Manuel Pellegrini

[mancity1]

I don't see much knee jerking tbh. Just some concerned City fans with some suggestions for what may be going wrong with some constructive proposed changes to maybe help get back on track.

I think enough people have written the season off and there's been enough 'nice guy but clueless' posts for it to comfortably qualify as knee jerk.

But it's a forum and people can post what they like. I just thought one or two might have learned from last October's hysterics. There's still almost an entire season to be played.

There is but there are some worrying signs that should have been ironed out after last season and that's why people are concerned. Losses to Stoke and West Ham.....very similar to some of the losses last season that we got away with. 2nd half Moscow was very very poor and first half today was just as bad. I think it's also clear to everyone that Chelsea have hugely improved and will be a real threat this season.

There is some hard work to be done this week

Huge week for MP and the players.

Need to break the shackles and play with the freedom , quile and defensive mindset that makes us the best side to watch when we are on song.

Players look like they are afraid of doing the wrong thing and when that happens invariably you do.

Like stage fright or public speaking if you worry about the audience you'll be a flop.

Its probably the best chance Manure have had to turn us over for a while and we have to step up to the plate now.

Pissing on our chips time is over dominating oppositions and not giving them a sniff is the only way forward.

 

[kp789]

Frustrates me that we keep going with this system and it has been our downfall this season. The biggest problem is the midfield. On paper we probably have the strongest midfield in the league. However, playing 2 in the centre and then having the likes of Navas and Silva out wide is absolute suicide as they are both by trade attacking players. Im not saying they dont track back, but in certain situations, the likes of a Milner is far more sensible, but still, that leaves the other wing vunerable, hence why a 3 in the centre of midfield is vital IMO because currently, Fernando is on his own as Yaya farts about elsewhere.
Fernando, who I think is a good player, but like others have mentioned, is still adjusting to the pace of the prem and does have a habit of being lethargic and slow to get rid of the ball, is the one being put under most pressure. Yaya has been absolute drivel this season and is not bothered about his defensive duties and throughout the season so far, has offered little going forward in comparison to what he can produce which we have all seen since he arrived at the club. So not only is he not defending (which he has had a habit for doing so since he has been at the club) but he is not attacking. We are basically carrying him! Is it just me or does he not seem to arsed? It is so frustrating as on his day, he is the most outstanding centre mid we have ever had at the club. Yet he doesnt want to showcase this and Pellegrini doesnt seem to want to recognise this and take him out of the side and slot in Fernandinho who I personally think is an awesome midfield partner to Fernando as we saw earlier in the season when they played together. He will run his socks off in defence and attack until 90 minutes is up. He is the kind of player Fernando needs alongside him as he actually supports the midfield partner and gets everywhere like a box to box player should!

4-5-1 or a 4-3-2-1 is a far more solid formation, especially for the squad we have and the way they are currently applying themselves. Have a midfield 3 of Fernando and Fernandinho with Yaya ahead, or slot Milner in there.

We are losing games and conceding goals because too many times this season, we have come up against teams, who win the midfield battle against us. We can all see it and I am sure the manager and the backroom staff can see it, so why do we consistently stick with the same tactic against it!?

Or am I talking absolute drivel?

 

[kiam06]

Formation doesn't matter one jot if you have lazy players like Dzeko and Yaya on the pitch.

I'd sacrifice some flare for some graft all the best teams around have graft we do not.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Wise words.

The manager has got some issues to deal with but he clearly does not go in for knee jerk reactions, unlike some suporters.

He is not getting the performances that he wants from his players and he has to so something about that but he deserves to be allowed a decent amount of time to to so.

For once we'll disagree. It's all very well blaming the players, but when you keep picking teams that accentuate very obvious weaknesses within the squad, the flak is well deserved. Fernando isn't exactly light on his feet, he's an out and out defensive midfield enforcer, and continually putting him alongside the even more immobile Toure and expecting the pair of them to get up and down the pitch as a functional midfield partnership, is daft enough. To then compound that by adding Navas, a lightweight touchline hugger, to the mix (as we did today), so that the space infield for the opposition to play in is even greater, borders on outright idiocy. It's open season on our back 4 at the moment, with players running at them from all angles.

