Javi Martinez

My guess: Pep realised his players' deficiencies - we couldn't hold the ball well enough and conceded too much counters. If you do that too often, it becomes impossible to use energitic pressing as you're quickly running out of steam (remember how poorly we played in second halves at the start of the season?).
Now we seem to be fixing this problem - B.Silva's acquisition is the most telling (and most needed) transfer for me. Possible adding of Alexis, who is a good ball-retainer, also confirms that direction of our tactical development.
As for FBs: the adding of powerful athletic fullbacks is a must [especially] for high-line, pressing-based system as they'd need to cover vast spaces while pressing. I wouldn'be surprised to see Mendy in a 'hybrid' CB/LCB role if he signs for us.

We may disagree, but it's always pleasant to read an educated response ;)

We agree on Otamendi.
 
I very much like this signing if it comes through.

100% a Pep centre half and can allow us to sell Fernando with his ability to play as a CDM.

His versatility is useful for us in particular, and his own chance to get time on the pitch because he might not get a lot of games at CB if Vinny somehow stays fit.

I know Same Lee suspects we are selling Otamendi, which makes some sense, but with this move I can see him staying, although this summer would seem to be a good one to get what we can for him.

He's slow, yes we all know, but we're not talking about Carvalho here. He's a very bright player and far more experienced. Yaya is not exactly lightning quick and was highly effective playing the pivot for us. Martinez should get games there at a minimum, should be effective there, and would also be better at helping in defence (although Yaya did much better in that area this past season).
 
He's better than all of our defenders except Kompany, and by a considerable margin, he benched Boateng for large parts of this season.

The problem isn't his quality, it's his injury record. Still, for a reasonable price it's worth a punt.

from what ive seen of him on tv last season which was a fair few times I would beg to differ on that
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.