All we can ask of a cb in Manchester City's team, is that he tries really hard ?
You mentioned internationals. Please just take a minute to look at these points & maybe you will see where I'm coming from.
2:14 Otamendi's first step, wrongfoots himself, putting his body in the wrong position (as we saw over & over again v Liverpool & straight away at Bournemouth) instead of trying to force the player away from coming inside, he has instantly decided, the player is going outside anyhow ,& he has to leg it full speed towards the wing, but actually, the player is coming inside & Otta has helped him out. Oops. Game over.
He is now in no position, to even register as a statistic. He hasn't 'missed' a challenge, because he never got close enough to make one.
Out of 3 players, the player furthest away from the attacker when he scores, is the one who is supposed to directly defend against him, who, in theory, the attacker has to 'get past'.
But he doesn't have to get past him, as Otamendi has already taken himself, out of the game.
You or I could actually defend that better, just by standing still, the attacker would go either go outside or come straight at you therefore giving you or a team mate a chance to stop him.
Otamendi's first move, creates the goalscoring opportunity.
4:28 Gabriel Jesus, receiving a throw in, close to the line with nowhere to go, no danger. Easy situation.
Oops, Otamendi has somehow got himself on the wrong side & now Jesus is goal side of Otamendi. Slow dog chases balloon without awareness of what's around, pass inside, 2:0.
7:33 Prior to 3rd goal, watch Otamendi's movement as the ball is headed away. At 7:35, he's stepped behind the backline, with his body facing sideways/backwards, looking at the ball, (sound familiar ?) luckily it's not Silva or DeBruyne on the ball, so he gets away with it.
7:38 Random charge away from Brazil's cf, (who is now onside, unmarked) presumably to mark invisible man, again, not Silva or DeBruyne on the ball, to play the simple little pass over his head, gets away with it.
The eventual goal comes slightly later, but could already have happened twice, due to Otamendi's weird decision making.
Where I sit at City, when City lose possession, this is the kind of stuff, I regularly see Otamendi doing, 'off camera'.
So when it happens & a goalscoring chance ensues, & people say 'oh he just made that one error' no he didn't, he made 15 others that came to nothing & therefore nobody noticed.
This is my problem with the guy, moreso than him being beaten for pace, in a situation he shouldn't have been put in by Pep.
His decision making at times, defies understanding.
If he could sort that out, the rest of his game would be workable. Nobody is perfect. But he actually is creating himself & us potential problems.
