Player topic: Eliaquim Mangala (2014/15)

[Bottomless_Sailor]

Re: Mangala

In his defence he's 23 and experiencing the first busy Christmas fixture list of his career.

No doubt if Kompany was fit he'd have been given a game off or two; these occasional lapses were expected in his first season or so when we bought him.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Re: Mangala

Their players sussed him out in minutes today. Show him enough of the ball and he naïvely runs after it and a drop of the shoulder here or a nick of the ball there will see him either turned inside out or give a foul away. Happened all afternoon.

Demichelis was getting pissed off with him as well as he kept hanging back from the rest of the back four through a lack of concentration. He must have shouted at him four times to get in line and wake up.

He had been getting better but a poor one from him today. Hopefully just a bad game and he'll be better for Sunderland.

It didn't help having the atrocious Kolarov outside him today though. I hope they both have a look at the tape of that game together and have a good conversation with each other about it.

 

[the plasterer]

Re: Mangala

he was absolute dogshit today, no excuses what so ever, awful performance

 

[super_city_si]

Re: Mangala

To his credit, he does a belting Frank Sinclair impression.

 

[BigOscar]

Re: Mangala

Thought he fought far better than Demi did in the aerial battles, he at least competed and stopped the guy from easily bringing it down in his chest. Clearly not used to having to play against that sort of thing though, as in Portugal they actually give fouls for backing in (seriously, not once was Barnes penalised despite backing in literally every time, I don't recall him ever even attempting to jump). He fought for every aerial ball and at least made it hard for Barnes, unlike Demi who pretty much just let him do whatever he wanted. Also not helped by Kolarov putting in one of the most absentee leftback performances you'll ever see, forcing Mangala to have to keep chasing people out to the vacant leftback position again. A cone might of been more useful than Kolarov today.

Not a great effort by the defence today, but I thought Mangala at least fought well and never gave up. Neither goal had owt to do with him either

 

[pudge]

Re: Mangala

Thought he fought far better than Demi did in the aerial battles, he at least competed and stopped the guy from easily bringing it down in his chest. Clearly not used to having to play against that sort of thing though, as in Portugal they actually give fouls for backing in (seriously, not once was Barnes penalised despite backing in literally every time, I don't recall him ever even attempting to jump). He fought for every aerial ball and at least made it hard for Barnes, unlike Demi who pretty much just let him do whatever he wanted. Also not helped by Kolarov putting in one of the most absentee leftback performances you'll ever see, forcing Mangala to have to keep chasing people out to the vacant leftback position again. A cone might of been more useful than Kolarov today.

Not a great effort by the defence today, but I thought Mangala at least fought well and never gave up. Neither goal had owt to do with him either

Demichelis won more headers and a much higher percentage of his aerial duels though

 

[Phil1]

Re: Mangala

Thought he fought far better than Demi did in the aerial battles, he at least competed and stopped the guy from easily bringing it down in his chest. Clearly not used to having to play against that sort of thing though, as in Portugal they actually give fouls for backing in (seriously, not once was Barnes penalised despite backing in literally every time, I don't recall him ever even attempting to jump). He fought for every aerial ball and at least made it hard for Barnes, unlike Demi who pretty much just let him do whatever he wanted. Also not helped by Kolarov putting in one of the most absentee leftback performances you'll ever see, forcing Mangala to have to keep chasing people out to the vacant leftback position again. A cone might of been more useful than Kolarov today.

Not a great effort by the defence today, but I thought Mangala at least fought well and never gave up. Neither goal had owt to do with him either

Demichelis won more headers and a much higher percentage of his aerial duels though

Plus his man was able to bring the ball down time and time again(when not bein fouled) so not sure if that stacks up.
I'm all for defending our players but some on here have resorted to plain making shit up. I sat and watched the whole thing play out in front of me and that description of Mangala's performance is nearly as bad as Fantasyirelands..

 

[kaz7]

Re: Mangala

If demi can play again on thurs i would put vinnie in with him and leave this kid out till the cup game

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Re: Mangala

If demi can play again on thurs i would put vinnie in with him and leave this kid out till the cup game

He's not a kid.

 

[BigOscar]

Re: Mangala

Thought he fought far better than Demi did in the aerial battles, he at least competed and stopped the guy from easily bringing it down in his chest. Clearly not used to having to play against that sort of thing though, as in Portugal they actually give fouls for backing in (seriously, not once was Barnes penalised despite backing in literally every time, I don't recall him ever even attempting to jump). He fought for every aerial ball and at least made it hard for Barnes, unlike Demi who pretty much just let him do whatever he wanted. Also not helped by Kolarov putting in one of the most absentee leftback performances you'll ever see, forcing Mangala to have to keep chasing people out to the vacant leftback position again. A cone might of been more useful than Kolarov today.

Not a great effort by the defence today, but I thought Mangala at least fought well and never gave up. Neither goal had owt to do with him either

Demichelis won more headers and a much higher percentage of his aerial duels though

Stats are shit on these things though, as Demi frequently failed to even turn long balls into "aerial duels", instead just let them bring it down. Defending isn't neccesarily about winning the header anyway, it's about making it hard for your opponent to head it where he wants to, which he did far better than Demi today. Demi won a few headers against their smaller people, but I don't recall him even making life difficult for Barnes.