"I would rather lose a tournament than break my word to a player"

Dribble said:
An experienced manager will always have a plan b or an out. I had no issue with Willy playing because I thought the criticism he faced after the Chelsea match was way over the top. What I do have an issue with is Pellegrini painting himself into a corner by saying his word is more important than us winning a trophy, which could also be translated into 'My all out attacking philosophy is more important than positive results' which has characterised his tenure here.

I tell you what put it to the vote, how many fans would have preferred to lose yesterday just so Pellegrini could keep his word to Willy? I can just see Pellegrini repeating this in his next job interview and the response he'd get from his prospective employers. I'm firmly in the camp of shit happens and we have to think of the greater good, the many not just the one if you so wish.

I also think its wrong to equate making a decision based on the greater good over keeping ones word as a good or bad one. Our goal was to win yesterday, not to put Willy's feelings above that. If I were Willy and was told Hart would play, I'd be fuckin gutted but I also look at it like this. 'I've been here long enough to displace Hart and haven't achieved it in nearly 3 years, its my look out for not being good enough to be trusted to keep goal, never mind being better than Hart which is immaterial. The win is more important than me getting a game.' That is what a professional who's part of a team should think and do imo.

Many years ago I was in a similar situation where someone who I had chosen to lead a project quickly turned out to be a disaster in that role. There was no way I was going to risk everyone's livelihood just so I could stick to my decision come what may just to prove what a great guy I was. I could see it wasn't working and more importantly so could the rest of the team. I replaced that colleague with another, got everything back on track and spent the next few months with the first colleague helping to correct what had gone wrong.

The worst case scenario is if I'd have carried on regardless irrespective of the fact of what I could see unfolding before my eyes which is exactly what Manuel did to us against Bayern at home when he first came here. When Manuel did eventually make the necessary changes it was too little too late, where our company was concerned, I could have been directly responsible for putting us in serious difficulty if we'd messed up this project just the save the feelings of one colleague.

Our company didn't have a trillionaire benefactor who could have financially bailed us out if it all went tits up. This is the real cut throat world many of us face every single day, its not a game of Monopoly.
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Whats to say the players might not have shown dissatisfaction at the manager for going against his word / trust and we got an FA Cup final repeat? Your case study is irrelevant as Willy is a very good keeper
 
RichardDunneOwnGoal said:
I think the key point many of us are making is that it's a promise he should have never made, and I noticed it's one you also made on the citywatch podcast.

I see the credence to the trust of the squad argument, and I fully recognise its importance, but Manuel backed himself into that corner, it's a promise he never had to make. And it led to him playing Russian roulette yesterday.

There were some serious potential drawbacks to either choice, he started a player in poor form due to a previous promise going against all conventional wisdom costing us the cup final and losing the support with it (potentially derailing the whole season), or he dropped the out of form player for a superior alternative and we lost anyway, and we'd be plotless and Pellegrini would have lost the trust and respect of the squad (potentially derailing the whole season).

Thankfully it went perfectly, fairytale stuff. But make no mistake, Pellegrini made a huge error making that promise in the first place, and it led to him taking a huge gamble.

Personally, hearing his comments when I got back really jarred with me. We knew that was his thinking going into the game, and that's what angered so many of us. If things hadn't gone so well and we'd lost I'm sure he wouldn't have been so forthcoming in his post match interview.

But, I'm of course delighted it went the way it did. Especially for Willy to be the hero the way he did, could see how much it meant to him and the rest of the squad, could inspire us on now in the league, fingers crossed.

All about those margins in football, a hair' breadth from catastrophe and euphoria.
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How big a gamble it was is also debatable. As good a keeper as Joe is, it isn't as though he's never made a mistake or conceded a goal in a cup final, is it? The equation for me would have been dropping Caballero and risk demoralising and deflating the team in one fell swoop against playing him and carrying the whole team with you. If you look at some of the performances of the players yesterday, I would say he made the right call.
 
Dribble said:
I care about my club end of.

For anyone to say they'd rather lose the chance of silverware so they can keep their word to a player speaks volumes. I'm in an office with 4 Dippers and 4 Rags and all of them to a man have just asked me if Pellegrini seriously came out and said that. I asked them what would they do if their manager came out and said that and they all said they'd want him gone! Other responses were, 'Well what else is a manager there for if not to win matches and silverware?'

