season. It was okay but all a bit 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' especially the monumental fuck up that was FA Cup final week. I am more engaged this season which with the new signings and regime change is natural. I am intrigued, fascinated and excited by the long term aims and how Ferran & Txiki will bring it to fruition and how we will in all likelihood dominate domestic and to a lesser extent European football with the completion of the Death Star. To be honest I take this domination as a given. If you chart the progress from 2008 to now and project the same going forward then domination is inevitable. Not always straightforward but inevitable.

So am I enjoying it more? Enjoying more than last season? Yes. It was all getting a bit tense and fraught last year. Enjoying it more than 11/12? No. That I enjoyed from day 1 and I don't have the level of intense anticipation now that I had with that season but in truth that may never be replicated. I also miss the characters. I miss Mario, Tevezgate, the tantrums, the T-shirts, the histrionics, the stunned reaction to the 6-1, the tears, everyone really hating us, the stories in the press and everyone always talking about us.

Now its all love and peace and a wee bit dull. Hell no one really trash talks us anymore. We lose games and everyone gives us a bit of a pass. The old days we drew a game it was 'City in meltdown' time. I miss those days.

 

[FantasyIreland]

We lose games and everyone gives us a bit of a pass. The old days we drew a game it was 'City in meltdown' time. I miss those days.

Does your morning Daily not have a backpage?

 

[bluethunder]

we were too narrow. lack of width. chelsea took advantage of this.

the game reminded me of the real madrid game. nasri, silva and toure together in attacking midfield didnt work at the bernabue and it certainly did not work at stamford bridge.

once again pellegrini gets the line up and tactics wrong.

 

[levets]

Last season the big issue was the form of the strikers.

Nope ... last season the big issue was a manager who was reviled by much of the dressing room and who had mentally checked out of the club already.

More hearsay and speculation. I make my judgements based on what I see on the pitch. I was reliably informed Jo Harts form would improve now Manicni has left on this forum. How is that working out?

Sergio Aguero said there was no problem, I am happy with that.

Sergio Aguero said there was no problem, I am happy with that.
=============
And Sergio Aguero was not alone.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Several made reference to enjoying this season more which is an interesting point. Am I enjoying it more? After the emotional roller coaster of 11/12 I took a relaxed view of last season. It was okay but all a bit 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' especially the monumental fuck up that was FA Cup final week. I am more engaged this season which with the new signings and regime change is natural. I am intrigued, fascinated and excited by the long term aims and how Ferran & Txiki will bring it to fruition and how we will in all likelihood dominate domestic and to a lesser extent European football with the completion of the Death Star. To be honest I take this domination as a given. If you chart the progress from 2008 to now and project the same going forward then domination is inevitable. Not always straightforward but inevitable.

So am I enjoying it more? Enjoying more than last season? Yes. It was all getting a bit tense and fraught last year. Enjoying it more than 11/12? No. That I enjoyed from day 1 and I don't have the level of intense anticipation now that I had with that season but in truth that may never be replicated. I also miss the characters. I miss Mario, Tevezgate, the tantrums, the T-shirts, the histrionics, the stunned reaction to the 6-1, the tears, everyone really hating us, the stories in the press and everyone always talking about us.

Now its all love and peace and a wee bit dull. Hell no one really trash talks us anymore. We lose games and everyone gives us a bit of a pass. The old days we drew a game it was 'City in meltdown' time. I miss those days.

We are 2 months into the season.

I believe we are going to have some huge, spine-tingling games after Christmas. I think we will be in the advanced rounds of the Champs League for the first time in our history, and I don't think we will see a repeat of Bayern. We could be taking on Madrid or Barca or PSG and progressing to the latter stages of the competition. If we progress on the pitch as I believe we will we could be storming up the league and playing in huge head-to-heads against Chelsea, United, Arsenal. The domestic cups are still to come.

The excitement is yet to come. I sense it's going to be a barnstormer of a season.

 

[franksinatra]

Several made reference to enjoying this season more which is an interesting point. Am I enjoying it more? After the emotional roller coaster of 11/12 I took a relaxed view of last season. It was okay but all a bit 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' especially the monumental fuck up that was FA Cup final week. I am more engaged this season which with the new signings and regime change is natural. I am intrigued, fascinated and excited by the long term aims and how Ferran & Txiki will bring it to fruition and how we will in all likelihood dominate domestic and to a lesser extent European football with the completion of the Death Star. To be honest I take this domination as a given. If you chart the progress from 2008 to now and project the same going forward then domination is inevitable. Not always straightforward but inevitable.

So am I enjoying it more? Enjoying more than last season? Yes. It was all getting a bit tense and fraught last year. Enjoying it more than 11/12? No. That I enjoyed from day 1 and I don't have the level of intense anticipation now that I had with that season but in truth that may never be replicated. I also miss the characters. I miss Mario, Tevezgate, the tantrums, the T-shirts, the histrionics, the stunned reaction to the 6-1, the tears, everyone really hating us, the stories in the press and everyone always talking about us.

Now its all love and peace and a wee bit dull. Hell no one really trash talks us anymore. We lose games and everyone gives us a bit of a pass. The old days we drew a game it was 'City in meltdown' time. I miss those days.

I have been a bit frustrated this season with some aspects of the performances but the football is as good and in the main the personnel have changed very little. I do miss the calming influence of Barry in the centre of midfield and believe he will prove to be a huge loss over the course of the season.

The year we won the league was incredible with huge away victories at our rivals, last minute winners at home, it was just an incredible season.

