I'm a yank, new to the game, city fan of 5 years so correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe Pogba to be a once in a decade type talent and you don't risk messing up the opportunity of securing him by signing a CB. TBH I don't know a ton about him but good CB's should be open in nearly every window, no? Now if were 100% out of the running for Pogba then ya, by all means go for it. But even if it's at say 20% I wouldn't risk it.I disagree. Kompany was injured on a number of accasions last season. Demichelis is slower than me and not getting any younger. Denayer is just a kid and totally unproven at the level we're playing at. Mangala looks promising but is still young and adjusting. I hope we're not going into next season with our fingers crossed that they will all be ok. This is a professional outfit with designs on the title and Champs League. We need a solid, dependable and experienced centre back and this lad fits the bill perfectly. Fans tend to focus on attacking players who look good on Youtube, but the club needs to ensure that we have a solid foundation, and not hope that we have one. A centre back and a left back are high priorities.
But for me Demichelis is a safer player now & does the job better with less 'show'. He used to be more like Otamendi & I was terrified when we signed him, but he's calmed down.Pretty much just described Demichelis tbh, who was awful at first while attempting to play that la liga style of defending. No way in the world would Otamendi hit the ground running in the PL, he may adapt to it like Demi has, but the ridiculous way people defend in Spain doesn't work at all over here (or over there tbh, hence the huge scorelines every week)
Arf arf bet you feel a prick now.Sorry to piss on ya chips but mcfc4o is from the states and hasnt any information regarding transfers!
Garay is a far better CB than Demichelis, but Otamendi to me does look an awful lot like a young Demichelis. When he first arrived here he was doing all the moronic things Otamendi does, lunging into completely unneccessary slide tackles on the half way line, hopelessly overcommiting himself and generally going by the baflling "all or nothing" style that La Liga seems to encourage, but he had the experience of playing in the Bundesliga to fall back on, where presumably he defended more sensibly. Otamdendi was rash in Portugal, he's rash in Spain and he's rash for Argentina. His timing is excellent, so he does get away with a lot and people love a slide tackle so he'll always be a fan favourite, but it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the rest of your defence to cover for you. Maybe he'd adjust in 6 months like Demichelis did, maybe he wouldn't, but I don't think it's worth the risk when we already have 4 quality defenders.But for me Demichelis is a safer player now & does the job better with less 'show'. He used to be more like Otamendi & I was terrified when we signed him, but he's calmed down.
I thought Demi looked a much better cb than either of the two regular starters for Argentina. Apart from a couple of his typical moments, I thought he looked in ver good shape in the Copa.
Garay is a far better CB than Demichelis, but Otamendi to me does look an awful lot like a young Demichelis. When he first arrived here he was doing all the moronic things Otamendi does, lunging into completely unneccessary slide tackles on the half way line, hopelessly overcommiting himself and generally going by the baflling "all or nothing" style that La Liga seems to encourage, but he had the experience of playing in the Bundesliga to fall back on, where presumably he defended more sensibly. Otamdendi was rash in Portugal, he's rash in Spain and he's rash for Argentina. His timing is excellent, so he does get away with a lot and people love a slide tackle so he'll always be a fan favourite, but it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the rest of your defence to cover for you. Maybe he'd adjust in 6 months like Demichelis did, maybe he wouldn't, but I don't think it's worth the risk when we already have 4 quality defenders.
Completely agree that the problem is further up the pitch. No centerback is going to enjoy playing the way we play, it puts far too much pressure on them and leaves them constantly exposed. A proper midfield makes defending a hundred times easier, untill we get that balance right our defenders will continue to struggle.I don't like Garay at all.
I think if we eventually sign a cb we should find another beast like Vinny or Mangala. But the way we defend as a team is the problem. Whoever we sign isn't going to solve that. But it was such a huge improvement for the brief time Delph was on the pitch, we looked like a proper European team, perhaps at last we are about to find the right balance & then next year we can get some fullbacks to supplement the kids, maybe that will be close to job done.
I would also go for Garay 100000000000000 times rather than for Otamendi and others.Garay is a far better CB than Demichelis, but Otamendi to me does look an awful lot like a young Demichelis. When he first arrived here he was doing all the moronic things Otamendi does, lunging into completely unneccessary slide tackles on the half way line, hopelessly overcommiting himself and generally going by the baflling "all or nothing" style that La Liga seems to encourage, but he had the experience of playing in the Bundesliga to fall back on, where presumably he defended more sensibly. Otamdendi was rash in Portugal, he's rash in Spain and he's rash for Argentina. His timing is excellent, so he does get away with a lot and people love a slide tackle so he'll always be a fan favourite, but it puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the rest of your defence to cover for you. Maybe he'd adjust in 6 months like Demichelis did, maybe he wouldn't, but I don't think it's worth the risk when we already have 4 quality defenders.
two summers ago we wanted Pepe. MDM was his backupThat's a fair proposition and I'm open to options regarding who goes out on loan but what is sacrosacnt for me is getting our first choice CD who luckily is available (next season it might not be so). If you recall last season we wanted Pepe but it didn't work out (I think that was January of 2013/14 season iirc), then in summer of 2014/15 our first choice was Roma's Benatia. It was when we realized he wasn't going to come that we opted for Mangala because of his previous two seasons perfomance which was a huge risk. I'm a firm believer that Manga will come good and surprise his critics but I made that suggestion if that's what it'll take to smoothen the deal.
YES!!!!!just to piss on your chips mcfcm40 is from new moston the clue was in the name.