Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 4)

[Blue life]

Just got home from St Mary's. Desperately disappointing stuff. Not as bad as last year, but not far off, as we again failed to cope with quick tenacious opponents pressing us high up the pitch. Sadly Pellegrini was every bit as culpable as Mancini with his formation. You cannot set up against half decent, mobile, opponents like Southampton with a 4 man midfield and especially not when one of them is a stroller like Toure. Bar an excellent opening 15 - 20 minute period, we were completely overrun in midfield, and worsted in every 50:50 tackle by a team who engineered space by the expedient means of sprinting at our unprotected back 4 again and again and again. I'm a Pellegrini fan, but he made the same mistake against Munich and took 45 minutes to rectify the same error against Swansea recently. When we play teams who favour a good passing game and opt for a 5 man midfield (or 4 plus a deep lying forward), we have to match them numerically, and especially on our travels. The only time we have done so however is away at Chelsea, which barring Hart's aberration, worked very effectively.
The hope that the Beast would give us an outlet sadly lacking last season when Dzeko repeatedly miscontrolled the ball straight back into Southampton hands, proved a vain one. He was barely in the game, lacked midfield support and it was no surprise when he was eventually hoicked.
Nasri and Aguero earned their corn, but Negredo, Ya Ya and Milner were all ineffective, when what we needed was big performances. All got deservedly taken off.
Very lucky to get a point

Well here we go!
Lets get rid off MP ams put you in charge ! Wow another fifa14 and computer manager! Jesus you need to come back to the real earth soon

If you'd spent more than 5 minutes on this site you'd know that I'm a fairly staunch supporter of Pellegrini. Clearly then you haven't and you don't. Next clever dick please!

Opinions are like arseeholes, we all have one

In my opinion then if you are behind MP your seeking attention. you are quite clearly a nervous wreck

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

Didn´t realise Norwich won at WBA - does that put our win in perspective? Just a question

 

[TGR]

Well here we go!
Lets get rid off MP ams put you in charge ! Wow another fifa14 and computer manager! Jesus you need to come back to the real earth soon

If you'd spent more than 5 minutes on this site you'd know that I'm a fairly staunch supporter of Pellegrini. Clearly then you haven't and you don't. Next clever dick please!

Opinions are like arseeholes, we all have one

In my opinion then if you are behind MP your seeking attention. you are quite clearly a nervous wreck

I can vouch for the credentials of Exeter Blue being behind Pellegrini without any hesitation. And he most certainly is not seeking attention.
For him to write what he has speaks volumes to be fair.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

If you'd spent more than 5 minutes on this site you'd know that I'm a fairly staunch supporter of Pellegrini. Clearly then you haven't and you don't. Next clever dick please!

Opinions are like arseeholes, we all have one

In my opinion then if you are behind MP your seeking attention. you are quite clearly a nervous wreck

I can vouch for the credentials of Exeter Blue being behind Pellegrini without any hesitation. And he most certainly is not seeking attention.
For him to write what he has speaks volumes to be fair.

Thank you.

I think our problem away from home stems from trying to impose a game plan that we don't have the personnel for against certain teams (Southampton, Liverpool, Everton, Swansea etc). If you're gonna set yourselves up to press you need players who are mobile, quick and technically adroit enough to make it work, and ditto when the opposition tries it on you. Ya Ya, magnificent player though he is, just isn't built for shuttle running, and Milner, though fit as a butcher's dog, is very one paced. Chuck Kolarov and Di Michelis into the mix, and we were little better off yesterday than we were last season when Barry, Garcia, Lescott and Dzeko wilted in the face of the same onslaught. The player I felt sorry for yesterday was Fernandinho, who resembled the boy with his fingers in the dike.

Contrast with Lallana and Shaw, both of whom I'd happily buy like a shot, who had the pace, skill and athleticism to go past our players like they weren't there.

I suspect Pellegrini will want to make changes next summer. My hope, with away trips to Goodison, Klanfield, WHL, Swansea and the Emirates still to come, is that we will gather enough points at home to ensure CL qualification in the meantime

 

[Marvin]

City have not been dominating the midfield in many games this season eg Swansea and Spurs at home so why should we at Southampton?

The objective is to do something with that possession rather than make it the objective in of itself. Last season we dominated every game possession wise but it became an end in itself, and we rarely threatened teams. This season.....look at the goals scored.

It was significant for me that we defended very well at Southampton. That was an improvement. It took a special goal to beat us.

We should be growing in confidence because we looked very solid at the back, and it wont be very often that we fail to click going forward.

 

[waspish]

City have not been dominating the midfield in many games this season eg Swansea and Spurs at home so why should we at Southampton?

The objective is to do something with that possession rather than make it the objective in of itself. Last season we dominated every game possession wise but it became an end in itself, and we rarely threatened teams. This season.....look at the goals scored.

It was significant for me that we defended very well at Southampton. That was an improvement. It took a special goal to beat us.

We should be growing in confidence because we looked very solid at the back, and it wont be very often that we fail to click going forward.

