Manuel Pellegrini: Can 'The Engineer' fix Manchester City?

The Engineer: Manuel Pellegrini,in what was his last game as head coach of Malaga CF, looks on during the La Liga match against FC Barcelona at Camp Nou on June 1, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Getty Images)

Much like Arsene Wenger has been dubbed ‘The Professor’ for his educational background – he has a Masters in economics – Manuel Pellegrini’s status as a civil engineering graduate has earned him the moniker of ‘The Engineer’.

The Engineer he is – off the field and on it, as his structured approach and love for technical players reflects his university background. It is exactly this approach which went missing under Roberto Mancini last season, and the task of fixing Manchester City‘s malfunctioning squad has fallen to Pellegrini. But does he have the right tools?

Tactics

Pellegrini’s preferred formation combines the traditional European 4-4-2 with a more South American 4-2-2-2, where the two behind the striker play the most important role in making the team tick.

This position was occupied by the brilliant and misunderstood Juan Roman Riquelme for Villarreal. It is the position where Santi Cazorla established himself as the central playmaker in the Malaga team which qualified for the Champions League in Pellegrini’s first season in charge and the position in which Isco sparkled last season.

The reason why Pellegrini’s setup is often incompletely described as a 4-4-2 is that the apparent lack of wide men in the 4-2-2-2 is never visible in Pellegrini’s teams. Rather, the responsibility of wing play is shared between the strikers, midfielders and full backs.

Pellegrini wants strikers who are comfortable veering out to the wing, playmakers who can cross the ball and full backs who can rampage forward, each working seamlessly with the other and in perfect co-ordination, honed by the hours spent on the training ground. It is probably because of this feature, that Cazorla was often mistakenly considered to be a winger during the early days of his career.

Although the above is his preferred system, he is a very flexible manager. Against stronger teams, and teams likely to dominate possession he tends to go for the stereotypical 4-2-3-1. This formation has become increasingly common as his managerial career has progressed, highlighting his flexibility and ability to adapt to the occasion and the opponent. He is perfectly capable of shutting up shop as well, as Villarreal and Malaga’s impressive Champions League defensive records show.

Pellegrini’s protégés: Riquelme, Isco and Cazorla

Philosophy

Pellegrini believes in giving his players the freedom to express themselves on the pitch.

“At the end of the day, I think tactics are not just theory, but more about the intelligence you show on the pitch,” he is known to have said. “You have to have the intelligence to search for the answer inside the game, of which variation to choose, but never changing the things you work on yourself every week.”

He believes in drilling the details into his team during the week, but trusting them to show enough intelligence on the matchday to adapt and get the job done, and that too with flair.

A perfect example is Malaga’s 4-0 victory over Valencia last season, in which the front four of Isco, Joaquin, Portillo and Saviola tore Valencia apart. They constantly switched positions among themselves, alternately creating overloads on the right, the left and in the centre. They played extremely close to each other but were never in each other’s way.

Such understanding comes from the training ground, but the creativity on display came from trusting the players to do the little things themselves.

Mending Manchester City

The common conception seems to be that the newly appointed director of football Txiki Begiristain wants the club to adopt a 4-3-3 formation across all levels of football and develop a footballing culture similar to that of his former club, Barcelona.

While this is an admirable quest, City fans must hope that it doesn’t interfere with the way Pellegrini wants to set his team up. One only needs to look at Pellegrini’s single season in charge of Real Madrid to see how easily that could make his best laid plans go awry.

Pellegrini’s arrival coincided with the world record transfers of Kaka and Ronaldo and subsequent arrivals of Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso in a mind boggling £200 million spending spree. But it also coincided with the sale of Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, players who Pellegrini didn’t want sold.

Sneijder, in particular, would’ve been perfect as one of the playmakers behind the strikers and went on to have his best season in club football as led Jose Mourinho’s Inter to the Champions League title. Things got so bad and politically heated up that Pellegrini was the target of a public smear campaign by the Madrid media to pave the way for him to be replaced by Mourinho.

The question though, remains – how are Manchester City likely to shape up next season?

This is how City could probably line-up next season (with the possibility of Eden Dzeko staying at the club). Note: Click on the image to enlarge it.

Although the 4-2-2-2 formation below seems very similar to the way Mancini’s City often set up, City under Pellegrini will have more cohesion, more inter-changeability among the top four players and a more organised approach to attacking.

David Silva is likely to become even more prominent in Pellegrini’s pet role, and Samir Nasri needs to step up and show his mettle. Jack Rodwell can be a viable alternative to Yaya Toure or Fernandinho, especially if Fernandinho takes time to settle into the Premier League.

Defensively, things are set to remain tight and the arrival of Pellegrini should put a stop to the ill fated experiments with a back three, which undermined City’s defence at times last season.

Alternatively, a 4-2-3-1 may be employed against the top teams and in Europe. This would give more defensive solidity to the spine of the team and allow City to exploit the pace of new signing Jesus Navas down the right wing.

But the most promising aspect of Pellegrini’s appointment is his impressive Champions League record. Villarreal’s journey to the semi-finals was unprecedented and was cut short at the second last hurdle only by Jens Lehmann’s last minute penalty save.

And despite Malaga’s fall from financial grace, they performed admirably well in this season’s Champions League, losing to eventual finalists Dortmund in the quarter finals by two injury time goals, the second of which was offside.

Pellegrini is the only man to have led two Champions League debutants to the quarter finals or beyond. For a Manchester City team which has failed to progress beyond the group stages twice in two years, Pellegrini’s arrival will be akin to that of a lifeguard, although they’ll be hoping that he leaves his luck behind.