Nigel

[Esky]

Can't believe some of the de Jong hate on here. Aye, it was a nasty tackle but the lad has been so influential for us this season.

totally agree bob.

NDJ is one of the main reasons we are pushing for CL, he has been fantastic this season and I would only swap him for Essien (who as someone said has everything, awesome player). NDJ is a bloody good player and we would really miss him if he didnt play.... STOKE ANYONE?

Agree hands down. Bellamy and Tevez are the obvious candidates for player of the season but NDJ would be just as worthy a winner in my opinion.

Can fully understand the criticism over the tackle, mind.

[getdressedmctavish]

Alright lets agree on a few things. He cant pass. He cant run. He's flat footed.He can't change direction quickly. He will never score if he lives to be a feckin hundred. When he tackles its normally a foul. He rarely influences a game because he cant stop us being overrun. So .. conclusion.. he's a feckin imposter. Some people are so feckin blind and Nige does so little they cant see he's wank. Feck me, when we played Spurs it was obvious he was suffering from a virus. He got even less close to the feckin ball or man than he normally does. I cut him some slack cos he wasn't well but you've still got blokes on message boards saying Nige was the only one who was ok. He never touched the feckin ball.Feck me, if I was Gareth Barry I'd be askin the manager what wage Nige was on and askin for trebble. And as for intimidating teams, I'll tell you who he has intimidated this season, West Ham. Yeh, West Ham, bunch of half hearted Ities and that wouldn't have happened if Parker was playin(prays Parker wasn't playin) To me he is an embarrassment to my club, much like the clown from Leeds and that Twat from Borough who scored the brilliant own goal, what was his name?Anyway, Nige is shite imo. We go on to the field with ten men when we play him. He fecks up all our options because essentially in the modern game players have to be multifunctional. Nige is back to the fifties. He's the Roy Hartle of modern football and one of the main reasons we are not realising our potential.The day he goes is the day we make a massive leap forwards.IMO

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

^ WOW!

I do think that his 'role', this destroyer of the opposition attack, is the easiest one on the football pitch for a fair-weather. It seems that you really can do no wrong here: if you have a bad game then we'll blame the defence instead. Footballing talent isn't necessary as playing football isn't your forte, you're there solely to stop the attack and put yourself about. Many of the big names who've occupied this role down the years at big, big clubs seem to have limited talent.

Yet really outstanding players, such as Michael Essien, can do this role and so much more.

That isn't to say I think de Jong is useless. People have been saying for seasons that Arsenal require a de Jong type of player and they've yet to dominate without one.

In conclusion I'm unsure about NDJ, I can see why he's important, but I can also see why people want so much more. I might have to bow to the superior knowledge of Messrs Mancini & Hughes on this one.

[Citeh&Crew]

I'm an American, so I watched the whole match yesterday. Nigel also had another bad moment in the second half, he lost the ball at the top of his own box and then took a massive dive.

I love Nige, he's been great for us this year in my opinion, but he was quite the c*** yesterday

I would have to agree, I love De Jong and he is probably one of my favorite city players, but he had a pretty bad game yesterday. With that said, the challenge warranted a yellow and he got one, is there much more to say?

Screw this. I am a City fan, and I back my team, but I'll be damned if I throw my morals out the door just because it was a City man that performed the gods-awful tackle.

He frigging went in FROM BEHIND with studs up and was so late as to not even come close to getting the ball.

How in the hell can any just say (paraphrasing).. "Oh, it's just the way he plays as an enforcer, and he was going for the ball. He got a yellow for it, after all!"

Forget it.. that's a straight red any time any day! If that had happened to Bellers or Tevez in a Premiership match, we would not only be calling for a red, but the guy who did it might not even make it out of COMS alive.

[pears12]

I'm an American, so I watched the whole match yesterday. Nigel also had another bad moment in the second half, he lost the ball at the top of his own box and then took a massive dive.

I love Nige, he's been great for us this year in my opinion, but he was quite the c*** yesterday

I would have to agree, I love De Jong and he is probably one of my favorite city players, but he had a pretty bad game yesterday. With that said, the challenge warranted a yellow and he got one, is there much more to say?

Screw this. I am a City fan, and I back my team, but I'll be damned if I throw my morals out the door just because it was a City man that performed the gods-awful tackle.

He frigging went in FROM BEHIND with studs up and was so late as to not even come close to getting the ball.

How in the hell can any just say (paraphrasing).. "Oh, it's just the way he plays as an enforcer, and he was going for the ball. He got a yellow for it, after all!"

Forget it.. that's a straight red any time any day! If that had happened to Bellers or Tevez in a Premiership match, we would not only be calling for a red, but the guy who did it might not even make it out of COMS alive.

