Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 4)

[ifiwasarichfan]

I think we've put ourselves in the position where we need to keep winning in order to keep in touch with the sides above us, and that is due to the fact that we've dropped points that we shouldn't have.

For me, this is becoming less and less relevant each time the rags and Chelsea drop points. It's clear that nobody's going to run away with the league between now and the turn of the year. Even if we were to go to West Brom or Southampton and drop points it would mean very little for the title race unless you believe Arsenal are going to run away with it win the whole thing.

Thing is though Billy, that could be the issue. They may just run away with it. I have said many times on the Arsenal thread that their Defence is good, the midfield outstanding and the argument that they are weak up front fails on the grounds that once Walcott and Podolski are fit they can chip in with goals.

This I feel gives a bit of credence to the "next four games are vital" point that some are making.

As for us yesterday I thought I saw a different pattern evolve. Clichy staying further back enabled us to suck Spurs in and make them play in front of us which in turn gave Nasri and Yaya (once he woke up) room to play. The forward play as it often is these days was a joy to watch.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

No pessimism from me. I think we are doing fine I just think Arsenal are better. Arsenal have had way more injuries than us and everyone come to that. Not many teams win at OT and I think they did ok and dominated them for parts of the game.

It is a shame that all our injuries seem to be in the same area and that has coincided with a drop in Hart's form.

You cannot seriously think Arsenal have a better team and squad than City?

I'm not sure a single one of their players would get in a full strength City side. Ozil's their best player but I wouldn't swap him for Silva.

 

[Cobwebcat]

I'm not getting sucked into this daft thread again but I just have to comment on all these "have to admit MP got it bang on today" comments. He did nothing different today than he's been doing all season. The team picked itself. The formation and gameplan was exactly what it always is. If I'm really honest I didn't think we played as well as we have in some games, we were just clinical and no one made any silly errors.

Everything is going fine and dandy. Silverware beckons this season.

Bang on. It's getting bloody tiring being a tactical mastermind when we win and tactical neanderthal when we lose. We've set up in pretty much the same way in nearly all of our matches this season, or as same as the players at our disposal allows at least. The worst thing you can accuse Pellegrini of is trying to do too much too quickly.

FWIW I still don't think we'll win the league. It's still really grating me, that one number in the entire league table of hundreds of numbers. The one that sits in our L column, and reads 4. At the death at Sunderland we should have salvaged a point. At Villa we shouldn't have lost. At Chelsea we shouldn't have lost. I'm actually beginning to believe in the idea that there are plenty of good managers, but it's the lucky ones who win. Maybe Pellegrini is just a very unlucky bloke. Easiest way to explain our stats so far this season anyway. Conceded 2 more than Arsenal, scored loads more, yet 6 points behind them. Best GD in the league by a stretch and sat 4th. I think we'd have to win pretty much every game until the new year to put us back in, and that would also have to involve Arsenal and Chelsea picking up another couple of losses each.

That's been one of the problems. We cannot set up the same way if Fernandinho is out and we have just Yaya and Garcia in central midfield. We will continue to get poor results if this happens again. We cannot expect Milner to do what Silva does if Silva is out, as well as cover for lazy arse Richards constantly walking off and falling for a winger falling deep to draw him out. If we have certain players out we have to play differently to play to our strengths, not just go out and expect to get a result whilst playing in a way that hinders us due to the personnel on the pitch. We do not have a good enough squad to do that yet.

Agree with this. We will be able to one day but not this season.

 

[cleavers]

I think Pellegrini might have stumbled upon the perfect template, against Spurs, for actually playing away from home?

I don't agree that he "stumbled" on it. I think it was a plan from the start, of course we got lucky with a gift of a goal after 15 seconds, we won't get that very often, and it did make them come out. I was convinced they'd play it tight yesterday, but they shot themselves in the foot with our opening goal, and what a finish it was.

 

[Cobwebcat]

No pessimism from me. I think we are doing fine I just think Arsenal are better. Arsenal have had way more injuries than us and everyone come to that. Not many teams win at OT and I think they did ok and dominated them for parts of the game.

It is a shame that all our injuries seem to be in the same area and that has coincided with a drop in Hart's form.

You cannot seriously think Arsenal have a better team and squad than City?

I'm not sure a single one of their players would get in a full strength City side. Ozil's their best player but I wouldn't swap him for Silva.

No I think we have a better squad than Arsenal but that they are more consistent and have a better system than us to win the league this year.

Our team is the best in the league. Chelsea have a better squad than ours as could be seen when we saw their reserves beat Arsenal in the League Cup. If we change our whole first choice 11 we look ordinary but we are fine if a handful of first teamers start.

