Discussion: Manuel Pellegrini 2015/16

[blueinsa]

This.
But there are enough people out there who love the drama of all this and will come out with "I can absolutely guarantee we will not be in the top four" and so the thread will run and run.
As far as I can see, Pep is very likely to join us in the summer whether MP wins the league or not. Given that, what is the point in getting someone else in now?

Having said that, there are almost no managers in the world who were able, by sheer force of personality, to get players to perform at the highest possible level three matches a week, week in, week out, to refuse to put in a mediocre performance, regardless of how you played the week before, who the opposition is, or who the opposition is next week, who is injured or coming back from injury, whether you are at a Champions League final at the Nou Camp or away in Hull on a wet Monday night, and whether you are on a ten match winning or a losing streak, first or last in the table. Until this season this season I would have said that of current/recent managers, only Maureen, Baconface (as much as I regret to say it) and Pep Guardiola were really in that category, and this season really proves that list is too long.

Completely agree mate.

 

[Damanino]

In December we still have Arsenal away and Leicester away games. The two teams currently above us. Can you see Pelle coming up with masterplan tactics to win at those grounds? Or its more likely they will use our big tactical weaknesses to play a game like Spurs, stoke, Pool etc?

I think Mahrez and Vardy cannot wait to play against us.The space they gonna have will really surrise even Ranieri.

I would accept two draws now in those games.

 

[Marvin]

Pellegrini is fond of good moments and bad moments.

Although he often describes teams as being in a good moment, or a bad moment, he rarely adapts his approach and this is a problem. he did it when we went to Old Trafford, and he has done it on odd occasions, but typically we'll go home or away and just throw and commit men forward leaving players like Demichelis exposed behind a static Yaya Toure and this for me is a weakness. He's not pragmatic enough. Perhaps he thinks that our squad is good enough to win anywhere and to be defensive is a sign of weakness. On paper that's true, but the reality of a season is injury, form and opponents who raise their games for the big matches

In reality we all knew that the Stoke away game, and the Liverpool home game were fraught with problems and that some amount of caution, especially in the opening minutes was advisable. In both cases the dye was cast in the opening minutes. I reckon the Pellegrini school of management is one of very little management. Its a case of trusting entirely in the players and playing a certain style. All well and good when yu have the best players and they are on form, but when the team loses it, he seems powerless and doesn't know what to do. Then you have to rein your team in and grind out results. When we're struggling for form, we don't do that, we just carry on regardless. But at least he doesn't invent pompous philosophies of football, or criticise everyone including his own players and the referee.

Given what happened last season, no point screaming. Just have to hope Vinny, and Aguero return asap and the team gets a lift as a result. Silva's return will help. Otamendi is very reliable. Delph is proving himself to be our buy of the Summer so I think we'll be OK. We're in damage limitation mode at the moment, It should just be a matter of time before it clicks (mind you Chelsea under Mourinho must have thought than in September). Nothing is certain

 

[Neville Kneville]

You seen much of Humphrey's and what are your thoughts ?

Great prospect, absolutely nowhere even remotely close to first team cb level at this time imo, he would get mullered. But as an emergency fullback, or stuck in front of the back 4 for 20 mins to see out a result ? Possibly, but again, would have needeed to see him doing it in a lesser game to find out. Good footballer so could imagine him doing ok if asked to do 'a job' for the team. But cb would scare me.

 

[hertsblue]

Should have gone last summer or go next summer regardless of if Pep is coming or not. Probably no one available now for 6 months work so just have to have fingers crossed we get our players back soon and don't lose anyone else and we qualify for the CL next year.
He blames injuries but who is responsible for training and its been well documented how many players we seem to have out injured all the time. This goes back some time and has not been addressed. Agree with a lot of other posters with not giving youth a chance even when we are comfortable in games. This has been a complete failure.
Defence is worse than I can remember in the current era and is ripped apart by the most average of players at times and that's after buying how many 30+ million defenders.
Results are not a blip in form, they are worrying given our talent regardless of injuries. 5 Pl wins in 10 games and a few of them the results could have been different, the get out of jail win v Norwich, Newcastle missing chances galore in the 1st half etc. 3 away games without a goal with our level of talent is shocking.
Something is not right but I cant see how sacking him now would be better if no one is available to take over

 

[jollylescott]

I would love to sack Pellegrini if we had a replacement, but I don't see how we can have a replacement with all the stuff that is going on, unless Bayern are sacking Pep.

I think Pellegrini did a good job when he first came to City & is capable of a much higher level of tactical & organisational management than we are seeing. But I think there is strong evidence that he will only do that when backed into a corner. It wouldn't surprise me at all, if we suddenly won a bunch of games now playing a 4-6 formation wih no strikers & Silva as a 'false' 9 or something, as he's proved he can do shit like that. But he's also proved he struggles to motivate players to run the extra yard for him, & that he will try to revert to variations of his favourite system, against any opposition, at any time, & often refuses to take the oppo or the conditions, or the fitness of his players, into consideration. Well either that or he's a fucking stupid old bastard & I'm giving him too much credit.

