Martin Demichelis

[Marvin]

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[Bluemoonbaldboy]

1. MDM did not have a fantastic game up until the red card. He was ok - one great play against Sanchez, but otherwise gave the ball away too much rather than finding an outlet pass.

2. He was not "forced into making the challenge". He made a very bad choice. The options were:
(a) Not make the tackle => Messi probably scores, but you never know
(b) Make the tackle => stone certain red card and very likely penalty.

Does anyone actually think (b) was the smart option? The guy is highly experienced. His failure to think on the fly cost City the game and quite likely the tie.

Question 1. I suggest you watch the match again. Our defensive game was pretty solid until the incident, and the back four were performing competently as a unit. Most of the work done by DM was clearance work, which was needed at the time, and was performed effectively. It wasn't the normal type of PL game where we had time to select good outlet balls and play out from the back. Didn't you notice how Joe regularly kicked rather than passing to the first defender. This hardly ever happens in our PL games - and should tell you a fair bit about how we had been set up to play.

Not gonna answer 2. as that's speculation. The words probably andvery likely appearing within 2 sentences = guesswork and nothing more. Hindsight smart is actually not smart at all.

The defence might be solid, but did you notice how many times Demichelis threw away the ball? I'd suggest you go watch the first 15-20 minutes again and count it.

Agree completely he was woeful with his pass selection giving the ball away at least 3 times. The only good part of his game one of his hair brain dive ins on half way actually worked for once

 

[steviemc]

1. MDM did not have a fantastic game up until the red card. He was ok - one great play against Sanchez, but otherwise gave the ball away too much rather than finding an outlet pass.

2. He was not "forced into making the challenge". He made a very bad choice. The options were:
(a) Not make the tackle => Messi probably scores, but you never know
(b) Make the tackle => stone certain red card and very likely penalty.

Does anyone actually think (b) was the smart option? The guy is highly experienced. His failure to think on the fly cost City the game and quite likely the tie.

Question 1. I suggest you watch the match again. Our defensive game was pretty solid until the incident, and the back four were performing competently as a unit. Most of the work done by DM was clearance work, which was needed at the time, and was performed effectively. It wasn't the normal type of PL game where we had time to select good outlet balls and play out from the back. Didn't you notice how Joe regularly kicked rather than passing to the first defender. This hardly ever happens in our PL games - and should tell you a fair bit about how we had been set up to play.

Not gonna answer 2. as that's speculation. The words probably andvery likely appearing within 2 sentences = guesswork and nothing more. Hindsight smart is actually not smart at all.

The defence might be solid, but did you notice how many times Demichelis threw away the ball? I'd suggest you go watch the first 15-20 minutes again and count it.

I've got it here. You're totally missing the point. The amount of times you give the ball away can only be balanced against how many clearances and interceptions you make during the game. Fuckin hell, I could play for forty-five minutes, make no tackles or clearances, and never give the ball away. I'd just keep away from the action areas. That doesn't make me a good player. I'm shit.

 

[knorpel]

Pellegrini is blaming the defeat on the referee. P is shaming himself - the one to blame is P himself - because of his one-eyed love of MD, his (too) old (and too slow) pal from his old club.
Anyone from the subst. bench would do a better job, Garcia, Millner etc.
Open your eyes Manuel, every pundit questions your judgment on MD! He is costing City goals, points and defeats.

 

[steviemc]

Pellegrini is blaming the defeat on the referee. P is shaming himself - the one to blame is P himself - because of his one-eyed love of MD, his (too) old (and too slow) pal from his old club.
Anyone from the subst. bench would do a better job, Garcia, Millner etc.
Open your eyes Manuel, every pundit questions your judgment on MD! He is costing City goals, points and defeats.

You've made four posts this year. One to complain about Pellers, one to complain about Hart, and two to complain about MD.

Do you only come on here for a fookin moan or what?

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Pellegrini is blaming the defeat on the referee. P is shaming himself - the one to blame is P himself - because of his one-eyed love of MD, his (too) old (and too slow) pal from his old club.
Anyone from the subst. bench would do a better job, Garcia, Millner etc.
Open your eyes Manuel, every pundit questions your judgment on MD! He is costing City goals, points and defeats.

You've made four posts this year. One to complain about Pellers, one to complain about Hart, and two to complain about MD.

Do you only come on here for a fookin moan or what?

His anagram of Plonker tell us he's some fuckin dick spit from across the way.

 

[aguerooo93]

I agree with all those saying that he cost us the game - his tackle was an example of horrendous decision-making. He was, however, strong and composed as he broke up Barcelona's play with consistency beforehand. He embodied so many of the traits that make him our second best centre-back before he made that game-killing mistake - anticipation, composure and perfectly timed tackling.

Seriously those calling for Lescott to play ahead of him only needed to watch him on the ball in that second half and see how painfully slow he was at the onset of the second goal...poor on the ball and has no pace without any of the football intelligence Demichelis has which sees the latter routinely intercept and disrupt opposition's plays.

 

[lasereyes]

Some of the comments blaming MDM are ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that some people cannot accept that he had a fantastic game until being forced into making the challenge. The challenge he had to make was from a mistake by Kompany, who still had an awesome game despite that, but that seems to be forgotten because MDM is the scapegoat and easy to blame.

