Manuel Pellegrini, much like Louis van Gaal, has a right to have watched the Premier League this season and felt the criticism they received last year was over the top.
Both sides finished level on points, with Manchester City qualifying for the Champions League, and since then both clubs spent a great deal of money improving their squads for new managers.
Yet better seasons, to date, were expected for both managers at the beginning of the campaign, and Pellegrini believes, especially in the case of Pep Guardiola, that Manchester City’s struggles only serve to underline what a good job he did.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Pellegrini explained: “I think that values a little more my work there those three years. It’s not easy to win the Premier.
“There is a myth that says City has the most money, but now there are five teams that spend a lot. Perhaps many thought that with the arrival of Pep, that they would win the Premier with 15 points difference, it’s not like that in England.”
Pellegrini arguably found the second half of his last Manchester City season hampered by players knowing he’d be leaving the club. Whilst announcing his summer departure in February was the manager’s decision, in hindsight he feels it was a mistake: “If you ask me today if I had done otherwise, I say yes, I’d have waited until the end of the season.”
The rumours had got to Pellegrini, explained the manager, and even without the announcement it was well known that Guardiola was set to take over.