I am also uncomfortable with the idea of a club style. I don't want dogmatic inflexibility imposed either on or by a City manager. I want someone, who can adapt his style to account for the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, not gormlessly opt for the same formation come what may and in the face of all reasonableness. Football is a constantly evolving affair, and a bit like dealing with the Borg on Star Trek, you only get a certain amount of time before the enemy adapts. Right now we look increasingly like a team that has been sussed and one which is overly reliant on the genius of one or two individuals at domestic level, and the concern is that we are just starting on a slow downward path much as we did under Mancini. Like you I wouldn't be keen to pull the trigger mid-season, but I would hope our owners are monitoring the progress of people like Simeone and Koeman in the event that an improvement is not forthcoming. I know I've got a tendency to flap, but there are plenty of alarm bells going off. Roma, CSKA, Stoke, West Ham, 2 clean sheets, etc etc

Be boring if we agreed on everything but we don't because you have mostly crap taste in music ;-)

What we do agree on is that you flap too much. However, I will not pretend that I am not concerned by our form this season and the similarities to our last title defence season, which will, in part, bring me back to questioning the mentality of some of our players.

As to today, I was not concerned or surprised by his team selection and until they scored, City were comfortable, despite being pressed: the Hammers barely touched the ball up to that point. The goal, which was a combination of poor defending and officiating, rocked City and boosted West Ham.

The question mark against Pellegrini today, for me, was did he respond quickly enough to the way that the game went away from us? He did make tactical adjustments and we did get back on top but then failed to take our chances.

I agree that the game evolves and City and Pellegrini have to evolve with it. I also sympathise with your view on club style to a degree but I do not think what City are looking for in that regard is so rigid as to be a problem and has far more pluses to it than minuses.

I repeat that Pellegrini and Co have to find answers to our current under-performance but we should afford them some time to do so. Tactics will need to be adapted and I am damn sure that, to get to where we want to go, the playing staff will need to be continually upgraded but some things cannot be done overnight.

Our next game will presumably see a very different line-up so let's see how they get on.

Hope you're right about that last sentence, cos we can't go on picking Fernando and Ya Ya together and expecting anything other than a ghastly, lumbering mess. Quite apart from anything else, we're surely slowly shattering Mangala's confidence, having that human sieve in front of him every week. All the opposition has to do at the moment is stick an extra man in the engine room and work hard to beat us. Stoke and West Ham represent 6 points pissed away, largely by Pellegrini. Fernandinho, relatively poor though he has been this season, has to come back in, and in all honesty I'd stick Milner alongside him. We need to get back to basics, protect the back 4 properly, and take it from there.

What I live in terminal dread of at the moment is an injury to Silva, and I think in January we've got to add some pace to that midfield. Given that we are up to the limit on overseas players (and I again lament the decision to bring in Caballero) they're either gonna have to be English, or we're gonna have to sell someone - Navas currently gets my vote

 

[MeatHunterrr]

For once we'll disagree. It's all very well blaming the players, but when you keep picking teams that accentuate very obvious weaknesses within the squad, the flak is well deserved. Fernando isn't exactly light on his feet, he's an out and out defensive midfield enforcer, and continually putting him alongside the even more immobile Toure and expecting the pair of them to get up and down the pitch as a functional midfield partnership, is daft enough. To then compound that by adding Navas, a lightweight touchline hugger, to the mix (as we did today), so that the space infield for the opposition to play in is even greater, borders on outright idiocy. It's open season on our back 4 at the moment, with players running at them from all angles.

I am also uncomfortable with the idea of a club style. I don't want dogmatic inflexibility imposed either on or by a City manager. I want someone, who can adapt his style to account for the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, not gormlessly opt for the same formation come what may and in the face of all reasonableness. Football is a constantly evolving affair, and a bit like dealing with the Borg on Star Trek, you only get a certain amount of time before the enemy adapts. Right now we look increasingly like a team that has been sussed and one which is overly reliant on the genius of one or two individuals at domestic level, and the concern is that we are just starting on a slow downward path much as we did under Mancini. Like you I wouldn't be keen to pull the trigger mid-season, but I would hope our owners are monitoring the progress of people like Simeone and Koeman in the event that an improvement is not forthcoming. I know I've got a tendency to flap, but there are plenty of alarm bells going off. Roma, CSKA, Stoke, West Ham, 2 clean sheets, etc etc

Be boring if we agreed on everything but we don't because you have mostly crap taste in music ;-)

What we do agree on is that you flap too much. However, I will not pretend that I am not concerned by our form this season and the similarities to our last title defence season, which will, in part, bring me back to questioning the mentality of some of our players.

As to today, I was not concerned or surprised by his team selection and until they scored, City were comfortable, despite being pressed: the Hammers barely touched the ball up to that point. The goal, which was a combination of poor defending and officiating, rocked City and boosted West Ham.

The question mark against Pellegrini today, for me, was did he respond quickly enough to the way that the game went away from us? He did make tactical adjustments and we did get back on top but then failed to take our chances.

