Out of all but one competition which we're holding on to by the skin of our teeth, this season we have gone backwards without any doubt. Pellegrini has done no better than Roberto Mancini if we're honest with ourselves, it took him 4 losses to Arsenal, Barcelona, Liverpool then Burnley and a loss against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. Before finally realising he was wrong all along to stick to his ignorant system, waving away criticism from all quarters including City blog's, boards and websites screaming for him to adapt and improve.
He finally realised the error of his ways last night against a Barcelona side out for nothing but a convincing win, or so I thought until he yet again made mistakes and bad calls. He deceived us by dropping Dzeko and playing with Aguero leading the line and Silva in behind, something Spain do regular with El Magico aka Merlin.
Our lads did us proud just about this time round so I take no credit away from them, just a few key points I wish to highlight though. Yaya Toure's defending this season has been non existent if not appalling, something usually disguised by his attacking genius. However he's been equally below par in that department also this season with 33 fouls conceded, 6 yellow cards and 1 red card, in 30 appearances Yaya has scored 9 goals after having 68 shots on target. His only positive has been his pass success rate which just isn't good enough, we continue to suffer losing him to the African Cup of Nations too.
As good as he is in peak form Samir Nasri has also been below par, James Milner has scored twice as many goals in as many appearances. Milner has 3 less yellow cards, 14 less fouls conceded and 13 more fouls won than Nasri.
With all this in mind it's blatantly clear that only Joe Hart, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, James Milner and believe it or not Frank Lampard truly deserve their place and wage at Manchester City this season. Everyone else has either been well below par or stuck on the bench or fringe too much to make an impact.
Two issues I found and still find so frustrating are how Pellegrini has treated Frank Lampard and Wilfried Bony. We embarrassingly extended Frank Lampard's loan only to witness Pellegrini bench him for the rest of the season?, spend millions on Wilfried Bony who according to statistics and video footage is a far far far more efficient and talented forward than Edin Dzeko?, leaving Bony benched along side Lampard.
On another note AS and Marca are at it as usual with their under hand praise for Joe Hart, while claiming City were spared blushes because apparently Barca we're piss poor in the final third. Spain can't get enough rub time up their own, revelling in the fact they currently have 3 teams in the top 8 of European football. Ye that has nothing to do with help from Uefa and Uefa match officials, or the facts they do not suffer from a ban on third party ownership of players, restrictions on youth acquisition or inflated prices of their own countries national talent.
I'll give Pellegrini credit where it's due, his personality shines through, his control over how he conducts himself is virtually perfection. In that department he makes the Ego Moronho over at Chelsea look like an amateur clown, It's just a shame he's finally shown his weaknesses, failed to learn from them and improve, resulting in going out of the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup with our title challenge hanging by a thread.
Although Demichelis rode his luck with some tough challenges early on, he settled in soon enough and gave us some stability at the back so well done to him. Although most of our players under performed, they did just enough to prevent humiliation mostly thanks to Joe Hart.
It's time for a fresh approach at City with some new faces to lift spirits and inject some youth into our team.
Players I think need to move on are: Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic, Alexander Kolarov, Scott Sinclair and Fernando.
Replace with: Kelechi Iheanacho (3rd choice), Leighton Baines, Gareth Bale & Ross Barkley.
Promote Brandon Barker (4th choice) and bring back Marcos Lopes taking up Matija Nastasic and Micah Richards spots in the team.
That's 4 home grown players in and 2 home grown players out with Frank Lampard leaving for NYCFC. Iheanacho, Barker and Lopes saving us huge transfer fees while freeing up 5 big wage packets Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic, Kolarov, Scott Sinclair and Fernando too make way for 3 incoming wage packets for Baines, Bale and Barkley.
It's a no brainer, capitalize on Bales current situation at Real, it's blatantly obvious Cristiano Ronaldo is not happy with Bale around, nor are the Real Madrid fan base. Sponsorship deals will cover more than half his wage anyway. Baines would give us strength and proven Premier League talent at left back and Barkley is more than capable of bettering Fernando.
Barker, Iheanacho and Lopes are more than ready and have proven themselves capable of making the step up. Iheanacho now qualifies for a work permit to my knowledge so that wouldn't be an issue for City now.
What's your opinion on Pellegrini?, who do you think we should sign to freshen up our squad and move forward with?
I despair of some of my felow City fans and their knee jerk reactions. I'm just happy that the owners aren't as stupid and will stay with MP.
ReplyDeleteI respect that you have an opinion but I'd like to point out that I despair at your sheer ignorance, knee jerk reaction you say? knee jerk, don't you see how ignorant and blatantly blind that is.
DeleteA knee jerk reaction would have been calling for Pellegrini to be sacked straight after City crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Middlesbrough, yet I didn't call for his sacking until after we also crashed out of the League Cup and got humiliated by Liverpool, Burnley and Barcelona in the first leg, after Pellegrini constantly ignored the need for a plan B.
See I know a few City fans who think your way, they are stuck in the 80's and are quick to accept today's poor performances and and under achievement while ignorantly forgetting we are no longer the whipping boys paying £500.000 for a player, fighting relegation.
Let me put it this way, if you were Sheikh Mansour and you just pumped 1 billion into a club. Only to see them crash out of every competition, and quite possibly lose the title, I'd bet my sole right now you wouldn't be brushing our clubs piss poor achievements this season off as a blip and acceptable.
How can you sit there and claim our owners will stick with Pellegrini?, what do you have a direct line to the Palace of Abu Dhabi? I've lived the last 30 odd years as a loyal City fan and I'm not about to accept complacency and this seasons disasters just to save face, scared of being branded a glory hunter by other fans of other clubs.
Anyone that speaks up and tells it like it is instead of hiding behind acceptance of so little considering the facts gets my respect.
As for being Stupid well, from what I understand of monitoring all of City's forums,websites and City fans in the flesh, there are far more City fans wishing for change than there are like you so with that said are we all stupid considering I believe you to be the minority.
DeleteIf you wish to keep your old expectations from yesteryear then fine, but don't judge those City fans who live in the real world and expect more considering we are no longer yesteryear.