Diarra's a mid-level player being elevated by a paucity of genuinely top midfielders in the game. He doesn't do anything well enough to be considered top class. He'll be okay for Spurs but he won't make them champions or anything close to it.
Lassana Diarra
- Thread starter Cold_Boy
- Start date
Pete, you really are exaggerating now!
He can slice it anyway he likes, but with Fabregas and Nasri gone, and with Spurs replacing Palacios with Diarra, it's clear which squad is strengthening and which one is getting weaker.
Hes only 26 yet has had 5 clubs (with Spurs being the 6th if he joins) madness.
I think jojojo summed him up perfectly.
Yes because our current crop of cm's are very consistent!
We're talking about Diarra.
I agree, if you do get Diarra and arsenal dont make any further additions IMHO you will have the stronger squad.
Fantastic signing for Spurs. Gonna be a lot of humble pie eaten in this thread.
Diarra and Modric in a midfield two looks pretty tasty. Cant think of a better potential midfield two that can be fielded by any other team in the PL, apart from perhaps Nasri and De Jong.
Diarra and Modric in a midfield two looks pretty tasty. Cant think of a better potential midfield two that can be fielded by any other team in the PL, apart from perhaps Nasri and De Jong.
Personally I think he would a great addition to our squad.
Well it is true you can't win anything without ex-gooners.
Got your Adebayor chant ready yet?
I don't. Might do alright for Spurs in the short term though.
Probably have a few good games and get hyped up by Glastonspaz et al (the same way that Palacios) did before his limitations become more and more apparent and he gets dropped, sulks and ends up joining yet another club. His career's established a bit of a pattern at this point.
The pattern is that he goes to a club and doesn't play very much, unless that club is Portsmouth. Yet he seems to get people a bit moist. Can't imagine why.
Amazed at how some people are rating him here. Will improve Spurs, but that's about it.
Because he runs and tackles people.
He is certainly a better option than anything we currently have.
How will he do this? What sort of level do you see him at? One of the best midfielders in the league, a player that all the big clubs in the league would be delighted to have? He'll probably have a couple of 'standout games' against big teams. He had one less foul than the entire Barca team in his 'amazing performance', 15 over two legs is crazy. He's good at that though, and it obviously attracts attention.
Your comments remind me of the ones about Palacios, who while a worse player, showed similar qualities - a willingness to 'put himself about', plenty of 'drive' and the ability to push a team forward with rampaging runs. Diarra's better than him in each case but there's not a lot more to him than that, IMO. He catches the eye because he makes the easy stuff look difficult - beats two men and then loses all composure, realises he can't pick a forward pass and then retreats and passes it back, when he could've just played the simple pass out to the fullback to advance the play 3 moves earlier, but he's beat two men so he's shown skill and quality.
As a 'box-to-box' midfielder I think he's a very decent player but as a defensive midfielder - which he's been for Madrid and France, and what people seem to see him as now - he's really not up to it at the top level because he lacks the know-how to break up the play without simply fouling players, in my view. I thought he'd shown quality beyond that an earlier age and he'd be able to add a bit more craft and intelligence to his game but it hasn't happened. I dunno, maybe it still will.
Horseshit.
Of course, talking horseshit about our midfield is your specialty so I shouldn't expect any different.
He hasnt even peaked yet. He's got deceptively good ability on the ball and a fantastic engine, I dont know what else you want me to add. Also, why do people continue to talk about his time at Arsenal and Chelsea where he was played at right back and never really got a proper chance? Personally, I think he would've been a good signing for us. No doubt in a few games everyone on here will be crying out about why we didnt sign this guy for £8m though. The Spurs fans will love him.
Yep, just like people were suggesting we should sign Palacios, before and then after a good few performances from him (me included!)...
To me, these comments are strikingly similar to some of the comments about Diarra in here. And yes, Spurs fans did love him too.
They make an impact and thus make a quick and strong impression, but I don't think Diarra's shown enough beyond that - he looked like he might at 23 but 3 years have passed and he's barely developed.
So taking all the coatings of this statement you believe fletcher is a better player than diarra. Now that is nothing short of comical.
The wanking that occurs when any half-decent midfielder comes up for sale is hilarious.
A football brain might be nice.
Knowing when to tackle and when to foul, and being subtle are not Diarra's best traits.
Personally, I couldnt give a rats arse if people said we should sign Palacios. I know what I think and thats all that matters. What have I ever said about Palacios as a matter of interest? I'm genuinely curious and I dont know how to use the 'search post' function like you seem to be able to.
A promising signing for Spurs. He could turn out to be very useful for them...
