Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[Rammy Blue]

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.

I could sort of get his playing Silva and Nasri as the "wide" midfielders, however to then play Dzeko up top with Sergio was utter fucking nonsense.

 

[BobKowalski]

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

Do you think we need to start bitching about that? We don't have to go full on Mourinho but it does send out a message to the team as much as anyone else. Sometimes being seen to fight battles is just as useful as winning them. There is a sort of 'passive acceptance' about us at the moment and maybe the players would like to see the guy in charge of the team taking up the fight on their behalf. Anything right now to shake things up could prove useful.

Just a thought.

 

[Balti]

going backwards again after a promising run

is he really any better than Bobby? I'm still not convinced

 

[Danamy]

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

Do you think we need to start bitching about that? We don't have to go full on Mourinho but it does send out a message to the team as much as anyone else. Sometimes being seen to fight battles is just as useful as winning them. There is a sort of 'passive acceptance' about us at the moment and maybe the players would like to see the guy in charge of the team taking up the fight on their behalf. Anything right now to shake things up could prove useful.

Just a thought.

We're certainly lacking character at the moment, both on and off the pitch.

Vinny is looking half the player he was last season and he's not showing the leadership qualities he has in the past, hopefully the return of Yaya will give everyone a much needed lift so we can push on for the rest of the season.

 

[Bluekiwi]

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.

I could sort of get his playing Silva and Nasri as the "wide" midfielders, however to then play Dzeko up top with Sergio was utter fucking nonsense.

In his post match interviews he says we were not fast enough in the final third. Well that was initially down to his starting lineup; a bit quicker in the second half after the substitutions. But do they practice fast attacking football during training or do they just concentrate on neat passing triangles? And if they are going to have Edin leading the line then he really needs the ball in the air in the box because he is a good header. Neither David or Samir can provide that sort of service.
To me though the biggest and most urgent problem is to sort out the defence, I quake every time the opposition gets anywhere near our goals. I just expect some stupid error or silly freekick.

 

[sam-caddick]

going backwards again after a promising run

is he really any better than Bobby? I'm still not convinced

Mancini was the perfect manager at the right time for us but he isn't this world class manager everyone makes him out to be. His man management is very poor and his tactics get exposed badly in the Champions League, albeit I do think he is better tactically than Manuel.

Pellegrini's biggest strength is his man management but tactically he is average in my opinion, for me he relies too much on a system of play that is played to create moments of individual brilliance, if those magic moments don't occur or the team is is having a bad day at the office the whole system collapses and he doesn't seem to have anywhere to go.

I can't see Pellegrini being here next season as I just hope Txiki and co go for the proven world class manager this team needs, i.e. Pep, Ancelotti, Simeone etc...

I will be disappointed if we go for another holistic yes man who just plays fantastic football, I want some grit and fight!

Pep would be the dream appointment.

 

[bugsyblue]

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.

I could sort of get his playing Silva and Nasri as the "wide" midfielders, however to then play Dzeko up top with Sergio was utter fucking nonsense.

To be fair there was many times last season when we played Ferds, Yaya, Silva, Nasri, Negredo and Aguero so in theory the team yesterday wasn't too different. The problem is the lack of passion, drive and pace in our attacking play. Which is very strange as I thought this was one area Pellers really improved us on last season. I just don't know what's up with the team this year but it's deja vu from Mancini's title defence.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

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.

I could sort of get his playing Silva and Nasri as the "wide" midfielders, however to then play Dzeko up top with Sergio was utter fucking nonsense.

That was the team that won us the league last year if you swap Fernando for yaya.

I know I'm repeating myself but I had no problems with the starting eleven. It was the subs which were baffling. How on earth did Nasri stay on the field for 90 mins?

 

[pheradin]

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

Rag.

 

[Shaelumstash]

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.

I could sort of get his playing Silva and Nasri as the "wide" midfielders, however to then play Dzeko up top with Sergio was utter fucking nonsense.

That was the team that won us the league last year if you swap Fernando for yaya.

I know I'm repeating myself but I had no problems with the starting eleven. It was the subs which were baffling. How on earth did Nasri stay on the field for 90 mins?

You're glossing over swapping Yaya for Fernando like it's no big deal. It's a fucking massive big, humongous deal. It's like swapping Kompany for Chesney off Coronation St and saying it's essentially the same team with one slight alteration.

I agree though that on paper his starting 11 wasn't an absolute disaster, but his substitutions were just absolutely bizarre. It did remind me of the Ajax away game in where it appeared that the manager had just completely lost the plot.

Pellegrini too often makes substitutions that make absolute no sense at all. Bringing Milner off in the derby springs to mind, bringing Lampard on at Stanford Bridge, bringing Silva off against Hull. No thought, no reasoning behind it. Often we don't need a change, we just need to stay patient. I genuinely feel if we'd made no changes against Chelsea or Hull (after the start of the second half) we'd have gone on to win both games. But he can't help himself to tinker with it, changes for changes sake.

Throwing Milner up front was the worst substitution I've seen from a manager since Pearce put David James up front.