Virgil van Dijk

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nmc said:
Mangala's defending looked good & strong and his positioning looked much better but his distribution looked woeful and that's what Pep will have been watching.
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Agree...in the right system he can be a solid CB but never a Pep player...looks uncomfortable on the ball.
 
TRUE BLUE NO1 said:
Agree...in the right system he can be a solid CB but never a Pep player...looks uncomfortable on the ball.
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Looking uncomfortable and being uncomfortable are different things though. Mangala looks awkward, makes people nervous and seems to never have the ball under control but he doesn't actually give it away all that often. At least not significantly more than say Stones who looks relaxed as anything but gives simple balls away fairly regularly. Same can be said of Otamendi too. I also don't think it's necessary for all 3 defenders to be comfortable on the ball in a 3-5-2. There's enough space created by having the extra man there to be able to avoid the opposition team pressuring us into giving it Mangala all the time and forcing mistakes. He can play simple 10 yard balls and that's all we need him to do,
 
OrigamiNinja said:
Is it about covering VK though? VVD is better than both Stones and Otamendi. I would expect if we did sign him, then Otamendi would find himself as back up. One of my biggest concerns about the current 3-5-2 setup is that we are a CB injury away, from us having to either having to abandon the formation or go with a huge drop off in quality. We are waiting for Vinny to be the one to get injured but when we are playing with three CBs and we actually only have three decent CBs at the club, we are playing with fire. Can you imagine going into a big Prem or CL game and having to play Tosin? I think if we intend to play four at the back for the majority of games we can probably get away with what we currently have, if three CBs is the way we are going to go, then for me, VVD would arguably be our most important signing of the summer.
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agree with all this

Having played with 3 at the back thru pre season and for the opening game, we are obviously going to play it a lot and potentially, most games

we have 4 CBS, Vinnie (the best) who is injury prone, Otamendi who I am afraid is simply too rash and not good enough but probably staying (and has been linked to a sale recently), Stones who should be good but still has a slight element of 'jury out' and then Mangala who was on his way out. You can't go into a season where you plan on playing 3 CBs with just those 4 senior CBs on the books

What we could really do with is Kolorov ! Cover for when our only senior LB can't play and cover for CB, plus he's particularly suited to the WB position when we play a back 3 given his pace and crossing ability...............
 
blue5ter said:
What we could really do with is Kolorov ! Cover for when our only senior LB can't play and cover for CB, plus he's particularly suited to the WB position when we play a back 3 given his pace and crossing ability...............
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im so glad you arent running this team haha
 
Joe Hart's Dandruff said:
Mangala's positioning was all over the place yesterday. Fair play, he did make a few good last ditch tackles, but that was because he was tucked in when he should have been in a wider position. I would feel a lot more comfortable going into the season with Virgil, but really don't see it happening.
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That's exactly what I thought despite the commentator singing his praises v Girona. In the Premiership those last second challenges will be penalties. His passing is terrible, he either passes to the opposition or fires an uncontrollable ball to a sky blue shirt.

VVD would be the answer for years to come and it's been obvious for quite a while. Can see us trying another Mangala,Savic or Nastasic rather than a proven young Premiership central defender. Still great value for money over the course of his contract even at 60 mill. Should be a priority signing before anything else, even a striker.

Would fit City perfectly just the price that is stopping us. Missed out on Cahill years ago for the same reason. False economy in the end.
 
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I'm not at all sold on VVD. Had some really iffy games last year when I watched him. But haven't watched him enough to be sure one way or another.
 
Cobwebcat said:
That's exactly what I thought despite the commentator singing his praises v Girona. In the Premiership those last second challenges will be penalties. His passing is terrible, he either passes to the opposition or fires an uncontrollable ball to a sky blue shirt.

VVD would be the answer for years to come and it's been obvious for quite a while. Can see us trying another Mangala,Savic or Nastasic rather than a proven young Premiership central defender. Still great value for money over the course of his contract even at 60 mill. Should be a priority signing before anything else, even a striker.

