Southampton post match thread

[mosssideblue]

a 2 year contract followed by a 12 month extention isnt being sacked, both sides new what was on offer and signed the contract.

I must have it wrong then (apologies). I was convinced he came out this season and announced that the club and he had agreed that they would not be exercising the 12 month contract, which was for next season

 

[daztrueblue91]

These players we have will flourish under a manager who can prepare them properly. I cannot stress enough how much Pellegrini is a hindrance on this side. Yet again we come up against a side who like to play with pace and press the ball and we are on the receiving end of a hammering.

You would expect that any manager worth their wage would be able to learn from basic mistakes. It's not like Liverpool, Spurs, Stoke and Arsenal have already beaten, and in most cases thrashed, us this season is it?

So to go away to an inform Southampton, who adopt a similar style, with that game plan is full on negligence. I don't buy all the talk of our squad not being strong. Bony, Delph, Sterling, Nasri, Navas, Kolarov etc were all international players when we signed them, and most of them still are. They are just being mismanaged and misused.

What is even more staggering is that Pellegrini has shown in Europe that he can get it spot on. Sevilla away being a prime example where we were going to come up against a high pressing and fast side. That was the perfect blueprint for all of our PL away games against the fast and direct sides and Bony and Sterling both played a key role in Sevilla away. Yet yesterday there wasn't even a resemblance of that system.

Another think Pellegrini did what didn't make any sense was putting Aguero on the bench. He knew before the game that he wasn't going to play him no matter what so why not put a youngster on the bench instead? Would have made much more sense to bring on Manu Garcia rather than Demichellis.

If this season has shown one thing it is that we have some proper talent in our ranks and we need to be giving them game time. Iheanacho looks twice the player of the £44 million Sterling, Manu Garcia could have easily have had the same impact Delph has had this season and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Denayer out performs Stones next season. We need to give the young lads a chance.

 

[hgblue]

It won't be.

Not by anyone I've spoken to anyhow. His rep has gone.

I'm no Pellegrini fan. I don't care about his reputation. We have an absolutely massive game on Wednesday night and we have almost a full team of well rested players who have dodged the possibility of picking up costly injuries. This maximises our chances of getting a result. I'm in a very small minority but I agree with that decision.

 

[suffolk]

I have avoided posting message until now as I have like all other city fans have been fuming after this one.
Yes we can all have a bad day but effort makes up for even when things go against us - for the few who did try yesterday this is in no way targeted at you but for the others whose inept, lack of interest, effortless and totally unprofessional ethic "you are a disgrace and don't deserve to be part of our club"

Manuel got it very wrong yesterday and I just don't know what motivational skills were used but I sure wouldn't need to turn up at my workplace with the same attitude of most wearing the shirt yesterday - "I would be sacked"

Everything has been said on this forum site about another shameful performance which has been in our pedigree for far too long.

Kolorov should not be allowed our dressing room ever again as has been his stinking attitude for quite a while now.

I do not want to say anything else or I will get in trouble.

To those who wear the shirt with PRIDE, (THANKS) from all hard working supporters who know when we have been let down.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

I must have it wrong then (apologies). I was convinced he came out this season and announced that the club and he had agreed that they would not be exercising the 12 month contract, which was for next season

You have it right! It was a 3 year deal to end this summer. At the start of the season mp announced a 1 year extension which ended the speculation as to his future for the first 4/5 months of the season. When he announced he was leaving he said he was going to revert to the original contract and not take up the extra year on a mutual agreement. So not sacked but mutually agreed.

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

a 2 year contract followed by a 12 month extention isnt being sacked, both sides new what was on offer and signed the contract.

It was a 3 year contract with a 12 month extension matey. Obviously the club decided not to take up the extension by signing Pep. I think it was extended last summer to rid of speculation re Pep. Unfortunately Pep announced that he was coming to PL last Autumn & the press went into hyperdrive. Pell announced he was leaving quickly confirmed by the club & the rest is history. Pell will probably be paid his 12 months extension or a significant part of it i would expect.

 

[sir baconface]

He couldn't do anything.

He has never been able to do anything so how would he suddenly start there ?

