Can people please stop the petty snaps at Murray just because he had ONE outburst over Diawara? Murray did not have a personal crack at the guy but was more pissed off that Dowie had persuaded him to part with nearly FOUR MILLION POUNDS for the bloke which, if your maths is not great, is £1.5 million more than we paid for the class of Darren Bent. Besides of which, before everyone starts re-writing history to have Diawara as some poor unfortunate he WAS in the side today and we shipped THREE goals, he also played most of the games at Forest where we shipped TWO against a Div 1 side and was there for Arsenal where we shipped FOUR. That's nine goals in three games which admittedly you can't blame the guy for on his own but if we are conceeding THREE goals at home and he is "playing well" then christ knows how many we'll let in when he plays poorly. Murray is a genuine fan and has worked his balls off for this club to be in a position where we can just about spend £4 million so to see that money be misused so badly by Dowie would have damned near broken his heart, hence his admittedly unfortunate outburst. I feel bad for Diawara too but this is hardball folks and he is not the player Dowie told Murray we were buying.
Watch the first goal where he gets drawn out of position and is marking no one. HH and Thatcher move to cover leaving them a spare player on our left where Thatcher should have been. Catermole scores.
Also see the last ditch tackle when he takes it off Viduka. just before He allows Yakubu to get 10 yards away so he can turn and thread the pass thru to Viduka. Stay tight and he can't do that.
Diawara did some good stuff, looked better than before, got his head to the ball and I hope he continues to improve but can't believe that he was ever as bad as some have been saying or that he was that good yesterday.
Opinions of Diawara seem to vary hugely. I actually really like the look of him (not literally) but listening to the commentators yesterday (Clive Walker was one of them) they thought he was useless. Very strange! I think he would be great alongside an experienced, astute defender. In fact Chris Perry would fit the bill perfectly. To get where he did with his lack of height proves what a clever and technically gifted defender he was. Go get him Pards!
Diawara looked very committed which goes in his favour. The great "Roof" made the odd mistake positionally in his early days but his pace allowed him to recover.
I'm not suggesting Souly is as good as Rufus, one of my favourite players ever to wear the shirt, but I reckon he's the best centre half we have at the moment.
I'm also a Diawara fan, but I suppose the counter argument could be that we signed him as experienced international so he shouldn't make many positional mistakes etc.
As well as pace, he also looks comfortable on the ball, and the pass he hit across the width of the pitch (to Bent?) after the last ditch tackle on Viduka was surely as good as you'll see from a centre back.
To be fair it's not an easy time to join the club and with a weak midfield ahead of him our defence is seeing a lot more of the ball than they should be seeing. That and the pressure will inevitably lead to mistakes happening.
Another thing that Clive Walker highlighted on the commentary was that Boro's midfield backed up their strikers while Charlton's were playing too deep and weren't getting into position to benefit from half cleared shots and crosses. I guess a confidence thing and a fear of being caught out of position, but the return from midfield has been abysmal this season - two goals from reid and that's it. We need more goals from outside the striking partnership.
Early on he was terrible. Mis judged a ball over the top, dived in a couple of times but he did get better as the game went on. That said he got dragged way out of position for the first goal as Henry said earlier. I still believe there's potential there and although Dowie was useless, i can't believe both him and his scouts would've signed Diawara without seeing something in his performances.
Diawarra woooah
Diawarra woooah,
He comes from Senegal
He can't read a high ball.....
I like this guy, there is something of a novelty all the time, but i can't help but think he is an accident waiting to happen. Generally reads the game well on the deck, is combative and his distribution is pretty good. But when its in the air he is all at see, and gets dragged out of position by a striker with good movement a bit too easily. The second may improve as the communication does i suppose. But i'm worried he will give too many penalties and free kicks in key areas away.
His cross field ball out of defence in the second half to whoever was on our left wing was the best ball by one of our defenders in years. And i don't count El Kaks ball to Bent against Villa as i'm convinced he just got lucky with that.
As you say AFKA, he's good on the ground and if he improves his heading he'll do ok.
Comments
I suppose it was good that there was no booing at the end.
Overall I thought the atmposphere and tempo of the game in the first half was odd - more like a typical low-key Curbs mid-table match.
Besides of which, before everyone starts re-writing history to have Diawara as some poor unfortunate he WAS in the side today and we shipped THREE goals, he also played most of the games at Forest where we shipped TWO against a Div 1 side and was there for Arsenal where we shipped FOUR.
That's nine goals in three games which admittedly you can't blame the guy for on his own but if we are conceeding THREE goals at home and he is "playing well" then christ knows how many we'll let in when he plays poorly.
Murray is a genuine fan and has worked his balls off for this club to be in a position where we can just about spend £4 million so to see that money be misused so badly by Dowie would have damned near broken his heart, hence his admittedly unfortunate outburst.
I feel bad for Diawara too but this is hardball folks and he is not the player Dowie told Murray we were buying.
HH is the kak one... it's his fault!
Also see the last ditch tackle when he takes it off Viduka. just before He allows Yakubu to get 10 yards away so he can turn and thread the pass thru to Viduka. Stay tight and he can't do that.
Diawara did some good stuff, looked better than before, got his head to the ball and I hope he continues to improve but can't believe that he was ever as bad as some have been saying or that he was that good yesterday.
I think he would be great alongside an experienced, astute defender. In fact Chris Perry would fit the bill perfectly. To get where he did with his lack of height proves what a clever and technically gifted defender he was.
Go get him Pards!
I'm not suggesting Souly is as good as Rufus, one of my favourite players ever to wear the shirt, but I reckon he's the best centre half we have at the moment.
As well as pace, he also looks comfortable on the ball, and the pass he hit across the width of the pitch (to Bent?) after the last ditch tackle on Viduka was surely as good as you'll see from a centre back.
Another thing that Clive Walker highlighted on the commentary was that Boro's midfield backed up their strikers while Charlton's were playing too deep and weren't getting into position to benefit from half cleared shots and crosses. I guess a confidence thing and a fear of being caught out of position, but the return from midfield has been abysmal this season - two goals from reid and that's it. We need more goals from outside the striking partnership.
Diawarra woooah,
He comes from Senegal
He can't read a high ball.....
I like this guy, there is something of a novelty all the time, but i can't help but think he is an accident waiting to happen. Generally reads the game well on the deck, is combative and his distribution is pretty good. But when its in the air he is all at see, and gets dragged out of position by a striker with good movement a bit too easily. The second may improve as the communication does i suppose. But i'm worried he will give too many penalties and free kicks in key areas away.
As you say AFKA, he's good on the ground and if he improves his heading he'll do ok.