Friday 13 May 2016 13:57, UK
Nick Wright assesses Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City legacy as he prepares to make way for Pep Guardiola...
Manuel Pellegrini's Etihad Stadium farewell rather summed up the mood at Manchester City as they approach the end of his final season in charge. Boos greeted the 2-2 draw with Arsenal as disgruntled fans headed straight for the exits, and when the manager and his players re-emerged from the dressing room, they were met by swathes of empty seats.
It was a sad way for the Chilean to say goodbye after three years at the helm, but the exodus was also an understandable reaction to yet another setback in a season in which City have fallen a long way short of expectations.
Mercifully for City, their Champions League qualification fate is back in their hands after Manchester United's 3-2 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park. They can guarantee a top-four finish by beating Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on the final day, but even a top-four finish will not mask the sense of deflation about how things have panned out.
How did it come to this? The Capital One Cup triumph over Liverpool ensures the season has at least yielded silverware, but City could not have imagined the collapse that would follow the announcement of Pep Guardiola's appointment in February. Pellegrini's men were just three points behind leaders Leicester at the time. The gap now stands at 15.
Even the first Champions League semi-final in their history felt like an anti-climax. Here was an opportunity for Pellegrini's men to prove they belong on the grandest stage, but their meek surrender at the Bernabeu showed that, for all the investment, they are still no closer to the European elite.
"Pellegrini inherited a team that could win things," said Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness on Sunday. "Then he spent £200m net, now he is leaving and how much further down the road is this team than when he walked in? Are they better? Have they stagnated? Or are they worse?"
They are awkward questions for Pellegrini, who looked well positioned to dominate English football after guiding City to the Premier League title in a stellar 2013/14 campaign. The softly-spoken Chilean succeeded in repairing a squad left fractured by his confrontational predecessor Roberto Mancini, with City pipping Liverpool and Chelsea in a thrilling title race and securing the Capital One Cup with a 3-1 win over Sunderland.
Delivering the first league and cup double in City's history was an achievement for which their understated manager probably deserved greater credit. It was done in style, too. Pellegrini's men thrilled supporters with devastating attacking football, and a total of 102 goals scored ranked as the second-highest in Premier League history.
In all competitions, they struck a record-breaking 156 goals, and thoughts immediately turned to the future after they wrapped up the season with 2-0 win at home to West Ham. "Big teams cannot be satisfied with one title," said Pellegrini in his post-match press conference. "This club and players deserve more titles."
City and their ambitious owners wanted dominance, but in the end the achievements of 2013/14 have been overshadowed by disappointment. City were joint-top of the Premier League midway through Pellegrini's second year in charge, but their challenge faded in the second half of the season, and there were cup exits too.
They did finish as the Premier League's leading scorers for the second year running as they netted 83 goals, but it was the first time since 2009/10 since they had failed to win silverware. A steady decline was in motion, and the sense of underachievement has grown this season. Not since 2008/09 have City lost 10 Premier League games in a single campaign.
Pellegrini, of course, is not solely responsible for City's plight, with player recruitment a constant source of frustration. Last season's signings of Eliaquim Mangala and Wilfried Bony have not worked out, and this year Nicolas Otamendi and Raheem Sterling have also struggled to live up to their huge price-tags.
But while City's aging squad contains 11 players aged 30 or over, there is still far more quality within its ranks than their league positions suggests. Pellegrini has been unable to get the best out of them, and City's dismal record of no wins from 10 games against the top-six opponents is a damning indictment of the man making the decisions in the dug-out.
Pellegrini can, of course, point to the destabilising effect of the Guardiola announcement as a mitigating factor - and it certainly seems as though certain players have taken their eyes of the ball - but he cannot deny that the decline started long before February.
So while Pellegrini will be fondly remembered for the moments to savour in his unforgettable first season, he leaves having failed in his task to take City to the next level. The sparse crowd that stayed for his farewell speech told a tale. Guardiola has plenty of work to do to get them to where they want to be.