We could do Pellegrini's job without leaving work/home/the bus/the bog, whatever. Just put out the most obvious side in the circumstances on a weekly basis, irrespective of the opposition or balance & put it in a 442, no matter which players are in it. Make sure to avoid using any 'untried' kids thus meaning they remain 'untried' all season.

Then tell everyone it's the only way & that you will do it again next game. Then do it again.

If he didn't even bother holding any training sessions, just phoned the side in from a beach somewhere without even seeing who the oppo was, & then randomly substituted someone on 56 mins, for whoever, there would be no difference.

A bit harsh, mate. Sometimes he's varied it until 60 minutes to make the substitutions.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

I must have it wrong then (apologies). I was convinced he came out this season and announced that the club and he had agreed that they would not be exercising the 12 month contract, which was for next season

It was a 3 year contract with a 12 month extension matey. Obviously the club decided not to take up the extension by signing Pep. I think it was extended last summer to rid of speculation re Pep. Unfortunately Pep announced that he was coming to PL last Autumn & the press went into hyperdrive. Pell announced he was leaving quickly confirmed by the club & the rest is history. Pell will probably be paid his 12 months extension or a significant part of it i would expect.

Manchester City Football Club is pleased to confirm that the contract of first team manager, Manuel Pellegrini, has been extended.
The agreement, which was reached following discussions this summer, sees the contract run for two years through to June 2017.

Similar such extension agreements have also been reached with Manuel’s backroom team of Ruben Cousillas, Xabier Mancisidor and Jose Cabello.

Speaking of the news, Ferran Soriano, Chief Executive Officer of Manchester City Football Club said: "We are delighted to reach this agreement with Manuel Pellegrini who has already contributed so much to the development of Manchester City in his first two years with us and we look forward to further progress in the seasons ahead.

"This agreement allows Manuel to focus on the challenge of guiding a team capable of both fighting for domestic titles and competing for European honours."

Manuel Pellegrini echoed his pleasure, saying: "I am proud to manage Manchester City FC and am therefore very pleased to have agreed this contract.

"I have a very good quality group of players and a great team of people to work with on and off the field and at all levels of the Club.

"I am focussed on the coming season and confident that my team and I will respond to the constant support shown to us by everyone including of course our fantastic fans."

 

[Bozzie]

I've got to say I won't be sorry to see the back of this season. Yesterday was the perfect example of everything that has gone wrong this year. We can debate the squad selection issue for hours, personally I wouldn't have changed so many but I can see why Pellegrini (and others) would. It clearly makes life more difficult, as Liverpool demonstrated in the early kick off at Swansea. The main difference being they're out of the race for fourth and have a very winnable second leg tie at home, we travel to ten times champions Madrid! I got the impression yesterday that Nasri on the ball was looking for the movement of Silva, Yaya and Kun and saw Bony, Delph and Sterling instead and wasn't too impressed with his options. Our failure to address the weaknesses at full-back have hindered us all season, Clichy and Sagna have both done well but they should be the guys we bring in when we rotate/rest our first choice full-backs. Zaba's past exploits have rightly earned him 'cult' status at the club, Kolorov's have earned him something similar, but not quite the same spelling and with an entirely different meaning. His performance yesterday was embarrassing and, as others have said, reeked of a guy who knows his time at the club is up.
We hope for the 'real City' to turn up on Wednesday, if they do we have a chance, if they don't then I fear the worst, at least the weather will be better than here.

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

It's not just "his box" though is it. Our owners want European Success.

At the expense of risking CL qualification, which would be essential for player recruitment, further progress in Europe, as well as growth of revenue and fanbase? Is it really prudent of the club to put their sole focus in the CL, where our chance of winning is rather slim, even if we can get to the final? If we had won yesterday, we would only need 2 points in the next 2 matches for qualification. Now winning against Arsenal (which is not a guarantee) becomes much more important.

On paper yesterday's team should be able to win or draw. Midfield seemed rather solid with Delph and Dinho despite the formation. It didn't work in reality. Some shifted their focus to Wednesday, some were in a rather poor form, and some looked like they didn't want to be on the pitch. Those who are unmotivated, e.g. Kolarov (utterly unprofessional performance), must take the major blame, but Pellers was at fault too. I think he knew that there was a decent chance we would lose with yesterday's personnel. It is obvious why the two full backs were second-choice. And Delph, in his desperation to impress and earn a place on Wednesday, forgot he should not try fancy stuff if he couldn't manage the basics. Sterling was either short of confidence or fitness, or both. He obviously knew that, or else he wouldn't play Kelechi last Tuesday in place of those two. And he did admit he was taking a risk in the post-match conference.