I agree that the game evolves and City and Pellegrini have to evolve with it. I also sympathise with your view on club style to a degree but I do not think what City are looking for in that regard is so rigid as to be a problem and has far more pluses to it than minuses.

I repeat that Pellegrini and Co have to find answers to our current under-performance but we should afford them some time to do so. Tactics will need to be adapted and I am damn sure that, to get to where we want to go, the playing staff will need to be continually upgraded but some things cannot be done overnight.

Our next game will presumably see a very different line-up so let's see how they get on.

Hope you're right about that last sentence, cos we can't go on picking Fernando and Ya Ya together and expecting anything other than a ghastly, lumbering mess. Quite apart from anything else, we're surely slowly shattering Mangala's confidence, having that human sieve in front of him every week. All the opposition has to do at the moment is stick an extra man in the engine room and work hard to beat us. Stoke and West Ham represent 6 points pissed away, largely by Pellegrini. Fernandinho, relatively poor though he has been this season, has to come back in, and in all honesty I'd stick Milner alongside him. We need to get back to basics, protect the back 4 properly, and take it from there.

What I live in terminal dread of at the moment is an injury to Silva, and I think in January we've got to add some pace to that midfield. Given that we are up to the limit on overseas players (and I again lament the decision to bring in Caballero) they're either gonna have to be English, or we're gonna have to sell someone - Navas currently gets my vote

We have 1 free foreign spot in PL squad to add, if thats what you mean.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Pellegrini's tactics today were woeful,
Every manager can get it wrong but he took 63 mins till he changed it.
Far, far too late.
YaYa is no longer good enough to make a 2 man midfield work.
If we play a three man midfield of 2 from Fernando/Fernandinho/Milner + YaYa it may work.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Pellegrini's tactics today were woeful,
Every manager can get it wrong but he took 63 mins till he changed it.
Far, far too late.
YaYa is no longer good enough to make a 2 man midfield work.
If we play a three man midfield of 2 from Fernando/Fernandinho/Milner + YaYa it may work.

I agree.

For me Jovetic and Milner should have been on at HT.

 

[BillyShears]

For once we'll disagree. It's all very well blaming the players, but when you keep picking teams that accentuate very obvious weaknesses within the squad, the flak is well deserved. Fernando isn't exactly light on his feet, he's an out and out defensive midfield enforcer, and continually putting him alongside the even more immobile Toure and expecting the pair of them to get up and down the pitch as a functional midfield partnership, is daft enough. To then compound that by adding Navas, a lightweight touchline hugger, to the mix (as we did today), so that the space infield for the opposition to play in is even greater, borders on outright idiocy. It's open season on our back 4 at the moment, with players running at them from all angles.

I am also uncomfortable with the idea of a club style. I don't want dogmatic inflexibility imposed either on or by a City manager. I want someone, who can adapt his style to account for the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, not gormlessly opt for the same formation come what may and in the face of all reasonableness. Football is a constantly evolving affair, and a bit like dealing with the Borg on Star Trek, you only get a certain amount of time before the enemy adapts. Right now we look increasingly like a team that has been sussed and one which is overly reliant on the genius of one or two individuals at domestic level, and the concern is that we are just starting on a slow downward path much as we did under Mancini. Like you I wouldn't be keen to pull the trigger mid-season, but I would hope our owners are monitoring the progress of people like Simeone and Koeman in the event that an improvement is not forthcoming. I know I've got a tendency to flap, but there are plenty of alarm bells going off. Roma, CSKA, Stoke, West Ham, 2 clean sheets, etc etc

Be boring if we agreed on everything but we don't because you have mostly crap taste in music ;-)

What we do agree on is that you flap too much. However, I will not pretend that I am not concerned by our form this season and the similarities to our last title defence season, which will, in part, bring me back to questioning the mentality of some of our players.

As to today, I was not concerned or surprised by his team selection and until they scored, City were comfortable, despite being pressed: the Hammers barely touched the ball up to that point. The goal, which was a combination of poor defending and officiating, rocked City and boosted West Ham.

The question mark against Pellegrini today, for me, was did he respond quickly enough to the way that the game went away from us? He did make tactical adjustments and we did get back on top but then failed to take our chances.

I agree that the game evolves and City and Pellegrini have to evolve with it. I also sympathise with your view on club style to a degree but I do not think what City are looking for in that regard is so rigid as to be a problem and has far more pluses to it than minuses.

I repeat that Pellegrini and Co have to find answers to our current under-performance but we should afford them some time to do so. Tactics will need to be adapted and I am damn sure that, to get to where we want to go, the playing staff will need to be continually upgraded but some things cannot be done overnight.

Our next game will presumably see a very different line-up so let's see how they get on.

