Boateng at CB

[GingeryBlue]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

[Slim]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

[Moonchesteri]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

Exactly. Talk about getting ahead of things.

"Big strong boy". I've seen him lose so many headers this season I've lost count. Teams like Stoke would murder us.
Future centre back in a good team? Perhaps but lots of work still needs to be done. Good thing is he has time on his side.

[GingeryBlue]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

I'm not basing it purely on the Notts County game. Are you saying you believe Toure to be a better option? Talk about losing headers/generally being a liability.

[Slim]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

I'm not basing it purely on the Notts County game. Are you saying you believe Toure to be a better option? Talk about losing headers/generally being a liability.

Having seen Boateng play for Hamburg quite a bit last season I can tell you I have never had faith in him in any position, when we were signing him I thought it was a joke or they had the wrong Boateng. I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind, but as you said you aren't basing it purely on the County game, what else exactly are you basing it on?

[Ted Hughes]

What examples of great ball winning or exceptional one v one play or brave headers under pressure did we see v Notts County, that would make us think he could handle Drogba & Torres?

[GingeryBlue]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

I'm not basing it purely on the Notts County game. Are you saying you believe Toure to be a better option? Talk about losing headers/generally being a liability.

Having seen Boateng play for Hamburg quite a bit last season I can tell you I have never had faith in him in any position, when we were signing him I thought it was a joke or they had the wrong Boateng. I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind, but as you said you aren't basing it purely on the County game, what else exactly are you basing it on?

Games for Germany, games for Hamburg (must have done something ok for them as Bobby had no hesitation forking out £££'s for him) and his general attributes - athleticism, position play, distribution. Game of opinions and mine based on the aforementioned leads me to believe he is and will be a better option than Toure.

[Ted Hughes]

Personally I would start him there every game instead of Toure. He looked assured on Sunday, prefers playing there, is a big strong boy, good positional sense, good passer and alongside Kompany could form the pairing at the back for the next ten years.

Thoughts?

We played Notts County, not Arsenal.

End of discussion.

I'm not basing it purely on the Notts County game. Are you saying you believe Toure to be a better option? Talk about losing headers/generally being a liability.

Having seen Boateng play for Hamburg quite a bit last season I can tell you I have never had faith in him in any position, when we were signing him I thought it was a joke or they had the wrong Boateng. I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind, but as you said you aren't basing it purely on the County game, what else exactly are you basing it on?

Games for Germany, games for Hamburg (must have done something ok for them as Bobby had no hesitation forking out £££'s for him) and his general attributes - athleticism, position play, distribution. Game of opinions and mine based on the aforementioned leads me to believe he is and will be a better option than Toure.

Where have you noticed great examples of positional play at CB for Germany or Hamburg? I missed them. I did see him stood watching when England scored from a corner & I have seen that reproduced on several occasions.

[Slim]

Games for Germany, games for Hamburg (must have done something ok for them as Bobby had no hesitation forking out £££'s for him) and his general attributes - athleticism, position play, distribution. Game of opinions and mine based on the aforementioned leads me to believe he is and will be a better option than Toure.

Must have been watching the wrong game, because I saw him at leftback for Germany and rightback for Hamburg, in fact I have only ever seen him play as a centrehalf for City and only decently against league one's Notts County. And if Bobby had any faith in him, he'd be playing week in, week out. He isn't and I think even Mancini realises he has made a mistake here.

Personally I think Toure is a decent centrehalf and bashing on him when we concede mostly through that stupid zonal marking just smacks of needing a booboy. But if we were to drop Toure and I think at this point it's a mistake, I would go with this back four...

Zabaleta--Richards--Kompany--Kolarov

... as I think it pairs an athlete with a footballer, something we are missing, and Richards best season for us was as a centrehalf.

[Ted Hughes]

Don't understand why people rate Boateng as a better prospect at CB than Micah. He could of course turn out to be better than him in the future but Micah was brilliant there a few years ago & has already proved himself at CB at PL level. Boateng is totally unproven. They are both the same age.

