Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[The blue phantom]

I'm not taking this away from the MP thread,but it's about opinions,I never rated him sorry

Your not alone mate Average at best.

 

[robbieh]

Just the one mistake. Could have been vital, I agree, but at the time I thought "Of all the fuckin' players to do that, I wouldn't have picked Joleoninho, to make a fuck of a simple defensive header!" He was still a solid CB for 99.99% of his time!

Don't disagree with this. But we took a punt on a youngster to replace him and when that didn't work we went and bought the best defender in La Liga last year. We should be defending better.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

For those wanting him gone, you will get your wish soon enough but if you think a new manager can suddenly turn lazy players into something they are not you are in for a shock.

Yet again we saw players unwilling to take responsibility, players unwilling to do the dirty work off the ball and players unwilling to track their runners.

Buck stops with the manager and it isn't good enough but at some point, the players have to pull their collective fucking fingers out and i include Kun, Merlin etc in that.

Im genuinely fucking angry at 60 minutes of that performance last night and the sheer lack of professionalism shown by some.

Knowing that, it might be an idea then for the manager to set the team up in such a way that those shortcomings are not accentuated. Don't have an aging defence pushed up on the half way line, don't put Delph on the left wing, don't start Toure, Silva and De Bruyne together in a big away game, etc

 

[Graceyboy]

For those wanting him gone, you will get your wish soon enough but if you think a new manager can suddenly turn lazy players into something they are not you are in for a shock.

Yet again we saw players unwilling to take responsibility, players unwilling to do the dirty work off the ball and players unwilling to track their runners.

Buck stops with the manager and it isn't good enough but at some point, the players have to pull their collective fucking fingers out and i include Kun, Merlin etc in that.

Im genuinely fucking angry at 60 minutes of that performance last night and the sheer lack of professionalism shown by some.

Cannot disagree with that one bit. Hit the nail on the head.

We all know Pellers makes some strange selections, but the quality in our squad should be able to put on better performances than they have been doing.

The reason Leicester are top of the league? Because with a bit of class and good fortune and a lot of hard work you get your just rewards

We don't deserve to win anything with our stinking attitude

 

[blueinsa]

To a point, yes. But, I can't believe we just have a lazier group of players than most.

Good managers get the most out of players, and ensure they are motivated. He isn't doing that. A better manager would. Certain players are letting him down, but he makes poor decisions.

I dont absolve the manager of some of his errors but last night, time and time again you saw Ozil dropping into a space with midfield runners surging past our midfield and they just stop with little or no help from the likes of Kun, Merlin or KdB.

Arsenal showed us how its done off the ball and regardless of tactics, formations, instructions or manager, if a player cant even do the basics then we are in trouble.

You can forgive our forwards when they are in top form and banging them in for fun but they are not producing anything right now either in attack or defence.

 

[Jimfv1]

I don't agree about Lescott, he was an OK defender but made loads of mistakes, was uncomfortable on the ball, and needed constant coaching from the technical area when playing. Some Everton fans couldn't believe how much we paid for him when we could have paid similar for Jagielka, and Distin was still a better defender eve last year.

I think the whole reason why our defence is see as "shit" by most football fans and pundits is because the centre backs in particular are so exposed because the rest of the team from full backs to centre mids are always so far forward and then we lose possession and get ripped apart. The centre backs then look more nervous and then make mistakes as well which leads to conceding even more chances. The manager keeps playing Yaya as one of two holding midfielders, which is the major error. In my opinion he should play two of Delph, Fernando or Fernandinho in front of the back four and Toure should either be behind Silva or due to form and injuries then one or the other can play in the no. 10 role. Some would say Yaya should only be playing for 30 mins a game anyway, he'd be a great impact sub to run through the opposition when their tired. Silva gets kicked to pieces in most games so resting him when we play two games a week isn't a bad idea. Due to injuries this season we haven't had Silva or Aguero for most games anyway.

