Player Topic: Nicolas Otamendi (2015/16)

[Armaan]

I don't think I have ever seen a better CB than Otamendi in one-on-one duels with the attacker.

He intimidates them badly, then proceeds to take the ball away like taking candy from a baby.

 

[01cravend]

I don't think I have ever seen a better CB than Otamendi in one-on-one duels with the attacker.

This exact thought crossed my mind last night when i think Drmic was through late on.

 

[Silva2021]

A highlight reel would show a truly world class defender making amazing tackles on a consistent basis. Watching him he commits too early on occasion and this leads to chances against us. Overall a good defender but could be an amazing one

 

[kunaguero10]

I was disappointed with him last night, I was looking to him to be the mature, experience and composed of the two centre halves and show the leadership that Kompany does at the back. Instead of toning his game down and being the 'rock' at the back he was chasing the play as much as Mangala, I expected better tbh.

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

Not sold on this lad at all yet. So far he's been the headless chicken I was afraid he'd be. Hopefully he gains some composure with time, but for me it's Kompany/Mangala if all 3 are fit.

 

[Chi-town blues]

Maybe both center backs were instructed to pressure quickly up the field asap.

 

[the originalkippaxman]

Not sold on this lad at all yet. So far he's been the headless chicken I was afraid he'd be. Hopefully he gains some composure with time, but for me it's Kompany/Mangala if all 3 are fit.

Agree with this people get carried away sometimes with great tackling and miss the glaring problems that some defenders can cause. He has the ability to be rock solid but is far to kamikaze at times which causes the whole defence problems.

 

[FeedTheGoat10]

He doesn't think about the defence as a whole, dives in and leaves the defence exposed so often. Looks good on youtube when it works but on the occasions it doesn't work we're fucked and it makes the other centre back and the full back look bad. Mangala goes on walkabouts a lot too but he's 3 years younger, plus he usually has the pace to make up for his mistakes and isn't on his arse like Otamendi is. Not going to come out and say he's shite because he's obviously got some quality, as someone said his one on one defending is brilliant. But he should have a brain to not go leaving Demichelis exposed at the weekend and then creating gaps for both the goals last night.

 

[Phil1]

Dax777 is going to be awfully unhappy with the way this thread is going. Brace yourselves for a 'War & Peace" type post to put you all right.

For what it's worth the good far outweighs the bad with him and alongside Vinny we'll be as solid as anyone in Europe in that position.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Agree with this people get carried away sometimes with great tackling and miss the glaring problems that some defenders can cause. He has the ability to be rock solid but is far to kamikaze at times which causes the whole defence problems.

I agree with this to an extent, but he's more than capable of playing tight in a deeper back 4 like he did at The Swamp where he was superb.

He does love to dive in which I don't really like in defenders, but I must say I think he's the best player I've seen at timing an aggressive tackle. It's not 100% safe though and mistakes are inevitable.

Vinny suffered at first when adapting to Pellegrini's high line, aggressive style defending, and as a team we've looked a lot more vulnerable playing that way. I think Otamendi has all the tools to play like that.

Playing as high and aggressive as we often do is a very risky strategy no matter which players are playing it. The instructions to play like that are coming from the manager so when mistakes happen it's not always fair to blame the player for "diving in", they're being instructed to do that.