Manuel Pellegrini’s natural hangdog expression means he can cut a forlorn figure even when the going is good. Victory against Aston Villa means Manchester City require only another seven points to cement a top-four finish but these are troubled times – and the Chilean looks increasingly embattled. If he is under pressure, Pellegrini feels himself a man under siege: not from his employers but from the wider world and in particular, he argues, the fourth estate.
The City manager believes he is the victim of double standards. He thinks others are granted greater latitude and rejects suggestions that Chelsea and Manchester United are subject to similar scrutiny when ambitions go unrealised. Outsiders’ demands on City are greater, he insists, as he declares their season is no disaster. “If we finish in seventh place without [qualifying for] Europe, I understand [the criticism],” he said, in a veiled reference to United’s struggles last year under David Moyes. “I appreciate that you think the only team that must win the title is City.”
The question of whether Pellegrini retains his job may depend on whether City’s owners agree with his analysis, whether they deem him a realist or an apologist for underachievement, if they think he has a growing persecution complex or harbours legitimate grievances about depictions of his side. “It is impossible for any club to progress always,” he said, when asked about regression. “We cannot win trophies every year,” he continued, railing against perceptions that financial might and a silverware-winning pedigree give his side an advantage. “It is impossible, especially this year. You have another five teams that are as strong as your team. This year Arsenal spend more money, Chelsea spend more money, United spend more money and Liverpool spend more money, so if for some reason we don’t finish second, I don’t think it is a shame.”
That also highlights the issue of how well, rather than how much, City have spent. They have had scant return on the £58.4m paid for Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando and Willy Caballero, while the £25m January addition, Wilfried Bony, has scored only one goal. City’s match-winner against Aston Villa, Fernandinho, excelled in his debut year at the club but described his second season as average. Yet the £30m Brazilian is proof that, while financial fair play has limited City’s expenditure in the past 12 months, the heavy investment to construct an enviable squad dates back several years.
But not one, Pellegrini is adamant, that rivals the European superpowers’ pools of players. “You think that we are better than Barcelona?” he asked, raising the subject of City’s conquerors in the Champions League in back-to-back campaigns. “I don’t think that we are better than Barcelona. You think we must be frustrated because we are eliminated by Messi, Neymar, Suárez, Iniesta, Busquets. It is an important level.”
If there was a defensiveness to Pellegrini, there is also a defiance. Perhaps the 61-year-old thinks his undemonstrative nature has counted against him; certainly his arguments are underpinned by the belief that he has not been afforded sufficient credit for his achievements last season. His attempts to reshape the narrative are a sign that this quiet man is turning up the volume in his quest to keep his job. A seemingly passive character is becoming more active in trying to state his case for retention.
“I understand that for the media the only thing this team must do is to win everything: every championship and every game because the other teams are very weak, they don’t have good players and they don’t have money,” he said, his quickfire statement camouflaging the sarcasm in his sentiments. He has long felt the competitiveness of the Premier League renders it tougher than its counterparts abroad. In one respect, Villa vindicated Pellegrini: 15th in the table, they nonetheless became the first visitors in six and a half years to enjoy more possession at the Etihad. The precocious Jack Grealish outshone City’s expensively acquired midfielders.
“We think every team we play is there for the taking,” said their manager, Tim Sherwood, summing up the FA Cup finalists’ newfound sense of bravado. “They were very wary of us, which is a compliment to us.” Pellegrini accepted City passed the ball poorly and defended badly at set pieces against Villa and still prevailed but hinted they merited credit. He said: “When we played well and had possession and missed a lot of chances but we lost, all the praise was for the other teams.” The sense, once again, was that others are treated differently.
Man of the match Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
