Martin Demichelis

[Neville Kneville]

The press/media were dying for him to make a mistake, he's been getting it from MOTD, Red Top gutter papers and juvenile radio for weeks so it shouldn't be a surprise that his sending off has intensified the ridicule.
Truth is the only error he made last night was making the challenge. Letting Messi go one on one with Hart (chase back and make it as uncomfortable as you can) and keeping 11 men on the pitch was what he should have done, but hind sights everything and in the heat of the moment it's understandable why he went for it.
People are too quick to be sucked in, he's far from perfect but no fucking way near as bad as is being made out.
The problem we have at the back with Lescott and MDM is that between them we've got the perfect defender, unfortunately their attributes are skewed - Lescott is a strong, solid no nonsense defender who gets his head in and can keep his discipline but can't pass for toffee, which obviously counts against him in our set up. MDM on the other hand has good passing range, sets us up for quick attacks and is usually very composed on the ball, his problem is he can't defend for toffee.
Looks like we've just gotta make the most of a bad situation.

Demichelis' passing v Barca was beyond shite.

 

[Paulpowersleftfoot]

Scapegoating of Demichellis is ridiculous
Up to that incident which left him exposed he'd had a good solid game.
Lescotts performance afterwards fully justified pellegronis selection

 

[Neville Kneville]

Taking the red card moment in isolation and then using that moment to lambast Demichelis is such a blinkered view. And here is the reason why.

The whole incident starts when a questionable tackle on Navas is not given as a foul. The key thing about that moment was that it allowed Barca an oppurtunity to thrust forward knowing that most of the city team had ventured forward and out of position.

Up until that attack we had done an excellent job of making sure all of Barca's forward play took place in front of two banks of 4, and Joe had very little to do in net other than sweep up some errant through balls.

On this occasion however Barca were presented with a clear oppurtunity to scythe city open. Kompany's choice was either to meet the ball carrier and try and make a tackle before he could thread it though to Messi, or drop back and try and do as he done all game previously and try and keep the Barca attack in front of him so he could read the game.

It is only with the benefit of hindsight we can see this is the wrong decision by Vinnie, had he come to meet the ball carrier he could have thwarted the attack instantly. In the event that the ball had still been passed to Messi, he would have been offside as Kompany would have been up the pitch.

As it turns out, Kompany's decision to drop back in was costly, as Messi waited for Vinny to take up a position which played him onside. From the point the ball is entirely in Demichelis' court.

The opinions of others have been exhausted from this point on so I won't go into it. What I wanted to demonstrate is that the whole passage of play leading up to MD's challenge was the catalyst for his spurr of the moment decision. He either had to believe that he had a chance of playing the ball, or that he was attempting to bring Messi down outside the box to thwart the goalscoring oppurtunity. Either way he did what he thought was best for the team, get off his case!

Here is a Premier League defender's viewpoint.

Demichelis let Pellegrini and Manchester City down against Barcelona

By Martin Keown

...Demichelis tried to come out and meet the Barcelona attackers but he gave the ball away more than once and failed to stay in his defensive shape when he conceded the penalty.

You should always take your line from the deepest defender, but he left a large gap to Vincent Kompany that Lionel Messi exploited.

It was a situation that could have been avoided and a clear foul and red card for the Argentine.

 

[grim up north]

Taking the red card moment in isolation and then using that moment to lambast Demichelis is such a blinkered view. And here is the reason why.

The whole incident starts when a questionable tackle on Navas is not given as a foul. The key thing about that moment was that it allowed Barca an oppurtunity to thrust forward knowing that most of the city team had ventured forward and out of position.

Up until that attack we had done an excellent job of making sure all of Barca's forward play took place in front of two banks of 4, and Joe had very little to do in net other than sweep up some errant through balls.

On this occasion however Barca were presented with a clear oppurtunity to scythe city open. Kompany's choice was either to meet the ball carrier and try and make a tackle before he could thread it though to Messi, or drop back and try and do as he done all game previously and try and keep the Barca attack in front of him so he could read the game.

