Manuel Pellegrini and Yaya Toure left the Liberty Stadium pitch arm in arm and engaged in conversation. It lent the impression that they were strolling off into the sunset.
It felt symbolic. An era has ended for Manchester City and their manager. Toure is not definitely going, but he came to embody Pellegrini's team, a free-scoring, dynamic force in the Chilean's first year, declining, ageing and much criticised by his last year. The talisman had turned into a substitute by Pellegrini's final game, brought on to waste a few seconds at Swansea.
In keeping with an underwhelming league campaign, City limped over the line. They needed a draw to secure fourth position and they got a draw. But whereas they had ended Pellegrini's previous two seasons by winning their last five and six league games respectively, they limped over the line. They took two points from their last three matches. They owed their place in the Champions League qualifiers to Manchester United's failings.
• Read more: Old looking Manchester City giving glimpse into end of an era, writes Richard Jolly
• Also see: Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho secures Manchester City's Champions League future – in pictures
Pellegrini departed with a complaint, albeit one that was voiced politely and altogether less explosively than it would have been had his outspoken predecessor Roberto Mancini still been in charge. He said the timing of the announcement that Pep Guardiola would replace him increased his difficulties. Separately and last week, he railed at the perceptions that next year would be all about the Spaniard. “The club is more important than persons,” he said.
Guardiola can outshine everyone and everything, including Pellegrini’s last three months in charge. The Chilean struggled in his successor’s shadow. City only took 23 of the 45 league points available after regime change became formalised. If the thought was his players would have been galvanised by the imminent arrival of the most coveted manager of his generation, the reality was otherwise. Most scarcely looked it.
And, for a team who started the season in such imperious fashion – five straight wins, each with a clean sheet, suggested they could be runaway champions – they ended it in disrepair. It was at least appropriate that Kelechi Iheanacho scored the goal that clinched fourth. The Nigerian teenager has been the breakout star of City’s season, starting only 11 games but scoring 14 times. Vincent Kompany, too, had a bit-part role and while he featured in 14 league matches, City only conceded seven goals when he was on the pitch but although the captain’s performances were excellent, his repeated injuries meant it was a demoralising campaign for him.
Others, such as Gael Clichy and Fernando, had their moments, but it leaves only five regulars who can be content with their efforts over the whole season: Joe Hart, Bacary Sagna, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. That is far too few: not just because of the ability in the City camp and the expenditure required to assemble their squad, but because greater consistency is required to challenge for league titles. City had too many mercurial performers, too many collective failings. They mirrored Pellegrini’s passiveness. They lacked intensity too often and tended to struggle against those who possessed it: a return of no points against the high-speed gegenpressers of Tottenham and Liverpool was particularly telling.
They illustrated why Guardiola is needed even as some offered reasons why they may play little part in his plans. City need a rebuild, an overhaul and an injection of speed. Pellegrini was at least able to depart with head held fairly high, replaced by a managerial Galactico, thanked rather than sacked, with a trophy and a Champions League semi-final appearance to show for his final season. And, crucially, he steered Guardiola’s side into the Champions League qualifiers.
Management is not just about success, though that is obviously preferable. It is also a damage-limitation exercise, one in which managers as different as Arsene Wenger, Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis have specialised.
Pellegrini gained admittance to their club at the last, preserving his record of top-four finishes. But now, after a year when it was lowered, the bar must be raised.
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