Didier Zokora

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Zokora IS our best central midfielder at current time - No doubt about that. Nothing to discuss, really.

I would say Jenas, Tainio, Hudd and Boateng (even the little I know about him) are all better central midfielders than Zokora. Murphy on his day is also probably better due to the fact he can pass, and can unlock defences. Malbranque if he wasn't so lightweight probably would be as well as he offers more creativity and actually tackles more than Zokora too.

Zokora has a lot to prove, he was the biggest disappointment for me last season because I was expecting him to be a defensive midfielder but he clearly isn't.

Having said all that we shouldn't get rid of him because he seems a genuinely top guy and fits in with the group well and who knows maybe he can learn how to tackle and pass and position himself and close down and track back.

 

[michaelden]

JJ is our Best midfielder, TT when fit is good too. Zoko is good but he's not the best

 

[double0]

I would say Jenas, Tainio, Hudd and Boateng (even the little I know about him) are all better central midfielders than Zokora. Murphy on his day is also probably better due to the fact he can pass, and can unlock defences. Malbranque if he wasn't so lightweight probably would be as well as he offers more creativity and actually tackles more than Zokora too.

Zokora has a lot to prove, he was the biggest disappointment for me last season because I was expecting him to be a defensive midfielder but he clearly isn't.

Having said all that we shouldn't get rid of him because he seems a genuinely top guy and fits in with the group well and who knows maybe he can learn how to tackle and pass and position himself and close down and track back.

Football has changed, and in todays game you need strength, power and technical ability. Danny Murphy has okey technical ability nothing special imo not alot else, he doesn't track back and therefore his a luxury player to bring on as a super sub to change a game. Zokora no matter what people level at him has good technical ability plays the ball simply track back, intercepts balls well, gets forward and does alot of water carrying, he provides trust and a bit of power in the heart of midfield and without him last season we'd be stuffed.

Taking into consideration his first season in English football and the number of pairings his had to adjust to clearly shows Zokora has a good footballing brain as to adjust and hold the midfield together throughout last season.

Last season, only Arsenal IMO dominated our midfield and that can't be solely put down to Zokora....(give the guy a break)

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Football has changed, and in todays game you need strength, power and technical ability. Danny Murphy has okey technical ability nothing special imo not alot else, he doesn't track back and therefore his a luxury player to bring on as a super sub to change a game. Zokora no matter what people level at him has good technical ability plays the ball simply track back, intercepts balls well, gets forward and does alot of water carrying, he provides trust and a bit of power in the heart of midfield and without him last season we'd be stuffed.

Taking into consideration his first season in English football and the number of pairings his had to adjust to clearly shows Zokora has a good footballing brain as to adjust and hold the midfield together throughout last season.

Last season, only Arsenal IMO dominated our midfield and that can't be solely put down to Zokora....(give the guy a break)

Yeh OK, i exaggerated it slightly in response to SK, but I really don't think Zokora has a good footballing brain at all. He certainly has his strengths and in certain roles he will be good for us next season. If he had a footballing brain he would be much better, no mindless runs to nowhere and positional sense. Also his composure is scary as soon as he gets the ball it looks like his head has been chopped off.

Still in a 3 man midfield such as we played against Leyton Orient he could be good alongside Jenas with Hudd deeper playing his passes.

Oh and as for teams that dominated our midfield Arsenal, Man Utd, Blackburn, Everton at home, Bolton away, Liverpool to name the ones that spring instantly to my head. Admittedly much of the problem was the numerous pairings we played.

 

[double0]

Yeh OK, i exaggerated it slightly in response to SK, but I really don't think Zokora has a good footballing brain at all. He certainly has his strengths and in certain roles he will be good for us next season. If he had a footballing brain he would be much better, no mindless runs to nowhere and positional sense. Also his composure is scary as soon as he gets the ball it looks like his head has been chopped off.

Still in a 3 man midfield such as we played against Leyton Orient he could be good alongside Jenas with Hudd deeper playing his passes.

