Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[Cheesy]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

 

[cookster]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

Chelsea.

 

[Blue Hefner]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

Kolarov and Dzecko did for a bit

 

[grim up north]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

Thought he improved everybody last season as we finished as champions which was better than the previous season

 

[BigOscar]

Nasri has stopped being a shithouse under Pellegrini, while Yaya scored more last year than in his previous three with us. All our attacking players were fantastic last year, as were our fullbacks, This year, everything has just fallen apart, just as it did with Mancini

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

Thought he improved everybody last season as we finished as champions which was better than the previous season

He did. There is no doubt about that and he deserves great credit for that.

This season some of our most reliable players just haven't performed and I can't understand why. Maybe the World Cup, injuries and a very poor pre season have contributed.

They now need to realise what's at stake and realise how lucky they are to play for us and for our owner.

I just hope they have the fight in them for the must have CL place. Hopefully we will turn it around.

 

[Damanino]

Barca's goalscoring form is unreal. Also in the cup they beat Atletico home and away too to get to the semis...

If we made CL priority over PL this season I think we are in for a very bad surprise as I think this years Barca better than last years. If not else, at least a more settled Neymar and also with Suarez.
They still have weaknesses maybe, but our manager rarely thinks about exploiting opponents weaknesses and maybe tweak our tactics towards it.

Barca would love nothing else more than be able to run at our defending with Kompany/demichelis high up the pitch when they need to turn after Messi/Neymar etc...
Kompany trademark blocking fouls will be yellows (then red) with European refs easily against Barca if we are not clever.

I dont see we did improve in anything like defending/attacking/pressing etc in CL compared to last season or league. Tho Pelle has lot of experience he didnt have last time.He knows the team now, the league, the country, the different styles. But all this extra experience do us no favour.We score lot less (21league goals in 12 home games is very poor, United, Soton, Arsenal all scored more).

 

[Dogtanian]

Simple question... who has improved since Pellers took over?

The whole team from Aug-Dec in his first season, best football i had ever seen in my life, not sure what has been going on for the past year though.

 

[nixmith2]

Can't believe MP is getting stick on here at this time, his job should not be under any threat whatsoever as he couldn't (due to the ANC) pick his best player(s) for all of the competitive matches of this EPL.

P.S. I trust the Ivory Coast football federation will be supplying two suitably ostentatious 'cakes' for Yaya and Bony* - but who has been paying their wages for these last 4 weeks?

*A few weeks ago in the transfer forum I asked the question: who would be a better buy - W. Bony or Harry Kane. Most replies suggested Bony, but can I respectfully point out - that on 7.2.15 IN THE EPL, there was only one correct answer.

 

[OB1]

Too much tinkering again for my liking.

Tactically spot on last week, tactically woeful yesterday.

4-4-2 can only ever work when the right personnel are deployed.

My concern is that Pellegrini either thought we needed to set up with two defensive midfielders at home against Hull, or he overestimates the ability of both Ferns to provide what is required.

To play a half fit Dzeko, having dropped Navas, with no outlet to cross, was naievety in the extreme, as is the inability to change the obvious shortcomings during the actual in-match play.

He may be tinkering a bit too much but he is searching for answers. He has had a tough season for a variety of reasons; some of which he may be in part responsible for.

It is usually tough to defend a title - tougher than winning it in the first place - and it is even tougher when you never get to pick your best team or keep losing your best players to injury or ACON.

Nor does it help when your two main new signings have, so far, both failed to live up to expectations. How much of a hand he had in their selection is not clear to me but I am sure he had some say; whether or not buying them was a mistake remains to be seen.

I think he has had fairly abysmal luck with refereeing decisions; yet again yesterday we were denied a stonewall penalty.

His team selection yesterday was easy to criticise and wasn't what I would have gone with but I can see why he chose it and I can accept his explanation that after successive home defeats where he played wingers, he decided to try something else. That something else was to field a team that was mostly made up of players who contributed greatly to the winning of the title last season - a team that should have been more than capable of beating Hull. However, the players were making errors from the off and it seemed to unsettle them. And, of course, the team gets fuck all help from the supporters at the Etihad, the groan brigade supreme.

My learned friend Exeter Blue does a good line in why it is so tough for us to break down the massed defences we keep facing so I won't repeat it. It is something that Pellegrini has to resolve and maybe he will have to try getting his team to play in ways that he does not favour. Maybe it won't be solved without changing some personnel in the summer.

I think we do need to make some serious changes of playing staff. There are some technical issues in the squad and there is something odd about the the psyche of the squad; something that has hampered this manager and the last one.