He is apparently using fitness issues as an excuse. Well I was pointing out weeks ago, how he was running DeBruyne into the ground (many thought that was perfectly ok) & DeBruyne has never been quite as sharp since. I have also mentioned 1000 times, how imo a proper manager would have started regularly using kids later in games as subs etc & that thuis would have started over a year ago. The typical response to this from some is 'we pick the strongest side for every game' & 'they have to prove they are good enough, not expect favours'.

Well it isn't a fucking 'favour' it's about using our own kids to take the strain off the 'first team' players giving them more time to recuperate & not having them running at times when they are likely to pick up injuries & strains. It doesn't fucking matter whether or not George Evans is or isn't going to make it as a long term City player, if he can stop Fernandinho straining a calf muscle by replacing him for 30 mins when we're 3-0 up. This is the key to Ferguson's use of young players, not that they all bcome stars like Giggs, they help THE SQUAD get through tough times. That old fucker has totally failed to make best use of the untold riches at his fingertips & has no plan whatsoever in that regard, even for the short term.

And I'll give you the example which proves this: on the bench v Stoke, fucking Garcia. What the fuck was he EVER going to do v Stoke, away, in a fucking hurricane ? Kean Bryan, who tackles everything which moves, runs his balls off for City & even keeps possession better than Garcia, stronger, much more likely to survive ? Never even played 5 mins under Pellegrini. Absolutely scandallous waste of a potential asset which could help the squad & stupid, short sighted management. Denayer could also have filled in centre mid & right back as well as cb, & probably done centre mid better than Fernando. a better 1v1 defender than ANYONE in the first team. Maybe George Evans could have filled a space whilst others rested too. All would need minutes on the pitch to get upto pace first though. None have had any. Utter shit management. So when he moans about injuries, he is full of shit imo. He fucked up Negredo in a dead game, for no reason, almost cost us the season, & that has always made me wonder about him.

Well spoken Nev.

Pellers is complaining about the players being tired and that this was partly responsible for the Stoke fiasco. Yet he fails to see that he is largely responsible for this situation. As you said KDB is a perfect example. Rather than rest him and take him off as much as possible to save his legs, he has persisted in playing him almost non stop. The crunch game for me was the League Cup. That was a perfect opportunity to rest two or three of our key players and promote a Kean Bryan, or a Garcia, or a Roberts. Rather than do this we saw an almost full strength team against Hull, for gods sake. The players are probably tired because he played them all against Hull.

In showing more flexibility it's not just about managing the ambition of youth, its also about resting our key players in a demanding season. There have been countless times this season where he could have taken off one of our big names and brought on one of our young stars. However Pellegrini simply refuses to support our youth, and he fails to realise that the tiredness that he complains about is largely his own doing. To me rotating our young players at appropriate points in a game is a win/win. It gives them experience and rests our senior players.

To me it's a weak excuse to blame tiredness. The art of management in the modern era is to keep players as fresh as possible for these demanding seasons. The evidence points towards Pellegrini failing this test. In my opinion he needs to completely rethink the way he manages the squad. He talks a lot about trust. Well perhaps it's time to trust Kean Bryan, Patrick Roberts, Manu Garcia and others.

 

[Marvin]

In December we still have Arsenal away and Leicester away games. The two teams currently above us. Can you see Pelle coming up with masterplan tactics to win at those grounds? Or its more likely they will use our big tactical weaknesses to play a game like Spurs, stoke, Pool etc?

I think Mahrez and Vardy cannot wait to play against us.The space they gonna have will really surrise even Ranieri.

I would accept two draws now in those games.

look no further ahead than the next game. Win that, get one or two players back everything changes

 

[Tcf]

Cast your mind back to when Fergie was going to retire early and step down as United Manager.

The team went to pieces that season,if I remember correctly.

Regardless of how professional people are, knowing your Manager is going at the end of the season, and a replacement is already in place, has a negative and destabilizing effect on the players, the team, and the coaching staff.

If you need any proof of that, the sacking of Macini before the FA Cup final is a prime example.

Spot on

 

[Neville Kneville]

look no further ahead than the next game. Win that, get one or two players back everything changes

Imo, if you ignore the managers completely & just look at the squads, City win the league. It's down to whether someone like Klopp can get 50% more out of Liverpool, & Pellegrini, LVG & Wenger can get 30-50% less out of their squads, which all 3 have skillfully managed so far this season.

 

[CrownPointBlue]

Support the coach(?) players & club in public 'cos we could win the Prem & C1 C & do the Quarters in the CL this season.

Make changes early in the Summer with a Coach with strategic & tactical nous for all types of games,teams & conditions. A coach who will 'manage ' a game whilst it's in progress. A coach who will show leadership,common sense & flexibility. A coach who will willingly use talented youth players in games when circumstances allow so we can see whether they can contribute to the workload & whether they are truly good enough. A Coach who will be relentless & remorseless in driving us to be the ALL BLACKS of football.

Above all,a Coach who will do this before Neville takes over at RagLand......in 3 years time we mustn't be looking back in anger !!