Facey And Angelino Gone

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

This can't be said enough. Mena is talented one on one and other than that we have no idea. You can't judge a CB on defensive instincts or how they play within the system until they have time to get used to their CB partner and the system. I'm not ready to make any judgements on Mena until he gets a training camp and consistent time with the same CB partner. Anyone who thinks they can judge his play on what they saw this season has no idea how long solid back line pairings take to develop.

For some reason we don't have a roster page for Mena, so I will leave this here. To the people who think we can know absolutely anything about how mena plays here are his playing stats this year.

6 starts in 14 games with the team.
In those starts he was partnered with Facey once, KWS once, and Hernandez four times, one time they switched them and Mena played RCB instead of his usual LCB.
He was subbed out once. And his first game, after being with the team less than a week, he was subbed in for Wingy to play next to Facey, a guy who doesn't speak spanish and who he knew for less than seven days.

Midseason addition who got no chance to develop a partnership with anyone.

He is the best tackler on the team and he is VERY comfortable dribbling into the midfield, something NONE of our other CBs can do. And its a skill we desperately need to make defenses compress and play in their half. He will be a starter next year and rightfully so.
Go get him a tall partner to play with all offseason.

 

[Jock]

I judge Mena frequently when he misses headers, doesn't track runners, mis-kicks the ball, misses tackles, falls down in the box, scores (almost) own goals, passes/headers in the wrong direction, doesn't mark, or is out of position. Almost all of which have happened in every game i've seen him in.

You may call him a center half, but in my eyes he's like a donkey and a ticking time-bomb had a baby.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I judge Mena frequently when he misses headers, doesn't track runners, mis-kicks the ball, misses tackles, falls down in the box, scores (almost) own goals, passes/headers in the wrong direction, doesn't mark, or is out of position. Almost all of which have happened in every game i've seen him in.

You may call him a center half, but in my eyes he's like a donkey and a ticking time-bomb had a baby.

everyone misses headers and everyone misses tackles. I assume the almost own goal you are talking about is the time he had one of the top scorers in the league marked like a blanket, and almost stopped his shot from going in. Rewatch it if you think Mena put that in. Not tracking runners, and being out of position are products of not knowing your partner. Did you see him mark Kei Kamara out of the game when he played him?

 

[NYCFCFan10]

Sad to see them go. Both excellent people and players.

 

[Jock]

everyone misses headers and everyone misses tackles. I assume the almost own goal you are talking about is the time he had one of the top scorers in the league marked like a blanket, and almost stopped his shot from going in. Rewatch it if you think Mena put that in. Not tracking runners, and being out of position are products of not knowing your partner. Did you see him mark Kei Kamara out of the game when he played him?

I did rewatch it mate, several times. You can almost make it out here but they don't have the close up which shows Larin puts the ball back across the goal and Mena carries it over the line.

I get that everyone misses tackles and headers, but he does it far too often to be a reliable option at the back.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I did rewatch it mate, several times. You can almost make it out here but they don't have the close up which shows Larin puts the ball back across the goal and Mena carries it over the line.

I get that everyone misses tackles and headers, but he does it far too often to be a reliable option at the back.

What do you think of the other options we have back there?

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I did rewatch it mate, several times. You can almost make it out here but they don't have the close up which shows Larin puts the ball back across the goal and Mena carries it over the line.

I get that everyone misses tackles and headers, but he does it far too often to be a reliable option at the back.

And just to be clear, you think that if Mena was not there , Larin would have missed that shot? And you think that that play is Mena's fault? You don;t have any problem with KWS on that play?

 

[Jock]

And just to be clear, you think that if Mena was not there , Larin would have missed that shot? And you think that that play is Mena's fault? You don;t have any problem with KWS on that play?

Ha, to answer question 1 - our other options are also shit. It's like being asked if you'd like to be stabbed in the eye, or kicked in the balls. Kwame is horrendous too. Facey had his moments, but hooking him at half time on Sunday was the right option. We basically need an entirely new defence.

I'd say Kwame and Mena are basically both equally culpable at that chance - both completely out at sea when it came to defending the goal. And, if Mena wasn't there *at all*, sure, Larin could have just poked the ball in to the net unobstructed, but the close up from another angle shows he was either trying to pull the ball back, or mis hit it, because it was angled so as to be going away from the line, Mena just got it caught under him and carried it over the line.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Ha, to answer question 1 - our other options ashit. It's like being asked if you'd like to be stabbed in the eye, or kicked in the balls. Kwame is horrendous too. Facey had his moments, but hooking him at half time on Sunday was the right option. We basically need an entirely new defence.

