Player Topic: Eliaquim Mangala (2015/16)

[cibaman]

Do Real Madrid not rotate Pep/Ramos/Varane quite a bit?

Either way, if Kompany can't fix his customary injuries it won't be a problem. Would anyone be shocked if Otamendi/Mangala is our first choice pairing by the end of the season?

Yes

 

[rambo]

Something someone pointed out to me on Sunday, the way Mangala wrapped a protective arm around Fernandinho as they came off at half time to stop the mard Arse Costa getting to him. He basically put himself between the two and said you've got to get through me to get to Fernandinho

Not bad for a young lad, think he's fitting in just fine

 

[aguero93:20]

Adams, Bold, Keown?

Adams spent a lot of his Arsenal career playing at right back.

 

[Blue Llama]

He also calmed down Humphries when the young lad was walking off the pitch at the end of one of our pre season games. Not sure what had got to Humphries but he looked as though he wanted a bit of somebody. I thought it was a great reaction from Mangala stopping the young lad from getting into trouble.

 

[TonyM]

Bet he has a very proud mum :-)

 

[Universidad de Chile]

That's probably where Castles got it from then. We all thought that Valencia must have had some encouragement.

A couple of games look to have changed the course of Eli's career with us and that's excellent. What's not so good is what it says about the confidence we have in our player appraisal process.

A £30+m buy only a season ago after a lengthy period of detailed assessment was about to be ditched and then he was brought back from the brink by two good performances. Not sure about that at all but I'm relieved he's still here.

As someone else posted, the signing of Otamendi is born out of opportunity not necessity and the result is we have added a world class defender for stock.

Sure, it will improve competition for places and squad depth but we have other important weaknesses that need to be addressed as the priority.

If we do further business and improve our midfield then OK but I fear KDB will be our last summer signing of note and with the addition of Otamendi our defence could now be disrupted and team spirit and cohesion possibly even damaged.

Agreed 100%

Only, lets hope that AT LEAST KDB is also coming too. Dont want to sound too negative, but at some stages I got the feeling, we were signing Otamendi, ONLY, cause we cant buy KDB or Pogba... :(

 

[buzzer1]

Is gonna be our future captain.

 

[TFC]

I thought he was absolutely superb today. His reading of the game has gotten so much better and him and Vinny had Lukaku in their pockets all day long.

Pellegrini loves his defensive rotation, but I think he should leave well alone at the moment, you cannot justify dropping anyone out of this back 4 currently.

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

Excellent today.

Well done the mangler

 

[sam663]