J4FOW said:
Damocles said:
J4FOW said:
I seem to recall he played CM for us when he first arrived and had read that he and de Jong were the CM pairing at Hamburg - albeit he was playing centre half for Belgium.
Hughes played him out of position at City when he first arrived because we had loads of centre backs and no decent defensive midfielders. He was a defender at Hamburg and Anderlecht.
This is one of those irritating myths that I have always put down to computer games as they always say he's this great midfielder. In reality he's played as much in midfield in his career as Zabaleta has and every three pages on the Zabaleta thread isn't a plea to put him back at centre mid.
Irritating? Really? Earlier in his career kompany played a fair amount as a CM - but it's quite clear that he has had the majority and the best phase of his career as centre half.
It's just what happened. I don't think that's cause for irritation. I also have no idea about the computer game reference as I've never played it.
Man City draw Martin Jol’s Hamburg in Uefa Cup
Default author imagemetrowebukmetro
Friday 20 Mar 2009 12:13 pm
Manchester City will play Hamburg in the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup.
The German club are managed by former Tottenham manager Martin Jol, while City raided the Bundesliga outfit for midfielders Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong this season.
Read more: <a class="postlink" href="http://metro.co.uk/2009/03/20/man-city-draw-martin-jols-hamburg-in-uefa-cup-565856/#ixzz3b92kbtyh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://metro.co.uk/2009/03/20/man-city- ... z3b92kbtyh</a>
City on Kompany:
Multilingual and multi-talented, Vincent was runner-up in the Blues fans’ Player of the Season poll for 2008/09 then really came into his own in 2009/10, switching from midfield to his international position of centre-half with aplomb.
Equally at home as a central defender or defensive midfielder, the Belgian international regular joined City from Bundesliga side Hamburg SV in August 2008 for a fee of around £6million.
He was Mark Hughes' third signing and made a hugely impressive debut in August's 3-0 victory over West Ham United.
Before becoming a full international he represented his country at Under 17, 18 and 21 levels, and played at the Beijing Olympics.
Kompany began his professional career in his homeland with Anderlecht in the 2003/04 season and almost immediately attracted interest from across Europe for his composed performances in the Champions League.
He eventually moved to Germany and signed for Bundesliga giants Hamburg SV in 2006, but injuries restricted him to just 39 appearances.
His comfort in two positions proved to be a bonus for City as injuries and suspensions bit into the squad over a gruelling 2008-09 season. Playing with a toe injury for some of the time he was one of only five Blues players to start more than 30 Premier League games.
The toe problem became serious enough to warrant an operation in the summer of 2009, which forced Vincent out of the reckoning until the autumn. Despite this setback and the presence of several new signings, some outstanding performances in both midfield and central defence persuaded first Mark Hughes and then Roberto Mancini to make him a regular starter.
He has since gone on to become one of the world's very best defenders after playing an instrumental role as captain in City's title-winning campaign in 2011/12.
In 2011 and 2012, Vincent was named in the Premier League Team of the Year and he earned the Premier League Player of the Season award in 2012.
Vincent captained City to a second Premier League title in 2013/14 and was also a Capital One Cup winner as City beat Sunderland 3-1 at Wembley.
