Pellegrini rotates at will and big stars are missing
After another woeful result on the road, Manchester City fans will be concerned to see Manuel Pellegrini’s side languishing in eighth place in the Barclays Premier League after 11 games.Champions Manchester United were supposed to be the ones who looked off colour under their new manager this season.
But - after a Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie-inspired win over leaders Arsenal - City fans saw their cross-town rivals jump above them in the table following defeat in Sunderland.
So, where has it gone wrong so far for City and Pellegrini?
A tale of two teams… in one
With 18 points up for grabs away from home, City’s stars have come back to Manchester with just four.It’s astonishing how different their form has been at home when compared to their away displays. City have lost an incredible four games on the road already after playing only six.
Although Pellegrini’s side looked comfortable in their win at West Ham, Cardiff, Stoke, Aston Villa, Chelsea and most recently Sunderland have all taken points from City this season.
Trouble on the road: City lost their fourth away game of the season at Sunderland on Sunday
Four defeats, a draw and a win away from the Etihad would be relegation form if City weren’t so impressive at home. City routed Newcastle on the opening day, hammered United a couple of weeks later and sent Norwich limping back to Norfolk following a seven-goal thumping.
But City are wobbly when they leave Manchester. The Premier League’s joint-top scorer Sergio Aguero has only scored in two of the six away games (two goals at West Ham and one at Chelsea), with all five of his other league goals coming at home. Strike partner Alvaro Negredo has scored in just one league away game (Cardiff).
City have also conceded 10 goals on the road in just six games, a record that is sure to make Pellegrini wince.
Although City looked dominant for periods against Villa and Sunderland, and perhaps deserved a draw against Chelsea, they just couldn’t finish the job. Pellegrini knows this must be addressed - and quickly - if his dreams of a Premier League title are to become reality.
Started early: Pellegrini's first away game ended in defeat at Cardiff City after a Joe Hart mistake
Rotation, rotation, rotation
As Sportsmail’s
Ralph Ellis highlighted in his What We Learned This Weekend column,
Yaya Toure is the only player immune from Pellegrini’s chopping and
changing. Tasked with improving predecessor Roberto Mancini’s wretched record in the Champions League, the Chilean coach has been mindful to preserve his stars, bubble-wrapping them and benching them ahead of the big European nights.
On Sunday Pellegrini was forced into a number of changes, with Matija Nastasic and David Silva ruled out through injury, but the former Real Madrid and Malaga boss tinkered with his back four again, swapping full backs Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy for Micah Richards and Aleksandar Kolarov.
Only one of the back four, summer signing Martin Demichelis, that started against Sunderland played in the hammering of Norwich the week before.
Injuries haven’t helped, but Pellegrini has never shied away from dropping some of his most important players. Aguero, Alvaro Negredo and Silva have all been spared on occasion this season.
On his own: Yaya Toure is the only player to have survived Pellegrini's chopping and changing
Rested: Alvaro Negredo has been dropped on occasion, despite being City's biggest attacking threat
Hart (and Pantilimon) howlers
A
lot has been made of Joe Hart’s recurring errors this season, but not
without reason. High profile mistakes have been plentiful from England’s
No 1 in 2013 and it’s more than fair to say they have cost City dearly
on occasion. Goalkeepers are castigated all too readily in football, but reliability and consistency are key qualities Hart has lacked this season. A blinding performance means little if you drop the ball between your legs and over the line in the final minutes to lose 1-0. A striker will get another chance if he misses a sitter, a defender may be bailed out for missing a header, but goalkeepers can’t chalk off a goal after letting a soft one in.
Unfair? Certainly, but that’s the nature of the beast. A good goalkeeper will save you 10 points, some say, but Hart has cost City a few this term.
Howlers: Joe Hart has been guilty of dropping some clangers for City this season and has been dropped
Flapping at Cardiff crosses, a mistake at Villa Park and a monumental mix up with Nastasic at Chelsea resulted in Pellegrini dropping the previously untouchable Hart.
A bold move. Not least because Hart had played every minute of every Premier League game for City since taking over as No 1 from Shay Given in 2010.
Stand-in Costel Pantilimon, a towering, 6ft 8in Romania stopper, had looked capable until some suspect positioning at the Stadium of Light allowed Phil Bardsley to roll home into an empty net.
An absent captain and no Silva lining
Not only do Manchester City’s defence look more assured with Vincent Kompany at the heart, the whole team does. The prodigious Nastasic is an undoubted talent at just 20 years old, but looks like a fearsome centre half when paired up with his Belgian counterpart.
Nastasic has had to play alongside Joleon Lescott, Martin Demichelis and Javi Garcia at centre back, and all pairings have looked shaky at times this campaign.
Missing men: Vincent Kompany (left) and David Silva have been ruled out with injury
Kompany and Nastasic played at the back in the 4-1 drubbing of United in September. Wayne Rooney put in a dazzling show as his United team-mates flailed, but Nastasic and, mostly Kompany, thwarted him at the last.
The Belgian threw himself into tackles, blocks and everything you’d expect from a physical centre half, but City had something else. They looked organised. From top to bottom.
But the 27-year-old has been laid up with injury and has only turned out six times this season. Pellegrini believes he will be back after the international break and, although City fans won’t want him rushed into the starting XI, they won’t want to see too many more games with defensive midfielder Garcia playing next to the young Serb Nastasic.
Another, very different, talisman has been plagued with injury so far too. The mesmeric Silva has been in and out of the squad with a calf injury.
He’s a creator and seems to have a near-telepathic understanding with Aguero and countryman Negredo. Like Kompany, without Silva City look blunted.
Out of water: Javi Garcia has had to play at the heart of the back four
Summer signings
City’s
busy summer has yielded mixed results so far. Brazilian Fernandinho
looks to be settling into his central midfield partnership with Yaya
Toure nicely, and seems suited to the speed and physicality of English
football.So too does Negredo. The muscular, bow-legged Spain striker is like a bulldozer alongside Aguero. He gives City the option to play the ball long, with his power and aerial prowess. He’s lethal in front of goal too. A hat-trick against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League last week would attest to that.
But the other three haven’t taken to life in Manchester as well as the others. Jesus Navas, Negredo’s team-mate at Sevilla, looked electric in City’s hammering of Newcastle on the opening weekend, but has seen his game time curtailed with the return of Silva and the impressive form of Samir Nasri.
Jesus Navas
Martin Demichelis
Stevan Jovetic
Reaping the rewards: Kolo Toure has enjoyed a strong start at Liverpool after leaving the Etihad Stadium
Stevan Jovetic has showed some promise when he’s been given the opportunity to play, but Aguero, Negredo and Edin Dzeko are ahead of the talented Montenegrin in Pellegrini’s pecking order. He started brightly against Newcastle in the Capital One Cup recently, but limped off with an injury after just 10 minutes.
Most perplexing for City was the signing of Demichelis. By the end of the summer window, City were desperate for a centre half, and Pellegrini turned to his old Malaga mate Demichelis, who has hardly looked formidable after shaking off an injury that stuttered the Argentinian’s career in England.
But the search for a defender seemed avoidable in the first place. Kolo Toure is reaping the rewards of leaving the Etihad for Liverpool, and has rightly been given first-team opportunities by Brendan Rodgers but City fans will be wondering why Yaya’s older brother was allowed to leave in the first place.
A high earner off the wage bill, but he would have been a steady hand at the heart of City’s defence in Kompany’s absence this season.
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