Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[Lucky Toma]

Just a voice of reason for a moment
The only competition we are out of is the League Cup
We are still very much in all other comps.
MP wont be sacked, its too early, the Press are in a frenzy because the City crisis is the ultimate early Christmas present
What will be happening is getting the cheque book out now to secure a top midfielder in January, MP will also be told to watch what he is saying in Press Conferences, he is not helping when he talks about crisis, faith and trust.
Generally our squad is still suffering from the WC where none of our stars performed well and all must have come away deflated and tired with confidence levels shot to peices.
Theres no evidence that MP has lost the dressing room, the tunnel cam is a good measure of team spirit and it looks good
Tactics may need tweaking but generally things are fine
Looking ahead, if we don't progress in Europe, take an early exit in the FA Cup and don't stay close to Chelsea changes will be made.
Spending a billion pounds on a project gives you the right to expect trophies every year

No we're not. All but out of Champions League barring a combination of unlikely results.

As for the FA Cup I'm finding it a bit strange how posters backing Pellegrini are using the fact that we're still in a tournament that we haven't even started yet as some kind of defence.
By that same logic we can say well done Manuel because we're still fighting on all four fronts in 2015/16.

 

[supercity88]

It's odd that certain people don't seem to want to give Pellegrini credit for one of the best seasons this club has ever had. So we didn't win the league at a canter. So we didn't have it sewn up in February. Does everyone remember where this club was in the summer of 2013? When we lost the FA Cup final, when Mancini was sacked? Do we remember that season and all the issues we had?

Last season we had an inconsistent start. We couldn't win away from home and it was all because Pellegrini was "taking the opposition for granted". Someone posts a video of Pellegrini talking about his tactics with a white board and it introduces this 4-2-2-2 formation. We were torn apart by Bayern (defending CL winners) and Pellegrini was naive for thinking that it could work against "tough" opposition. We qualify for the knockouts and beat Bayern in Munich. We then go on an excellent run, scoring a ridiculous number of goals and despite slipping up in the FA Cup, being just lacking against Barca and losing some crucial league games - we win the league and league cup. The players play their longest ever season with us. They also go to the World Cup where several play to the latter stages.

This season again we have an inconsistent start, the performances are poor and we've been awful in the CL. Suddenly Pellegrini is clueless, naive, doesn't learn, isn't motivating the players and is too stubborn to alter from the 4-4-2 formation which is the route of all our issues. He was also incredibly lucky to win the league last season. We didn't deserve to. It's only because Liverpool slipped up and Chelsea did as well.

It's a good job we aren't running the football club. I've seen people state that Mark Hughes and Sam Allardyce have outclassed our manager and how easy it is to beat us. People who actually believe that. We are in a bad spell and the manager needs to quickly pull us out of it. We aren't pressing with the same intensity and are allowing too much space for the opposition to get at our centre backs. The full backs aren't being as disciplined as they need to be either.

We smashed teams with the same formation last season but apparently we've been sussed out. What a joke! Do people actually think we've played well? The system works. We've seen it work. But it requires players performing at the level of effort and skill they are capable of displaying. When Tottenham came to the Etihad last season watch how we swarmed them and allowed them zero space. That's how you have to play in order to win the ball back and attack quickly. This season it's a more casual effort.

Yes Pellegrini has to motivate the players, yes he has to change the system if it isn't working. I believe a 4-2-3-1 would be beneficial at the moment because Aguero hasn't struck the same relationship with Dzeko and Jovetic as he did with Negredo. It's also time to go back to basics and defend better so having Fernando and Fernandinho in there would protect our centre backs (if they don't get sent off or go wandering!!!).

Whether last season has taken its toll, whether the players are lacking motivation the manager needs to address things immediately but we've seen him resolve bad form before and we've seen him alter tactics to win games. We've played Bayern, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and the rags this season and we've been solid and by no means outclassed in any of them. We've been poor at West Ham, and against CSKA and Stoke parked the bus. If their managers say we were easy to sus out then Wenger, Rodgers, Mourinho, Guardiola and Van Turtle are just as clueless as Pellegrini. Maybe we were too quick to dismiss Hughes?!

Get behind the boys and let's hopefully see an improvement at QPR on Saturday.

 

[BillyShears]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

Thats not strictly true

 

[BillyShears]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

Thats not strictly true

I know. I'm playing the "lets tell some mistruths to make a point" game. :)

 

[Lucky Toma]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

It's a shame that someone who writes a lot of sense - and writes it well - is also afflicted by happyclapperitis.

I'm all for looking at the positives but you've taken it to a whole other level - to the point of spin - where its hard to take any of your input seriously now.

I for one am not advocating a change of personnel but Pellegrini is hardly instilling confidence in me at present. As for the team it is patently struggling in many areas and the roots for this malaise can be traced back to the Community Shield.

There are issues. There are concerns. And Pellegrini is both part of - and the cause of - many of the concerns.

