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Zokora's Contribution

yusrisafri

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,369
7,548
No one has mentioned Zokora's contirbution yet in last night's game, and its a shame, because he was superb last night. Passed well, made forward runs, and his harassing of opponents was equally as good as Palacios. In fact, he passes so much better than Palacios. If it was Palacios who was playing like that last night, there would have maybe been 10 threads of him already. Its about time people realise that Zokora's talent needs to be appreciated more and give him the respect he deserves.

I hope to God he still stays at the club next season.
 

fortworthspur

Well-Known Member
Nov 12, 2007
11,244
17,536
Zokora is an excellent DM. He's too good to be a sub, IMO, and susepct he'll leave for regular football if sub is his role.
 

robbiesavagehasbreasts

dinkin' flicka!
May 23, 2007
2,689
69
Palacios is a better passer for me...although there isn't that much between them in that division.

and I like Zokora, but attacking wise he is horrible. Just look at how he screwed up our counter attack, could've passed to keano or pav, but ran straight into an opponent.

palacios on the other hand can shoot on goal (bolton goal bend for an example) and is better attacking.
 

Bill_Oddie

Everything in Moderation
Staff
Feb 1, 2005
19,120
6,003
I only saw the second half, so guess he was better in the first. I like Zoko but he failed too often with the ball yesterday. Simple Jenas-esque passing was fine, and worked bloody hard but felt he was a little off the pace in terms of sharpness of thought. Which is fair enough given his gametime recently. His loss of the ball towards the end was abysmal and his booking totally needless.

Still, a fine player and I've long believed his impact as an experienced international - and most importantly one who seems to be lots of fun - on the training ground, is essential.
 

DC_Boy

New Member
May 20, 2005
17,608
5
he's a good player - he seems happy at spurs - i hope he stays and I think he will
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,555
I only saw the second half, so guess he was better in the first. I like Zoko but he failed too often with the ball yesterday. Simple Jenas-esque passing was fine, and worked bloody hard but felt he was a little off the pace in terms of sharpness of thought. Which is fair enough given his gametime recently. His loss of the ball towards the end was abysmal and his booking totally needless.

Still, a fine player and I've long believed his impact as an experienced international - and most importantly one who seems to be lots of fun - on the training ground, is essential.
Zokora came on for Jenas at half time.

I only watched the last 20 mins but that was the impression I also got of his performance.

Great attitude
Great worker
Great squad player

But not a starter as long as Palacios is with us, a player with the same workrate and ten times the ability.
 

claw_diddy

Est.1973
Aug 30, 2005
1,529
0
Good squad player, versatile, quick and determined.

Occasionally has the odd lapse when in offensive play (ball got run under his feet when we 4 against 2) and can't shoot for toffee, but worth hanging onto.

Has improved a lot defensively this year, which has convinced me he should stay as back up to a variety of positions. As a result he will always get his fair share of game minutes.
 

lishiyo

Still frustrated :(
Aug 24, 2008
2,368
1
zoko's quite versatile and he's a great squad player, always give 100% with generally solid games (esp the big ones) and i think harry likes him. hopefully he'll stay with us
 

Kendall

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2007
38,502
11,933
It is vital that we keep him, Palacios will continue to get suspended as its the type of player he is and Zokora is needed.
 

eViL

Oliver Skipp's Dad
May 15, 2004
5,840
7,960
Anyone got the games won vs games lost stats for when Zokora is playing?

It seems whenever he begins to start games, we stop winning.

I love his attitude and running, but I still don't think he's a Prem class player.
 

Allen

Active Member
Feb 12, 2007
1,223
12
Think DZ did very well when he came on; he covered alot of ground, hardly gave away possession (would have been really nice if he didn't on that break away in the closing minutes though).
Sometimes you'd like him to want the ball more when other players are looking for options but I accept creativeness isn't one of his strengths.

Versatile player who'd be relatively happy to play a supporting role if Spurs are looking up which I think is a big plus.
 
Sep 17, 2007
1,612
4
Zokora has obvious qualities. I agree he is not the all round midfielder, but IMO he is good enough for most Premier league midfield's. He has a love, hate relationship here, which creates huge divides of opinion.

I hope he stays, but think he may be looking for an opportunity where he will get regular starts,
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
Zokora played well yesterday and we should definitely keep him, but to say his passing is better than Palacios is a bit odd. Yesterday Zokora passed very well, even with a couple of long passes, but that is the exception I'm afraid. Palacios actually brings the ball forward and find intelligent passes.

Also, the main issue with Zokora is that he's not really a tackler, he's an interceptor. That's all well and good in a 3 man midfield where there are two players in front of him, but if we are relying on him to win the ball for us in a 442 it wil happen way too deep and the attack will take a while to build. The great thing about Wiiilson is that he tackles everywhere, so he gets the ball quite high up the pitch when we already have all our players ready and far forward and we can attack before the other team have time to regroup.

I like Zokora and he's a good character, a player we should keep, but I would never have him ahead of Wilson.
 

RussellYid

Is Better Than...
Dec 12, 2004
3,923
166
Zokora played well yesterday and we should definitely keep him, but to say his passing is better than Palacios is a bit odd. Yesterday Zokora passed very well, even with a couple of long passes, but that is the exception I'm afraid. Palacios actually brings the ball forward and find intelligent passes.

Also, the main issue with Zokora is that he's not really a tackler, he's an interceptor. That's all well and good in a 3 man midfield where there are two players in front of him, but if we are relying on him to win the ball for us in a 442 it wil happen way too deep and the attack will take a while to build. The great thing about Wiiilson is that he tackles everywhere, so he gets the ball quite high up the pitch when we already have all our players ready and far forward and we can attack before the other team have time to regroup.

I like Zokora and he's a good character, a player we should keep, but I would never have him ahead of Wilson.

It's not. His short passing is as accurate as anyone and so it should be. I can pass a ball five yards, so why not a pro? But he often spreads play. It's a complete myth his long range passing is poor. It's not. He plays the ball short and simple for his club. For his country he is far more expansive in his passing.

On the whole, I'm delighted with this thread. :wink:

Palacios has showed up what Zokora lacks and that's the genuine bite. But the first half showed that when Wilson is out, Zokora for me has to play in his place. We were void of energy first half and Zokora added that. Same old story though... he gets into a position to tackle, but doesn't follow through with it. Completely agree with your comment about him being a reader/interceptor and I too would never have him ahead of Wilson, but you need two players in every position and Didier covers 3 or 4 positions.

We must keep him.
 

jonnyp

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2006
7,149
9,628
Better player than Jenas. He might not score but he's better than Jenas at everything else. None of them are good enough if we want CL football though.
 

stemark44

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2005
6,598
1,829
Better player than Jenas. He might not score but he's better than Jenas at everything else. None of them are good enough if we want CL football though.

That would be your opinion and probably not the opinion of the majority of posters on this forum.
In fact I would say that Jenas was our best player in the first half yesterday and it was unfortunate that he picked up an injury,lets all hope he is fit for the next game.
Zokora had a decent game and is someone that we should hold on to because he is a great utility player to have in the squad.
 

Michey

New Member
May 4, 2004
7,888
1
Great game by Zokora yesterday. The tempo picked up when he came on for Jenas!
 

southlondonyiddo

My eyes have seen some of the glory..
Nov 8, 2004
12,599
15,012
:rofl:

He's nowhere near as good as Palacios or JJ but does a job for us covering

Luckily West Hams midfield was all injured yesterday so the Thudd/Zoko partnership wasn't exposed.

......and Pav made a huge difference
 
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