Much has been made of the way in which Manuel Pellegrini has left Manchester City after a relatively successful three-year tenure. A mere few thousand fans stuck around to pay their respects and listen to the Chilean manager’s final words at the Etihad following a disappointing draw with Arsenal. It was a result that took the race for Champions League qualification out of the hands of the sky blues, and whilst Pellegrini said he understood the frustration leveled at himself and the players, it was an event that was filled with regrettable actions. Pellegrini, regardless of his trophy haul, deserved a better send-off than the one he got. That being said, those outside of the sky blue sphere of fandom can have a better understanding of why City fans have been so frustrated with Pellegrini after looking at his time in charge a bit closer.
Though the narrative in mainstream media has never been kind to Manchester City, the most recent popularisation of one feeling, undoubtedly coming from an ignorant fan, a plague that besets every club, is that of not liking or caring for Pellegrini because of a ‘what has he done for us’ attitude in regards for his shortcomings in this year’s main competitions. The fact of the matter is that it’s not about the “what have you done for me” attitude with most City fans, it is rather the fact that many perceive, and are correct to a large extent, that the success’ that Pellegrini has had as a manager at City are a result of things that weren’t under his control. The tactical decisions that were up to him, especially in the last year of Pellegrini’s tenure, were consistently wrong. This point is epitomised within the Madrid tie in the sense that there are very obvious ways to break down Real Madrid, and those tactics seemed to coincide with the way Pellegrini likes to play his City side.
Counter attacking football is something that Manchester City have always excelled with during Pellegrini’s tenure, and when the Citizens failed to employ said tactics and went out with a whimper, it left a bad taste in the mouths of the fans; the chance at the final of Europe’s premier competition thrown away because of tactical ineptitude. The second leg was an appalling effort at trying to break down Madrid with a possession-based system that failed to work against any top team in the Premier League. It is that kind of obvious managerial blunder in which City fans can justify their displeasure with Pellegrini.
As much as every City fan hates the narrative of “with that amount of resources you should be winning every game”, it can be justly applied to the Chilean. For comparison’s sake, the same can be said about Roberto Martinez at Everton, but at a larger and more severe scale. Micheal Caley, a great writer with awesome insight on expected goals, made the argument that Everton are right where they should be in terms of wage bill when it comes to league table position this year, but isn’t that what a manager is there to dispel? A manager is supposed to get the absolute best, if not overachieve with the players he’s given. With the squad at his disposal, one can easily say Pellegrini should have more than one Premier League title and two Capital One cups. It’s not a disrespect or lack of appreciation at the success that some clubs never come close to achieving, rather a disappointing feeling knowing that there could’ve been more had their been better management.
The first league title was largely down to the brilliance of Yaya Touré scoring 24 goals from defensive midfield, coupled with the fact that Liverpool threw away their lead in the final games of the season. The following year’s title defence was poor as Chelsea was handed the Premier League crown with games to spare. This year’s title challenge was as poor as anyone else’s, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it was poor.
Fans of other, somewhat lesser in terms of challenging for silverware, teams complaining that Manchester City fans aren’t grateful for their success are misunderstanding the perspective. If you know someone with all the ability and resource to do something great, you would be disappointed in them for not doing everything they could to achieve their potential. It’s the same with City. Manchester City haven’t always been the team with success, but now that they have all the backing and the players to do so, one struggles to hold back frustration at the man in charge when obvious team decisions are consistently wrong.
