Player topic: Eliaquim Mangala (2014/15)

[cleavers]

Re: Mangala

You're probably right. But the second half of this season is shaping up to be really white knuckle stuff. We will not be able to afford a rookie's mistakes when everything's at stake.

His best games so far have been in the harder games, so I'm not overly worried.

 

[cleavers]

Re: Mangala

It's the ones who leave it to others that I don't like. Mangala doesn't hide.

Exactly.

 

[Ballymagash Blue]

Re: Mangala

He fucked up positionally prior to the goal today & should have dealt with it easily rather than letting the bloke get a run on him, but there were mistakes by others prior to that, & I don't understand why nobody was back to cover the scorer. So he was no more responsible than several others.

He did plenty of good stuff too. Similarly, vs Sunderland, he was shite in the run up to zabbas penalty foul, but no worse than Clichy, or Zabba. He made a lot of good challenges in that game.

It's taking the rough with the smooth at the moment, & may be like that for a year or two, but most of our defenders do the same, even Vinny. They are often left exposed, so shit happens. So long as players get stuck in & fight & the team does mostly ok, we are not so bad.

It's the ones who leave it to others that I don't like. Mangala doesn't hide.

Nobody would argue, I think, that Eli hides. But surely no one would say that his performance today in the first half was up to the standard we'd expect to see from a top class centre half. By any objective standards, he was very poor.

 

[Vienna_70]

Re: Mangala

We've spent over £30m on a player that's no better than Nastasic. What a waste

Wrong on two of your three points.

1. We spent £32 million on Mangala. Correct.
2. He is much better than Nastasić. Incorrect.
3. It's not a waste, as will be proven in the long run. Incorrect.

Still, one out of three ain't bad.

 

[Dax777]

Re: Mangala

Like I believed in the summer, and still do now, Mangala, the goalie and Fernando were luxury purchases. The money spent on them could have been better spent elsewhere.

But we went this way, so here we are. Decent buys, not the best decisions in my opinion. And their combined performances have not changed my opinion on that. The guys I thought we should have targeted with our limited funds on the other hand, Fabregas and Sanchez? Well they've proved instrumental where they went.

 

[citymad]

Re: Mangala

Like I believed in the summer, and still do now, Mangala, the goalie and Fernando were luxury purchases. The money spent on them could have been better spent elsewhere.

But we went this way, so here we are. Decent buys, not the best decisions in my opinion. And their combined performances have not changed my opinion on that. The guys I thought we should have targeted with our limited funds on the other hand, Fabregas and Sanchez? Well they've proved instrumental where they went.

All hindsight really isn't it ? and with Vinny being out its actually turned out to be a wise move in terms of buying a defender. Whether he's the right one is another argument. For now though he's still young and learning the premier league, we need to give him time. Hopefully he's learning that even in the lower placed teams any mistakes will be punished and could be costly.

 

[sam-caddick]

Re: Mangala

Mangala has all the physical attributes to become a great Premier League centre half, but he need to work on understanding his role much better.

The difference between us and Chelsea is that our central defenders are not helped by our fullbacks so the opposition always target the outside channels because they know the amount of space left there, which in result causes our defenders to play the roles of left or right back and central defence when we are counter attacked, not an easy task at all but it's the way we play.

I think it will be next season until we really see Mangala flourishing.

In regards to Fernando, I think in a midfield three he looks top class because he can be disciplined and just position himself in front of the back four, like at Porto.

In a midfield two more is expected of him in our system so he has to come out of that disciplined position and provide more up the pitch, saying that I think he can work in a midfield two but only when we play a disciplined performance and he is partnered with a work horse in Fernandinho, also monitoring how adventurous our fullbacks can go at certain times, like in Rome.

I don't think we get the best out of Fernando when he is partnered in a duo with Yaya, everyone bombing on including both fullbacks.

 

[EalingBlue2]

Re: Mangala

Like I believed in the summer, and still do now, Mangala, the goalie and Fernando were luxury purchases. The money spent on them could have been better spent elsewhere.

But we went this way, so here we are. Decent buys, not the best decisions in my opinion. And their combined performances have not changed my opinion on that. The guys I thought we should have targeted with our limited funds on the other hand, Fabregas and Sanchez? Well they've proved instrumental where they went.

I think fabregas and his missus wanted London we poked around and he was not remotely interested. I also think we needed Fernando and Mangala far more than we needed Sanchez as they filled the two most important gaps in the team.

Honestly do you think we would have gone through in Rome with Boyata at the back and lampard as defensive midfielder ? Not in a million years - two vital signings - Sanchez a luxury we couldn't afford. Also mangala and Fernando cost about the same as Sanchez so was fabregas coming for free!

 

[bitsmith]

Re: Mangala

Like I believed in the summer, and still do now, Mangala, the goalie and Fernando were luxury purchases. The money spent on them could have been better spent elsewhere.

But we went this way, so here we are. Decent buys, not the best decisions in my opinion. And their combined performances have not changed my opinion on that. The guys I thought we should have targeted with our limited funds on the other hand, Fabregas and Sanchez? Well they've proved instrumental where they went.

we needed covers in the area we bought much more than in those where sanchez and fabregas operate

 

[BlueAnorak]

Re: Mangala

He fucked up positionally prior to the goal today & should have dealt with it easily rather than letting the bloke get a run on him, but there were mistakes by others prior to that, & I don't understand why nobody was back to cover the scorer. So he was no more responsible than several others.

He did plenty of good stuff too. Similarly, vs Sunderland, he was shite in the run up to zabbas penalty foul, but no worse than Clichy, or Zabba. He made a lot of good challenges in that game.

It's taking the rough with the smooth at the moment, & may be like that for a year or two, but most of our defenders do the same, even Vinny. They are often left exposed, so shit happens. So long as players get stuck in & fight & the team does mostly ok, we are not so bad.

It's the ones who leave it to others that I don't like. Mangala doesn't hide.

Nobody would argue, I think, that Eli hides. But surely no one would say that his performance today in the first half was up to the standard we'd expect to see from a top class centre half. By any objective standards, he was very poor.

Mangala made an initial mistake for the goal, but to just pillory him for the goal and out defensive play in the first half is ludicrous. Football is a TEAM game.
For the goal ask why Jovetic had gone so deep and why he gave the ball away? Also ask what Kolarov, Fernando, YaYa and Boyata were doing and Just who the f*ck was tracking the scorers run?
Their records at other points in the first half where equality as bad. In fact it could be said that Mangala was digging his team mates out of the sh*t again and again.
Sagna too. Good defender but as an overlapping fullback, forget it. We lose so much from our attacking game when Zaba isn't playing.