Managerial Merry-Go-Round: Manuel Pellegrini

Continuing with the Manager series, 18 Yard Box’s Aman Arora looks at Manchester City who replaced Italian Roberto Mancini with former Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini.

59 year old Pellegrini, who starred for Universidad Chile throughout his 13 year career as a defender, stepped into Civil Engineering after taking an instantaneous decision to retire when an unforeseen error by him led to a goal by Ivan Zamorano. “The Engineer”, as he is fondly named by the media, Pellegrini then stepped into football management by learning the tricks of the trade at the very same club he learnt playing the sport. He then moved across cities managing clubs both in Chile and Argentina before securing the break through move to Europe in the form of a club with little previous history- Villarreal CF. It was there that his name began circulating at clubs all across Europe as he successfully implemented his own brand of football.  

Pellegrini managed Universidad Chile, San Lorenzo and River Plate notably before coming to Europe with Villarreal

Pellegrini gave chances to young players under him while making sure the right blend of experience and youth was formed on the pitch. He liked his teams to play football with flair, often coupled with some sleek work with the ball on the ground. Juan Roman Riquelme, in particular benefited from his style as his game took the Valencia based club from strength to strength. It was under his tout ledge that “The Yellow Submarines” reached the semi final of the 2005-2006 Champions League, only losing out narrowly to English giants Arsenal FC.  

Being the last man to break the big two’s dominance by finishing in second place in the Liga behind Barcelona, Pellegrini ensured his stakes went high by making stupendous use of the resources he had at hand. The signings of Santi Cazorla, Diego Godin, Giuseppe Rossi for Villarreal and Isco, Nacho Monreal and Cazorla(again) for Malaga (later in his career) showed his eye for talent and his belief in nurturing youth to integrate with the first team.  

Pellegrini is known the give creative freedom to players who can produce something out of nothing. Riquelme, Cazorla, Isco and Ronaldo all were helped by Pellegrini's approach 

Blending South American football with European, Pellegrini often got it right with players depending upon their characteristics. The creative freedom given to players like Riquelme, Ronaldo and then Isco clearly shows that he appreciates talent that has the potential to turn the game on its head at any given moment. His man management skills are also something that any other manager should be enviable of. From massaging Ronaldo’s ego at Madrid, which he knew would help the Portuguese settle in quicker at the Bernabeu to slamming Van der Vaart publicly, since the Dutchman is a player who likes to prove his detractors wrong, he more or less always gets it right in a dressing room filled of complex characters.

All this is only positive for City, who in turn need to show faith in the Chilean so that he can use his experience from all over the world to figure out the way sustained success can be brought to the Etihad. He can most definitely use the variations available at City now with the purchase of Jesus Navas, which gives them an additional outlet of wing play, which they lacked before. In Silva, Nasri and Tevez, City have some of the best creative players in the business and Pellegrini surely knows how to use them well. They have been playing some decent football over the last couple of seasons, but the lack of depth and variations did them in, in the just concluded campaign. His handling of the media is also well documented when he let no pressure get onto the players when he was being criticized by the media in his only season at the Bernabeu. City players, at least are thus surely to have a good time under the Chilean who takes good care of all types of characteristics in a squad, if well gelled.

As far as the cons are concerned, one fear the City hierarchy might have will be the ability of Pellegrini to grind out results in tough matches. He often lets his team play similar football against all teams with no strategy against particular opponents who have the capabilities to harm them, there by showing his tactical inefficiency at times. With the resources available at City though, coupled with his experience, hoping that he has learnt from them, should solve this problem.  

As at Madrid, City too might keep the control of transfers out of the Chilean hands, which is certainly not a good thing to do but with Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain’s control showing, it could turn out to be an unintended advantage for Pellegrini. The three of them know the Spanish league well and the signings of further young imports to British shores can’t be ruled out. The Financial Fair Play is also pretty close to being implemented and thus, if the City hierarchy can use Pellegrini well and consider his opinion on his choice of recruits, for the long term, there is no reason why he can’t be successful at the Etihad.

City have overlooked managers who did well within England

On the other hand, as good as Pellegrini’s appointment is for City and their upcoming players, it shows the lack of faith the Boards of British clubs have in homegrown managers. Roberto Martinez, Sam Allardyce, Martin o'Neill and Alan Pardew all have shown their quality at some stage of their careers. Apart from David Moyes (who recently was signed by Manchester United), hardly has any manager who has proved himself at getting the best out of his players on a shoe string budget been given a chance at a top club fighting for trophies year in, year out.

In reality, this is one of the reasons for the dismal showing the English national teams have been producing in recent years. Foreign managers choose to recruit cheaper foreign imports rather than the often hyped British players who then obviously come at inflated prices. The lesser the chances they get at bigger clubs, less the exposure they get leading to hardly impressive performances at the national level. This coupled with the FA’s strategy of putting the senior team up in their priorities, using players like Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell for a few minutes for a friendly game in Brazil rather then adding them to the much needed U-21 squad for Euros, the result is  what England achieved (or rather lost) in Israel.

As far as City’s future is concerned though, it could be better than it currently is provided the three of the decision makers gel well and work as a team considering that they are the chosen ones for the Mancunian club.

Written by,
Aman Arora

Aman writes for 18 Yard Box and Goal India

Discuss with the author at @aman_ghs or drop in your comments below