Nicolas Otamendi | City Player

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ravi2 said:
If City gets Otamendi and we fail to strengthen at the back we can kiss our title challenge goodbye IMO.
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Looking untouchable at the back so far. Very good balance and two defensive fullbacks of the highest class cutting off every attack going their side.
 
Darmian is a bit good, Shaw is a bit good, Smalling is a bit good.

We just need this dude and our whole defence will be a bit good.
 
Kevin said:
Looking untouchable at the back so far. Very good balance and two defensive fullbacks of the highest class cutting off every attack going their side.
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@ravi2 How you feeling? Utter domination defensively from our top midfielders and fullbacks. Feck owtamenday.
 
antohan said:
Verthongen fits the profile but won't improve our defence one bit and certainly won't justify what Levy would squeeze out of us. Laporte is clearly not available, a young inexperienced player who just signed a contract and has a 50M release clause doesn't scream "available/in the market" at me.
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I think Vertonghen will be an upgrade to anyone in the center but Smalling so we can use that. He's also good in the air and experienced and certainly better than Blind there.
 
Enigma_87 said:
I think Vertonghen will be an upgrade to anyone in the center but Smalling so we can use that. He's also good in the air and experienced and certainly better than Blind there.
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I'm not sure he is an upgrade, certainly not an upgrade worth investing much in. Otamendi on the other hand... With our injury record we should worry less about footedness and ball-playing and more about having at least 2 top class defenders and three backups who can partner them effectively.
 
Having seen how we are playing at the back, I am inclined to let Otamendi go somewhere else. I would rather spend the money on a young talent, maybe a Shaw equivalent at CB.

Think striker is our biggest concern, would love LVG to find a Aguero/Suarez type player who scares the shit out of defenses and can play a bit.
 
SalfordRed1960 said:
Having seen how we are playing at the back, I am inclined to let Otamendi go somewhere else. I would rather spend the money on a young talent, maybe a Shaw equivalent at CB.

Think striker is our biggest concern, would love LVG to find a Aguero/Suarez type player who scares the shit out of defenses and can play a bit.
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I tend to agree on Otamendi. Trouble with the striker bit is there are no good strikers available this summer. We would get absolutely fleeced if we went after the likes of Kane, who I'm still not convinced is the real deal. I suppose Lacazette may be an option, but he looks to be keen on staying in Lyon. LvG is probably harassing Rummenigge on a daily basis about a monster bid for Muller, but I doubt Bayern would sell, as it would probably mean both Pep and Rum would be run out of town after having already let Schweinsteiger move. Best option imo, would be to get Pedro and keep working on better communication among our final 3rd players. We were in the right place mentally when we thrashed City and Pool and just need to get our psychology back to that zone. Then next summer, there will undoubtedly be better striker options available.
 
SalfordRed1960 said:
Having seen how we are playing at the back, I am inclined to let Otamendi go somewhere else. I would rather spend the money on a young talent, maybe a Shaw equivalent at CB.

Think striker is our biggest concern, would love LVG to find a Aguero/Suarez type player who scares the shit out of defenses and can play a bit.
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Stones is the best CB equivalent out there at the mo.
 
VanGaalEra said:
Can't see it being us tbh, Blind is our CB along with Smalling/Jones/Rojo and McNair.

LVG looks happy with that and doesn't want to shell out 50M on a CB, IMO.
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It's £35m. Still a lot but you aren't going to get a top class centre back for much cheaper.
 
Love how people think that only back 4 represents how good defending is in a team.
 
It'd be a bit disappointing to see City improve a position that they're definitely weak in, but our defence has looked very impressive thus far so I can't be too angered.

Darmian and Shaw have already been referenced by many in here but I'd also like to add how Schneiderlin is ridiculously good at covering the whole pitch. He presses so well to intercept the ball. Real tenacity and grit. No surprise he was a pivotal figure at the side with one of the best defensive records for the last two seasons.
 
Kag said:
I wouldn't be overly pleased with that if I were Mangala, a £32 million signing one year into a five year deal.
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Well if you believe people on here he's useless so it's necessary. City get Otamendi and Mangala spends a year honing in on his game in La Liga to join up with the team in 12 months when Demichelis leaves. Perfect. Except for the fact I actually rate Mangala and think he'll be excellent this year if given the chance. His last 15 games in a blue shirt have been largely very solid.
 
VanGaalEra said:
Can't see it being us tbh, Blind is our CB along with Smalling/Jones/Rojo and McNair.

LVG looks happy with that and doesn't want to shell out 50M on a CB, IMO.
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The £35m quote if true makes me think it must be City, but I disagree with your first sentence. We've been linked with a CB all summer, Ramos was very close in fact, and then there's Jones being injured so that's a bit more encouragement to get someone signed. Didn't van Gaal comment that we need two more players recently? Don't quote me on that though.

In short I don't think LvG is that satisfied with his selection.
 
It seems like he's not the ball playing defender we require though.
 
Twigg said:
The £35m quote if true makes me think it must be City, but I disagree with your first sentence. We've been linked with a CB all summer, Ramos was very close in fact, and then there's Jones being injured so that's a bit more encouragement to get someone signed. Didn't van Gaal comment that we need two more players recently? Don't quote me on that though.

In short I don't think LvG is that satisfied with his selection.
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I think we would have been mad to not go for Ramos given the chance tbh.

I can't fault Blind at CB at the moment, but I'd much rather a Smalling/Otamendi partnership. Though we'd have problems playing out from the back with those 2, which Blind is very good at.
 
Manchester Dan said:
Well if you believe people on here he's useless so it's necessary. City get Otamendi and Mangala spends a year honing in on his game in La Liga to join up with the team in 12 months when Demichelis leaves. Perfect. Except for the fact I actually rate Mangala and think he'll be excellent this year if given the chance. His last 15 games in a blue shirt have been largely very solid.
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I'd worry about Denayer in this scenario though. He'd be 4th choice CB and unlikely to play many games which would not be good for him.
 
I honestly think the new 'steel' that exists with our midfield, this transfer for a high fee would be a bit silly.

Our defenders will not be anywhere near as exposed as last season. Provided they avoid total brain farts (i.e. Phil Jones), they will be much more dependable.

Rojo/Smalling/Blind/McNair I have faith in right now.

I have little faith in Jones/Evans but I'm sure they can play their part.
 
Its all fine to go on about how good our defense is now that we are winning,but its just been two games, its always the extreme in here depending on results..If there is one thing that we can almost be certain of each season is that our defense will go through its annual injury ravaged period..It happens every year without fail...I think Otamendi is a good defender and would have loved him here..yes, our midfield will improve us, but that has also come at a cost of stifling our attacking play..When we need to be more attacking, a strong defense would be brilliant..Im not convinced by Blind especially against big and physical strikers..He's got a good football brain, but I believe we can get a better defender in...But we'll see...
 
Didn't City get an offer for Godin rejected a little while ago, or was that just speculation? Would make sense if they're still after a centreback for them to get Otamendi, if that's the case then we clearly weren't interested or weren't willing to pay as much for a defender that isn't what van Gaal is looking for.
 
NL Max said:
Didn't City get an offer for Godin rejected a little while ago, or was that just speculation? Would make sense if they're still after a centreback for them to get Otamendi, if that's the case then we clearly weren't interested or weren't willing to pay as much for a defender that isn't what van Gaal is looking for.
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The price is a problem to be honest..Valencia are only selling him at that much because of who the potential customers are..Non English teams usually dont sell for such ridiculous prices between them...Just look at the price Bayern got Vidal for
 
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