Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2014/15 (continued)

[OB1]

Not if we WIN 4 out of the six, and have numerous others where we didn't even come close to giving away a 2-0 lead. Its about an attacking philosophy, and I will always prefer 3-2 or 4-2 having given a 2-0 lead away, to winning 1-0, but that's me.

The fact of it is 4 out of 6 games were won, and the aim of a football match is to win. In the other 2 we didn't lose. As I posted above, there were plenty of other games to pick to show your disappointment in performance.

Scoring more than the opposition is what football is all about, and of the 6 games we let a 2-0 lead slip, we did precisely that.

I bet you hated our final game in 2011/12, for me it was one of the greatest days of my life.

We weren't 2-0 in that game and yes for 93 minutes and 19 seconds I hated it as I'm sure you did.

I'm sure if we let a 2-0 lead slip against a really top side in a CL final we wouldn't turn it around, the momentum would be with
the opposition. We didn't put 6 games to bed at 2-0 this season. We had to start from scratch at 2-2 and try to win them a
second time. 4 times we did. In all cases it was unprofessional to put ourselves in that position. Shit happens occasionally
but 6 times?

I do take your point there have been plenty of other games where we've under performed and not got the result this season.
The first 3 months of 2015 being the worst period since Sparkless was the manager. The whole 2-0 thing is just one symptom
of a greater malaise. We've regressed this season. I can't believe how much interest I've got in the Arsenal v Sunderland match.
Why? Simple, I'm not confident we'll get a result against Southampton. In fact I'm never confident that we'll get a result against
anyone these days. Generally we do but after losing to Middlesborough, Newcastle's youth team and Burnley how can any of
us be confident about anything anymore? He has to go. Last season was great. Thanks for the memories but go.

As for winning by outscoring an opponent? Every day. The way we won the title last year easily beats Chelsea's performance, albeit they fully deserved to be champions this year and actually did play some nice attacking football.
For giving away 2-0 leads, people make too much an issue out of that. Like Cleavers says, it didn't cost us. And giving away 2-0 leads, or any lead for that matter, it's part of football especially when you want to play attacking and attractive football. You take a risk vs teams that play a more defensive style like Chelsea under Mourinho or like we often did under Mancini. I suppose it's another stat that certainly will be looked at over and over again by the managementteam. Same like the stat that we hardly seem to create anything from a corner or settpiece.
Not being confident is the life of a footballfan. There won't be many fans around who feels comfortable before a game starts, I myself have gained a lot of confidence over the last 5 years, but I never expect a guaranteed win or guaranteed silverware. And that is a good thing because a win taste so much nicer than when it's hardly a surprise or relieve anymore. Same with winningsilverware. Remember: it's about supporting your club, a win is just a bonus. And we do get a lot of bonusses lately don't we?

Finally the manager. If he is soleley judged on progression, yes maybe Pellegrini should be sacked. But that is not the case, nor was it the sole reason for Mancini to get his marching orders. What happened to give a manager time to build, to create a certain identity within the club. I'm not talking about Fergie or Wenger-likes, but what is 2 years? We changed managers for fun in the 80-90ies and it didn't took us anywhere. Khaldoon spoke about cycles, 3 or 4 years, depending on circumstances.
Pellegrini can be blamed, he's not perfect. Nor is Guardiola for that matter. But I expect the ones who judge him to look at all aspects: players missing due to injury or whatever reason, post WC-hangovers, FFP, difficult CL-draws, yes even playing teams at difficult moments (like when we played United when we were low on confidence and they were just the other way round, but look what happened since). It just wasn't our season, it happens. And yes, we had some shitgames as well. As we did when we won the title 11-12 and 13-14. Changing managers after two years or sooner is panicing short term policy imo. And if that happens, the ones who hired Pellegrini in the first place should be sacked as well. Obviously.
What I do want to see is Pellegrini staying on, maybe even get another year, and try and get in quality, not quantity. 2 or 3 players (Bale/Pogba/de Bruyne to name a trio) and 1 or 2 from the academy that are truly ready to compete for a season (Lopez, Denayer to name two).

No, what I want to see is our owner keep on building what he has been doing ever since he took over.

I tend to agree. Progress is not always linear. I do though think we need more than 3 players.

 

[cibaman]

We're second in the league with one game to and have just win five on the spin but you are not confident about us beating anyone. That's certainly a problem.

If our averagelevel of performance throughout next season is on a par with the way we've played in those five games, we will not be challenging to win the league in 12 months time. Certainly not if one in five performances are as bad as the Villa game. Or we show the defensive frailties that were apparent in the Spurs and Swansea games.

Finishing 2nd certainly isnt to be sniffed at, can't win the league every year, but there's been a marked deterioration in performance this season, compared to last, which is a legitimate cause for concern.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Fuck-ing-hell pmsl.

If we continue 2015 in the same way that we've started it I guarantee that you won't be laughing at Christmas.

 

[blueinsa]

Fuck-ing-hell pmsl.

If we continue 2015 in the same way that we've started it I guarantee that you won't be laughing at Christmas.

I'm sorry but I just don't share your opinion or pessimism.

 

[aguero93:20]

Fuck-ing-hell pmsl.

If we continue 2015 in the same way that we've started it I guarantee that you won't be laughing at Christmas.

