Discuss Pellegrini....

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

I have to say that Mourinho's role on Monday night has been wildly exaggerated. His tactical master class appears to have been no more than to play five in midfield and to exploit the space out wide when Zaba and Kolorov went forward. The use we make of our fullbacks is hardly one of the great secrets of English football and both Arsenal and Spurs tried this approach at the Etihad... The difference is rather that Chelsea's players are better than Arsenal's and Spurs (all over the pitch) and City lacked the usual energy and dynamism in central midfield, and this meant it was difficult for the team to play at its usual tempo so that our attacks lacked the usual incisiveness. Part of the this was because Fernandinho could not play and no genuine replacement for him was available either, and because Sergio was injured. Sergio's absence posed similar problems to Fernandhino's: Negredo was also hardly match fit, Jovetic hasn't played a full 90 minutes for a very long time, and certainly not against such strong opposition and Dzeko had one of his frustrating matches. He missed perhaps our best chance of the night and other than that it was players not renowned for their finishing who had our chances.

On top of that, I admit that the Chelsea players performed exceptionally well - and got a victory with the same master plan which led Arsenal, Spurs and others to disaster.

 

[mosssideblue]

I have to say that Mourinho's role on Monday night has been wildly exaggerated. His tactical master class appears to have been no more than to play five in midfield and to exploit the space out wide when Zaba and Kolorov went forward. The use we make of our fullbacks is hardly one of the great secrets of English football and both Arsenal and Spurs tried this approach at the Etihad... The difference is rather that Chelsea's players are better than Arsenal's and Spurs (all over the pitch) and City lacked the usual energy and dynamism in central midfield, and this meant it was difficult for the team to play at its usual tempo so that our attacks lacked the usual incisiveness. Part of the this was because Fernandinho could not play and no genuine replacement for him was available either, and because Sergio was injured. Sergio's absence posed similar problems to Fernandhino's: Negredo was also hardly match fit, Jovetic hasn't played a full 90 minutes for a very long time, and certainly not against such strong opposition and Dzeko had one of his frustrating matches. He missed perhaps our best chance of the night and other than that it was players not renowned for their finishing who had our chances.

On top of that, I admit that the Chelsea players performed exceptionally well - and got a victory with the same master plan which led Arsenal, Spurs and others to disaster.

Couldn't agree more - well put

 

[levets]

The funny thing you learn about punditry is that a lot of it is largely baseless. 95% of the pundits don't watch us live more than a few times a season, and make their minds up based on a few highlights or, more often, the perceived "truth" which gets accepted because it is repeated so much. It's happened with this Chelsea game: "Mourinho outwitted Pellegrini". Everyone who I know who understands the game and watches City week in week out (and I believe Gary Neville said the same although I didn't see it) has roughly the same opinion: Fernandinho and Aguero were huge misses, City didn't get the breaks and didn't play that well, whilst Chelsea played out of their skins. The press turn into fawning schoolboys around Mourinho and he very cleverly made the entire pre-match build up around him. Therefore many have adopted the simplistic line that "he" won the match.

He set them up in the right way to deal with us, credit for that. But it wasn't rocket science to flood the back of the midfield and try to take Silva and Ya Ya out of the game. I am totally convinced that with more fit players we'd have blitzed them anyway.

We'd have blitzed them if either of those chances had gone in during the first 20 mins... and we would have gone on to win if Silva hadn't missed that sitter to equalize...

I posted earlier what my match going Chelsea mate said... Best performance of the season from them... and City weren't that good on the night....

I saw it, and replied, mate. Your pal has a lot more perspective than a few of our fans and some pundits. Because that's exactly how it was.

And he still expects City to win the league... As do I.

 

[Chris in London]

It's fair to say that the consensus of opinion amongst neutrals is that Mourinho did a number on Pellegrini the other night. Maybe, just maybe, people are being a teeny weeny bit biased when they say he didn't?

I don't think people are saying he didn't.

As I read it, most blues are saying that the reason he was able to do a number on us was because we were lacking key players, and it was a close shave for him even so.

Most give credit to Mourinho for adopting the tactics which gave his team its best chance of winning, but his route to victory was smoothed by a number of things (injuries, us missing chances we usually bury) which were beyond his control.

He's had a load of luck against us in the last few years. We handed him the game in The Barnabau by changing to three at the back and allowing Real to run at us in the wide areas. We gave him a freak winner at The Bridge when we'd been the better team, and he got hugely lucky on Monday night with our injuries and misses. It won't always be like that.

He has. We should have emerged from the Bernabeu with a point, but as luck would have it a shot from Ronaldo that 19 times out of 20 VK would have blocked, he conspired to miss. A save you'd expect Hart to make turned into a softish goal. Credit to Ronaldo for the strike, but fortune smiled on him (Mou) that day and he knew it, as it did in the autumn when Joe & Nasty had their collective brain fart.

