If you go back far enough on here, you'll find me criticising Pellegrini as far back as the Cardiff away game about 3 weeks into his tenure, when he had 2 one paced coffin dodger centre halves pushed up on the halfway line. You didn't need to be the soothsayer that you and Mr Shaelumstash have tried to pass yourselves off as in virtually every post since (something that reached its zenith about 3 months ago when the entire 'Pell not Pep' thread had to be pulled after a prolonged bout of boasting between the two of you, in which you sneered at the 'rats or weasels' who had disagreed with you, whilst simultaneously playing - without a trace of irony - the bullying card) to spot it. However, whilst we were walloping everyone in sight and playing great football in the process, it was perfectly reasonable to support his approach and to give him the time he deserved to prove that his way was the correct one, and I make no apologies for it. I thought he did a great job in his first season. All managers have their shortcomings though after all. That he turned out to be quite the disaster he was, was not foreseeable to the degree you claim.
As to the 2012 vs 2016 squads, if you think any one of Silva, Zab, Kompers or Ya Ya is a better (or less injury prone) player now than they were then, then as I said you can't be helped. And no I can't prove it.......
As I've said repeatedly in Pellegrini's formative weeks you didn't need to be a soothsayer or have a crystal ball to be able to see where it would all end up unless Pellegrini changed his tactics. All that was needed was a rudimentary knowledge of football to be able to connect the dots which drew a very clear picture. I saw it,
@Shaelumstash saw it as did many others fans and pundits. What was more crucial was that other managers saw it too, but were too weary to act on it early on because the Mancini fear factor was still there. It may have taken a season before they all acted on it en masse but act they did and from thereon in our decline began.
You say a thread had to be pulled because of a prolonged bout of 'boasting', but was it boasting or people being unable to handle the inconvenient truth that many observant City fans were mercilessly hounded on here as footballing know nowts, hankerers or as being 'One of Bob's bellends' just because they had the temerity to disagree with a certain faction as to where we were headed? We all know that unconditional support for Pellegrini was more about the insane hatred some had for Mancini which just made any criticism of Manuel turn into a MP v RM war, but it was a war happily perpetrated by those who saw the 'wallopings' you highlight as vindication to get rid of Mancini where we all now know the club needed Mancini gone and a 'caretaker' in whilst we pursued Pep.
On a serious level now, many posters left the board and some never returned because of the treatment they had to endure because their views differed to yours and certain others, so where was the thread pulling then? I'll leave that point there as many of us know what comes next if you disagree with certain people.
Yes, we were walloping many teams for a period, but Pellegrini still had to change his suicide tactics for the final 5-6 games to get us over the line and even then it took Liverpool to shoot themselves in the foot to give us a clear run toward the title. But like I've said the problems that have characterised his tenure were there for everyone to see as far back as then even in the matches where we 'walloped' the opposition.
Did he learn from his 2013 - 2014 experience? No! Come August 2014 it was back to 442 and his Kamikaze tactics, only this time the penny had dropped with the majority of Premier League managers and they all began to act on it. On the day of the 2nd leg CL tie against Real I was aghast when he came out and said 'People always talk about tactics, but big matches are rarely won by tactics they are won by special players'. Really? That statement explained a lot about Manuel.
Just because you didn't spot all this early on doesn't mean it wasn't happening as you like others were too blinded by the 'wallopings' to see. The great thing about modern history is that most of it has been captured for eternity on video so its very easy to go back and revisit events. If you ever get a chance look again at Pellegrini's first season and I assure you that in hindsight you will clearly see what I and others were saying as far back as then. Don't just take my word for it, look and see for yourself and you will realise a crystal ball or having the powers of a soothsayer weren't needed.
We're all City fans and I hated being sat there watching what was happening to us, but at no point did Manuel lose my support. My faith in his ability yes, but not my support.
As for our differing opinions on our squad I accept your assertions that our 2012 - 2013 squad was stronger than our current squad albeit I disagree with you which is why I took the time to list the squads so everyone can contrast and compare both. I still maintain the respective managers were the biggest difference and the squad we have now is stronger, but I'll refrain from ending with any Billy Big Bollocks 'If you don't agree with me, you need help' comments. That's two you've had for free.
