It is silly talk what you and Neville are trying to argue. We either need a player or we don't. The argument that we are so good that we might get away with it is a copout.
I can similarly point to the greatness of Messi, or the greatness of Veratti or that of a myriad of other good players and make the same argument you are making. Oh we solo need them, but we might get away with it with our good squad.
Oh and just for fun, take out Van Duke on that comparison chart and insert Otamendi. And then come back and tell me what you saw :)
P.S: I see @Neville Kneville is not quick to dismiss stats that support his arguments arguments now. Interesting :)
Actually don't. Just find it strange that people look down on facts.
I could do a similar run down of Kompany. Who is generally comsidered the best CH of this generation.
"Season defining" is a silly made up idea that truly means nothing.
If I were to randomly pick, is say United away, Barca at home were both anticipated successful season defining games. The Leicester and Everton games were season defining failures. The 3 draws at home on the trot to lower table teams were other season defining failures.
Monaco was an epic 6-6 game over 2 legs.
But Chelsea? Didn't rate as anything. And if the home Chelsea game was indicative of anything it was the wastefulness of our attackers (which by the way has continued) and the inability of our goalie to save us or keep us in it like other top keepers did. Hence Ederson.
I could do a similar run down of Kompany. Who is generally comsidered the best CH of this generation.
"Season defining" is a silly made up idea that truly means nothing.
If I were to randomly pick, is say United away, Barca at home were both anticipated successful season defining games. The Leicester and Everton games were season defining failures. The 3 draws at home on the trot to lower table teams were other season defining failures.
Monaco was an epic 6-6 game over 2 legs.
But Chelsea? Didn't rate as anything. And if the home Chelsea game was indicative of anything it was the wastefulness of our attackers (which by the way has continued) and the inability of our goalie to save us or keep us in it like other top keepers did. Hence Ederson.
I could do a similar run down of Kompany. Who is generally comsidered the best CH of this generation.
"Season defining" is a silly made up idea that truly means nothing.
If I were to randomly pick, is say United away, Barca at home were both anticipated successful season defining games. The Leicester and Everton games were season defining failures. The 3 draws at home on the trot to lower table teams were other season defining failures.
Monaco was an epic 6-6 game over 2 legs.
But Chelsea? Didn't rate as anything. And if the home Chelsea game was indicative of anything it was the wastefulness of our attackers (which by the way has continued) and the inability of our goalie to save us or keep us in it like other top keepers did. Hence Ederson.
It is just a narrative people buy into. The fact is we lost our Mojo at Celtic in Septemper when we failed to win for the first time. Then Spurs beat us. In the first game we were outplayed all season ( one would say this was defining game that broke us) then we tied 3 at home on the trot.To be fair, Chelsea at home was season-changing. We lost and had 2 players suspended and got thrashed by Leicester a few days later. We never looked like title contenders again. Chelsea went roaring ahead on a 14 game winning streak that ultimately won them the title. We win that game, we have the momentum, nobody gets suspended and they are stopped in their tracks. Absolutely pivotal that game. It is clearly unfair to blame just Otamendi for the loss, but his 1-on-1 with Costa was utterly abysmal - looked like a pro toying with a youth.
We'll agree to disagree on that. I think often people have an opinion and when they watch they do so strictly to confirm their pre-existing judgment.The main point is he is too inconsisent.
Our defense will be better this season. So expecting him to improve as well. He will do for now but expecting us to go for a top CB next season.
Ederson looks like a world beater. Supreme confidence. Will be key for us.
Kompany-Stones is our best pairing if we play with a back 4.
It is just a narrative people buy into. The fact is we lost our Mojo at Celtic in Septemper when we failed to win for the first time. Then Spurs beat us. In the first game we were outplayed all season ( one would say this was defining game that broke us) then we tied 3 at home on the trot.
By the time we played Chelsea we had failed to win a game at home in 3 attempts. Chelsea was just a continations of a 6 week trend of being terrible at converting chances.
Anyway, just coz Chelsea went on to win the league doesn't make our game against them defining. We were simply one of the many teams they swatted on the way to their victory. Nothing about bearing us was defining. They did it again in the return. Just another win for them. Nothing defining about it.
Again, I repeat, this problem of missing chances has continued till today. We are still missing a boatload, albeit winning.
Defensively we are still conceding few shots albeit our Keeper is saving more of the few we concede.
But somehow, its CB folks think is the problem. Strange reasoning, if you ask me.
We'll agree to disagree on that. I think often people have an opinion and when they watch they do so strictly to confirm their pre-existing judgment.
So when you watch Otamendi, every error stands out. To prove this is what's happening I often point out the same with Kompany. Just to show people it is easy to build that narrative with players that are supposed to be great.
Overall what has their contribution added? That's the me question. And I let facts answer that question. Not bias or opinion. City won 75% of games Otamendi started. Won only 42% of games he missed. Those are the kind of facts that impress me.
Btw that's 2nd best among all City players last season in start/sit differentials.
Opinions can't shake that. Someone remembering an instant Mbappe outta him or Rashford nutmegged him, simply can't compare.
our shooting accuracy was better than most in the league playing with only 1 striker all season and even him playing deep against 10 defenders was the reason we did not score more and you can have 5 strikers but if you only play 1 upfront then the midfield are going to get all the chances then % drops rapidlyCentre back is not the issue. I'm in full agreement there. We had the 4th?? best in the division.
