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Football XXXVII: louis louis oh no, we gotta go


MercenaryChef

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Shamelessly copied from the last thread, because I forgot this one was started - and everyone needs to know about Bryne FK!



So Chelsea win ... bah. United-City I hoped for an evenly matched contest. Bah. And Everton drew yesterday. Bah.



On the other hand (so far), Bryne FK won last weekend and are 2-0 up away from home at half time today. That might just save my evening!



ETA italics


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Pellegrini is getting sacked, right?

Looks that the team has completely gone to shit. Apparently, since C.Palace game, they have been worse than United at any point during our glory under Moyes. A good man and a decent manager, but I think that his time is over.

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Pellegrini is getting sacked, right?

Looks that the team has completely gone to shit. Apparently, since C.Palace game, they have been worse than United at any point during our glory under Moyes. A good man and a decent manager, but I think that his time is over.

Maybe, maybe not.

I would suggest that he probably has one more dispiriting loss before he gets binned. One more loss would take us within a loss of dropping out of the Champion's League places and the club literally cannot afford that. The players will have to take a lot of the blame for yesterday as well. For once Pellegrini picked the strongest team in the best formation and they just didn't turn up. As soon as Ashley Young got that lucky bounce and equalised heads went down and it was clear United were going to win. Sure, maybe that's a failure of management on some level but at the end of the day these are professionals and should not be doing that. There has to be some personal responsibility for recent defeats as well.

Pellegrini is in the strange position of having not been praised enough for winning the club's second ever double last season and getting criticised way more than is necessary this season (including by us City fans). This season has not been good enough by any measure but if he leaves in a cloud of opprobrium which rewrites everything good he has done then that will be a crying shame. Also worth noting that unlike his predecessors he has never been given a world class player. The transfer strategy over his time at City will be coming under heavy examination this summer and not all the blame will fall on Pellegrini by any stretch.

It shouldn't be forgotten that he healed some serious, serous rifts which Mancini created and, when he was sacked, was in the process of stuffing dynamite into.

it certainly feels like this is the end of the road for Pellegrini but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him there until the summer at least. The club tend to have plans in place and unless City drop out of the Champion's League spots (or if something happens in the background which we are not privy to) he won't get put in the big bin outside the Etihad until the next manager is ready to slot into place.

On the Moyes point, I'm not sure that's the case. It's easy to forget how absolutely fucking rancid some of the lows under Moyes were.

ETA: Believe me when I say that if I thought he should go immediately I would be absolutely burying him this morning on here, on twitter, on Typical City, everywhere.

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I agree Alex, actually. I think a squad overhaul for City is more required than a management change.

They just seem tired and out of sorts. I think some fresh players, along with two or three guys leaving, is likely to make some difference.

But, they could opt to remove the manager as well as revising the squad.

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I think Pellegerini's fairly certain to be gone in summer, because he does look to me that he's lost the dressing room - perhaps not as irrevocably as Mancini, since it's not fractured, but there doesn't seem to be much communication between him and the players, and he simply doesn't look like he wants to be there much anymore.

But I doubt he'll go before.



On the Moyes point, I'm not sure that's the case. It's easy to forget how absolutely fucking rancid some of the lows under Moyes were.

You haven't played as badly as some of our worst, no. Nothing as embarrassing as the Fulham game or the first half against Stoke that one time. However I'm pretty sure your overall form since early January is worse than any stretch we went on under Moyes.


Eta: Also, some of City's women's team chose a bad moment to party with LVG... (not that there's such a thing as a bad moment to party with LVG)

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Pellegrini is probably destined for the sack but I think it's harsh. As has been said, the problems are greater than just the manager.



I also feel that he unfairly suffers personality-wise because he isn't a demonstrative guy or a big shouter etc. Just because he doesn't get fired up like Mourinho, Van Gaal, or even Wenger (who can go crazy at times), doesn't mean that he doesn't care. I think it would be unfair to rewrite his "calm under pressure" demeanour as suddenly meaning "has no clue and can't get a reaction from the players". And we really don't have much of an idea of what actually goes on in the dressing room.



