Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[Didsbury Dave]

When the colossus of football knowledge tells us that Nasty, Garcia, Rodwell & Sinclair were the signings to take the league champions to the next level - I am persuaded to believe that man has indeed landed on the moon.

Txiki pulled the wool over the sheikh and khaldoon's eyes but not yours, eh George?
Check out the big brain on you. He spunked that £50 million up the wall on purpose and you got him nailed.

I'm thinking it was Marwood trying to please Soriano at that stage, your chronology needs some work.

Aaaaahhh. It was Big Bad Brian. Our very own Machevellian Bond Villian, pulling the strings and stitching up The Sheikh.

And he would have got away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids.

 

[cleavers]

It's not the club it's the city. London is a big attraction.

True, but f**k knows why, Manchester has everything London has, and its all local, unlike London.

it doesn't really.

We'll have to differ then, but I've lived within 30 miles of London for the last 25 years, its certainly nothing special.

Manchester may not have the quantity of places that London has, but London doesn't really have anything that Manchester doesn't have, other than a queen, and London doesn't have Manchester City.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

True, but f**k knows why, Manchester has everything London has, and its all local, unlike London.

it doesn't really.

We'll have to differ then, but I've lived within 30 miles of London for the last 25 years, its certainly nothing special.

Manchester may not have the quantity of places that London has, but London doesn't really have anything that Manchester doesn't have, other than a queen, and London doesn't have Manchester City.

Depends what you want from life, and people with lots of money tend to want the perceived status and value for their buck, which let's face it the centre of Manchester doesn't offer.

 

[Bill]

True, but f**k knows why, Manchester has everything London has, and its all local, unlike London.

it doesn't really.

We'll have to differ then, but I've lived within 30 miles of London for the last 25 years, its certainly nothing special.

Manchester may not have the quantity of places that London has, but London doesn't really have anything that Manchester doesn't have, other than a queen, and London doesn't have Manchester City.

Manchester is a village compared to London.

 

[BillyShears]

here's a question for you all.

can you ever see a pelligrini side going to the swamp and winning 6-1?

dont get me wrong i'd always take any win but when we win a game these days its always on a knife edge.

Morning mate. I hope you're not going senile in your old age. This was almost exactly a year ago today.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/29/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... tch-report</a>

 

[mancity1]

here's a question for you all.

can you ever see a pelligrini side going to the swamp and winning 6-1?

dont get me wrong i'd always take any win but when we win a game these days its always on a knife edge.

Morning mate. I hope you're not going senile in your old age. This was almost exactly a year ago today.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/29/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... tch-report</a>

A week is a long time in football and politics as they say.

A year is an eternity but I agree most of us me included look for signs that clearly show we are headed in the right direction is what can be argued is too marrow a time frame.

Our performances against Southampton and Sunderland ( their patch ) were probably our best of the season despite conceding first but we haven't hit the heights of our two championship years by along stretch for sometime.

We have stuttered along and this Saturday will tell us alot about what this squad is all about this season.

I thought at the start of the year we would/should finish second I still think that is more likely than not but things can change quickly in this caper and our results especially with YAYA have been poor in the league and he may not return for another three weeks.

All of last 7 games have been games that have either been in the balance or games where we have looked like losing after half time.

This cannot continue if we want to shore up second spot and be competitive in the league for the remainder of the season.

We have to stop conceding goals pure and simple.

 

[BillyShears]

A week is a long time in football and politics as they say.

A year is an eternity but I agree most of us me included look for signs that clearly show we are headed in the right direction is what can be argued is too marrow a time frame.

Our performances against Southampton and Sunderland ( their patch ) were probably our best of the season despite conceding first but we haven't hit the heights of our two championship years by along stretch for sometime.

We have stuttered along and this Saturday will tell us alot about what this squad is all about this season.

I thought at the start of the year we would/should finish second I still think that is more likely than not but things can change quickly in this caper and our results especially with YAYA have been poor in the league and he may not return for another three weeks.

All of last 7 games have been games that have either been in the balance or games where we have looked like losing after half time.

This cannot continue if we want to shore up second spot and be competitive in the league for the remainder of the season.

We have to stop conceding goals pure and simple.

Oh I would agree with you a year really is a lifetime in football, which is why it seems strange that Bill's invoking a game from four years ago and wondering whether Pellegrini could do the same when he was doing it a year ago.

I don't share your pessimism just as I didn't share it last season in the winter when you felt we were in danger of jeapordizing our top 4 status. Things haven't gone to plan in the last couple of matches, but for me that isn't part of some wider malaise because the manager doesn't know what he's doing or because he's been found out.

We've been awful defending set pieces, that's on him and that's not good enough. Doesn't change the fact that Kun, Silva, Jovetic, Navas, etc couldn't fashion a goal in almost 180 minutes of football, 90 of those against a championship side.

For me that's the problem. Not that we're conceding cheap goals. Conceding cheap goals is something that you have to accept if you follow a team like Pellegrini's where the emphasis is so often on all out attack. It just means that if for whatever reason we're not scoring, the defensive situation is amplified. Seen this many times down the years with top attacking teams. You can have a moment where goals don't come and the team seems to be wobbling. Then everything clicks. It'll come again, hopefully Saturday.

