Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[Carlos- the- jackal]

I might be wrong, but I think Roberts is injured and hence was not in the squad v Hull!!

Roberts is injured.

 

[mosssideblue]

Pellegrini was extoling the virtues of our strong squad at his Friday press conference and yes we do have a very strong squad even if you don't believe so,we just haven't got the management personnel to get the best out of it,give this squad to Guardiola who will get it motivated,organised,grafting and more tactical nous and you'll see what a fine squad it is.

Thanks for your response. Would you be content if for arguments sake Joe and Sagna collided meaning several weeks out for both? I don't dispute Pellers could get more out of them, but there is only so much a player can give and sadly, many of ours are passing their best.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Assuming that Leicester eventually struggle, then the race for the Title and Champions League places will come down to City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, and Liverpool. So that’s five teams for four places, and a nagging feeling that City are going backwards.
We could finish anywhere between Champions and 5rh, but our season might be defined by the next two away games at Arsenal and Leicester.
For me, this goes back to Burnley and O/T last season. We papered over the cracks, but Pellegrini can’t really complain when our injury prone players are repeatedly injured. We don’t have a style, we’ve got too many lightweight midfielders, and the really frightening aspect of yesterday’s performance was that Stoke didn’t even kick us off the park.

 

[gio's side step]

Vincent Kompany has started a total of 11 games this season out of a total of 23
David Silva has started a total of 11 games this season out of a total of 23
Sergio Aguero has started a total of 12 games this season out of a total of 23

Ultimately, regardless of playing games across 4 competitions, they have effectively started around 50% of fixtures. These are our best 3 footballers at the club. And part of the excellent spine of easily the best team/squad in the PL when everyone fit.

Whilst all teams have to deal with injuries and taking into account how lucky we are to have a strong squad, this is the 'main' reason why we are not dominating the league at present. It isn't the only reason, and Pellegrini absolutely has to take some responsibility in particular for some of the beyond ridiculous tactical decisions and substitutions at times, but we are still close to the top and in all competitions even without our best 3 players for 50% of fixtures.

The reason I think this is the main reason is because its not just the fact that they aren't playing enough, its the recovery time and couple of games needed to get match sharp and in a run of top class form before they get injured again which really impacts on the fluency and fluidity of the team.

For example, how many games have we seen De Bruyne, Sterling, Silva and Aguero play together? De Bruyne one week (in the final 3rd of the pitch) is playing with Navas and Bony, the next week Sterling and Toure and Bony, the next week Aguero and Navas, the next week Silva and Sterling and Bony. We are still competing and winning most games but for sure it is the reason why we aren't where we should be which is top of the leaue by at least 4 or 5 points. Those players need to be playing 80% of games.

This is becoming too regular and I don't know what the solution is. The same key players, and the same types of injury. As others have said, we've become too reliant on them and the recruitment hasn't been strategically competent enough.

Finally, we are vulnerable at times, but thats nothing new under Pellegrini. It was like that during games when we won the title, and last season. We have defeats in us. We have huge defensive errors in us. We have a fragile mentality at times in us. And Pellegrini has nativity in him. These are not new.

Ultimately, we would still be top of the league and dominating the PL even with these variables if those 3 players were playing 16 - 18 games out of 23. Collectively.

 

[Dribble]

Lets make sure we are discussing the same thing otherwise we will go round in circles. What is your understanding of a strong squad? For me it means being able to compete with any team when some of our core players are out, hence why I believe the relevance of facing other "first teams strongest". Yesterday was a case in point whereby Stoke had players IMO who were better than our squad players (Shaqiri & there scorer who I shall not attempt to spell) for examples.

My understanding of a strong squad is being able to put out two strong teams from the players you have available and still being able to compete. Now if we apply this logic to our main Premier League competitors, who in your opinion has a stronger squad than Manchester City?

Where you're going with this is by comparing all our second choice players against our competitors strongest TEAM and using this to claim we have have a weak squad which is ridiculous. Compare like for like, squad for squad, strongest 11 v strongest 11.

In terms of being able to compete when missing some of our core players, we had more than enough on show to have got a result against Stoke yesterday. Let me remind you:

MCFC: Silva, KDB, Bony, Sterling, Fernandinho, Fernando, Kolorov, Otamendi, MDM, Sagna, Hart.

Stoke: Butland, Johnson, Wollscheid, Pieters, Shawcross, Arnautovic, Cameron, Afellay, Shaqiri, Whelan, Bojan.

Sorry I forgot the managers who we have intimate knowledge of both: MCFC: Pellegrini - Stoke: Hughes

So by your reckoning Shaqiri is better than KDB and Arnautovic is better than Silva? (taking into account they started without any recognised strikers)

On what planet do you think we didn't have enough to start with and on the bench to have not at least get a point yesterday?

