I don't trust Arséne's opinion on defenders. We've had so many 'The next' Adams and Keowns.
I'm forever scarred by watching Oleg Luzhny, Igor Stepanovs & Giles Grimandi getting mugged by Yorke & Cole in that infamous 6-1 thrashing at Old Trafford. FFS
Some of those cheap backups were still over priced. Squillaci, Sylvester, Santos, Traore, Miguel, Gibbs, stepanovs, juan, Cygan, Garry, Hoyte, djourou, senderos, connolly, GabrielWenger has signed quite a few decent to excellent defenders in his time here. Sol Campbell, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen before his injury, Koscielny, Lauren, Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna, promoting and developing Ashley Cole, etc. The problem is our club has always been stretched financially and hence he always has to sprinkle the squad with cheap backups who will get exposed with regular action particularly against top sides. Its called working with a budget.
Some of those cheap backups were still over priced. Squillaci, Sylvester, Santos, Traore, Miguel, Gibbs, stepanovs, juan, Cygan, Garry, Hoyte, djourou, senderos, connolly, Gabriel
Okay pushing it there but that's still 12 rubbish players to your 8 good ones. Admittedly defending has changed in the last two decadesJUAN, Garry, and Connolly..really?
They never joined the 1st team.
Senderos was decent initially. Djourou and Traore were always calamities.
Yes, he could speak 5 languages...and was a very intelligent boy, apparently.I still miss Senderos
Had a chance to talk to him a bit. Great lad, was one of my very favorites back thenYes, he could speak 5 languages...and was a very intelligent boy, apparently.
Had a chance to talk to him a bit. Great lad, was one of my very favorites back then
Went to our preseasons in Austria 3 or 4 times, best times of my life. Watching them train twice a day, take pictures with players, have little chit chats with them...cried a lot, too much emotions lol.How did that come about then?
Some of those cheap backups were still over priced. Squillaci, Sylvester, Santos, Traore, Miguel, Gibbs, stepanovs, juan, Cygan, Garry, Hoyte, djourou, senderos, connolly, Gabriel
Gibbs and Miquel and Garry and Hoyte came from the academy, so they were hardly overpriced. I don't think any of those was necessarily overpriced they were just mostly cheap or free but not good enough.
Cygan was quite good in a static defence but at the time we were mostly playing high up the field and bossing games. Santos might have made a wing-back but was unreliable at the back. Silvestre was finished when we bought him. Stepanovs hopelessly out of his depth. Did Juan ever play for the first team?
Who the hell is/was Connolly?
Yes. Sadly it was a false dawn. I remember Lupoli and Bendtner's goalscoring stats and dreamt of the day they would reproduce it at the top level,Matthew Connolly. I used to watch him at Underhill, Barnet's ground, for the reserves quite a lot. He was a very very good player at that level and looked like he had all the attributes to make it here as a young English defender. Never happened, and currently at Cardiff I believe. There were some very talented players in that crop though, likes of Merida, Barazite, Larsson, Lupoli, Quincy, Emmanuel-Thomas, Randall, Bendtner....I remember it well!
Senderos was decent initially.
He's right. Senderos flattered to deceive.