How far will the fall be before evasive action is taken?

[kaz7]

PELLEGRINI: “Maybe we have a lot of criticism when we don’t play well but I’m happy with the squad over the whole season.”

He doesn't see a problem so nothing will change

 

[schfc6]

Pellegrini doesn't seem to instruct them to do anything, we look like a team that turns up with our kit bags and are told "to play", can't see anything they've spent all week training on.

Some of our mistakes are so schoolboy if I did it on a Sunday morning I'd be taken off the pitch after 5 minutes and told to "sober up". I hear Gary "the legend manager and homesless person saviour" Neville picked up after five mins of the Liverpool game that we were getting hammered with running in the middle of the park, must admit I saw similar, what did Pellegrini do?

Totally accept injuries have a large part to play but all clubs have injuries. A good manager gets the best out of what he has available, it's obviously just my opinion but replay the season with everything the same but with Pep in charge and I doubt highly we would be getting taken apart on numerous occassions.

I'm not being funny, but a good manager is getting the best out of an injury ravaged squad. Hence our performance in all four comps.

To me it's clear we work on a lot during training. We are excellent in offensive set peices despite and up until Saturday were very tight defensively on set plays despite a pretty small team. I just think missing balanced going forwards and our best defenders for most of the season is reason enough not to demand the sack for a manager with 4 months left and still in 4 competitions in mid Feb.

 

[BlueKlaude]

The part that I think is very strange is that Manuel keeps doing mistakes, the players roll over and we lose big games and no actions isn't taken. the game against leicester should've been the point to make changes and for Khaldoon to go downstairs and really scare to players up a bit. Too many people doesn't look bothered at times. Im sure the board doesn't want to spend 150m and see us getting beaten to a "easy" title by teams like Spurs and Leicester.

 

[Balti]

look we could have stiffened a defence that we knew needed stiffening but we spunked the money on a midfielder that we did not need instead

we have also been getting rid of quality strikers without replacing them with the same quality for a little while now

whoever controls the transfer policy is responsible because with all the money we have and have spent we should have a squad that does not fall apart when we have a couple of injuries

it may be Manny did not see the problem or it may be that Ticksy fella thinks he knows better and dictated transfer policy regardless of what Manny thought

either way our transfer policy has been shite and someones head should roll

on the other hand we are safe at least :-)

 

[Bluekiwi]

...............................there is no way MDM should be in a position where he was ever getting any game time this season.

MDM has been a good servant to the club but he is too old/slow for the modern EPL game. It is fortunate that his contract was extended because of the injuries we have in defence. BUT WHY WAS DENYAR SENT ON LOAN AT THE START OF THE SEASON? HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE FIRST TEAM SQUAD.

 

[Pam]

We are getting relegated.

 

[YaYa's Left Peg]

I'm sure Mauel has some scouse blood in him. It's never his fault.

 

[bumbleblue]

I'm not being funny, but sack him? If and I know it's a big IF we'd have won Saturday, we'd be top now, in one final and topped a difficult CL group and still in the FA Cup all with the worst injury record by far in the PL. Advocating a sacking is slightly reactionary.

I wasn't able to attend Saturday due to a family emergency but subsequently watched the game Sunday. I did however have the miss fortune of listening to the game on 5Live, however I think their continued reference to our squad was rather relevant.

Our subs were Kids and squad men. Whilst constantly referencing the stregnth of our squad, they also mentioned we had nothing on the bench. Wonderfully contradictory as is the norm in the media. However highlight just how short we are. No Bony, no Navas, No Nasri, No De Bruyne. We couldn't even really push Ya Ya forwards. Our one real hope, a 19 year old in his first season.

Yes, we were gash, but again horrendous personal errors were as much to blame as the manager.

The simple fact is, our manager is fighting on four fronts, with basically 14 fit players. Mangala, Kompany, Clichy, Zabaleta, Delph, Silva, Nasri , Bony and Aguero have all missed huge chunks of the season. De Bruyne, Navas and still Bony, Kompany, Mangala and Nasri are missing. That is not a great squad, it's not even a good squad. Add to that Toure's alarming drop off since the middle of September.

Personally I don't believe that.

".................Hart............
Zabaleta. Otamendi.demichellis.Kolarov
,.......Fernandinho Delph..................
Sterling.......Toure.........Silva
...............Aguero.................