It is doubtful any manager, including Pellegrini, would be able to match that year and that is no slight on him from an excitement perspective. I doubt it was Mancini's philosophy to make it so dramatic. I still think exciting times are ahead and with the implosion over at Old Trafford I think we are clear favourites to win the trophy again.

 

[Anonymous]

More hearsay and speculation.

Neither heresy nor speculation anymore mate. The papers were full of how much Mancini was loathed after he was sacked. Only a fool would currently try and argue that there was no problem between him and the players last season.

I make my judgements based on what I see on the pitch. I was reliably informed Jo Harts form would improve now Manicni has left on this forum. How is that working out?

Well, all I can say is that whilst Joe's form has continued to be poor, players like Nasri and Kolarov are playing out of their skins, Yaya, Aguero and Silva are showing form they've not shown since 2011, and generally we look for the first time in well over a year like a team going in the right direction and pulling in the same direction.

Sergio Aguero said there was no problem, I am happy with that.

As I say above, whether you choose to accept the facts or not, the facts are Mancini's relationship with his squad of players killed his chances of keeping his job last summer. Not our forwards not scoring which you said was the "only" problem we had last season.

 

[cleavers]

we were too narrow. lack of width. chelsea took advantage of this.

the game reminded me of the real madrid game. nasri, silva and toure together in attacking midfield didnt work at the bernabue and it certainly did not work at stamford bridge.

once again pellegrini gets the line up and tactics wrong.

Keep trying.

 

[OB1]

Good for you. I've been following them 35 years but I have seen enough here to convince me we are moving in the right direction.

This defence has had a rick in them for over 12 months. Jog your mind back to Madrid, Dortmund, Everton Liverpool I can carry on

It's not just this new regime. The seeds were sown way before that.

That's my point

We had a very low starting point (FA Cup Final/Norwich) in terms of the quality of our play and our organisation. There's definitely a lot to be said for the solidity which Mancini brought to the players defensively. However in my opinion by January of 2012 we had lost the attacking spark partially because we had been found out so to speak, and partially because at a point where the players needed an extra bit of encouragement and have the pressure taken off them, Mancini stuck to his forthright and publicly opinionated guns.

What followed was a gradual 18 month decline culminating in the FA Cup final. This season Pellegrini's job was always going to be about remoulding the ideas and styles of Mancini into something more sustainable over a long period of time, and something more attractive for those who watch football. We weren't becoming more like Bayern/Barca/Dortmund and that is where we needed to go.

Of course in wanting to play more attacking and adventurous football there was always going to be a bedding in period during which the players would have to learn their new responsibilities within the system. For me we are very nearly there. We're nowhere near as open as we were in the first few weeks of the season. As a team we're more compact, more disciplined in terms of defending as a unit.

Which leaves us at today. I think we're the best team in the league - and are playing like it. Dominating Mourinho's team at home isn't something which should be sniffed at. I have faith in Pellegrini to make the final adjustments regarding individual errors ... and I suspect we're about to go on a run of victories at the end of which we'll be firmly ensconced up at the top of the table.

Absolutely agree with all that. I will be unpleasantly surprised if we are not in a far better league position by the end of the year: I have no doubt that we are heading in the right direction and no good reason to think we will not continue to do so. Without wishing to sound like a broken record, we are currently top scorers in no small part because we are getting more shots on target than the rest of the division. At the other end we are conceding less shots than anyone and we can do better so we ought to start seeing the logical dividends from that too.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Have just caught up with the last 6 pages and wanted to continue where TGR left off and put my opinions across to answer his queries:


Stoned Rose wrote:
I feel MP is doing well so far. Reasons being

1. We've played some very very high quality stuff going forward.
We have played very high quality stuff for a few years now - the first half of the title winning season being one period of note.

Of course we were at our very best in that period you mention, but it seemingly went downhill from there under RM. Last season there were several really dour performances (Reading at home comes immediately to mind). This season I feel our attacking football has been quicker, more technical, better and indeed sexier than last season and has at times (Utd / Newcastle at home, Chelsea away) been as good if not better than the golden period of early 2011/12.

2. Top scorers in the division
We were top scorers in the Division when we won the title AND had the least goals conceded - they are not mutally exclusive.

I'm not saying they are, I'm merely saying that its a fact that at the moment we have scored the most goals in the division. We also have had the most shots on goal in the division. Got to give MP some credit for this.

3. Al but qualified from the CL group
The easiest group we will ever have to qualify from - without a doubt.

I think that's impossible to predict, especially if our coefficient continues to improve, but I take your point about the relative comfort of this group compared to the previous two. I still feel MP deserves credit for this CL campaign so far, especially for bouncing back after the Bayern debacle. Whether RM would've navigated this group is a topic we could debate all night.

4. He seems to have turned Garcia, nasri and kolarov into better players.
Joe & Nasty have turned into complete duck eggs under his stewardship.

Hart was by no means great last season so some of the 'blame' (spurious word to use given all the other factors contributing to player form I know) for this also lies with RM, and of course with Hart himself. It is unfair imo to say Hart has 'turned into' a worse player under MP as he was clearly already on the decline prior to MP arriving. The rumours that RM and DP were going to replace Hart speak volumes. Nastasic has made 2 glaring errors this season but other than that I dont feel he's been any 'worse' than last season in any way. He's young and will make mistakes. He's also been part of a very very 'shuffled' defensive unit this season which again fosters an error prone environment for players regardless of their ability. I can see no evidence he has 'turned into a complete duck egg'.