Pellegrini had no point to prove against Chelsea
Manager believes his team has more to deliver in the days ahead.
Manchester City defeat Chelsea 2-0 in FA Cup. All eyes were on City to perform well after the Blues outplayed them in their last encounter. PHOTO:
MANCHESTER:
Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager, did not believe he had a point to prove over Jose Mourinho despite knocking him and Chelsea out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 fifth-round victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
City’s Chilean manager had come under close scrutiny and had his tactical acumen questioned after losing to Chelsea at home in the league two weeks ago, the second time this season he had lost to Mourinho and the seventh defeat in nine career meetings between the pair.
“It’s easy for me to talk about tactics when you win,” said Pellegrini. “But it is not revenge. I really don’t think we had any tactical problems against Chelsea the other day.”
“We knew exactly the way Chelsea play, they knew how we play, but players always make the difference during the match. Today was not a tactical master class.”
Mourinho believes he was beaten fairly
Mourinho saw his team turn in a sub-par display and took off ineffective striker Samuel Eto’o at the interval although the Chelsea manager was in no mood to point blame at individuals.
“I don’t want to individualise, speak about my striker or my keeper or my left-back, whatever. We are a team, we win as a team, and we lose as a team.”
“The second goal was an offside, but we would still have lost 1-0 as we were never close to scaring City in the game.”
Mourinho refuted the argument that exiting the FA Cup may help his side in that competition or in keeping their place at the top of the Premier League table.
“I keep saying the same; we go game by game, we are what we are. We try to win the next game, it doesn’t matter the competition and I don’t think one or two more games in the FA Cup would have changed anything for us or for them - especially with the powerful squad they have. I don’t think there is a problem.”
Published in The Expres Tribune, February 17th, 2014.
Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager, did not believe he had a point to prove over Jose Mourinho despite knocking him and Chelsea out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 fifth-round victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
City’s Chilean manager had come under close scrutiny and had his tactical acumen questioned after losing to Chelsea at home in the league two weeks ago, the second time this season he had lost to Mourinho and the seventh defeat in nine career meetings between the pair.
“It’s easy for me to talk about tactics when you win,” said Pellegrini. “But it is not revenge. I really don’t think we had any tactical problems against Chelsea the other day.”
“We knew exactly the way Chelsea play, they knew how we play, but players always make the difference during the match. Today was not a tactical master class.”
Mourinho believes he was beaten fairly
Mourinho saw his team turn in a sub-par display and took off ineffective striker Samuel Eto’o at the interval although the Chelsea manager was in no mood to point blame at individuals.
“I don’t want to individualise, speak about my striker or my keeper or my left-back, whatever. We are a team, we win as a team, and we lose as a team.”
“The second goal was an offside, but we would still have lost 1-0 as we were never close to scaring City in the game.”
Mourinho refuted the argument that exiting the FA Cup may help his side in that competition or in keeping their place at the top of the Premier League table.
“I keep saying the same; we go game by game, we are what we are. We try to win the next game, it doesn’t matter the competition and I don’t think one or two more games in the FA Cup would have changed anything for us or for them - especially with the powerful squad they have. I don’t think there is a problem.”
Published in The Expres Tribune, February 17th, 2014.