Pellegrini demands more of players and HIMSELF

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Manuel Pellegrini and the players have obviously been concentrating on defending this week – especially at set pieces.

Some of the goals conceded recently, especially against Newcastle, have been horrific and the manager – hardly surprisingly , made special mention of it in his pre-weekend presser.

He admits openly that both the players AND HIMSELF has to improve as we bid to come out of the recent torturous spell of results.

With much at stake he was brutally honest in his assessment of the team’s performance and it is – for all the anxieties – good to hear a bloke with some much experience in the game hold himself up for criticism.

In fact he was the only individual he discussed in critical terms refusing to address any particular player for being at fault over recent games.

But he knows, as we all do that nothing other than a 100 per cent performance across the team is needed as we look to plunge Burnley into trouble.

He said: “I don’t talk about individual players, I talk about the team. Everyone must do better, including the manager and the players.

“As a team I think that we need to improve, especially at set-pieces. They have been decisive – three goals from Newcastle, two from Crystal Palace. We must improve as a team more than just discuss one player.”

“I always try to be optimistic, I always try to set my targets as high as I can. We must fight to be in the upper part of the table.

“The league is very tight so far this season, but of course we need to improve in order to be in another position

“I think that Newcastle scored three goals from set-pieces, two from a counter-attack from set pieces. They had chances on the counter-attack because for different reasons we didn’t keep a player back.”
He expects a particular type of approach from Saturday’s opponents saying: “I think Burnley will always be a difficult team at home. They have top players and make a lot of crosses, everyone knows that. 
“They play a lot of crosses, fighting for the second ball, and it’s a style that in recent years has been very successful.”
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