Pellegrini digs in his heels and declares he is not for turning

One of the strangest things perhaps, after all the expenditure and all the grand plans, is the amount of time – and the total number of days might surprise you – Manchester City have actually spent at the top of the Premier League since that afternoon in 2012 when Sergio Aguero clinched the league title with a late winner in the 94th minute.

We are approaching the three-year mark and, in total, there have been only 22 days since when City have been looking down on everyone else. The longest run at the top? That was a mere week in November 2012 before everything unravelled for Roberto Mancini. Last season? Six different spells on the summit but never more than four days, even if May 7th to 11 May 11th re the most important four days of the campaign.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team briefly went top after the first game of the current season and they did, in fairness, pull level with Chelsea on New Year’s Day, bumped down to second place because of alphabetical order. Yet there has still been a surprising amount of playing catch-up after all the talk of creating a dynasty on the back of Abu Dhabi’s first title.

Alex Ferguson touched on it in his updated autobiography and, okay, we all know the former Manchester United manager loves to stir. Yet he still makes a relevant point. Wasn't this City team supposed to be the driving force of English football by now? Ferguson's analysis was that "there was no question City possessed the best group of players". It was the rest that puzzled him. "The fact they have twice won the league so narrowly leaves a question mark. Why is that?"

Erratic record

All sorts of reasons; among them, the club’s erratic record in the transfer market, the breakdown of the Mancini era and Uefa’s financial fair play guidelines, then moving into the Pellegrini years and, again, some undistinguished recruitment.

His tactics, too?

Pellegrini took exception to that one when it was put to him at a slightly spiky press conference. It quickly became apparent there is absolutely no chance of persuading him his choice of system has made City vulnerable during the run of two wins from nine games, including back-to-back defeats against Barcelona and Liverpool that is threatening to sabotage their season.

The manager is absolutely adamant he is not being reckless and though he would never put it so bluntly, it is also very clear he really doesn’t give a jot if others suspect he is getting it wrong.

“The important thing is to continue playing with a style we are not going to change. We are going to be an offensive team, playing on the opposition’s side, not with 10 players behind the ball. Everyone can talk what they want. I know what is better for this team.”

Over and again, he repeated that City will continue just as they are. “It is the same team that won two trophies last year, the Capital One Cup and the Premier League, and the team that scored around 160 goals.”

But it is not City’s goalscoring that has been the problem; it is the balance between attack and defence, where Vincent Kompany’s form has deteriorated to the point we should not automatically assume he will keep his place against Leicester tonight. But Pellegrini, at 61, is not going to change his methods because of pressure.

“I don’t feel any pressure, especially from the media,” he said. “I feel pressure only when I don’t see my team playing the way I want them to do it.”

The important thing is what the relevant people in Abu Dhabi think. Ferran Soriano, the chief executive, once said Pellegrini should be targeting five trophies in five seasons.

He is in danger of being reliant on his owners’ patience in what is often a notoriously impatient business. Guardian Service