iwasthere2012 wrote:phips wrote:aaron bond wrote:phips wrote:Chinners wrote:I'm happy Mangala is staying, he's not looked too bad in pre-season ... we'll see
disagree. along with dumping Bony i really wanted Mangala gone. he's just not good imo.
And Stones/Otamendi are?
Mangala has had some excellent games for us. He clearly has his faults but he has put in some great performances against strong centre forwards such as Costa.
I think it's almost universally accepted that Otamendi is useless and more people are finally recognising that Stones is not good enough.
Mangala might not be a top class defender but he probably has had more good games for us than the other two.
everyone always seems mention his debut vs Costa (and i think there was a 2nd vs. Costa and 1 vs Zlatan...maybe not) where he was good.
however, he is far too physical, cannot pass to save his life, has poor positional play, and doesnt appear to have a football brain.
Otamendi is far better. yes, he has his shameful diving and his ludicrous lunges (or whatever you wanna call them), but he can actually defend and he's been much better alongside Kompany this year and last year.
Damn right Phips, but the argument is that having said all that, most would still prefer him to JFE.
my desire to see Mangala leave was independent of Evans, even if the actual transfers were linked.
(i gotta wonder why Mangala turned down Palace for a spot as our 4th CB who will hardly play barring injury)
but since you brought up the link between Mangala and Evans, id rather have the latter. sure, he's an ex-rag but my complete and utter disdain for Mangala means that id rather have basically any other CB than him. id rather have Kolarov at CB, Tosin, Evans, anyone.