OLD BOYS DROP CITY IN IT!
Pellegrini’s reserves are brutally exposed by rampant Chelsea
By the end, it looked like pure folly, not some defiant stand or a message to the FA. Manuel Pellegrini left the young men of Manchester City pitilessly exposed against Champions League opposition and the result was as expected.
Chelsea ran away with the tie in the second half, City beaten and bewildered, down and most definitely out. It wasn’t their fault. the kids, a group of elite development squad teenagers, were largely all right — certainly in the opening 45 minutes when they held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw.
It was the senior professionals who were brutally exposed here, in particular stand-in goalkeeper Willy Caballero. Indeed, it could be argued that Pellegrini should have played even more kids.
If there is not a goalkeeper in the Under-21 group who could have made a better fist of it than Caballero, then the youth development team have not been doing their job.
he made two superb saves — one from an Oscar penalty, another from a volley by Pedro — yet still emerged from the game without credit. Martin Demichelis and Fernando the same.
A good working relationship with director of football txiki Begiristain is meant to be one of the reasons Pep Guardiola is coming to Manchester City next season. that may be challenged when Guardiola sees what he has been left to work with at his new home.
Pellegrini has been moaning for weeks about having to field a weakened team in this fixture, with the Champions League tie against Dynamo Kiev looming and injuries stacking up. yet, in doing so, he did his young charges a disservice.
he could have built them up, could have said that, obviously, he would prioritise the european fixture but City had a good Under21 squad and players who might even surprise Chelsea, as Bradford did in this competition last season.
Instead, he said this was not a real game, and that he wouldn’t pay for a ticket. how would that have made them feel?
Fair play for giving the youngsters a chance, but at least sell their credentials. In essence, Pellegrini said they were not worth the price of admission. they most certainly were. Manchester City started brightest and their riposte to Chelsea’s opening goal was immediate and robust — an equaliser in the space of two minutes.
So one understands Pellegrini’s predicament, but not his moans. yes, he has an important Champions League match on Wednesday and the Capital One Cup final next Sunday against Liverpool — but a club with City’s riches is not going to elicit much sympathy wailing about fixture congestion, in the same way that talk of Manchester United’s injury woes is usually met with a shrug.
City were in four competitions before this, but with the money they have spent they would hope to be. Not much point in all that investment if it does not deliver the clogged calendar of a successful, elite club. And when that happens something has to give and it is usually the FA Cup.
So plenty of managers have been in Pellegrini’s predicament without taking such an extreme approach to selection. he got more than he deserved from these development players in the circumstances.
Not only did they work hard, they produced moments of very high quality — not least the young French forward David Faupala. Like most of the City teenagers on display, he is not a true product of the youth system. he arrived from Lens last summer, having let his contract run down — but has spent most of his time in the development squad on the wings, unable to claim a central role.
he made up for that here, his first involvement a quite lovely run that twisted Gary Cahill in spirals twice before unleashing a shot well saved by thibaut Courtois.
So the youngsters were not the problem. they were let down by the inadequates Pellegrini placed around them, senior players who should not have been left to babysit. Chelsea scored twice early in the second half and the game ran away from City after that. It looks like humiliation but from the perspective of the visitors, the scoreline could have been much worse.
the goals that decided the game followed a surprisingly even first half. After City’s energetic opening, Chelsea gained control, with Cesc Fabregas and eden hazard running midfield and John Mikel Obi locking the back door.
yet, while Chelsea’s first followed a neat move, it was assisted by some rotten marking from Demichelis and Aleksandar Kolarov. Fabregas played in hazard with a perfectly weighted pass and his chipped cross found Diego Costa unmarked on the edge of the sixyard box to head home. the two centre halves were either side, but not really in attendance.
It should have been over, given the imbalance in the teams, but City showed great pluck to draw level. Manu Garcia played Kelechi Iheanacho in on the right and Cesar Azpilicueta tried to clear his low cross, succeeding only in slamming the ball against Faupala inches away, the ball ricocheting into the net, unstoppable.
COMEDIANS were speculating Pellegrini must have warned about the perils of the draw and further fixture congestion at half-time, too, because City gave up parity very quickly after re-emerging.
there were 48 minutes gone when Cahill fed Willian after a City attack had broken down, the Brazilian going on one of his energetic runs, half the length of the field. he found hazard, got the ball back and finished smartly in the far corner.
Could City respond? No. Within four minutes the game was done.
It was another hazard assist, this time a cross Fernando cleared directly to Cahill and got back in spades. Caballero was slow to react, letting the ball pass under his body.
the fourth, in the 66th minute, was another defensive calamity for City. Demichelis made a foolish lunge on hazard, upending him and conceding a free-kick in perfect range for specialist taker Willian.
he generously allowed hazard to have a go and he planted it in the corner of the net, unprotected by the wall. It was, of course, protected by Caballero, who showed all the movement, and indeed awareness, of a house plant in that role.
It was nearly five after Demichelis clumsily felled Bertrand traore in the penalty area with 74 minutes gone. Oscar stepped up and missed, again, his shot saved. It may be time to relieve him of penalty duty. When even Caballero can call your moves, perhaps the time has come to let someone else have a go.
Not that he anticipated much about Chelsea’s fifth, in the 89th minute. A cross from Oscar, a looping back-header from traore and Caballero seemed to lose track of where his far post was, letting the ball go in over his head with barely a jump. Dreadful stuff. Seriously, what was the point of it?