Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 4)

[mcfcphil]

Upon occasion, his team may be forced to play that way and, even more rarely, he may send them out to do that but it is not going to be the usual way that he goes about things. It won't have been a revelation to him that it worked for us against Spurs and he won't be beyond parking the bus if we should visit the Nou Camp in the next stage of the UCL; I'd love to draw Barca just to see if he does.

It's funny, I had Tolmie on the phone an hour or so ago and we were discussing the same thing. There will definitely be occasions where we will need to be more defensive. But over the course of a season it will not be more than a dozen times out of 50 + games if you take into account cup competitions. The reality is that other than Chelsea away, there isn't a single other ground in the PL where I'd be changing from the way we've set up so far this season.

The CL is different. The other thing I said to Tolmie which is going to certainly upset Cobwebcat (sorry mate!) - is I'm convinced that away from home in the CL when we get to the knockout stages we'll see Garcia making up the extra man in midfield. But again it's about the opposition. It'll have to be a team like Bayern/Barca where he does that - and even then there's an argument to suggest you aren't going to match them in midfield so give up the advantage and play on the break. Just be far more effective and dynamic than we were against Bayern at home!

As I said to you the other day my biggest concern is the fact pellegrini may persist with two in midfield no matter the opposition or players available.
I think garcia in a three man midfield is perfectly fine. He'll do a good job and there are occasions when it will be necessary. Just hope pellegrini shows a bit of pragmatism and does it - when required.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Think pellers is still learning alot about the squad but think he, s doing a fine job I, m sure when he needs to he knows what tatics to use he was spot on against spurs soaked up all the pressure and hit them on the counter.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

I'd say Javi has Champions League experience going for him, but for me that's about it. Maybe next season when hopefully Rodwell will get some group stage football under his belt it will be a different story.

And I hope we take what I see as the sensible option and neither are here next season and instead we've got a young lad called Ross getting group stage experience whilst a more experienced young lad called Lars there to provide the solidity and skill we need in a strong central midfield core.

Barkley and Bender?

yhp.

 

[kenzie115]

Yaya quoted as saying Pellegrini's pre-match team talk on Sunday was 'unbelievable'.

 

[George Hannah]

Yaya quoted as saying Pellegrini's pre-match team talk on Sunday was 'unbelievable'.

yeah he was thinking about it so much he forgot to move in the first half

 

[blueinsa]

Yaya quoted as saying Pellegrini's pre-match team talk on Sunday was 'unbelievable'.

yeah he was thinking about it so much he forgot to move in the first half

 

[George Hannah]

au contraire

truly sparking this week!

 

[blueinsa]

au contraire

truly sparking this week!

Absolutely and the best thing is, its only going to keep getting better and better ;-)

 

[kenzie115]

Yaya quoted as saying Pellegrini's pre-match team talk on Sunday was 'unbelievable'.

yeah he was thinking about it so much he forgot to move in the first half

Now you mention it, I actually think this was one of the reasons Spurs struggled so much. AVB clearly highlighted Yaya as our playmaker and made sure there were two men on him every time he got the ball. He had very little impact on the game in the first half hour because of it but after getting fouled for the nth time he seemed to decide enough was enough and really started actively looking for space, sprinting into gaps to receive the ball. I've never seen him look so mobile when not on one of his lung-busting runs and from this point on he was imperious. However, Spurs still tried to shackle him and that meant our other attacking players had more space, Dinho, Nasri, Aguero, Navas and Negredo all had brilliant games, but they were afforded far too much space from a Spurs persepctive.

 

[Jimfv1]

Hopefully MP saw today that some of the backup players aren't good enough. Plzen deserved their two goals today because we couldn't contain them. Thankfully our first teamers scored the goals that we needed to win the game. I know we have to use the full squad but as everyone on here has said there is a drop off in quality from our best fourteen players to the rest of our squad, and it looked evident tonight at times. Some of it may be because some of the players aren't getting enough game time but I'd have hoped the desire of those not in the first eleven would drive them on to try a bit harder and try to get on the first team sheet.

Still we got another win and that's what counts.