Oh and as for teams that dominated our midfield Arsenal, Man Utd, Blackburn, Everton at home, Bolton away, Liverpool to name the ones that spring instantly to my head. Admittedly much of the problem was the numerous pairings we played.

The first paragraph is a bit mealy mouthed, headless no positional sense, no composure you make him sound shit, yet Jol continually picked him ahead of all the options we had in central midfield...i.e Jol had much more options to change things centrally than any other position in the team last season and still picked Zokora..Why? because he did the work todays midfielder need to do, the creativity should come from the left and right wing and one of the forwards.

Bottom line Zokora is a fine player and I'm happy enough with him tbh. (if a players not performing I'd be one of the first to say so)

 

[SpurSince57]

Zokora was also the only CM who remained injury-free all season, apart from the fortnight he was fighting for his life against malaria, so you could argue that Jol didn't have too many options.

 

[Adam456]

:roll: Good grief. The simple answer is this:

There were two Zokoras last season:

1. The one that showed boundless energy, some great tackles and bursts into the box and plenty of accurate no- nonsense passing

2. The one that was off the pace and had no confidence with ball at feet, kept giving the ball away.

Zoko1 was seen at the very start of the season (e.g. the ManUre game) and after about Feb

Zoko2 was seen in the middle of the season after he returned from a bout of malaria

I put most of Zoko2 down to the malaria. If Zoko1 turns up week in, week out (and I think he will) then we'll be quite happy. In fact, I hope he'll improve on that now he's got a season's experience under his belt.

To answer two of the other questions:

1. Is he our best midfielder at present ? Jenas has been more consistent and scored (5?) goals. So, no, you can't say Zokora is our best midfielder YET

2. Would you sell him ? To sell Zokora now when he's over the malaria and had put in some great performances towards the end of the season would be indescribably stupid from both a team selection AND financial perspective

 

[SpurSince57]

Zoko1 also showed up against Bruges, immediately after his malaria. I seem to recall that he also put in an appearance against Chelsea at the Lane.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Zoko1 also showed up against Bruges, immediately after his malaria. I seem to recall that he also put in an appearance against Chelsea at the Lane.

I saw Zoko1 about 3 or 4 times in total. What is the myth that he made tackles and did defensive work that is needed, I don't get it. I have no problems with his simple passing and his energy is great, is that Zoko1? Does that mean Zoko2 is Zoko1 without the energy and the ability to pass? Ouch.

 

[SlunkSoma]

Can we really blame his dip in form on the malaria? Was it even that serious a case of it (i understand that mild malraia is still a bit of a downer)

 

[SpurSince57]

For a guy as mega-fit as Zoko the recurrent form (which is presumably what he suffers from) should be no big deal. He was out for a fortnight, missed three games, and played 90 minutes against Bruges immediately upon his return with no obvious ill-effects.

 

[Fatcat]

I think if he gets his positioning sorted and learns to read the game a little better and maybe brushes up on his short passing I think he will be a great player in the middle, but last season his marking and positional sense was poor. I can remember so many games even when he played well when you could see th oppostions player walking past him in the gap between def and midfield and he would only try and get back once they had the ball,

 

[sloth]

Zokora in his first season was not the complete player. Contrary to what others have suggested he was pretty rusty early on, had about six weeks where he seemed up to speed and all the commentators were raving about how he looked like he might be the next Viera and then became ill (and regardless of what laid him low any illness that rules you out for two weeks is going to be unpleasant). When he came back it was into a slightly different side with a different CM partner.

He played very well througout most of the season, he had moments when he looked a liability however and a side with top four aspirations can't afford players which have too many of those moments. However, as first seasons go it was on a par with Essien's. Maybe he'll turn out a flop this year, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Finally, I want to say this... it's not enough for the usual suspects to put their hands up and say "I admit it, I was wrong", or "well he's much better this year - and I'm glad - but you couldn't have known it last year", it's not enough to be honest in your mistakes if the mistakes you make are avoidable. There are reasons, a priori, why judgement needs to be withheld, if you ignore them then more fool you.

