The Weekend ITK Discussion Thread 2/3 August 2014

[danielneeds]

He doesn't turn as much as meander around. That said he's a much, much better reader of the game than Dawson.

..Struggling to...

..resist...

..cheesey quip...

Failed badly...

Stevie Wonder reads the game better than Dawson.

 

[Leigh]

Stevie's definitely not going to win that header though.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Musacchio not in Argentina squad. Demichelis was in Argentina Squad. Worrying in itself

You're kidding ? Demichelis is a superb cb. Instrumental in both city winning the league and Argentina getting to the final.

What he's losing in pace he easily made up for in his reading of the game.

 

[loaderspurs]

Can I just make one comment re: which defenders we might let go? I see people are going on about chiriches being young and having potential...he's 25 in November! Hardly an up and comer! Combined with the number of people I see saying townsend or Holtby will never be good enough it's ridiculous. For me if we are to bring in musacchio and lascelles, I'd honestly have no qualms with chiriches going of Poch thinks he doesn't suit us.

 

[Mister Jez]

Is Moustacheo (yes, that's what I'm calling him) a 'starting' CB? On the face of it, it does look like we're going to have too many young CBs. You have to feel a little bit for Chiriches and Veljkovic .

For €20mill I would think he has a fair chance.

 

[Keith Morris]

You're kidding ? Demichelis is a superb cb. Instrumental in both city winning the league and Argentina getting to the final.

What he's losing in pace he easily made up for in his reading of the game.

Demichelis is poor, a liability, but his inclusion in the Argentine squad at the expense of Musacchio shouldn't worry..managers do often get it wrong with selection...

 

[duffster]

What's the deal with so many Argentines having Italian passports?

Lots of Italians moved there and had children.

 

[loaderspurs]

Harry hardly played him at CB at all—he was mostly employed at DM, with Judas and Distin at CB. When Adams took over he actually made a public comment that he thought Kaboul hadn't been given a fair chance at CB.

But what about Harry's time at spurs...?

 

[Booney]

Argentinian with an Italian passport eh? Has he ever been on holiday to the UK? Does he count as home-grown? Sure we can swing it somehow.

 

[Booney]

If MoPo gets Mussachio to grow a moustache in Movember I'll almost certainly spontaneously combust.

 

[Shadydan]

Demichelis is poor, a liability, but his inclusion in the Argentine squad at the expense of Musacchio shouldn't worry..managers do often get it wrong with selection...

Demechelis isn't poor at all, he took a bit of time to get used to the league but was genuinely recognised as one of Citeh's top performers towards the end of the season...Ask City fans what they think of him and they'll give you a glowing reference about him. He was very good in the world cup as well.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

If that naughton itk is accurate, we will need a RB - as naughton will go imo - and it has to be one that will genuinely compete with Walker as I don't think the substance of his play will impress poch and mentally he just flaps too much..

Best case scenario is that poch can work some magic on him and I'm proved wrong, but I'm not so hopeful and I think the left wing will still be a vulnerable zone for us (the right wing not so much now).

Knew poch would rebuild the defense though and trust him to have it totally sorted for 15/16.

Maybe this is where people are getting it wrong by assuming Chiriches is off if we sign another CB? Maybe, and yes I'm clutching at straws, but maybe Poch has seen enough of Vlad to determine he's 'defensively suspect', so a massive risk (at times) in the middle. However, the lad is silky on the ball, loves to carry it from deep, and actually has bloody good pace.

Maybe Poch sees him as a RB int the making & everyone has it completely wrong when assuming it's curtains for Vlad?

 

[thinktank]

Maybe this is where people are getting it wrong by assuming Chiriches is off if we sign another CB? Maybe, and yes I'm clutching at straws, but maybe Poch has seen enough of Vlad to determine he's 'defensively suspect', so a massive risk (at times) in the middle. However, the lad is silky on the ball, loves to carry it from deep, and actually has bloody good pace.

Maybe Poch sees him as a RB int the making & everyone has it completely wrong when assuming it's curtains for Vlad?

Said last season he vlad could do a job there for sure. Think poch will want something very specific for that role though tbh.

 

[Keith Morris]

Demechelis isn't poor at all, he took a bit of time to get used to the league but was genuinely recognised as one of Citeh's top performers towards the end of the season...Ask City fans what they think of him and they'll give you a glowing reference about him. He was very good in the world cup as well.

I guess it's all about opinions this game and I don't disrespect yours, I just see him as lumbering and paceless, poor positionly, a player perhaps past his best, didn't see any standout performance in the World Cup, I'm sure city fans will say that about him, I for one am looking forward to an improved defensive unit this season

 

[SpurSince57]

But what about Harry's time at spurs...?

For reasons best known to myself I managed to edit out the 'at Pompey', but in his first season-and-a-half back with us he played a fair few games at RB and a couple at DM as well as CB (when he wasn't crocked, that is). But would he have got the nod in 11-12 if Dawson hadn't been out for virtually the entire season?

Remember also that when we re-signed him a lot of people on here weren't happy at all, and suggested Harry had lost the plot. Some believed that we'd got him back because Pompey still owed us a a chunk of his fee, and we didn't think we'd get it back.

 

[Keith Morris]

I know this perhaps goes against general opinion, but I think I'd rather keep Dawson as 4th/5th choice and move kaboul on, Dawson always maintains his fitness and altho has his limitations he'd be a good fit for that role, kaboul is always being managed fitness wise and I don't think he'd be the answer for the times he was infrequently

See what was I saying...Dawson always maintains his fitness :-/ limps off in friendly v Celtic

 

[amathews3416]

I guess it's all about opinions this game and I don't disrespect yours, I just see him as lumbering and paceless, poor positionly, a player perhaps past his best, didn't see any standout performance in the World Cup, I'm sure city fans will say that about him, I for one am looking forward to an improved defensive unit this season

Did you get a chance to watch him the second half of the season? If you watched him the first half, no doubt I would agree with you and that would be my viewpoint as well. But he got much better as the season progressed and was immense during that final run in.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Said last season he vlad could do a job there for sure. Think poch will want something very specific for that role though tbh.

Well I think you already know my response. Hopefully those specifics include some vigorous defending & positional coaching for Walker.

 

[Xeeleeyid]

Dawson's just got himself injured against Celtic in a desperate attempt to stay at Spurs

 

[Shadydan]

I guess it's all about opinions this game and I don't disrespect yours, I just see him as lumbering and paceless, poor positionly, a player perhaps past his best, didn't see any standout performance in the World Cup, I'm sure city fans will say that about him, I for one am looking forward to an improved defensive unit this season

The reason why I brought up the City fans is because a lot of them weren't convinced by him earlier on in the season but they changed their mind as the season went on as he improved in that time.

He's very much a victim of the pony tailed foreigner who's an easy target for the media and fans alike go OTT at his performances and magnify his mistakes because he's an easy target. His club manager stuck with him and had faith in him because he's a very good player and he fully deserved his call up to the national team for the world cup.