I would. Given the choice between tears and laughter when it's come to this club I've rarely chosen tears (sometimes both at once). Our form since the derby is far more relevant than a bad patch from February onwards though.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

With regards to the discussions about conceeding daft goals and two goal leads, we are always going to get that with YA Ya Toure as one of the defensive midfielders. It was happening during the halcyon days of Pellegrini's reign in the middle of last season when we were winning 4-2 and 5-2 every week.

Sunday was that problem all over. Ya Ya scored two goals and won us the game, but every time he went forward he left huge holes in the midfield which Swansea tried to exploit. I've been saying it for two years now: Ya Ya gives you plenty, but he loses you plenty. I'm not absolving Pellegrini from blame for this issue: he should have dropped him for some games, or changed his position a long time before he did.

If we can get shut in the summer and replace with Pogba I expect this problem to be significantly reduced.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

With regards to the discussions about conceeding daft goals and two goal leads, we are always going to get that with YA Ya Toure as one of the defensive midfielders. It was happening during the halcyon days of Pellegrini's reign in the middle of last season when we were winning 4-2 and 5-2 every week.

Sunday was that problem all over. Ya Ya scored two goals and won us the game, but every time he went forward he left huge holes in the midfield which Swansea tried to exploit. I've been saying it for two years now: Ya Ya gives you plenty, but he loses you plenty. I'm not absolving Pellegrini from blame for this issue: he should have dropped him for some games, or changed his position a long time before he did.

If we can get shut in the summer and replace with Pogba I expect this problem to be significantly reduced.

While that may be true, Yaya can't be blamed for both of our centre-backs failing to deal with a simple ball over the top for Gomis's goal, or for Kompany completely losing Gomis for the header that Hart did extremely well to save. As much as there are systemic problems that leave huge holes in front of our defence on an alarming number of occasions, our defenders have also been guilty of not dealing with what should be fairly routine situations.

 

[blueinsa]

With regards to the discussions about conceeding daft goals and two goal leads, we are always going to get that with YA Ya Toure as one of the defensive midfielders. It was happening during the halcyon days of Pellegrini's reign in the middle of last season when we were winning 4-2 and 5-2 every week.

Sunday was that problem all over. Ya Ya scored two goals and won us the game, but every time he went forward he left huge holes in the midfield which Swansea tried to exploit. I've been saying it for two years now: Ya Ya gives you plenty, but he loses you plenty. I'm not absolving Pellegrini from blame for this issue: he should have dropped him for some games, or changed his position a long time before he did.

If we can get shut in the summer and replace with Pogba I expect this problem to be significantly reduced.

While that may be true, Yaya can't be blamed for both of our centre-backs failing to deal with a simple ball over the top for Gomis's goal, or for Kompany completely losing Gomis for the header that Hart did extremely well to save. As much as there are systemic problems that leave huge holes in front of our defence on an alarming number of occasions, our defenders have also been guilty of not dealing with what should be fairly routine situations.

Regardless of manager or system, CB's not dealing with a bread and butter ball over the top is surely a personal mistake and nothing to do with whatever system is being employed.

Its been the story of our season and unfortunately, a number of players have been off the boil for various reasons.

Zabba alluded to it in a recent interview.

 

[Danamy]

With regards to the discussions about conceeding daft goals and two goal leads, we are always going to get that with YA Ya Toure as one of the defensive midfielders. It was happening during the halcyon days of Pellegrini's reign in the middle of last season when we were winning 4-2 and 5-2 every week.

Sunday was that problem all over. Ya Ya scored two goals and won us the game, but every time he went forward he left huge holes in the midfield which Swansea tried to exploit. I've been saying it for two years now: Ya Ya gives you plenty, but he loses you plenty. I'm not absolving Pellegrini from blame for this issue: he should have dropped him for some games, or changed his position a long time before he did.

If we can get shut in the summer and replace with Pogba I expect this problem to be significantly reduced.

A bit of a coincidence that the last two games Yaya hasn't played we've kept two clean sheets, dont you think?

 

[Marvin]

With regards to the discussions about conceeding daft goals and two goal leads, we are always going to get that with YA Ya Toure as one of the defensive midfielders. It was happening during the halcyon days of Pellegrini's reign in the middle of last season when we were winning 4-2 and 5-2 every week.

Sunday was that problem all over. Ya Ya scored two goals and won us the game, but every time he went forward he left huge holes in the midfield which Swansea tried to exploit. I've been saying it for two years now: Ya Ya gives you plenty, but he loses you plenty. I'm not absolving Pellegrini from blame for this issue: he should have dropped him for some games, or changed his position a long time before he did.

If we can get shut in the summer and replace with Pogba I expect this problem to be significantly reduced.

While that may be true, Yaya can't be blamed for both of our centre-backs failing to deal with a simple ball over the top for Gomis's goal, or for Kompany completely losing Gomis for the header that Hart did extremely well to save. As much as there are systemic problems that leave huge holes in front of our defence on an alarming number of occasions, our defenders have also been guilty of not dealing with what should be fairly routine situations.

If you give midfielders space they can cut a defender out. Toure is a defensive nightmare for us. We can't move on until we either get rid of him or sort his head out. Or alternatively stick him in the reserves. I think we should have done that a lot earlier

Pellegrini was given a bomb to deal with in Toure over the Summer and it's not easy to see how he could deal with it

I am assuming from the lack of headlines that Pep still hasn't renewed his contract at Bayern. I know it's gone very quiet on the managerial front now, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bayern terminate Pep's contract with mutual consent at the end of the season and he is appointed City manager. If it drags on 12 months it will be more damaging for Bayern than us