http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/new-manchester-city-boss-manuel-1887496
By
Martin Lipton
Insipid Manchester City will get antidote to Roberto Mancini in Manuel Pellegrini
14 Jun 2013 16:56
The coach known as The Engineer believes matches are won before kick-off and has the CV to turn listless Blues into a winning machine
e are the world: Pellegrini feels "only 10 per cent of the time is about the opponent"
Daily Record
In Spain, he is called "El Ingeniero" - The Engineer - a reminder of his degree qualification.
It is also a tribute to the calm, composed and professorial way Manuel Pellegrini goes about his job every day of his life.And while many Manchester City fans feel Roberto Mancini's exit is harsh and unfair, the Eastlands club's owners believe they need an engineer to build a genuine winning machine.
The former Chile centre-back - 28 caps before hanging up his boots in 1986 - is ready to embrace a very different challenge from the ones he has faced before.
This is the man, remember, who took Villarreal from nowhere to within touching distance of the Champions League Final.
A man who discovered earning the record points total in Real Madrid history was not enough when pitted against Pep Guardiola's team of all the talents.
And a man who nearly quit Malaga last October on a point of principle, when it turned out the promises he had made to his players - after being assured of their veracity by the club's owner - were simply hot air.
Whatever the City players thought of Mancini, they will soon discover that the new man will be pushing them in ways they may not have been pushed before, and subject to an attention to detail that the City top-brass feel is required.
Pellegrini's journey has taken him more than a quarter of a century to reach England by way of his homeland, then Ecuador, Argentina and Spain - each step of the way cultivating the players around him, fostering the strict demands he places upon them.
It is that ethos which caught the eye of the men who matter at the Etihad now, Txiki Begiristan and Ferran Soriano.City's shapeless, listless, desperate display against Wigan in Saturday's FA Cup Final would only have confirmed them in the boldness of the decision, already taken, to replace Mancini.
Begiristan and Soriano felt that Mancini's side were too insipid, dull, underwhelming.
That they relied on the individual talents of the players to dig them out of scrapes under a manager lacking the inspiration they wanted.
In Pellegrini, they have the antidote, the opposite. A micro-manager, who, while Real boss, wandered around his hotel in Madrid, notebook in hand, never stopping, his philosophy crystal clear.He always, invariably, without hesitation, wants a solid line of four, augmented by two holding midfielders, whose job is simple and effective, to create the platform for those in front, whether two plus two or three interchanging behind a lone spearhead.
Pelligrini believes games are won before the kick-off whistle is blown.
"I like the players to play the way they have trained all week," he recently explained.
"What matters is that they take on the mentality of a big club and play in a way that responds to the opponent but with confidence in our own football.
"You have to spend the majority of the time improving how we play and minimising errors.
"Only 10 per cent of the time is about the opponent. Tactics is not just theory, but more about the intelligence you show on the pitch. We have to have the intelligence to search for the answers inside the game - which variations to choose."
In simple terms: Listen to me and you will win.
Second rate: Real fired Pellegrini after a side containing Ronaldo finished runners-up to Barca
Elisa Estrada
"In reality the coach is the most important person at the club during the week," he added. "In training, the coach is 95 per cent, the players the other five per cent.
"Once the game starts, it is the other way round. The coach's influence is very limited. He can change things, make suggestions but his real influence is minimal. That is why the work has to be done in training."
It promises to be a different City, in every sense.
The key for Pelligrini is intelligent players, a sign that Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and David Silva will be as instrumental for the new man as his predecessor.
At Villarreal, he was given the opportunity to build a team in his own image.
Even the stars of that team, such as Argentinians Juan Roman Riquelme (who missed the injury-time spot-kick against Arsenal in the 2006 semi-final) and Juan Pablo Sorin, Uruguayan Diego Forlan and Brazilian-born Spaniard Marcos Senna had to buckle under.
Riquelme was dumped when he refused to do so.
When Florentino Perez returned for a second spell at the Real helm in 2009, the Chilean was appointed.
It was another "Galacticos" era, with £200m spent to land Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso.
But selecting two of former president Ramon Calderon's acquisitions, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, opened up a rift with Perez which festered.
Finishing as La Liga runners-up to a European Cup-winning Barcelona side was declared a failure.
His self-penned epitaph was graphic.
"I didn't have a voice or a vote," he said. "It's no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don't have a pianist."
Malaga, emboldened by a cash influx from Qatar, were going to be the new orchestra, only for the taps to be turned off overnight.
Even so, and facing a UEFA ban for financial misconduct, two bizarre refereeing decisions in stoppage time prevented them eliminating Borussia Dortmund in this season's last eight.
City's Arab owners are cut from a different cloth.
Spaniards Begiristain and Soriano know what they want, attacking football and freedom on the ball but with tactical discipline, the likely signing of Isco, from Malaga, bringing the dressing room disciple every manager wants to have.
Pellegrini, too, sees City as the platform he craves.
He expects to win, to get the maximum out of the players that lost their focus under Mancini. To go everywhere and dominate the game.
Civil engineers are good at construction.
Five things Pellegrini must do at City
Entertainment The City powers that be lost faith in Mancini because they felt his football was tedious and formulaic. They want to be excited by a winning side that has belief in itself.
Bravery Mancini's reign began to spiral out of control in Madrid last September. They went with a negative mind-set but led with minutes to go only to fall apart. Pellegrini knows he has to be the dominant force in matches. Being outplayed by Wigan is not acceptable.
Maturity City were a side that regressed this season, with too few players willing to carry the burdens of expectation. That has to change, immediately and Pellegrini's imprint needs to be swift and sure, not only to get the fans onside.
Europe Sheikh Mansour believes City should be a Champions League force, not an embarrassment. Mancini has never progressed beyond the last eight in the competition. Pellegrini will be expected to challenge Europe's elite.
Trophies The Abu Dhabi owners have invested more than £1billion on and off the pitch. They expect a team to deliver a regular and consistent return for "The Project". With United and Chelsea also changing managers, excuses will be thin on the ground.
Manuel Pellegrini's coaching career
Early years: Universidad Chile 1987-89, Palestino (Chile) 1990-91 & 1998, O'Higgins (Chile) 1992-93, Universidad Catolica (Chile) 1994-96, LDU Quito (Ecuador) 1999-2000.
San Lorenzo (Argentina), June 2001-May 2002 W21 D17 L12
River Plate (Argentina), June 2002-June 2003 W35 D7 L11
Villarreal (Spain), July 2004-May 2009 W123 D72 L64
Real Madrid (Spain), June 2009-May 2010 W36 D4 L7
Malaga (Spain), November 2010-Present W52 D29 L4
