Thoughts from the weekend: Djourou’s improvement, Song’s passing
18 comments November 17th, 2010
Hello folks.
The Premier League table makes for fairly pretty reading at the moment.
The weekend couldn’t have gone much better for us, with United, City, and most spectacularly Chelsea all dropping points whilst we secured a big win at Goodison Park. It doesn’t set right the folly of losing at home to Newcastle, but six points from two tricky away trips in five days is a good return.
This is a crucial period of the season.
Not because of the fixture list – although we do face some important games. It’s a crucial time because if Chelsea are ever going to be vulnerable, it’s now. Sunderland’s romping victory at Stamford Bridge was largely due to the absence of key Chelsea players through injury. They were without both Frank Lampard and John Terry, whilst Didier Drogba is still recovering from a bout of malaria. Since then they’ve also lost Alex, leaving them with Branislav Ivanovic as their only fit recognised centre-back. If Chelsea do slip up, it’s imperative we take advantage.
Neither the Everton nor Wolves win were particularly convincing.
In both, we were reliant on Lukasz Fabianski to secure the result. Whilst he wasn’t stretched quite as much at Goodison as at Molineux, he still made a series of important saves. Manuel Almunia is reportedly ready to return to action, but I can’t see him encroaching on the number one spot. It wouldn’t surprise me if a condition of Wojciech Szczesny’s decision to sign a new contract is an understanding that he will soon be the undisputed number two. Szczesny and Fabianski are obviously close – they celebrated on the pitch together after the win at Wolves – but a bit of friendly rivalry won’t do either any harm.
Sebastien Squillaci ought to have been sent off.
I thought the calls from pundits for Cesc to receive a red card at Wolves were over-the-top and hysterical, but in this case I was flabbergasted that Squillaci stayed on the pitch after bringing down Louis Saha when the striker was clear on goal. Alan Smith suggested on Sky that Gael Clichy would have got across to cover, but I’m not sure I agree – Saha’s turn was excellent, and left Squillaci very exposed. Still, you need more than a touch of luck to win a title.
Johan Djourou grows with every game.
Not literally, of course. He’d be massive. That said, his size is a definite advantage. He’s also got some real passing ability – a couple of lofted balls out of the back showed off his range. Laurent Koscielny will be back in contention for the visit of Spurs, but I’d give real consideration to sticking with the men in situe.
Bacary Sagna ought to score more goals.
Perhaps not with his feet – even Sunday’s goal was something of a hit and hope – but certainly with his head. He goes forward for most corners and is definitely one of the team’s biggest aerial threats – defensively, he’s rarely beaten to the ball, yet he’s never translated that in to a realistic goal threat. Something to work on.
Alex Song’s passing was absolutely atrocious.
Jack Wilshere was withdrawn at half-time in favour of the impressive Denilson, but Song can count himself lucky it wasn’t he who was hauled off. A quick glance at the Guardian’s chalkboard isn’t too damning:
However, it’s worth noting that three passes went directly out of play, whilst I distinctly remember some which have been marked down as ‘accurate’ were struck so incorrectly that it made it almost impossible for the receiver to retain possession.
Let’s hope it was just a blip – against the likes of Modric and Van der Vaart, such mistakes could be costly.
