Martinez: how much better can he get

City don’t use Haaland as a battering ram. They just feed the ball in to the right spaces and the fuker is always there or thereabouts. Fortunately, Martinez and Varane are possibly two of the best in the league with regard to positioning. It will be one of Haaland’ tougher outings I think…

…but that’s not to say that we won’t be exposed by the other outstanding attacking talent they have. Hat trick for KDB or something along those lines.

Not a great time to play city imo. We need a bit more momentum.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Literally this, especially because when Ajax played Dortmund Martinez shackled him (or so I keep being told). Feel like a stinker is incoming.
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According to Ajax fans Timber shackled him. In truth Haaland actually missed 2 sitters through no influence of the defenders.
 
He is going to get better and better, he is only 24 and for a CB that's actually young knowing CB's can play up to 35 and upwards. He has the passing, aggression, positioning, leadership and communication at the back to be world class if he keeps improving everyday.

I have high hopes for him.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
I know he's played Haaland before and done well, but that was in an Ajax team who completely dominated Dortmund. We will be under extended periods of pressure against City, and I'm a little worried about how he'll cope with Haaland's height and physicality in that situation. But he's exceeded all of my expectations so far, so hopefully he'll be fine.
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Arguably it is harder to play against Haaland when you're dominating possession. He will have been on the half way line with all the space behind him for Haaland to exploit isolated against him.
 
It’s still early, but his ability to bring the ball up is pure class and extremely underrated IMHO. It makes me understand why there was talk of him being a CDM (other than the lazy excuse of it being just his height) because his passing is very good as well. But having a CB with those qualities is like an extra MF, like some have said on here already. I love him, and his tenacity is a also a fantastic part of his overall game.

That said I don’t ever think I’ve seen a CB with better positioning ability than Varane, which clearly frees Martinez up to play the role he’s been playing and let’s him show his strengths. I think any other partnership would reduce his qualities. So while the qualities are still there and all his…and he should be credited for them…he’s also clearly benefitting from what might be a perfect CB pairing.
 
Tad premature to wax lyrical yet, isn't it? I mean, we give dippers crap for their "Van Djik GOAT nonsense."
 
Enjoying his performance so far. His positioning has been the most impressive for me, just watch how many times he cuts out a cross with absolute ease because he's in the right spot most of the time.

His aggression and front foot defending is also a stand out after watching Maguire and Lindelof for the best part of 3 years or whatever, along with Malacia in place of Shaw, the difference is huge.

Hopefully he can get even better as he settles into the league and team.
 
I love the guy but people are going way overboard now. Putting him in team of the seasons, geebs getting his first ever named shirt and threads like this. He's played less than ten games for us. Let's be measured and assess after a full season. Then this type of thread would be more Interesting imo.
 
not much room for improvement. He’s failed numerous times with Belgium already and they’re ending their cycle of top talent.
 
wolvored said:
He looks a very good player, but he has played only a handful of games so far. He was dire with Maguire in his first game, but with Verane looks the business.
Its way too early to judge him overall. Imagine if we had judged Vidic or Evra after 5/6 games.
So far so good, but a long way to go.
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You can see the traits clear as day though. Supreme confidence in his passing and on the ball, intelligence in his spacing and movement while we are in possession to create passing lanes, aggressive anticipation of attacks. He'll always be a bit susceptible to a giant target man looking to chest or nod long balls down to a runner, but you can sacrifice that downside for all of the benefits he brings elsewhere.
 
KirkDuyt said:
This dude proved me wrong massively. I was convinced he was too lightweight. Goes to show how importany desire and intensity is. I think he will improve his role in build up for you as that was one of his strengths at Ajax.

Wouldn't bet on him "bullying" Haaland though. He's a freak.
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I think Halaand will "own" some 6ft 6in centre backs, so again height isn't everything. as you say, the guy is a freak: shearer, hughes, RvN (and more) rolled into one
 
mitchmouse said:
I think Halaand will "own" some 6ft 6in centre backs, so again height isn't everything. as you say, the guy is a freak: shearer, hughes, RvN (and more) rolled into one
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Yeah, he's not a very good measuring tool to rate a defender currently. Especially with the amount of service he gets. Ajax completely eredicated Dortmund so he barely had the chance to get into position. And without service, he won't create a lot on his own (though he still managed to have 2 big chances), but with DeBruyne behind him. Meh. City should feck off.
 
You just know as soon as he gets beaten in the air and it leads to a goal the knives will be back out. Can already tell there's a clamour of "pundits" waiting for it.
 
Now that this thread has been created and people rate him a lot, we can be sure he will begin to regress and by the start of next season we'd have another Maguire in our hand but worse because he's shorter.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
I know he's played Haaland before and done well, but that was in an Ajax team who completely dominated Dortmund. We will be under extended periods of pressure against City, and I'm a little worried about how he'll cope with Haaland's height and physicality in that situation. But he's exceeded all of my expectations so far, so hopefully he'll be fine.
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I have not seen Haaland do much aerially in or outside the box so I don't think that will be much of an issue.
He just has to be mindful of where he is so he can be in the right place when Haaland makes runs behind as it seems to me that is the strength of the big lump.
 
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