We are a team who attacks, that is our emphasis. We will always concede a percentage more than a team who sets up to defend first
The chances we missed last year was astounding. Even if we put 50% of those away this year, we will the league.
If we need to buy in a certain area, then it's mbappe.
that last line is the bit that i have a problem with, we do not have a left sided CB we have only Ottamendi who can play there, the others that do are crap and every team knows that , so yes i want a LCB trouble is i do not think pep does.It is just a narrative people buy into. The fact is we lost our Mojo at Celtic in Septemper when we failed to win for the first time. Then Spurs beat us. In the first game we were outplayed all season ( one would say this was defining game that broke us) then we tied 3 at home on the trot.
By the time we played Chelsea we had failed to win a game at home in 3 attempts. Chelsea was just a continations of a 6 week trend of being terrible at converting chances.
Anyway, just coz Chelsea went on to win the league doesn't make our game against them defining. We were simply one of the many teams they swatted on the way to their victory. Nothing about bearing us was defining. They did it again in the return. Just another win for them. Nothing defining about it.
Again, I repeat, this problem of missing chances has continued till today. We are still missing a boatload, albeit winning.
Defensively we are still conceding few shots albeit our Keeper is saving more of the few we concede.
But somehow, its CB folks think is the problem. Strange reasoning, if you ask me.
It is just a narrative people buy into. The fact is we lost our Mojo at Celtic in Septemper when we failed to win for the first time. Then Spurs beat us. In the first game we were outplayed all season ( one would say this was defining game that broke us) then we tied 3 at home on the trot.
By the time we played Chelsea we had failed to win a game at home in 3 attempts. Chelsea was just a continations of a 6 week trend of being terrible at converting chances.
Anyway, just coz Chelsea went on to win the league doesn't make our game against them defining. We were simply one of the many teams they swatted on the way to their victory. Nothing about bearing us was defining. They did it again in the return. Just another win for them. Nothing defining about it.
Again, I repeat, this problem of missing chances has continued till today. We are still missing a boatload, albeit winning.
Defensively we are still conceding few shots albeit our Keeper is saving more of the few we concede.
But somehow, its CB folks think is the problem. Strange reasoning, if you ask me.
We had a shit game vs Celtics. Players turn ing turningoff everywhere. This can happen to the best defense on a day off.And strangely enough, one of us, on here, was getting pelters in the Celtic thread, for saying that actually, Celtic did not play like Real Madrid, our defence was fucking shite & that unless we improved drastically, we would win fuck all.
We had a shit game vs Celtics. Players turn ing turningoff everywhere. This can happen to the best defense on a day off.
We just weren't in that game and tied on the share disparity in talent.
But your analysis was eventually found to be wrong. It was our wastefulness in front of goal that coat us 9 points at home in 4 straight home games. Not the defense.
We score just 10% more of our chances over that period and its a 12 point swing with Chelsea.
Poor conversion of chances was our biggest problem.
Can't argue against the want of an LCB. I use "want" as opposed "need" coz the leftsided guy doesn't have to be left footed. It will be nice if he were, but not necessary.that last line is the bit that i have a problem with, we do not have a left sided CB we have only Ottamendi who can play there, the others that do are crap and every team knows that , so yes i want a LCB trouble is i do not think pep does.
its a bit like playing a goalkeeper who cannot catch
That's a silly retort. There are games when the opposition is better. Spurs was that. But has we been firing when we were better, we still would have won.So Spurs was 0-0 then.
That's a silly retort. There are games when the opposition is better. Spurs was that. But has we been firing when we were better, we still would have won.
Again, your analysis is uneven. All teams give away chances and all teams create chances. What determines where your problem lies is figuring out which of the following is happening:
1. Conceding too many chances
2. Conceding too many goals
3. Creating too few chances
4. Converting too few of the chances created.
Again, I repeat for the 100th time, 1 and 3 were not problems at all. We simply conceded fewer chances than anyone but Spurs and United. Meaning, defending, while not great was NOT a debilitating problem
On the other hand we allowed too many goals from the few chances we conceded. Absolute worst ratio in the league. Which points to 2 things, weaker than normal goalkeeping and bad luck.
Even when poor goalkeeping was factored in, we still were allowing more goals than expected. Which means we also were unlucky that the opposition almost never missed the target. This is rear and should regress to mean this season.
Also, we scored significantly fewer of our chances than normal. Frankly we created the most chances by a decent margin. But converted at a bottom 10 rate.
These facts borne out by the stats were obvious when watching by the way. Even thoufh too many fans stuck in a belief system or another, just try hard to reshape the facts to fit their belief.
No slick, our scorers and goalie and fullbacks were most responsible for losing us points last season. Guess what? We are upgrading all those positions.You are at it again.
Of course our finishing should have been better, I was saying so every week.
And of course our defending should have been better. We have Gabriel Jesus & another attacking player in Silva, several kids who can score goals & are rumoured to be after two more forwards.
We are playing 3 at the back, with the same central defenders who were responsible, directly, for losing us points last season.
It isn't fucking rocket science. Pep is taking a gamble.
No slick, our scorers and goalie and fullbacks were most responsible for losing us points last season. Guess what? We are upgrading all those positions.
Hence Danilo, Walker, Mendy, Ederson, and trying for Sanchez.
We've added nothing to defense you say? I mean outside of spending 160 million on defense you are right. Pep is really taking a gamble.
Have you ever thought perhaps, just mabye, your fact free analysis was wrong all along?