Pellegrini Thread

[Dribble]

Dzeko in midfield instead of Garcia then ;)

Do me a favour, you're depressing me now!! Lol :-)

 

[Burtonblue]

Good questions Dribble.
For me it must have been on MP instruction for Dzeko to drop into midfield as it was such an obvious formation change. I don't think players would do that off their own bat.
I suspect the change was talked about in advance of the game and judging by how comfortably Dzeko fitted into that role it is something they have probably worked on in training.
As for why not making a sub I think it was early in the game and clearly MP wanted to rest some key players in view of our gruelling schedule.
I think we should give the manager some credit for thinking on his feet here ( oh and for playing some of the best football I have ever seen us play )

 

[Shaelumstash]

I think we will start dropping points soon, players are starting to look jaded. A combination of injury prone squad players and distrust in fringe players (hint: Fernandinho and Yaya have started more games than anyone else at the club this season) who are fit means overuse of key personnel. Negredo looks jaded, Nasri was a bit off colour against Swansea, it could be Fernandinho next.

Pellegrini tells the press he is happy with what he has, which is standard because he won't do a Mancini and go against the club, but he seemed more open to January spending today than before when asked. And I think one or two reinforcements could be crucial unless Jovetic, Rodwell and Micah start playing more.

I think it's just a case that the fringe players are so far behind and can't hold a candle to the first teamers.

We've been so spoilt at times with some breathtaking attacking football that we're expecting it all the time, when the fringe players come in they're nowhere near the same standard to deliver, I honestly think it's as simple as that.

With the amount of changes made, we go from a top Prem/Champ league side, to a mid table side.

^^^This^^^

I was recently castigated for having the temerity to suggest that we are weak beyond our first 16, but yesterday was a case in point. Rotation is key at this time of the season but so is genuine strength in depth. Yes, a fit on form Richards, Jovetic, Rodwell would have made a difference yesterday, but there are players who we all know need to be jettisoned and better replacements sought and brought in.

Garcia, Sinclair, Boyata, Lescott, Dzeko all need to go (although I thought Dzeko played better than Negredo over the last 3 games which suggests Negredo is jaded & in need of a rest). Kolorov's form has improved, but I still have the memory of his upright Michael Johnson (The sprinter) style running gait (but without the speed) trying to track back against Swansea which constantly left us exposed so for me I'd still add him to the jettison list.

The specific points I raised where I think the manager has made big mistakes are:
Playing Garcia in a 442
Playing Dzeko and Negredo together
Playing 2 up front away from home
Playing a high line and leaving us vulnerable, particularly when Kompany is out.

I agree with all the above apart from the high line. The high line depends on pace and as such with Micah, Kompany & Clichy in the team wouldn't represent a problem for us. As it stands though, Zabaleta is rightly preferred to Richards but has less pace, Clichy looks a little jaded and we haven't got a quality side-kick for Kompany who has pace.

Scenario:
If Zabaleta had Richard's pace
Kompany - Ok
Clichy could accurately cross the ball / or Kolorov had pace
AND we could have a left-footed clone of Kompany, the high line tactic on its own would crush most teams. This is where we need to improve and rapidly too!

As for MP, it's his first season and it will be a season of discovery & realisation. He need s to be given a chance to form a proper opinion of his charges, to make the necessary changes and to realise that even against a struggling Championship side that 4-4-2, with Dzeko & Negredo upfront and Garcia playing in a midfield two just isn't going to work or at best we'll look unconvincing.

Pellegrini has shown signs in the last two months that he's beginning to realise that dogmatically sticking to a 4-4-2 will not bring us the rewards at times, especially away from home. Having said that there are other things like playing Dzeko & Negredo together which he continues to persist with that defies logic. However he sees the players day in day out, so I trust he knows what he's doing and he can see something that I and a lot of people can't.

Thought Pellegrini showed some astuteness today when half way through the first half he realised the 442 was not working for him and told Dzeko to drop deeper.
Dzeko effectively played as a midfielder for the rest of the half enabling us to run the game.
Incidentally, thought Dzeko looked pretty decent playing that role.

Absolutely well spotted!!! And this is why I'm sometimes baffled with the insistence of a 4-4-2 when it clearly isn't working and we have better alternatives available.

I agree that in an ideal scenario if you could merge Clichy and Kolarov on the left and Zabba and Micah on the right in to some kind super mutant full backs, we'd be fine playing a high line. That is not reality though.

I actually think with Kompany in the side the we look good with a high line, he's been brilliant at defending on the front foot this year.

My criticism is when Pellegrini plays the high line in games where it clearly doesn't suit the personnel available. Cardiff away being the most glaring example. Lescott and Garcia are surely the slowest centre back pairing in Europe. It was blatantly obvious if they played a high line we'd be horribly exposed in behind, and so proved to be the case.

The poster claiming it was a positive that he recognised it wasn't working at Blackburn and changed it to drop Dzeko in to midfield, I really don't think that's a positive.

It was obvious it would not work before kick off. They've looked awful together for 5 games running. Dzeko is far less suited to playing that role than Navas, or even Lopes who was on the bench.

