Pellegrini - The English Managers Syndrome

[Dax777]

Precisely. A man with some football knowledge and common sense.

My question to you dax. Will we see the return of 442. And will we see yaya coming from the bench at any point this season

This to me has to be the funniest of the moaner crews complaints. They pilloried the man for sticking to the ancient 442 all thru last season. Only to turn around and beg for it now. I laugh when I read these comments.

As to your question, the 442 has proven effective in spot use.vif I am reading Pelegrini right, he will use it periodically. But the 451 will be the primary formation. It frankly was the formation of choice pre season. They've worked with it for a long time and will stick to it. That's what Pelegrini does. He takes a foundational philosophy and tries to get his players well drilled in it.

The thought process is simple. If you stick to the same system long enough it becomes second nature, and you are thinking less, and expressing more. And it's in that state that the players best football comes out.

It's not that complicated. Formation maneuver is all fun and good, but it gets more weight than it deserves. Pep is great with formation switches and all that, but without Robben and Ribery last year, his team got embarrassed by Barca.

On form talent is the key to great coaching, not formations.

Anyway I'm rambling again. We will see 442 if Kelechi continues to shoe improvement. But for what it's worth, we really didn't switch to a 442 when Kelechi came on, he simply just did Silva's job better. Their heat map was pretty similar. He was stronger, quicker with the ball, and threw himself around. Mostly operated in the middle just like Silva. So the distinction between 442 and 451 was cosmetic really.

 

[OB1]

Didn't we fall apart around this time last year?

Can't see anything changing tbh.

We will have to wait to find out but we are unbeaten in our last six league games and only Spurs have so far taken more points (one point) in that time; although Arsenal could overtake us in the form table tomorrow.

We need to improve and we have the talent to do so.

 

[cleavers]

As to your question, the 442 has proven effective in spot use.vif I am reading Pelegrini right, he will use it periodically. But the 451 will be the primary formation. It frankly was the formation of choice pre season. They've worked with it for a long time and will stick to it. That's what Pelegrini does. He takes a foundational philosophy and tries to get his players well drilled in it.

The thought process is simple. If you stick to the same system long enough it becomes second nature, and you are thinking less, and expressing more. And it's in that state that the players best football comes out.

I think all the talk about formations is pointless, it doesn't matter how the 4's, 3's, 2's and 1's are arranged, if we aren't organised well enough, and can't concentrate for 90 minutes (or even 1), and currently we aren't organised well enough, and lose concentration too often.

Today the first goal should never happen, and the second was a team joke, and therein lies the issue "team" we're not playing as one, they're not playing for each other. Sure we "fight to the end2 and all that bollocks, but its time we played as a team, regularly. That means all 10 outfield players, doing the defensive work, from the front, and today we started with 3 who don't do it enough. When Pep arrives they are going to be in for a shock, he simply won't put up with it, good.

Much as I love all 3 players as attackers, we can't carry them defensively, any more than people say we carry Yaya, they need to do more for their teammates.

 

[fatbloke]

Said it before and will say it again, Pellegrini will go for exactly the same reasons as Mancini - picking the team based on reputation, Yaya Toure being the prime example.

Us fans are disillusioned with it because we can all see and predict what's going to happen in most away games, well in any game a team is brave enough to have a go at us to be fair. We all know we're going to get overrun in central midfield, we all know Yaya is going to let his man go and we all know our back four are going to get completely exposed. If we can see it, surely to fucking god the players can and must get pissed off at certain players seemingly being given preferential treatment despite showing so little fight and sacrifice for the good of the team as a whole.

I think we become scared as a team to try things in attack because we know we're going to struggle to regain possession at best or concede at worst if we lose possession away from home. Personally I think that's why De Bruyne, Silva and Sterling look completely different players away from home. We need a solid midfield base to give the creative players a platform to express their talent without fear of losing possession.

 

[Mancini Manus Domini]

Silva has been playing as a second striker practically all season. Pellegrini has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes because most people think Silva as a midfielder but he's cleverly persisted with 4-4-2, his beloved formation. Dax777 hit the nail on the head when he identified Iheanacho as playing in the exact same position.

The opposition have found it easier to mark Silva in his latest role as he seems to hold his position more. He's much better when coming off the flank and finding the space to do his thing. Interestingly tonight he started to thrive when he was dropped deeper after Iheanacho came on. Unbelievably Pellegrini brings him off for Fernando WTF! No wonder Silva looked pissed off.

