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Abou Diaby (Out)

Kraig

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

decent enough (but not a great) squad player, but not even close to a starting spot for ANY top 4 side with title aspirations.

anything over 7 mill and id be waving bye bye to abou
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

I'm talking about competitive appearances. He made none for PSG. I can't comment on what he did before Auxerre before the age of 16 because Auxerre was the first I'd watched him play.
 

DaGunners

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

Big Poppa said:
I'm talking about competitive appearances. He made none for PSG.
You argued he spent his entire development as a CM. Youth level is where most development takes place, and he definitely played in attack at PSG.
 

lagos

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

kamikaze80 said:
i acknowledge the obvious weaknesses in diaby's game. however, i also recognise the potential. i wouldn't cry if we sold him, but i'm not pushing for him to be sold, either. i think he's a perfectly acceptable squad player, .

that's where I stand too
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

If you want to get into semantics. He was not born at PSG - his development would also include playing for his school team! I think the age of 16/17 is a reasonable cut-off point for arguments sake.
 

Kraig

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

lagos said:
kamikaze80 said:
i acknowledge the obvious weaknesses in diaby's game. however, i also recognise the potential. i wouldn't cry if we sold him, but i'm not pushing for him to be sold, either. i think he's a perfectly acceptable squad player, .

that's where I stand too

thirded
 

kamikaze80

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

i'm actually with qs on the issue of diaby being out of position. it seems like he's out of position because he's so clueless that he doesn't really have a position. on paper, given his attributes, he should be an AM, which for us means a tucked-in wide mid. he doesn't like to defend, but likes to get forward, has got tricks up his sleeve and a decent shot on him. the fact that he's such an unorthodox player creates matchup problems as well.
 

Clrnc

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Player:Tomiyasu
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

How the hell this become another Diaby argument thread?

I won't mind if he is sold to another league for a decent amount of fee which will contribute to us bringing in an even better player, but wouldn't be fussed either if he stays. Obviously he have immense potential. He was having a good run in the middle until he got injured and then subsequently played out of position late in the season and struggled.
 

patrick42uk

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

Jameel46 said:
so Diaby's now the one we're all picking on? lol

Anyway, going to Inter as replacement for Vieira makes sense but he doesn't seem like a Mourinho player to me.

It genuinely shocked me the way people on here turned on him. It was just so unexpected. I felt he had a decent season personally.
 

Webdesignlab

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

patrick42uk said:
It genuinely shocked me the way people on here turned on him. It was just so unexpected. I felt he had a decent season personally.

You might not agree with this stuff ... but shocked? Really?
 

arsmile

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

i have kind of grown to really dislike him as a footballer, not young enough to be making excuses for anymore, a real weak link in our game- it could be our best transfer of the summer if we offload him for a few million!
 

gstew

Well-Known Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

IMO Diaby should have been sold a while ago. Not because he did not have the potential to be a very good player (I think he does), but because his strengths and his style are poorly suited to Wenger's type of football. I actually started making this argument two years ago.

One could argue that Hleb succeeded here, why not Diaby? The major difference was that Hleb's first touch was almost always including a change of direction or he was already on the move. Diaby's first touch usually sees him standing still as he likes to draw defenders to him. At the pace of the Premiership this is a crucial distinction. Diaby is an excellent dribbler, but this is almost always after slowing us down. IMO, for him to reach his potential it needs to be at least in a different team and ideally in a different league.

When Wenger bought Rosicky he called him an accelerator of play. Clichy and Eboue are other good examples of accelerators. Diaby is a perfect example of a decelerator of play. I don't want him sold because he is "not a good player", is "****e", is a "waste of space", etc. Like others in this thread I want him sold because my heart sinks when I see his name on the team sheet. And my heart sinks because I know that when he plays (even when he plays well) our team game will suffer.

Like others I also believe that he has hardly improved since arriving. When I look at the improvement of Walcott, Song, Djourou, Bendtner and Clichy during the crucial years between 18 and 22 (when, IMO, you will see the greatest rate of improvement), I get discouraged by the pedestrian steps that both Denilson and Diaby have taken. Of course they could both be late bloomers, but that still doesn't reconcile Diaby's game with Wenger's game. And this is before even discussing what position he should play. Obviously he should not be taking Cesc's spot and putting him wide is ridiculous. So the alternative is "the hole" behind a target man or as a holding/defensive mid. If we want a man in the hole, it should obviously be Arshavin. He is two levels above Diaby in this position. And when we play with a man in the hole, we are subjecting our second strikers (Eduardo, Vela and RVP) to the bench. Would you rather have Diaby out there than Edu or RVP? Song has shown himself to be a far better option as a DM than Diaby. Like Arshavin in the hole, I would argue that he is two levels better at this position. So where does Diaby fit within our squad and within our style? I want the greatest amount of depth possible, but depth that doesn't much reduce our effectiveness when utilized.

