Eric Garcia 2018/19 performances

[Neville Kneville]

Just so we're clear you're only talking about his height being an issue in the immediate future right? Like next season or so? Because that's 1) what it looks like you wrote to me and 2) totally true.

If not let me know, it's just I'm a bit tired and don't want to get it wrong.

I'm talking about his ability to jump. He doesn't appear to have it & usually players don't magically aquire it.

There was nothing stopping Zabaleta from being the best cb in the Prem & playing there for Pep apart from he can't play there for any length of time due to being average in the air.

 

[mccity]

I'm talking about his ability to jump. He doesn't appear to have it & usually players don't magically aquire it.

There was nothing stopping Zabaleta from being the best cb in the Prem & playing there for Pep apart from he can't play there for any length of time due to being average in the air.

Ah right. He can't seem to jump much can he? Although he might not magically acquire it as you say, it is possible to develop the ability with some hard work and dedication. I apologise for using him positively on this forum but Cristiano Ronaldo didn't always have it in him to leap like a salmon.

Although even he can't jump, there are certain ways to get around the problem surely? Excellent positional sense, smart reading of the play, well timed aggression and a strong balance can make life very difficult for a striker.

But I do think as it stands something needs to change because as it stands you're right. Otherwise he's going to be a pushover. Hopefully it's one of things I said above or if we're super lucky a late growth spurt could come on (he could fix his posture for a start). You know me though, if there's a chance of it I'll probably take the optimistic route and say he's got what it takes.

 

[caseball]

Fair enough, thanks and no problem.

I think I can see your perspective, and I get how you feel really. These are some bloody good defenders we're talking about here and the kid is only a novice at this level. These labels are not only disrespectful to the older guys but also putting unnecessary pressure on a young man. In fact, I reckon a whole host of people who haven't bothered to post probably felt exactly the same way. So kudos for speaking up.

The only thing is, is that the bunch of us are not all trying to say he'll be good like they were (some may have been tbh I haven't checked). We're trying to simply reassure some other posters and probably ourselves that his height isn't an issue, particularly in the notoriously physical English league environment. And what most people have realised is that the best way to do that is to point out examples of other players lacking in height who nonetheless turned out to be successes.

As an example, it's not so much, 'He'll be the new Cannavaro'. It's more, 'Well Cannavaro became world class and he wasn't even 5ft10, so there's no reason why Garcia being 5ft11 should be a limiting factor.'. We could be more pragmatic and say he might be as good as the similarly heighted Nedum Onuoha or maybe even Wes Brown if we're ambitious, but that wouldn't allay people's fears that he can make it at City level. I am certain plenty of others in your position would have found that reasonable.

I personally was only pointing out that we hadn't made the comparison with Carvalho as he is a guy who was a great success in England in spite of apparent shortness. Most of the other examples hadn't played in England so you could always make an argument based off that fact to deny those examples. I'll admit my language, particularly the word comparison was potentially misleading. But I'd like to assure that it's not about what you think it is, even though everything you said was totally accurate within the assumption that it was what you were thinking about. It's about trying to disprove his height being a reason he'll fail in England.

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

You're welcome, mate. No offense was meant.

 

[mccity]

You're welcome, mate. No offense was meant.

Well thanks for being reasonable about it :D

 

[Neville Kneville]

Ah right. He can't seem to jump much can he? Although he might not magically acquire it as you say, it is possible to develop the ability with some hard work and dedication. I apologise for using him positively on this forum but Cristiano Ronaldo didn't always have it in him to leap like a salmon.

Although even he can't jump, there are certain ways to get around the problem surely? Excellent positional sense, smart reading of the play, well timed aggression and a strong balance can make life very difficult for a striker.

But I do think as it stands something needs to change because as it stands you're right. Otherwise he's going to be a pushover. Hopefully it's one of things I said above or if we're super lucky a late growth spurt could come on (he could fix his posture for a start). You know me though, if there's a chance of it I'll probably take the optimistic route and say he's got what it takes.

The thing with Ronaldo though, as with Richards; sprinters legs. They had that pace & power in their legs which could get them off the ground.

I don't see that with Garcia. It might be possible for him to aquire the ability to dominate the centre of a penalty area, I don't know for sure, but I know it's unlikely to happen in time that we could ditch Otamendi & have Garcia at cb in many games. Otamendi himself struggles against the real aerial specialists & he is miles away from where Garcia currently is.

