Well done Aleks...

It's funny how quickly the consensus can change, but I imagine if you took a straw poll now 75% would choose Kolarov as first choice left back. Pre-derby I imagine a similar majority would have chosen Clichy. No real point to make, just an observation (and probably a fairly obvious one based on current form).
 
I think the biggest thing that's helped him is defending higher. We're more vulnerable through the middle via long balls but hopefully we can eliminate that. Anyway the reason he's doing better defensively is we used to drop very deep and give fullbacks/wingers free runs on the flanks because the previous manager felt that crosses were a poor attack and would rather defend the middle near our box. Having Nasri on the left pressuring the fullback let's Kolarov get into a higher position without worrying about sprinting back if possession is lost. The right side always had a more dedicated presser in Milner. Navas continues this when he plays. Silva used to drift central at a moment's notice and then not really press if possession was lost because again the emphasis was on dropping deep once the ball was lost. Now he's doing a much more active job of pressing once possession is lost even if he's central.
 
He still sometimes gets caught too high up the pitch but his crossing at the moment is superb, it just needs our strikers now to anticipate that his crosses will go behind the opposition defenders and then there's a hatful of goals to be scored. There were at least two very good crosses yesterday where Negredo should have scored headers from if he had anticipated Kolarov making the cross and where it would be placed. In fact his crossing was far better than Milners. He has definitely improved on last seasons showing and long may it continue.
 
credit should go to Pellegrini . He has got Dzeko ,Nasri ,kolorov playing well . this is something considering that these were players mancini considered to be not good enough and wanted to sell
 
blue city199 said:
credit should go to Pellegrini . He has got Dzeko ,Nasri ,kolorov playing well . this is something considering that these were players mancini considered to be not good enough and wanted to sell
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Hope you've got your tin hat ready. To many on here, Mancini was/is a god and any criticism (implied or outright) will not be tolerated.
 
willy eckerslike said:
Aleks Kolarov. Who is this guy and when did we buy him? Don't remember him from last season!
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He's certainly been a revelation this season.

He's in the team on merit, and not because Clichy needs a rest.
 
Credit where credit's due, he has been very good so far this season.
 
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