City's squad does need a bit of an overhaul but I feel unless there is a very strong candidate out there (doesn't look like anyone's available), I reckon Pellegrini should be allowed to oversee it. Apart from Mangala and Bony he hasn't been allowed to spend any money so it would be unfair to blame the squad's limitations on him.


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I think Pellegerini's fairly certain to be gone in summer, because he does look to me that he's lost the dressing room - perhaps not as irrevocably as Mancini, since it's not fractured, but there doesn't seem to be much communication between him and the players, and he simply doesn't look like he wants to be there much anymore.

But I doubt he'll go before.

Definitely not as bad as Mancini as he's not actively setting members of staff and departments against each other. You are right in saying that he doesn't look happy anymore and for me the same applies to the manager being unhappy as it does to the players: It's only football. If it's ruining someone's life where they are then let them go.

Could not be less arsed about Toni Duggan having her picture taken with Van Gaal.

Pellegrini is probably destined for the sack but I think it's harsh. As has been said, the problems are greater than just the manager.

I also feel that he unfairly suffers personality-wise because he isn't a demonstrative guy or a big shouter etc. Just because he doesn't get fired up like Mourinho, Van Gaal, or even Wenger (who can go crazy at times), doesn't mean that he doesn't care. I think it would be unfair to rewrite his "calm under pressure" demeanour as suddenly meaning "has no clue and can't get a reaction from the players". And we really don't have much of an idea of what actually goes on in the dressing room.

City's squad does need a bit of an overhaul but I feel unless there is a very strong candidate out there (doesn't look like anyone's available), I reckon Pellegrini should be allowed to oversee it. Apart from Mangala and Bony he hasn't been allowed to spend any money so it would be unfair to blame the squad's limitations on him.

The problems are greater than the manager, yes, but he has not helped himself. He is reluctant to change thing and repeatedly showed a high level of naivety in Europe.

The point about him not being a gesticulator and a shouter is a good one. Worth noting that he also doesn't care for the press and doesn't indulge them which, in times like these, means there's no lobby to keep him in the job amongst the media. Hard to understate how much the press really liked Mancini who wined and dined them. Some of them still campaign for him now ffs.

Transfers is a sticky subject and I don't feel comfortable blaming any one person inside City for the strategy as we simply don't know enough about the process. Pellegrini isn't fully in charge but he clearly has a big-ish say in things. Until we know more there's no point in speculating beyond the fact that City need to be a bit cannier in the market.

Replacement candidates are indeed thin on the ground which may save him in the end. Good to bear in mind that ideally City won't want another short term manager who will ignore youth (Ancelotti) as their first choice. (Which doesn't mean they won't end up going for him anyway).

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I also feel that he unfairly suffers personality-wise because he isn't a demonstrative guy or a big shouter etc.

I hate that aspect of football, and I think it's become even more of a thing since managers like Mourinho have come about. Arsene's closer to Pellegrini in my opinion, but you're correct, he can switch to the other end when prompted. As soon as things start going against you, the press starts up with the 'senile old man' schtick, which is rather unfair.

It would be sad to see him go though, seems like a genuinely decent bloke.

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I hate that aspect of football, and I think it's become even more of a thing since managers like Mourinho have come about. Arsene's closer to Pellegrini in my opinion, but you're correct, he can switch to the other end when prompted. As soon as things start going against you, the press starts up with the 'senile old man' schtick, which is rather unfair.

It would be sad to see him go though, seems like a genuinely decent bloke.

In a different life Wenger and Pellegrini are best friends doing some sort of job which allows them to discuss the intricacies of football history all day

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It's true that being non-demonstrative is not necessarily making you a bad manager (when I coached my kid's team, I had to stand on the opposite touchline to all the parents and instruct the kids to always look to me when in doubt, rather than them, because I was never going to out-shout or out-gesture some of them- yet we were pretty good though I say so myself). But there's been a few games recently when at the very least a word of encouragement and often some tweaking and instruction along the lines of 'keep an eye on so-and-so, he's making that same move every time' is needed and he's just sat in the dugout, looking as lost as the players.



In other news, Paul Merson still has no brain.


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