Djourou out for 6 months

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g88ner
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Post by g88ner »

tasha7 wrote:I'm not quite sure why people are having a go at Wenger for not buying another centreback. If you look at most top sides they only really have three top quality players there - rio, vidic evans for man utd, terry, carvalho, alex for the chavs and carragher, agger, skrtel for liverpool.
I like how you conveniently forget that ManUre's 4th choice centre back is Wes Brown, and Chelsea's is Ivanovic... bit better than Silvestre, I think! :wink: :lol:

As for Liverpool, they signed Kyrgiakos and as I've never seen him play, I can't say how good a 4th choice CB he is.

Despite this, I agree with you tasha. Gallas, Vermaelen, Djourou, Senderos, Silvestre and (if needed) Song represent a decent depth in that position, and just because ONE of them is injured, I think it's wrong to be overly critical.

That said, Slivestre, Vermaelen and Senderos look very left footed, so whether that would effect the balance and shape of our defence if Gallas is injured, is yet to be seen.

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tasha7
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Post by tasha7 »

I didn't actually forget him, I just don't think Wes Brown is a top quality centreback. I think he was a pretty good fullback before he got injured but I certainly wouldn't rate him alongside the others I mentioned in the centre.

I think Big Phil is better than Brown there and I expect Senderos will be our 4th choice, not Sylvestre, once he's had some time in training to re-acquaint himself with the squad. I forgot about Ivanovic, he's actually very decent too, but again I wouldn't say he's any better than Big Phil and the Chavs have the cash to afford depth in every position. I've no idea either about the Liverpool guy but I'd be astonished if he could come straight into the premiership and perform to senderos's level.

Oh, by the way, I'm not a big fan of Song at cb because he's not good enough in the air. Ricardo Fuller gave him a torrid time in the only full match he played at the back in the league last season. The last thing we need is another CB who can't head the ball.

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franksav63
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Post by franksav63 »

Hi Tasha.... I think Song played more than one at centre half, I can remember him playing there away to Man U in the 0-0 draw.

I think he played another game at home but I can't recall the team he played against.... (I'm sure someone will help me with that one...) :?

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tasha7
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Post by tasha7 »

Oh yes, you're right, he did. I forgot about that because Man Utd spent the whole match camped on the edge of their area playing for their title-winning point :)

The only other time I remember him playing there was the second half at the Hawthornes where he played OK, but didn't have much to deal with in the air.

Do you think he's a good option there for us?

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franksav63
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Post by franksav63 »

I do, but it would obviously take away his presence in the midfield, and he's playing well there at the moment.

Then, you've to gig around the midfield to accomodate this change, where this whole thing could have been avoided had we purchased the centre half and DM that we've all been crying out for, for the last 2-3 seasons.

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tasha7
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Post by tasha7 »

Yes, I totally agree that he's much better in midfield, but far the most improved player over the last 12 months. Even halfway through last season I never thought he'd be good enough soon enough, but I'm thrilled to have been proved wrong. But he can't play every match this season (especially when he's in Africa!) and I'm as mystified as everyone that we haven't strengthened at DM.

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm happy with the 4 guys we have at centreback and I hope we don't have to play Song there this season.

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g88ner
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Post by g88ner »

tasha7 wrote:Oh, by the way, I'm not a big fan of Song at cb because he's not good enough in the air. Ricardo Fuller gave him a torrid time in the only full match he played at the back in the league last season. The last thing we need is another CB who can't head the ball.
Well, for a 6th choice centre back (behind Gallas, Vermaelen, Djourou, Senderos and Silvestre) Song is very good!

Of course, the problem, as Frank says, is that if Song is in defence then we're all of a sudden a little weak in midfielder, so I'd rather Song's versatility was all but forgotten unless we're really desperate!

I'd have liked us to have signed another holding midfielder rather than another CB... even now, that would be my preference.

Then again, Messi would be nice on the right of our attack, but you don't always get what you want, do you?! :roll: :lol: :wink:

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franksav63
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Post by franksav63 »

tasha7 wrote:Yes, I totally agree that he's much better in midfield, but far the most improved player over the last 12 months. Even halfway through last season I never thought he'd be good enough soon enough, but I'm thrilled to have been proved wrong. But he can't play every match this season (especially when he's in Africa!) and I'm as mystified as everyone that we haven't strengthened at DM.

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm happy with the 4 guys we have at centreback and I hope we don't have to play Song there this season.
You're not alone there, Tasha...

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tasha7
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Post by tasha7 »

g88ner wrote:I'd have liked us to have signed another holding midfielder rather than another CB... even now, that would be my preference.
Yeah, I agree with all of that, especially the bit above.

