Pellegrini keeps lid on title nerves
Pellegrini wants his team to follow his ice-cool example as they bid to close out title success tomorrow.
City are within touching distance of a second Premier League crown in three seasons as they head into their final game against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium.
With a two-point advantage over Liverpool and a much superior goal difference, Pellegrini’s men realistically need just a draw to complete the job.
The potential for a nerve-jangling finish does still exist, with Liverpool simultaneously playing Newcastle, but any jitters are not being betrayed by City’s unflappable Chilean manager.
Pellegrini has given away little of his inner self throughout his first season in charge at Eastlands but he admits he was “different” in his younger days.
“I think when I started this career I had, absolutely, a different character,” the 60-year-old said. “As a player I was a different character to the one I am today but to prepare to be a manager I think you must change a lot of things.
“One of things I was absolutely sure I must change was my character.
“You have to understand you are not a player and have another attitude with the players.”
Pellegrini did smile and say “absolutely yes” when it was suggested he must have been a “mad dog” but, in keeping with his persona, he did not want to elaborate further.
“A lot of things from years ago don’t matter today,” he said.
Asked if he does suffer from nerves, the former Malaga coach said: “I know how to control [them] — it is different.
“After so many years, it is very important to control your emotions because when you have to take decisions under emotion normally you do it the wrong way.
“I think it is very important of the manager to be calm, to try to repeat what we did the whole year.”
The odds are strongly in City’s favour and Pellegrini confidently said after Wednesday’s 4-0 defeat of Aston Villa that he expected his side to clinch the title.
He insists he will not be taking anything for granted and will prepare his side in the same manner he has all season.
Pellegrini said: “I am not complacent because I talk with the players every day about what we must do.
“They are good players with lots of experience and I think they agree with me we must not change anything and try to win the game.”
Pellegrini certainly has no interest in playing for a draw.
“Every team must play every game to win,” the Chilean said. “It doesn’t matter in which conditions they are playing, every team must want to win.”
Pellegrini arrived last summer promising vibrant, attacking football and has varied little from his initial philosophy, his side having reached a century of Premier League goals in midweek — a feat Liverpool could repeat tomorrow by scoring once against Newcastle.
And with the finishing line in sight, he sees little reason to change now.
He said: “It is the work from the whole year that we play for but also it is a normal game because I think the best way to do it is to repeat what we have done all season so far.”
Pellegrini has a fully-fit squad available with Sergio Aguero back in contention after a groin injury.
Aguero, top scorer with 28 goals in all competitions this season, missed the game against Villa after limping out of the action at Everton last weekend.
Pellegrini said: “The whole squad is fit for Sunday. It is very important, always for a manager, if you have your whole squad and choose from all your players.”
With just minutes to go at the Hawthorns, and West Brom, having pulled the score back to 3-2 from 3-0, any Manchester City fear would have been understandable. By that point in early December, they had picked up just four points from six away games, and their record on the road was seen as a real issue as regards their title chances. Instead, they held out for a win and then held there nerve. City went on to take 27 points from the next 36 available away from home. It proved crucial. Given that they only won two of six games against the top four, taking care of business everywhere else was key.
In the space of just 20 minutes, Liverpool fully and ferociously confirmed their champions credentials, while all but finishing Arsenal as a title force. Brendan Rodgers’s side brilliantly maximised their own strengths, while brutally exposing every Arsene Wenger weakness. The scale of the defeat confirmed that Arsenal’s 6-3 loss to Manchester City was no freak result, and they would commit many of the same mistakes in the sensational 6-0 humiliation at Chelsea. Wenger’s side were dismissed, Liverpool were there to be taken seriously.
A game that rocked both ends of the table, with the depth of its effect reflected by the record it set. Jose Mourinho couldn’t have chosen a worse time to lose his first ever league game at Stamford Bridge, while Sunderland provided the “miracle” that Gus Poyet said once needed. The manner of the defeat also displayed Chelsea’s persistent problems in breaking down lesser teams, as they struggled to open up Sunderland after the resurgent Conor Wickham had equalised Samuel Eto’o’s opener. Then, once Fabio Borini had fired in a controversial late penalty, chaos ensued. Chelsea definitively lost control of their own destiny in the title race, Sunderland finally saw a sight of safety.
As symbolic as it was significant. Steven Gerrard’s emotional speech following the frantic 3-2 win over Manchester City took on a darkly ironic twist, as the player most associated with Liverpool’s title push probably cost them the trophy. Just before half-time, Gerrard slipped to allow Demba Ba score Chelsea’s opener. The onus was back on Liverpool to get the next goal, against the best defence in the league. Gerrard’s trouble with his feet put the title back in City’s hands.
The most galling part for Fulham is that they’d done the really hard part. They’d surged back up from an improbably difficult situation; they’d beaten Norwich in that do-or-die game to properly bring the Carrow Road side into the relegation battle. Then, they let it slip all too easily. Felix Magath’s side blew a 2-0 lead at home to Hull City late on to effectively condemn them. The energy was gone. So was their Premier League status.
- by Miguel Delaney
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