He has, as things transpire, had some luck with the fixture list where we are concerned as well. Had the home and away matches been the other way around, we might have had different results. When we played Chelsea our away form was poor and we were still gelling as a team and adapting to the new style of play. As indeed were Chelsea, and had we played them that day at the Etihad rather than Stamford Bridge (with a full squad at our disposal) I suspect they would have gone the same way as Everton, Spurs, Arse, Dippers & Rags. Had Monday's game been at the Bridge, there would have been a much greater onus on them to come out and win the game, and they don't necessarily have the players to do it. As it was, in a game where the onus was on us to go and win the game, we were hugely hit by injuries.

All of this is speculation, and you would have to say that overall the fixture list has been kind to us - we have played all of our main rivals at home now, and taken 3 points of all the top 8 bar Chelsea. Had we played Arse or Everton away rather than at home, we might not have fared so well for the same reasons that we did not succeed at Stamford Bridge. That said, Mourinho has enjoyed something of the rub of the green where we are concerned.

Maybe that will change, maybe it won't.

This is football.

 

[BobKowalski]

As they say history is written by the winners. The same goes for the narrative of a match and especially so when the winning manager happens to play the British media like a virtuoso.

Equally you cannot dismiss what we saw as Mourinho being 'one lucky bastard'.

That Chelsea with Matic and Luiz shielding the back four and everyone working their collective bollocks off both physically and mentally were designed to stifle and suffocate the midfield and nullify our attacking potency was widely predicted beforehand and lo it came to pass. We would have known this as well and prepared for it accordingly. That we would be unlikely to change our shape was a pretty sure bet given we invariably play the same setup (to change it from Pellers perspective may have been as simple as not wishing to be seen as 'cautious' at home to Mouinho - just a thought) and lo that came to pass as well with the added bonus of DM and not Ferdy in midfield. Mourinho not only gets the team set up he has prepared for it also contains a fundamental weakness. Jose must have figured it was Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.

The end result is that Jose rolls into town and in one match ends our scoring at home sequence, our 100% record this season, does the double over us (the first since...whenever) and draws level on points rather than facing a 6 point gap. So yes the media are going to indulge in a Jose wankfest. And they have a point. And no it may not be a tactical masterclass but it was brutally effective and that is the point. Yes we could have scored first and yes it may have been different. But we could have scored first in the FA Cup final and we should have had a penalty against Bayern and taken the lead in the first 20 minutes in our first ever CL match away. But we didn't and we got 'Tevezgate' instead. Shit happens and shit happened against Chelsea.

For me though (and again this is just me as no one else seems to care) I started really worrying this would end in tears was the sight of Kompany and Nasty tackling each other in our box. That was bad enough but Kompany's reaction was that of a man not in control of the situation or the match. But then I have a fetish for controlling football matches.

I still think our firepower compared to Chelsea and Arsenal means we will win the PL this year. But Jose is marking Pellers card which is why I think the FA Cup match is important and one we need to win. We just don't want to give Jose or Chelsea any more psychological edge. I said earlier that with Jose its either kill or be killed and the war is just starting. Jose has most of the media in his back pocket and its going to be relentless as the season comes to a head. And next season when he adds a striker or two its going to be 10 times fucking worse.

And if you are still unsure how bad its going to get then just ask Pep.

 

[Bodicoteblue]

As they say history is written by the winners. The same goes for the narrative of a match and especially so when the winning manager happens to play the British media like a virtuoso.

Equally you cannot dismiss what we saw as Mourinho being 'one lucky bastard'.

That Chelsea with Matic and Luiz shielding the back four and everyone working their collective bollocks off both physically and mentally were designed to stifle and suffocate the midfield and nullify our attacking potency was widely predicted beforehand and lo it came to pass. We would have known this as well and prepared for it accordingly. That we would be unlikely to change our shape was a pretty sure bet given we invariably play the same setup (to change it from Pellers perspective may have been as simple as not wishing to be seen as 'cautious' at home to Mouinho - just a thought) and lo that came to pass as well with the added bonus of DM and not Ferdy in midfield. Mourinho not only gets the team set up he has prepared for it also contains a fundamental weakness. Jose must have figured it was Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.

The end result is that Jose rolls into town and in one match ends our scoring at home sequence, our 100% record this season, does the double over us (the first since...whenever) and draws level on points rather than facing a 6 point gap. So yes the media are going to indulge in a Jose wankfest. And they have a point. And no it may not be a tactical masterclass but it was brutally effective and that is the point. Yes we could have scored first and yes it may have been different. But we could have scored first in the FA Cup final and we should have had a penalty against Bayern and taken the lead in the first 20 minutes in our first ever CL match away. But we didn't and we got 'Tevezgate' instead. Shit happens and shit happened against Chelsea.

For me though (and again this is just me as no one else seems to care) I started really worrying this would end in tears was the sight of Kompany and Nasty tackling each other in our box. That was bad enough but Kompany's reaction was that of a man not in control of the situation or the match. But then I have a fetish for controlling football matches.

I still think our firepower compared to Chelsea and Arsenal means we will win the PL this year. But Jose is marking Pellers card which is why I think the FA Cup match is important and one we need to win. We just don't want to give Jose or Chelsea any more psychological edge. I said earlier that with Jose its either kill or be killed and the war is just starting. Jose has most of the media in his back pocket and its going to be relentless as the season comes to a head. And next season when he adds a striker or two its going to be 10 times fucking worse.

