What's new

Zokora and jenas

handsomecake

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2008
1,575
2,389
in my opinion if these two get dropped performances will improve.

zokora is atrocious. his passing is woeful. its always backwards or sideways at best(if even to one of our players). his defending is very poor,his marking is poor ,tackling is poor and ive noticed his is one of the first heads to drop when we go behind.i acknowledge he is a defensive midfielder but for him not to score even one goal in two and a half years is indicative of his talent and capabilities.i will admit he is a physical specimen who is quite fast and very strong but thats about it to me.

jenas is a tough one(nearly as divided as the abortion issue).as pointed out by many on numerous message boards,jenas has been picked by capello,jol,ramos,eriksson,mclaren etc etc and the argument is that surely he must be doing something right .but in my opinion he doesnt cut it. never seems to play a killer ball,doesnt score enough imo ,never puts in a crunching tackle,is definitely not a leader,.he is just a tidier zokora for me.

i think they have had ample games together to show that
A they are not good individually
B they are not good together

i think for all his perceived frailties tom huddlestone has a lot of good qualities and is definitely one of our best footballers with ball at feet.his passing and shooting is exemplary.

modric is clearly class as shown in the euros etc and bentley is much better then he is showing now.

lennon has also showed some fight this year and i reckon has been one of our better players thus far.

my team would be

gomes
hutton woodgate corluka bale

lennon bentley huddlestone modric

pavlyuchencko giovani

im sure people will tear my formation asunder but i am a believer that attacking football is best and that fortune favours the bold and that our better footballers should prevail over our less skilled ones.:shrug:

id give huddlestone the armband for what its worth. doing a sterling job for under 21's.he is a big lad ,imposing figure,english.

the talk of him possibly being sold while the likes of zokora are undroppable is disgusting
 

DC_Boy

New Member
May 20, 2005
17,608
5
fair enough HC :) -I think your mid would get shredded but it's all about opinions :) I also think that starting modric gds and lennon in the prem would have me watching from behind the sofa

but you may be right and your team is the way forward - who knows, not me
 

handsomecake

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2008
1,575
2,389
fair enough HC :) -I think your mid would get shredded but it's all about opinions :) I also think that starting modric gds and lennon in the prem would have me watching from behind the sofa

but you may be right and your team is the way forward - who knows, not me



i dont think it could get any worse though!!!!!!
 

Dan Ashcroft

Manstack vs The Gay Chimney
Jan 6, 2008
6,404
1,147
I agree, that pairing have been the source of our problems for over two years now, but would instead go:

gomes

hutton woodgate king bale

bentley corluka modric lennon

pavlyuchencko campbell
 

stevenurse

Palacios' neck fat
May 14, 2007
6,089
10,022
DA thats the team ive been talking about in another thread, prefer bent to campbell until january and then get someone like Huntelaar in. Corluka must play in DM until we get a specialist or maybe even take over the role.
 

THOWIG

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2005
6,499
8,329
I would love to see Corluka in centre midfield. I feel he is made for that position. His pace isn't the issue, but is technique and height would be two major assets.

Would like to see

Bentley Corluka Huddlestone Lennon
Modric
Pavlyuchenko
 

That Guy

Active Member
Mar 6, 2004
4,252
0
Why is it everyone is picking Pav ahead of Bent. Bent has scored 4 goals already this season in our utter toss of a side. He is one of the few players to actually be showing something in my opinion. He is getting no service.
 

snake1

New Member
Apr 23, 2006
3,583
6
Jenas need to be dropped altogether. He's the reason Modric hasn't settled in so well, IMO. When they are both in the team everything goes through Jenas. The players always look for him like he's our main man in midfield, and the game ends up passing Modric by. I like Jenas and I think he's a decent player, but if we are going to get the best out of Modric we need to find a partner for him that lets him play his game.

I can't believe Jenas is our fucking Captain.:rofl:
 

GLUESODA

Active Member
Sep 28, 2004
781
121
I would love to see Corluka in centre midfield. I feel he is made for that position. His pace isn't the issue, but is technique and height would be two major assets.

