Manuel Pellegrini concerned by form

Manuel Pellegrini admits he is worried by Manchester City’s poor away form this season and has told his team they must stop making mistakes on the road.

GettyImagesManuel Pellegrini wants to see his side improve on their away record.

City go into a run of four consecutive away games when they face West Ham on Saturday, before trips to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, Chelsea in the Premier League and Newcastle in the Capital One Cup.


But so far this season, they have only taken one point from a possible nine on their travels in the Premier League -- only Crystal Palace have fewer -- and manager Pellegrini is adamant his side need to improve.
“Of course we are worried about that,” he said. “I think we deserve more points away the way we are playing but the reality says we have one point from nine so we need to win. Now we play four games in a row away so it is the best moment to win.”

City have been beaten at Cardiff and Aston Villa in the Premier League, and Pellegrini is concerned by his side’s defensive lapses.

“If we see the statistics of the games we played away, of course we must be worried because Villa scored three goals and Cardiff scored three goals,” he said. “We must address a lot of unnecessary mistakes, unnecessary fouls and concentration at set-pieces. We must improve the performance of all of our defending as a team.”

After coming unstuck at Villa Park, Pellegrini believes West Ham manager Sam Allardyce could well copy Villa’s blueprint to stop his side on Saturday.

“Maybe he will try to play exactly the same way Aston Villa played against us, waiting with nine or ten players defending and trying to counter-attack,” he said. “That is how they normally play. They are a very strong team and a very dangerous team. We are aware of that.”