So I think that although Pellegrini wanted to win the game, he would't mind if we lost either. He took the gamble and pinned his hopes in winning against Arsenal, though I don't know where his confidence came from.

I understand the need to rest some players, e.g. Kun, but the full-backs? Would the result have been different if we had played Clichy instead of Kolarov, who was at fault for what, two or three of the goals? The possibilities continue to haunt me and I had to vent my frustratoin a bit. So much for happy revision in knowing that we would be able to finish top 3.

 

[East Level 2]

How many times did we concede 4 when Mancini was in charge?

The BBC claimed it was the first time we've conceded 4 goals three times in the league since our 2000-2001 relegation season. I've not checked but it sounds feasible. Add to that a gap of around six months between back to back PL wins, ten PL defeats with two games remaining (our worst since 2008-2009) and more home PL defeats than in the previous four seasons combined and you'll understand why some aren't so enamoured; charming or not. And then there's our inability to beat anybody in the top six. The CL performances have papered over many cracks.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I'm no Pellegrini fan. I don't care about his reputation. We have an absolutely massive game on Wednesday night and we have almost a full team of well rested players who have dodged the possibility of picking up costly injuries. This maximises our chances of getting a result. I'm in a very small minority but I agree with that decision.

I have no problem with him resting some players at least for half a game. (Would the most important one not be Fernandinho incidentally, the bloke who does the most running ?)

But to put out that 11, in that formation, playing with exactly the same kind of attitude as if it was the 1st 11 on the first game of the season with everyone 100% fit, rather than at least try to organise that group of players into a unit, to get a result, that's my problem with this bloke.

Would Ranieri or Rafa or even LVG just send out 11 players to play exactly the same way even though they are all completely different strengths & weaknesses ? Some by his own admission not really match fit ?

FFS WHY ? Why couldn't we be a solid 451 for example, play on the break ? We have to try & play like a 'big team'. Bollocks.

The players get shit for not trying, but did the manager really send those players out with a message to dig in & get a result & a stirring speech about playing for the supporters or their pride or their legacy at the club ? Does anyone anywhere believe that he did ANYTHING different ?

That's all he does. The same thing every week. Yet recently, in the Champs Lg, ee have been more careful & solid & tried to counter attack. So he's noticed that (at long long last).

But a 2nd 11 with half not match fit is sent out wide open & expect to come away with 3 points ?

He's a wanker.

 

[Steve68]

I have no problem with him resting some players at least for half a game. (Would the most important one not be Fernandinho incidentally, the bloke who does the most running ?)

But to put out that 11, in that formation, playing with exactly the same kind of attitude as if it was the 1st 11 on the first game of the season with everyone 100% fit, rather than at least try to organise that group of players into a unit, to get a result, that's my problem with this bloke.

Would Ranieri or Rafa or even LVG just send out 11 players to play exactly the same way even though they are all completely different strengths & weaknesses ? Some by his own admission not really match fit ?

FFS WHY ? Why couldn't we be a solid 451 for example, play on the break ? We have to try & play like a 'big team'.

The players get shit for not trying, but did the manager really send those players out with a message to dig in & get a result & a stirring speech about playing for the supporters or their pride or their legacy at the club ? Does anyone anywhere believe that he did ANYTHING different ?

That's all he does. The same thing every week. Yet recently, in the Champs Lg, ee have been more careful & solid & tried to counter attack. So he's noticed that (at long long last).

But a 2nd 11 with half not match fit is sent out wide open & expect to come away with 3 points ?

He's a wanker.

Spot on.

 

[bluemoon98]

 

[kippax4ever]

Beside the awful performance, from the 80min we were playing like we were 4-2 up,no urgency,but just kept passing fking sidewards/backwards & more fking sideward passes..

 

[Sir peace frog]

I have no problem with him resting some players at least for half a game. (Would the most important one not be Fernandinho incidentally, the bloke who does the most running ?)

