Hate to kick man city fans again after Joe Hart's heroics but wasn't Denayer a bit of a headless chicken for a couple of the goals?
Yeah dropped in at the deep end to a degree and I think his lack of experience showed on occasion.
Will he be playing for City this season or loaned out again? Will be interesting to see if Mangala has a good season now he has settled in.
I think a lot hinges on Stones (groan) for both players. I'd like to keep Denayer in and around the first team squad, but if he isn't gonna get many minutes then we might as well loan him out again as his 2 previous stints in Scotland and Turkey have been pretty successful. Denayer can also play right back which does give him quite an advantage as both our full back positions have question marks hanging over them.
I'll probably get shot down for this, but I actually like Mangala. Don't get me wrong, he's a walking mistake at times, but when he plays well he plays really fucking well; commanding in the air, strong in the tackle, a very physical presence at the back, and only recently turned 25 so his best years ahead of him. He's a confidence player though, and when his head drops he's gone. He's very effective against the big forwards (Costa, Deeney, Ibra, Lukaku) but does struggle against the smaller nippy ones, whereas someone like Kompany is equally adept against both.
If we sign Stones, and this is looking increasingly likely, something has to give as we can't start the season with Kompany, Otamendi, Mangala, Denayer and Stones in the same squad. Rumours abound that Mangala goes back to Porto on loan if we raid Everton.
Author