[H_B]

Hopefully made less of a c**t of the poll this time, but which of these two bombscare disasters is less like a top level professional footballer.

I give Mertesacker the edge in the awfulness stakes, just because he looks slower and marginally more gormless than Savic.

[uni]

Savic is horrific, he's worse than the defenders in the Man City team that had Samaras.

[Milevskiy]

Aye, Mertesacker only has 79 caps for Germany at the grand old age of 27

The problem is him being at Arsenal. Everyone could see there is no way a player like him would sort that defence out, just look at the comments on the rumour thread on here.

Savic has only played about 10 games in the EPL. He's made a few mistakes but so have a lot of young players this season. He'll probably turn out to be alright.

[H_B]

Is Mertesacker only 27?

Brilliant!!! Years of comedy to look forward to. I thought he was in his 30s.

[McKee]

It's not even close. Mertesacker is a good, solid defender. Savic is a lost cause.

[scotty 2 hotty]

Mertesacker only gets a hard time because he plays for Arsenal - any other team and his 'brutalness' would be more low key. He's not that bad, but I'll concede he's probably not good enough for a Premiership team challenging for a CL spot.

Certainly more suited to playing in a league like La Liga, where being a defender, for the most part, is a much easier job.

[Aufc]

Savis is far worse. Horrible footballer. Mertesacker is just slow, which gets punished a lot more in the EPL.

[Big River]

They are both horrific but il say Savic is worse at the moment. He's making Lescott look like Maldini at city.

[Marshmallo]

Milevskiy, on 23 January 2012 - 14:40, said:

Aye, Mertesacker only has 79 caps for Germany at the grand old age of 27

The problem is him being at Arsenal. Everyone could see there is no way a player like him would sort that defence out, just look at the comments on the rumour thread on here.

He was pretty garbage for Bremen in the last couple of years as well. Like Podolski, he seems to raise his game for Germany.

[xbl]

Is it not Savic's first season at the club too? To be honest, I tend not to rush into judgement. Was it not about this time that Koscielny was being mocked as a disaster? He's actually turned into an okay defender this season imo. I don't think Mertesacker is THAT bad. If anything, he's the "big brutal centre half" that people have been demanding Arsenal sign for about five years. He's just not that good on the ball - which is a bit of a problem when he plays for Arsenal.

Same for Savic really, he's only in his first season at a new club in a new country.

[H_B]

xbl, on 23 January 2012 - 15:54, said:

. If anything, he's the "big brutal centre half" that people have been demanding Arsenal sign for about five years. He's just not that good on the ball - which is a bit of a problem when he plays for Arsenal.

He's also not brutal (in that way). His fairy like challenge lost them the game at Fulham the other week.

I wouldn't even mind so much if he was a thug who booted everything in his way and won everything in the air.

[xbl]

H_B, on 23 January 2012 - 16:08, said:

He's also not brutal (in that way). His fairy like challenge lost them the game at Fulham the other week.

I wouldn't even mind so much if he was a thug who booted everything in his way and won everything in the air.

Aye, he's not good in the air! He's got Peter Crouch syndrome, one of those tall players that seems to somehow get shorter when he jumps.

[badger_whacker]

Two different types of centre backs. Metresacker isn't a bad player, he's just in a team that plays too high a line for him due to his lack of pace.

In Germany, front men tend to be bulkier and less 'nippy'. Something that'd take a lot of adjusting to if you have a lack of agility.

Savic is still young and hasn't played a lot of EPL games so I wouldn't write him off.

[H_B]

badger_whacker, on 23 January 2012 - 16:24, said:

Savic is still young and hasn't played a lot of EPL games so I wouldn't write him off.

Whilst this is a fair point, I remember seeing Chygrynski (probably terribly spelled) playing for Barcelona on several occasions. Each time he stood out as being absolutely horrific, and he was soon punted back from whence he came.

Playing for a Barca or a Man City, you aren't going to get time to develop. Savic wwill likely be sold or loaned out in the summer. Mancini will know that getting better defensive cover is a priority next transfer market. They are well covered up front and in midfield.

[ffcsam]

Savic is rotten.

[Diamonds are Forever]

badger_whacker, on 23 January 2012 - 16:24, said:

Savic is still young and hasn't played a lot of EPL games so I wouldn't write him off.

