Doesn't look good does it Savic playing out of his skin for Atletico and City trying to sign two centre backs this window after Otamendi and Mangala. The message is you've got 12 months and a handful of appearances to make an impression or you're out.
Looks like Pep doesn't rate our central defenders so you'd imagine a Stones bid will go in as soon as the Euros are over. EFC just announced Koeman so they'll be keen to sort Stones future out.
You can add Boateng to the list of decent young CBs that have been through our club. I remember at the time thinking we were wasting him at LB – he played one cup game at CB (that I remember) and looked great to me. Massive opportunity missed.
You can add Boateng to the list of decent young CBs that have been through our club. I remember at the time thinking we were wasting him at LB – he played one cup game at CB (that I remember) and looked great to me. Massive opportunity missed.
I am not fussed about Laporte or Stones as I just think we need to show some faith and trust in what we have. I am in the minority but I think Mangala can turn it around as can Otamendi (who was equally as bad last year). I also think Denayer is one of the best young defenders in Europe and between the 3 of them and Kompany I think we have a decent partnership in there somewhere! We also have another 2 coming through the system in Tosin and Humphreys.
daniel van buyten was our biggest miss as a CB...think we could have signed him for 2 million when he came on loan...but we were that skint we couldn't afford him!
Cue the Txiki haters.daniel van buyten was our biggest miss as a CB...think we could have signed him for 2 million when he came on loan...but we were that skint we couldn't afford him!
daniel van buyten was our biggest miss as a CB...think we could have signed him for 2 million when he came on loan...but we were that skint we couldn't afford him!
The thing is, if you have a well organised defence and a defensive strategy that is coherent and workable then you don't need outrageously brilliant defenders to be decent defensively. I'm still convinced that no defender would have ever looked good in Pellegrini's tactics and I'm convinced that any of the central defenders we have had in the last few years could have looked decent under a different manager. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been particularly impressed with Mangala or Otamendi but I think a good manager could get them playing much much better. Pep is supposed to be the best manager in the world, if Ranieri can win the league and be very good at the back with Huth and Morgan, I'm not sure why we can't fashion a couple of 30+ million quid defenders into a functioning defence.
I think it was a done deal when he came to us that he was going to Bayern, we were skint and not even in the running. Probably one of the best CB’s that has ever played for us. I don’t remember him putting a foot wrong in the 3 or 4 months he played for us. When you think how difficult it is for many players to adapt to a new club and team, he was probably the best player in the team from the first moment he stepped on the pitch to the last.