Player Topic: Jason Denayer (2015/2016)

[jimharri]

You play players on form, not reputation, and on form he's not. Denayer is coming off a very good season, and should be rewarded for it, we can manage him through the season, he doesn't have to start every week, but there's no reason why not to start him next week, he's in form and confident, the complete opposite of Vinny.

Correct.

 

[George Hannah]

We don't have to drop him. Mangala and Denayer looked a miles better partnership in the second half. We are clearly struggling for a def mid for WBA. Put Vinnie DM and all is OK. Simples!!

If only ;)

 

[George Hannah]

You play players on form, not reputation, and on form he's not. Denayer is coming off a very good season, and should be rewarded for it, we can manage him through the season, he doesn't have to start every week, but there's no reason why not to start him next week, he's in form and confident, the complete opposite of Vinny.

That's true and the pre-season may be the only form to judge but given the successful pairing of Mangala and MD at the end of last season Eli has to play. If MD isn't ready Pellegrini will be under enormous pressure to play the captain despite this last poor showing.

 

[Vienna_70]

I thought he looked pretty poor against Madrid and had a bad first half hour against Vietnam, but he looked a lot more settled today. Him and Mangala looked to have a much better understanding, switching sides and filling in for each other pretty seemlessly. As long as the ball is on the floor I think he's excellent, his marking and positioning from crosses looks like it still needs a lot of improvement (not needed today)

And which defenders don't look poor against Bale, Benzema and fake?

Not very many.

I didn't see the Real Madrid game, so can't really comment, but he looked calm and assured today. The little I saw of VK, he looked very out of form. Maybe the interrupted pre-season he's had with his son being born hasn't helped.

I would play JD with Mangala at the Hawthorns.

 

[BigOscar]

And which defenders don't look poor against Bale, Benzema and fake?

Not very many.

I didn't see the Real Madrid game, so can't really comment, but he looked calm and assured today. The little I saw of VK, he looked very out of form. Maybe the interrupted pre-season he's had with his son being born hasn't helped.

I would play JD with Mangala at the Hawthorns.

It wasn't Ronaldo or Bale running at him that he struggled with, his problem was that he wasn't getting anywhere near his man on crosses. (which is obviously a worry in the premier league) On the floor he didn't really have any problems at all, neither did he in the air when he actually was in place to compete for the headers, he just let people get away from him on 3 or 4 crosses which led to at least a couple of goals (although that wasn't helped by our leftbacks not stopping or even closing down crosses)

 

[cleavers]

It wasn't Ronaldo or Bale running at him that he struggled with, his problem was that he wasn't getting anywhere near his man on crosses. (which is obviously a worry in the premier league) On the floor he didn't really have any problems at all, neither did he in the air when he actually was in place to compete for the headers, he just let people get away from him on 3 or 4 crosses which led to at least a couple of goals (although that wasn't helped by our leftbacks not stopping or even closing down crosses)

Just in his defence a little more, he was playing with a 16 year old partner who he was also trying to protect from Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema, etc. maybe he was also concerned by that, and I very much doubt those two had played more than 10 minutes together before, and they played 90 against Real Madrid, he being the 'senior' central defender.

 

[BigOscar]

Just in his defence a little more, he was playing with a 16 year old partner who he was also trying to protect from Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema, etc. maybe he was also concerned by that, and I very much doubt those two had played more than 10 minutes together before, and they played 90 against Real Madrid, he being the 'senior' central defender.

Does that really affect your ability to mark players from crosses though? It wasn't an organisational issue or about him over covering for his partner, it was just him letting his man run off him. He could well have been nervous and playing alongside Humphries certainly wouldn't have helped that. Hard to really tell from friendlies

 

[chesterbells]

Correct.

Spot on.

Well anyway, lets just see if the manager has the balls to make the right call on this one - it'll be his first big decision of the season!

 

[cleavers]

Does that really affect your ability to mark players from crosses though?

Maybe it does if you're inexperienced, and also worrying about someone else who you've never played with, who has gone from playing against 16 year olds to playing against 3 of the best players in the world overnight, perhaps it might just cause some indecision.

 

[Vienna_70]

He did well today but not well enough to displace Eli or VK at West Brom. Changing that pairing would signal chaos in the camp.

And when was the last time Eli and Vinnie played together competitively?

Mangala and Demichelis started the last six games and the one before that was the swamp Derby, where VK and DM started. Mangala replaced Vinnie at half-time.