 

[Adam456]

For a guy as mega-fit as Zoko the recurrent form (which is presumably what he suffers from) should be no big deal. He was out for a fortnight, missed three games, and played 90 minutes against Bruges immediately upon his return with no obvious ill-effects.

He was good against Bruges but they were a bit of a pushover really. Scoreline flattered them because of some poor defending. Maybe that return was too quick and drained him. Who knows but his energy level, confidence and form went South very suddenly. It coincided with poor form from the side as a whole so may have been exaggerated.

Going to the Torino game tomorrow and hoping Zoko1 turns up...

 

[AngerManagement]

I think I agree with what most people have said. He had moments last year where he showed signs he could be good, but largley he was poor

This season will be the time he needs to show what he is made of, will he go on to be a major part of our midfield or is he just a super fit runner with no footballing brain?

One thing he must eradicate from his game is moments like this

[yt]z33NCikCKyc[/yt]

 

[double0]

I think I agree with what most people have said. He had moments last year where he showed signs he could be good, but largley he was poor

This season will be the time he needs to show what he is made of, will he go on to be a major part of our midfield or is he just a super fit runner with no footballing brain?

One thing he must eradicate from his game is moments like this

[yt]z33NCikCKyc[/yt]

Wow he me missed controlled the ball and Liverpool scored. What about the other comedy moments in that clip....Was it Rocha who made the final assist in the end?:shrug:

 

[AngerManagement]

Wow he me missed controlled the ball and Liverpool scored. What about the other comedy moments in that clip....Was it Rocha who made the final assist in the end?:shrug:

You could argue that Chimbonda should have just cleared it instead of passing to Zokora, you could argue that Dawson and Rocha between the should have done more to stop the play the followed.

Ultimately though, I feel Zokora's error was the most significant. He was lethargic and carless with his pass and then his attempt to recover the ball was pathetic.

That was my number one most frustrating moment of last season, was to me the Steed's OG against Sevilla.

Yes its only one example of an error, as I said he did show some postive aspects to his game over the course of the season also. Hopefully his game will click more with our side this year and his postioning and tackling/passing can improve.

If next year he is still full of running and effort but there is no real production to his game in terms of breaking up the other teams play or setting up our own attacks the I think he may well see himself out of the first team, what with Huddlestone hopefully coming to an age where he can really stake a claim for a first team birth and the signing of Boateng.

It is the sloppy passes from Zokora that I feel he must work most on, other teams midfields are stronger then ours and in a time where it seems the midfield battle is more important then ever we really cant afford to give the ball away cheaply in that area.

Im sure he has enough ability to pass the ball better then he has often shown, sloppyness and concentration levels need working on.

Personally I invisage Zokora becoming a squad player and being displaced by another member of the squad for his first team birth.

I would love to be proved wrong and see him develop into 'our Viera' as certain people have predicted.

 

[Real_madyidd]

Thats a good clip. Really illustrates Joeys point about where players do things changing your opinion.

If Zokora had done that 20 yards higher up the pitch you would have blamed one of the many players behind him.

If on the other hand I came onto this thread and said he was great and showed a clip of that block he did against Reading, saying he needs to do that more, wouldn't everybody think I was just basing my opinion on one incident?

 

[Spursking]

That error he did vs Liverpool, was a big mistake, and he knows that himself. I know that he is our best central midfielder, and overall he is a great player for us. His movement on the pitch is great, and his movements with the ball is special.

Do not focus on that error - He played his first season in the Premier League last season, and he has progressed well. I am really looking forward to seeing Zokora play this season.

 

[Jody]

i reckon you are going to see the effects of malaria (however mild) on a highly toned athlete to a greater extent than you would on some old donkey like me. fitness is these guys bread and butter so any knock on it is going to show up big time.