What might have been with Coloccini?
Only a few seasons ago, Fabriccio Coloccini had one foot out the St James Park door, looking longingly at the sunny shores of Argentina. The centre back was eventually talked around, by then-manager Alan Pardew, and remained the Toon starting central defender and captain. He is a talisman, and not just because of the strikingly woolly impression he leaves; at his best, he is a fantastically committed defender, disciplined and robust, tackling with as much precision as he does passion. The impressive mop, that can sometimes embolden errors, was a fuzzy dynamo in this match, even making a cameo appearance at the advanced end of the left flank, as time for West Ham ran out.
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He was willing to take a significant pay cut to leave St James Park, something most fans would take as an affront; don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you, may have come to mind. But now all is forgotten, as Coloccini threw his body in front of shot after shot in a taught final stanza. As Manchester City have found out in the absence of Vincent Kompany, as good as the replacements might be on paper, your defence is nearly always better with your veteran captain at its heart.
