Martin Demichelis

[skybluepete]

Hmmm did Vinnie make a mistake coz he was doing Demichelis job??

Where was he for the sunderland goal? Completey lost for pace and was in no mans land once Kompany was beaten!!!

Do you really think he did well and that Lescott would not have been better?

Did he actually win a header???

First of all he won plenty of headers.

Secondly Borini makes his original run behind Demichelis and with Kompany being slightly behind plays him on (not that we were trying to keep him offside) so he follows the run.

Now we can all question whether he should have been in a better position to cover Komps but if Komps either clears the ball properly or doesnt even make a challenge and just shepherds Borini down the line there is no goal.

At times in the second half they both took wild swipes at the ball which resulted in it being given away cheaply, however Tyler and Neville only decided to highlight Demichelis' error. It was the right choice to play him in this game ahead of Lescott.

All our centre halves have made mistakes this season yet everyone is over Demichelis' straight away.

I agree that vinnie should have done better but i just think that your defensive partner should always be thinking " what if " and TRY to be one step ahead, on Sunday i think in my opinion MD could have anticipated the danger of vinnie getting beat better than what he did thats all.

I have said this hundreds of times , i dont think MD is rubbish, far from it, my opinion is i would rather have lescott, i just trust him as a defender more than i do MD and when i watch both partnerships , vinnie seems more at ease when lescott is playing .
MD was possibly top drawer but he's at the latter end of his carreer playing in an unforgiving premier league for the first time ever and was, if were all honest bought to cover injury to vinnie.
I think we all agree come the summer we need to buy a real quality c/h to play alongside vinnie, would love that player to be rekik but maybe not ready yet.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

I'd go further and say that I think Vinnie has also perhaps started to believe that his defensive partners are the weak links and trying too hard to show how good he is and how he's number one and on occasion, like Borini on Sunday, trying to patrol the back line as if we play one centre back.

I think this has lead to Vinnie making more mistakes (Barca, Sunderland) but because he's Vinnie Demi gets the blame for it, despite the fact that I think Vinnie should be leaving Demi to his half of the backline and covering, which if he'd done that on sunday he'd have intercepted Borini cleanly.

I think Vinnie was poor on Sunday with that mistake and his passing which put us into trouble, I think Demi is being made to be the scapegoat because people are refusing to accept or understand the reasons why Lescott isn't in the team, because they don't dare to criticise Vinnie and partly because I think a few people still want a stick to even indirectly beat Ferran and Txiki with and not paying over the odds for a CB is now an excuse to do so.

All that aside I think even Vinnie is making too many individual mistakes for a world class CB, he needs to control that impulse he has of going off and trying to do his own thing as opposed to sticking to what we do as a team.

Anyway this is a thread about Demi so I'll leave it there.

 

[Ronnie the Rep]

Did he actually win a header???

Yep, he won a total of six aerial duels. Now you may want to go through the game and come back here to dispute that, or you may just have to accept that you're not watching the game closely enough. Nothing wrong with criticism when due, but not noticing one header won when there were in fact six, is very short-sighted at best.

Agreed, I was sat close to the half way line and I thought he did very well with headers

 

[skybluepete]

I'd go further and say that I think Vinnie has also perhaps started to believe that his defensive partners are the weak links and trying too hard to show how good he is and how he's number one and on occasion, like Borini on Sunday, trying to patrol the back line as if we play one centre back.

I think this has lead to Vinnie making more mistakes (Barca, Sunderland) but because he's Vinnie Demi gets the blame for it, despite the fact that I think Vinnie should be leaving Demi to his half of the backline and covering, which if he'd done that on sunday he'd have intercepted Borini cleanly.

I think Vinnie was poor on Sunday with that mistake and his passing which put us into trouble, I think Demi is being made to be the scapegoat because people are refusing to accept or understand the reasons why Lescott isn't in the team, because they don't dare to criticise Vinnie and partly because I think a few people still want a stick to even indirectly beat Ferran and Txiki with and not paying over the odds for a CB is now an excuse to do so.

All that aside I think even Vinnie is making too many individual mistakes for a world class CB, he needs to control that impulse he has of going off and trying to do his own thing as opposed to sticking to what we do as a team.

Anyway this is a thread about Demi so I'll leave it there.

Off the topic of MD a little but we would be in very deep s--t without vinnie make no mistake about that, he's playing alongside MD he will kno better than anyone .
Keeping clean sheets for the defence and goalkeeper is very important to them and probably the way we are now playing he is trying his hardest and over working to try and not concede- its frustrating as a captain and defender to not keep clean sheets and tbf he is used to keeping clean sheets over the last few seasons .

