Martin Demichelis

[jollylescott]

Nastasic is a good defender who will only get better, but right now I think I'd go with Kompany and Demichelis. These two will bully attackers no end

I agree. If they both stay fit I think MP will go with Vinny and Demichelis as the central defenders. Nasty is still learning and can be rotated depending on the game.

As has been said Demichelis controlled the Malaga defence, and you can see his calmness and composure. Sure there is a bit of ring rust, but once he gets fully up to speed I predict the fans are going to love him.

 

[Joycee Banercheck]

We don't know whether the match on Saturday was a bit of a one off for Demichelis in terms of giving the ball away like he did and as I have said earlier, I think he looks decent defensively which has been a pleasant surprise. So don't think I've got a downer on the guy, I haven't. But anyone who thinks his distribution was good on Saturday is nuts. I don't care if he plays lots of reasonable passes because for a centre half just one sloppy pass straight to opposition when under no pressure at all is too many and against a decent team could easily be disastrous. He did it 6 times on Saturday! A 99% success rate in a big game will mean fuck all if the 1% is him rolling the ball to the opposition striker who goes through and scores. As Joe found out against Chelsea, 1 bad error in a big game undermines all the other work you've done.

When he has given the ball away he's got it back. Takes time after an injury to get rid of the rust.

Apart from the one where he didn't get it back, was too slow to recover & Elmander blazed it over the bar from 6 yards.

Defensively he was great. In possession he was nowhere near good enough & that was against a poor team who pressed badly.

Needs to stop giving the ball away, & he needs to stop it right now, or his career will be over before it starts.

I tend to forget such things when we are 4-0 up.

 

[Oystercatcher28]

confident, commanding and accomplished, settling in nicely with two polar opposite league games

 

[buzzer1]

confident, commanding and accomplished, settling in nicely with two polar opposite league games

^^ this.

 

[trevorriley]

not bad so far, be good to see him in champions league... Certainly looks good on the ball, no nerves.

 

[SalfordCityBlue]

Like the fact that he has the confidence to not always pick the easy pass. Yes, that means he will give it away on occasion, but he will also spring us forward much quicker with more difficult balls into midfield when they come off.

 

[AntiUnited]

Good 3rd option defender. But kompany nasti are the best 2. what is the point of having a kid on the bench when he should be starting everygame and getting that much needed experience..

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Like the fact that he has the confidence to not always pick the easy pass. Yes, that means he will give it away on occasion, but he will also spring us forward much quicker with more difficult balls into midfield when they come off.

Yeah agree totally. I know he put a few sloppy balls about on Saturday, but i'm sure that side of his game
will tighten up as he plays more.

 

[Ric]

I like the look of him from what I've seen so far. At 32 he's only going to be a short term solution, but provides experienced cover in a position we've been struggling in. Looks comfortable in possession (a little rustiness on Saturday aside), and I haven't seen evidence of the glaring lack of pace some were concerned about. Still early days of course, but looks a decent signing.

 

[coleridge]

Of all aspects of play, passing is the one that you need match time for, especially in a new team. Interesting to see if he gets the nod in CL games when Vinny is fit as I imagine that's been a pat of the decision to sign him. He can go on for 3 or 4 years yet so maybe not so shot term.