There may not be time to be called a godfather yet, but the Chilean engineer's grasp of soccer is certainly not comparable to that of an ordinary coach. Turning to past feats, the first time he led the Yellow Submarine into the
European crown
quarterfinals, led Malaga to the
European crown
The top eight, in the not-quite-melonized
Manchester City
I'm in. I'm in.
European crown
A top four player, Manuel Pellegrini has proved himself many times in the upper mid-tier, serving up the best of whatever he's been given.
Pellegrini certainly has the ability to change a team, and since arriving at Bettis in '20, has taken the team from 15th place to 6th in the 20/21 season. This past season, Pellegrini's Bettis was a longtime favorite.
European crown
It was not until after the 26th round, when the team was defeated by Atletico Madrid 3:0, that the team dropped out of the top four completely, but the 5th place they held at the end of the season was only 5 points behind their city rivals Sevilla.
In the Cup section, watching the veteran Joaquín shed his jersey once again in celebration, you knew that this season had been a success for them, and for the first time since the 04/05 season, the Green and Whites finally had a chance to celebrate their long overdue victory.
Arguably the most successful season in the last 10 years, coupled with an otherwise opportunistic
European crown
The timing, can't help but also make many fans wonder if there will be time for Pellegrini and Bettis to take another step up to attack the top four, or even defend the King's title this year.
This is the center of Pellegrini's tactics, and when coaching the Bettys, he had two holdouts of his own
(1) Possession of the ball is about creating timing
(2) Offensive players are completely free and they must maintain their mobility
Like Barcelona of old, the emphasis is on possession, but Pellegrini's tactics are different, and even compared to the likes of Sevilla, Real Sociedad, or even Celta Vigo, the Bettis' 54% possession rate doesn't look like it's tops.
Pellegrini only does the most efficient offense, and unlike teams who are not shy about the One Cut Belt's more needy possessions, the Bettys will see the wind in their sails, and they're more than happy to play more direct. Despite the lower intuitive stats of possession, the Bettys have a higher XG than they do, and that's a direct testament to the directness of the team's offense. The Green and White are more than happy to sacrifice possession to generate counter-attacking blackmail.
And with everything being able to run like this, the team's formation certainly plays a big part in helping.
Whether it's the league or the Copa del Rey or even the Europa League, you'll simply be able to see Bettis' most familiar formation, the 4-2-3-1.
But do you think Pellegrini will be able to hold the formation together so easily? Remember the freedom of the attacking players mentioned earlier? Yes, Pellegrini will let all the players in the endgame play the role they are supposed to play in order to help the team, so except for the two center backs and the two wing backs who will remain unchanged, you will be able to see the difference in all of them.
Bettis' apparent 4-2-3-1 formation