Is that great a side. Demichellis looks to be in one season to far syndrome, same could be said of Toure. Silva is off form and even Sterling's biggest fans would say he's inconsistent.

Let's look at the subs, 3 senior out field players. Two full backs and a player simply not good enough for City. The rest, teenagers.

Pellegrini is not managing the full City squad, he's managing part of it. The squad for Sunday was easily 6th best in the league, especially in current form. The likes of Spurs, Arsenal, United, Chelsea even Arsenal would only take Fernandinho, perhaps Sterling and a fit and firing Silva and Aguero. Silva is not firing. Hart is subjective, and not the issue.

If we we had a balanced and semi fit squad, I'm sure we'd be top.

It's easy to blame the manager, the football manager experts and FIFA players all said we couldn't play 442. On Saturday Leicester played the very definition of 442, we practically played 4 central midfielders. Their two, marked Silva and out ran our other three. Our 442 that Pellegrini was slagged for by Internet experts wiped the floor with us Saturday.

Apparently 442 would cost us games against better sides, teams would pass through us, well Saturday we controlled possession, 66%, we're a 'better' side with 'better' players. 442 ran right through us.
Spurs will match us almost identically in formation Sunday. They will play a fairly high line, push for possession high up the field. The difference, they'll actually do it. Why? Because their manager has asked them to do it and more importantly because the players want too. Are we to believe Pellegrini is instructing the players to start slow, ignore runners, not press? I don't.

I said at the start of the season our squad is unbalanced and light in key areas, I was shot down before a ball was kicked, after 5 games I was ridiculed. Well I maintain, Bony doesn't fit our system, a back up to Aguero was essential, not an alternative, a back up. Not someone of equal ability but of equal style. Fernando is not good enough. Ya Ya needs help, but you can only give him one player to help him. Or ditch him. Currently we can't ditch him, why? Because the only alternative is Fernando.

Fernandinho and Delph are very good central midfielders, but without fit and firing wingers it's hard to play them there. The Internet experts all said Ya Ya would be perfect pushed up, he's been largely dreadful and way below the standard of a number 10 to win the league, think Ozil think Silva.

Fact remains, our best team still has Ya Ya in a two, Silva free and Sterling and Navas allowing space for Toure, Silva and Aguero. Are we exposed now and then? Yes. But with our squad, it remains our best option.

How many times has that been an option?

Pellegrini has shown he can win games without, Silva, without Aguero, without De Bruyne. Without all three. Away in Seville non the less. But to be expected to continue winning without your best attacking options and defensive injuries, coupled with a pretty weak midfield in four competitions is a lot to ask of squad and manager.

Sorry for the long quote but that is quite possibly the most balanced and sensible thing I have read on here for ages.

 

[ninjamonkey]

MDM has been a good servant to the club but he is too old/slow for the modern EPL game. It is fortunate that his contract was extended because of the injuries we have in defence. BUT WHY WAS DENYAR SENT ON LOAN AT THE START OF THE SEASON? HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE FIRST TEAM SQUAD.

I don't think it was ever a case of Denayer or MDM, it was Denayer or Otamendi. There's little benefit for a 20 year old kid to sit on the bench most weeks or even watching from the stands when he could be playing regularly elsewhere to get him to the standard where he's genuinely pushing for a first team spot. In hindsight, he probably would of got a good amount of gametime and benefitted from staying here but we couldn't have predicted both Kompany's injury nightmare and to a lesser extent MDM's decline compared to last season.

 

[Bluekiwi]

I don't think it was ever a case of Denayer or MDM, it was Denayer or Otamendi. There's little benefit for a 20 year old kid to sit on the bench most weeks or even watching from the stands when he could be playing regularly elsewhere to get him to the standard where he's genuinely pushing for a first team spot. In hindsight, he probably would of got a good amount of gametime and benefitted from staying here but we couldn't have predicted both Kompany's injury nightmare and to a lesser extent MDM's decline compared to last season.

I agree with your comments about kids just sitting on the bench but I find it frustrating that a youngster, who got rave reviews last season north of the border, was shipped out yet again.
I feel the same about Patrick Roberts, supposedly a really promising youngster, but gone out for 18 months.
How are we ever going to get youngsters bloodied at the top level if we keep sending them out while buying older players. It is a conundrum