THE MYSTERY OF ABU DIABY

[digger]

When he first came into the team he looked promising. However, like Denilson, he's gone backwards the more he's played.

Ok, so left wing isn't his position, but CM is - he was awful there on Weds.

The injury would have been a setback to his career, but that shouldn't have affected his positional sense, awareness of danger or ability to play a simple pass

[JakeN13]

He'd be an exellet player if he played in a more simple way and passed the ball earlier in 4 situations out of 5. He doesn't even seem to be given instructions to play in another way though...either that orhe just ignores it.

[MickeyFabs]

I agree 100% that wenger is fcuking the players and team about by playing them out of position but that excuse only carries so far - his ongoing habit of fcuking about with the ball and losing possession is nothing to do with his position As I have said many times lately the fact that he does not seem to be learning 1 jot from these mistakes is what worries me most and I for one would want him sold in the summer as he cannot improve if he does not see his mistakes or is too godamn lazy to learn from them

By the way how many times did we actually see him on the left wing last night ? Was he out there when o'shea and ladyboy were combining down our left ? Where was the protection he should have been giving to our rookie gibbs ? Being truthful he may have been listed to play left but he spent fcuk all time out there and I agree 100% that wenger will pick him again next tues (and will probably rest him on sat )

He couldn't stay on the left because we were outnumbered in the middle of the park. He is a player that Wenger has played in numerous positions, and this has not been good for a player of his age. I remember a similar thing happening with Toure early on in his career.

I think Diaby should have been groomed to play CM from day one, he has all the attributes to play there. If he had been consistently playing in the centre, some of his tendencies like holding onto the ball too long would have been cut out by now.

Some people want to label players as shit, players like Eboue who have been consistently played out of position. Diaby had a good season last year and scored some fucking crackers, but nobody remembers that!!

[augie]

To a large degree mickeyfabs I do agree with what you are saying re wenger fcuking players about by playing them in the wrong positions but that excuse only works for so long. Two weeks ago in a big game v chavski wenger plays him in his preferred position and he hd a fcuking nightmare and was by far our worst player that day which says a lot He get caught in possession so many times, often in really dangerous areas, and made no positive impact on the game at all. Fast forward 11 days and diaby is selected again in a big game (albeit on the wing) but lo and behold he is making all the same mistakes again as if the chavs game had never happened As I have said before, wenger often beats the drum about the need for players to show intelligence but I would suggest to you that a player that continually makes the same mistakes is not such a player and if he isnt or cannot learn from his mistakes then his future in the game at the top level is going to be limited

Lets also analysise your defence of diaby last wed night - you claim he kept drifting into the middle cos we were outnumbered in there but was he instructed to do so or did he drift in cos he thought that he was needed in there ? If it was the latter then it shows a shocking lack of discipline on the pitch as he was leaving gibbs (5 first team starts) alone to face the overlapping o'shea and the so called world player of the year Regardless of the reason an you tell me what exactly he contributed in his favoured position ? He didnt win tackles, he didnt track runners and he didnt exactly set up many attacks with his passing either did he ? Make no mistake about it, if denilson was in his position last wed night he would have won more tackles, would have passed the ball more often to his team-mates and would not have been caught in possession as often whilst spinning around like a spinning top

You claim that people forget facts about how a player like diaby has done in the past but I would suggest that it is you who seems to recall only the cracking goals and are omitting everything else

[MickeyFabs]

Augie, I also agree with some of what you say.

I do not think that Wenger told Diaby to stay on the left, and not drift across because if that was the instruction when Diaby did come across, I never saw Pat Rice or Wenger telling him to stay put. Nor did it change in the 2nd half.

If you want a player to become unaccustomed with a position, the best thing you can do is shunt him allover the park - That is what Wenger has done to him, and this probably because of Diaby's technical ability.

I saw Denilson play at Anfield, and thought he was at least twice as shocking as Diaby was at Wembley, and he didn't improve much against Boro. Its not great arguing whether one player is shitter than the other, but this shows the strength of the centre of our midfield at the minute.

What I think most people would agree on is that Song alongside Fabregas in a 4 man midfield is probably the best bet.