Manchester City suffer from the Pellegrini effect

Manchester City have gone backwards during the managerial reign of Manuel Pellegrini. That statement (well, a variant of it) was one I made on Twitter in the aftermath of City’s 3-0 defeat at Liverpool on Wednesday night. It earned me the wrath of one well-known City supporter on the social media site and some disagreement from fans of other clubs. I thought I’d use this blog as an opportunity to elaborate on my point.

First of all, it’s important to state that when I criticise Pellegrini, it is not done with a blanket disregard for his achievements. In three seasons with the club he has won three major trophies; I’ve loved every one of them and I am grateful as a supporter that I have been able to witness this era. However, two of those trophies were won in 2013/14, the manager’s first season in charge.

In that campaign, the Blues won the Premier League and the Capital One Cup. Not only did they achieve a double but they also played a brand of football that was, by a significant distance, the best I have ever seen City produce. They swept aside Tottenham Hotspur with a 6-0 win at home and a 5-1 victory away. The Blues twice dismantled Manchester United, 4-1 and 3-0. Even Arsenal copped for a 6-3 defeat. City were enthralling, exciting and full of flair. Between November and February, they embarked on a 20 game unbeaten run, winning 18 and drawing two matches as they laid the foundation for their trophy duet.

It is since then that Pellegrini has dragged the team backwards. I can do hard facts first. Last season, having clawed back eight points to sit level on points with Chelsea at the top of the league, City suffered eight defeats in 15 games. That ran from January to April; basically, when Pellegrini’s men should have been pushing Chelsea close, they capitulated and never got close to retaining the title.

At the start of this season City were flying. Their opening five games passed by without the team even conceding a goal, collecting maximum points as they became short-odds favourites to regain the Premier League crown. What has happened since? They’ve crumbled. The most damning statistic I can offer is that City have failed to win back-to-back league games since October. It’s now early March; we are watching a so-called title challenger in the midst of a five-month run without consecutive wins. Two years ago they didn’t lose for 20 matches. What clearer demonstration of regression can there be?

There are other stats that do not exactly favour the pro-Pellegrini argument. How about the fact that City have just lost three consecutive league games for the first time since 2008, the year they were taken over? How about the fact that in 11 matches against the Premier League’s top eight this season, they have not won once. In fact, they have drawn three times and lost on a staggering eight occasions. From 33 available points against top or just-above-middle tier teams, they’ve collected a meagre three. The only managers Pellegrini can now outwit are relegation battlers and those mired in midtable. How about this; City have lost two more fixtures in the last year than they did in the final 12 months of Mark Hughes’ tenure.

They are cold, hard facts and they prove that the manager is failing in his job. They are quantifiable, provable and they are an indictment on the Chilean. Once you’ve got stats out of the way, then comes the things that you only see by watching the team – the aspects of City’s game that are unquantifiable. At Anfield on Wednesday, it was clear that the players on the pitch had no belief in themselves to come out as winners, an issue only exacerbated when the Reds opened the scoring in the first half. The Blues offered a meek surrender before crossing their fingers and hoping things didn’t get too embarrassing – that they only lost by three goals was a blessing.

There is no spark left in this side. They were ‘found out’ by opponents long ago and Pellegrini has let it happen. Sure, he’s varied between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 but there has been no tactical innovation. The reliance on Sergio Agüero and Vincent Kompany is strong, but even they are not enough to lift a team who now face a very real danger of missing out on a top four finish and the Champions League qualification that comes with it.

For a side widely tipped to win the title, it should be seen as an embarrassment that they now sit in fourth place, level on points with fifth placed Manchester United. Louis Van Gaal’s Reds have been widely ridiculed and mocked this season, yet they are equal to City at present. It is another ludicrous indictment on the Etihad men, who most regard as having the best squad in the division. For context, I should point out that City have a game in hand over their neighbours so may yet earn some breathing space as they battle to stay in the top four.

One reply to my post-match moaning last night made me feel spoiled and a little guilty. Yahoo! Sports Sunderland fan blogger Graeme Atkinson seemed shocked that I was dissatisfied with the team as they had just won the Capital One Cup over the weekend and stated that he wished his side could be “insanely average” and still win a trophy. A lot of supporters react like that; I did the same thing to fans of Chelsea, United and Arsenal when they used to bemoan second-placed finishes as my club struggled to remain financially stable and in the league.

The point is this; dissatisfaction does not stem purely from City struggling to win the Premier League – I understand that nobody can win everything all the time. There is no sense of entitlement here. My issue is that the side consistently let themselves down with insipid, turgid performances, which, naturally, are harming their results. They look poorly coached, uninspired and short of belief. There is no freedom in their play, instead the game looks like a chore to them. That is my problem – they are managed by somebody who has made a great squad less than the sum of their parts; the team has regressed to the point of struggling to be in the top four in a league that is staggeringly weak.

The Pellegrini era has not been completely awful. We’ve had two victorious cup finals, staggeringly beautiful football that lead us to a league title and had a thoroughly decent man at the helm. However, the highlights of his tenure mostly passed by nearly two years ago and it’s been downhill ever since. He will depart the club in the summer having led them on a downward trend for the last two years; the end can’t come soon enough.