Hope you're right about that last sentence, cos we can't go on picking Fernando and Ya Ya together and expecting anything other than a ghastly, lumbering mess. Quite apart from anything else, we're surely slowly shattering Mangala's confidence, having that a human sieve in front of him every week. All the opposition has to do at the moment is stick an extra man in the engine room and work hard to beat us. Stoke and West Ham represent 6 points pissed away, largely by Pellegrini. Fernandinho, relatively poor though he has been this season, has to come back in, and in all honesty I'd stick Milner alongside him. We need to get back to basics, protect the back 4 properly, and take it from there.

What I live in terminal dread of at the moment is an injury to Silva, and I think in January we've got to add some pace to that midfield. Given that we are up to the limit on overseas players (and I again lament the decision to bring in Caballero) they're either gonna have to be English, or we're gonna have to sell someone - Navas currently gets my vote

I agree about Mangala looking panic stricken at times but that's as much to do with the fact that whoever the full back is on that side they're prone to an aberration defensively.

I don't really think this Toure situation is about finding ways to shoe horn him in the side. Whether we play 4231 or 4222 Toure plays in the two in midfield not further forward because if you're sacrificing a striker then Silva plays the number 10 role. I can't argue we looked much more balanced when Jovetic came on and at the moment that gets my vote for the Derby. No Toure, Fernandinho and Fernando, Silva, Milner, Jovetic, Aguero. If for no other reason than Toure needs a wake up call.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Be boring if we agreed on everything but we don't because you have mostly crap taste in music ;-)

What we do agree on is that you flap too much. However, I will not pretend that I am not concerned by our form this season and the similarities to our last title defence season, which will, in part, bring me back to questioning the mentality of some of our players.

As to today, I was not concerned or surprised by his team selection and until they scored, City were comfortable, despite being pressed: the Hammers barely touched the ball up to that point. The goal, which was a combination of poor defending and officiating, rocked City and boosted West Ham.

The question mark against Pellegrini today, for me, was did he respond quickly enough to the way that the game went away from us? He did make tactical adjustments and we did get back on top but then failed to take our chances.

I agree that the game evolves and City and Pellegrini have to evolve with it. I also sympathise with your view on club style to a degree but I do not think what City are looking for in that regard is so rigid as to be a problem and has far more pluses to it than minuses.

I repeat that Pellegrini and Co have to find answers to our current under-performance but we should afford them some time to do so. Tactics will need to be adapted and I am damn sure that, to get to where we want to go, the playing staff will need to be continually upgraded but some things cannot be done overnight.

Our next game will presumably see a very different line-up so let's see how they get on.

Hope you're right about that last sentence, cos we can't go on picking Fernando and Ya Ya together and expecting anything other than a ghastly, lumbering mess. Quite apart from anything else, we're surely slowly shattering Mangala's confidence, having that a human sieve in front of him every week. All the opposition has to do at the moment is stick an extra man in the engine room and work hard to beat us. Stoke and West Ham represent 6 points pissed away, largely by Pellegrini. Fernandinho, relatively poor though he has been this season, has to come back in, and in all honesty I'd stick Milner alongside him. We need to get back to basics, protect the back 4 properly, and take it from there.

What I live in terminal dread of at the moment is an injury to Silva, and I think in January we've got to add some pace to that midfield. Given that we are up to the limit on overseas players (and I again lament the decision to bring in Caballero) they're either gonna have to be English, or we're gonna have to sell someone - Navas currently gets my vote

I agree about Mangala looking panic stricken at times but that's as much to do with the fact that whoever the full back is on that side they're prone to an aberration defensively.

I don't really think this Toure situation is about finding ways to shoe horn him in the side. Whether we play 4231 or 4222 Toure plays in the two in midfield not further forward because if you're sacrificing a striker then Silva plays the number 10 role. I can't argue we looked much more balanced when Jovetic came on and at the moment that gets my vote for the Derby. No Toure, Fernandinho and Fernando, Silva, Milner, Jovetic, Aguero. If for no other reason than Toure needs a wake up call.

But without him against spurs we were torn apart time and time again. We can't risk that against the rags. Spurs had 19 attempts at our ground but have shit finishers. The rags would not be so wasteful with 19 attempts.

 

[BillyShears]

But without him against spurs we were torn apart time and time again. We can't risk that against the rags. Spurs had 19 attempts at our ground but have shit finishers. The rags would not be so wasteful with 19 attempts.

Oh don't get me wrong, I think there's no chance of Toure being dropped right now. That's the team I'd pick based on today's performances. Although i'll say again, it's hard to know who you'd pick on today's performance. I thought just like in Moscow, the entire midfield was woeful.