Would fit City perfectly just the price that is stopping us. Missed out on Cahill years ago for the same reason. False economy in the end.
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Agree. I also agree with the poster above who said he would immediately come in and command a starting position ahead of Stones and Otamendi. We can't afford to have a centre pairing of Stones and Otamendi for any extended period this season, or we will be found out again. Personally thought the defence looked better yesterday after Stones went off. Worrying signs, as City have invested so much in him turning into an elite player. Looks a long way off.
 
Joe Hart's Dandruff said:
Agree. I also agree with the poster above who said he would immediately come in and command a starting position ahead of Stones and Otamendi. We can't afford to have a centre pairing of Stones and Otamendi for any extended period this season, or we will be found out again. Personally thought the defence looked better yesterday after Stones went off. Worrying signs, as City have invested so much in him turning into an elite player. Looks a long way off.
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Stones does the difficult things well and the easy things badly. Concentration issues. I still believe he will be ok.
 
Cobwebcat said:
Stones does the difficult things well and the easy things badly. Concentration issues. I still believe he will be ok.
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Stones has a lot of attributes but he really needs to cut out the sloppy mistakes. Far too many errors in his game.
 
Joe Hart's Dandruff said:
That's exactly why I worry. It is a problem he has always had, and doesn't seem to have improved. Hopefully this season proves me wrong, but I wouldn't bet money on it.
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The solution to this sort of issue seems to be to play a back three with the weak defender in the middle - worked a charm for Chelsea (Luiz is clueless on defense but played very well in a back 3) and now seems to be working for us. The occasional fuck-up in the middle of a back 3 is much less likely to lead to a huge problem for the defense - as opposed to the screw-up for a central defender in a back 4 - which is almost always going to lead to a scoring opportunity for the opposition.
 
CityInWashingtonState said:
The solution to this sort of issue seems to be to play a back three with the weak defender in the middle - worked a charm for Chelsea (Luiz is clueless on defense but played very well in a back 3) and now seems to be working for us. The occasional fuck-up in the middle of a back 3 is much less likely to lead to a huge problem for the defense - as opposed to the screw-up for a central defender in a back 4 - which is almost always going to lead to a scoring opportunity for the opposition.
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I agree, which is why I'm a bit wary of the call a lot seem to have for us to revert to a Back 4 against lesser teams. With how far up our fullbacks and wingers push up, we'll be very vulnerable to the counter again, no matter how fast our new fullbacks are.
 
taconinja said:
I agree, which is why I'm a bit wary of the call a lot seem to have for us to revert to a Back 4 against lesser teams. With how far up our fullbacks and wingers push up, we'll be very vulnerable to the counter again, no matter how fast our new fullbacks are.
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Good point - I'm not at all in favor of a back 3 against sides like Brighton - but you're right. By playing a back 3 against weak sides we can use Stones - and if the defense somehow screws up, it's much less likely that the opposition will score against a back 3.
 
CityInWashingtonState said:
The solution to this sort of issue seems to be to play a back three with the weak defender in the middle - worked a charm for Chelsea (Luiz is clueless on defense but played very well in a back 3) and now seems to be working for us. The occasional fuck-up in the middle of a back 3 is much less likely to lead to a huge problem for the defense - as opposed to the screw-up for a central defender in a back 4 - which is almost always going to lead to a scoring opportunity for the opposition.
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My only worry about having Kompany covering so much space if he is not the middle defender, is that he has apparently lost a yard of pace since being out.
 
J_MCFC21 said:


Also says - Krueger: "It's the principle, path & statement we need to make to get to a new space as a club. We're adamant about carrying this through"
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Good on them. Otamendi, Stones and Kompany are all quality we just need an extra competent body for when Kompany is injured.
 
I don't get the comments on this thread about Stones. OK he wasn't perfect but for me he had an OK game. Made a couple of mistakes but which player didn't? Certainly, so far this season friendlies and Brighton we have not had any episodes of Keystone Kops defending. I am more concerned about the lack of space the wide players are operating in. Very much like last season a wide player receives the ball and takes one or two touches and passes it backwards. We are still taking too long to progress forwards and players are too concerned about giving the ball away and consequently not taking on their marker.
 
nmc said:
Stones has a lot of attributes but he really needs to cut out the sloppy mistakes. Far too many errors in his game.
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Both are very good on the ball but suffer from making defensive mistakes. Otamendi spends far too much time on his arse for my liking.
 
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