Lol, I'd hope that a £38.5m defender would be able to force his way into the first team. But what bollocks. There's no way we're spending nearly £40m on a defender.George Hannah said:In what is a World Cup year, Mangala is understood to be concerned about making any move that could see his playing time diminished – especially when Kompany and Nastasic both return from injury.
cibaman said:Lancet Fluke said:dctid said:We need a centre back that can play whatever style MP wants - if he wantrs to play a high line then he needs to get a CB who has the ability to make good defensive recovery runs for the ball over the top
It fe wants to play a much deeper defensive line then there are probably more options availble
For me i would spend bif on a centre half and after what we have seen i doint think MP has little option - a half arsed squad CB wont cut it - if Cardiff can exploit our weaknesses then Rag, Chelski and others will have a field day
I totally agree, looking at the type of defender we are likely to need, we will probably have to spend quite a lot and get a defender to go straight in there as first choice alongside VK. Will obviously mean Nastasic having to accept less games when everyone is fit but that's the way it goes. If we do go out and get in a defender to occupy 3rd/4th choice role then I don't see how we are going to overcome the two glaring issues which are that as soon as Kompany is out we have a terrible lack of leadership and pace at the back.
And also ability to defend set pieces
Sleeping_Easy said:Who is available that fits that bill?
birchwoodgingerste said:We need someone who wins everything in the air but things will improve once players get to grip with new system.
To slowBigOscar said:Garay is on the verge of joining Zenit for £15m, so why on earth are we chasing Mangala and Benatia at £30m+? This just doesn't make any sense to me, he would be absolutely perfect for us and is going for an absolute bargain price, yet instead we are chasing incredibly overpriced players with less pedigree
You don't need pace to play CB, even with a high line if you are a good defender. He's played a high line for large parts of the past 3 years with no problem at all, and that's with Luisao partnering him who is monumentally slow. Garay isn't particularly slow anyway, I'm not sure where this belief comes from? (please don't say FIFA)Proelia said:To slowBigOscar said:Garay is on the verge of joining Zenit for £15m, so why on earth are we chasing Mangala and Benatia at £30m+? This just doesn't make any sense to me, he would be absolutely perfect for us and is going for an absolute bargain price, yet instead we are chasing incredibly overpriced players with less pedigree