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

Pick away, it's what we're here for. ;)

I should have probably couched it better by saying "...cannot buy a win in Europe this season..."

My bad.

I also think given that, apparently, our number 1 priority is Europe this season his (so far) abject failure in it will be quite an important factor in whatever judgement call is made by the club.

In terms of 6 behind Chelsea: which two games will they lose for us to catch up on and do you think we will pick up the two wins we need to draw level, score the goals to go ahead on GD when they do that and then match their results or indeed better them throughout the season?

Given our current situation, you'll forgive me if I cannot quite see it right now.

 

[dancity19]

Indeed and after a similar and protracted debate it was proven correct.

However this is not about any former manager it is about the current one, how he seems somewhat inflexible in his approach, cannot buy a win in Europe and is somehow failing to get a performance out of a team of first class talent.

The trajectory is currently not what the club had planned for.

Not wishing to pick at you but since you're posting such mistruths I have to answer them. He's so inflexible that he has played various formations this season including the much vaunted 4231, and last season he played without two strikers for a third of the our PL fixtures. That to me does not suggest an inflexible manager.

You say he cannot buy a win in Europe. Well last season he breezed through the group and as much as we are no longer allowed to refer to our title winning season because that's the past, I'm sure that when the board look into our failings, they will show a little more scope to their analysis than "out of the champions league - sacked".

The trajectory remains that we are six points behind Chelsea, and two wins away from qualifying from our CL group.

Fair points.

The point around trajectory, though:
Don't try and suggest our CL campaign has been a good one by saying we are 2 wins away from qualifying. May be fact- but this campaign so far has been utterly diabolical, and that is no exaggeration. It's been dire. Gone backwards - we picked up 6 points against CSKA last season, 1 this season. We haven't kept a clean sheet in our last 11 CL games - we are a complete and utter shower in the competition.

6 points behind Chelsea, fine. The bigger point for me this season is performances. Barring Silva and Aguero, who is playing at their potential? This was a big issue in Mancini's last season - underperforming players. We have not played well for a whole game once this season. We have played in fits and starts, but never have we maintained a good performance for an entire game.

Our last 14 games has been: W5, D4, L5 - that's poor.

We are out of the League Cup, all but out of the CL, and well off the pace in terms of performances. We have gone backwards - this is just 12/13 all over again.

Who have we bought that has actually improved us over the last 3 years, too? Who can we look at and say 'he was an upgrade'? Demicheles, and Fernandinho - that's it at the moment. (Too early to judge Fernando and Mangala).

I'm not saying Pellegrini out - but it is time to show he IS good enough. He got us playing the best football I've ever seen us playing last season - what's happened.

Just as questions were asked of mancini, questions must be asked now.

Let's see if and how he answers them!

 

[BillyShears]

It's a shame that someone who writes a lot of sense - and writes it well - is also afflicted by happyclapperitis.

I'm all for looking at the positives but you've taken it to a whole other level - to the point of spin - where its hard to take any of your input seriously now.

I for one am not advocating a change of personnel but Pellegrini is hardly instilling confidence in me at present. As for the team it is patently struggling in many areas and the roots for this malaise can be traced back to the Community Shield.

There are issues. There are concerns. And Pellegrini is both part of - and the cause of - many of the concerns.

Give over.

Firstly that's pretty aggressive. I'm not asking you or anyone else to take me seriously, merely expressing my opinion. You're welcome to disagree with it, fair enough. There's plenty who do. I can live with that.

Pellegrini isn't currently instilling anyone with much confidence, but he hasn't become overnight the worst manager on earth so I'm pretty calm in giving him the time required to try and sort the on field issues. If it turns out he can't our season will get worse, and if he can it will improve.

So yes there are issues. Yes there are concerns. As manager Pellegrini must carry the can for everything and he will.

Happy clapper? I'll await your apology with baited breath. ;)

 

[BillyShears]

I should have probably couched it better by saying "...cannot buy a win in Europe this season..."

My bad.

I also think given that, apparently, our number 1 priority is Europe this season his (so far) abject failure in it will be quite an important factor in whatever judgement call is made by the club.

In terms of 6 behind Chelsea: which two games will they lose for us to catch up on and do you think we will pick up the two wins we need to draw level, score the goals to go ahead on GD when they do that and then match their results or indeed better them throughout the season?

Given our current situation, you'll forgive me if I cannot quite see it right now.

Honestly it goes back to the same thing for me. You said earlier Pellegrini might be relieved of his duties sooner than others (i guess you were implying me) were prepared to accept. My point remains this season is a free hit for him and regardless of what happens he'll get another season. The history and record of our owners show that they only act in managerial terms when it's clear that a situation is untenable. I don't envisage Pellegrini's situation becoming untenable at any point between now and the end of the season because despite our poor performances in the last few weeks, I don't expect them to continue. The players haven't become shit overnight and neither has the manager. This moment in our season is just that - a moment in our season. The time for analysis certainly for the board will be at the season's close.