Team Focus: Is Time Running Out at Man City for Manuel Pellegrini?

There is a worrying trend that is looming over the future of Manuel Pellegrini: bar the immovable Sir Alex Ferguson, each of the other League Cup winning managers since 2006 has been removed from his position by the time the following season’s final came around. José Mourino, Juande Ramos, Alex McLeish, Kenny Dalglish and Michael Laudrup have all failed to maintain standards and have thus been dismissed within 12 months of winning England’s second cup competition, often with the highs of doing so midway through a season causing the team to stutter and splutter towards the end of a campaign.

Pellegrini, the reigning champion of the Capital One Cup, now approaches 9 months since he lifted his first trophy as Manchester City manager, and even though he followed that up with the Premier League title in May, odds on him losing the sack race are shortening by the week. Pressure is building.

A Champions League campaign bordering on deplorable is starting to convince fans, critics and possibly even the club’s hierarchy alike that Pellegrini isn’t the man to lead the club to the next level and into Europe’s elite. Given their riches, expenditure in recent years and depth of squad, they should have more than the meagre 2 points they have from 4 Champions League games thus far this season.

They should also be hotter on Chelsea’s tail at the top of the Premier League, but have already allowed the team most likely to wrench the title from their grasp to build up a potentially unassailable 8-point lead after just 11 matches. After a summer in which it was clearly decided that a great deal of investment was not needed at the club – relative to others around them and recent years – those involved with City won’t be content with the team being third in the league, out of the Capital One Cup and staring Champions League elimination in the face by mid-November.

Problems in Europe are certainly not acceptable for City but they are not unprecedented either. They have suffered from being a third or fourth pot team in the draw, but they should still not be satisfied that progress to the second round last season is their best ever showing in the competition. It is as though, despite their indisputable dominance and confidence domestically over the past few seasons, they do not yet see themselves as a European powerhouse and thus lack the same vigour.

However, this season too many of their players have been underperforming on all fronts. Last term, they won the Premier League title without a single player standing out enough to make WhoScored’s team of the season. This season, Sergio Agüero (7.88) is streets ahead of his teammates in the ratings and leads the line in the best-performing XI alongside Diego Costa. This seems like an odd criticism to make of a team, but it highlights that they were working particularly well as a collective last season and had no individual carrying them. That meant they coped when there were key players missing, but this term there is an overreliance on the goals and input of Agüero.

He has scored 12 goals in 11 Premier League appearances this season, while City’s second highest scorers have just 2 goals. Last season they had 3 players who scored more than 15 goals. 

Their best displays this term have come when Agüero plays well, and they have failed to win every game in which he has played but failed to score. They have also not lost a game in which he has scored. Of course it is natural that a team fares better when their star striker scores, but the extent of the reliance of a team of Manchester City’s opulence and ambition on one man is cause for concern.

When it comes to who is to blame, it is difficult to deny that the buck stops with Pellegrini. Across town, Sir Alex Ferguson was lauded for his ability to get the best out of his squads, which were often thought to boast less quality than their rivals. The Argentine, however, has been faced with a number of players underperforming for a while now and does not look likely to turn things around.

City can only truly be pleased with the performances so far this season of, arguably, two of their players: Agüero and James Milner. Gaël Clichy has done well at times while David Silva has maintained a decent level and produced some fine moments but hasn’t dazzled consistently in the same way we have come to expect of him. He has just 2 goals and 2 assists in 12 league and Champions League appearances.

One can’t help but feel that Yaya Touré should be given an extended period of leave after the loss of his brother over the summer; granting him that would be an example of the kind of man management skills that the best managers should boast. Otherwise, Joe Hart (6.87), Edin Dzeko (6.67) and Samir Nasri (6.68) are all amongst those that Pellegrini should be demanding and extracting more from.

It would be nice to see Pellegrini given a chance to turn things around, and it would also be refreshing for him to do so without Sheikh Mansour simply throwing money at the situation in January. There is little chance of the latter happening, and new recruits will surely be acquired in the New Year. Whether or not they are brought in on Pellegrini’s watch – or possibly even to replace him – is another matter.

Do you think Manuel Pellegrini should be sacked as manager of Manchester City, or how much more time should he be given? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below