During the close season, Man City Square is going to review each member of the 2015/2016 Manchester City squad and grade them for their year. Next up – Number 30 Nicolas Otamendi
This may come as something of a surprise to you, but I feel a little sorry for Nicolas Otamendi. He comes in the off-season from Valencia, fresh off his inclusion in the La Liga Team of the Year, for a tidy sum of £28.5million to Manchester City. Not wanting to be seen as naive about the demands of English football, he grows a beard and adds to his tattoo collection to make himself appear more intimidating. You have to admire the dedication there, my dirty and unshaven look is for far more lazy reasons.
Nonetheless, Otamendi came at a price almost half that of his bumbling comrade-in-arms Eliaquim Mangala and gave every impression he would be the answer to City’s defensive woes. Except he only ended up giving more questions. Questions like: who is the least likely to commit a howler today between Nicolas and Eliaquim? Why, for someone with a pedigree of solid control and playmaking, has he been so decidedly average at both this season? How come nobody is any more intimidated by his facial hair than they are mine?
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Errors, lapses in judgement, getting outclassed by lesser opposition. All these things paint a picture which stands as a damning indictment for a player seen as Vincent Kompany the Second Koming. Of course, that’s not the end of the story.
Perhaps more frustrating than his poor performances have been the good ones that show he can actually perform. When Mangala manages to make it through an error-free outing while actually making a reasonable attempt at performing the job he’s paid for, we start to wonder if there might actually be a competent defender in there yet. For Otamendi, we already know there is and we suffer the endless frustration at never seeing it materialise for any consistent length.
Not for lack of trying, certainly. That’s why I feel just a little sorry for his supremely up and down year in which, as is the way, will be remembered for the Jekyll and not the Hyde. Or, you’d imagine so, at least. On this Manchester City there’s grounds to believe that Otamendi may well get away with. As we discussed in the review for Clichy, in the land of the blind the one eyed man is King and an argument can be made for Nicolas fitting the bill.
Statistically speaking, Otamendi did a fairly good job at Centre Back, even a pretty great one. In 30 Premier League appearances, Otamendi made some 90 successful tackles, averaging 3 per game. “Human White Flag” Mangala on the other hand, only averages 1.4. Further, Otamendi averaged 3.5 interceptions, 7 clearances and 0.4 blocks per game, all of which are better (2.9, 5.2 and 0.3 respectively) than his teammate.
Perhaps, you may argue, it is a little unfair to compare Otamendi to Mangala as the latter had such a lead balloon of a season? How about Spurs’ Toby Alderweireld, often described as the best centre-back in the league, and indeed voted as such by the Telegraph for 2015/2016? In fact, Alderweireld managed to average only 1.2 successful tackles per game and his level of interceptions, clearances and blocks (1.7, 7.5, 0.9) are all much in line with what Nicolas produced. What gives?
Well, for start, statistics really don’t tell the full story. The times that Alderweireld and Otamendi choked were entirely different and ultimately led to differing conclusions. The stats may well paint an overall rosy picture, but they do little to gloss over what was easily observed by all actually watching the game.
Take Manchester City’s humiliating 3-1 defeat at the Etihad to then title rivals Leicester City on February 6. Leicester’s second goal, for those that remember, was entirely Otamendi’s fault as he found himself so absolutely stitched he lay motionless on the ground as his mark Riyad Mahrez danced around him with the ball. Struggling for form and to make an impact at his new club, this did little to bolster confidence in Otamendi among fans and even less with Manuel Pellegrini.
Still, even that isn’t the full story. Otamendi certainly plays his best when alongside Kompany. That’s one of Vinnie’s things, he raises the game of those around. That’s why he’s the captain. Just he wasn’t around to raise the game of his players much this year. Even with all that being the case, because we know there is a quality central defender in there, and he’s got the man fuzz to prove it, then he presents less of a gamble to Pep Guardiola to keep in his rebuild.
Do I know if Guardiola will keep him around, ultimately? No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Kompany’s injuries raise questions over his long term fitness. Mangala is a trap door in a canoe. Even bringing in more central defenders won’t detract for a need for depth in the position, solidity in the position. I’m not Otamendi’s biggest fan but at least this we know he can provide and, if we do see him again next season, let’s hope we aren’t feeling sorry for him then too. For this season though, he gets a 6.5.