http://ballsybanter.com/2012/11/29/matija-nastasic-and-the-redemption-of-the-man-city-defence/?
Fantastic piece on Nastastic----- below is copy and paste ^_^
Manchester City’s defence – the best in the Premier League for consecutive seasons largely thanks to the effective brain and brawn partnership of captain Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott – began the 2012/13 season in disarray. If you include the Community Shield, City conceded six goals in their first three games of the season, and 10 in their first 7. They didn’t keep a clean sheet until October, and even that was a home game against Sunderland, who at the time had the worst attack in the league and whose continued impotence in front of goal has left them on the verge of a relegation battle. Vincent Kompany both looked like he was trying too hard, and like he’d lost the magic touch that saw him take the Barclays Player of the Year last season. Mancini looked reactionary, switching the formations every twenty minutes, switching up his defensive personnel week in week out, experimenting with a back three, seemingly favouring Lescott in the Premier League but Nastasic in the Champions League. It looked a mess. But here we are, 14 games into the season and City hold the best defensive record in the division. What happened?
The decisive moment of change came in the Amsterdam ArenA, with Man City’s tame defeat to Ajax. Lescott failed to clear a corner at the near post, and the Ajax centre-back headed in the cheapest of cheap goals that sent City down the road to defeat and an ultimate Champions League exit. Mancini’s anger was apparent, even aiming a sarcastic side-swipe at Lescott in the subsequent press conference. Mancini made his choice, and since, 19-year old Matija Nastasic has started eight consecutive games in all competitions. Signed from Fiorentina in the summer in a cash plus Stefan Savic deal (Savic, meanwhile, who looked a nervous wreck at City since day 1, has been reborn at Fiorentina and is perhaps leading them to a Champions League place), his arrival went a bit under the radar while most of the press focused on Rodwell, on Javi Garcia, on Maicon. And when Nastasic made his debut at the Bernabeu, many City fans, let alone everyone else, were asking: who is this kid and what has he done with England international Joleon Lescott?
But since getting his chance, Nastasic hasn’t looked back, and his form has not only helped Kompany return to something approaching good form but resurrected City’s defence back to the mantle of title worthy. In his seven Premier League starts, Manchester City have only conceded two goals – one of those a penalty – and the last six Premier League games have resulted in five clean sheets, and another against Everton this weekend would be the fourth consecutive one, constituting the best defensive run City have had under Mancini. Nastasic plays with a nervelessness that defies his age; there’s no panic when in tight spots, he looks a natural on the ball and his passing might be better than at least one or two of City’s midfielders, let alone the usually hesitant Lescott. I don’t wish to over-hype the kid, and of course, the key test will be when he makes a costly mistake and the way in which he deals with that, but if you factor in his age and how many perish faced with the fast pace of the Premier League, his start is very, very promising – and that’s putting it mildly.
It’s a tough read for Lescott, who, in my opinion, Mancini has never really been a fan of. The big man had a poor start to his City career after a protracted and unpleasant transfer saga. With Kolo Toure being the number one choice, Lescott lost his place to some defensive midfielder named Vincent Kompany and spent about six months as back-up. His chance came when Kolo got himself a six-month drugs ban, something that killed his City career and saved Lescott’s, as he was the only option for Mancini to turn to. He excelled with Kompany, forming an intimidating partnership as City marched to the FA Cup and a third place finish in the back-end of the 10/11 season, and that form continued into the 11/12 season as he became fairly immense, a deserved title winner and England international. But there was something about him Mancini never really trusted, and even last season, he brought in Savic as a prospective replacement. Savic bombed and Lescott saw him off, but Mancini’s face when Lescott made that dreadful mistake against QPR was telling. Another one was coming. It’s a raw deal, but considering Lescott’s age in comparison to Nastasic’s, the maths is solid, if heartless.
In the meantime, though, City’s slightly misfiring attack has become the main problem now, with four strikers all varying shades of lack of form, and goal-scoring is a slog rather than the free-for-all of last season. But points are being ground out, wins are being gathered. And with their defence now looking something like it would be something worthy of contenders, the sheer quality and depth of the talent going forward should leave City fans quietly confident. For example, even with this problem, City have scored more goals than anyone else in the division sans United, but United’s faulty rearguard leaves them with a weaker defence than City, Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea. One team’s problem seems bigger than the other, and although something still seems off with City’s game – slow starts, laboured build up play, and scores of wasted chances being the main concern – if the strikers get out of first gear and the defence keeps this form up, then they could start to look like worthy retaining champions. Big if though.