And if you are still unsure how bad its going to get then just ask Pep.

Right on the money , as usual Bob

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

I still think our firepower compared to Chelsea and Arsenal means we will win the PL this year. But Jose is marking Pellers card which is why I think the FA Cup match is important and one we need to win. We just don't want to give Jose or Chelsea any more psychological edge. I said earlier that with Jose its either kill or be killed and the war is just starting. Jose has most of the media in his back pocket and its going to be relentless as the season comes to a head. And next season when he adds a striker or two its going to be 10 times fucking worse.

And if you are still unsure how bad its going to get then just ask Pep.

Spot on Bob
The thing is Pep fought back with his now infamous "el puto amo " (top dog, main man) rant at the CL eve of match press conference
For me that got Barca fired up and most people in Spain applauded him for showing some balls and putting the twat in his place. He certainly wasn´t seen as weak by reacting, as for example Rafa was after his attack on GPC. Maybe that was because Pep was a younger manager. I suppose it would be seen as totally out of character were MP to do the same but sometimes bullies need tackling head on and it might also give the players that extra edge to see the boss sticking up for himself
Gonna be very interesting how this plays out

 

[hgblue]

As they say history is written by the winners. The same goes for the narrative of a match and especially so when the winning manager happens to play the British media like a virtuoso.

Equally you cannot dismiss what we saw as Mourinho being 'one lucky bastard'.

That Chelsea with Matic and Luiz shielding the back four and everyone working their collective bollocks off both physically and mentally were designed to stifle and suffocate the midfield and nullify our attacking potency was widely predicted beforehand and lo it came to pass. We would have known this as well and prepared for it accordingly. That we would be unlikely to change our shape was a pretty sure bet given we invariably play the same setup (to change it from Pellers perspective may have been as simple as not wishing to be seen as 'cautious' at home to Mouinho - just a thought) and lo that came to pass as well with the added bonus of DM and not Ferdy in midfield. Mourinho not only gets the team set up he has prepared for it also contains a fundamental weakness. Jose must have figured it was Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.

The end result is that Jose rolls into town and in one match ends our scoring at home sequence, our 100% record this season, does the double over us (the first since...whenever) and draws level on points rather than facing a 6 point gap. So yes the media are going to indulge in a Jose wankfest. And they have a point. And no it may not be a tactical masterclass but it was brutally effective and that is the point. Yes we could have scored first and yes it may have been different. But we could have scored first in the FA Cup final and we should have had a penalty against Bayern and taken the lead in the first 20 minutes in our first ever CL match away. But we didn't and we got 'Tevezgate' instead. Shit happens and shit happened against Chelsea.

For me though (and again this is just me as no one else seems to care) I started really worrying this would end in tears was the sight of Kompany and Nasty tackling each other in our box. That was bad enough but Kompany's reaction was that of a man not in control of the situation or the match. But then I have a fetish for controlling football matches.

I still think our firepower compared to Chelsea and Arsenal means we will win the PL this year. But Jose is marking Pellers card which is why I think the FA Cup match is important and one we need to win. We just don't want to give Jose or Chelsea any more psychological edge. I said earlier that with Jose its either kill or be killed and the war is just starting. Jose has most of the media in his back pocket and its going to be relentless as the season comes to a head. And next season when he adds a striker or two its going to be 10 times fucking worse.

And if you are still unsure how bad its going to get then just ask Pep.

I really don't think the penny has dropped with our supporter base just how much of a thorn in our side Jose is going to be. He's a wanker who plays shit football seems to be the mantra. He's been lucky 3 times on the trot apparently. Who was it who said 'the harder I practice the luckier I get'? He's level on points with us despite not having a striker worthy of the name. That's not luck.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

You're all getting sucked into the Jose sideshow. It's getting as overblown in fans/media minds as Ferguson's "mindgames".

All we need to do is go out and win football matches. That's all. If we do that we win the league and that's that. It's blindingly obvious he's intelligent and mature enough not to make a fool of himself by worrying about anything Mourinho says, and just laughs at it. I am sure Pellegrini wants to put one over on him , but I'm equally sure he knows that the only way to do it is to carry on making this team fulful it's potential and acheive its wider goals.

The FA Cup match doesn't matter that much. What matters much more is that we win the league, and maybe even beat Barcelona.

 

[OB1]

You're all getting sucked into the Jose sideshow. It's getting as overblown in fans/media minds as Ferguson's "mindgames".

All we need to do is go out and win football matches. That's all. If we do that we win the league and that's that. It's blindingly obvious he's intelligent and mature enough not to make a fool of himself by worrying about anything Mourinho says, and just laughs at it. I am sure Pellegrini wants to put one over on him , but I'm equally sure he knows that the only way to do it is to carry on making this team fulful it's potential and acheive its wider goals.

The FA Cup match doesn't matter that much. What matters much more is that we win the league, and maybe even beat Barcelona.

Winning the league is the most important goal; anything else is a bonus. The League Cup is a bonus that we should be able to pocket but not one that we can take for granted.