I'd say Kwame and Mena are basically both equally culpable at that chance - both completely out at sea when it came to defending the goal. And, if Mena wasn't there *at all*, sure, Larin could have just poked the ball in to the net unobstructed, but the close up from another angle shows he was either trying to pull the ball back, or mis hit it, because it was angled so as to be going away from the line, Mena just got it caught under him and carried it over the line.

So a better defender would have done what in that situation? Not been there? Or had the thousandth of a second reaction time to realize the ball was miss hit, and stop immediately while running 20 mph,?

 

[Rimil]

Ha, to answer question 1 - our other options are also shit. It's like being asked if you'd like to be stabbed in the eye, or kicked in the balls. Kwame is horrendous too. Facey had his moments, but hooking him at half time on Sunday was the right option. We basically need an entirely new defence.

I'd say Kwame and Mena are basically both equally culpable at that chance - both completely out at sea when it came to defending the goal. And, if Mena wasn't there *at all*, sure, Larin could have just poked the ball in to the net unobstructed, but the close up from another angle shows he was either trying to pull the ball back, or mis hit it, because it was angled so as to be going away from the line, Mena just got it caught under him and carried it over the line.

what?! I'd take kicked in the balls, absolutely. which cb is the balls option?

 

[Jock]

So a better defender would have done what in that situation? Not been there? Or had the thousandth of a second reaction time to realize the ball was miss hit, and stop immediately while running 20 mph,?

Sigh. I don't know - pushed towards the runner with the ball and shout to Calle to cover the man at the back post? Anticipated the ball across and put it out by the front post? Maybe stuck closer to the Larin in the first place? Known that they were in trouble because there was a man down and we were in danger of being breached?

He's not switched on; he's then ball watching and loses Larin; he moves towards the ball then changes direction to go towards the pass; then he doesn't clear the ball across; then he puts it in the net. He looked at Larin a couple of times in the buildup and did nothing to stop him getting a chance.

It's a good thing we're all bloody football geniuses and know everything. If the team just hired all of us as manager, we'd spend a lot of time disagreeing but the net result would be we would never lose.

 

[Falastur]

Dude... by Facey's tweet, it's kinda obvious they won't be back any time soon.

The earliest they're coming back is Jan-Feb 2016. If they found out in Feb that they weren't coming back would it then be sensible for them to only post their "really enjoyed my time, sorry to leave" message then? No one would read it if they did that, and anyway, it'd just look so late it was silly, like they'd forgotten and just had an attack of conscience.

Sure, they could've stayed longer too, but remember both of them have been playing continuously now since July 2014. MCFC probably ended the loan just to give them a break finally.

I'm not saying that they're definitely returning. I just don't think the decision has been made, and Facey is bring polite in case he never returns.

 

[MagnusPax]

What do you think of the other options we have back there?

I'm sure has some kind of potential, and it might not be realized yet. But just because he's perceived as better than what we have doesn't make him the answer. I'll argue that he is fine as depth and occasional starter but only if we have a quality CB leader back there. Not Facey, not Hernandez, not KWS.

Now we just got to work on the wage of his.

 

[whill4]

I'm sure I'm in the minority. But I'd rather us not get anymore loans. It's going to be hard to build a long term successful team when you're changing multiple starters every year so they can go back to Manchester. I mean we just lost half our back line.

They also really eat up our international slots

 

[SoupInNYC]

The earliest they're coming back is Jan-Feb 2016. If they found out in Feb that they weren't coming back would it then be sensible for them to only post their "really enjoyed my time, sorry to leave" message then? No one would read it if they did that, and anyway, it'd just look so late it was silly, like they'd forgotten and just had an attack of conscience.

Sure, they could've stayed longer too, but remember both of them have been playing continuously now since July 2014. MCFC probably ended the loan just to give them a break finally.

I'm not saying that they're definitely returning. I just don't think the decision has been made, and Facey is bring polite in case he never returns.

This. Thank you.

 

[william straiton]

I don't think Shay has a long term future at City. I believe he will move on at the end of the season, so i think he will be looking to go on loan to a Championship team in January to put himself in the shop window. We are short of players in the full back positions because of injuries, so after a few weeks rest I expect Angelino to be around the first team squad in case we need him.

If we do send any players out to you next season. I would prefer it if Tosin Adarabioyo, who is 18 and a centre half. Also Thierry Ambrose who is 18 and a striker. I am quite certain that these two can handle the pace of the MLS and Tosin for me is someone I expect to play for City and England one day.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Angelino was spotted at the game today.