 

[Bill]

here's a question for you all.

can you ever see a pelligrini side going to the swamp and winning 6-1?

dont get me wrong i'd always take any win but when we win a game these days its always on a knife edge.

Morning mate. I hope you're not going senile in your old age. This was almost exactly a year ago today.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/29/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... tch-report</a>

oh he has the tools mate but i think he's playing almost in fear. this is nothing to do with boro as we did enough to beat them, i thought they were lucky, i just think the players are sort of holding back from expressing themselves. these players can't find a team mate with a 3 yard pass at times, something is on their mind, dont know what, maybe dont get beat. well our opponents should be worrying about us we are a top top side. we need must strong mental strength.

 

[BillyShears]

here's a question for you all.

can you ever see a pelligrini side going to the swamp and winning 6-1?

dont get me wrong i'd always take any win but when we win a game these days its always on a knife edge.

Morning mate. I hope you're not going senile in your old age. This was almost exactly a year ago today.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/29/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... tch-report</a>

oh he has the tools mate but i think he's playing almost in fear. this is nothing to do with boro as we did enough to beat them, i thought they were lucky, i just think the players are sort of holding back from expressing themselves. these players can't find a team mate with a 3 yard pass at times, something is on their mind, dont know what, maybe dont get beat. well our opponents should be worrying about us we are a top top side. we need must strong mental strength.

Questioning this side's mental strength is pretty strange when you consider how they've won the titles they have and the qualities we showed in Munich and Roma.

I suspect what is on the team's mind currently is "we're not clicking" especially in an attacking sense. That I think is always problematic for a team which is set up to all out attack pretty much all the time.

It's also part of the peaks and troughs of any season. In both title winning season we've had periods of very poor play and poor results. It happens to the best teams. Hell Mourinho's just shipped four goals against a league 1 side at home. I didn't see the game but i'm told that Hazard, Fabregas, Willian, etc were all on the pitch so it wasn't some makeshift side although it had similar changes to ours.

 

[mancity1]

A week is a long time in football and politics as they say.

A year is an eternity but I agree most of us me included look for signs that clearly show we are headed in the right direction is what can be argued is too marrow a time frame.

Our performances against Southampton and Sunderland ( their patch ) were probably our best of the season despite conceding first but we haven't hit the heights of our two championship years by along stretch for sometime.

We have stuttered along and this Saturday will tell us alot about what this squad is all about this season.

I thought at the start of the year we would/should finish second I still think that is more likely than not but things can change quickly in this caper and our results especially with YAYA have been poor in the league and he may not return for another three weeks.

All of last 7 games have been games that have either been in the balance or games where we have looked like losing after half time.

This cannot continue if we want to shore up second spot and be competitive in the league for the remainder of the season.

We have to stop conceding goals pure and simple.

Oh I would agree with you a year really is a lifetime in football, which is why it seems strange that Bill's invoking a game from four years ago and wondering whether Pellegrini could do the same when he was doing it a year ago.

I don't share your pessimism just as I didn't share it last season in the winter when you felt we were in danger of jeapordizing our top 4 status. Things haven't gone to plan in the last couple of matches, but for me that isn't part of some wider malaise because the manager doesn't know what he's doing or because he's been found out.

We've been awful defending set pieces, that's on him and that's not good enough. Doesn't change the fact that Kun, Silva, Jovetic, Navas, etc couldn't fashion a goal in almost 180 minutes of football, 90 of those against a championship side.

For me that's the problem. Not that we're conceding cheap goals. Conceding cheap goals is something that you have to accept if you follow a team like Pellegrini's where the emphasis is so often on all out attack. It just means that if for whatever reason we're not scoring, the defensive situation is amplified. Seen this many times down the years with top attacking teams. You can have a moment where goals don't come and the team seems to be wobbling. Then everything clicks. It'll come again, hopefully Saturday.

You were right about last season and I am the first to admit my pessimism was misplaced I got it terribly wrong last season.

Many on here doubted our ability to go 2 out of 3 and you and few others were proven to be spot on and you will remember for what it is worth I was in the camp that congratulated you and should have and did apologise to MP on this forum (LOL) for doubting his skill set to get the job done.

I do subscribe to the principal though and I could be wrong in that assessment as well that he was a three year manager at best but most likely a two year manager and was aware of that when he took on the job offered to him.

I don't think he was first choice but he was seen as the best available to change the environment that had clearly festered for too long.

In my opinion he more than fulfilled his required achievements in year 1 and we shall see what happens in the remaining 16 games as to whether the board feel its important for him to serve another year.

I am a bit disappointed that at least one maybe two under Patrick haven't had more game time in the first team under MP which was a major flaw in RM's man management style.

RM didn;t give a toss about the under 21'a etc and I know MP does but I think he is a bit too conservative in his willingness to take a risk/

He doesn't see his palying style as a risk as he has done something similar throughout his managerial career I would suggest even though as you say it costs his sides sometimes but he believes the benefits outweigh the negatives.