Manuel Pellegrini has had some elite jobs but the last seven days have shown why he won’t ever be considered an elite manager.

Unless he wins the Champions League with Manchester City this season, his trophy count will eventually be remembered as no more outstanding than Roberto Mancini’s - another who is not considered a great.

Pellegrini is fast becoming one of the untouchables, one of those who cannot be criticised. Why? Because he’s a nice man.

Joe Hart (left) is left looking perplexed after Robert Huth headed home Leicester's third goal of the game

Huth's double helped the high-flying Foxes secure a 3-1 victory against Manchester City on their home turf

Don’t get me wrong, I value that kind of quality – being decent – as one of the most important a person can have. But in a football context (and my job is to talk about football) it’s largely irrelevant. Do you want to be remembered as a winner or a nice man? Ideally both of course.

Last week, however, Pellegrini revealed he would be leaving at the end of the season during a press conference. He later joked that he did it to amuse reporters and liven up the journalists. Instead of being nice at a press conference perhaps Pellegrini should have been making plans for Leicester.

It’s an easy excuse to say the announcement of ‘Pellegrini out, Guardiola in’ this summer disrupted City. It’s nonsense. Has that revelation led to Pellegrini being unable to do his job properly? That’s the same as accusing Pellegrini of being unprofessional, and that wouldn’t be very nice would it?

Manuel Pellegrini's all-star City outfit had no answer to Leicester's challenge at the Etihad

In midweek Sunderland outplayed City and were unlucky. On Saturday, Pellegrini proved why he’s not good enough: he showed Leicester zero respect, had no special tactical plan for the game and couldn’t even motivate his players. Yaya Toure was hauled off early in the second half, David Silva has been injury hit, but Pellegrini is failing to get the best out of him.

Even a player like Pablo Zabaleta, the ultimate professional, was not doing the basics at a set-piece. Have these players been man-motivated individually by the coach? Have they been given the right information to get the best out of them?

Credit to Leicester they played very well, but they were allowed to execute the game plan that's been on display all season.

Riyad Mahrez wheels away to celebrate after his cool finish put Leicester 2-0 ahead last Saturday

Pellegrini either wasn’t aware of Leicester’s qualities, which would be unacceptable, or he had no plan to deal with them, which shows he isn’t bright enough at the level that City require.

Losing to Leicester this season isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Even with an expensively-assembled squad like Man City have, it’s possible to lose to Leicester.

But Man City had no plan, no tactics, and no awareness of the reasons why Leicester are top of the table. They were not coached properly. Leicester could have won by six.

If you put that down to the announcement that Guardiola is coming in, what does that say about Pellegrini’s professionalism?