Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[Steve68]

Go on, why does it?

Because when things are going wrong it's the managers job to try and do something about it.

 

[Buzzer77]

I thought I would sleep on it before I put my two pennies worth on here. Half in the hope that I would wake up and we hadn't really lost 4-1 at home.

But as we have and it wasn't some horrible nightmare, here goes.

The truth is; we've always had a substandard manager that lacks the fortitude to do what is necessary to take us on a club. MP has proven he doesn't have the skills, either tactically or in the transfer market to take the club where we and the owners want it to go. This is not new.

But, he should be able to trust the players that he has in the squad. Otherwise, what are they doing there? I personally wouldn't have played Demichellis yesterday but then I wouldn't have had him in my squad for this season. Likewise Toure and Fernando have had two weeks rest; notwithstanding the argument about being overrun in midfield, I can almost understand the rationale.

However, what I can't understand is why he doesn't react. That is unforgivable. He needed to make changes after 15 minutes to keep us in the game, yet he didn't and that's why he isn't the right man. There is not a top class manager in the world that wouldn't have reacted.

Finally, we can't bleat about injuries or international duty. If we were all players we would want to play for our countries too. Fact. Getting injuries on international duty is just bad luck.

I have to say though if we sit patiently for Pep to decide whether he fancies a date with us or not and then he decided not; it has the potential to be the most embarrassing saga in our recent history. Particularly if he goes to Utd.

 

[mosssideblue]

Because when things are going wrong it's the managers job to try and do something about it.

Ah, I see. So ranting and raving in the technical area is the only way to do that.

 

[hgblue]

Ah, I see. So ranting and raving in the technical area is the only way to do that.

I think what was happening on the pitch should have been concerning the manager and yes he should have been doing something about it, because most of it was his fault.

 

[Steve68]

Ah, I see. So ranting and raving in the technical area is the only way to do that.

Assuming that was meant as a serious post, no. Communicating with your players, making tactical tweaks and putting the occasional rocket up someone's arse is better than just sitting watching an obvious car crash unfold and doing nothing.

 

[quiet_riot]

Ah, I see. So ranting and raving in the technical area is the only way to do that.

Not at all, but there was NOTHING coming from our bench in the first half. No-one was even warming up, so it was obvious that no changes were to be made. I'm not a massive fan of the ranting and raving Klopp, Pulis and Pearce types, but looking over to our technical area yesterday would have provided ZERO inspiration, and probably a shrug of the shoulders.

 

[hgblue]

That bit's the clincher as regards his continued credibility as a manager at this exalted level, if only because it's far from the first time it's happened. Pellegrini's big game management has been shocking for some time now, the lone exceptions being Seville away, where just for once we set up to counterattack, with Ya Ya out of the central midfield duo, and Chelsea at home, where Mourinho's instinctive caution and focus on not losing away to his rivals played into our hands.

In virtually every other game of consequence in the last 12 months, he's picked Ya Ya in a central midfield duo and then then stood there looking bemused as we've been overrun in midfield. Arsenal shredded us at the Etihad and could have scored 6 (I think Ya Ya was away for that one though), the dippers outclassed us at Klanfield where we somehow got away with only a 2-1 defeat, Barca made mugs out of us home and away, and only Joe Hart prevented a cricket score, we got gubbed 4-1 against a shit United team where Toure's reward for the most disinterested (verging on the criminally negligent) 45 minute contribution I think I've ever seen from a City player was not the shepherd's crook but the captain's armband, we got picked off 4 times at Spurs, we should have been 3 down at Monchengladbach before Pellers put Ya Ya out of his misery and we rallied, we were comprehensively outplayed at home by Seville only to snatch an ill deserved winner, and yesterday we could have had no complaints if Liverpool had scored 8.

None of the above is particularly aimed at Ya Ya. He is what he is, a fabulous talent, but one who is closer to 33 than 32, weighs 14 stone at a conservative estimate, and is as ill suited to coping with athletic, pressing, counterattacking teams as you could possibly imagine, and yet Pellegrini has deployed him in a role that actively weakens us as a unit again and again and again. In the past we've been able to get away with it, but even against Newcastle recently we could have been 3-0 down before the Sergio show began. Every team in the Premiership has bundles of cash now - Leicester sit top of the table FFS - and there is an increasing trend toward blanket defence coupled with lightning counterattacking. It was reported yesterday that we have seen record levels of victories from teams enjoying less than 50% of the possession. Sending one's team out without paying specific heed to how the opposition plays then looks increasingly foolish, and in doing so Pellegrini appears naive and arrogant in equal measure. Yesterday I think marked a watershed and I don't think anyone in the upper echelons of the club's hierarchy will have been impressed with his post match comments.

Yaya is not perfect, he has his faults and we're all pretty much aware of what they are, but Pellegrini is exposing Yaya and hanging him out to dry.

 

[mosssideblue]

I think what was happening on the pitch should have been concerning the manager and yes he should have been doing something about it, because most of it was his fault.

I agree but my point is that you don't have to be necessarily in the technical area to be doing something about it.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

Ah, I see. So ranting and raving in the technical area is the only way to do that.

So sitting/standing there not saying anything is the way to go about it. Does he use telepathy? Is he some sort of Jedi?

 

[IWasHere]

Loved how we kept hoofing the ball up to our 2 smallest players on the pitch