The other thing that speaks volumes is that after your strange initial post, you've only got a 70 character/20 word reply in response. Say's it all really, you seriously need to engage your brain before you spout crap aloud on the internet mate. You're seriously out of step on this.
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I bet you're not in charge in that office, are you?

You, and one or two others, just don't get it. You never will because you don't understand leadership.
 
People forget that Pellers is managing an entire season, not just one game - would like to see some on here pull that off.

The fact is that Caballero is our backup, one player away from our starting keeper. If (god forbid) Joe were to get seriously injured, or drop significantly in form (which he has in the past), Willy would be our only hope of winning any more silverware this year. Relying on a confidence depleted Caballero in this scenario would be disastrous. Compare it to buying insurance - you pay out of your ass month after month because, although the risk of occurrence is very low, the consequences are extremely high.

Willy is not a great keeper, but hes not horrible either. Pellers weighed the risk and likelihood of losing the FA cup with that of finishing the season with a keeper who has zero confidence, and decided the latter, although less likely, was a much worse situation. To say he 'gambled and it paid off' is extremely short sighted. Any great decision Pellers makes is labeled a gamble, or luck, and every terrible decision he makes is a blatant sign of his inability to properly manage a squad. Proper bullocks that.
 
Kazzydeyna said:
Rest assured, although a lot of our squad are multi millionaire young(-ish) men, they are still human.

I'm confident the faith the manager showed in one of their colleagues, one of their mates, yesterday and in the build up to yesterday will not have been lost on them and could well pay serious dividends over the next few weeks.

Ask yourself.. As an employee which type of manager would you be most likely to run through brick walls for? One who goes back on his word to you and tells you it is just one of those things, or one who risks heavy criticism and sticks to the promises he has been making to you? Rest assured , if we had lost yesterday Manuel would have been hung,drawn,quartered, and then shot by many many people on here and in the media and, knowing that, he was prepared to still put his faith in a player that most fans and every journalist had decided was "shit". Just imagine that you are a member of our squad this morning. If Manuel tells you something, maybe to play in a certain way, or to adopt a certain attitude are you now more or less likely to have faith in him?

That decision yesterday could well be one that wins us the league this year. And sad to say there are many many on here who will still slate him for it. People were complaining last night and today that we had won a cup with a squad and a team that the manager picked. Complaining because we won a cup!! Complaining! Because our manager proved himself not just a gentleman and a class act but also a better judge of a player in a given circumstance than ANY journalist and ANY pundit and ANY fan. They were more gutted than the murderers amd their tears were extra salty.

I think Manuel won us the league yesterday and for that I am grateful and happy.
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I think one thing nobody has mentioned is what would have happened if the manager had picked Hart and we had lost.
IMO the whole squad would have lost faith in the manager and the whole season would have imploded. When he made his post match comments yesterday he was actually talking to the whole squad. He was reminding them of the responsibilities each member of the squad and management have to each other. What better way of asking players to step up to the plate at a crucial time of the season.
 
mosssideblue said:
Whats to say the players might not have shown dissatisfaction at the manager for going against his word / trust and we got an FA Cup final repeat? Your case study is irrelevant as Willy is a very good keeper
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There's more than one way to skin a cat and in my instance I acted in what I thought was in the best interest of my company and did the best I could to enhance the skills of my colleague. But all said and done it was the look on everyone else's faces that was the clincher and no-one else disagreed with the course of action I took.

Damocles has blown this out of all proportion probably for other reasons than those I highlighted. Like I said I find it incredible any manager could come out and say what Manuel did, but that's just my opinion. If Damocles disagrees with me then fine, I respect his right to have an opinion, but was his personal attack on me necessary?

Perhaps he should read the forum rules and CoC and remind himself of his responsibilities as Moderator.
 
Dribble said:
There's more than one way to skin a cat and in my instance I acted in what I thought was in the best interest of my company and did the best I could to enhance the skills of my colleague. But all said and done it was the look on everyone else's faces that was the clincher and no-one else disagreed with the course of action I took.

Damocles has blown this out of all proportion probably for other reasons than those I highlighted. Like I said I find it incredible any manager could come out and say what Manuel did, but that's just my opinion. If Damocles disagrees with me then fine, I respect his right to have an opinion, gut was his personal attack on me necessary?

Perhaps he should read the forum rules and CoC and remind himself of his responsibilities as Moderator.
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I could understand your argument more if Willy was actually shit. But he is far from that as he has proven over his career and indeed when wearing blue. For me, whilst I was on the side of wanting Joe to start, the risk was negligible.
 
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