Martin Demichelis

[sir baconface]

The critics are overlooking his age and price and expecting a world-beater.

That said, I think he's doing a pretty good job and getting progressively better.

And one aspect of his game - positive distribution - is arguably better than any other City defender.

 

[xenon_]

Demichelis was hit and miss for me, for a while and I wasn't sure whether he was gonna be good for us. I could tell, though, that I shouldn't count him out, there was certainly something to his game, not to mention he had a few medals from Germany. His performances against Arsenal and 75 mins of the Bayern game made me realise that he could well be the best partner for Kompany, especially with him fitting Pellegrini's defensive philosophies so well.

Still not sure, to be honest. Nasty was making a few needless fouls earlier this season and that's probably him trying to become more accustomed to Pellegrini's style of pressing. It's not a question of 'if' Nasty should return to the first team, but 'when' should he. And I say, when he's better used to the system. That might be the case when he returns, I don't know, but if it isn't then Demichelis should be the man because he plays Pellers' style very well, even in spite of his piss-poor pace.

Also, Demichelis is a beast in set pieces :D

 

[LoveCity]

Has anyone mentioned he was named in the BBC Team of the Week after Hansen's hatchet job on him (ignoring everything good he did)?

 

[steviemc]

The critics are overlooking his age and price and expecting a world-beater.

That said, I think he's doing a pretty good job and getting progressively better.

And one aspect of his game - positive distribution - is arguably better than any other City defender.

I agree. We needed a CB and he's doing his job effectively. As the long term likelihood is a Kompany/Nastasic pairing, his years of experience will only help players like Nastasic in the long term. It's good that his input has created a scenario where his stop-gap role might provide a bit more competition between players than was initially expected.

 

[sir baconface]

Has anyone mentioned he was named in the BBC Team of the Week after Hansen's hatchet job on him (ignoring everything good he did)?

Only 10 times on the MoTD thread, mate.

;)

 

[GStar]

If i was Lescott i'd be a little bemused to see Demichelis being picked ahead of me.

I'm not sure there's an aspect of his game that surpasses Lescott's, maybe ball at the feet but for his superior positioning, tackling, reading the game, passing, strength, link with Kompany i'd be picking Lescott every time.

Think he's had a raw deal at City for the past 18 months or so.

If you weren't a mod I'd have that down as a wum post, especially the underlined bit.

Doesn't mean they know anything about football

Haha, fair play, sounds like GUN is having a bad week.

I've seen first hand a number of times, Demichelis with the ball at his feet, under no pressure, pass it straight to an opposition player.

He may look for a forward pass most of the time, which is great, but it doesn't always come off.

His tackling is decent enough and at times he's happy to play the 'no nonsense' game. But i don't see what he brings defensively to the team we don't already have in Lescott. If we're going to go down the 'passing' route. I'd much rather ensure of defenders keep the ball to allow the more attacking players the opportunity to create.

 

[BigOscar]

I don't want to be negative about a City player, but he doesn't look good enough. He looks a bit too much like a John Terry type player, always lunging in and doing despairing last ditch tackles to try and cover up for his lack of pace. He also seems to want to defend too far back, either dragging the team back or resulting in him being 5 yards behind our other players. He just looks a bit past it to be playing at our level (which is perfectly reasonable, given his age). I worry for us with him at the back for any length of time, the sooner Nastasic can come back and partner Vinny, the better imo.

 

[Phil1]

I'm amazed how some fans didn't see the complete game, yet supplied a review of Martin Demichelis on the basis of MOTD. That's about as useful as judging a player's quality on the basis of of a few youtube clips.

Which fans are these?

 

[Groke]

The way he brings the ball out is fantastic, effectively like having an extra midfielder when we've got the ball. Compare him to JL (who I really like and was key to winning title), who requires one of the midfield to drop short and collect the ball or else aimless hoofing up. Makes some great interceptions and tackles at key moments. Not perfect, but pretty fuckin good after a dozen or so games in a new league.

 

[steviemc]

I'm amazed how some fans didn't see the complete game, yet supplied a review of Martin Demichelis on the basis of MOTD. That's about as useful as judging a player's quality on the basis of of a few youtube clips.

Which fans are these?

Afraid I'm not a librarian, you can have a look through if you fancy?