Kalidou Koulibaly

[Semper aggressus]

You made the statement without evidence to substantiate it.

https://www.premierleague.com/players/4804/Fernandinho/stats

So I'll do it for you. Errors leading to goals = 0.

The only stat that matters is we outscored Liverpool and every other team but ended up about 20 points behind, mainly because of defensive errors. That suggests we need to improve our defence, and Koulibaly would certainly do that.

He is a better defender than Fernandinho so he'll improve our defence. We cannot rely on a 35 year old midfielder to play at centre back when other, better options are available.

 

[Semper aggressus]

It's very easy to go through goals we've conceded to give examples. I did it with the goals we've conceded in games we've lost, unsurprisingly the thread went very quiet because no one wanted to admit Koulibaly might just not be able to help as much as they're saying he would. A few days later and we're back to unsubstantiated rhetoric to hammer our own players and promote a new signing. Koulibaly is a great player but he simply can't have the impact some are suggesting, he's being made out to be a god like figure who never makes a mistake, plays out of defence better than Beckenbauer and yesterday one poster even said that he's our only chance of winning all 4 competitions. Despite no player in history ever having done so, people are just getting carried away with a very good player and think he's magically going to solve all our defensive issues, defensive issues which cannot be solved by one man, no matter how good he is.

I didn't say anywhere that Koulibaly would single handedly win us every trophy, or that he should be our only signing. I also think we need a left back and a Sané replacement with extreme pace. But this thread is about Koulibaly. In my opinion he would be a significant improvement on what we have already, commit fewer defensive errors and therefore improve the team. Hence I believe he would be a very good signing and a significant upgrade on Fernandinho in the centre back role, regardless of stats.

 

[christened at st marks]

There's three pretty poor unforced errors in his passing (1:42, 1:52 and 2:52 in the video), what's your thoughts on those? Do you think those could cause us additional problems considering the majority of goals we concede generally stem from us losing possession in those same dangerous areas? (e.g. Mendy at Chelsea, Otamendi at Norwich, Zinchenko at Southampton and there's a good few other examples).

All his touches which is realistic not fantasy you tube and it is against the toughest opposition we face

 

[mosssideblue]

Is there genuine interest by the club in this fella or is it simply a fans desire for us to sign him.. Gen Q

 

[Big Dave Watson]

Is there genuine interest by the club in this fella or is it simply a fans desire for us to sign him.. Gen Q

No, this thread was just started so a couple of posters could argue about the strengths and weaknesses of central defenders.

 

[mccity]

Is there genuine interest by the club in this fella or is it simply a fans desire for us to sign him.. Gen Q

There were a few tweets a couple of weeks ago saying there was interest from both the player and City. This isn't a total pie in the sky thing like Haaland.

 

[ctid1894]

The only stat that matters is we outscored Liverpool and every other team but ended up about 20 points behind, mainly because of defensive errors. That suggests we need to improve our defence, and Koulibaly would certainly do that.

He is a better defender than Fernandinho so he'll improve our defence. We cannot rely on a 35 year old midfielder to play at centre back when other, better options are available.

I didn't say anywhere that Koulibaly would single handedly win us every trophy, or that he should be our only signing. I also think we need a left back and a Sané replacement with extreme pace. But this thread is about Koulibaly. In my opinion he would be a significant improvement on what we have already, commit fewer defensive errors and therefore improve the team. Hence I believe he would be a very good signing and a significant upgrade on Fernandinho in the centre back role, regardless of stats.

You keep saying defensive errors, name them.

In the 9 games we've lost there was 1 defensive error at Wolves away for their third goal, another two goalkeeping errors from Ederson at Salford. Meanwhile 10 of the goals we conceded came from slow build-up play leading to us getting caught in possession, leaving the defence completely exposed and helpless.

So you can either focus on the tiniest problem of defensive errors or you can focus on improving the build-up play to prevent the attacking errors which have lead directly to most goals we've conceded.

The comment about winning 4 trophies wasn't directed at you, it was completely unrelated to you.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

You keep saying defensive errors, name them.

In the 9 games we've lost there was 1 defensive error at Wolves away for their third goal, another two goalkeeping errors from Ederson at Salford. Meanwhile 10 of the goals we conceded came from slow build-up play leading to us getting caught in possession, leaving the defence completely exposed and helpless.

So you can either focus on the tiniest problem of defensive errors or you can focus on improving the build-up play to prevent the attacking errors which have lead directly to most goals we've conceded.

Otamendi at Norwich surely is a defensive error?

 

[razman]

Waiting for Mondays verdict and then I will be spamming this thread.

He is a Must have especially for his 70m Euros

 

[ctid1894]

Otamendi at Norwich surely is a defensive error?

Getting caught in possession isn't a defensive error in my opinion. That's shit attacking (build-up) play caused specifically by having a right footed player at LCB. His options were limited by his inability to use his left foot, forcing him to play inside, only Norwich had closed off those options. A left footed player in that situation plays safely out to the left back.