Nicolas Otamendi - 2017/18 performances

[Franknorgrovesnephew]

Love otto but not great day for him but as said mendy didnt help him much but early days the understanding between them will get there...

 

[St.Pauli support]

Mendy was clearly not being asked to defend from Salah, so you're blaming him for not doing a role he wasn't supposed to do.

Not sure.
You point out Ota is lacking pace.
Salah is a danger out left.
Mendy has got pace.
He should be allowed to help his team mates defending.

I couldn't make out ANY role Mendy tried to perform 1st half.
Pep changed the setup for 2nd half and Mendy certainly has been told something.
He was great then, going forward, but also dippers didn't attack any more.

 

[Sir peace frog]

Love otto but not great day for him but as said mendy didnt help him much but early days the understanding between them will get there...

as a central defender he is quality ,but in a 3 on the left/right no fucking way ,

I personally think it suits a full back. (we need more fullbacks :) danilo could do it he has the pace and passing we could do with similar on the left

 

[domalino]

Not sure.
You point out Ota is lacking pace.
Salah is a danger out left.
Mendy has got pace.
He should be allowed to help his team mates defending.

I couldn't make out ANY role Mendy tried to perform 1st half.
Pep changed the setup for 2nd half and Mendy certainly has been told something.
He was great then, going forward, but also dippers didn't attack any more.

It's not about being "allowed" it's about doing a different job. Having a player like Mendy up the pitch high up to pin back their RB and a midfielder. If Mendy drops back, Alexander Arnold bombs forward and is free down our flank every single time Mendy has to bail out Otamendi.

It was very similar vs. Chelsea last year. Sané played LWB that game and pinned back Moses all game until he came off. Clichy came on to help the back 4 out against Chelsea's forwards, dropped deep and then Moses was a free man on every attack and contributed to 2 of their 3 goals.

Being deeper doesn't always mean you're helping defend. Having a defender struggle 1v1 isn't necessarily worse than allowing one of their players to be unmarked because you doubled up on another.

 

[WallyA]

At times our back 3/5/ shifted to a back 4 with Ota as LB and Mendy given free reign to bomb down the left. Still think Otamendi was given a task too difficult so I can't blame him, he isn't fast so he is tasked with marking their fastest player which doensn't make sense. Luckily there aren't many faster than Salah so we have that atleast. Still think he is woefully underrated by this forum.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Great player, all over the park today whilst the other crew were waking up, bound to make some mistakes. !!

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Hideous first 25 mins but Mendy like others have said didn't help much. Silva bollocked him at one point for being on the wrong side of his man.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Don't trust him. When he's not playing alongside Kompany, he looks exposed every time. Anyone with a bit pace playing against him will have a field day. We need an upgrade because he's our most senior defender if Kompany is out for a bit, should be priority in January.

 

[pee dubya]

Anyone else reckon he should be in the middle of the 3?

He's excellent at some aspects of defending, but hopeless at others (not all his fault, lack of pace etc). Being constantly one on one against someone like Salah just exposes his weaknesses.

 

[kiam06]

Otamendi is a big worry dives in all the time and got away with it today.