Manuel Pellegrini: No excuses at Manchester City

01 April 2016 21:53

Manuel Pellegrini accepts there can be no excuses for Manchester City's shortcomings this season.

City have won just two of seven Barclays Premier League games since it was announced Pellegrini would be standing aside as manager in the summer to facilitate the arrival of Pep Guardiola.

The slump has seen them fall out of contention for the title and drop into a battle for a top-four place.

Questions have been asked of the players' mindset with such significant change imminent but Pellegrini claims it should not be a factor.

The Chilean said: "I'm not talking about what will happen at the end of the season.

"I think that as a manager and as a player you must always be motivated. It's very important for the mentality of the players to always try to be a winner, to try to win as many titles and games as you can.

"So I don't think anybody is thinking about what will happen next season. Every player must be thinking about what is happening in this moment and to try to finish with a successful season."

Even prior to confirmation of Pellegrini's departure City's form had been patchy, with the absences of several key players through injury inevitably having an effect. Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Samir Nasri and Kevin De Bruyne have all had lengthy spells out while Joe Hart, Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Fabian Delph are among those currently sidelined.

But again, Pellegrini is not looking for mitigation.

He said: "I don't want to use excuses about different things. I am not talking about De Bruyne now and you can add Aguero, Kompany, Samir Nasri - very important players that for different reasons meant we couldn't play with the complete squad, except for the first five games which we won.

"After that we had so many injured it was difficult to have one team but one month ago we were involved in all competitions. We were coping well without important names."

Source: PA