Fabio Coentrao

[Dribble]

I apologize if me having actually watched a player a lot gives me an opinion on how he plays, rather than basing it off random things I've heard other people say and maybe one or two CL games.

The fact you’ve seen him play a lot obviously isn’t the problem, as indicated by the fact you wrote it sarcastically. However, the fact you support the team he used to play for, where he was one of the best players, makes me think there’s a pretty good chance you became a big fan of him. Therefore, similarly to the Bosnians in the Dzeko thread you cannot see any flaws in his game and so continuing this debate is almost pointless.

I think Coentrao is a good left back, I just don’t think he’s an upgrade on Kolarov. In the games I’ve seen him, of which admittedly none were live, and the number will be far less than yours, he has looked suspect positionally and seems to lose concentration on occasion, he sometimes makes up for it with his pace but when playing top teams they don’t allow you this margin for error and this is where he gets found out. Kolarov is worse in this respect as he can’t cover his mistakes with pace but he’s better in the air, stronger and more willing to get stuck in (more prevalent in the Premier League than Spain or Portugal). Therefore, in my opinion there’s not much between them and I’d rather keep Kolarov who’s settled in the squad, familiar with our players and offers a more different option to Clichy and save the £10m net spend.

Everyone's entitled to an opinion whether right or wrong, but I'd like to make one point. Even if I'd never seen Coentrao play, I'd still want a replacement for Kolorov because he's not what we need for a club with our ambitions in the Premier League or Champions League.

I can think of slightly worse left backs that we've had eg: Javier Garrido and Stephen Jordan (Who both also suffered from a seriously painful lack of pace), but Kolorov is not the answer for Manchester City.

To conclude; think of the players who constantly have threads attributed to them whereby the fans don't believe they are good enough for where we're going and Kolorov's name keeps cropping up alongside Sinclair, Garcia and until recently Dzeko (Who most fans are prepared to give another season to see if a different manager can teach him how to control a ball first time) with Lescott and Nasri (which I personally disagree with) bringing up the rear.

Most players have had a period of time where the fans have lost faith in them, but from the beginning of his Manchester City career until now, this has mostly been the case with Kolorov.

Ask yourself one question, would Real accept a swap deal with Coentrao coming to us and Kolorov going the other way? I would hazard a guess that Real would tell us to fuck off and to stick our liberty taking offer where the sun don't shine.

 

[Blueband Brother]

Contreo may seem far fetched at the moment and Pepe is and should be the primary target from Madrid. However if we can also do a deal for Contreo then I suggest entertaining and considering the option of keeping Kolorov and using him as a left sided midfielder rather than a fullback as I believe he will be more productive and perhaps even more productive in terms of creating chances from crosses from the left and scoring than many of the midfield players in the squad. This is an especially good option in games where we play a 442 formation.

Kolarov is a very dangerous attacking player but he is too clueless and athletically deficient to be a comfortable and reliable full back.

For example:

Richards(Zabeleta)...........Pepe (Nastasic)).....................Kompany(Lescott).................Clichy (Contreo)

Navas( Milner).................Toure (Rodwell)..............Fernandinho (Nasri)................... Silva(Kolorov)

.....................................................(Aguero/Dzeko/Negredo/Jovetic)

Kolorov will be an effective weapon from the left with the kind of strikers we have ie Negredo and Dzeko that thrive on quality crosses into the box. Kolarov can also play as the LM in a 4231 formation.

He has a fantastic left foot for crossing, passing and also shooting and I believe this can be harnessed in the squad but the likelihood is that he will be sold if the Contreo deal materializes.

 

[kenzie115]

I apologize if me having actually watched a player a lot gives me an opinion on how he plays, rather than basing it off random things I've heard other people say and maybe one or two CL games.

The fact you’ve seen him play a lot obviously isn’t the problem, as indicated by the fact you wrote it sarcastically. However, the fact you support the team he used to play for, where he was one of the best players, makes me think there’s a pretty good chance you became a big fan of him. Therefore, similarly to the Bosnians in the Dzeko thread you cannot see any flaws in his game and so continuing this debate is almost pointless.

I think Coentrao is a good left back, I just don’t think he’s an upgrade on Kolarov. In the games I’ve seen him, of which admittedly none were live, and the number will be far less than yours, he has looked suspect positionally and seems to lose concentration on occasion, he sometimes makes up for it with his pace but when playing top teams they don’t allow you this margin for error and this is where he gets found out. Kolarov is worse in this respect as he can’t cover his mistakes with pace but he’s better in the air, stronger and more willing to get stuck in (more prevalent in the Premier League than Spain or Portugal). Therefore, in my opinion there’s not much between them and I’d rather keep Kolarov who’s settled in the squad, familiar with our players and offers a more different option to Clichy and save the £10m net spend.