For me Delph was our best player today and Pellegrini brought him off too. I despair at this guy I really do. Clueless!

 

[Ajm1985]

Silva never started playing well, he was poor all thru. Had a few passes completed but did not have any impact and killed a few breakaway plays. But that's neither here nor there.

The key here is that Silva would have started for you me or Pep too. And for good reason. He is a WC player. Currently in a funk, but a stud nonetheless.

Yaya would have been fine in a 2 if Delph played half as well as he did last time out. He didnt.

Playing 3 CMs sounds good on paper, but until it shows to be effective in reality, its just a theory.

What a bizarre line of argument. My statement was that Silva played better, after we scored, and Pellegrini made a negative substitution at the wrong time that took away our momentum.

Yaya is ineffective in a midfield 2. Has been for a while. It's not hating on Yaya to state it doesn't get the best out of him, regardless of the other CM.

Playing 3 in midfield isn't a theory. It allows Yaya freedom to dictate play and provides bolster to a midfield that opponents walk through. If you fail to notice that that is what happens then i am really unsure what you watch during our games.

 

[OB1]

Silva has been playing as a second striker practically all season. Pellegrini has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes because most people think Silva as a midfielder but he's cleverly persisted with 4-4-2, his beloved formation. Dax777 hit the nail on the head when he identified Iheanacho as playing in the exact same position.

The opposition have found it easier to mark Silva in his latest role as he seems to hold his position more. He's much better when coming off the flank and finding the space to do his thing. Interestingly tonight he started to thrive when he was dropped deeper after Iheanacho came on. Unbelievably Pellegrini brings him off for Fernando WTF! No wonder Silva looked pissed off.

For me Delph was our best player today and Pellegrini brought him off too. I despair at this guy I really do. Clueless!

Delph our best player, how do you explain that?

 

[Dax777]

What a bizarre line of argument. My statement was that Silva played better, after we scored, and Pellegrini made a negative substitution at the wrong time that took away our momentum.

Yaya is ineffective in a midfield 2. Has been for a while. It's not hating on Yaya to state it doesn't get the best out of him, regardless of the other CM.

Playing 3 in midfield isn't a theory. It allows Yaya freedom to dictate play and provides bolster to a midfield that opponents walk through. If you fail to notice that that is what happens then i am really unsure what you watch during our games.

Again it's opinions. Silva at no point played better, in my opinion. The team looked better, and we got a goal, but we were playing a risky game with 5 attacking players and 1 CM. Especially as the CM was the aging Yaya.

He got the response he needed from throwing the kitchen sink. And it was time to go back to having 2 CMs. He then pulled the worst performing attacking player.

Just before Silva was subbed he made 2 terrible passes in the final Third and we lost the ball. I don't know where the Silva got better narrative comes from. Can you point to actual positive things he did? Or is this a generic he was getting better?

 

[OB1]

What a bizarre line of argument. My statement was that Silva played better, after we scored, and Pellegrini made a negative substitution at the wrong time that took away our momentum.

Yaya is ineffective in a midfield 2. Has been for a while. It's not hating on Yaya to state it doesn't get the best out of him, regardless of the other CM.

Playing 3 in midfield isn't a theory. It allows Yaya freedom to dictate play and provides bolster to a midfield that opponents walk through. If you fail to notice that that is what happens then i am really unsure what you watch during our games.

I don't disagree with the notion of actually playing a midfield three but I would disagree that Yaya was ineffective today: he was our most involved player again. He made as many key passes as any other City player, he made tackles, interceptions, clearances, plenty of ball recoveries. His pass completion was lower than normal but I think that was down to the number of long passes he attempted.

He wasn't perfect and he got done on the opening goal but he was not alone in failing to prevent it.

He was more effective than Delph.

 

[Dax777]

What a bizarre line of argument. My statement was that Silva played better, after we scored, and Pellegrini made a negative substitution at the wrong time that took away our momentum.

Yaya is ineffective in a midfield 2. Has been for a while. It's not hating on Yaya to state it doesn't get the best out of him, regardless of the other CM.

Playing 3 in midfield isn't a theory. It allows Yaya freedom to dictate play and provides bolster to a midfield that opponents walk through. If you fail to notice that that is what happens then i am really unsure what you watch during our games.

How would you suggest the midfield 3 line up? Flat? In a triangle with a single base or a 2 at the base with one in front. And where in the 3 do you see Yaya?