Were you surprised by the Yaya Toure statistic in Manuel Pellegrini’s latest comments on the Ivorian?
A lot of media criticise his body language and the way he runs, but if you see all the statistics of Yaya after every game, he’s the one player that runs more.
I know I was startled to learn this fact if it’s even true. Whether it is or not isn’t even the point. Pellegrini has got Yaya’s back. He knows he has to in order to keep getting performances out of him. And the big man has not let him down, delivering crucial goals. The Chilean is the master of praise in public, criticise in private. Or if he is ever critical of his team in public it is the whole squad, he does not name names, he just says the team played poorly either for the whole game or a given interval, he does not allow the media to get him to co-sign or confirm individual performances are lacking.
This is why he is such a great leader. That is the difference between him and the honourable Roberto Mancini who was entertaining, fashionable, and candid to a fault, but his free speaking was prone to creating division and may have lost the dressing room, and thus his job for it.
It is too simple to pick out one player for our woes when our defence has terrible lapses and our strikers can’t find the back of the net. However, that’s what certain or many fans and media alike do. That’s not good for Yaya Toure who is thin skinned, feeling he doesn’t get the credit from the media he deserves, and Pellegrini knows this and gives him the captain’s armband and much needed public support to fuel his confidence and elicit game-winning finishes. (And by the way, he’s done this for Bony, Joe Hart when he’s been in bad form rare as it is, and many others as well)
Football is a fickle sport, sometimes you play great and you lose, sometimes you lose when you play wonderfully. There will be ups and downs in any season and Pellegrini’s public comments are a masterclass in keeping the tone even keeled. Pellegrini strives to measure the game by how many attacking chances his team had, compared to the other team, whether or not the goals go in. Most of the time he finds the good in performances that end in a draw or loss, keeping his players motivated to keep working, steadfast that it’s the process to keep a focus on, that results don’t always tell the story. Occasionally the team as a whole gets stick, messaging to the entire team, necessarily, that the performance needs to be better. It’s a delicate balance he is proficient at.
Football fans and the media cheers’ never last, and when there’s a loss, the vitriol is unduly harsh and at times seems never ending. The players have twitter, and access to media and can read all about it. The bad always stings more than the good can ever feel. The last thing they need is the manager adding on top of it. Pellegrini never does that, he keeps the team’s spirits up. When a player is being judged like Yaya, or in a scoring drought like Bony, he supports them and casts doubt on what the naysayers are highlighting; and then the goals and performances come.
Pep Guardiola may be an inevitability, and in ways, superior to the current manager. But there is a reason you hear Pellegrini’s name for the Chelsea job and the Man United job and other big teams, and there is a reason Mourinho was fired from one, and the welcome sign is not available at Old Trafford, his demeanor grew to be toxic, marring an otherwise elite career and services that normally would be highly coveted.
Pellegrini, on the other hand, is a player’s coach. Few can reach the consistent heights of Sir Alex Ferguson and Guardiola, but Manuel’s underrated greatness will always come down to his man management like he is currently doing with Yaya, measured approach to the media, and consistently calm demeanor. All of these characteristics are why Pellegrini is a champion, a great leader, and likely the next manager of a big team on City’s schedule next season in the Champions League or even as close as in the Premier League.
