Was our title team under Pelegrini underrated?

  • Thread starter Thread starter worsleyweb
  • Start date Start date
For one season it was. 2013-14 was a magnificent season, some exceptional performances and wins, a double and a hugely exciting title race and win.

Second season wasn’t actually that bad but we were well down on scoring.

In that last season we were really poor to watch and looked very unfit as a squad. Some of those Prem performances, and not on one-off occasions, it was consistently (our win-to-not-win ratio was 50:50), were very poor and well off the pace fitness-wise.

We went from:
1st - W27 D5 L6 G102 A37 Gd+65 Pts86
2nd - W24 D7 L7 G83 A38 Gd+45 Pts78
4th - W19 D9 L10 G71 A41 Gd+30 Pts66

And I think that’s why the brilliant title winning team in his first season isn’t looked upon, even by some Blues, as highly as it should be.
 
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The 2013/14 side committed the cardinal sin of peaking during the first half of the season which nobody ever remembers, a bit like De Bruyne last year.
 
That was such an odd season. I think twice ever in the top flight a club lost 4 by the end of November yet won the League. Both by City. Wilf Wild and Pellers. (If I'm wrong there I apologise - remember reading that somewhere in '14.)

For me, Aguero and Negredo were the perfect pair to make that 4-2-2-2 work. Complemented each other so well. Once the Beast got hurt playing in the second leg of a League Cup tie where we won the first 5-0 (#*$&@#$!) it was never the same. We went from scoring at will to utter dross by the end of the Pellers era.

Anyway, fantastic team and the comeback to take the title off of the dippers was in some ways more exciting/improbable than two years prior. We had to catch Chelsea as well and a goal by a Villa player named Delph caused them to drop points right before Slippy G dropped himself.

Crazy stuff that year. Lost away at Villa in an utterly dominant performance. Hart and Nastasic(?) running into each other against Chelsea. The rise/redemption arc of Martin DeMichelis.

I ramble and this is not to topic but I just loved that team!
 
Pellegrini did well for a season with Mancini's team. If he had stayed another season we would definitely have been a Europa League team
 
The media hailed Conte as a genius for winning the double in his first year,he had changed football by playing 3 at the back,mp played 442 when they all said it wouldn't work and it barely registered he also won the double in his first year,he/we got no respect at all,even last yr and 100pts we are still not a great team until we win it back to back,we will never get recognition whatever we do
 
I always hear "Mancini's team", but that team downed tools on him the year before.

Also, for me Fernandinho and Negredo and (post-Fulham) DeMichelis were absolutely top 5 players for us that year. Navas was actually pretty useful too. Obviously not Mancini players.

I loved Mancini but in effect crediting that title to him? Not having it. All credit to Pellers for getting Nasri Yaya and Dzeko firing at top level. Probably needed him or a manager of his type (as opposed to Mancini) to get that.
 
Javi Garcia's Hairstylist said:
I always hear "Mancini's team", but that team downed tools on him the year before.

Also, for me Fernandinho and Negredo and (post-Fulham) DeMichelis were absolutely top 5 players for us that year. Navas was actually pretty useful too. Obviously not Mancini players.

I loved Mancini but in effect crediting that title to him? Not having it. All credit to Pellers for getting Nasri Yaya and Dzeko firing at top level. Probably needed him or a manager of his type (as opposed to Mancini) to get that.
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It was bobby's team,every team that down tools on a manager are much happier and rejuvenated with a different manager that they don't hate,it is still the majority of the same players
 
karen7 said:
It was bobby's team,every team that down tools on a manager are much happier and rejuvenated with a different manager that they don't hate,it is still the majority of the same players
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Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Hart, Negredo, Navas, Demichelis, Jovetic, Fernandinho.
The "Bobby's team" mantra isn't accurate. You can make an argument that all of those players made varying degrees of contributions to our title win that season. All of those players were not Mancini's signings, whether the ones signed prior to his reign featured regularly or not.

The double winning side of 13/14 played some beautiful football, but we had a soft underbelly on a lot of occasions. I think that's why it isn't remembers as highly as other title winning teams, alongside Pellegrini's obvious decline in the subsequent seasons.
 
karen7 said:
The media hailed Conte as a genius for winning the double in his first year,he had changed football by playing 3 at the back,mp played 442 when they all said it wouldn't work and it barely registered he also won the double in his first year,he/we got no respect at all,even last yr and 100pts we are still not a great team until we win it back to back,we will never get recognition whatever we do
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No one in their right mind ever called Conte’s Chelsea one of the best Prem teams ever though!
 
Gingers Dad said:
Pellegrini did well for a season with Mancini's team. If he had stayed another season we would definitely have been a Europa League team
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The fact that Pep didn’t win anything in his first season shows you how far that team had declined due to age and FFP.
 
BlueTG said:
Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Hart, Negredo, Navas, Demichelis, Jovetic, Fernandinho.
The "Bobby's team" mantra isn't accurate. You can make an argument that all of those players made varying degrees of contributions to our title win that season. All of those players were not Mancini's signings, whether the ones signed prior to his reign featured regularly or not.

The double winning side of 13/14 played some beautiful football, but we had a soft underbelly on a lot of occasions. I think that's why it isn't remembers as highly as other title winning teams, alongside Pellegrini's obvious decline in the subsequent seasons.
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They don't have to have brought by bobby to be his team,they were his team because he had managed them for 3 yrs and won 2 trophies
 
My huge problem when I reflect on Pelligrini's 3 seasons is the Real Madrid performance was so devastating that it colours everything else. It's probably not fair nor an accurate reflection of his time with us but it still hurts. Plus we got worse over his time with us. Having said that he had a weird situation with Pep looming over him so the drop off is maybe understandable.
 
It was a fantastic season for us but to be fair in the last 15 seasons only twice has the winner recorded less than 86 points, which is what we finished on. Leicester and the Rags in 10-11.
 
citytilllidie said:
Pellegrini didn't get the accolades he deserved that year.
A great manager playing attacking football.
The best pre cursor to Pep.
It was the squad who took the piss and let him down.
He was just a little bit too nice, and a lot of them took their foot off the gas.

Guardiola expects and demands 100% effort all of the time, and players do get tired of that.

Look at that Chelsea squad. It's one year on, one year off
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Said it 100 times when he was here, I'd only switch him for Pep. Anyone else would have been a lateral or downgrade.

Folks prematurely overrated out talent and thus excused their silly decision of blaming Pel.

When he had talent at it's peak, he stormed the league like Vikings storming North... Well you know the rest :)
 
Yeah they were underrated. Played such mesmerizing attacking football. Recall at various times how we steam rollered the opposition like they under 18s. It was glorious.
 
But, but, but, was the MOTY....... Pardew ?!?!????! We did a double, scoring 156 goals in all comps, obvs. not the best.
 
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