I was actually responding to your nonsensical claim that Diarra is better than all our central midfielders but yes, when he's on form, Fletcher's a better player than Diarra.
Better range of passing and far more reliable, disciplined and tactically astute. He's just finished a really poor season - due to illness - but anyone who can remember his performances from previous seasons and who is a decent judge of a central midfielder (i.e. not you) would agree with this.
Eh, he may improve our side in certain areas but its a pointless signing unless hes coming o a free or something.
How many defensive mids do they need? They already have four - Huddlestone, Palacios, Sandro and now Diarra.
I still dont see whats wrong with Palacios. I still think he went at a cheap price and I still think had we signed him at the time he would have been a great addition to our squad.
Saying that I still think had we got Downing about five years ago we could have developed him into a great winger.
I think 10m for Lass is very cheap in todays inflated market. Theres a difference in terms of quality when you go to a mid table team compared to a top team. Lass did really well initially with Madrid and was rated very highly there in his first season (which coincides to the place he made the most appearances)
I dont see why its wrong to think he would be a good addition to our squad except of course for the fact we use squad and he clearly has not been happy with that.
Saying that I still think had we got Downing about five years ago we could have developed him into a great winger.
I think 10m for Lass is very cheap in todays inflated market. Theres a difference in terms of quality when you go to a mid table team compared to a top team. Lass did really well initially with Madrid and was rated very highly there in his first season (which coincides to the place he made the most appearances)
I dont see why its wrong to think he would be a good addition to our squad except of course for the fact we use squad and he clearly has not been happy with that.
Stoke were interested in signing Palacios. So maybe Diarra is his replacement.
Hang on, Diarra is better than Fletcher?
I'll save you the longer version of what I want to say, I'll just leave you with this;
Is he a welcomed signing having been at Arsenal and Chelsea already?
I don't think they will boo him.
He's a player made for Spurs.He will get the minutes he wants as he feels they're granted to him by default.
He couldn't have been a United player due to the rotation system by SAF, it would have pissed him off eventually.You just don't sign a player who is only good at football sometimes (Diarra is just average) but you have to take into consideration how he would fit in the team generally (will he complain if his game time reduces for instance ?)
He couldn't have been a United player due to the rotation system by SAF, it would have pissed him off eventually.You just don't sign a player who is only good at football sometimes (Diarra is just average) but you have to take into consideration how he would fit in the team generally (will he complain if his game time reduces for instance ?)
Disagree Kouroux. I think he is a good footballer, a good athlete,he has some great skills and is very disciplined sitting in front of the back four. He stood out against barca in last year's champ semi and in several other real games i saw on sky last year. With prem experience he is a snip at 9mill, i would have him in utd as we've lost hargreaves and dont really have an aggressive/combative ball winner.
Would however agree he would be great for spurs.
I agree, I think he's a cracking little player. Was incredibly tidy against Barca last season and showed good skill and composure on the ball. He got stuck in aswell and did well against Messi. I rate him as a much better player than Palacios.
Disciplined? Are you sure? That was the one major problem i had with Diarra. He always tended to go walkabouts when playing centre midfield but admittedly i havnt seen that much of him in the last 12 months.
Marca reporting that the Lass to Spurs deal is close to being sealed with agreement between the clubs and general agreement between Spurs and Diarra. 12m Euros fee they think.
A player that both Chelsea and Arsenal let go as being surplus to requirements.
I'm sure, as a squad player, he could have done a job for us. But Lass has an inflated opinion of himself and he would never have been satisfied with being a squad player - which is all he would have been at United. (& frankly, that is all he is good enough to be for us).
When has SAF ever relied on a limited "pure" DM for us? Yes, Lass might have been useful to cover injuries or in certain matches where his energy and tackling ability could have been useful - but those kinds of matches come around maybe 3-4 times a season for us and I don't quite see Lass being a happy little chappy rotating that CM role for us.
He also seems like a bit of a troublemaker (souts his mouth off about leaving as soon as he's dropped from the team), so I'd rather not go plunging the market for Arsenal/Chelsea/Madrid rejects.
When has SAF ever relied on a limited "pure" DM for us? Yes, Lass might have been useful to cover injuries or in certain matches where his energy and tackling ability could have been useful - but those kinds of matches come around maybe 3-4 times a season for us and I don't quite see Lass being a happy little chappy rotating that CM role for us.
He also seems like a bit of a troublemaker (souts his mouth off about leaving as soon as he's dropped from the team), so I'd rather not go plunging the market for Arsenal/Chelsea/Madrid rejects.