I tend to agree its what you do with possession we had enough chances to win that game and yet again we messed up

 

[Marvin]

Opinions are like arseeholes, we all have one

In my opinion then if you are behind MP your seeking attention. you are quite clearly a nervous wreck

I can vouch for the credentials of Exeter Blue being behind Pellegrini without any hesitation. And he most certainly is not seeking attention.
For him to write what he has speaks volumes to be fair.

Thank you.

I think our problem away from home stems from trying to impose a game plan that we don't have the personnel for against certain teams (Southampton, Liverpool, Everton, Swansea etc). If you're gonna set yourselves up to press you need players who are mobile, quick and technically adroit enough to make it work, and ditto when the opposition tries it on you. Ya Ya, magnificent player though he is, just isn't built for shuttle running, and Milner, though fit as a butcher's dog, is very one paced. Chuck Kolarov and Di Michelis into the mix, and we were little better off yesterday than we were last season when Barry, Garcia, Lescott and Dzeko wilted in the face of the same onslaught. The player I felt sorry for yesterday was Fernandinho, who resembled the boy with his fingers in the dike.

Contrast with Lallana and Shaw, both of whom I'd happily buy like a shot, who had the pace, skill and athleticism to go past our players like they weren't there.

I suspect Pellegrini will want to make changes next summer. My hope, with away trips to Goodison, Klanfield, WHL, Swansea and the Emirates still to come, is that we will gather enough points at home to ensure CL qualification in the meantime

Strange conclusions. We beat Swansea, and Everton and were comfortable at Southampton (maybe we struggled after a good opening to create but so did they, and that's a tough a place to go). We will be challenging Arsenal, and are improving

 

[Marvin]

City have not been dominating the midfield in many games this season eg Swansea and Spurs at home so why should we at Southampton?

The objective is to do something with that possession rather than make it the objective in of itself. Last season we dominated every game possession wise but it became an end in itself, and we rarely threatened teams. This season.....look at the goals scored.

It was significant for me that we defended very well at Southampton. That was an improvement. It took a special goal to beat us.

We should be growing in confidence because we looked very solid at the back, and it wont be very often that we fail to click going forward.

I tend to agree its what you do with possession we had enough chances to win that game and yet again we messed up

We created the best chances in the first 20 mins but missed them, and after that we were unable to impose ourselves in the game, but unlike games at Villa, Cardiff etc we were very solid defensively. If we defend like that away from home we will be very difficult to beat, and that is a big step forward.

It wasn't a great game from a creative point of view (for both teams), but the frailties, that some thought would be impossible to eliminate away from home with our open game, were gone. And as I say, I don't think City will have many issues this season with the creative side of our game

 

[Marvin]

Didn´t realise Norwich won at WBA - does that put our win in perspective? Just a question

Norwich did a smash and grab job on them. Sessegnon missed some sitters

WBA also went to Utd earlier this season and beat Utd when they were OK, and Arsenal drew at WBA I think? They also took Arsenal to pens in the League Cup.<br /><br />-- Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:55 am --<br /><br />

City have not been dominating the midfield in many games this season eg Swansea and Spurs at home so why should we at Southampton?

The objective is to do something with that possession rather than make it the objective in of itself. Last season we dominated every game possession wise but it became an end in itself, and we rarely threatened teams. This season.....look at the goals scored.

It was significant for me that we defended very well at Southampton. That was an improvement. It took a special goal to beat us.

We should be growing in confidence because we looked very solid at the back, and it wont be very often that we fail to click going forward.

I tend to agree its what you do with possession we had enough chances to win that game and yet again we messed up

Well if Arsenal carry on winning every game, then this form will not be good enough however

a) I don't think they can. When we won the title we were brilliant from Aug to Nov, then very average until March.

b) Our game is improving. Even in a disappointing game at Southampton we at least looked defensively solid, when that has been our Achilles heel all season.

 

[hgblue]

City have not been dominating the midfield in many games this season eg Swansea and Spurs at home so why should we at Southampton?

The objective is to do something with that possession rather than make it the objective in of itself. Last season we dominated every game possession wise but it became an end in itself, and we rarely threatened teams. This season.....look at the goals scored.

It was significant for me that we defended very well at Southampton. That was an improvement. It took a special goal to beat us.

We should be growing in confidence because we looked very solid at the back, and it wont be very often that we fail to click going forward.

I tend to agree its what you do with possession we had enough chances to win that game and yet again we messed up

We created the best chances in the first 20 mins but missed them, and after that we were unable to impose ourselves in the game, but unlike games at Villa, Cardiff etc we were very solid defensively. If we defend like that away from home we will be very difficult to beat, and that is a big step forward.

It wasn't a great game from a creative point of view (for both teams), but the frailties, that some thought would be impossible to eliminate away from home with our open game, were gone. And as I say, I don't think City will have many issues this season with the creative side of our game

It's funny how two people can watch the same game and come to completely different conclusions about it. I thought we were piss poor. That's the beauty of football I suppose.