Millwallawayveteran1988
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Yep. Over stocked in the middle, under stocked out wide. Why we didn’t spend some of the money we had on a Competent full back is anyones guess.
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25 | Manuel Akanji - 2022/23 Performances
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OrigamiNinja
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It’s really odd given what’s gone before. Pep came in, tolerated our ageing FBs for a season and basically said “these guys are old and shit. Get me new FBs”. It worked.Yep. Over stocked in the middle, under stocked out wide. Why we didn’t spend some of the money we had on a Competent full back is anyones guess.
Pep currently thinking that Stones can play RB, means that not only are we weaker at RB, but we are weaker at CB, because the likes of Ake and Akanji aren’t as good as he is there. Pep sees it as giving these guys the games they are “due”. I see it as unnecessarily weakening the side. Nothing against these guys…Ake is a decent defender. Akanji, in the limited time he has been here looks a decent defender. However, they are not better than what we already had. Teams don’t get better by swapping out world-class for decent.
Dortmund fans didn't particularly rate him very highly and did call him error prone. Though be had a great start, he is not that great as he is being made out and he is not shit as some may suggest. He is serviceable CB who will do okay to good. However when all are fit we will have problems. We neeeded a CB as we have few injury prone - Dias La Porte Stones Ake all have been a but injured but that may not be the case alm the time. This CB playing FB will continue
This is where I stand on him. The Kompany comparisons after 4/5 games were embarrassing but he's clearly a lot better than Dortmund fans told us he was. He strikes me as being about as useful as Otamendi or (pre-2015) Demichelis and I imagine he'll be remembered similarly by City fans when he leaves.Dortmund fans didn't particularly rate him very highly and did call him error prone. Though be had a great start, he is not that great as he is being made out and he is not shit as some may suggest. He is serviceable CB who will do okay to good.
But we can't go through this season with 4 CBs, which sounds ridiculous but Ake and Stones, and even Laporte and Walker these days, can't be trusted to stay fit for more than a month at a time. We nearly threw the league away in May because we had to put Fernandinho in at CB in the last two games of the season.
What Akanji gives us is options - I'd be more worried about his performance against Brentford if he was the only one who struggled but Stones, Cancelo, Rodri, and De Bruyne were all off it as well defensively yesterday. If he can give 10-15 good performances and then drop the odd clanger he'll have been a good cheap purchase.
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang
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100%. Reminds me of when we had Kun, Tereza, Balo and Edin. After a while it became obvious that atleast 2 had to leave. We are in the same situation with our CB's right now. Ake, Laporte or Stones. One has to go.I said it at the time and I will say it again now…Ake should have been sold. We didn’t need 3 top-class CBs + Ake then. We 100% do not need 3 top-class CBs + Ake + Akanji now.
It does not matter one jot that Ake has improved, or that Akanji has looked good since he signed. It’s like having Haaland, Mbappe and Lewandowski all vying for one strikers spot…unsustainable.
No team should be having a different CB partnership every week. If Ake, or Akanji cannot consistently surpass the levels that Stones, Dias and Laporte have shown over sustained, title-winning seasons, they are no fucking use to us. Dias was lauded as the best CB in Europe, now he is on the bench every other week so that CBs a fraction of his quality don’t put a transfer request in. Farcical.
jimmygrimblesboots
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Akanji was bullied against Brentford his postional sense suspect and didnt anticipate danger , he had an awful game but he wasnt on his own , the whole back four were missing in action , the midfield also out of position with Rodri overrun everytime Brentford passed the half way line.
Akanji needs judging at the end of the season , and put his latest game behind him becuase he has looked a decent centre since arriving , every one is entitled to an off day ,but when whole team is garbage then our defence is going to be tested and they all failed miserably.
Akanji needs judging at the end of the season , and put his latest game behind him becuase he has looked a decent centre since arriving , every one is entitled to an off day ,but when whole team is garbage then our defence is going to be tested and they all failed miserably.
daveyboybluemoon
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Id argue Ake has been our best defender this seasonI said it at the time and I will say it again now…Ake should have been sold. We didn’t need 3 top-class CBs + Ake then. We 100% do not need 3 top-class CBs + Ake + Akanji now.
It does not matter one jot that Ake has improved, or that Akanji has looked good since he signed. It’s like having Haaland, Mbappe and Lewandowski all vying for one strikers spot…unsustainable.
No team should be having a different CB partnership every week. If Ake, or Akanji cannot consistently surpass the levels that Stones, Dias and Laporte have shown over sustained, title-winning seasons, they are no fucking use to us. Dias was lauded as the best CB in Europe, now he is on the bench every other week so that CBs a fraction of his quality don’t put a transfer request in. Farcical.
At £15 million he was a bargain and in the majority of games where we've been in total control he's looked fine especially as the ball was 70% in opposition half.He was awful at Anfield as well. He's had as many bad games as good games.
However Liverpool and Brentford we got put under real pressure and he looked very shakey indeed.
We've hardly played any of the traditional top 6. Have a look at some of his later performances for Dortmund and he was shakey again and got much criticism.
He will do a job as a squad player, but starters for me are Dias and Laporte.
I think in some of the early games he gotma lot if praise mainly due to his bargain price. However in the 2 real tests he struggled sadly.
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