Are you looking at same challenge as me there is no way that is from behind.. I would say it a minimum yellow card (lucky not to get a red).. Holden is facing De jong, the only challenge from behind is by van bronckhorst and that is grabbing holden's arm..

As for the rest of topic de jong has been big in the big games, he has dominated the chelsea midfield twice home and away and against arsenal at home didn't even know cesc was playing

[sandman]

Unfortunate tackle, but not malicious.

De Jong is a huge part of the fact that City are the most successful tacklers in European football this season.

Have a look at his tackling stats.They are not as good as Gareths who manages to do better less violently

Yeah I noticed that - I think Barry has the most successful tackle rate at the club, but they're both very important in that regard and I did say he's "a huge part" not the main part!

Where can I view these stats? I am not suprised at Barry having a higher success rate when tackling if it is based on a percentage (attempts vs success) as I have been of the opinion for a long while that DeJong makes it his business to get stuck in and try to take the ball off the opposition players wheras I believe Barry stands off far to much and lets too much go. I'd rather see players try to regain posession and fail than not even attempt.

[Goataldo]

I took a little while to warm to Nigel, and to be fair he took a little time to settle in and play like he should/can, and now, he's one of our top players IMO.

That tackle was pretty awful though, if he'd tackled me like that I'd be fuming. And in hospital. Which says it all really.

[Rag_hater]

Unfortunate tackle, but not malicious.

De Jong is a huge part of the fact that City are the most successful tacklers in European football this season.

Have a look at his tackling stats.They are not as good as Gareths who manages to do better less violently

Yeah I noticed that - I think Barry has the most successful tackle rate at the club, but they're both very important in that regard and I did say he's "a huge part" not the main part!

Where can I view these stats? I am not suprised at Barry having a higher success rate when tackling if it is based on a percentage (attempts vs success) as I have been of the opinion for a long while that DeJong makes it his business to get stuck in and try to take the ball off the opposition players wheras I believe Barry stands off far to much and lets too much go. I'd rather see players try to regain posession and fail than not even attempt.

The Guardian chalboards show the number of tackles a player makes and the time in the match and thats what I've been using.Dont know where the others get theirs from so can only speak for myself.
That plus what one sees for oneself during the match is how I'm making my judgement so obviously it would be up for disscussion.

[mr_nool]

Dutch media (or at least de Volkskrant, which I subscribe to) is starting to question de Jong's place in the Dutch starting eleven. They think that his undisciplined style will prove to be a liability in the world cup (they fear that he might get red carded at a crucial moment). But more than that, they also think that he is too one dimensional an contribute to little to the attacking game. They rather see van der Vaart in the defensive midfielder role, or even de Zeeuw (who has been really good for Ajax this season).

[CityFanFromRome]

Dutch media (or at least de Volkskrant, which I subscribe to) is starting to question de Jong's place in the Dutch starting eleven. They think that his undisciplined style will prove to be a liability in the world cup (they fear that he might get red carded at a crucial moment). But more than that, they also think that he is too one dimensional an contribute to little to the attacking game. They rather see van der Vaart in the defensive midfielder role, or even de Zeeuw (who has been really good for Ajax this season).

Don't know much of that Ajax bloke but Van der Vaart in a defensive role is, imho, both a tactical suicide and a waste of talent.

[Rag_hater]

Dutch media (or at least de Volkskrant, which I subscribe to) is starting to question de Jong's place in the Dutch starting eleven. They think that his undisciplined style will prove to be a liability in the world cup (they fear that he might get red carded at a crucial moment). But more than that, they also think that he is too one dimensional an contribute to little to the attacking game. They rather see van der Vaart in the defensive midfielder role, or even de Zeeuw (who has been really good for Ajax this season).

It looks a bit like that to me.
I think this year with Nige only having to play in front of Prem refs who seem a bit more lenient towards players going in hard, its ok for him to go flying in
But if we get into Europe via the CL or Europa like the Dutch Media think I think he is a red card waiting to happen with stricter European refs.

[john@staustell]

Dutch media (or at least de Volkskrant, which I subscribe to) is starting to question de Jong's place in the Dutch starting eleven. They think that his undisciplined style will prove to be a liability in the world cup (they fear that he might get red carded at a crucial moment). But more than that, they also think that he is too one dimensional an contribute to little to the attacking game. They rather see van der Vaart in the defensive midfielder role, or even de Zeeuw (who has been really good for Ajax this season).

It looks a bit like that to me.
I think this year with Nige only having to play in front of Prem refs who seem a bit more lenient towards players going in hard, its ok for him to go flying in
But if we get into Europe via the CL or Europa like the Dutch Media think I think he is a red card waiting to happen with stricter European refs.

We could always put Vieira in then! :) :)