Everyone's entitled to an opinion whether right or wrong, but I'd like to make one point. Even if I'd never seen Coentrao play, I'd still want a replacement for Kolorov because he's not what we need for a club with our ambitions in the Premier League or Champions League.

I can think of slightly worse left backs that we've had eg: Javier Garrido and Stephen Jordan (Who both also suffered from a seriously painful lack of pace), but Kolorov is not the answer for Manchester City.

To conclude; think of the players who constantly have threads attributed to them whereby the fans don't believe they are good enough for where we're going and Kolorov's name keeps cropping up alongside Sinclair, Garcia and until recently Dzeko (Who most fans are prepared to give another season to see if a different manager can teach him how to control a ball first time) with Lescott and Nasri (which I personally disagree with) bringing up the rear.

Most players have had a period of time where the fans have lost faith in them, but from the beginning of his Manchester City career until now, this has mostly been the case with Kolorov.

Ask yourself one question, would Real accept a swap deal with Coentrao coming to us and Kolorov going the other way? I would hazard a guess that Real would tell us to fuck off and to stick our liberty taking offer where the sun don't shine.

We’ve had many worse left backs than Kolarov in the past 30 years, in fact up to 5 years ago if we had Kolarov in our squad he’d be one of the first names on the team sheet, it’s only compared to players like Aguero, Silva and Yaya that he looks poor, in any teams with the likes of Jon Macken, David Sommeil, Danny Tiatto or Lee Bradbury he’d have been a stand-out player.

If we were to look to sell players because Bluemoon had a whinge about them then we’d have 18 new players each season.

Kolarov offers something neither Clichy nor Coentrao do which is quick, decent deliveries into the box. If we’re going to be playing Dzeko and Negredo he’s a useful player to have. I’m not saying he should be first choice, but I suspect he’s a lot happier to be a back up than Coentrao (or Clichy if you’d have Coentrao ahead of him) and having such a different option from your back up is useful.

 

[bluemooninho]

Contreo may seem far fetched at the moment and Pepe is and should be the primary target from Madrid. However if we can also do a deal for Contreo then I suggest entertaining and considering the option of keeping Kolorov and using him as a left sided midfielder rather than a fullback as I believe he will be more productive and perhaps even more productive in terms of creating chances from crosses from the left and scoring than many of the midfield players in the squad. This is an especially good option in games where we play a 442 formation.

Kolarov is a very dangerous attacking player but he is too clueless and athletically deficient to be a comfortable and reliable full back.

For example:

Richards(Zabeleta)...........Pepe (Nastasic)).....................Kompany(Lescott).................Clichy (Contreo)

Navas( Milner).................Toure (Rodwell)..............Fernandinho (Nasri)................... Silva(Kolorov)

.....................................................(Aguero/Dzeko/Negredo/Jovetic)

Kolorov will be an effective weapon from the left with the kind of strikers we have ie Negredo and Dzeko that thrive on quality crosses into the box. Kolarov can also play as the LM in a 4231 formation.

He has a fantastic left foot for crossing, passing and also shooting and I believe this can be harnessed in the squad but the likelihood is that he will be sold if the Contreo deal materializes.

^This^

 

[BigOscar]

I really wouldn't want Kolarov on the wing, his movement and ability on the ball isn't good enough imo. He is as good a crosser as anyone, but he can't dribble and he'd be very limited. He played there on occasions last year and was pretty much pointless, he didn't seem to know what to do a lot of the time and just turned back towards his own goal. I'd rather Marcos Lopes or Denis Suarez fought for the backup LW position and if we did have Kolarov, Coentrao and Clichy, then Coentrao would surely be ahead of him if we needed one of them to play winger? I've always been curious if Kolarov could play as a holding midfielder and use his shooting more, but it's probably a bit late in his career to move him that significantly

 

[kenzie115]

The fact you’ve seen him play a lot obviously isn’t the problem, as indicated by the fact you wrote it sarcastically. However, the fact you support the team he used to play for, where he was one of the best players, makes me think there’s a pretty good chance you became a big fan of him. Therefore, similarly to the Bosnians in the Dzeko thread you cannot see any flaws in his game and so continuing this debate is almost pointless.

I think Coentrao is a good left back, I just don’t think he’s an upgrade on Kolarov. In the games I’ve seen him, of which admittedly none were live, and the number will be far less than yours, he has looked suspect positionally and seems to lose concentration on occasion, he sometimes makes up for it with his pace but when playing top teams they don’t allow you this margin for error and this is where he gets found out. Kolarov is worse in this respect as he can’t cover his mistakes with pace but he’s better in the air, stronger and more willing to get stuck in (more prevalent in the Premier League than Spain or Portugal). Therefore, in my opinion there’s not much between them and I’d rather keep Kolarov who’s settled in the squad, familiar with our players and offers a more different option to Clichy and save the £10m net spend.

