Player topic: Eliaquim Mangala (2014/15)

[TFC]

I think I was most impressed by his reluctance to dive in today, we've seen him do a 'Vinny' many times since he came to the club and it was great to see a far more calm and composed Eli out there. Long may it continue.

 

[J_Bow]

Next season we better play him and Kompany together consistently, same with keeping the full backs the same. Also a new midfielder or two will hopefully protect the defence better as well.

 

[Bluster]

We need to get some perspective.

We got a clean sheet but he was playing against Carlton Cole, who was released on a free by West Ham at the end of last season and brought back on a reduced contract, and a team that are on a worse run than us with a work ethic that suggested they were planning their holidays. He still found himself massively out of position chasing Downing out wide on a couple of occasions and leaving us very vulnerable.

He is quick and strong but appears to lack positional awareness and a sense of danger. He's got a long way to go until he looks remotely near the player he should be at that price. And I don't think that we can claim we're buying potential as he's young and will improve. He's 24 not 19. He'll hopefully get better, but £32 million better?

 

[Rösler von Stretfordbömber]

Impressive today. Well done Eli!

 

[Bruun]

We need to get some perspective.

We got a clean sheet but he was playing against Carlton Cole, who was released on a free by West Ham at the end of last season and brought back on a reduced contract, and a team that are on a worse run than us with a work ethic that suggested they were planning their holidays. He still found himself massively out of position chasing Downing out wide on a couple of occasions and leaving us very vulnerable.

He is quick and strong but appears to lack positional awareness and a sense of danger. He's got a long way to go until he looks remotely near the player he should be at that price. And I don't think that we can claim we're buying potential as he's young and will improve. He's 24 not 19. He'll hopefully get better, but £32 million better?

Where is this lack of positional awareness coming from?

If you go back and look at the last 10 matches with Mangala, notice what the players around him are instructed to do, today was a very clear indication of this.

Whenever Mangala was leaving his place in the backfour to go press up high, notice how Kolarov pushed himself in towards the middle to support Mangalas original position. I've seen this plenty of times, either Fernando supports him or the fullback. Often Clichy looks unable to do this, which might be causing some problems. The amount of times, and the way Fernando/Kolarov moves around him is not a coincidence in my book.

 

[Marvin]

We need to get some perspective.

We got a clean sheet but he was playing against Carlton Cole, who was released on a free by West Ham at the end of last season and brought back on a reduced contract, and a team that are on a worse run than us with a work ethic that suggested they were planning their holidays. He still found himself massively out of position chasing Downing out wide on a couple of occasions and leaving us very vulnerable.

He is quick and strong but appears to lack positional awareness and a sense of danger. He's got a long way to go until he looks remotely near the player he should be at that price. And I don't think that we can claim we're buying potential as he's young and will improve. He's 24 not 19. He'll hopefully get better, but £32 million better?

Played well today, and we'll never know how good he is until he gets an extended run in the team. Looks like he might get that chance now

 

[dennishasdoneit]

We need to get some perspective.

We got a clean sheet but he was playing against Carlton Cole, who was released on a free by West Ham at the end of last season and brought back on a reduced contract, and a team that are on a worse run than us with a work ethic that suggested they were planning their holidays. He still found himself massively out of position chasing Downing out wide on a couple of occasions and leaving us very vulnerable.

He is quick and strong but appears to lack positional awareness and a sense of danger. He's got a long way to go until he looks remotely near the player he should be at that price. And I don't think that we can claim we're buying potential as he's young and will improve. He's 24 not 19. He'll hopefully get better, but £32 million better?

I,m a Mangala fan, but i have to say i agree with this post.On todays performance i agree, he has a long way to go.
Perhaps a consistent run in the team will help him fully settle in.Dont like to see a centre half wandering all over, cant fault his effort and determination but disciplined defending is essential for a winning team.

 

[Bluekiwi]

Okay, so West Ham weren't interested in getting a result so he supposedly had an "easy ride". But the lad has hardly played in the last few months and he is probably trying very hard to get the critics off his back. I think that we will see an improvement as he and Martin will get to play together for the next few games.

 

[CityFan94]

Good game again.

I thought Mangala was really good in our last home game against West Brom aswell.

This Kompany injury could be a blessing in disguise, he's going to get a run of 6 games alongside Demichelis. You can tell he's started to adapt to the league well and I still think he'll really kick on next season.

 

[supercity88]

Whilst the opposition wasn't the toughest you have to give credit to him - he was in a defence that kept a clean sheet. That will give him confidence and from there he can build more of it and adapt to life in the league. It doesn't take long for a player to completely change from looking out of their depth to completely at home in a side. Demichelis is one... how old is he? Zabaleta was barely playing then suddenly settled and became a class act. He used to dive in and get caught out - now he knows when to press and when to drop off, he knows his own weaknesses and has adapted his game... how old is he? Kompany was played in defensive midfield at first and didn't look like he was destined to become a great centre half and captain of a title winning side...

Thins change and Mangala arrived at this club needing a bit of time to settle and a bit of help from his team mates. He didn't get that at all... Kompany was woeful and Mangala probably picked up some bad habits from him - diving in and leaving space in behind etc. Alongside Demichelis for the remainder of the season I expect his form will pick up and I expect more clean sheets.