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The official Inter match thread


RedinSweden
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Stuart, I think he has a very ordinary touch by the standards of premiership players. In fact, it's been bad so overwhelmingly more than it's been good that it could be argued that when it is good, it's a fluke. He lacks pace, 'game intelligence', is slow to react, and is predictable and too often wayward in his distribution. For every performance like inter, there've been 10 as I have described.

 

I can accept your other points, even if I think you're exaggerating a bit, but you cannot put a game where his touch is top class all night down as a fluke. You don't fluke controlling everything that was getting belted at him by Gerrard. I can live with the point of view that his control is not consistent enough, although, again, I think this gets exaggerated now.

 

His first season he was nearly always mentioned in the man of the match threads as being a candidate for those three places people do. His form this season hasn't justified his place regularly but he has ability and is a useful player to have on the books.

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simple. He scored a goal. That's two in two games. I don't care how they go in. If he keeps delivering like that, there's no way I want him dropped.

 

Agreed.

 

I know this is difficult for you to take on board, but my opinion is he really doesn't have a great touch

 

Not great but good enough.

 

his distribution is terrible

 

Strongly disagree. He's often trying high risk/killer passes and I think Rafa instructs him to do this. They don't all come off. But his distribution is better than you give him credit for. Take his crossing for example - for me it is better than Pennant's as evidenced by his performances in recent games. Of late he has laid on very presentable chances for Kewell, Crouch and Hyypia none of which were taken.

 

and his running round is unintelligent and ineffective and when he doesn't score, he brings little else to the team

 

He presses players and helps win the ball, kind of like Mascherano. He isn't as good as The Chief is at this but it's not totally ineffective - see closing down of Vieira which lead to the Torres chance. It's one of the reasons I like Dirk, because his constant harrying of opposition players in the final third of the pitch can make things happen.

 

- in fact, in some games this season, he has had a negative effect.

 

It's this kind of talk that lead to my "agenda" comment. Like when you suggested we'd be better off with 10 men on the pitch. Unless he's hoofing the ball towards our goal or burying own goals on a regular basis I can't see how you came to this conclusion. I presume you think this because in your view he gives the ball away too much, but I don't think it happens as often as you suggest. I appreciate that it can stop our momentum when we're attacking but he's not the only Red guilty of this down the years, e.g Luis Garcia springs to mind.

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I can accept your other points, even if I think you're exaggerating a bit, but you cannot put a game where his touch is top class all night down as a fluke. You don't fluke controlling everything that was getting belted at him by Gerrard. I can live with the point of view that his control is not consistent enough, although, again, I think this gets exaggerated now.

 

His first season he was nearly always mentioned in the man of the match threads as being a candidate for those three places people do. His form this season hasn't justified his place regularly but he has ability and is a useful player to have on the books.

 

I can't argue with that at the moment, because he played a big part in a great team performance. I really wouldn't want to see him dropped if he continues playing as he has been lately - he's certainly improved a lot over the last few matches.

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