I would be happy with whatever money we get for Diaby. He is just a bad fit for us. Even if he plays well next season individually, that will still come at the detriment to the team. That is counterintuitive, but it is my strong belief. And if Wenger has taught me anything, it is to have belief! ;o)

I would love it if we provided Diaby as a make-weight in a Cana deal. Diaby plus 4 million pounds would be good business for both teams. IMO we would be giving up a player that should not be seeing the field for us and replacing him with a quality starter. And Marseille would be gaining a talented starter that would fit into their style of play, while losing a player that they are going to inevitably lose anyway.
 

DaGunners

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

gstew said:
When I look at the improvement of Walcott, Song, Djourou, Bendtner and Clichy during the crucial years between 18 and 22 (when, IMO, you will see the greatest rate of improvement), I get discouraged by the pedestrian steps that both Denilson and Diaby have taken.
I thought it was a great post except for that bit. What do you want from Denilson? To become the best ball winner in the country after his first full season of starting? That is a completely unrealistic expecta.......oh ****, wait, he did that didn't he?
 

gstew

Well-Known Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

DaGunners said:
gstew said:
When I look at the improvement of Walcott, Song, Djourou, Bendtner and Clichy during the crucial years between 18 and 22 (when, IMO, you will see the greatest rate of improvement), I get discouraged by the pedestrian steps that both Denilson and Diaby have taken.
I thought it was a great post except for that bit. What do you want from Denilson? To become the best ball winner in the country after his first full season of starting? That is a completely unrealistic expecta.......oh s**t, wait, he did that didn't he?
You and I obviously disagree about Denilson. But that is OK. Two people can look at the exact same event and come to completely opposite conclusions.

I don't look at statistics. I believe that they are usually a waste of time and are not an accurate reflection of play. For example, the possession statistic is laughable without adding the component of field position. Shots on goal are a waste unless also being evaluated related to the score. A team that is behind all the time will invariably have quite a few more shots than what is truly representative of their attacking play.

Regardless of statistics, I don't believe that Denilson is a ball winner. I believe that he plays a bit weak. Once again, my perception is obviously different from yours. But where we likely agree is that Denilson does fit into our style of play and he has the potential to contribute positively to our overall game.....whereas Diaby does not truly have this potential.
 

DaGunners

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

gstew said:
Regardless of statistics, I don't believe that Denilson is a ball winner.
That is ridiculous. He is top 5 in terms of tackles won, and destroys every other mid in terms of interceptions. While you may not like his style of play, which is completely acceptable, he does his job as a CM well, and saying he isn't a ball winner or that he has taken baby steps in development is not acceptable in my opinion.

Now, we have gone off topic :wink:
 

kooldawg

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

With regards to Denilson, i think he struggled a bit, but overall he has done decently considering the responsibilities that Arsène placed on him. He deserves to stay with us.

As for Diaby, i agree with you on that gstew, we need to get rid of him, and i think that WEnger is seriously looking to ship him out.
 

scytheavatar

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

DaGunners said:
gstew said:
Regardless of statistics, I don't believe that Denilson is a ball winner.
That is ridiculous. He is top 5 in terms of tackles won, and destroys every other mid in terms of interceptions. While you may not like his style of play, which is completely acceptable, he does his job as a CM well, and saying he isn't a ball winner or that he has taken baby steps in development is not acceptable in my opinion.

Have you actually seen him play this season? See how he was muscled out in almost every game, against third rate midfields like Hull, Stroke and West Brom? How we was easily dispossed everytime (granted Diaby was even worse than him)? Please read though the match game ratings and see how many bad games Denilson had. If Flamini hasn't left I bet that we would have won the title this season.
 

DaGunners

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

scytheavatar said:
Have you actually seen him play this season? See how he was muscled out in almost every game, against third rate midfields like Hull, Stroke and West Brom?
So basically what your saying is that once he cracks open that can of spinach, not only will he be number one ball winner in the prem, but a quasi-stellar radio source of a midfielder, terminating all targets in his way?
 

taylor314gh

Well-Known Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

dagunners, i find it laughable that you defend and protect players like diaby and denilson yet you slam players like gallas and toure. Two of those players have lifted the premier league trophy two have not. Part of the problem we have had with our defense is that they are expected to work alone, with little to no cover from the midfield. Sure, denilson had tons of complete passes, but how many assists? How many forward passes? How many times did he shield the defense so they would not have to deal with several attacking players rushing at them? These are the things that midfielders, especially defensive minded ones, should be doing. That is why gilberto was so effective. Denilson, nor diaby, is anywhere close to gilberto.
 

DaGunners

Established Member
Re: The news we have all waited for ... Diaby

Me, protect Diaby? :lol:

You got the wrong guy.

As for your point about Denilson's assists, he has 7, top 10 in the league this season if I believe.

Also, shielding the defense from attackers? WTF is this, a daycare? Denilson should be defending the midfield, and he has done that well. If defenders can't defend against strikers, that's their fault.
 

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