After Manchester City dominated reigning Premier League champions Chelsea 3-0 last Sunday, Andrew Crompton looks at three results that stand out for manager Manuel Pellegrini during his time at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City 3-2 Bayern Munich – 25th November 2014
A match that could have indeed spelled the end for Pellegrini at Manchester City, with a draw or defeat not enough the save the English champions at the time. An early exit from European competition would not have gone down well with the City fans, and especially the boardroom.
Alas, a certain Argentine striker [Sergio Aguero] popped up to save day for his club and quite possibly put a halt on what could have been the Chilean getting the boot halfway through the season.
Pellegrini had binned his naive European tactics and played a 4-5-1 formation as opposed to his normal 4-4-2 that had seen City scrapping for results in Europe, and with David Silva and Yaya Toure both missing, Pellegrini had little hope to defeat the German giants.
The match turned out to a real rollercoaster ride that twisted one way and then the next, but ultimately City and Aguero grabbed the victory that brought a sigh of relief for all those at the Etihad, especially their manager.
Despite City going out in the next round to, eventual champions, Barcelona, Pellegrini had shown the City faithful that he did have some tactical nous when it came to lining up against the Germans. It is a bold statement to leave your own beliefs to one side and Pellegrini did just that, and in return his side in the end made it through the group stage.
Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United – 22nd September 2013
A match that was built up to be the clash of two managers with very different agendas to prove to the Premier League and every neutral fan. Pellegrini, in his first season in English football, had never won anything outside of South America, meanwhile United’s new boss David Moyes had some very, very big boots to fill in taking over a newly crowned United side passed down from Sir Alex Ferguson.
With the Etihad bouncing as always on Derby day, in a match that was meant to be a hard-fought battle, in fact turned out to be a demolition job for Pellegrini and his City side. A brace from Aguero, and goals from Toure and Samir Nasri, saw City thump their title and city rivals in what was the biggest bump on the road for Moyes’ since his arrival at Old Trafford.
People may say this result does not count towards Pellegrini as we all know what happened to Moyes and United that season. However, at the time of this match United were still title favourites, and played at the beginning of the Premier League season, it was before anyone had a sniff of David Moyes poking a hole in United’s boat.
Therefore I believe this result was one of Pellegrini’s best, if not ‘the’ best, result as City’s manager since his arrival. Not only did this result spear City into being title favourites but it also proved all the doubters about Pellegrini’s credentials in the Premier League. Ultimately the Chilean delivered both the Premier League crown as well as the League Cup in just his first season.
This result sticks in the memory for any City fan, and for all the pressure that was on Pellegrini from not just the media, but every other doubter, it was the perfect response. Not bad for a guy who ‘hadn’t won anything’!
Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea – 16th August 2015
Only the second game into the league season but a match that marked Pellegrini’s and City’s full intentions for the rest of the campaign, and even the most tactically-minded Jose Mourinho could only watch on as Chelsea were dismantled piece by piece on Sunday.
The day also marked the opening of the Etihad’s new and improved South Stand, and an extra 8,000 supporters roared their team on to an astonishing result. With the exception of Sergio Aguero in for Wilfried Bony, Pellegrini named an unchanged squad from the one who brushed West Brom aside 3-0 in their opening league fixture.
Last Sunday was only the second time that Pellegrini had beaten Mourinho whenever the two have clashed, and City’s first half was a sign that Pellegrini had told his side to go for the jugular on Chelsea.
Even players that many City fans will have doubted before the match such as Bacary Sagna vs Eden Hazard, or Aleksander Kolarov vs Willian, defied the odds and shone in a match and result that has since been overshadowed by John Terry’s half-time substitution.
Pellegrini had outwitted the Chelsea boss throughout the match and his achievements were relayed with not only the result but the City faithful chanting his name around the ground, merely a month after his City future was cast in doubt, the Chilean had responded emphatically with this result against City’s biggest title rivals.
