Nicolas Otamendi - 2016/17 performances
- Thread starter Super Joey Hart
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The problem I find is that folks often judge him by Kompany's 2012-13 standards. He isn't nor will ever be that good. But here is the kicker neither would 99% of players in football. Not even Kompany is that.
He is currently, warts and all, a top 5 CB in the Premiership. By that, I mean if you replaced him with every other CB in the league, you'd find less than 5 who'd have is in a better place.
He has his faults (and slide tackling isn't one of them) he goes on solo missions (bad), sometimes doesn't play within the defenses structure(bad) and is slightly slower than a decently speedy CB (true)
But the intensity of play, ferocity of tackle, the effort in the air, the reading of plays for interceptions, the way he gives up his body for the cause, his passing, his ability in possession and decision making on the ball when you add it all up, it simply dwarfs his shortcoming.
I always laugh when people are excited for Real Madrid to come get him. Instead of that being a clue to them that we have an unappreciated gem on our hands here, most would rather conclude it must be Madrid who don't know what they are doing, and they can't wait to drive him to the bus station themselves. When he leaves, we'll miss him.terrible. Those paying attention to facts have begun to point that out already.
For me, the only problem is that like Pep I believe John Stones is the future, and for the sake of symmetry I think a Left footed defender should be our LCB unless there is some exceptionally talented right footer who can play on the left.
Both Otas and Stones are noticeably weaker when they play LCB. Hence why Kolarov plays so much. Ota is pretty close to fantastic at RCB. And Stones is now growing in the position.
If City's backup CB is Otamendi come start of next season, then we'd frankly have one of the best set of 3 Cbs anywhere in Europe. Assuming Stones steps up as expected.
I'll say it again, there aren't 5 central defenders in the Prem better than Ota. He is that good. Just grossly underappreciated.
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Delphacito
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I rarely ever see Otamendi lose an aerial battle, it's amazing really.
There are those who believe he is Shit in the air. Its mind boggling some of the beliefs about him.
There are many bad things one can say about Otamendi. That he is bad in the air should never be one of them for anyone who has watched him more than once. Talk less a City fan who watches him weekly. :(
kaz7
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I'm a fan but the diving in and going to ground is his weakness,when he misses he is taken out of the game and reliant on someone else to cover his position then they are out of position as well,i think it's that what winds peope up
City_Sean
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I actually thought he'd be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Pep's arrival as he's a very good defender in 1v1 situations. For me his biggest issue is composure or lack of. If he used his brain a tad more he'd be arguably the best CB in the country.
Neville Kneville
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He is only shit in the air when someone puts in a half decent challenge. Unchallenged, he's fantastic, apart from when he occasionally jumps under the ball & leaves the cf goalside, but hey...
Otamendi has been City's best defender in his last 3 games. Still made a few fuckups, but closer to being acceptable for a top ten side & much less Kamikaze. He can't grow an extra 4 yards of pace, so it's unfair to complain about him in comparison to Mane, but he rescued a few hopeless situations by determination &, apart from his headless moments, he is on he whole a much better defender, currently, than Stones.
But we have invested a lot of money in Stones & he's younger, & a Pep signing, wheras Otamendi is cheaper, older & a Pellegrini signing, therefore, Stones will get preference if we find better quality defenders available in the summer.
If we don't find better derfenders, we'll probably miss the title next season as well.
Arthureros
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Has his faults which is far outweighed by his quality. Would pick him over AK all day.
Delphacito
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I understand that might be your perception of him, but the fact is Otamendi is a beast in the air and there's no way around it.
Whoscored shows that he has the best 'Aerial' score from all defenders in the Premier League. The number of aerial duels he won is second only to Virgil Van Dijk who is much taller and bigger than him.
Squawka here showed he's 7th in the Premier League in Aerial duels despite playing the 2nd LEAST minutes compared to everyone in the top 10.
@mavsmcfc its not about the facts. Its just framing. Neville just wanted to give a negative opinion so he framed it that way. He knows the facts, but its best to undermine it by saying "only when no one puts in a decent challenge." In other words, he isn't disputing the facts, just simply explaining it away.
The other way folks do it is by saying "he was good today." In other words he is normally bad, but today he was good. In reality he has 4 very good games for every 1 bad game.
The most logical conclusion anyone should reach is that he is very good (I.e. that's the norm) but has a penchant for having howlers every once in a while.
But Nooooo, most see the 1 bad game in 5 as his norm and the other 4 games as him being good in individual games. Its one of those strange thing I've seen on here.
The other way folks do it is by saying "he was good today." In other words he is normally bad, but today he was good. In reality he has 4 very good games for every 1 bad game.
The most logical conclusion anyone should reach is that he is very good (I.e. that's the norm) but has a penchant for having howlers every once in a while.
But Nooooo, most see the 1 bad game in 5 as his norm and the other 4 games as him being good in individual games. Its one of those strange thing I've seen on here.
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