What Manuel Pellegrini would bring to Manchester City

Flexibility in formations

Manuel Pellegrini is not a system-based manager who sticks to a rigid formation – he's flexible with his shape, building a side that suits his best attacking talents. At Villarreal he moved between a fluid 4-4-2 and a more dangerous 4-3-1-2 that allowed Juan Román Riquelme to play in his favoured role behind the strikers; at Real Madrid it was either a midfield diamond or a 4-2-3-1; at Málaga his favoured 4-2-3-1 has occasionally given way to more of a 4-4-2.

The task at Manchester City is supposedly to build a side in a 4-3-3 in line with the wishes of the sporting director, Txiki Begiristain. Pellegrini has limited experience with that formation, but his flexibility suggests it would not be a problem from his point of view. Instead, the issue would be with the squad, as Roberto Mancini has built a side based around packing the centre of the pitch – the Italian has always harboured a distrust of wingers, and City's narrowness was obvious in the 1-0 FA Cup final defeat to Wigan on Saturday.

A love of playmakers

The Chilean has constantly put great emphasis on classic playmakers. The Argentinian No10 Andrés D'Alessandro was briefly the hottest property in South American when he thrived under Pellegrini at River Plate, and one of the Chilean's most significant acts at Villarreal was to embrace Riquelme despite his apparent unsuitability for European football, and his lack of impact at Barcelona.

Pellegrini's experience at Real Madrid in 2009-10 was problematic – the £56m signing Kaká was underwhelming and he would probably have preferred the club to keep hold of Wesley Sneijder, who became Europe's most consistently creative midfielder that season. Getting the best from Cristiano Ronaldo became Pellegrini's priority, amongst bitter political squabbles.

His experience at Málaga has been more familiar – Santi Cazorla, who also played under Pellegrini at Villarreal, was his standout performer last season, while Isco has replaced Cazorla superbly. The faith he has placed in Joaquín and Javier Saviola, not playmakers but technical talents previously assumed to be finished at the highest level, shows his love of technical players. David Silva might become an even more pivotal player.

Structured, cautious attacking

Despite his emphasis upon technique, there is also a caution about Pellegrini's sides – they attack intelligently and methodically rather than frantically. Chile's current footballing style might be based around relentless attacking – Claudio Borghi and Jorge Sampaoli have continued Marcelo Bielsa's work – but having spent a decade in Europe, Pellegrini feels more like a Spanish coach than a Chilean coach.

His sides are also capable of defending solidly in two banks of four, and playing in a reactive and defensive manner. There is little doubt Pellegrini would embrace positive football at City, but he prefers controlled dominance rather than constant waves of attack.

European mentality

Mancini looks sure to be dismissed on the back of an FA Cup failure, but his real problem at Manchester City has been his poor European record. Two consecutive first-round exits – even if City were drawn in difficult groups – was an embarrassing record, whereas Pellegrini is the only coach to have taken two Champions League debutants, Villarreal and Málaga, to at least the quarter-final stage.

In Europe, Pellegrini's sides are very patient. The Villarreal side that came so close to the European Cup final in 2006 may have boasted Riquelme, but they scored only eight goals in their 12 Champions League games, instead depending upon a secure defence. This season, Málaga's impressive attacking secured their passage to the knockout stage, but against Porto and Dortmund they played cautiously and attacked sporadically. City will be less naive in Europe than under Mancini.

Project manager

Although Pellegrini's managerial career has been characterised by short stints at clubs, he's not a "quick fix" manager that will thrive with a disparate group of players that need to be knocked into shape – his experience at Real Madrid demonstrated that. "No one ever asked me anything about how to create a team capable of playing the kind of football I wanted to play," he complained at the time.

Pellegrini would not have full control over transfers at City, but he and Begiristain would need to co-operate to purchase players that will be used to their full potential. At both Villarreal and Málaga, Pellegrini helped to shape the style of the club and create a defined identity, something that has felt missing under Mancini – when City have frequently appeared weaker than the sum of their parts.

Michael Cox is editor of the tactics website zonalmarking.net