It is only with the benefit of hindsight we can see this is the wrong decision by Vinnie, had he come to meet the ball carrier he could have thwarted the attack instantly. In the event that the ball had still been passed to Messi, he would have been offside as Kompany would have been up the pitch.

As it turns out, Kompany's decision to drop back in was costly, as Messi waited for Vinny to take up a position which played him onside. From the point the ball is entirely in Demichelis' court.

The opinions of others have been exhausted from this point on so I won't go into it. What I wanted to demonstrate is that the whole passage of play leading up to MD's challenge was the catalyst for his spurr of the moment decision. He either had to believe that he had a chance of playing the ball, or that he was attempting to bring Messi down outside the box to thwart the goalscoring oppurtunity. Either way he did what he thought was best for the team, get off his case!

Here is a Premier League defender's viewpoint.

Demichelis let Pellegrini and Manchester City down against Barcelona

By Martin Keown

...Demichelis tried to come out and meet the Barcelona attackers but he gave the ball away more than once and failed to stay in his defensive shape when he conceded the penalty.

You should always take your line from the deepest defender, but he left a large gap to Vincent Kompany that Lionel Messi exploited.

It was a situation that could have been avoided and a clear foul and red card for the Argentine.

Martin Keown

 

[somethingelse]

nothing wrong with lescotts efforts , he was solid and won plenty of tackles, he doesn't like the ball in tight areas but conceding a corner is better than giving it to barca ,he wouldn't of bought messi down with such reckless red card madness

 

[skybluepete]

this fukin manager ?

You really are touchy about mr pellegrini aren't you - no malice meant by what i said but i do find it a bit worrying that he seems to have his favourites and very limited use of any english players or interest in them.

Notwithstanding the injuries to Rodwell and Richards this season do you really think they are good enough in these games and the big games coming up?

I think his use of Milner with maybe one or two exceptions has been quite reasonable this season.

You seem to have overlooked the fact that Milner was not available for this game.

If there are England players that are good enough for where we need to be in seasons ahead we will be after them like all the other.

Would you go after Luke Shaw for example over the summer?

Mancity111 - yes i did over look that Milner was inelligble to play .
I kind of agree on Milner but possibly could have given him a run of games as opposed to be in and out of the starting line up.
Its hard with the likes of rodwell and Micah, they obviously need games to have that match sharpness and there not getting much, i think there are games where MP can make 1 maybe 2 changes for likes of rodwell and Micah.
Probably more so Micah, surely zab will suffer if he starts to tire , which i think would also encourage injury.

As for Luke shaw, from what I've seen he looks a very good prospect, so my answer would be yes , then it would be the fee i suppose .

I really do hope we can produce some of our own fine footballing talent over the next few years, i think that would make the owner and ourselves extremely proud, not to mention possibly save us a fortune .

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

Taking the red card moment in isolation and then using that moment to lambast Demichelis is such a blinkered view. And here is the reason why.

The whole incident starts when a questionable tackle on Navas is not given as a foul. The key thing about that moment was that it allowed Barca an oppurtunity to thrust forward knowing that most of the city team had ventured forward and out of position.

Up until that attack we had done an excellent job of making sure all of Barca's forward play took place in front of two banks of 4, and Joe had very little to do in net other than sweep up some errant through balls.

On this occasion however Barca were presented with a clear oppurtunity to scythe city open. Kompany's choice was either to meet the ball carrier and try and make a tackle before he could thread it though to Messi, or drop back and try and do as he done all game previously and try and keep the Barca attack in front of him so he could read the game.

It is only with the benefit of hindsight we can see this is the wrong decision by Vinnie, had he come to meet the ball carrier he could have thwarted the attack instantly. In the event that the ball had still been passed to Messi, he would have been offside as Kompany would have been up the pitch.

As it turns out, Kompany's decision to drop back in was costly, as Messi waited for Vinny to take up a position which played him onside. From the point the ball is entirely in Demichelis' court.

The opinions of others have been exhausted from this point on so I won't go into it. What I wanted to demonstrate is that the whole passage of play leading up to MD's challenge was the catalyst for his spurr of the moment decision. He either had to believe that he had a chance of playing the ball, or that he was attempting to bring Messi down outside the box to thwart the goalscoring oppurtunity. Either way he did what he thought was best for the team, get off his case!

