Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[ColinBellsjockstrap]

Pellegrini could just turn out to be our finest manager since the great Joe Mercer.

Mancini was good, but was abrasive and lost the players respect.

IF we win the league by a landslide, and do well in Europe why go for Pep?

 

[City_Sean]

He has a point to prove this season, his reaction to Pardew was that of a man who looked fired up.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Makes you wonder what the fuck went on last season. Been really impressed by MP so far.

 

[cucumberman]

4-4-2 with the players we were missinh looked to give us a few goals if Aguero was still on the pitch. KDB would still have been subbed on and Bony and Aguero would have benefitted from his passes. We should be able to dominate irrespective of us playing 442 or 4231 because we have the players and the subs.

 

[Bootador]

Playing 442 just makes it harder for ourselves. The extra midfielder allows us to dominate possession and thus drastically increases our chances of a clean sheet while still leaving us dangerous going forward. Get a clean sheet and that eliminates those freak results like losing to Cardiff/Villa etc.

 

[BillyShears]

Makes you wonder what the fuck went on last season. Been really impressed by MP so far.

You've no idea how happy this post makes me. :)

 

[daztrueblue91]

I think Pellegrini was right to start with the 4-4-2 yesterday based on the players we had missing.

Don't forget, we won the league playing that way with largely the same bunch of players we have now and finished second last season. It's not like we suddenly turn to shit when playing 4-4-2. Also, despite losing to Palace playing 4-4-2 last season, we totally dominated them and was on the receiving end of a fluke result.

9 times out of 10 I fully expect Pellers to stick to 4-2-3-1. We will have Sterling, Navas, KDB, Nasri and Silva who can cover the front three positions, it was just unfortunate that we had 2 on them missing and one who had only trained with the squad 3 times. Then when you consider that we have a £28 million striker on the bench and are more than good enough to beat Palace playing 4-4-2 then his decision was a no brainer.

The big positives for me was Nasri in the number 10 role. That is his strongest position and while he is unfortunate that it is also Spanish Dave's favoured position, we have the option to play Silva out wide at stages like against Watford and let Nasri play there.

Another was the gaffa brining on Kelechi. It would have been a lot easier and understandable to keep Bony on in that situation. We were going for the win and Bony is the proven player, also substitutions at that stage normally waste crucial minutes. But fair play for Pellers and Kelechi.

 

[citysince88]

Nice to see him put Pardew in his fucking place, but please Manuel let 442 die !!!

Also was a brave move taking off Bony for nacho when we were needing a goal he deserves praise for that, a 25 million proven striker for a 18 year old.Good stuff.

 

[stonerblue]

I watched the match with an old pro who's played for England at every level. With ten minutes left i asked him what would he do when 0-0 away from home against closest rivals and we both agreed on 'stick'.
Luckily, and bravely, Pellegrini has other ideas. Inspired management.

 

[OB1]

I don't agree Pellegrini starting with 4-4-2 was on forehand doomed for failure. I stand by my opinion first or foremost it's the players on the pitch who need to put in a decent shift and secondly it's about how you play your system. 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or whatever system is only that on paper. And maybe it was 4-5-1, with a midfield containing Yaya and Fernandinho as the defending block, Navas and Nasri the wide men, and Aguero the attacking midfielder with Bony upfront.

We got out of the blocks soft and after 10 minutes I could already sense most had their thoughts on Tuesday. We woke up when Aguero was kicked out of the game. We got meaner and from that moment on we sort of controlled the game much better. Palace wanted a physical battle, we gave them one after we lost Aguero. Pellegrini got his lucky sub on just in time to score the winner that will prove to be a big big winner.

Got to agree with you, Clogs. Although, I prefer it when we use an extra midfielder rather than two out and out strikers, because it gives us greater flexibility, the extra midfielder often plays a very advanced role. We really don't know yesterday what would have transpired if Kun had not been hacked out of the game. What we do know is that throughout the game, we found it hard to make chances in their box and had to shoot from around the edge of their box; thankfully the keeper failed to hold one of those shots but it had little to do with team shape that we scored that goal; what it did owe something to was Pellegrini not being the kind of manager that sits back and settles for a draw.