Manuel Pellegrini, the man described as the Engineer, a manager who represents class both on the touchline and off it. The man described as one of football’s perennial nearly men, the man who won a double in his first English season.
When Manuel first arrived at Manchester City, the board described the need to appoint somebody with a more “Holistic” approach, this was largely criticised by the English media, and however, bit by bit, the Chilean stamped his calming authority, and looked to re-unite the dressing room at City.
In his first interview live on City TV, Manuel promised his side would play attractive football, he elaborated on this, claiming his side would never be happy to sit on a one goal advantage, always pushing for more, trying to excite the fans. This was exactly what the blue half of Manchester wanted to hear, the previous manager, Roberto Mancini, often drew criticism for his negative tactics, preferring to win a game 1-0, rather than 3-1.
Pellegrini is a manager who demands his side keep the ball, and in doing so, control the tempo of the game, he influenced this on both his Villareal side, and perhaps more well known, his Malaga side which came within seconds of reaching the Champions League semi-final in 2013.
The defensive side of the game, was, admittedly, something we struggled with at the start of the season just gone, players such as Clichy, Kompany and Nastasic, all struggled to adapt to Pellegrini’s high line. The advantages to this system are it enables your team to win the ball higher up the pitch, squeezing the space for the opposition to keep the ball in, and in doing so control the flow of the game.
In terms of width, Navas aside, City do not have any wide natural width, and as a result of this, Pellegrini reverted to what he did successfully with Malaga and Villareal, using situational width, rather than employing the likes of Silva and Nasri to stay wide, doing this enabled Zabaleta and in particular, Aleksandar Kolarov, to demonstrate the attacking prowess they possess. There were times however, when our forwards drifted wide, in order to create a triangle with both the advancing fullback and one of the more central players. Playing this aggressive, but exciting style, enabled City’s attacking players to flourish, scoring a record number of goals in all competitions, and hitting one hundred goals in record time. It also helped the blue half of Manchester to one of the best seasons in the clubs history, winning the Premier League and The Capital One Cup.
Pellegrini was praised for his attacking and adventurous style. Yet it wasn’t just his style of football that enabled the Chilean to draw praise, it was also his manner, the calmness and the way he approached games in a relaxed manner, never seeming agitated, always having an inner belief in his side. This is one of the reasons City fans have started to label him as “This Charming Man”. Joe Hart a player who was dropped by Pellegrini due to poor form, was amongst the first to praise him after winning the league title “He is a winner, he is a measured man and believes in what he does”.
Niall Quinn, often criticised for his negativity about The Blues, was full of praise for the Chilean, saying “The players have put their egos to one side, and have come out as one, so I feel the manager deserves huge credit, for keeping calm and turning his players into winners”. Jamie Redknapp was also full of praise “City play football the right way, they are always looking to score goals, have technical players who pass the ball well, and don’t park the bus away from home, they are well worth watching”.
And here’s hoping that under this cool, calm and collected man, City can go on to dominate football for a long time.
