Vincent Kompany’s Absence Leaves Hole That City Can’t Fill

Manchester City’s 1-4 defeat at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday was further evidence that, after a spectacular start to the season, the Blues are still dogged by a familiar problem. In the early stages of this campaign, City had a solid back line that opponents were finding impossible to breach. However, since injuries have once again got the better of captain Vincent Kompany, Manuel Pellegrini is struggling to work out the best way to set up his defence.

Kompany has long provided headaches for his two most recent club managers; Pellegrini, and Roberto Mancini before him, have both found that the team struggles for organisation when the Belgian is not there to lead the line. Kompany is injury prone and so is pretty much guaranteed to miss a significant number of games each season. Last year, his problem was a different one; he was so out of form that his presence caused more problems than his absence.

He has rediscovered his best form this term and, as a result, the Blues have looked much improved. As a consequence, the much-maligned Eliaquim Mangala also looked to have stepped up a level next to him. In their opening games against West Brom, Chelsea and Everton, the back four was solid enough that they kept three clean sheets and the team could attack with confidence. Having such solid foundations provided great cause for optimism in the team’s efforts to recapture the Premier League title so meekly surrendered last season.

The club’s transfer boffins did attempt to address some of the defensive frailties in the summer by recruiting Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi. With the captain and Mangala in such fine fettle, the £28.5m recruit was forced to wait for a chance to play. That chance came when Kompany left the pitch against Juventus having suffered an injury.

Otamendi and Mangala have not looked a natural pairing; for the many qualities Mangala does have, being a leader isn’t one of them. On occasion, his own confidence still looks too fragile to expect him to take leadership responsibilities over his colleagues.

Otamendi is a difference case. After a ropey couple of games while he settled in, he hit top form in the 0-0 draw at Manchester United and simply has not looked back since. He is tenacious and aggressive, and he allies that with flawless timing. He leads by example and appears to be happy barking out orders. However, he is still new to the squad and to expect to him to walk in and fill the oft-vacated boots of Vincent Kompany is simply asking too much.

In the skipper’s absence, Pellegrini has twice opted to pair Mangala with almost-veteran defender Martin Demichelis. On both occasions, the Blues have suffered 4-1 defeats, first at Tottenham and then the humiliation at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday. It would not be fair to suggest that Demichelis is the root cause of those defeats, but in the most recent loss he certainly contributed a great amount to the disaster.

Part of Pellegrini’s reasoning for putting him with Mangala must surely have been that he thought the calm head of the Argentine would be good for shepherding the Frenchman through the game; he certainly seemed to respond well to that kind of leadership last season. However, whether it’s a lack of minutes or something more serious at the root of it, Demichelis has suffered an extraordinary decline in performance. It was hard to be annoyed by it as Liverpool ran him ragged; instead, it was sad to watch. A player who has been City’s best defender for the last 18 months or so actually looked like he no longer belonged at Premier League level. His days as a starter for Manchester City are surely over.

These problems seem insurmountable in the short-term. It is immediately obvious that when Kompany is injured, Otamendi is the best available centre-back. The Liverpool debacle proved that the only sensible option is to pair him with Mangala. Otamendi may well grow into an organisational role but, until that side of his game blossoms, Manuel Pellegrini is going to have his work cut out to expel the defensive mishaps.

It’s too early to speak of title challenges suffering fatal damage but if City don’t learn to organise a backline without their influential leader, Kompany’s injury problems could derail their season. This is Manuel Pellegrini’s most pressing conundrum and he needs to solve it quickly.