[blues2win]

I thought Lescott and Boateng looked pretty comfortable in open play on Sunday ( although of course it was Notts County). Boateng also delivered an excellent pass to Micah for the goal ( it wasn't Silva as some suggested). I saw Boateng misjudge a couple of balls in the air. On one occasion he got himself out of trouble in a classy way and made a good pass out of defence. On the other he was helped out by Lescott. Lescott, on the other hand, made two bad mistakes. First he missed a ball in the air which, but for a desperate intervention by Micah almost on the goal line, would have produced a goal. Second he inexcusably allowed a Notts County player to run across him and get in a dangerous position at the near post near the end of the match. Luckily the chance was lost. If Boateng had made those mistakes we'd never hear the end of it.

Why should Boateng get more time before we make a judgement? Quite simply because he's a young foreign player getting used to a new country and new team mates. I don't know whether he'll evolve to become Kolo's successor as I suspect the club have in mind. If he's not up to it ultimately he should and I'm sure will be discarded. As for Lescott I am not prepared to overlook his far from classy play just because he's english. After all the fuss Hughes made to get him I expected a great deal more than we've got for the money.

[Rae4685]

This is ridiculous unless we were watching a different game??? Boateng was turned inside put on a few occasions against the likes of Hughes and Harley I didn't rate his performance at all simply put he is not a great defender. Kolo, Micah, & lescott all better at CB in my opinion. I'd even rather see ned back than him starting.

[Ted Hughes]

I thought Lescott and Boateng looked pretty comfortable in open play on Sunday ( although of course it was Notts County). Boateng also delivered an excellent pass to Micah for the goal ( it wasn't Silva as some suggested). I saw Boateng misjudge a couple of balls in the air. On one occasion he got himself out of trouble in a classy way and made a good pass out of defence. On the other he was helped out by Lescott. Lescott, on the other hand, made two bad mistakes. First he missed a ball in the air which, but for a desperate intervention by Micah almost on the goal line, would have produced a goal. Second he inexcusably allowed a Notts County player to run across him and get in a dangerous position at the near post near the end of the match. Luckily the chance was lost. If Boateng had made those mistakes we'd never hear the end of it.

Why should Boateng get more time before we make a judgement? Quite simply because he's a young foreign player getting used to a new country and new team mates. I don't know whether he'll evolve to become Kolo's successor as I suspect the club have in mind. If he's not up to it ultimately he should and I'm sure will be discarded. As for Lescott I am not prepared to overlook his far from classy play just because he's english. After all the fuss Hughes made to get him I expected a great deal more than we've got for the money.

The bit about their striker getting in front of Lescott is unfair. There are no defenders at City who stop that kind of run. It happens to Vinny regularly & he's often a lot further away from the player than Lescott. Usually the strikers miss because nobody knows how to head the ball these days. Brian Kidd or Keegan would score & Vinny & Co would be shown up but these days they get away with it.

I have a big problem regarding Lescott & it's this; whether he's good enough or not, every time he makes ANY kind of mistake, somebody catalogues it. Nobody ever catalogues the stuff he does right, as in the fact that he's done almost all of the key defending in recent games & on some occasions was the only bloke doing his job. That counts for nothing if he looks a bit clumsy making a clearence; that's the bit everone picks on. It does my head in & it's been the same ever since we signed him. It's as if certain players are just not welcome at the club.

[blues2win]

We obviously were watching a different match because I didn't see Boateng being turned 'inside out' by Harley once. How many chances did County create in open play? Hardly any. Read the comments on the match thread by Doug who's no fan of Boateng and thought he had a pretty good match. It was Notts County, however, and I quite agree that it would be ridiculous to read too much into it.

[Beeks]

Fans are so fickle...it was only a few weeks ago that Kolo was getting his praises sung...personally I think Kolo is excellent...woe betide anyone who has a slight dip in form at the new City...'Out Of The Door You Go!' cry the new breed of city fan

Grow up FFS

[Ted Hughes]

We obviously were watching a different match because I didn't see Boateng being turned 'inside out' by Harley once. How many chances did County create in open play? Hardly any. Read the comments on the match thread by Doug who's no fan of Boateng and thought he had a pretty good match. It was Notts County, however, and I quite agree that it would be ridiculous to read too much into it.

