Kalidou Koulibaly

blueparrot said:
Fast is good, but concentration, awareness, and stepping up in high pressure moments are what Vinny had that Stones doesn't.
Click to expand...

Also nor especially does Laporte.

Van Dijk is no Kompany, when the shit hits the fan. But, like Laporte, he does possess the ability to minimise the amount of shit, thrown at the fan, in the first place.

A player who can use his pace & experience, to cover for Laporte (or Stones) would win us a lot of games, just by tidying up, which is what Van Dijk mostly does, next to an inferior partner.
 
Neville Kneville said:
It doesn't actually matter how many goals we let in over a season, so long as we're not stupid about it.

What does matter, is when we let them in, within context of the game we are playing.

If a 29 year old, fast, cb can make the difference of us not conceding 1 goal, at the crucially wrong time, particularly when we are bossing games, we will win most of the games we lose ir draw.

That's all Vinny did. He didn't play ten times better than Stones or Otamendi, he was just a bit better, often.
Click to expand...

And he had a calming presence. I know I keep banging on about this but when you look at the goals we concede it is absurd how often they follow the front 3 missing huge chances and everyone starting to panic that it might be one of those days. You can literally see it in the players.

In the back end of 18/19, Vinny just kept everyone calm. We won loads of games with just 1 goal, and if you look at the times of the goals, loads of them are 50-70 minutes. Without Kompany it feels like the players panic if we're not up within 35 minutes, especially in these 100 point title races.
 
eastmanc said:
You tell them Kaz, I have been going on about to anyone that will listen.
Click to expand...

Wow, as a ardent City fan even I’ve been conditioned to think our defense is trash but this statistic has shocked me. Is there some other statistic everyone goes by that shows we are way worse? Legit question there, I’m just truly surprised by that stat!
 
domalino said:
I like to take the piss out of the dippers as much as anyone, and I have definitely wound them up about our defences being so close at the end, but the fact is that when it mattered, they had a much, much better defence.

They let in 15 goals in the first 26 games of the season (we'd let in 29) and built up a 22 point lead.

Yes, they let in 18 in the next 12 (compared to our 6) but it didn't matter, the league was over, they had won the only thing they set out to win.

This is a lot like the goals debate. Yes we scored more goals overall, but at the vital moments, 0-0 and 1-0, were we as clinical in front of goal as them? No.
Click to expand...
I spoke too soon it appears. Thanks for clarifying.
 
domalino said:
And he had a calming presence. I know I keep banging on about this but when you look at the goals we concede it is absurd how often they follow the front 3 missing huge chances and everyone starting to panic that it might be one of those days. You can literally see it in the players.

In the back end of 18/19, Vinny just kept everyone calm. We won loads of games with just 1 goal, and if you look at the times of the goals, loads of them are 50-70 minutes. Without Kompany it feels like the players panic if we're not up within 35 minutes, especially in these 100 point title races.
Click to expand...

I mentioned the other day, that imo when we lose possession currently, it is often a defensive mistake, because we actually defend by having the ball. As soon as we lose it, anywhere on the pitch, we are in potential danger unless we quickly get ot back. A long hoof down the centre, is clear danger to us. A ball down the channel, we are all stood trying to play kamikaze offside rather than running with the danger as VK would do.

A unit with pace, like Koulibaly, could tidy up most of those situations.

I don't actually care if it's him or soneone else, but if we do sign him, I think we are signing the closest to a 'sure thing' from the available options.

That doesn't mean he will be, all are gambles, but I'd be seriously shocked if he didn't improve our defence.
 
Neville Kneville said:
We need to get our act together with that kind of stuff, in the future.

I'm pretty sure we allowed the manager to choose inferior defensive options when we had Denayer & Van Dijk, on a plate.
Click to expand...

The Denayer new contract and being told he would play, only to sign it and be loaned out with Demichelis having his squad place still stings to do this day. Denayer should have been a perfect Guardiola centre back in every way. We fucked his progression up big time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.