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Bergkamp-Genius
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Post by Bergkamp-Genius »

tasha7 wrote:I'm not quite sure why people are having a go at Wenger for not buying another centreback. If you look at most top sides they only really have three top quality players there - rio, vidic evans for man utd, terry, carvalho, alex for the chavs and carragher, agger, skrtel for liverpool.

I'm a huge fan of djourou and I think he's a great 3rd choice for us. It's unfortunate he's suffered another injury and we have to hope billy and vermaelen stay fit until he's recovered. But if not, then Senderos can do a job for us. How many other sides in Europe have as good 4th choice CB as he is? He's proved that he's a talented player if a little inconsistent and maybe he doesn't have the temperament for the really big occasions. But hopefully by the time squeaky bum time comes round again our other three centrebacks will be fit again.

Instead of having a go at Wenger for not signing another defender, maybe we should be looking at our medical department and asking why we sign so many injury prone players and/or turn them into such crocks. Is it anything to do with the plyometrics Wenger uses in his training methods?

I don't call Sylv Senderos and Djourou depth....Depth is about having guys in back up that have proved they can come in and do a good job, guys you can feel relatively comfortable won't let you down or weaken the team noticeably when called upon, it's not just a numbers game.

I like Djourou and i think he has a good future with us at centre half and personally i wouldn't be too preturbed, although more than a few would, if he was called upon to play next to Gallas or TV for a number of games or even if he came in for a big game.
Saying that he's proved nothing as yet so imo can't be classified as anything other than a good prospect, regardless of how good we think he can be.
I think the fact that he is recognised as our strongest back up even though he hasn't even had a good run in the team at centre half is all the evidence you need to see how weak our depth at CB is and unfortunately we have a similar problem at DCM.

As for Senderos and Sylv, i wouldn't feel comfortable if we had to call on them for anything more than the odd lesser game and the idea of either of them playing in any important games fills me with dread.
Both of them or at least one of them should have been shipped out in the summer neither of them are good enough to play for us whether they are third choice or fifth choice.

We needed another quality CB last year.. TV was a good replacement for Kolo but thats all he was a replacement we still need that 'another' quality centre back to give us quality depth not just numbers.

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Post by franksav63 »

Good bit of summing up there, B.G.

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flash gunner
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Post by flash gunner »

Is he definately out for 6 months? I cant see anything official on pravda.com

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franksav63
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Post by franksav63 »

You're right mate, it's not on there but it's everywhere else:- (Sky etc)

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 72,00.html

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bergkamp10
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Post by bergkamp10 »

tasha7 wrote:Yes, I totally agree that he's much better in midfield, but far the most improved player over the last 12 months. Even halfway through last season I never thought he'd be good enough soon enough, but I'm thrilled to have been proved wrong. But he can't play every match this season (especially when he's in Africa!) and I'm as mystified as everyone that we haven't strengthened at DM.

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm happy with the 4 guys we have at centreback and I hope we don't have to play Song there this season.
Damn fine point, shows what AW and a little time can achieve, although i like to see BIG PHIL back in the frame.1!! Who knows anyhow,

Bergkamp10

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tasha7
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Post by tasha7 »

Bergkamp-Genius wrote: I don't call Sylv Senderos and Djourou depth....Depth is about having guys in back up that have proved they can come in and do a good job, guys you can feel relatively comfortable won't let you down or weaken the team noticeably when called upon, it's not just a numbers game.

I like Djourou and i think he has a good future with us at centre half and personally i wouldn't be too preturbed, although more than a few would, if he was called upon to play next to Gallas or TV for a number of games or even if he came in for a big game.
Saying that he's proved nothing as yet so imo can't be classified as anything other than a good prospect, regardless of how good we think he can be.
I think the fact that he is recognised as our strongest back up even though he hasn't even had a good run in the team at centre half is all the evidence you need to see how weak our depth at CB is and unfortunately we have a similar problem at DCM.

As for Senderos and Sylv, i wouldn't feel comfortable if we had to call on them for anything more than the odd lesser game and the idea of either of them playing in any important games fills me with dread.
Both of them or at least one of them should have been shipped out in the summer neither of them are good enough to play for us whether they are third choice or fifth choice.

We needed another quality CB last year.. TV was a good replacement for Kolo but thats all he was a replacement we still need that 'another' quality centre back to give us quality depth not just numbers.
I think I have a higher opinion of Djourou than you do. I actually think he's a very good third choice CB in his own right and isn't embarrassed by comparisons to Evans, Alex or Agger. I think he can easily "come in and do a good job...won't let you down or weaken the team noticeably when called upon", as you put it.

He had 15 premier league starts last season, had a good run in the side from the Fernebache home game until the West Ham home game and I'm struggling to remember a single goal we conceded that could be attributed to one of his mistakes.

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