The other thing is even Pellegrini has been bemoaning the fact that the team is tired, so why not give the players a break now and then, he's supposed to be well respected by the players and able to keep them happy, so why not start Yaya from the bench in some games. Our core players are now either pushing 30 or just over nowadays and this is another reason to play them for shorter periods, We can't keep relying on them to pull us out of the mire in future years, but if Pellegrini was a bit smarter with the squad use and played players in the right positions then he should get more out of this squad of players than he currently is doing. I know we have been hampered by injuries this season but I can't see it getting any easier between now and May, mainly due to the ageing players getting kicked every week as soon as they get back from injury. Aguero will be targeted by Everton when we play them, and we have 3 games against them in Jan. Last year at Goodison they put him out of the game in the first ten minutes and that will happen again this January. If Silva gets kicked a few more times against Sunderland and Leicester then he'll be injured again, and I have no doubt that Vinny will eventually come back for 3 or 4 games before we lose him again.

Pellegrini is a good manager, like the bloke before him, but not a great one. Hopefully we will get Pep in the summer and he will have a combination of the best qualities from both managers. I just hope the team can go on a run of victories like they did last season a couple of times. This season we started well for five games, since then we have fallen apart and form has been patchy at best since September.

 

[Gordyola]

I always think the sign of a good coach is his backline and motivation.
There's so much involved from marking, set-pieces, how high they play, how unified are they when they move.

Magical players will always have the potential to do something special but the defence always has to play as a unit and as a team.

When you look at Mancinis team his defence and motivation was top-class. Players ended up not liking him because he forced them to get results but that's another story.

When you look at what MP has done to us - and the players, it truly is shocking.
We look like a Sunday 11 side.

He settled the squad down with his damp squid attitude after Bobbys aggression and maybe it was needed - hence MP first decent title - when to be fair he tried to throw the title away then as well.
But we have steadily declined and so have the players.

You only need to look at KDB. When he got here he was full of passion and desire. He was immense but it's slowly been killed and now along with most of the squad he's struggling.

Whoever comes in the summer - hopefully Pep - needs to have the balls to drop Yaya too.

Henry was highlighting before the game last night about Pep's philosophy in that for the first two 2/3 of the pitch players must work to his plan, stay in position until the final third is freedom. He told a story about one game where he decided to switch to the right and ended up scoring a goal, giving Barca a 1-0 at HT. He felt good because he had given them the one 1-0 lead, Pep wasn't happy and took him off. So when it comes to balls then Pep has them no doubt

 

[Damocles]

Just the one mistake. Could have been vital, I agree, but at the time I thought "Of all the fuckin' players to do that, I wouldn't have picked Joleoninho, to make a fuck of a simple defensive header!" He was still a solid CB for 99.99% of his time!

Can't argue with that, he was a solid defender but in my opinion no more solid than 3 or 4 others since then and inferior to Otamendi.

 

[hgblue]

Heard it all now,Lescott was a great defender !!! Fuck me...he was for Everton but not for us,looked like Bambi on ice all the time,get Mike Bassett in for this Saturday or at least play his formation.........4-4 fucking 2 !!!

Haha, the scratching around for excuses is quite amusing. The set up at Sevilla was superb, solid in midfield, Yaya given some freedom, the defence offered some protection, pace and width, would have been perfect at Arsenal last night, but no, Delph on the left, Yaya back in a middle two. Beyond frustrating now.

 

[blueinsa]

Knowing that, it might be an idea then for the manager to set the team up in such a way that those shortcomings are not accentuated. Don't have an aging defence pushed up on the half way line, don't put Delph on the left wing, don't start Toure, Silva and De Bruyne together in a big away game, etc

Im struggling to disagree but again, i will point you in the direction of Ferrans quotes on how we will play and how we wont deviate from it regardless of some poor performances. In the meantime whilst we wait for pep hopefully and the players he wants to implement the plans, i expect if nothing else a bit of effort and pride from some of our so called stars and for them to do the basics right.