Comments on: The Boy’s A Bit Special…Ignasi Miquel

By: taiwo

taiwo — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 07:51:12 +0000

Nice article.but how could you djourou and per as a bad defender.johan has been good for us before and i still believe he’s still good.as for mertesacker,i dont think you have watched our games this season.he has been great alongside verminator at the back.

By: Cc

Cc — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:03:37 +0000

What happened wt playing players out of position

By: nkathiraman

nkathiraman — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:48:39 +0000

the article is ridiculously outdated. I believe this article was written a year ago and published now. Per has been outstanding in his defence this year and I doubt that the author actually has knowledge on defensive skills.
I am pleased that one of our young trainees is excelling in defense and would be a future prospect. but currently the defense has been immense including today. unfortunately, Woj had an off day resulting in a goal.
Hope we go onto successfully defend and win titles this year.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:44:59 +0000

You make it sound like Mertesacker is a liability. His lack of pace is a problem, but to mention him in the same breath as Squillaci?! At least Mertesacker actually knows how to defend! Please watch a couple of games involving Mertesacker before you lambast him like this.

“With Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny forming an ever-improving partnership in the heart of defence”

If Miquel is so good and Per so crap why has Mertesacker been picked ahead of him for the three opening [clean sheet] games so far this season? I think the above quote proves you have a bias against Mertesacker and you haven’t even noticed that he played in the first three games while Kos has been injured. How Miquel needs to break past Mertesacker before he even thinks of being picked in that defence.

“His positional sense needs some work and a lack of pace could be an issue in the future, but better defenders than Miquel have overcome their lack of speed off the mark.”

You even go on to break down your own criticism of Per by writing this.

And he wont be picked at left back. Mertesacker will play with Kos in the middle and Verm at left back (ala last season) if Gibbs and Santos are injured.

You mention the Bould effect and elude to how it would be beneficial to Miquel’s progress. Surely this positive correlation also applies to Mertesacker?

To go as far as to wax lyrical about Miquel at the expense of a much better defender is ludicrous. He wont leave for Barca because they don’t want him; they want Kos and Verm. Sure he could be world class in the future, but please don’t bust your nut over a player who will probably still have to wait 4 years to play regular first team football (given we don’t sell Kos or Verm to Barca before they hit 30).

Rant off.

Yours is a fail post.

By: KarlAFC

KarlAFC — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:19:26 +0000

Ridiculous criticism of Mertesacker. An experienced Germany international who has done very well so far this season.

By: Arsenal1Again

Arsenal1Again — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:13:54 +0000

I think Mertesacker has settled in now and doing no less than what I expected. I knew he would be excellent for us after the same bedding down period Koscielny was afforded.

I like your DM idea for Miguel, but has he the strength and and aggression. I think Frimpong is steadfastly in his way for a DM position if he can get over his injury troubles.

By: jay

jay — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 11:05:41 +0000

I see him ending up as a DM, as he has good vision and he’s never afraid to shoot that long range pass, an besides Per Mertesacker has been impressive since the begining of this season.