I think we should look at other positions for Garcia, in case he can't get round this, as he is better on the ball than pretty much any defenders are. He can really spot a pass.

We don't want him to end up a player we can only use in a back 3.

 

[mccity]

The thing with Ronaldo though, as with Richards; sprinters legs. They had that pace & power in their legs which could get them off the ground.

I don't see that with Garcia. It might be possible for him to aquire the ability to dominate the centre of a penalty area, I don't know for sure, but I know it's unlikely to happen in time that we could ditch Otamendi & have Garcia at cb in many games. Otamendi himself struggles against the real aerial specialists & he is miles away from where Garcia currently is.

I think we should look at other positions for Garcia, in case he can't get round this, as he is better on the ball than pretty much any defenders are. He can really spot a pass.

We don't want him to end up a player we can only use in a back 3.

Makes sense. Personally I think it CAN work, but that's largely off me thinking that he wouldn't have been played as a CB if management didn't think he had it in him long term. Perhaps they were just testing the waters with that? I guess we'll have a clearer picture in next season's League Cup campaign.

Although as you've said elsewhere, the idea that he's thrown in the deep-end next season as a Otamendi replacement just seems too much. Whatever happens we need to take good care of this lad, he's got an ability to snuff out danger and to quote yourself, 'he can really spot a pass'.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Makes sense. Personally I think it CAN work, but that's largely off me thinking that he wouldn't have been played as a CB if management didn't think he had it in him long term. Perhaps they were just testing the waters with that? I guess we'll have a clearer picture in next season's League Cup campaign.

Although as you've said elsewhere, the idea that he's thrown in the deep-end next season as a Otamendi replacement just seems too much. Whatever happens we need to take good care of this lad, he's got an ability to snuff out danger and to quote yourself, 'he can really spot a pass'.

I hope we don't put that pressure on him at this stage. Give him time to develop without him being essential to our success.

 

[mccity]

I hope we don't put that pressure on him at this stage. Give him time to develop without him being essential to our success.

What's your opinion about a possible loan? As in when, for how long, where, what position or if we even should arrange one at all? Interested to hear your perspective on this one.

 

[Neville Kneville]

What's your opinion about a possible loan? As in when, for how long, where, what position or if we even should arrange one at all? Interested to hear your perspective on this one.

Don't know tbh.

Pep might want to keep close control of him. And of course cb is such a key position they would drop him if he wasn't right on it.

What would you say to it ?

 

[mccity]

Don't know tbh.

Pep might want to keep close control of him. And of course cb is such a key position they would drop him if he wasn't right on it.

What would you say to it ?

I think to start with it's worth saying that any defensive position is a tough one for a manager as unlike with midfielders or forwards you can't just casually bring on a player for a few minutes here and there for experience.

If the player himself has a particular desire to stay or go out on loan I think we should respect it. Assuming he were wanting to go out on loan I'd say he needs to go somewhere he definitely play, regardless of style or standard. Normally I wouldn't suggest that; I'd say go somewhere he can learn the right way. But he's so young, talented and adept for the way we play already (more than any youth player I've seen yet) that I honestly think he can afford to lose time playing the 'wrong' way and gain that necessary experience in the more universally practical side of the game. That is, learning how to defend against actually grown men. Or at least getting the experience in facing it enough he has an idea of what it takes to develop. He'd easily be able to come back and get back up to speed with the way Guardiola sets up his teams.

If he's happy to be patient, then so am I. The time spent training under Guardiola and with our squad will have it's major upsides and he'll have a great opportunity to develop as a footballer, if not as a defender. He'll definitely get some games under his belt. But the major positive would be that he'd develop the kind of skillset that would mean if he can't crack it at CB he can easily move to either fullback or DM and retrain himself.

I'd say when he's about 20/21, if he hasn't been integrated into the first team squad properly (I think that could easily be the case), then that'd be the point he has to go on loan. But unlike before I think we'd need to be a bit picky about where goes. He'd be too far into his development to just be able to go somewhere and play a completely different way and then come back again. He'd benefit in the same way any loan would but it would probably unsettle him a bit too as far as his playing style is concerned.

Typing this out helps me understand why Pep gets so upset about the lack of B teams. Because if we had the option then we'd have a really obvious and practical means of solving this issue. Same with every youth player now that I think about it.