 

[Carlos- the- jackal]

You can pick holes in every squad and Zabba is not the player he was but i think when match fit he is still an able deputy for Sagna,as for Caballero no he hasn't filled us all with confidence and currently is a weakish link but i watched him play plenty while in Spain where he looked a quality keeper,like i said originally all squads have weak points and ours is no exception but overall i brlieve it is very strong it's just not being managed properly,

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Exactly. I called Silva's performance disgraceful yesterday because I believed it was. On reflection maybe I was harsh, but he was very poor. Often doing nothing defensively and it irks me that he's exonerated from criticism, yet Yaya is lambasted for everything.

I am a big fan of Silva and have Dave's name on the back of my shirt. However, there was a moment in the first half where Sagna faced with two Stokies looked to Dave for help and he just stood there. It was out of character but it happened and summed up our no show on the day!

 

[cookster]

Vincent Kompany has started a total of 11 games this season out of a total of 23
David Silva has started a total of 11 games this season out of a total of 23
Sergio Aguero has started a total of 12 games this season out of a total of 23

Ultimately, regardless of playing games across 4 competitions, they have effectively started around 50% of fixtures. These are our best 3 footballers at the club. And part of the excellent spine of easily the best team/squad in the PL when everyone fit.

Whilst all teams have to deal with injuries and taking into account how lucky we are to have a strong squad, this is the 'main' reason why we are not dominating the league at present. It isn't the only reason, and Pellegrini absolutely has to take some responsibility in particular for some of the beyond ridiculous tactical decisions and substitutions at times, but we are still close to the top and in all competitions even without our best 3 players for 50% of fixtures.

The reason I think this is the main reason is because its not just the fact that they aren't playing enough, its the recovery time and couple of games needed to get match sharp and in a run of top class form before they get injured again which really impacts on the fluency and fluidity of the team.

For example, how many games have we seen De Bruyne, Sterling, Silva and Aguero play together? De Bruyne one week (in the final 3rd of the pitch) is playing with Navas and Bony, the next week Sterling and Toure and Bony, the next week Aguero and Navas, the next week Silva and Sterling and Bony. We are still competing and winning most games but for sure it is the reason why we aren't where we should be which is top of the leaue by at least 4 or 5 points. Those players need to be playing 80% of games.

This is becoming too regular and I don't know what the solution is. The same key players, and the same types of injury. As others have said, we've become too reliant on them and the recruitment hasn't been strategically competent enough.

Finally, we are vulnerable at times, but thats nothing new under Pellegrini. It was like that during games when we won the title, and last season. We have defeats in us. We have huge defensive errors in us. We have a fragile mentality at times in us. And Pellegrini has nativity in him. These are not new.

Ultimately, we would still be top of the league and dominating the PL even with these variables if those 3 players were playing 16 - 18 games out of 23. Collectively.

And there lies half of the problem. All 3 were signed over 4 years ago and after spending 100's of million we've not managed to sign players of the same ilk.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

Never thought I would say this but MP - this charming man- is losing my confidence. 11 points from last seven games is shocking. More than this, it is the level of performance. I literally shut my eyes when we are defending. 3 dreadful performances - following on from the OT match last season. 4 of the worst performances I have witnessed in many a year. Injurys are problematic and if can get and keep everyone fit then there is hope for the second part of the season. But those displays will be long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.....

 

[mosssideblue]

My understanding of a strong squad is being able to put out two strong teams from the players you have available and still being able to compete. Now if we apply this logic to our main Premier League competitors, who in your opinion has a stronger squad than Manchester City.

Where you're going with this is by comparing all our second choice players against our competitors strongest TEAM and using this to claim we have have a weak squad which is ridiculous. Compare like for like, squad for squad, strongest 11 v strongest 11.

In terms of being able to compete when missing some of our core players, we had more than enough on show to have got a result against Stoke yesterday. Let me remind you:

MCFC: Silva, KDB, Bony, Sterling, Fernandinho, Fernando, Kolorov, Otamendi, MDM, Sagna, Hart.

Stoke: Butland, Johnson, Wollscheid, Pieters, Shawcross, Arnautovic, Cameron, Afellay, Shaqiri, Whelan, Bojan.

Sorry I forgot the managers who we have intimate knowledge of both: MCFC: Pellegrini - Stoke: Hughes

So by your reckoning Shaqiri is better than KDB and Arnautovic is better than Silva? (taking into account they started without any recognised strikers)

On what planet do you think we didn't have enough to start with and on the bench to have not at least get a point yesterday?

I'll give you this, you are persistent in being silly. No where did I say Shaqiri was better than Kev or Arnautovic better than David. If you were happy with the quality on display yesterday by some of our squad players, that tells me all I need to know

If you want to keep misinterpreting me to try and make me out to be something I'm not, crack on alone