Eliaquim Mangala

[Paddock]

23 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

When we signed him people said he was fast but I've not seen anything to suggest that at all. He looks slow as shit.

He’s a dreadful footballer. I feel sick every time he has the ball at his feet or a cross comes in.

[Bailey]

23 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

When we signed him people said he was fast but I've not seen anything to suggest that at all. He looks slow as shit.

He caught up with Townsend on one break. He is pretty quick, in comparison to our other boats anyway.

As I have put in the match day thread, I thought he was arguably our best CB. Keane was just so slow to everything and his passing was worse than Magala's. Williams looked lost when he came on and completely uncomposed.

Im not saying that Magala played well but its safe to say we were fortunate to come up against a toothless attack with a very strong performance from our midfield to protect them.

[Paddock]

48 minutes ago, Bailey said:

He caught up with Townsend on one break. He is pretty quick, in comparison to our other boats anyway.

As I have put in the match day thread, I thought he was arguably our best CB. Keane was just so slow to everything and his passing was worse than Magala's. Williams looked lost when he came on and completely uncomposed.

Im not saying that Magala played well but its safe to say we were fortunate to come up against a toothless attack with a very strong performance from our midfield to protect them.

Benteke had at least 3 free headers, 2 he should have scored from. The marking was none existent it was dreadful to watch. Another day and Benteke buries those.

[Romey 1878]

In this instance there must be a difference to how those at the game and those not at the game. I thought he was absolutely terrible and I was relieved when he went off and thought we looked better at the back without him, more calm all-round. 

Note, I’m not saying either way is the right way, just that there clearly is a difference on this one. 

I hope that most of his problems are just early nerves or whatever, but his start hasn’t been great imo or put my mind at rest about him. 

[Bill]

Mangala was very poor and didn't warrant being chosen, Sams talking about selling Keane because he's very slow and not as good as people thought he was, so taking all that into consideration I would expect to see Holgate and Jagielka starting the next game. 

It remains to be seen.

[Bailey]

57 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

In this instance there must be a difference to how those at the game and those not at the game. I thought he was absolutely terrible and I was relieved when he went off and thought we looked better at the back without him, more calm all-round. 

Note, I’m not saying either way is the right way, just that there clearly is a difference on this one. 

I hope that most of his problems are just early nerves or whatever, but his start hasn’t been great imo or put my mind at rest about him. 

To be fair I was pausing the game looking at who was where and stuff like that and you would have probably had a much better view of the whole pitch that I did. 

Don' get me wrong, I'm not saying Mangala played well or anything like that, he seemed too enthusiastic and a bit too happy to abandon his position in my opinion, however when he did he usually did something with it whereas Keane lost out most times. 

Based on that performance alone I would say Jags is the best centre half we have! Although if he plays next week it will probably be one of the others who doesn' start!

[duncanmckenzieismagic]

In this instance there must be a difference to how those at the game and those not at the game. I thought he was absolutely terrible and I was relieved when he went off and thought we looked better at the back without him, more calm all-round. 
Note, I’m not saying either way is the right way, just that there clearly is a difference on this one. 
I hope that most of his problems are just early nerves or whatever, but his start hasn’t been great imo or put my mind at rest about him. 

I thought he had a bit of a mare early on but was starting to settle down as the half went on , definitely has more pace than anyone else in our back four
Bit early to be writing him off

[markjazzbassist]

he gifted them a goal but pickford beat their man on that hospital ball back pass.  the very next play he lost his man and they had another clear cut chance.  he is not good enough.  sam should be sacked for this signing alone.

[Aidan]

There is a player in there somewhere. I wouldn't write him off just yet. 

Admittedly he has looked extremely poor though these past few appearances. 

[Palfy]

8 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

he gifted them a goal but pickford beat their man on that hospital ball back pass.  the very next play he lost his man and they had another clear cut chance.  he is not good enough.  sam should be sacked for this signing alone.

Your right Mark he has looked poor but let's give a chance to get up to speed then we can say he's not good enough.

We have a proud history of giving players a chance at this club then we slag them off, so not long to wait mate 1 or 2 games then crack on.😁

[Finn balor]

I thought he was a shite footballer at city. We need two new centre halves to compete with Holgate and funes mori. Get rid of Keane, Williams and send Mangala back 

[EFC-Paul]

I think he'll be alright once he settles in, still can't take to his name though quim 

[markjazzbassist]

10 hours ago, Palfy said:

Your right Mark he has looked poor but let's give a chance to get up to speed then we can say he's not good enough.

We have a proud history of giving players a chance at this club then we slag them off, so not long to wait mate 1 or 2 games then crack on.😁

I thought he was overrated At city too.  Complete waste of a signing when LB is the glaring weakness and we have 4 CB keane holgate Jags williams and mori soon too.

[Sibdane]

He still needs time, but the early signs aren't promising. I still feel he needs a few games before we can really judge him.

[Matt]

3 hours ago, tonkaroost said:

He still needs time, but the early signs aren't promising. I still feel he needs a few games before we can really judge him.

I saw a few games of him at City, I don’t hold out much hope 

[Sibdane]

43 minutes ago, Matt said:

I saw a few games of him at City, I don’t hold out much hope 

Like others have said, the type of football they play at City requires a certain type of ball-playing defender, and there's no doubt that's not his mold. Not saying he will be good, just saying it's going to take a little time to really form an opinion, at least for me. I'm sure his confidence is a little shot too after coming from there.

[Aidan]

He needs to sort himself out and soon. We're not in a position to be given valuable game time to a player who is struggling to find his feet. I hope Sam is sensible in the way he manages his game time if he isn'tt performing well.

