Joe Hart praises Nicolas Otamendi's Manchester derby performance
Monday 26 October 2015 14:35, UK
Joe Hart says Nicolas Otamendi's performance was a high point of Sunday's Manchester derby stalemate.
City were without Sergio Aguero and David Silva and delivered an unusually cautious performance to come away from Old Trafford with a 0-0 draw.
Hart did not have a save to make until the closing minutes and afterwards echoed manager Manuel Pellegrini's view that City's defensive tactics were not ideal.
But the England goalkeeper was again impressed by Otamendi, the Argentina centre-half brought in from Valencia in the summer.
"Nico has come in and adapted very quickly which is something we expected," he said. "But respect to him because it's not an easy league to come into.
"He had a tussle with Wayne Rooney all afternoon and Anthony Martial out on the wing. It was a big occasion for him but he slipped in alongside Vincent Kompany and played really well - we're blessed to have so many good centre halves at this club and Nico is definitely one of them."
Pellegrini admitted after the game he "did not like to play this way", claiming it is "easy" to set up a side to defend.
And Hart said: "It's a performance that's good to know we have in the locker, though I'd have preferred it if we hadn't have had to use it.
"We came looking to take three points but respect to Man Utd who were set up well and they caused us a few problems further up the field, but we defended well and limited them to two half-chances.
"We don't want praise - we just want points. We wanted all three but we took one and it was what was required to put us back on top of the table. Now we just need to kick on again."