Would like to see

Bentley Corluka Huddlestone Lennon
Modric
Pavlyuchenko

Totally agree, very balanced side

I'm in no way defending Jenas, but he does play a few top passes, maybe 2 a game, and also has made some cracking tackles, but is way to inconsistant which is what makes him so frustrating - definately a confidence player, similar to Defoe

As for Zakora, always thought he looked a better centre back than a midfielder... So a straight swop for corluka a possibility?
 

markie

Active Member
Nov 17, 2004
1,416
1
I completely agree.... They need to both be dropped and we need to play huddlestone... It makes no sense that he sits on the bench game after game. He brings a completely new dimension to our midfield that we are sorely lacking.. Creativity in the middle... He is a tidy player who has been given a rough ride so far and he deserves our support... I can even go as far as to say that hudd and jenas are proven to play well together... These two with modric would be fantastic as a central three ... its just zokora that needs to be dropped from midifield asap!!!
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
I agree, that pairing have been the source of our problems for over two years now, but would instead go:

gomes

hutton woodgate king bale

bentley corluka modric lennon

pavlyuchencko campbell

So why wasn't replacing them this summer one of our first priorities?
 

Nick

Well-Known Member
Jul 18, 2004
1,288
563
So why wasn't replacing them this summer one of our first priorities?

I think Modric is kind of a replacement for jenas as playmaker and we were apparently waiting all summer for veloso, let’s just get diarra instead.
 

stemark44

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2005
6,598
1,829
I agree, that pairing have been the source of our problems for over two years now, but would instead go:

gomes

hutton woodgate king bale

bentley corluka modric lennon

pavlyuchencko campbell


The source of our problem in midfield happened the day we sold Carrick - Jenas was a very able partner when he was here and unfortunately we have been unable to replace him.
Jenas has had very little to play with since Carrick left!
 

Freezy Water

New Member
Aug 3, 2008
256
0
Jenas has had very little to play with since Carrick left!

Much in the same way that Zokora has had very little to play with since he arrived! I'm far from Zokora's biggest fan but i will say he's turning out to be a useful player for us simply due to the fact he can cover a number of positions. A Jack of all trades but master of none!

Rather worryingly he seems better at RB & CB than he does in his preferred CM position!
 

thfcsteff

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2005
1,117
339
I agree, that pairing have been the source of our problems for over two years now, but would instead go:

gomes

hutton woodgate king bale

bentley corluka modric lennon

pavlyuchencko campbell

seeing as we're playing games here :)

MY team...

gomes

hutton
woodgate
king
bale

bentley
huddlestone
jj
lennon

modric

campbell


I'd go with this simply because i think Campbell can be a lone striker who will at least fight to hold up the ball/chase lost causes, and it allows Modric the freedom to play in a forward role. he really needs a class act with whom to play-off, and GDS would be the classiest touch striker we've got, but he's got his own stuff going on. the hudd can sit deep and pass long and fast, JJ can support the front...

This line-up will never happen because

a) it's 4-4-1-1 and
b) it does not contain Zokora the undroppable
 

markie

Active Member
Nov 17, 2004
1,416
1
seeing as we're playing games here :)

MY team...

gomes

hutton
woodgate
king
bale

bentley
huddlestone
jj
lennon

modric

campbell


I'd go with this simply because i think Campbell can be a lone striker who will at least fight to hold up the ball/chase lost causes, and it allows Modric the freedom to play in a forward role. he really needs a class act with whom to play-off, and GDS would be the classiest touch striker we've got, but he's got his own stuff going on. the hudd can sit deep and pass long and fast, JJ can support the front...

This line-up will never happen because

a) it's 4-4-1-1 and
b) it does not contain Zokora the undroppable

I think this could work and you could even get away with playing bent and campbell up front in front of those four in midfield. JJ and Hudd are good enough in the middle. Bentley would relish playing on the right of four and lennon would run up and down all day long cutting in and generally cause them lots of issues...
 
Top