Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Excellent analysis, as usual. Great point about the offside trap. I must confess that I am not a big fan of the offside trap being used as extensively as we use it but overall it has been very successful and it does demonstrate that Pellegrini does drill the team defensively in at least one way. The biggest danger with it generally is not the team's failure to execute but the officials' failure to react correctly to it. I'm still not sure if Watford's late attempt on goal would have stood if Hart had failed to stop it: I don't think a free kick was awarded but that doesn't mean the flag didn't go up and the ref chose to play an advantage due to the ball being in Hart's arms.

The conundrum of how to accommodate all the players you refer to has I know been discussed since this post. I really don't know the answer but I would like Pellegrini to adjust according to the opposition. I suspect he will be gung-ho more often than not and live with the risk of giving opponents space when they get the ball on the grounds that he expects us to have most of the ball and be the greater threat. I am one of those who edges towards the view though that we look a more solid team when have Sterling and Navas in the wide positions. I also find it hard to see how leaving Yaya out will do anything other than reduce our effectiveness overall but that could something that should be tested in this week's cup games.

I think the Wreckless one had a point about the team being in transition and related to that, it is fair to point out that Pellegrini has had little opportunity to actually play the Famous Five together and (see if he can) make them into an effective unit.

Yup, this season from memory Juventus, Spurs twice, Newcastle, Liverpool and Stoke (or did I dream that last one?), have all had the ball in our net as we played the offside trap, with only the Liverpool and Juve (for 3rd party interference) ones being ruled on correctly. And that's without counting at least a dozen more occasions (some correctly flagged, some not) when Joe Hart has been forced to save point blank, with our back 4 moving out in the opposite direction. I've said it before on here and I'll doubtless say it again, but I'm a qualified referee - Surrey FA - and running the line is far fucking harder. Going full tilt to keep up with play, trying to draw a perpendicular line across the pitch with your mind's eye, keeping an eye on the last defender's position simultaneously with the opposition player passing it forward, with defenders frequently moving in the opposite direction, I marvel that they make as many good calls as they do. We deploy the trap pretty well really, but it's a high risk strategy that leaves us a hostage to fortune in terms of human error

 

[poh]

Mate, the vision I believe Sheikh Mansour has for Manchester City is more than just a points accumalating football team. Is this not what our holistic ethos is about? Isn't this why Ferran,Txiki and Pep have been sought to replicate a successful organisation and an entertaining team?

Every team can obviously quote that injuries have stunted their advances, but ours are no worse than most and on top of this, isn't this why we have a squad to deal with these eventualities?

Ramón Calderón has just done an interview where he questioned Real's Galactico policy where he sited that they may have some of the best players on the planet, but the fact they only have a 25% success rate against the top 7 teams in Spain shows they don't have the very best team. This is where a DoF and head coaches come in to make the difference, the tools are unquestionably there, but are they being used as effectively as they can be? I would say no and that comes down to one person and is the reason (if reports are to believed) Rafa Benitez has just been sacked a Real manager.

If we have players who no-one can motivate to perform at near their best, well they need to be moved on. But if it is the coach in charge who is failing to motivate his players, then unfortunately the future won't look promising for him either. Perhaps its a bit of both but In terms of motivation, how many times have we been getting mullered, the team has been all over the place and our leader has just sat on his hands doing nothing? Motivation be it on the training pitch, in the dressing room or during a match is part of his job and not just the responsibilty of the players to self motivate.

We had a rock solid defensive unit which was unnecessarily dismantled, did it need fixing? IMO no. What was needed when Manuel took over was evolution not revolution and looking at our recent performances in comparison to when he first came here, IMO we've regressed. Again, some players usefulness to us may have expired, but Manuel has been here for nearly 3 years which should be enough to plan for players who no longer fit the bill and need to be moved on and replaced accordingly. FFP or no FFP spending 40m or so on a defender hasn't guaranteed a solution to our defensive problems, its just given us a better than evens chance of success.

Can you honestly call out the players who you feel haven't shown the required desire or motivation? These are the players who cross the white line thinking 'fuck it, I can't be arsed today'. I honestly couldn't say I've ever seen overt indications of this but there does seem to be a collective lack of drive. Is it down to the players, Manager or both? Whatever's the problem, it looks like all of this could be academic mate, as many believe that whether we win, lose or draw the majority of our matches for the balance of the season that Pep Guardiola is on his way here in the summer.

In terms of ManUre and whether their fans have more to worry about or not, they can go fuck themselves!! :-)

Brilliant post.

 

[Mike S]

The merry go round continues. So that's Rafa and Maureen looking for new jobs.....

Zinedine Zidane replaces Rafael Benitez as Real Madrid coach
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35226296

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Yup, this season from memory Juventus, Spurs twice, Newcastle, Liverpool and Stoke (or did I dream that last one?), have all had the ball in our net as we played the offside trap, with only the Liverpool and Juve (for 3rd party interference) ones being ruled on correctly. And that's without counting at least a dozen more occasions (some correctly flagged, some not) when Joe Hart has been forced to save point blank, with our back 4 moving out in the opposite direction. I've said it before on here and I'll doubtless say it again, but I'm a qualified referee - Surrey FA - and running the line is far fucking harder. Going full tilt to keep up with play, trying to draw a perpendicular line across the pitch with your mind's eye, keeping an eye on the last defender's position simultaneously with the opposition player passing it forward, with defenders frequently moving in the opposite direction, I marvel that they make as many good calls as they do. We deploy the trap pretty well really, but it's a high risk strategy that leaves us a hostage to fortune in terms of human error

yhp, linesman is a way harder role, but unfortunately I have more than a feeling some of them are doing it on purpose.

