Manuel Pellegrini

[cibaman]

Just finished watching the TV coverage of the Derby and I am even more convinced that the subs had very little to do with how City played in the latter stages of the game. I think the more significant event was the run by Rooney that led to the Rags second and final shot on target, which required a fine save from Hart. I think that close shave made City realise the game was not over and induced a serious case of the jitters.

What did not happen, as I pointed out earlier, was a flood of successful attacks down our left flank because Milner was not there. And whoever covered the left flank ahead of Clichy, be it Dzeko or Nasri, continued to keep tabs on Valencia and neither Valencia nor Di Maria made any notable progress down their right after the 75th minute - check their dashboards for confirmation.

Exactly. Just done the same thing and reached the same conclusion.

The Milner substitution was strange, at the time I thought he must have picked up a knock. But I didnt think the substitutions overall were a key factor in the way the game changed.

I just thought we were overcome by collective indecision as to whether to stick or twist. Usually in the last twenty mins at the Etihad we're going for it. Trying to turn 1-0's into 4-0's rather than sitting on a lead. And against a 10 man team with a makeshift back 4 our natural inclination would be to go for the jugular. But when United came back at us it seemed to unnerve the players. We didnt seem to know whether to go for the second goal or sit on the lead and ended up doing neither.

 

[BillyShears]

Just finished watching the TV coverage of the Derby and I am even more convinced that the subs had very little to do with how City played in the latter stages of the game. I think the more significant event was the run by Rooney that led to the Rags second and final shot on target, which required a fine save from Hart. I think that close shave made City realise the game was not over and induced a serious case of the jitters.

What did not happen, as I pointed out earlier, was a flood of successful attacks down our left flank because Milner was not there. And whoever covered the left flank ahead of Clichy, be it Dzeko or Nasri, continued to keep tabs on Valencia and neither Valencia nor Di Maria made any notable progress down their right after the 75th minute - check their dashboards for confirmation.

I did much the same yesterday and rewatched the match (as much to check out if the Yaya bashing from the first half was justified). A lot of people saw Milner being subbed off and it just fed whatever preconceived idea they had about Pellegrini and his subs. It's a shame because there's a lot of sensible posters going down that road too. It's hard to even discuss when people are making such exaggerated statements as "worst sub i've ever seen in my time of going to City". It's an opinion I guess no matter how far removed from reality is may seem to be.

 

[moomba]

I too have watched the match again, and I still see the subs as some of the most pointless, illogical I have seen given the state of mind the game. And I'm being kind as they didnt score from the three or four good chances they had in the last 20 minutes, I would have been livid if that happened.

It has nothing to do with preconceived ideas, or anti-Pellegrini. Just the way I saw the game. We had absolute control of it before the subs, and no control after. For me, the Aguero sub was an acknowledgement that the setup of the previous 15 minutes or so was all wrong.

 

[supercity88]

I too have watched the match again, and I still see the subs as some of the most pointless, illogical I have seen given the state of mind the game. And I'm being kind as they didnt score from the three or four good chances they had in the last 20 minutes, I would have been livid if that happened.

It has nothing to do with preconceived ideas, or anti-Pellegrini. Just the way I saw the game. We had absolute control of it before the subs, and no control after. For me, the Aguero sub was an acknowledgement that the setup of the previous 15 minutes or so was all wrong.

I think the idea behind those substitutions was spot on. Milner has created more chances for City this season than anyone else. Including Silva. In one game less. He will be very important in the next few games and it was a good move to protect him from burning out. What's the best form of defence? Attack! Keep the ball, try and create chances and keep players up the pitch. We were playing against ten men. The rags had nothing to lose and making defensive substitutions would have led to us dropping deep even earlier and their set plays were dangerous and their best hope of scoring. Having more attacking players on ensured we could create chances and have the ball in dangerous positions. What about the scenario whereby we make defensive subs and then concede anyway (you wouldn't put it past City). Then what do we do in order to take the lead again? No Aguero on the pitch anymore? No Jovetic...

It's not worth bemoaning now. No one was injured and we won the game. The plan worked. We weren't comfortable and didn't see it out with ease, but it was a derby game and the whole game featured the odd mistake here and there. We came through it, we won and Pellegrini has another derby win under his belt. His 3rd from 3 games. If we can beat Moscow and QPR then we will be in a great position heading into the International break and hopefully our performances improve.

 

[BillyShears]

I too have watched the match again, and I still see the subs as some of the most pointless, illogical I have seen given the state of mind the game. And I'm being kind as they didnt score from the three or four good chances they had in the last 20 minutes, I would have been livid if that happened.

That's an opinion I don't agree with. Not at all. People entitled to hold it though, however I'll stick to the idea that most of them simply saw Milner going off and spat their dummies out. If you say that's not the case with you fair enough.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

They were terrible substitutions to be fair. Why take Milner off??

 

[GaudinoMotors]

I too have watched the match again, and I still see the subs as some of the most pointless, illogical I have seen given the state of mind the game. And I'm being kind as they didnt score from the three or four good chances they had in the last 20 minutes, I would have been livid if that happened.

It has nothing to do with preconceived ideas, or anti-Pellegrini. Just the way I saw the game. We had absolute control of it before the subs, and no control after. For me, the Aguero sub was an acknowledgement that the setup of the previous 15 minutes or so was all wrong.

Leave it Moomba - Don't upset the Moonies.

 

[BillyShears]

I too have watched the match again, and I still see the subs as some of the most pointless, illogical I have seen given the state of mind the game. And I'm being kind as they didnt score from the three or four good chances they had in the last 20 minutes, I would have been livid if that happened.

It has nothing to do with preconceived ideas, or anti-Pellegrini. Just the way I saw the game. We had absolute control of it before the subs, and no control after. For me, the Aguero sub was an acknowledgement that the setup of the previous 15 minutes or so was all wrong.

Leave it Moomba - Don't upset the Moonies.

Nobody's upset mate. Just a difference of opinion. I'm sure you mean well though.

 

[moomba]

Don't really buy the protecting Milner argument. Fittest player in the squad and 20 minutes isnt going to make much of a difference. I'm not even sure he'll start against Moscow.

But he could have picked up a knock or something we don't know about so I'm not going to get too bothered about that. Nasri the wrong replacement though IMO.

 

[Marvin]

They were terrible substitutions to be fair. Why take Milner off??

Who would you have taken off then?

Made sense to use all the sub as it was an intense game. I'd have gone like for like. Maybe the coach thought Milner had run his legs off. I don't know, but I doubt it had anything to do with the shift in the balance of play. It's a mindset, nothing to do with the ability of the 11