But to put out that 11, in that formation, playing with exactly the same kind of attitude as if it was the 1st 11 on the first game of the season with everyone 100% fit, rather than at least try to organise that group of players into a unit, to get a result, that's my problem with this bloke.

Would Ranieri or Rafa or even LVG just send out 11 players to play exactly the same way even though they are all completely different strengths & weaknesses ? Some by his own admission not really match fit ?

FFS WHY ? Why couldn't we be a solid 451 for example, play on the break ? We have to try & play like a 'big team'. Bollocks.

The players get shit for not trying, but did the manager really send those players out with a message to dig in & get a result & a stirring speech about playing for the supporters or their pride or their legacy at the club ? Does anyone anywhere believe that he did ANYTHING different ?

That's all he does. The same thing every week. Yet recently, in the Champs Lg, ee have been more careful & solid & tried to counter attack. So he's noticed that (at long long last).

But a 2nd 11 with half not match fit is sent out wide open & expect to come away with 3 points ?

He's a wanker.

I said something similar but not as well put every match should matter every game is important I know he has to rst certain players but ffs set up to at least give us a chance

 

[hgblue]

I have no problem with him resting some players at least for half a game. (Would the most important one not be Fernandinho incidentally, the bloke who does the most running ?)

But to put out that 11, in that formation, playing with exactly the same kind of attitude as if it was the 1st 11 on the first game of the season with everyone 100% fit, rather than at least try to organise that group of players into a unit, to get a result, that's my problem with this bloke.

Would Ranieri or Rafa or even LVG just send out 11 players to play exactly the same way even though they are all completely different strengths & weaknesses ? Some by his own admission not really match fit ?

FFS WHY ? Why couldn't we be a solid 451 for example, play on the break ? We have to try & play like a 'big team'. Bollocks.

The players get shit for not trying, but did the manager really send those players out with a message to dig in & get a result & a stirring speech about playing for the supporters or their pride or their legacy at the club ? Does anyone anywhere believe that he did ANYTHING different ?

That's all he does. The same thing every week. Yet recently, in the Champs Lg, ee have been more careful & solid & tried to counter attack. So he's noticed that (at long long last).

But a 2nd 11 with half not match fit is sent out wide open & expect to come away with 3 points ?

He's a wanker.

Look, my opinion on Pellegrini is very close to yours, but I reckon that yesterday he decided to take a gamble on losing a game in order to maximise our chances of winning a much more important game. United drawing means the loss hasn't hurt us too much and I've watched other managers like Ferguson do exactly the same thing over the years and get hailed as geniuses. As fans, we tend to focus on the little picture, a shit performance and poor result, whereas the professionals at the club are focused on the big picture. If we get past Madrid and you're buying your ticket for the Champs League final, say it again the Champs League final, will you still be thinking back to Southampton away and fuming about the team selection? I think not. Most of those railing against the manager will be celebrating beating Madrid and hardly any will be re-visiting this thread and accepting that resting players had contributed to the result.

 

[stonerblue]

Kelechi's performance was a huge bright spark & he almost singlehandedly kept us in it, but if we'd had one sent off, I recon a Boro/Sven situation would have been on the cards with 10 men. It had that kind of feel about it.

I said a while back that the kid would have his day this season, exploding into the wider publics consciousness with a match winning performance that can't be ignored. Maybe Wednesday could be that day.

 

[Stretford Born Blue]

It's not just "his box" though is it. Our owners want European Success.

 

[stonerblue]

I have avoided posting message until now as I have like all other city fans have been fuming after this one.
Yes we can all have a bad day but effort makes up for even when things go against us - for the few who did try yesterday this is in no way targeted at you but for the others whose inept, lack of interest, effortless and totally unprofessional ethic "you are a disgrace and don't deserve to be part of our club"

Manuel got it very wrong yesterday and I just don't know what motivational skills were used but I sure wouldn't need to turn up at my workplace with the same attitude of most wearing the shirt yesterday - "I would be sacked"

Everything has been said on this forum site about another shameful performance which has been in our pedigree for far too long.

Kolorov should not be allowed our dressing room ever again as has been his stinking attitude for quite a while now.

I do not want to say anything else or I will get in trouble.

To those who wear the shirt with PRIDE, (THANKS) from all hard working supporters who know when we have been let down.

give over you drama queen.