[Cornish Steve]

On 2/11/2018 at 07:30, Romey 1878 said:

In this instance there must be a difference to how those at the game and those not at the game. I thought he was absolutely terrible and I was relieved when he went off and thought we looked better at the back without him, more calm all-round. 

Note, I’m not saying either way is the right way, just that there clearly is a difference on this one. 

I hope that most of his problems are just early nerves or whatever, but his start hasn’t been great imo or put my mind at rest about him. 

Yet he gets to play and Tosun does not? Why does one get chances despite being crap in those games while the other doesn't even get to play? At face value, it seems that favouritism is a factor.

[Palfy]

4 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

Yet he gets to play and Tosun does not? Why does one get chances despite being crap in those games while the other doesn't even get to play? At face value, it seems that favouritism is a factor.

That's a good idea let's try Tosun at CB, and then try Klaassen in goal cause he doesn't play either.

Mangala has walked into the team because what's been happening before he got here was terrible, the only CB showing up was Holgate, Williams and Keane have been terrible, on the the other hand Niasse has been playing well enough to keep Tosun and DCL out of the team, in fairness Tosun has played but not good enough to knock Niasse out of the team.

I think once we are are safe we should be seeing more of the players that are not getting regular games, other wise how can you make a fair judgment on whether they stay or go, even Klaassen deserves a better opportunity to show his worth, but maybe not in goal.

[Paddock]

6 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

Yet he gets to play and Tosun does not? Why does one get chances despite being crap in those games while the other doesn't even get to play? At face value, it seems that favouritism is a factor.

Your crusade to try and smear Allerdyce at every opportunity is pathetic- you’re jumping on anything and everything- we get you don’t like him but you’re making yourself look stupid with these comments. Mangala has played a few seasons in the prem, he knows the league and the pace of it our centre halves have been shocking and none of them are left footed like Mangala which makes us even more unbalanced- yes he’s shite but so is Williams and Keane (so far) Jagielka is finished so he gets a game- Tosun is new never played here and is clearly off the pace in training- Niasse as shite as he is knows the league and scores goals against shite teams.

[Cornish Steve]

2 hours ago, Paddock said:

Your crusade to try and smear Allerdyce at every opportunity is pathetic- you’re jumping on anything and everything- we get you don’t like him but you’re making yourself look stupid with these comments. Mangala has played a few seasons in the prem, he knows the league and the pace of it our centre halves have been shocking and none of them are left footed like Mangala which makes us even more unbalanced- yes he’s shite but so is Williams and Keane (so far) Jagielka is finished so he gets a game- Tosun is new never played here and is clearly off the pace in training- Niasse as shite as he is knows the league and scores goals against shite teams.

But you're not addressing the point I made: Tosun has played how many minutes? Yet, he's being kept from the team because he needs time to improve. Mangala has already played how many minutes? Yet, he walks right in - before he even knows his teammates and when the Holgate/Williams pairing were doing OK. This is an objective observation. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

[Paddock]

28 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

But you're not addressing the point I made: Tosun has played how many minutes? Yet, he's being kept from the team because he needs time to improve. Mangala has already played how many minutes? Yet, he walks right in - before he even knows his teammates and when the Holgate/Williams pairing were doing OK. This is an objective observation. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

If you really need me to explain it to you again then there is no point continuing the conversation.

[London Blue]

Is Managa better than our current center backs?

In my opinion he is not better than Holgate or Jags who have looked our best pairing. I think Keane is better than him, tho Keane is suffering from poor form and confidence. 

He is on a par with Williams, that is to say crap.

[markjazzbassist]

i think all 5 we have are better than him, strange signing.  mori holgate willliams jags keane, all i would prefer over mangala.  sam is funny

[Paddock]

He’s playing because he’s naturally left footed and none of our defenders (fit ones) are- the whole defence was right footed- the left back is right footed and so was the left sided centre half. He’s no better or worse than them but he is left footed.

[London Blue]

28 minutes ago, Paddock said:

He’s playing because he’s naturally left footed and none of our defenders (fit ones) are- the whole defence was right footed- the left back is right footed and so was the left sided centre half. He’s no better or worse than them but he is left footed.

Garbutt is left footed but Coco starts.

Mangala is very poor, I would rather play our best two center backs, then have somebody partnering Mangala just because he is left footed.

[plaidharper]

Mori got 70 minutes in the u23s.  Mangala will need to step up or risk losing his spot almost immediately.

[chicagoblue]

2 hours ago, London Blue said:

Garbutt is left footed but Coco starts.

Mangala is very poor, I would rather play our best two center backs, then have somebody partnering Mangala just because he is left footed.

Garbutt is clearly nowhere near the required level and we can see why fat head left him off the roster.

 

Juries still out on Mangala for me.

[Bailey]

If Mangala was the only one making mistakes I would somewhat understand the negativity but he is 2 games in, one of which was a dodgy back 5, the other only 45 mins and the other 2 CBs on show in both games made more, if maybe not as obvious, errors. 

As Pad points out he is basically a left footed, but also quicker version of what we have which at this moment in time is a positive. Like Sam, he is here to do a job for 6 months and then fuck off.

[Paddock]

4 hours ago, London Blue said:

Garbutt is left footed but Coco starts.

Mangala is very poor, I would rather play our best two center backs, then have somebody partnering Mangala just because he is left footed.

I’m not arguing any other point than what I’m stating. Allerdyce said in an interview we need a left footed centre half because we don’t have a single left footed defender available and that’s why he signed him and that’s why he is playing him because he feels it brings more balance to the team- whether that’s right or wrong is another matter but that is why he’s playing and our existing centre halves have hardly made making that decision a tough one.