Engineering Success: A Profile of Manuel Pellegrini

The 59 year old Chilean has acquired the nickname 'the Engineer' not only due to his ability to build up clubs from relative obscurity, but because he is in fact a qualified civil engineer. Cynics may point to the fact that he is yet to win a major trophy in Europe but look past that and it is clear Pellegrini has the pedigree to succeed at the highest stage.












































Pre-2004, Manuel Pellegrini coached successfully in South America, with the likes of Universidad and Palestino in his native Chile, as well as with the dominant River Plate in Argentina. When he joined Spanish side Villareal in 2004, the club had finished a modest 8th in La Liga, yet within a year he transformed 'The Yellow Submarine', qualifying for the Champions League after a 3rd place finish and reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA cup (after qualifying via the Intertoto cup). The following season, the Chilean led Villareal to the semi-finals of the Champions League, eventually losing out to Arsenal, and two years later went on to make further history for the club, by finishing in 2nd place in La Liga. After 5 years at the Valencian club, Real Madrid came knocking and Pellegrini became the first manager in Florentino Perez's second stint as President. The club would go on to break the world transfer record twice in the summer window, firstly with the £56m signing of Kaka from AC Milan, followed by the £80m acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo, as well paying £30m each for Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso. However, aside from these transfers, Real Madrid and Pellegrini would have a tumultuous relationship, with Perez criticising the managers style of play and the Madrid media mouthpiece, Marca, poking fun at Pellegrini after 'Alcorconazo', a 4-1 aggregate loss to Segunda Division B club Alcorcon in the Copa Del Rey. Florentino Perez eventually offered the Chilean an ultimatum, win La Liga or face the axe. Pellegrini led the side to a then record 96 points tally at the end of the season, but still finished 3 points behind rivals Barcelona, and on the 26th May 2010 the club made good on its promise, replacing Pellegrini with Jose Mourinho. 'The Engineer' was then presented as Malaga manager wid-way through the 2010-11 and would go on to finish 4th the following season. The project at Malaga was supposed to have been backed by Middle Eastern finance, but the financial tap was quickly turned off and despite the club selling some of their star names like Santi Cazorla and Jose Salomon Rondon, Pellegrini managed to steer the club to the quarter finals of the Champions League, losing out to Borussia Dortmund via a dubious goal.

Pellegrini's Tactics:









Pellegrini has used a variety of tactics during his time in South America and Spain,  from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-1-2, and even 4-2-2-2, though this has often been disguised as a simple 4-4-2. This formation is more commonly used in South American football, and although on paper it sets up like 4-4-2, the key difference lies in the use of two attacking midfielders sitting behind the forward, rather than traditional wingers. At Villareal it was Riquelme, at Madrid Kaka and at Malaga, Santi Cazorla and Isco. City have one of the best in the world in this position, in the form of David Silva, who will undoubtedly be the main creative spark in the team. This means that the majority of width will come through attacking fullbacks, something that City should again not struggle to adapt to, with the unsung hero Pablo Zabaleta at right back and Gael Clichy (who has his defensive frailties, but has pace getting forward) at left-back.


Pellegrini has made some strong signings in the form of Fernandinho who is more mobile than Gareth Barry and will will assist Yaya Toure in covering the space left in behind the full backs and recycling play, as well Alvaro Negredo, who has the ability to notch 20 or more goals a season, not to mention Stevan Jovetic who was linked with almost every major European club during his time at Fiorentina. However, arguably the biggest signing is in the form of Jesus Navas. Unlike the typical 'no.10/David Silva' type player, Jesus Navas is undoubtedly an 'out and out' winger. He will hug the touchline, look to take players on and get crosses in- possibly to his partner in crime at Sevilla, Negredo or the in-form Edin Dzeko. Usually, if the full-backs hold their position, Pellegrini will require his attacking midfielders to drift out wide, typified by Santi Cazorla's role for Villareal and to some extent Malaga. However, Navas will naturally stay wide, and in the opening two games of the season, the former Sevilla man has done exactly this, with David Silva starting from the left (giving it that 4-4-2 feel). This was typified by the fact that in City's opening game against Newcastle, Silva's highest pass combination was with Fernandinho (20), suggesting that Silva floated inside to lead the attack from a more central role, whilst Navas' highest combination was with full-back Pablo Zabaleta, proof of his tendency to stay wide.

           

You can see from the attacking movements above, that Navas stayed on the wide right, whilst Silva contributed from across the pitch. This may be seen as somewhat 'unbalanced' but, it is not too dissimilar to the system he used at Malaga, where Eliseu would shuttle up and down the left wing, whilst Isco would tuck in from the right and support the deeper forward, Joaquin (whilst at City, this will be Aguero). Furthermore, there is nothing to say that a formation has to be perfectly symmetrical, and the coach himself has said that "there's no such thing as a perfect system, and telephone numbers like 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 aren't of importance".


Constructing Change:

Pellegrini is the kind of manager who often talks about the need to build a long term solution (I know, the puns are flowing), but at a club like City, managers will be judged on success. He has, of course spent a handsome sum of money bringing in new players to the club, but unlike at Real Madrid, these are his signings, and the kind of players that will fit into a system he wants to play. The Chilean also looks at human qualities in players, and the likes of Negredo and Navas will certainly be less controversial that Balotelli and Tevez. He himself may not be a journalistic dream, but the new City boss is laid back, calm, and will certainly look to focus on the football above anything else. The club stated the need for a 'holistic' solution when Mancini was sacked, and in Manuel Pellegrini and his new set of players they may just have found exactly that.


(On a side note, check out the new FourFourTwo Stat Zone app which I used for the diagrams above, gives some really good tactical insight!)