Manuel Pellegrini is refusing to hide following the hiding at Wimbledon but he will find himself even more exposed if things go wrong tonight.
For he has taken full responsibility for the defeat against Wimbledon putting his head on the block by declaring that the motivation of players is entirely his.
Be it a Premier League side or a League One outfit he admits that’s it down to him, and whilst the honesty is refreshing it won’t go very far without much better results where only victory over Arsenal has provided a high spot amid the recent gloom.
So whilst his latest remarks are addressed to the AFC game with Wolves following so quickly tonight the pressure is really on him and of course the team.
Another defeat – with seventh place a real possibility this term – will probably start something of an avalanche of criticism and with Liverpool to follow on Monday we move on into the second half of the season with two more double defeats to avoid.
Discussing the 4-2 defeat at Wimbledon the boss told www.whufc.com: “It was my fault that I could not motivate them to understand that playing against a League One team is not a game you win before you play. You must win in the 95 minutes during the game.
“This is not the first time this has happened and there have been many other games when exactly the same has happened to teams.
“Motivation in football is very important, so that is why it is one of the responsibilities of the manager. The first responsibility is mine.
“The players play the game, of course, but we have only 15 players who have played all the games over the last two months. In this case, they were not able to do it.”
Pic via www.whufc.com
“Always, when we finish a game, the next day before we start the next training session, we always talk for five minutes about that game. It doesn’t matter if we’ve won or lost.
“But, after that, the most important thing is we must turn the page because, in football, you always have another game.
“Football always gives you revenge, if you win or lose. If you win, as we did against Arsenal, you cannot keep that mind that you think you will win again because the next opponent is not as good as Arsenal [because then you will be caught out, as we were at Bournemouth].
“That’s football. Football is the most popular sport in the world because there are a lot of things involved in results.”