‘I don’t agree,’ he said. ‘The whol

‘I don’t agree,’ he said. ‘The whole season there are a lot of games we played without our important players. Last season we finished the last six games without Vincent Kompany.
'We won the six and had four clean sheets. I analyse the performance of the players with them, not with the press.’
Pellegrini can hardly be blamed for refusing to agree that his back-up players are not good enough, especially when many of them cost so much money.
Nevertheless, the statistics relating to games City play with or without their captain in particular are startling.
In all competitions this season, City have won eight, drawn two and lost just one of the games they have played with Kompany in the team.
In these games, City concede an average of half a goal a match. When the Belgian has not played, Pellegrini’s team have won seven and lost five games, conceding an average of 1.7 goals per game.
With Kompany struggling to shake off the habit of picking up muscle injuries, Martin Demichelis – missing through injury – Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala must find better form if City’s season is to end successfully.
Pellegrini, meanwhile, believes his team’s problems are more to do with the number of games they have played.
‘This will be the fifth game we play in less than 15 days,’ he said. ‘We have had less than 72 hours to recover between games and it’s too many games for the same players.