Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[Ray78]

'We have been average': Mancini berates City's defensive record ahead of Arsenal test


By Sportsmail Reporter

Published: 14:01, 22 September 2012 | Updated: 14:05, 22 September 2012
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini believes his side are still paying the price for a fractured pre-season.


City head into the Premier League encounter still searching for the form that saw them crowned Premier League champions last season.


The reason for their difficulties is not hard to spot. From having the top flight's best defensive record, City suddenly look vulnerable.




Including the Community Shield, the Blues have conceded 11 goals in six games so far this season, culminating in the three at the Bernabeu on Tuesday that cost them a famous Champions League away win over Real Madrid.


It took City 13 games to reach that number last season. And Mancini is certain he knows why there has been a change.


'For two years we were the best defence in the Premier League,' he said.



'This year we have been average. Probably the big problem was we didn't get to work properly in pre-season. Since then we lost some players and have had an international break. But if we are going to improve, we need to work.'

Joleon Lescott paid the price in midweek. Good enough to start both England's World Cup qualifiers earlier this month, the 30-year-old was left kicking his heels on the bench in Madrid as Mancini preferred teenage Serbian Matija Nastasic.


It seemed like a significant move. Yet Mancini insists it was not.


'No,' he said. 'We have played six games this season and all the players have played two or three.


'The problem was because we started pre-season in a different moment.



'Joleon came back very late. He is an important player for us but we have 23 good players. Sometimes I can change them.'


Mancini accepts the game will offer a decent guide to his team's present situation. After their own tricky start, Arsenal have hit form.


Whereas City struggled at Anfield, and required a large slice of good fortune to snatch a draw, the Gunners cruised to an easy away win at Liverpool.

Immediately after the international break a Southampton side City were behind against on the opening weekend of the season had six goals slammed past them by Arsene Wenger's men.


Rather than the departures of one-time City target Robin van Persie and Alex Song signalling the death knell for Wenger and his team, it actually seems to have released them.


Santi Cazorla has already proved to be an outstanding purchase, while Germany frontman Lukas Podolski has confounded gloomy pre-season predictions about his contribution.


Mancini dispatched trusted reserve-team coach Attilio Lombardo to Anfield to run the rule over the Gunners three weeks ago.


And Lombardo's report suggested City need to be very wary.


'Arsenal are very strong on the counter-attack,' said Mancini.

'I watched the game against Liverpool on TV and they played really well. They have two important players, Cazorla and Podolski, who are very good and Johan Djourou maybe. He didn't score but he is a good player.


'We should pay attention because their counter-attack will be very strong.'


Samir Nasri will miss out with a hamstring injury for City, who could recall both Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

The only way is down, unless you expect a £48m cap on spending to be the difference in winning the title again, the League Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League this term.

The only way is down? We only achieved 86 points last season despite scoring all those goals. There is loads of room for improvement there. 86 points is the second lowest points total to win the Prem in the last 12 years and there were no particularly great sides in the Prem last season other than ourselves, we didn't have one of the great Arsenal United or Chelsea sides that won the league in that time to compete against.

Plus we've now spent £78m this season as we got rid of some deadwood from the squad to push that £48m up.

 

[OB1]

But this is Mancini's team, right? ;)

What an incredible benchmark last season really was.

Ferguson clearly lost the plot after his bastards did the Treble back in 1999.

£130 million net spend since Mancini has left tho mate

And still 8 of the players in our best 11 were part of the core that Mancini left

Hart, Zabba, Vinny, Clichy, Yaya, Silva, Nasri, Sergio, and you could even argue Dzeko

I must have missed Mark Hughes signing Zab and Komps, then?

Mancini left nothing but a dressing-room fallen apart at the seams, players who had continually been told they were shit and needing punching in the face or were liars.

Seems to me, you want it both ways and refuse to give Pellegrini the credit for an incredible achievement, in his first season, where we became the most prolific team in British football history.

The only way is down, unless you expect a £48m cap on spending to be the difference in winning the title again, the League Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League this term.

You've already rightly identified and admitted what the solution is, and Pellegrini knows it too. The signing of Bony will allow him to go 4-4-2 as and when he needs to.

If you and others are using the stick that this isn't Pellegrini's team, then surely he should be afforded the same luxury as Mancini and Hughes, who combined, were allowed to spend over £500m.

The financial landscape has changed beyond recognition since we first started spending.

