Pellegrini frets over home form
MANCHESTER CITY manager Manuel Pellegrini insisted yesterday his side’s poor Champions League home form will not impact on tonight’s clash against Sevilla, but admitted things need to change.
Pellegrini has seen his side win just three of nine games in the competition at the Etihad Stadium since joining the club in 2013.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Group D game, the usually mildmannered Chilean was irritated by questions about poor home form.
‘I don’t know the exact statistics but we must improve,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what is the home record. It is just statistics or history. That will not help us to win or lose.’
For the record, City have won just five of 15 home games in the competition dating back to 2011. But Pellegrini said that all eyes were on the future. ‘ We are just thinking about one game, not the past,’ he explained. ‘We play against a different team and we hope we can win.’
There is a strange indifference towards the Champions League at the Etihad, with City yet to hit the heights in the competition despite success on the domestic front. Fans routinely boo the Champions League anthem before kick-off because they are angry at UEFA over Financial Fair Play sanctions, what they see as an unfair seeding system and the weak handling of CSKA Moscow’s misbehaving fans. But Pellegrini said that did not affect his players. ‘We always have the atmosphere we need in the Premier League or Champions League,’ he said. ‘The fans are behind the team and they support them. The atmosphere is what we need.’
Pellegrini claimed Yaya Toure is not unhappy at the club despite the midfielder giving an interview in France which suggested otherwise.
Pellegrini believes Toure’s comments have been misunderstood. ‘He is happy here,’ he said. ‘He says he is not happy about the criticism.’
City will be without Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, David Silva tonight, and Samir Nasri is a major doubt.
Pellegrini said Aguero’s hamstring injury will keep him out for a month but added: ‘I have a policy of not making excuses for who is missing.’