Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini refuses to discuss his future after defeat

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/12/manchester-city-manuel-pellegrini-manchester-united

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Manuel Pellegrini admitted he was concerned about Manchester City’s spirit after the champions suffered a 4-2 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford. City’s manager refused to answer questions over his future but said the club are now in a fight to qualify for the Champions League.

The defeat means that after being joint-top on New Year’s Day on 46 points alongside Chelsea, City are now 12 points behind, with the leaders having played a match fewer.

While Pellegrini said City’s worst league defeat in the derby for 20 years was his responsibility, United’s triumph was the first in five matches against their rivals. It lifted Louis van Gaal’s team to 65 points in third position, four ahead of City who remain in fourth, though Liverpool could close to within four points if they beat Newcastle United on Monday evening.

The defeat was City’s sixth in their last eight matches and Pellegrini said there were concerns about the team. “Maybe it is something we can be concerned [about],” he said. “It is easy when you are the team two goals in front to play with more trust than the team that is two goals behind. There are a lot of things that maybe the spirit of the team does not seem the real spirit. But we must try to continue playing the way we did for the first 20 minutes. It is the same team.”

The defeat will cause further scrutiny over the manager’s job but he said: “I am not talking about my position. It is not important.” Pellegrini did state he should take the blame for City’s poor run. “I always think it is my responsibility, always,” he said, before trying to offer reasons for the potential 15-point swing to Chelsea should they win their match in hand. “The only way to explain is because we don’t have the results that we need to have.”

City took the lead through Sergio Agüero in the eighth minute but Ashley Young’s equaliser five minutes later and Marouane Fellaini’s goal on 27 minutes gave United a half-time lead. Further goals from Juan Mata and Chris Smalling – in the 67th and 73rd minutes – were answered only by Agüero’s late consolation, after United had been reduced to 10 men when Michael Carrick left the game because of injury after Van Gaal had used all his replacements.

City have six matches remaining to secure a Champions League place. How does the manager arrest the slump? “Winning. That is the only way,” he said, before admitting a top-four finish will be hard.

“It is very difficult to be in fourth place. We have difficult teams in the Premier League. We have just four points behind United, five points with Arsenal. We must fight until the end of the season. For the club, for me, for the players it is very important to be in a position for the Champions League.

“Maybe in the last week, losing these two games, we are in fourth, but United and Arsenal have to play against Chelsea. We have 18 points more to play, so we must not try make it a dramatic moment. We now have two games at home, we must try to recover from this defeat.”

A content Van Gaal, who said he may celebrate by eating at his favourite Chinese restaurant, Wings, has now overseen six consecutive league wins for the second time this season.

The manager hailed the victory and United currently being the dominant club in Manchester as the aggregate score over the two derbies is 4-3, after City won the first game 1-0 in November. “This week they [fans] can go on the streets, heads up and say, ‘We are the better team because goal average is in our favour.’”

Carrick went off injured to leave United playing out time with 10 men but Van Gaal said the player had been right to do so. “He was wise to step off but we have to wait and see tomorrow,” he said. “He had a stiff calf and he is a very experienced player, so he asked to leave the pitch.

“I can go to Mr Wings because when you win, you can lose. When you lose, the fans say what is Mr Louis doing because lose and you go to the best restaurant.”