How much do we think Silva and Aguero would cost now?

Try £120m and upwards.

That is the context people have to work with when they start throwing names about who we should have signed.

Manual gets plenty wrong, and some of his subs absolutely stink of naivety or panic.

Plenty felt Mancini could be admonished of blame because his hands had been tied in the market, off the back of a title win.

Pellegrini, seemingly, not.

Excellent post. I probably think MP gets less wrong than you do but every manager gets things wrong: is football.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

But this is Mancini's team, right? ;)

What an incredible benchmark last season really was.

Ferguson clearly lost the plot after his bastards did the Treble back in 1999.

Didn't he get 90+ points the following season and only lose 3 league games?

Granted neither of us won the fa cup as they didn't actually bother entering whereas we just couldn't be bothered.

 

[Ray78]

And if you think MP is happy with the defence.


Pellegrini slams City defence





Nov 27, 2013 23:22
By Paul Handler


Manuel Pellegrini slammed Manchester City's defensive performance after the Blues' 4-2 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen.



Soccer - UEFA Champions League - Group D - Manchester City v Plzen - Etihad Stadium

BITTER PL TO SWALLOW: Micah Richards and Joe Hart after Viktoria Plzen's first goal


Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini criticised his team's defending after they laboured to victory over Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League.

City were twice pegged back by the Czech minnows at the Etihad Stadium before late goals from Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko secured a 4-2 win in the Group D encounter.

Sergio Aguero, from a penalty, and Samir Nasri had both put City ahead but Plzen responded each time through Tomas Horava and Stanislav Tecl.

Goals have not been a problem for City - with 22 now scored in the last four home games - but questions continue to recur about the defence, particularly in the continued absence of captain Vincent Kompany.

Pellegrini said: "We can attack and we can score four goals, but without giving (away) as many chances as we did today in defending.

"One of the most important things to be an attacking team is to know how to defend well. Today we did very, very bad.

"I am talking about the whole team. I think the whole team must know how to defend.

"We didn't have the intensity or the pace today to do it and I am not talking about individual players."



Manchester City v Viktoria Plzen - UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday Five Group D 


Little blame for City's defensive shortcomings could be directed at goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was restored after five games on the bench.

The England international made some good saves and Pellegrini was pleased with his performance, although he would not confirm whether he or Costel Pantilimon would face Swansea at the weekend.

Pellegrini said: "I think Joe Hart played very well.

"I didn't expect that he would have to work so much during the game but I think this is the match when the other team - including Champions League and Premier League (games) - had the most chances to score.

"From tomorrow we will start thinking about the next game. Now we are talking about the Premier League but, I repeat, I think Joe had a very good performance."

Plzen, with a Europa League place still to play for, put up much more of a fight than when they were beaten 3-0 by City in September or lost 5-0 to Bayern Munich.

City, who are already through and made seven changes, were below par but they still have a chance to overhaul Bayern at the top of the group - if they beat the Germans at least 3-0 next month.

Pellegrini said: "I am satisfied because we won the game 4-2 but I don't think we played well, we didn't play with the intensity and the pace we are playing (with) here at home."

Top scorer Aguero, who has now scored 15 in his last 12 appearances, was taken off at half-time but Pellegrini said there was no injury.

He said: "Sergio hasn't (got) any problems. He knew from the beginning that he was just going to play just 45 minutes."

 

[BobKowalski]

Pep stalling over contract extension at Bayern. Interesting.

Interesting as Pep talk about Bayern in a past tense.

Always said he is the natural fit with Ferran and Txiki and the CFA coming on line.

In the mean time, Pellegrini is doing a magnificent job.

This season he has probably the best squad in the league in 2nd position and out of both domestic cups. Just squeezed through a reasonable Champions League group.

Not a disaster but not exactly magnificent either.

With the cup defeats a bit below par at the moment. But I agree it is far from a disaster and nothing a win at Chelsea wouldn't put right. Equally there is little point in glossing over too many sub-standard performances, the steady erosion of defensive organisation and too many home defeats (two on the bounce for this squad is definite cause for unease hence the Pellers speculation).

That said for 'the best premier league team for like ever' I don't think Chelsea are all they are cracked up to be after the Spurs shellacking and the Bradford debacle so there is still everything to play for.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

The only way is down, unless you expect a £48m cap on spending to be the difference in winning the title again, the League Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League this term.

