iwasthere2012 wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:DeJong got shit on here for years for not being good enough. Then he was indispensable then not good enough for where we are now, then indispensible again.
I bet some of the people were the same ones picking on Fernando now.
And it is picking on him. Any mistake he made, you can find instances of our 'best' players doing the same. Any criticsm of him going missing, you can find instances of our 'best' players doing the same. And any improvement they made in the game, he also made & was playing a full part in City's team almost overpowering Barca 2nd half.
I watch that as someone with an open mind on Fernando & think it's a good thing.
Some would prefer to pretend it didn't happen in order to have a go at hijm. But it did. He played well v Barca, when the team played well. He was smack bang in the middle of it. In our only decent performance in Europe this season, in Rome, Fernando was one of the best performers. If he hadn't put in a couple of absolutely brilliant defensive interceptions v Chelsea at our place, we would be pretty much dead in the title race.
If any of our problems were actually his fault & he kept playing all the time & costing us games, I could understand this kind of stuff, but pretty much none of our problems this season are his fault. Barca wasn't his fault.
It's purely just people deciding to pick on him. Nothing else.
I'm certainly not picking on the guy Ted. I really do hope he comes good. I just don't think on looking at him objectively that he is an
upgrade as a
footballer on any of the guys mentioned that have played that position before. By that I mean his speed of thought, control and technique. I have no problem at all with the effort and energy of the guy although he can look clumsy in the challenge. These are probably things you could criticise the others for too. I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt until next season, but in the mean time I don't think he is equipped to do the job Pellegrini asked of him in the first half of the Barca game in particular.
One thing I will say for the guy is, he didn't go missing. He made some terrible blunders in possession, but at least he was looking to do something, I thought Milner was anonymous in the first half. He may well have a place in our side. He covers ground and might get up to the speed of the game next season, who knows. But what he's lacking cannot be thought to the guy at this stage. For City to progress, I think we should be looking for players that are technically better. Particularly with a reduced squad like we have, we need much more well rounded players.
Well there are two obvious things he is an upgrade on Barry & DeJong. He is faster & better in the air.
So there is the question as to whether he is as good at tackling etc, reads the game as well & is better or worse on the ball.
Well, he's miles better imo, in the penalty area than Barry or DeJong, no comparison. In fact he's better than our back 4 on the whole & saves their arses a fair bit by covering stuff they should be doing.
Outside the box, does he read the game defensively as well as Barry ? Not sure there is a player anywhere in the last ten years who does, so probably not.
Is he less effective than Barry vs a side like Barca ? Absolutely not. Both Barry & DeJong together would struggle to get anywhere near them.
Would DeJong be more likely to save the day playing in that role v Barca & perform better than Fernando in that team ? Not a fucking chance in a million years.
2:02 Milner Yaya & DeJong v Cavani, under the instruction of the great defensive wizard. (
These people are doing a better job than Fernando ? Or Pellegrini for that matter (nice set up for the 1st goal)?