Mangala or Demichelis?

[Gabriel]

The sliding tackle in the second half was one of those moments which forced United back and penned them in for a few minutes. Very brave, slightly reckless, perhaps, but he knew what he was doing and it laid down a marker and set the tone.

 

[lasereyes]

He took a bit of a chance on that one, given Oliver was prob itching for a chance to even things up, but he timed it right and it was a great play. He's a real presence alongside Kompany and martials the back line so well. Two nice offside traps in the opening minutes set the tone and our defence immediately looked more composed than it has for a couple of weeks.

 

[Blue Punter]

At the moment, going on current form, it would have to be DeMichelis. I realise that Mangala is ''one for the future'', and that Martin is not a long term solution. But I have morre confidence in him than I do in Mangala for now.

Lee Peacock, Martin Buster Philips, Will Flood and countless others have all been catagorised as "One for the future", and in some respects we payed peanuts and they were young.

Mangala is soon to be 24, cost £32m and is neither young or cheap, rather more worryingly, an expensive duck-egg.

Jesus, you're a tough audience. He's played THREE league games for us, one against Chelsea where he was immense.

As for not being young, he's TEN years younger than John Terry, who's still amongst the best centre halves in the league, so time is definitely on his side.

Hopefully he'll learn from the likes of Demechelis who is an excellent defender.

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

It's the little things that MDM does that impresses me.

He plays the ball back to Hart away from the goal so even if Hart makes a mistake its not directly in front of goal.

He reads the game and plays it as though in slow motion and with ease.

Mangala is a unit and will become a very good CB but at the moment MDM is the man at the back for me

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

At the moment, going on current form, it would have to be DeMichelis. I realise that Mangala is ''one for the future'', and that Martin is not a long term solution. But I have morre confidence in him than I do in Mangala for now.

Lee Peacock, Martin Buster Philips, Will Flood and countless others have all been catagorised as "One for the future", and in some respects we payed peanuts and they were young.

Mangala is soon to be 24, cost £32m and is neither young or cheap, rather more worryingly, an expensive duck-egg.

Jesus, you're a tough audience. He's played THREE league games for us, one against Chelsea where he was immense.

As for not being young, he's TEN years younger than John Terry, who's still amongst the best centre halves in the league, so time is definitely on his side.

Hopefully he'll learn from the likes of Demechelis who is an excellent defender.

From the bench for a while. We cannot afford any more cock ups in the next run of games and a settled defence would be a good way to get points on the board. We have a very nice set of fixtures now although this season it's those types of games we haven't done as well in.

 

[Gabriel]

Well this is what we want, serious competition for places. If Demichelis consistently plays as he did today, then Mangala, once he returns from his injury, should have to fight for his place. The same is true for Demichelis when his performance level drops.

 

[Blue Punter]

Well this is what we want, serious competition for places. If Demichelis consistently plays as he did today, then Mangala, once he returns from his injury, should have to fight for his place. The same is true for Demichelis when his performance level drops.

Against Hull (a) when we was under the cosh (admittedly partly due to Mangala), Demechelis came on and sat in front of the centre halves. Straight away we looked far more composed. Surprised we've not tried this a bit more. Could've come in useful at CSKA (a).

 

[Jack Wills]

Demichelis, all day. He was fucking excellent again today. Reads the game better than anyone else in our defence and keeps it nice and simple, a proper defender.

Mangala looks like he needs to relax a bit when he's on the pitch.

 

[shemnel]

well played to Demichelis today, he played well.

I think City's season requires some stability, the losses and draws seem to have come from errors as much as anything. A consistent centre half pairing would really settle the full backs down and allow the midfield to concentrate more on their football instead of worrying about the back 4. I think Mangala needs games but i think he'll get them as Demichelis tires, and that Demichelis should be picked to start every game he is fit.

 

[Gabriel]

Well this is what we want, serious competition for places. If Demichelis consistently plays as he did today, then Mangala, once he returns from his injury, should have to fight for his place. The same is true for Demichelis when his performance level drops.

Against Hull (a) when we was under the cosh (admittedly partly due to Mangala), Demechelis came on and sat in front of the centre halves. Straight away we looked far more composed. Surprised we've not tried this a bit more. Could've come in useful at CSKA (a).

You're right. His footballing ability is such that he can fill that role admirably, but with the two Fs to call upon his chances of playing in there are going to be restricted.