Last 2 games he has played against Barca and against Chelsea had was fantastic. Against Barca his high pressure and energy, forcing the attackers back and winning the ball in other situations was brilliant.
Against chelsea he was employed as a Centre mid and despite have little or no experience in that role was fantastic again, winning many tackles in midfield, it was just his mobility which let him down, but what can you expect from a centre half? He is hardly Aguero in terms of pace and turning.

Some arent even interested in supporting him. Ok, he has had some poor games, but he has also had some very good games, but even these are ignored and instead, 1 second of the match is focused upon, like the red card.
It seems as if the only way Demichelis can get some fans on his side is if he scores a perfect hat-trick at the Nou Camp, including a 40 yard bicycle kick and then sort everyone out enough points for a cup final ticket.

Get off his back and get behind him and the rest of the team.

MCFC OK!!!

1. MDM did not have a fantastic game up until the red card. He was ok - one great play against Sanchez, but otherwise gave the ball away too much rather than finding an outlet pass.

2. He was not "forced into making the challenge". He made a very bad choice. The options were:
(a) Not make the tackle => Messi probably scores, but you never know
(b) Make the tackle => stone certain red card and very likely penalty.

Does anyone actually think (b) was the smart option? The guy is highly experienced. His failure to think on the fly cost City the game and quite likely the tie.

You're talking as if Demichellis made a conscious decision to take the red card and concede a foul. He slid in thinking he could win the ball and he wasn't far off from getting a nick on it. He had a split second to make a decision while chasing the worlds best player, I think in the grand scheme of defensive errors this isn't even noteworthy.

No i'm not saying he chose to get a red card. I'm saying he attempted a tackle he had no realistic chance of making. He was coming in from a significant distance behind - as such, there was almost zero chance of a clean tackle. That's not a split second 50/50 decision - it's just a very poor percentage player. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but that was a very bad error for such an experienced player.<br /><br />-- Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:20 am --<br /><br />

Question 1. I suggest you watch the match again. Our defensive game was pretty solid until the incident, and the back four were performing competently as a unit. Most of the work done by DM was clearance work, which was needed at the time, and was performed effectively. It wasn't the normal type of PL game where we had time to select good outlet balls and play out from the back. Didn't you notice how Joe regularly kicked rather than passing to the first defender. This hardly ever happens in our PL games - and should tell you a fair bit about how we had been set up to play.

Not gonna answer 2. as that's speculation. The words probably andvery likely appearing within 2 sentences = guesswork and nothing more. Hindsight smart is actually not smart at all.

The defence might be solid, but did you notice how many times Demichelis threw away the ball? I'd suggest you go watch the first 15-20 minutes again and count it.

I've got it here. You're totally missing the point. The amount of times you give the ball away can only be balanced against how many clearances and interceptions you make during the game. Fuckin hell, I could play for forty-five minutes, make no tackles or clearances, and never give the ball away. I'd just keep away from the action areas. That doesn't make me a good player. I'm shit.

So how many tackles and interceptions did he make? Not many. Again, I don't think he played badly up to the red card, but you really do need to watch the first half and how many balls he gave away. Now he wasn't alone, but to argue that he had a "fantastic game" is frankly preposterous. And in case you don't want to listen to me, find me one single match report that says any different.

 

[Subbed Tskhadadze with Allsopp]

And in case you don't want to listen to me, find me one single match report that says any different.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/feb/18/manchester-city-barcelona-tactics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... na-tactics</a>

"Then, there was Martín Demichelis against Messi – and, surprisingly, the defender actually coped well in the first half. He played proactively, anticipating passes into Messi's feet and charging forward to make interceptions. His distribution was poor, but the fundamentals of his defensive play were sound."

 

[aguero93:20]

1. MDM did not have a fantastic game up until the red card. He was ok - one great play against Sanchez, but otherwise gave the ball away too much rather than finding an outlet pass.

2. He was not "forced into making the challenge". He made a very bad choice. The options were:
(a) Not make the tackle => Messi probably scores, but you never know
(b) Make the tackle => stone certain red card and very likely penalty.

Does anyone actually think (b) was the smart option? The guy is highly experienced. His failure to think on the fly cost City the game and quite likely the tie.

You're talking as if Demichellis made a conscious decision to take the red card and concede a foul. He slid in thinking he could win the ball and he wasn't far off from getting a nick on it. He had a split second to make a decision while chasing the worlds best player, I think in the grand scheme of defensive errors this isn't even noteworthy.

No i'm not saying he chose to get a red card. I'm saying he attempted a tackle he had no realistic chance of making. He was coming in from a significant distance behind - as such, there was almost zero chance of a clean tackle. That's not a split second 50/50 decision - it's just a very poor percentage player. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but that was a very bad error for such an experienced player.

-- Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:20 am --

The defence might be solid, but did you notice how many times Demichelis threw away the ball? I'd suggest you go watch the first 15-20 minutes again and count it.

I've got it here. You're totally missing the point. The amount of times you give the ball away can only be balanced against how many clearances and interceptions you make during the game. Fuckin hell, I could play for forty-five minutes, make no tackles or clearances, and never give the ball away. I'd just keep away from the action areas. That doesn't make me a good player. I'm shit.

So how many tackles and interceptions did he make? Not many. Again, I don't think he played badly up to the red card, but you really do need to watch the first half and how many balls he gave away. Now he wasn't alone, but to argue that he had a "fantastic game" is frankly preposterous. And in case you don't want to listen to me, find me one single match report that says any different.

Go watch the game again, he turned over Barcelona possession more often than anyone except possibly clichy up till the red card. Did you watch it in the first place?