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I need to win silverware for City: Pellegrini

LONDON — Manuel Pellegrini opens his third campaign in English football at West Brom tomorrow facing a barrage of questions over his future and already admitting that failure to land silverware for Manchester City this season will put an end to his reign at English football’s wealthiest club.

LONDON — Manuel Pellegrini opens his third campaign in English football at West Brom tomorrow facing a barrage of questions over his future and already admitting that failure to land silverware for Manchester City this season will put an end to his reign at English football’s wealthiest club.

Pellegrini says a new one-year contract extension, which ties him and three of his back-room staff to the Etihad until 2017, will count for nothing should there be a repeat of last season, when the club failed to land a trophy.

“In a big team, you cannot be two years without winning a title. It is very important to win it,” he said.

“It is also important to demonstrate to the media and the fans that you cannot continue working just because you didn’t win a title. You must analyse your work.

“And, of course, when you don’t win the title, you must change some things. But also when you win, you must make some changes with what you are doing. It is difficult in a big team to be two years without winning a title, but it is also important to trust when you don’t win a title, to trust the work you’re doing.”

After winning the Premier League title and the League Cup in his first season, Pellegrini struggled last campaign, but insists lessons have been learnt.

“We didn’t start badly last season but we will try to start from the first game,” he said. “The thing that we failed with last season was that we weren’t a consistent team over 90 minutes. There were too many games where we were winning 2-0 and, after that, we drew or we lost. It’s important to be a more consistent.”

Whether City and Pellegrini succeed in the new campaign could hinge heavily on the England forward Raheem Sterling, who joined in a controversial £49 million (S$105.1 million) transfer from Liverpool this summer. Sterling was widely pilloried for the manner in which he departed Anfield and City were criticised for spending so extravagantly on a relatively untested 20-year-old prospect. But the City manager said: “If we don’t bring in English players, we are criticised for not bringing them in. Then, when we bring them in, they are too expensive.

“It is the same with James Milner. I didn’t read or listen to any criticism of James Milner. He wanted to change from this team to Liverpool. I don’t think Raheem deserved this criticism for having a new challenge in another team that plays in the Champions League.

“It is an important step for him in his career to join a team that, in the last four years, have won two titles and then been runners-up twice.

“For a young player, it is very important to improve and to have new challenges. So I don’t think he deserved any criticism.”

Even for a club who have long since established that money is no object, City’s outlay on Sterling raised eyebrows. With the forward’s entire career producing just 18 league goals to date, City’s investment was based on potential rather than reputation, but Pellegrini has no doubt that the transfer fee will prove money well spent.

“I am sure in two or three more years we will see that we paid the correct price for him,” he said.

“It’s very difficult because English players are more expensive here as they are fighting with all the other nationalities. And you need an important number of English players (in your squad). With Raheem, in two or three years more, he will cost more than we paid for him.

“It’s part of their development as a player. You must know how to manage the boos or the criticism that you will receive during your career. It’s part of his development and I don’t think he will have any problem.

“He cost that money because he is 20. If Raheem was 28, he wouldn’t be that expensive. No one would pay that money for him. It’s very difficult to know where he will arrive in his career — we will see in the way he improves every year.

“His value will go up. He is 20. When he is 25, he can demonstrate how he has improved and then he will cost more than now. You never know if he could be worth £100 million. In football today, he is a very good player and I’m sure in a few years it will show that the price we paid was cheap.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Tomorrow:

West Brom v Man City (Singtel TV Ch102 and StarHub Ch227, 3am)

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