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Jerome Boateng is an unlikely supporter of Christmas and New Year football in England.

Having spent most of his career with his feet up during the holiday period whilst the Bundesliga in Germany followed most of Europe and took some time off, Boateng has been enjoying the hurly-burly of an English mid-winter.

City’s garnering of a maximum nine points from the three holiday games might have gone some way to rose tinting his opinion of playing so many games in quick succession but he is adamant that the Yuletide period has helped the Blues in many ways - including league position and team togetherness.

“Not having a break is a tough thing to adjust to but I like it because we are all together as a squad and everyone is getting a game or two,” he declared after the hard fought 1-0 win over Blackpool kept City level on points with neighbours United.

“I am still adjusting to the Premier League. I know I must improve more but I like the quickness of the game in England. It is hard but it is also fun.

“It was a good win over Blackpool in a difficult game. They made it hard for us and we did not play as well as we can do.



“It is a new thing for me to play in the winter. I need more power to play so many matches in close succession.”

Long term Boateng sees his future at the heart of the back four and is anxious to soon challenge the established partnership of Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure.

“I like most playing in central defence but it has not been so easy for me because I did not make pre-season with the team after I was injured. I am looking forward to playing centre back eventually,” he noted.

“Playing right back is a new thing for me because in Hamburg last season I played only in the middle and in the World Cup only on the left side but I am enjoying it.”

mcfc.co.uk

Those comments excuse him for being a dodgy right back as far as Im concerned. He's learning a new position as well as a new league.

He needs to adapt quickly if we are gonna keep him at right back..........

I just wonder if the rumours about Alves may be true (he is free in the summer isnt he?), and Boateng will be used with Boyata, Toure and Kompany as our main CBs paving the way for Lescott & Onouha to leave in the summer. Don't know where all that would leave Richards though

dazby wrote:Those comments excuse him for being a dodgy right back as far as Im concerned. He's learning a new position as well as a new league.

Begs the question though, why not buy a right full back if that is what we needed?

johnpb78 wrote:He needs to adapt quickly if we are gonna keep him at right back..........

I just wonder if the rumours about Alves may be true (he is free in the summer isnt he?), and Boateng will be used with Boyata, Toure and Kompany as our main CBs paving the way for Lescott & Onouha to leave in the summer. Don't know where all that would leave Richards though

I would like Lescott to stay and not worried about Boyata

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

johnpb78 wrote:He needs to adapt quickly if we are gonna keep him at right back..........

I just wonder if the rumours about Alves may be true (he is free in the summer isnt he?), and Boateng will be used with Boyata, Toure and Kompany as our main CBs paving the way for Lescott & Onouha to leave in the summer. Don't know where all that would leave Richards though

I would like Lescott to stay and not worried about Boyata

Same here. If Boyata's good enough, he'll get in eventually & he's got many years of playing for City after Lescott & Toure are long gone, which will be soon enough. At the moment he's not good enough & neither is Boateng; at right back or centre half.

It looked like he was on a Winter Break to me yesterday!

I'm still suprised that Boyata hasn't been on loan somewhere. With all the options at CB, I think it would be a good idea to get him some regular games in the Championship where, he can get the experience and toughen up.
We can then check his improvement in the summer.
He's hardly getting a game now, so he still lacks experience, no doubt he will get a game against Leicester.

I already said it when we bought him but I thought we went for him too early. Way too inconsistent to be regular contributor in upper echelons of English top flight yet.

I think we saw with Silva, that it takes time to adjust and some players more time than others. I haven't been too impressed with his performances but it is way too early to offer a definitive judgement.
Having seen him, he looks off the pace, a bit unfit and we won't see his best (however good that may be) til next season. I think the same applies to Kolarov too.

john68 wrote:I think we saw with Silva, that it takes time to adjust and some players more time than others. I haven't been too impressed with his performances but it is way too early to offer a definitive judgement.
Having seen him, he looks off the pace, a bit unfit and we won't see his best (however good that may be) til next season. I think the same applies to Kolarov too.

I agree, and the lack of a proper preseason won't have helped him any in getting used to the new position, not to mention that when he was just fit and started playing the other PL teams were in their full form, this means he found himself (and still is imho) facing much more fit opponents than himself.

john68 wrote:I think we saw with Silva, that it takes time to adjust and some players more time than others. I haven't been too impressed with his performances but it is way too early to offer a definitive judgement.
Having seen him, he looks off the pace, a bit unfit and we won't see his best (however good that may be) til next season. I think the same applies to Kolarov too.

I see a difference between him and Silva though. David Silva was genuine World Class player even before he came to us. It was just case if and when he'd settle. He already had skills to be one of the premier midfielders in Premier League. Boateng is little bit different in that he was still extremely raw in Hamburg with his performances changing from great to apalling. He has got all the talent in the world but needs to develope as a player, not only get used to his new surroundings.

I'm NOT trying to put the lad down at all by the way. I see huge talent. I was however little sceptical whether we bought him season too early.