Nathaniel Mendez-Laing

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
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Nathaniel Mendez-Laing





Current Club: Cardiff City.

Previous Clubs: Rochdale, Peterborough United, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Loan Clubs: Cambridge United, Shrewsbury Town, Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Peterborough United.





International: N/A.

Trophies Won: Football League Trophy 2013/14.





Mendez-Laing offers a certain amount of utility with his ability to play on the left and right, as well as being able to play through the middle of the attack, and is at his peak at the age of 28. What he does provide is a decent amount of dribbling skill, pace, power and the ability to score the occasional special goal.



Unfortunately he is a bit of a blunderer, more of a battering ram than a silky smooth runner with the ball. He relies far too heavily on his brute strength and pace, which means his feet are often moving too fast for good close control.



That makes him extremely inconsistent, as he is moving too fast to allow for a consistent touch, so he can one second have the ball glued to his foot, the next it is bouncing off. That can make him really difficult to deal with one moment and the next Mendez-Laing is almost handing it to the defender on a plate.



I would compare him with West Ham United's Michail Antonio, except a very poor man's version, with less intelligent movement and, in fact, pretty much just less of everything. It is little wonder he struggles to hold down a regular starting place, he is a player you can simply not rely on to be a help.



There are some games where Mendez-Laing is actually a hindrance, as he will constantly give the ball away the moment he got it. When it does go for him though, he is almost unstoppable, with the combination of pace and power he possesses.



That is why he is still playing at Championship level, when 9 times out of 10 Mendez-Laing's performances would be better suited to League 2. Managers just hope to get that 1 in 10 game when he destroys the opposition when they need it.





Requested by - Livebird31