02-29-2016, 05:16 PM
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini reveals he would 'rather have lost than leave out Willy’
City manager's backing of reserve keeper pays off as he admits he had to sacrifice the FA Cup
By Chris Bascombe, at Wembley Stadium10:54PM GMT 28 Feb 2016 Comments2 Comments
Manuel Pellegrini said a sense of honour was as important as Manchester City’s League Cup victory as his decision to select Willy Caballero was vindicated.
Leaving out Joe Hart for the 34-year-old Argentinian put Pellegrini in the line of fire ahead of the victory over Liverpool, but the manager said he would rather have lost than leave Caballero out. The Chilean had promised the Argentine he would play having started him in each of the previous rounds, though the manager came under pressure to drop him after a poor performance in the 5-1 FA Cup defeat by Chelsea.
The goalkeeper repaid that loyalty by making three critical saves in the penalty shoot-out on Sunday. “I’m happy for the performance of the team against a very difficult team in Liverpool, everyone remembers the game we lost [4-1 to them] at the Etihad,” said Pellegrini .
“I’m happy for Willy Cabellero because I think he deserved his moment, I’m happy to have won a title in February, that is very important for the trust of the team and I’m happy for Joe Hart who showed he is not only a very good goalkeeper but a very good person by always supporting Willy and helping him in the dressing room. And personally I am happy because I would rather lose a final than lose my word. My word is more important than football.
“The decision I took last week [to play a young team in the cup] at Chelsea was very important for winning this trophy tonight and winning in Kiev on Wednesday.”
Pellegrini says his goalkeeper has a proven penalty-saving technique. He said: “First of all Willy is a very good goalkeeper. He waited until the very end for the Liverpool players to shoot, he never guessed which way they would go, and that’s why he saved three penalties. I think we deserved to win before the penalties. Willy didn’t have a save to make in the 90 minutes, he made a very good save in extra-time, and if we were going to do it this way then it was perfect that Willy was the hero.”
Pellegrini admitted he effectively wrote off the FA Cup in order to prioritise the League Cup and Champions League. Whatever the risks, the decision has now yielded silverware.
“I’m very happy, not because it is my final season but for a lot of reasons,” said Pellegrini. “It was a difficult decision for me not to continue in the FA Cup because we had won our first games in the competition with three and four goals but we only had 13 players available and it was important to keep players fresh.”
For former Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, victory was especially sweet, although he was not at his best at Wembley.
“I don’t want to analyse individual performances but it was not easy for Raheem,” he said. “It is hard for experienced players to face their former clubs and he is only young with a lot of good years to come at this club. He made an important decision in the summer to come here to win titles and I am very happy for him that he has his first already.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal...Willy.html
City manager's backing of reserve keeper pays off as he admits he had to sacrifice the FA Cup
By Chris Bascombe, at Wembley Stadium10:54PM GMT 28 Feb 2016 Comments2 Comments
Manuel Pellegrini said a sense of honour was as important as Manchester City’s League Cup victory as his decision to select Willy Caballero was vindicated.
Leaving out Joe Hart for the 34-year-old Argentinian put Pellegrini in the line of fire ahead of the victory over Liverpool, but the manager said he would rather have lost than leave Caballero out. The Chilean had promised the Argentine he would play having started him in each of the previous rounds, though the manager came under pressure to drop him after a poor performance in the 5-1 FA Cup defeat by Chelsea.
The goalkeeper repaid that loyalty by making three critical saves in the penalty shoot-out on Sunday. “I’m happy for the performance of the team against a very difficult team in Liverpool, everyone remembers the game we lost [4-1 to them] at the Etihad,” said Pellegrini .
“I’m happy for Willy Cabellero because I think he deserved his moment, I’m happy to have won a title in February, that is very important for the trust of the team and I’m happy for Joe Hart who showed he is not only a very good goalkeeper but a very good person by always supporting Willy and helping him in the dressing room. And personally I am happy because I would rather lose a final than lose my word. My word is more important than football.
“The decision I took last week [to play a young team in the cup] at Chelsea was very important for winning this trophy tonight and winning in Kiev on Wednesday.”
Pellegrini says his goalkeeper has a proven penalty-saving technique. He said: “First of all Willy is a very good goalkeeper. He waited until the very end for the Liverpool players to shoot, he never guessed which way they would go, and that’s why he saved three penalties. I think we deserved to win before the penalties. Willy didn’t have a save to make in the 90 minutes, he made a very good save in extra-time, and if we were going to do it this way then it was perfect that Willy was the hero.”
Pellegrini admitted he effectively wrote off the FA Cup in order to prioritise the League Cup and Champions League. Whatever the risks, the decision has now yielded silverware.
“I’m very happy, not because it is my final season but for a lot of reasons,” said Pellegrini. “It was a difficult decision for me not to continue in the FA Cup because we had won our first games in the competition with three and four goals but we only had 13 players available and it was important to keep players fresh.”
For former Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, victory was especially sweet, although he was not at his best at Wembley.
“I don’t want to analyse individual performances but it was not easy for Raheem,” he said. “It is hard for experienced players to face their former clubs and he is only young with a lot of good years to come at this club. He made an important decision in the summer to come here to win titles and I am very happy for him that he has his first already.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal...Willy.html
![[Image: CjOqM9nUoAIuP5v.jpg]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjOqM9nUoAIuP5v.jpg)