Pellegrini picks his system first, and then tries to shoehorn players in to it. He needs to learn that the system needs to be adaptable to fit the players available.

 

[lancs blue]

I thought yesterday wasn't so much a reflection of the strength or otherwise of our squad as much as Pellegrini wanting to rest specific players and therefore picking an XI from the ones that were left. This resulted in an unbalanced team IMO. Obviously Zaba and Kolarov can't start every game but Boyata and Clichy are a level or two below them on the overlap so I'd expect an orthodox winger to feature when those two start. Clearly Pellegrini didn't want to start Navas but in that case why not give Lopes a start? Milner is a good defensive wide man but an average attacking winger so with him having an off-day we had no penetration from the flanks and with a 4-man midfield our central options were limited. Throw in the two strangers that Negredo and Dzeko become when they start together and it's no real surprise that we struggled to look good in the attacking third.

 

[Anonymous]

Pellegrini picks his system first, and then tries to shoehorn players in to it. He needs to learn that the system needs to be adaptable to fit the players available.

All managers do.

He will make mistakes like all managers do - but on balance a draw in the FA Cup considering how the rest of the season has gone is not cause to rip up everything he's trying to achieve and go running for the safety of safe football.

 

[Anonymous]

Poor logic. Our squad is the strongest in the league. If we drop points so will our rivals.

Crazy that it takes only a draw for the flapping to become chronic again. Lord only knows how you'll react to a defeat.

Look understanding the criticism of my post but this is my worry and opinion come the business end of the season.. Hard to explain but when a team mind set is to attack not defend when it gets to the crunch time and we need a 1-0 hard fought scrappy win will we be capable of doing this?

A bit ironic, the team is being questioned as to whether it can grind out results or not, and now that the team has done exactly that in the past few weeks (Pool, Palace games), it is being criticized. Am I right?

Bingo. Sums up why some posters do my head in. Lets see if I can express that opinion without it being erased.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

We have dragged ourselves through Christmas and new year, rather than roar through it, but have had to weather injuries, suspensions and a packed schedule. We aren't playing at our best, but we haven't been able to play even close to full strength throughout.

The performance yesterday was terrible but I didn't see much wrong with pellegrini's selections, and his arm was forced in a lot of decisions yesterday. The only strange thing he did for me was the straight swap of yaya for fernandinho, where yaya would surely have been more effective further forward, maybe with Milner deep.

But overall we roll on, keep fighting and trust that that crispness comes back into our game, and Sergio, without any significant damage caused to our title hopes.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

We have dragged ourselves through Christmas and new year, rather than roar through it, but have had to weather injuries, suspensions and a packed schedule. We aren't playing at our best, but we haven't been able to play even close to full strength throughout.

The performance yesterday was terrible but I didn't see much wrong with pellegrini's selections, and his arm was forced in a lot of decisions yesterday. The only strange thing he did for me was the straight swap of yaya for fernandinho, where yaya would surely have been more effective further forward, maybe with Milner deep.

But overall we roll on, keep fighting and trust that that crispness comes back into our game, and Sergio, without any significant damage caused to our title hopes.

Can't be arsed going off to google, but I think this might be our best December in the premier, or not far off it.
So if this is our blip then I'm a happy chappy. I think you will find our play at a higher tempo when back to the league.
I know MP says we want to win everything we are in, but we still prioritise and IMO fa cup is down the ladder, considering
we're still in Champions League.

 

[Damocles]

As tWe've dragged ourselves through Christmas and new year, rather than roar through it, but have had to weather injuries, suspensions and a packed schedule. We aren't playing at our best, but we haven't been able to play even close to full strength throughout.

The performance yesterday was terrible but I didn't see much wrong with pellegrini's selections, and his arm was forced in a lot of decisions yesterday. The only strange thing he did for me was the straight swap of yaya for fernandinho, where yaya would surely have been more effective further forward, maybe with Milner deep.

But overall we roll on, keep fighting and trust that that crispness comes back into our game without any major damage caused.

I said after the game the other day, I'm extremely pleased with this Xmas period. We've taken full points in games where we had to slug it out in tired and torrid conditions. It's alright going round thumping Spurs 6-0 but if you then drop points to Palace it's essentially useless.

Pellegrini has shown that he has put together a squad that can twat teams on their day but also grind out results when they need to, making us favourites for the title in my book. Our problem last year was our inability to keep motivated in the smaller games which is starting to clear up

I'm a little concerned at our upcoming away fixtures mind but I've gone from disliking Pellegrini when he took over to at least beginning to understand his methods and admiring them somewhat. He doesn't play how I would like us to play but he's doing a very good job in my opinion.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Pellegrini picks his system first, and then tries to shoehorn players in to it. He needs to learn that the system needs to be adaptable to fit the players available.

All managers do.

He will make mistakes like all managers do - but on balance a draw in the FA Cup considering how the rest of the season has gone is not cause to rip up everything he's trying to achieve and go running for the safety of safe football.

You really do come out with some nonsense.

You think ALL managers pick the system first, and then shoehorn players in to it irrespective of whether it suits those players or not?!

Stop being silly.