Here is a Premier League defender's viewpoint.

Demichelis let Pellegrini and Manchester City down against Barcelona

By Martin Keown

...Demichelis tried to come out and meet the Barcelona attackers but he gave the ball away more than once and failed to stay in his defensive shape when he conceded the penalty.

You should always take your line from the deepest defender, but he left a large gap to Vincent Kompany that Lionel Messi exploited.

It was a situation that could have been avoided and a clear foul and red card for the Argentine.

Martin Keown

I dont understand your point here

 

[Neville Kneville]

Taking the red card moment in isolation and then using that moment to lambast Demichelis is such a blinkered view. And here is the reason why.

The whole incident starts when a questionable tackle on Navas is not given as a foul. The key thing about that moment was that it allowed Barca an oppurtunity to thrust forward knowing that most of the city team had ventured forward and out of position.

Up until that attack we had done an excellent job of making sure all of Barca's forward play took place in front of two banks of 4, and Joe had very little to do in net other than sweep up some errant through balls.

On this occasion however Barca were presented with a clear oppurtunity to scythe city open. Kompany's choice was either to meet the ball carrier and try and make a tackle before he could thread it though to Messi, or drop back and try and do as he done all game previously and try and keep the Barca attack in front of him so he could read the game.

It is only with the benefit of hindsight we can see this is the wrong decision by Vinnie, had he come to meet the ball carrier he could have thwarted the attack instantly. In the event that the ball had still been passed to Messi, he would have been offside as Kompany would have been up the pitch.

As it turns out, Kompany's decision to drop back in was costly, as Messi waited for Vinny to take up a position which played him onside. From the point the ball is entirely in Demichelis' court.

The opinions of others have been exhausted from this point on so I won't go into it. What I wanted to demonstrate is that the whole passage of play leading up to MD's challenge was the catalyst for his spurr of the moment decision. He either had to believe that he had a chance of playing the ball, or that he was attempting to bring Messi down outside the box to thwart the goalscoring oppurtunity. Either way he did what he thought was best for the team, get off his case!

Here is a Premier League defender's viewpoint.

Demichelis let Pellegrini and Manchester City down against Barcelona

By Martin Keown

...Demichelis tried to come out and meet the Barcelona attackers but he gave the ball away more than once and failed to stay in his defensive shape when he conceded the penalty.

You should always take your line from the deepest defender, but he left a large gap to Vincent Kompany that Lionel Messi exploited.

It was a situation that could have been avoided and a clear foul and red card for the Argentine.

Martin Keown

Yep, one of the best defenders in the Premier League history trained by Don Howe & George Graham as part of a legendary Arsenal defence, what the fuck would he know about the tecnicalities of defensive positioning ?

Stupid to even mention it when Sid Bloggs from fucking Cleethorpes on Bluemoon has aready spoken & told us in what position a player should be.

 

[BigOscar]

nothing wrong with lescotts efforts , he was solid and won plenty of tackles, he doesn't like the ball in tight areas but conceding a corner is better than giving it to barca ,he wouldn't of bought messi down with such reckless red card madness

Incredibly slow on the turn as well unfortunately, which is murder against a team like Barca who play passes and spin in behind. Got done like that on the goal and on another couple of occasions that he got a away with.

Just a quick note on people saying Demichelis is being "scapegoated", that makes no sense. Being a scapegoat is to be blamed for the faults of others, whereas MDM is vry much being blamed for his own mistake.

 

[grim up north]

Here is a Premier League defender's viewpoint.

Demichelis let Pellegrini and Manchester City down against Barcelona

By Martin Keown

...Demichelis tried to come out and meet the Barcelona attackers but he gave the ball away more than once and failed to stay in his defensive shape when he conceded the penalty.

You should always take your line from the deepest defender, but he left a large gap to Vincent Kompany that Lionel Messi exploited.

It was a situation that could have been avoided and a clear foul and red card for the Argentine.

Martin Keown

I dont understand your point here

If it doesn't play in a red and white shirt at the emirates it gets slaughtered