But this is Man City who have all the money in the world. They aren't going to wait around for 2-3 years hoping he develops when they can just go out and spend £20 million on a top class centre half. I reckon he'll play for the rest of this season when they have injuries and suspensions but in the summer they'll strengthen and he'll drop right down the pecking order. Man City's really not the club to be at if you're a young talent.

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Diamonds are Forever, on 23 January 2012 - 17:39, said:

But this is Man City who have all the money in the world. They aren't going to wait around for 2-3 years hoping he develops when they can just go out and spend £20 million on a top class centre half. I reckon he'll play for the rest of this season when they have injuries and suspensions but in the summer they'll strengthen and he'll drop right down the pecking order. Man City's really not the club to be at if you're a young talent.

But they're not going to want to spend all that money forever. When they can bring through players like Savic and either get a profit on them or get a great player out of it.

They brought through Hart and Sturridge (even though he was poached by Chelsea) and have some good youngsters on the horizon like Boyata and Weiss. I think Man City's aim is to bring through youngsters not to the extent that Arsenal try to but every club needs to save money in the current climate.

PS Voted for Savic as Mertesacker as others have said is in the wrong team.

This post has been edited by Scotty Tunbridge: 23 January 2012 - 17:58

[Supras]

This is what I don't like about football these days. Reactionary football fans saying how terrible one player is after an error in a usually high profile televised game.

Particularly in the case of Savic, who is in his first season after arriving from the Serbian league, has been chosen ahead of Boyata as cover and most of the time hasn't really looked that out of place. He's certainly made far less errors than, say, Jones.

And the errors from Smalling and King were as bad if not worse.

As for Metersacker, again he is a player who has looked pretty good for quite a bit of his Arsenal career. He was a strange buy given he won't really fit the Arsenal system but he is so far from the abomination he is being portrayed here.

[craigkillie]

I'm willing to gamble that neither Boyata not Weiss will "make it" at City. The same goes for Assulin, Suarez, Scapuzzi and any of the other superstar youngsters they've signed.

Have any of Chelsea's youth signings made the breakthrough since Abramovich took over?

[Supras]

craigkillie, on 23 January 2012 - 18:03, said:

Have any of Chelsea's youth signings made the breakthrough since Abramovich took over?

Sturridge and Romeu.

[Steve McQueen]

Supras, on 23 January 2012 - 18:41, said:

Sturridge and Romeu.

Sturridge was from Man City & Romeu from Barca.

Josh McEachran is probably the only one.

[Diamonds are Forever]

Scotty Tunbridge, on 23 January 2012 - 17:58, said:

But they're not going to want to spend all that money forever. When they can bring through players like Savic and either get a profit on them or get a great player out of it.

They brought through Hart and Sturridge (even though he was poached by Chelsea) and have some good youngsters on the horizon like Boyata and Weiss. I think Man City's aim is to bring through youngsters not to the extent that Arsenal try to but every club needs to save money in the current climate.

PS Voted for Savic as Mertesacker as others have said is in the wrong team.

But what the club want to do and what the manager will do are two separate things. There is so much pressure on Mancini to deliver everything immediately that he isn't going to prioritise bringing through young players and planning 5 years in adavnce. In his mind he wont be able to see beyond the end of the season and winning the league, therefore everything he does will be geared towards the short term. Ferguson and Wenger have been allowed to concentrate on bringing through young players over the years because they know that they wont get sacked if they have a few unsuccessful years. If Mancini has one unsuccesful year he will be out the door, therefore he would be mad to piss about with untried youngsters if he can go out and buy top quality players at their peak. Any manager who comes in to a club in City's situation would be exactly the same.

[Poet of the Macabre]

Savic has had a terrible start but needs more time.

[The Troll]

Oddly i think Savic would be better at Arsenal and Mertesacker would play better at City...

[Supras]

craigkillie, on 23 January 2012 - 18:03, said:

I'm willing to gamble that neither Boyata not Weiss will "make it" at City. The same goes for Assulin, Suarez, Scapuzzi and any of the other superstar youngsters they've signed.

Have any of Chelsea's youth signings made the breakthrough since Abramovich took over?

Steve McQueen, on 23 January 2012 - 18:44, said:

Sturridge was from Man City & Romeu from Barca.

Josh McEachran is probably the only one.

I know, craigkillie specified "youngsters they've signed".

Poet of the Macabre, on 23 January 2012 - 20:27, said:

Savic has had a terrible start but needs more time.

I think that is a bit harsh, he has made one or two errors but quite a few less than Phil Jones.