He was the only manager I can remember in football history employed with his replacement already in discussion about the job. That is the definition of a caretaker.
He has only ever been a caretaker. He hasn't signed the players he wanted. He's been handed players bought with a future manager in mind.
To me Pellegrini liked two strikers, painfully obvious. Obvious to a fault. Yet, the manager who clearly likes two strikers is left with 1. 2 if you count Bony. An 18 year old is always a gamble. Both he and Mancini, even Ferguson for that matter have insisted you need four in the PL. Which manager is famous for wanting just 1 striker and often plays without a striker? Yup. Guardiola. So, does two senior strikers sound ideal for a manager who likes 4 or a manager that likes 1 or non?
He favours two centre mids. City have left him hamstrung in this department too.
Nothing I have seen from him would indicate Sterling was signed with Pellegrini in mind.
He has been hamstrung by Txiki and the impending Gaurdiola from day one. He was only ever here till Pep was made available.
Year 1, put out Mancini's fires. Done and won the league.
Year 2. Improve on a PL win and build or work in a holistic way. He failed. As did Txiki, Fernando & Mangala...
Year 3. Keep the seat warm for a manager he and all the players knew was impending. Work with players signed for another coach. For me, he should have won the league. I beieve he would of with less injuries. He has overachieved in the CL.
Imagine the havoc Mancini would have caused had he not been able to pick his transfer targets. We don't need to, he called Marwood out in public.
Pellegrini's set up is simple and uncomplicated. Two energetic midfielders. Attacking full backs. Wide men that like to cut in and rightly or wrongly two out and out strikers.
We've signed players for another manager, another system, a system the current manager doesn't use. We have as litterally as possible asked a Leopard to change his spots.
To judge a manager in these circumstances is very difficult as I've never come across this scenario before. I doubt many have.
I disagree. According to the Collins dictionary the definition of caretaker manager is someone who temporarily holds the office of manager at a football club. I don't think you could argue that 3 years is in any way temporary.
He did have some difficulties to overcome, such as the recruitment being done with a long term view. He probably inherited some players he didn't want, but I don't think that makes him a caretaker. I think most managers in Europe have players bought for them who aren't their first choice. I think Goetze was one such player for Pep at Bayern. And even Lewandowski I don't think Guardiola wanted initially, although he's now flourished under him.
Mancini in his final season had the likes of Scott Sinclair and Javi Garcia bought for him, I don't think they were his choices. They were the choices of Brian Marwood. But was Mancini a caretaker in his final season? I don't think he was. Certainly undermined, but he was the manager, it's just that recruitment was taken out of his hands.
Bony is an interesting one, because I read there was serious disagreements behind the scenes. But perhaps not in the way you assume. I read Txiki wasn't keen on him and Pellegrini demanded him as he said our striker options weren't deep enough, and Bony was the top scorer in the league that calendar year, so he pushed for him. Who knows what the truth is, though.
I think your analysis of Pellegrini's tenure is probably fair. I fancied us for semi finals before the season started, but it's still a great achievement. Quarter finals probably would have been par, so he's already over-achieved this season in Europe. He's grossly under-achieved in the league this year though. On paper we should have pushed Chelsea hard for the league, the fact that they have fallen off a cliff and we are 4th is a rank under-achievement.
Last season we under-achieved in the league too. We can't win it every year of course, but we certainly should be challenging every year in my view. We didn't really put up much of a challenge last season. So 2 out of 3 seasons he's fallen well short in the league which is the bread and butter, that's not good enough in my view.
Yes, he has had some difficulties outside of his control, but show me a manager who has had none. Perhaps he is being forced in to playing a system he doesn't want to play this season, or perhaps he was advised to sure us up a bit in midfield after us getting ripped apart through the middle last season. Whichever is true, there certainly doesn't seem to have been a noticable improvement.
Perhaps Sterling and KDB weren't his men and he didn't want them. I don't think there is a coach in Europe who wouldn't have taken them if offered though. We went balls deep with recruitment this summer, and we've regressed further. I think it's fair to say they haven't all been his first picks of the exact type of player he wants. But it's also fair to say he has grossly underachieved with the talent at his disposal, no matter what the circumstances.
