Player thread: Aleksandar Kolarov (2014/15)

[Tim of the Oak]

Great point; he looked like a beast in Italy and provoked us to play such an inflated fee because in Serie A, and particularly the post-Calciopoli era he played in, most teams used 4-3-1-2 or 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers; it meant he had no direct, constant offensive threat to deal with and a shitload of space to push forward into at his own wooden-legged pace. His first league game for us against Aaron Lennon saw him absolutely destroyed.

The reality is he's had one good season in 5 years with us, and it'll be good riddance once he leaves this summer.

That's your opinion - not reality. Nobody says AK is a great player and he may well move on in the Summer. The facts are that he has won plenty of silverware with us and he's played his part.

The 'facts' are that he's primarily been back-up in the time he's been here. Look at the number of league appearances he's made in those 5 seasons; they aren't representative of an important player, especially when you take into account that he's seldom injured and Clichy isn't absolute top drawer.

Aleks was our first choice left back in much of last year's title winning side, with 30 appearances. He's made about 20 appearances this season (in all comps), although Clichy has deserved to be first choice left back this year.

Aleks has made over 100 appearances for us so has played his part in our successes., like I said.

He's not been great but I think Aleks will leave in the Summer and with my best wishes. We will get a free for him (unlike say James Milner).

 

[kippax4ever]

No one in the squad puts in crosses as well as he does. He has a terrific shot. Two reasons I want him with City.

Sorry i disagree with you.most of his crosses are low balls in & are very easy to defend against,As many a pundit have said & if they notice this so will many defenders also

 

[NQCitizen]

No one in the squad puts in crosses as well as he does. He has a terrific shot. Two reasons I want him with City.

Sorry i disagree with you.most of his crosses are low balls in & are very easy to defend against,As many a pundit have said & if they notice this so will many defenders also

Well what else are you gonna do with Aguero, Silva, Nasri, Navas as your targets?

He'll put crosses on Dzeko's head as would Navas for Negredo. We don't have bad crossers, we have bad targets.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

No one in the squad puts in crosses as well as he does. He has a terrific shot. Two reasons I want him with City.

Sorry i disagree with you.most of his crosses are low balls in & are very easy to defend against,As many a pundit have said & if they notice this so will many defenders also

if we play sergio up front why would we want someone to put the ball in the air

 

[quiet_riot]

No one in the squad puts in crosses as well as he does. He has a terrific shot. Two reasons I want him with City.

Sorry i disagree with you.most of his crosses are low balls in & are very easy to defend against,As many a pundit have said & if they notice this so will many defenders also

Tbf unless Dzeko is on the pitch there's little point in floating a cross into the box

 

[Phil1]

No one in the squad puts in crosses as well as he does. He has a terrific shot. Two reasons I want him with City.

Sorry i disagree with you.most of his crosses are low balls in & are very easy to defend against,As many a pundit have said & if they notice this so will many defenders also

Kolorovs low balls in aren't your run of the mill (Navas like) low balls. They are rarely "easy" to defend against even if they are defended. The reason why we keep then hard and low has been covered so no point repeating - though I'd have thought it was an obvious point.

 

[blueonblue]

For me he sums up a contribution to the team as a whole rather than individual brilliance, he will throw himself into a block where Clichy would worry about messing up his f*cking hair do, he is a better crosser of a ball, understands give and go when roaming forward, and is not afraid to get stuck in when needed.

I think he has had some unfair stick from a section of supporters because hes not a f*cking whippet, Clichy may be faster, but he bottles out of or miss times tackles causing far more problems, yes we do need to look for a better left back, but Kolarov would be a good back up to have in the squad where Clichy still thinks hes better than he ever shows on the pitch.

 

[Bozzie]

He's a bit of an enigma to me. He's a big lad but, for the most part, he doesn't seem to use his strength and looses tackles he should win (he's not alone in that department). At times, like Sunday, he gets stuck in, blocks shots, wins headers, looks up for the fight and then on many other occasions he looks like he just can't be arsed. When that happens the crowd are quick to get on his back and he reacts to it in a petulant manner instead of maybe looking at the reason fans feel the way they do. We know he lacks pace but he's also not particularly comfortable on the ball and do needs protection from Navas or Milner. His strength is going forward and whipping in a first time cross, so for me, when he plays that's the areas we need to get him into, we don't always do that and then his impact on the game is zero. I don't dislike him to the tent that many on here do but his is a position that we can improve on next season.

 

[J_Bow]

Kolarov's good going forward if he plays the balls in first time, it's when he takes too many touches or tries to dribble past a man, this is where it all goes wrong for him. Defensively he's always been poor, just has no awareness or positioning, Clichy beats him in that department easily.

Absolutely no doubt we need a better, all round and younger left back to come in. Clichy will stay over Kolarov because he's HG but Clichy is very inconsistent, remember him getting torn apart by numerous average wingers/full backs early in the season.

 

[Dodge]

I'd much rather go on the piss with Aleks.