Manchester City was blown away in a 2-0 loss to Stoke at a wind-swept Britannia Stadium on Saturday, with Marko Arnautovic scoring a first-half double against the outclassed Premier League leaders.
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Pellegrini delivered a scathing assessment of his players’ performance when they lost 4-1 at home to Liverpool last month but he held back on this occasion, saying his side were struggling with numerous injuries as they compete on three fronts.
City just couldn’t handle the windy weather or a Stoke side which blew Pellegrini’s powder puffs away with consummate ease. In fact, they never woke up throughout 90 nightmare minutes, culminating in Manchester City’s worst performance for many a Blue moon. “We are the only team playing in all the competitions and playing with 13 players in all competitions”.
City’s hopes of qualifying in first place were hit by a 1-0 defeat to Juventus last month, meaning only a win over the Germans, coupled with a shock upset for Juve against already-eliminated Sevilla – will put them back on top.
Shaqiri created both goals for Arnautovic, who was denied a first-half hat-trick by the woodwork, and missed a sitter in the second before being substituted.
City’s miserable afternoon continued when, 10 minutes after making their third substitution, Fernando went off with a hamstring injury leaving them one short for the final 15 minutes.
“We’re playing the same players as in the last three games”, said Pellegrini.
Manuel Pellegrini must solve the riddle of why City can not appear to function when their captain Vincent Kompany is missing through injury or their title challenge will unravel.
“We have to play one game more and Juventus have to go to Sevilla”.
And Stoke boss Mark Hughes took enormous delight from demolishing his former club he described before the game as a “powerhouse”.
“If we can get some consistency”, he added, “everybody saw today that we can be a really good team in this league”.
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“We can’t accept how we played today”. The players didn’t have the reaction of a fresh squad. We had any number of chances. It wasn’t just a case of defending badly, we also didn’t create chances too.
