Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[blueinsa]

I think we need to sack him now .
Quite clearly he wants out .
You only after look at his suicidial team selections and tactics .
I would put Viera in charge for the rest of the season .
It could get nasty if he stays .

Thinking can be very dangerous......

 

[OB1]

It's certainly a huge decision, and although I've calmed down a bit since Sunday, there've been enough flaws in terms of team selection, formation and performance these last 2 months, for me to still have serious reservations about the whole direction the club is heading in. Even last night, whilst dominating possession, Leicester still hit a post, we were caught 3 vs 3 at the back half a dozen times (with our midfield and one of the full backs 30 odd yards back downfield), needed Hart to make a great last ditch save, and had Mason or Dowd been refereeing would have rightly conceded 2 penalties for oafish and unnecessary challenges. And that's against the worst team in the league.

Whether responsibility for some of the palpable disorganisation (and I'd be tempted to use the word chaos in respect of our defensive performance at Klanfield) we've seen on the field recently, is the fault of the CEO buying players lacking the attributes - pace, youth, hunger, mobility - to make the manager's preferred formations work, or whether it's the manager's for trying to make some of those square pegs fit in the round holes, is unclear. What I do believe is that Gary Neville called the issues of balance exactly right in his article in the Torygraph this week, and it was good to see Pellegrini take a butcher's knife to one or two holy cows last night, vis a vis the axing of Kompany, Zabaleta and Nasri. There were still issues though. Silva down the left never works from a defensive viewpoint, and some of Leicester's counterattacks were completely inevitable given a midfield duo of Ya Ya and the hapless Fernando.

The summer then is huge. Ya Ya will be 32 by the time next season starts, Zabaleta 30, Silva 30, Navas 30, Fernandinho 30, Dzeko 29, Kompany 29, and with all the will in the world, if Pellegrini stays and espouses the same tactics, then we are going to need a sizeable clear out if we are to avoid a repetition of this campaign or worse. Arsenal are on the up, as are Liverpool. Spurs will be better again now that Pochettino has his team playing the way he wants, and the rags will doubtless hurl another £150 odd million at their problems. What concerns me also is that we seem intent on limiting our options, both on and off the field. In imposing a club wide playing philosophy, we limit ourselves in terms of managerial possibilities (and at the moment that looks like Pellers or Pep only - certainly it's difficult to envisage Simeone managing City under Txixi), and we make it easier for our opponents on the field with our predictability.

Glad you have calmed a little.

I do not agree that we limit ourselves managerially in a bad way by having a philosophy and I do not think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the philosophy espoused by Soriano & Co. I do think that we have been too willing to limit ourselves in the transfer market; in addition to not making the best use of the funds that we have had in the last three windows. So this is a very big summer.

Commitment and balance is what we need.

 

[jimharri]

Just spotted this on Twitter;

Hate to say it, but the Holistic Engineer sprang to mind straight away!

 

[Ray78]

Just spotted this on Twitter;

Hate to say it, but the Holistic Engineer sprang to mind straight away!

Or Diego Simeone jh.

 

[jimharri]

Just spotted this on Twitter;

Hate to say it, but the Holistic Engineer sprang to mind straight away!

Or Diego Simeone jh.

Good point Mr 78. I was just thinking of MP's press conference the other day when he said he wouldn't be changing his tactics (formation?).

 

[baildon blue]

I think we need to sack him now .
Quite clearly he wants out .
You only after look at his suicidial team selections and tactics .
I would put Viera in charge for the rest of the season .
It could get nasty if he stays .

Thinking can be very dangerous......

Jog on !!!

 

[Marvin]

30 to 32 is a great age for a footballer

More problematic maybe getting Yaya fit.

Compare this year's model to last. He is at 80%. Last season he was incredible. I've watched a few videos of last season and time and time again he won games on his own with moments that only he could produce. He's still got the passing range, but the physical power in his game has gone for the moment. I am sure it can come back, but only if he applies himself over the Summer.

Is this what happens when players win trophies? They ease off?

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

It's certainly a huge decision, and although I've calmed down a bit since Sunday, there've been enough flaws in terms of team selection, formation and performance these last 2 months, for me to still have serious reservations about the whole direction the club is heading in. Even last night, whilst dominating possession, Leicester still hit a post, we were caught 3 vs 3 at the back half a dozen times (with our midfield and one of the full backs 30 odd yards back downfield), needed Hart to make a great last ditch save, and had Mason or Dowd been refereeing would have rightly conceded 2 penalties for oafish and unnecessary challenges. And that's against the worst team in the league

This was extremely concerning to me. We went from total control in the first half to an unbelievable lack of control for 20 mins of the 2nd half. Only stemmed when the subs came on. I was reading how we would have won 4-0 on the post match thread if their keeper hadn't had a blinder but that doesn't tell the full story. They could have had 3 or 4 from either stupid decision making (Bony challenge and Fernando challenge) and poor covering and defending leading to the hit post and miss from 2 yards out.

I'm not sure leaving out the three you mentioned made much difference to be honest. It sent a message but I don't think any of those players would have performed any differently or worse than those who played.

Time will tell if we can sort this out but if not then changes have to be made either with the manager or some players.

We haven't secured anything yet and total focus needs to be on winning the next three very winnable games to build a gap and secure at least 2nd place.

 

[Ray78]

Just spotted this on Twitter;

Hate to say it, but the Holistic Engineer sprang to mind straight away!

Or Diego Simeone jh.

Good point Mr 78. I was just thinking of MP's press conference the other day when he said he wouldn't be changing his tactics (formation?).

Same could be said about any professional coach/manager successful or not. Against Burnley he had no strikers and was 45 minutes from breaking another club record. The players let him down in that game.

 

[Marvin]

This was extremely concerning to me. We went from total control in the first half to an unbelievable lack of control for 20 mins of the 2nd half. Only stemmed when the subs came on. I was reading how we would have won 4-0 on the post match thread if their keeper hadn't had a blinder but that doesn't tell the full story. They could have had 3 or 4 from either stupid decision making (Bony challenge and Fernando challenge) and poor covering and defending leading to the hit post and miss from 2 yards out.

I'm not sure leaving out the three you mentioned made much difference to be honest. It sent a message but I don't think any of those players would have performed any differently or worse than those who played.

Time will tell if we can sort this out but if not then changes have to be made either with the manager or some players.

We haven't secured anything yet and total focus needs to be on winning the next three very winnable games to build a gap and secure at least 2nd place.

Just the usual case of 1-0 jitters. If you don't put a game to bed, then you get nervous and the opposition are encouraged.

I don't see how at the turn of the year Pellegrini was a good coach, and now he is a bad coach. Coaches are made to look bad by their players, and that is all I think has happened. Maybe Pellegrini should have been a bit tougher, but remember on what basis he was brought to the club. Being nice.

Ferguson was ruthless. You have to be.