 

[Dribble]

As you note it is a collective apathy, Watford showed it is not at anything close to a crisis point, in fact it was rather encouraging.

You note yourself other teams and the struggles they have at the top making it work for one reason or another.
It is hard even with (seemingly) all the pieces of the puzzle.

To be fair Joleon being sold was reasonable and Pellegrini has encountered an issue where no Kompany = no defence.
My feelings are if we did less than we have to try and sort it the forum would be going bat shit insane that we need to fix it and are not.

Sometimes issues are forced on you and no matter who you are the answer can be elusive. I certainly did not envisage us still being so weak without Kompany at the back.
I concede though this is a situation largely born out of tactics of pushing up a defensive unit that has not yet gelled. Trying to run before we can walk in that respect i think.
This is Pellegrini but we bought into this ideal when he signed a contract with us.

We were very happy with getting Pellegrini's brand of football and i was one of them. So as much as it grates sometimes i can't go nuts because the defence has suffered.
That said i did not think we would become this shaky at the back.

I agreed Lescott's usefulness to us had passed, but I don't blame his departure on our defensive downturn, for me it was down to the tactics employed by Manuel and only this.

Also I dunno about you, but I didn't buy into this brand of football from Manuel from the start as documented, I could see the abandonment of our defensive solidarity would eventually cause us grief which has been borne out by many a performance since. If I was happy with Manuel's tactics from the begining, we might as well have stuck with Kevin Keegan.

Having your best players out for any length of time is a bummer for any team, but surely a team with our ambitions can't be solely reliant on one player for our defensive solidity can it? Tactics, it's all down to tactics or in Manuel's case a lack of.

 

[hilts]

I agreed Lescott's usefulness to us had passed, but I don't blame his departure on our defensive downturn, for me it was down to the tactics employed by Manuel an only this.

Also I dunno about you, but I didn't buy into this brand of football from Manuel from the start as documented, I could see the abandonment of our defensive solidarity would eventually cause us grief which has been borne out by many a performance since. If I was happy with Manuel's tactics from the begining, we might as well have stuck with Kevin Keegan.

Having your best players out for any length of time is a bummer for any team, but surely a team with our ambitions can't be solely reliant on one player for our defensive solidity can it? Tactics, it's all down to tactics or in Manuel's case a lack of.

Pellekeegans problem is that he has a way of playing and that is that, pretty much everyone on here could see the problem playing a less fit ya ya in a two ages ago, he cottoned on much later than everyone else and even now will still try it, some us have being saying for quite a while the conundrum is silva and toure as well as trying to fit all the flair players into one team, most of our fans can now see this, manuel may see it eventually but unfortunately he will be long gone by that point

We are paying a manager who spots problems months after your average fan, one would hope he would see it first as that is his job

We can only hope we get a bit of luck between now and May and pick up some silverware, it's not an ideal situation but it is what it is

 

[Dribble]

Pellekeegans problem is that he has a way of playing and that is that, pretty much everyone on here could see the problem playing a less fit ya ya in a two ages ago, he cottoned on much later than everyone else and even now will still try it, some us have being saying for quite a while the conundrum is silva and toure as well as trying to fit all the flair players into one team, most of our fans can now see this, manuel may see it eventually but unfortunately he will be long gone by that point

We are paying a manager who spots problems months after your average fan, one would hope he would see it first as that is his job

We can only hope we get a bit of luck between now and May and pick up some silverware, it's not an ideal situation but it is what it is

The way that no team seems to be able to put a convincing run together will be to our advantage because if they were, the only things that would be left open to us would be the cup competitions. Scraping past mid-lower league opposition on a regular basis isn't what I think our owner had in mind for his team 7 years into his ownership.

 

[Why Always Ste]

Just came across this

Probably been posted on here before but it's a nice reminder that we do have a good quality manager in charge still.
Yes there may be better out there? But he ain't exactly shit, no matter how frustrating it can sometimes be watching.

 

[City_Sean]

Just came across this

Probably been posted on here before but it's a nice reminder that we do have a good quality manager in charge still.
Yes there may be better out there? But he ain't exactly shit, no matter how frustrating it can sometimes be watching.

I was just about to use that graphic, it just goes to show to people on here that our manager isn't "Stupid", "Stealing a living" or "Shite".

You only have to look at the club's he's managed in his career, I'd say the fact that he's been deemed good enough to manage Villareal, Real Madrid, as well as being entrusted to be the man to bring success to Malaga when they started investing, and then also be the manager of City, a club who wants to be the biggest in the world, is a testament to how good of a manager he is.

I'm sure when the Sheikh, and other City board members discussed who should replace Mancini they thought, "we want someone shit who has no clue".

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I was just about to use that graphic, it just goes to show to people on here that our manager isn't "Stupid", "Stealing a living" or "Shite".

You only have to look at the club's he's managed in his career, I'd say the fact that he's been deemed good enough to manage Villareal, Real Madrid, as well as being entrusted to be the man to bring success to Malaga when they started investing, and then also be the manager of City, a club who wants to be the biggest in the world, is a testament to how good of a manager he is.

I'm sure when the Sheikh, and other City board members discussed who should replace Mancini they thought, "we want someone shit who has no clue".

Haven't you been reading? He might have some of the best statistics in Premier League history, and has been to the semi finals of the Champions League, and managed Real Madrid and won the English Premier League. But he's months behind "hilts" from the Bluemoon forum who doesn't know how to use a full stop or capital letter, but would be Europe's most successful manager if only someone would spot it.