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

I'd go further and say that I think Vinnie has also perhaps started to believe that his defensive partners are the weak links and trying too hard to show how good he is and how he's number one and on occasion, like Borini on Sunday, trying to patrol the back line as if we play one centre back.

I think this has lead to Vinnie making more mistakes (Barca, Sunderland) but because he's Vinnie Demi gets the blame for it, despite the fact that I think Vinnie should be leaving Demi to his half of the backline and covering, which if he'd done that on sunday he'd have intercepted Borini cleanly.

I think Vinnie was poor on Sunday with that mistake and his passing which put us into trouble, I think Demi is being made to be the scapegoat because people are refusing to accept or understand the reasons why Lescott isn't in the team, because they don't dare to criticise Vinnie and partly because I think a few people still want a stick to even indirectly beat Ferran and Txiki with and not paying over the odds for a CB is now an excuse to do so.

All that aside I think even Vinnie is making too many individual mistakes for a world class CB, he needs to control that impulse he has of going off and trying to do his own thing as opposed to sticking to what we do as a team.

Anyway this is a thread about Demi so I'll leave it there.

Off the topic of MD a little but we would be in very deep s--t without vinnie make no mistake about that, he's playing alongside MD he will kno better than anyone .
Keeping clean sheets for the defence and goalkeeper is very important to them and probably the way we are now playing he is trying his hardest and over working to try and not concede- its frustrating as a captain and defender to not keep clean sheets and tbf he is used to keeping clean sheets over the last few seasons .

Yeah I know, Vinnie on form is exceptional and its testament to the high standards he sets that when he's a bit below par it's that noticeable.

 

[blue since 69]

The fact is the guy is to slow even if he can read a match and anticipate the opposition.

 

[Ballymagash Blue]

Just finished watching a full re-run of the 90 mins. Impossible to say MDM had anything other than a very solid game. Dominant in the air, neat in possession, some excellent interceptions (including one that led to a period of sustained pressure and from which Yaya scored).

Any defender would suffer from our high-line / offside trap. The criticism is way over the top. Pundits are afraid they'll look stupid if they don't jump on the MDM bashing bandwagon. If you look at our results with MDM in the team at centre back, they're rather impressive. I'm glad we have him.

 

[pee dubya]

Just finished watching a full re-run of the 90 mins. Impossible to say MDM had anything other than a very solid game. Dominant in the air, neat in possession, some excellent interceptions (including one that led to a period of sustained pressure and from which Yaya scored).

Any defender would suffer from our high-line / offside trap. The criticism is way over the top. Pundits are afraid they'll look stupid if they don't jump on the MDM bashing bandwagon. If you look at our results with MDM in the team at centre back, they're rather impressive. I'm glad we have him.

I totally agree, he obviously has the odd clanger in him, but overall his contribution has been positive, I don't get why everyone is focussing on the negative side of his game.

I reckon the reason he's being picked is partly because he's actually willing to play a style that benefits the team rather than making himself look good. Sure he's not ideal for playing a high line and squeezing up, but neither is anyone else in the squad, except Kompany. If he played to try and mask his weaknesses like most defenders of his age and type would, he'd be playing the exact opposite of the way Pellegrini wants us to defend.

I don't believe Pellegrini would pick favourites for the sake of it, such an experienced manager. He's picking MDM because he does what he's told. Its a high risk style of defending, and not one we're used to watching, that's why everyone's wringing their hands but it's designed to benefit our attacking play rather than purely to keep clean sheets.

 

[steviemc]

The fact is the guy is to slow even if he can read a match and anticipate the opposition.

I don't think anybody has disputed that. A defender that hasn't got great pace needs to rely on awareness and positioning to deal with potential problems. Defensive pace coming back towards goal has been exposed more this season, especially when we're playing higher up the pitch.

It's a system that will expose the slightest error from a defender. however we currently feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, so until we have replacements it's something we'll have to live with. It's a system they're learning, and I don't think anybody playing alongside Vinny has felt comfortable - even the great man himself has been caught out a few times.

I personally think that MDM is following Pellers instructions and doing a decent job.

 

[sir baconface]

Just finished watching a full re-run of the 90 mins. Impossible to say MDM had anything other than a very solid game. Dominant in the air, neat in possession, some excellent interceptions (including one that led to a period of sustained pressure and from which Yaya scored).

Any defender would suffer from our high-line / offside trap. The criticism is way over the top. Pundits are afraid they'll look stupid if they don't jump on the MDM bashing bandwagon. If you look at our results with MDM in the team at centre back, they're rather impressive. I'm glad we have him.

There were even posters on the rag caf match thread saying the same. Now I wouldn't normally hold that place up as a font of footballing knowledge. My point is it's so blatant that even they feel moved to comment.