Manchester City’s best player so far is Nicolas Otamendi
After a poor-to-middling inaugural season for Manchester City, Nicolas Otamendi has finally found himself and, guess what, he’s probably the best player they’ve got right now.
I have something of a soft spot for lesser known, so-called “mind blowing”, facts that seem to run contrary to observable reality and the commonly held norms. Fortunately for me, there exists a wonderful TV show in QI that is there to detonate brains repeatedly for thirty minutes an episode over 14 series spanning 13 years.
For example, did you know that under extreme pressure you can turn peanut butter into diamonds? Crazy! Or that 80% of all items marked on sale are bought by women? Well I guess that last one isn’t too shocking.
Still, one little tidbit doubtless not mentioned, not yet at least, in QI must be about Manchester City’s best player Nicolas Otamendi. What? Did I read that right? Otamendi? Not Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva or Toure? Yep, the very same Argentinian defender who has struggled to fit in at the Etihad quietly turned a corner this year and even more subtly is surpassing every early expectation.
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Honestly, I’m as surprised as you are. Otamendi was a liability last season and couldn’t even cement a permanent spot in the lineup, vying with the equally abysmal “defensive black hole” himself Eliaquim Mangala. Eager attackers would lick their chops at the opportunity to have a go at Otamendi, a player low on confidence and low on balance who would drop to the ground at the drop of a hat.
Worse still, Otamendi carried the burden of being the sole answer to Manchester City’s defensive woes based on pedigree and expectation. His 2014/2015 campaign with Valencia was so prolific he was named in the La Liga Team of the Year and he somehow managed to bang in 6 goals in the process too. So he came to England, grew a beard and got tattoos to look more intimidating, and dropped off the face of the planet.
Then Pep Guardiola came along and, slowly but surely, Otamendi has transformed. You probably haven’t even noticed though, so let’s have a look at some of the statistics. For a start, Otamendi has cemented his authority in the air game, a most important aspect of football in England as Guardiola has fast learned. He wins on average 5.1 aerial duals per game which is not only more than any other defender in the Premier League, it’s more than any other defender in Europe.
Lest you think it’s his footwork letting him down, literally, well Otamendi is averaging 2.5 successful tackles per game this year. That’s more than any other centre-half in the Premier League (having made minimum appearances) and second by 0.1 in Europe too. So he defends well and wins the ball well, but what about when he has it? At 86.3%, Nico’s pass accuracy is actually ridiculously good, like third best in the team having played at least ten games (behind only John Stones and David Silva) and it’s even more amazing compared to his peers in non-Pep Guardiola managed teams.
It’s not just me starting to notice Otamendi. Football Research Group CIES recently ranked him, based on this year’s performances, as the best centre-back in England and the joint fourth best in Europe (a mere two points behind the number 1, Mats Hummels). Whoscored football statistics rate him the best centre-fielder in the game and the 15th best player at any position. These are obviously skewed towards data, which is difficult to interpret for defenders and not always does it translate on the park, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Ultimately, one needs to just look at Otamendi and see what he does that makes him shine. He’s playing in a Pep Guardiola team, a side formed around the central theology of possession and high pressing as the most natural form of defense. Yet Otamendi is a rigidly aggressive defender who is always moving in to confront and close down potential threats. Indeed, if anything, the system at City makes the statistics on Otamendi even more impressive.
Given the Blues have more possession than any other team in the Premier League it makes it much more difficult to achieve high rates of successful tackles and clearances, yet Nico tops the bunch. Further, due to the fluidity of Pep’s style, Otamendi often finds himself playing wide as part of a “false 3 at the back” and covering especially wide areas, yet he has remained absolutely unassailable.
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In the end, I don’t expect a QI episode on Nicolas Otamendi to come to light any time soon, nor do I fancy most fans to wake up to it. All the same, Citizens should feel at least a little comforted knowing they have at least one player back there who is head and shoulders, literally and figuratively, above the rest. This alone makes him the best they have and that fact is as mind blowing as they come.