Since the takeover of Sheikh Mansour in 2008, City fans have yet to be presented with a world-class defensive duo to match the qualities of the rest of the team. It is true, that, unlike other championship winning sides, we’ve been culprits of relying on one top level centre-half in Vincent Kompany throughout recent years and despite the Captain’s greatest efforts; it has sometimes not been enough.
The past seven years have consisted of cycling through defenders from all the over the world to partner up with the Belgian, but now, with the signings of the ex-Porto duo Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi, Manuel Pellegrini potentially has the one of the world’s best defences at his disposal. The only struggle MP faces now is his selection of which defender will join Kompany as a first- team player. Mangala or Otamendi?
Eliaquim Mangala
Eliaquim Mangala arrived on the scene in August of last year. The Frenchman left Portuguese side Porto to join his teammate Fernando at Manchester City. Even though he cost City a considerable sum, Mangala was forced to wait around for a month until he got his debut game against Chelsea in a 1-1 draw (which is typical of Pellegrini, who isn’t fond of rushing new players into the first-team).
It was after watching this game at Chelsea that the prospect of Mangala-Kompany looked to be something special. Quick, strong and clever, both City centre-backs provided the perfect athleticism to impressively deal with the on-form Diego Costa, and this was a real eye-opener.
However, in the following weeks, things went rather pear-shaped for Mangala. Questionable decision making joined together with his inability to rapidly adapt to the pace of the Premier League cost City vital points and the pressure of the English media piled up on him – many describing him as a ‘flop’.
This year, though, something had changed, I can’t put my finger on what it was but Mangala turned up to the start of the 2015/16 season a new man. Playing a big part in City’s incredible defensive start, which saw us not concede in our first five Premier League games, Eliaquim had appointed himself as a first-team regular. The thing that made his performances on the pitch even more notable was that during this time of regular football City were heavily linked to Nicolas Otamendi, which could have potentially intimidated Mangala as his future replacement.
Nicolas Otamendi
One of Pellegrini’s huge summer signings this year, Nicolas Otamendi cost City around £32million after leaving Valencia for Manchester. La Liga’s best performing centre-half of last season certainly earned his plaudits after a terrific year defending in one of the toughest leagues around the world. The Argentine made his debut as a 75th minute substitution in a home loss against Juventus, coming on for the injured Vincent Kompany.
The start to Otamendi’s City career didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated as he had to be thrown straight into the first team due to unfortunate injuries and City lost three of the first four games in which he featured in. Maybe this is a reason Manuel doesn’t like to play new signings straight away.
Since then Otamendi has been fantastic, actually, he’s been one of our best players in recent weeks. Shutting down Martial and Rooney in a dull Manchester derby and scoring a vital header the week later secured him back-to-back MOTM awards. The breakthrough of Otamendi and the return of Vincent Kompany sure does pose the question of what is the strongest partnership and we all have our opinions, but here’s mine;
So, who should start? For me, it’s the Argentine, Nicolas Otamendi.
With a style replicating the aggressive, forward-thinking style of City hero Vincent Kompany, Otamendi is fearless in the tackle and reads the game well. Although this approach to defending has its critics, it’s admirable and the in-hesitant attitude towards his play is proven in the stats: Otamendi has made more interceptions and tackles per game than any other City defender.
Despite just reaching the 6ft mark, which isn’t very tall for a centre-half, Otamendi’s massive leap and impeccable timing provides him with a certain aerial dominance. Outperforming his colleagues at the back, Otamendi has won the most 50/50 aerial duels this season.
Finally, onto his distribution; a feat that he was slightly criticised for before coming to play under Pellegrini’s passing style of play. Nicolas’ passing has posed no problem for City thus far and he looks as natural as defenders normally do when forced to pass his way out of potential situations. In-fact, he has made more forward and successful passes than both Mangala and Kompany in a City shirt so far this year.
Thanks to Squawka for the statistics; which you can find here.