There were very few occasions when Boateng was needed to stop a player running at him. When one did, he left him for dead & Boateng gave away a free kick on the edge of our box. As I've mentioned in the Lescott post above, it seems these things are only a black mark when they happen to Lescott.

[blues2win]

Beeks mate I'm not calling for Kolo to be shown the door if you were aiming your remark at me. He is however 29 and at some stage will move on. I suspect that the Club are looking at Boateng to be his successor. He's 7 years younger!

From what I can see of Boateng the jury is very much out. When I saw him at the Third Place match in the World Cup he had an excellent game at Right Back putting in a series of cracking crosses one of which led to a goal. I haven't seen that form at City in that position. We've hardly seen him at Centre Back so it's far too soon to say. Personally I would far rather have had David Luiz but that's water under the bridge.

As for Lescott I said that I thought he had a pretty comfortable match and mentioned his good covering for Boateng on one occasion. I think I was balanced. However, I'm sorry Ted it is not unfair to blame Lescott for those two mistakes or for the ridiculous penalty he gave away recently. Of course he should have covered that run; it nearly cost a goal. In practice he was left for dead blowing bubbles by a Notts County striker . It could have cost us the match. If Vinnie had made that mistake I'd be perfectly happy to criticise him believe me.

[Ted Hughes]

Beeks mate I'm not calling for Kolo to be shown the door if you were aiming your remark at me. He is however 29 and at some stage will move on. I suspect that the Club are looking at Boateng to be his successor. He's 7 years younger!

From what I can see of Boateng the jury is very much out. When I saw him at the Third Place match in the World Cup he had an excellent game at Right Back putting in a series of cracking crosses one of which led to a goal. I haven't seen that form at City in that position. We've hardly seen him at Centre Back so it's far too soon to say. Personally I would far rather have had David Luiz but that's water under the bridge.

As for Lescott I said that I thought he had a pretty comfortable match and mentioned his good covering for Boateng on one occasion. I think I was balanced. However, I'm sorry Ted it is not unfair to blame Lescott for those two mistakes or for the ridiculous penalty he gave away recently. Of course he should have covered that run; it nearly cost a goal. In practice he was left for dead blowing bubbles by a Notts County striker . It could have cost us the match. If Vinnie had made that mistake I'd be perfectly happy to criticise him believe me.

Well I know for a fact that Vinny does it regularly, it happened v Blackpool when the ball hit Lescott & Hart had to save it. Had it gone in, it would have been Lescott's fault, not his partner, who wasn't doing his job. Mmost CB's these days are poor at covering there & fall asleep going right back to the days of Solskjaer getting tap ins there every week. Anyone with the brains to attack that area regularly will score goals in the prem if someone has the brains to put the ball in. It's something I study because it does my head in that we don't do it, so I watch for it. Tevez' is the only player who really goes in there.

It was a near post goal that Cahill scored from when Vinny left him totally unmarked. I haven't noticed people bringing it up as an example of Vinny costing us points, yet the same incidents from Lescott are brought up repeatedly even when it doesn't cost us a goal. Nor did I notice anyone hammering Vinny for the ridiculous challenge on Fabregas that cost us a pen. Toure's half arsed clearence v Blackpool against his own player? Half the goals we've conceded have been from absolute fucking howlers but only Lescott's get brought as an example of incompetence. I don't give a fuck whether Lescott stays or goes but I know for sure people are singling out his mistakes & ignoring others & it's not fair.

[Beeks]

I don't give a fuck whether Lescott stays or goes but I know for sure people are singling out his mistakes & ignoring others & it's not fair.

Agreed Ted...I have said countless times that I rate him...he just seems to be the defensive whipping boy for no defining reason...I hopw we don't get rid...and I don't think we will...I think Bobby likes him

[Sister of fu]

Fans are so fickle...it was only a few weeks ago that Kolo was getting his praises sung...personally I think Kolo is excellent...woe betide anyone who has a slight dip in form at the new City...'Out Of The Door You Go!' cry the new breed of city fan

Grow up FFS

With you on this one Beeks, I think Kolo has been one of our better performers this season. I guess in some peoples eyes the guy just aint fashionable enough. He would be my 1st choice at this moment in time to partner Vinny.