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.