The only way is down? We only achieved 86 points last season despite scoring all those goals. There is loads of room for improvement there. 86 points is the second lowest points total to win the Prem in the last 12 years and there were no particularly great sides in the Prem last season other than ourselves, we have one of the great Arsenal United or Chelsea sides that won the league in that time to compete against.

Plus we've now spent £78m this season as we got rid of some deadwood from the squad to push that £48m up.

The only way is down if you expect to match or better two trophies a season.

Who gives a flying fuck what the points total is? Arsenal went an entire season unbeaten, yet never matched Chelsea's record of 96 points. I'll take 80 points if that's what it takes.

United pretty much won seven or eight titles without a team of ANY note to challenge them, aside from Wenger or Mourinho, breaking the cycle a couple of times.

There seems to be an element that if we aren't winning, then what's the point of competing.

And this City team, despite everything, are more than competing.

Do I want to win, yup, I want to win everything, every fucking year.

Sadly, no matter how much I want things, winning the lottery and growing my hair back, has me shit outta luck.

 

[George Hannah]

Interesting as Pep talk about Bayern in a past tense.

Always said he is the natural fit with Ferran and Txiki and the CFA coming on line.

In the mean time, Pellegrini is doing a magnificent job.

This season he has probably the best squad in the league in 2nd position and out of both domestic cups. Just squeezed through a reasonable Champions League group.

Not a disaster but not exactly magnificent either.

With the cup defeats a bit below par at the moment. But I agree it is far from a disaster and nothing a win at Chelsea wouldn't put right. Equally there is little point in glossing over too many sub-standard performances, the steady erosion of defensive organisation and too many home defeats (two on the bounce for this squad is definite cause for unease hence the Pellers speculation).

That said for 'the best premier league team for like ever' I don't think Chelsea are all they are cracked up to be after the Spurs shellacking and the Bradford debacle so there is still everything to play for.

saving ourselves for the London boys, come on Cameroon.

 

[franksinatra]

But this is Mancini's team, right? ;)

What an incredible benchmark last season really was.

Ferguson clearly lost the plot after his bastards did the Treble back in 1999.

£130 million net spend since Mancini has left tho mate

And still 8 of the players in our best 11 were part of the core that Mancini left

Hart, Zabba, Vinny, Clichy, Yaya, Silva, Nasri, Sergio, and you could even argue Dzeko

I must have missed Mark Hughes signing Zab and Komps, then?

Mancini left nothing but a dressing-room fallen apart at the seams, players who had continually been told they were shit and needing punching in the face or were liars.

Seems to me, you want it both ways and refuse to give Pellegrini the credit for an incredible achievement, in his first season, where we became the most prolific team in British football history.

The only way is down, unless you expect a £48m cap on spending to be the difference in winning the title again, the League Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League this term.

You've already rightly identified and admitted what the solution is, and Pellegrini knows it too. The signing of Bony will allow him to go 4-4-2 as and when he needs to.

If you and others are using the stick that this isn't Pellegrini's team, then surely he should be afforded the same luxury as Mancini and Hughes, who combined, were allowed to spend over £500m.

The financial landscape has changed beyond recognition since we first started spending.

How much do we think Silva and Aguero would cost now?

Try £120m and upwards.

That is the context people have to work with when they start throwing names about who we should have signed.

I am not sure the market has not changed significantly from the market Mancini operated in, and transfer inflation, if anything, has stagnated due to the demands of complying with FFP.

But you are correct Silva and Aguero would be worth a small fortune and it is credit to the club that we purchased them when we did and they have developed to be worth those types of figures. Similarly you can add Yaya to that list who, in the context of the player he has become, was a snip at 24 million but many thought was over priced at the time.

The fact is the signings have been poor over the past three years. Fernandinho and Mangala at 32 million each (if not 42 million) were over priced and with Fernandinho's age will have very little sell on value.

The hard facts are the key players of the City side are still Mancini and to a lesser extent Hughes signings.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

But this is Mancini's team, right? ;)

What an incredible benchmark last season really was.

Ferguson clearly lost the plot after his bastards did the Treble back in 1999.

Didn't he get 90+ points the following season and only lose 3 league games?

Granted neither of us won the fa cup as they didn't actually bother entering whereas we just couldn't be bothered.

I'm still getting over them winning the Champions League again in 2000, coupled with winning the World Club Championship.

Oh, wait...