Player Topic: Nicolas Otamendi (2015/16)

[the originalkippaxman]

He doesn't have to step out so often & he certainly doesn't have to step out & sit on the floor. That is his own doing, entirely.

Top defenders stay on their feet whenever possible, he goes to ground all the time, thus taking himself out of the game & has even been found out diving. That is not a 'top defender' by any stretch of the imagination & we need 'top defenders' at cb. He lets players drift in behind him & has been out muscled even by quite small attackers, skinned for pace & strength by one of Watford's cfs last weekend for example, nutmegged by another, he looks great winning headers from goalkicks & attacking corners but rarely wins anything from a dangerous cross or corner in our box, passes it on.

Right now he is not as good as many of the run of the mill cbs in the top half of the table. Some journeyman like Jagielka or Collocini would be an improvement on him at this time. His performances are masked by the fact that the people next to him are often the current worst central defenders in the Premier League & the unit is totally disorganised.


But he is agressive & a decent tackler, not bad on the ball, ok in the air when not heavilly challenged, so he has the basics to work on & I'm hopeful he will come good. It's not easy being a cb in this godawful defence & he was always going to struggle coming straight to the Prem from Spain & not being very big, or quick.

Spain is a very clever technical league full of diving wusses, where he is a 'tough guy'. The Prem is a dark alley full of people with baseball bats who don't give a fuck about his tattoos.

He is unfortunate to be working for Pellegrini. In an organised defence, with some guidence, he might have settled a lot quicker. Pellegrini has no idea & is being found out by the other managers.

But there is still hope for Otamendi to realise his potential, especially if VK comes back one day. His performances from now on may be key to our season. Demichelis was almost as bad in the first half of his first season & came good, so hopefully Otto can. We need him.

Excellent post and very well put. Amazes me that Mangala gets so much slating but Otamendi gets away scott free. Many differing opions on this guy but he is constantly putting his fellow defenders under pressure by making ridiculous decisions. As for that dive last night he cost the team big time last night and has to take the blame. Hopefully he will learn from it and realise that he is employed to be a defender and not a playmaker.

 

[Saddleworth2]

He doesn't have to step out so often & he certainly doesn't have to step out & sit on the floor. That is his own doing, entirely.

Top defenders stay on their feet whenever possible, he goes to ground all the time, thus taking himself out of the game & has even been found out diving. That is not a 'top defender' by any stretch of the imagination & we need 'top defenders' at cb. He lets players drift in behind him & has been out muscled even by quite small attackers, skinned for pace & strength by one of Watford's cfs last weekend for example, nutmegged by another, he looks great winning headers from goalkicks & attacking corners but rarely wins anything from a dangerous cross or corner in our box, passes it on.

Right now he is not as good as many of the run of the mill cbs in the top half of the table. Some journeyman like Jagielka or Collocini would be an improvement on him at this time. His performances are masked by the fact that the people next to him are often the current worst central defenders in the Premier League & the unit is totally disorganised.


But he is agressive & a decent tackler, not bad on the ball, ok in the air when not heavilly challenged, so he has the basics to work on & I'm hopeful he will come good. It's not easy being a cb in this godawful defence & he was always going to struggle coming straight to the Prem from Spain & not being very big, or quick.

Spain is a very clever technical league full of diving wusses, where he is a 'tough guy'. The Prem is a dark alley full of people with baseball bats who don't give a fuck about his tattoos.

He is unfortunate to be working for Pellegrini. In an organised defence, with some guidence, he might have settled a lot quicker. Pellegrini has no idea & is being found out by the other managers.

But there is still hope for Otamendi to realise his potential, especially if VK comes back one day. His performances from now on may be key to our season. Demichelis was almost as bad in the first half of his first season & came good, so hopefully Otto can. We need him.

NOH !



(Nail On Head)

 

[Neville Kneville]

Excellent post and very well put. Amazes me that Mangala gets so much slating but Otamendi gets away scott free. Many differing opions on this guy but he is constantly putting his fellow defenders under pressure by making ridiculous decisions. As for that dive last night he cost the team big time last night and has to take the blame. Hopefully he will learn from it and realise that he is employed to be a defender and not a playmaker.

The pair of them last night, Lukaku was on holiday. I thought I was witnessing the worst defending imaginable but then Demi came on & opened my eyes to the possibilities.

 

[Happy Feet]

You're a ****. Calling city players that? Should be ashamed you bellend - you're no fan

Behave, i would imagine Mike Doyle or Andy Morrison would have called it him and worse, he needs to grow a pair and do what he is paid to do.

 

[ell]

He needs to pack it in with all this diving bollocks

 

[Tugay One Cup]

At this point I'm annoyed that he didn't go to Trafford. If he wasn't on my team I'd love watching him play every week. He's genuinely the most exciting CB to watch because of his last minute and rash challenges as well as his comical errors. The constant play acting is ridiculously embarrassing and not something a CB outside of La Liga should be doing.

 

[kunaguero10]

I was concerned about his comments in the papers a couple of days ago about his 'tough guy' personality allowing him to influence and con referees.

Well that's fucking bollocks and not what I want my centre back to be thinking about, and that disgraceful dive which cost us a goal showed exactly what he is about.

I expect massive improvement, and soon.

 

[lasereyes]

Rather than stay on Autopilot, perhaps you should have read my opinion on his game.

I tot he was shit tonight. Said as much, but that said, anyone claiming he should have stayed with Mori on the first goal is simply clueless. If you don't know why that's the case, ask someone who does. I simply can't bother to explain. It's elementary.

i suggest you ask someone the job of a centre-back. It might help your education on the game more than churning out meaningless and cherry-picked statistics. Oh, and watching the game rather than gazing at your TV would help also.

 

[Dax777]

His pathetic dive prior to the goal is unforgivable mate. He was culpable for the goal because of it

I don't disagree with that and said, as much. But that was not the issue in my lay post. Someone suggested he should have stayed with Mori, the goalscorer. That suggestion, was what I referred to as being clueless.

 

[Dax777]

i suggest you ask someone the job of a centre-back. It might help your education on the game more than churning out meaningless and cherry-picked statistics. Oh, and watching the game rather than gazing at your TV would help also.

Oh lawd, here comes lasereyes again. I've asked you to point out the cherry picked stat. You couldn't. But hey, don't let facts get in the way of your drivel.

Again, if you don't know why it was silly for someone to suggest Otamendi should have followed Mori, then I can't help you.