 

[Anonymous]

Thing is though Billy, that could be the issue. They may just run away with it. I have said many times on the Arsenal thread that their Defence is good, the midfield outstanding and the argument that they are weak up front fails on the grounds that once Walcott and Podolski are fit they can chip in with goals.

This I feel gives a bit of credence to the "next four games are vital" point that some are making.

As for us yesterday I thought I saw a different pattern evolve. Clichy staying further back enabled us to suck Spurs in and make them play in front of us which in turn gave Nasri and Yaya (once he woke up) room to play. The forward play as it often is these days was a joy to watch.

The thing with Arsenal is that we've been here before. It's not the first time they've started a season on fire only to fall away after the turn of the year. I do think they've a very good outfit, and certainly look for the moment like they could be the real deal. But I give them little chance of actually winning the whole thing. It's not fair to judge any team on one result/performance, but for many many reasons the game at Old Trafford was the one where they needed to show they are serious about winning the league. They didn't, as I say, they were tepid against a United team that is hardly a vintage one.

Its interesting so many people think it was a deliberate ploy to play on the break yesterday - I don't think it was. I think Clichy was told to sit because of Lennon's pace - simple as that. Otherwise the reason we played on the break so much was because of the early goal and Spurs' early dominance in central midfield.

Having said that, I was reminded of Mourinho's Real Madrid watching us being quite so devastating on the counter. We should certainly consider giving up a little more of the ball and sitting deeper away from home if we can be as devastating on the counter.

The next four games are what - Swansea, West Brom, Southampton, Arsenal. For me I'd expect us to be taking maximum points from Swansea and West Brom - but with Munich sandwiched in between Southampton and Arsenal, I'd take a point at Southampton. I think we'll see a rotated team there anyway with at least one or two big players being rested for Munich/Arsenal.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Its interesting so many people think it was a deliberate ploy to play on the break yesterday - I don't think it was. I think Clichy was told to sit because of Lennon's pace - simple as that. Otherwise the reason we played on the break so much was because of the early goal and Spurs' early dominance in central midfield.

Exactly how I saw it mate.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Its interesting so many people think it was a deliberate ploy to play on the break yesterday - I don't think it was. I think Clichy was told to sit because of Lennon's pace - simple as that. Otherwise the reason we played on the break so much was because of the early goal and Spurs' early dominance in central midfield.

Exactly how I saw it mate.

+1

 

[George Hannah]

Its interesting so many people think it was a deliberate ploy to play on the break yesterday - I don't think it was. I think Clichy was told to sit because of Lennon's pace - simple as that. Otherwise the reason we played on the break so much was because of the early goal and Spurs' early dominance in central midfield.

Exactly how I saw it mate.

Hardly a sheet of bronco as usual ;-)

 

[BobKowalski]

I'm not getting sucked into this daft thread again but I just have to comment on all these "have to admit MP got it bang on today" comments. He did nothing different today than he's been doing all season. The team picked itself. The formation and gameplan was exactly what it always is. If I'm really honest I didn't think we played as well as we have in some games, we were just clinical and no one made any silly errors.

Everything is going fine and dandy. Silverware beckons this season.

I don't think that's true Dave. The defensive approach was different to what we've seen so far. It seemed like we sat quite a bit deeper and were much more selective about when to press and when we were happy to be sit in 2 banks of 4 and ask Spurs to try and play through us. I actually think that's very encouraging in terms of improving away from home.

I have to agree about this there was a difference - Often when Spurs had the ball it was very noticeable that we had 3 players sitting in front of the back 4 in front of the area rather than the usual two. - Which was very pleasing to my eye. If we play in a similar formation to that away from home we will be much better and much less likely to ship stupid goals.

This is something that had me both fascinated and puzzled. Before the game Pellers made great play about not changing our ways or if we stuck 10 men behind the ball we won't concede but thats not our style. Yet after we went 1-0 up we did stick men behind the ball, conceded midfield and almost parked the bus hence the possession stats against us and then caught them on the break. Given our finishing was a level above 'ruthless' and they were devoid of creativity, ideas or purpose it worked a treat but judging by Pellers on the touchline I don't think it was by design.

But then Pellers bangs on about always attacking no matter what the score yet that wasn't the case on Sunday or against WHU. Personally I liked what I saw at WHU and looking after Sergio at 5-0 was a no brainer. If Pellers is actually getting cuter then thank the fucking lord.

It was the oddest 6-0 I have ever seen. And the funniest. Mainly because it was Spurs. A team that cannot have enough grief. And AVB since I seem to be alone in not rating him. Well me and most Spurs fans.