Everyone's entitled to an opinion whether right or wrong, but I'd like to make one point. Even if I'd never seen Coentrao play, I'd still want a replacement for Kolorov because he's not what we need for a club with our ambitions in the Premier League or Champions League.

I can think of slightly worse left backs that we've had eg: Javier Garrido and Stephen Jordan (Who both also suffered from a seriously painful lack of pace), but Kolorov is not the answer for Manchester City.

To conclude; think of the players who constantly have threads attributed to them whereby the fans don't believe they are good enough for where we're going and Kolorov's name keeps cropping up alongside Sinclair, Garcia and until recently Dzeko (Who most fans are prepared to give another season to see if a different manager can teach him how to control a ball first time) with Lescott and Nasri (which I personally disagree with) bringing up the rear.

Most players have had a period of time where the fans have lost faith in them, but from the beginning of his Manchester City career until now, this has mostly been the case with Kolorov.

Ask yourself one question, would Real accept a swap deal with Coentrao coming to us and Kolorov going the other way? I would hazard a guess that Real would tell us to fuck off and to stick our liberty taking offer where the sun don't shine.

We’ve had many worse left backs than Kolarov in the past 30 years, in fact up to 5 years ago if we had Kolarov in our squad he’d be one of the first names on the team sheet, it’s only compared to players like Aguero, Silva and Yaya that he looks poor, in any teams with the likes of Jon Macken, David Sommeil, Danny Tiatto or Lee Bradbury he’d have been a stand-out player.

If we were to look to sell players because Bluemoon had a whinge about them then we’d have 18 new players each season.

Kolarov offers something neither Clichy nor Coentrao do which is quick, decent deliveries into the box. If we’re going to be playing Dzeko and Negredo he’s a useful player to have. I’m not saying he should be first choice, but I suspect he’s a lot happier to be a back up than Coentrao (or Clichy if you’d have Coentrao ahead of him) and having such a different option from your back up is useful.

The problem with playing Kolarov as a defender is that when he does go on his forays up the left wing he’s not the quickest at getting back and even once he is back isn’t the best at dealing with the opposition’s right sided threat.

However, the problem with playing him as a left sided midfielder is that he’s then up against the right back rather than the right winger. Very often a right winger will not track Kolarov back or if he does, turns off for long enough for Kolarov to find some space for the ball to be rolled out to him for him to whip in a cross. A right back wouldn’t do this, he’d be tight to him and aware of his movement and because Kolarov has neither the skill nor the pace to go past a half decent right back you’ve nullified his attacking threat.

So, play him as a full back and you have a defensive problem, play him as a winger and you have an attacking problem. I’d play him as a full back against teams that offer little threat down the right side, so most bottom half teams, at home. They’ll be camped in their own half, won’t be looking to commit too many men forward so his tracking back isn’t an issue, and his crosses will cause mayhem in a packed penalty area.

 

[6one]

I really wouldn't want Kolarov on the wing, his movement and ability on the ball isn't good enough imo. He is as good a crosser as anyone, but he can't dribble and he'd be very limited. He played there on occasions last year and was pretty much pointless, he didn't seem to know what to do a lot of the time and just turned back towards his own goal. I'd rather Marcos Lopes or Denis Suarez fought for the backup LW position and if we did have Kolarov, Coentrao and Clichy, then Coentrao would surely be ahead of him if we needed one of them to play winger? I've always been curious if Kolarov could play as a holding midfielder and use his shooting more, but it's probably a bit late in his career to move him that significantly

Agree. I hated the games when Mancini played Kolarov at left wing. It was and is shit. Pellegrini won't do that I'm 99% sure of.

 

[pudge]

Yes, our clear lack of pace out wide last season can be helped by Kolarov..

 

[Mr. Aguia]

I'm not terribly worried about our lack of offensive input from the LB. I'm more concerned with the LB keeping a clean sheet. Contrao would certainly push Clichy for the starting spot and that can only be a good thing. Clichy is good 8x's out of 10, but those other 2 he can be suspect.

Yes Kolorov is a great crosser and one of the few players who take take free kicks his faults far out weigh his strengths. He's very poor on the ball. Doesn't deal with being pressurred on the ball and continually gives the ball away in dangerous areas.

 

[Cellarite]

For example:

Richards(Zabeleta)...........Pepe (Nastasic)).....................Kompany(Lescott).................Clichy (Contreo)

Navas( Milner).................Toure (Rodwell)..............Fernandinho (Nasri)................... Silva(Kolorov)

.....................................................(Aguero/Dzeko/Negredo/Jovetic)

So when Silva misses a game we replace him with Kolarov?