Pellegrini's substitutions last night

[Didsbury Dave]

I only hope Pellegrini addresses the softness in midfield by using Yaya less frequently. I think he's looking more and more done at this level. His best games recently have been from the bench. Use him as we did Lampard last season.

Og God, this is the most important decision of the season and will have a direct bearing on our success.

He HAS to bite the bullet and stop Ya Ya getting run past week after week. The sub performance the other week showed what he can do, and Lampard is a good comparison.

He keeps playing Ya Ya deep and we won't win a thing. He goes with Delph and Fernenadinho and we will win more than one trophy. It's that important.

 

[KDBestplayerintheworld]

Good calls in the end. I was afraid City would get battered in midfield when taking off Delph for Navas, but they stood their ground and managed to dominate which was ultimately Pellegrini's goal I assume so good on him.
Then De Bruyne in for Touré obviously allowed City to kill the game. Fantastic spirit from my ginger hero to come on like that as a sub.
For me this shows that in games where City have or can have the upperhand, which is probably the majority of all matches they play, Fernandinho or Delph alone is enough to support the back four and the other two central midfielders can be more attacking such as Silva, De Bruyne & Touré. Then you can still play with two wingers (Sterling/Navas - although I'm not a fan) to keep the width and pace up. Something like this (omitting defence for a moment):

Fernandinho,
De Bruyne, Silva

Navas, Agüero, Sterling

With Delph a luxury back-up for Fernandinho and Touré the same for KDB & Silva.

 

[Plain Speaking]

Well done MP. He recognized the weakness and took prompt steps to improve us. Decisive management.

 

[schfc6]

Good calls in the end. I was afraid City would get battered in midfield when taking off Delph for Navas, but they stood their ground and managed to dominate which was ultimately Pellegrini's goal I assume so good on him.
Then De Bruyne in for Touré obviously allowed City to kill the game. Fantastic spirit from my ginger hero to come on like that as a sub.
For me this shows that in games where City have or can have the upperhand, which is probably the majority of all matches they play, Fernandinho or Delph alone is enough to support the back four and the other two central midfielders can be more attacking such as Silva, De Bruyne & Touré. Then you can still play with two wingers (Sterling/Navas - although I'm not a fan) to keep the width and pace up. Something like this (omitting defence for a moment):

Fernandinho,
De Bruyne, Silva

Navas, Agüero, Sterling

With Delph a luxury back-up for Fernandinho and Touré the same for KDB & Silva.

It will be similar to that next year. With an upgrade on Navas. Either in place of Navas or where you have De Bruyne and De Bruyne where you have Navas.

 

[blueinsa]

Threads like this on days like today bring a huge smile to my face.

Truth is, he gets the majority of decisions right all the time, hence his record and the position we find ourselves in :-)

 

[Danamy]

Well done MP. He recognized the weakness and took prompt steps to improve us. Decisive management.

It also puts to bed he's too predictable in the use of his subs always being 70 min onwards, like you say, he saw it and dealt with it, credit where it's due

 

[Marvin]

Og God, this is the most important decision of the season and will have a direct bearing on our success.

He HAS to bite the bullet and stop Ya Ya getting run past week after week. The sub performance the other week showed what he can do, and Lampard is a good comparison.

He keeps playing Ya Ya deep and we won't win a thing. He goes with Delph and Fernenadinho and we will win more than one trophy. It's that important.

I agree entirely.

 

[meeesh]

Well done MP. He recognized the weakness and took prompt steps to improve us. Decisive management.

If only he recognised this in other games this season,he wouldn't be looking for another job this June,maybe he thought,you know what fuck it we have nothing to lose,fortune favours the brave,instead of his 80 min + subs as he normally does,but fair play he got it right last nite

 

[Chi-town blues]

I was pissed he didn't start Navas but when he dropped Silva deep, I was hopeless. In the end it was worth the risk and paid off big time. So all credit to the boss man.
This was the second time he has gone with one holding mid to come back from behind.

 

[KDBestplayerintheworld]

It will be similar to that next year. With an upgrade on Navas.

Hope you'll forgive my patriotism once again, but I think Dries Mertens (currently Napoli) would be a fantastic signing to replace Navas. Great pace, great attitude, excellent crossing, dribbling, shooting & finishing, and just a lovely bloke all around. What more do you want?
The scousers have been trying to sign him for quite a while but he's been refusing as he's very happy in Napoli. But if City where to come for him, maybe it would be a different story. I think anywhere around £ 30-35M would be enough to sign him.