The Move That Took Two Years – Thanks Big Phil
Jun 8th, 2010 by 'holic
It is just a little bit sad to be commenting on the inevitable departure of Philippe Senderos, snapped up by Fulham today after his Arsenal contract expired. Big Phil joined the Gunners seven years ago, a wide-eyed eighteen year old with a promising future.
Between 2004 and 2008 the big Swiss made 115 appearances at club level, and performed well enough to earn full international honours as early as 2005. His most impressive stats were racked up in 2005-2006 as he took his place in Arsenal’s impressive charge to the Champions League Final.
There are many, this writer included, who were persuaded that a quality defender was coming to the fore, but one wonders how much his confidence was affected by his relegation to the bench in Paris, having been a stalwart in a defence that just didn’t concede goals on the way to the Final.
A couple of nightmares at the hands of Didier Drogba somewhat harshly raised further questions about what Arsene Wenger would term his ‘mental strength’, and the word is Phil’s fate was sealed by his reaction to a dramatic Champion’s League quarter-final reverse at Anfield in 2008.
Certainly that summer he looked bound for Goodison Park, but Everton baulked at paying the full price, and AC Milan were quick to snap him up on a one year loan. Fifteen appearances in Italy did nothing to persuade Arsene that he had made a mistake, and after just two Carling Cup starts last season, Phil finally reached Everton, albeit on another loan. Just three appearances for the Merseysiders tells a story.
I do think Fulham, and Roy Hodgson, will be good for him. I hope for his sake that the manager is not lured away after Fulham’s Europa League exploits in the past year. Senderos deserves to find inner strength, and regular football. I don’t doubt he has the ability. Now it is time to show it consistently.
Goodbye big Phil, thanks for some great performances in an Arsenal shirt, and good luck to you.
74 Responses to “The Move That Took Two Years – Thanks Big Phil”
Goodbye Phil. There’s still time to sick it to Xavi on behalf of Switzerland and just for old times sake, for Arsenal too. Bon voyage to the west side of town.
Well said ‘Holic, and let’s not forget the other vital role played by Big Phil in recent Arsenal history: being best mate and big brother to a homesick Cesc Fabregas on his arrival at Arsenal. For all we know, if Cesc hadn’t had Big Phil to rely on and teach him English, he might have gone the way of Fran Merida and never really settled down to the job.
So Big Phil joins the vast ranks of ex-Arsenal players who can be assured of a great welcome when they return to the Emirates, always a sign of the class which sets us apart from every other Premiership clubs, and a reminder to those wankers we boo why they are the exception that prove the rule.
Well said @Holic and good luck Phil.
Is it Happy Hour yet? Double rum and coke if so 🙂
Nice piece Holic,
Big Phil reminded me so much of a young TA in both his style and leadership qualities,
I may be wrong but if Phil was playing 10 to 15 years ago when players were given a little longer to prove themselves I’m pretty sure he may well gave made it as there’s a decent centreback in him it’s just his confidence was shattered and he wasn’t helped by only getting sporadic games, His best form always came after a run in the team,
For the younger ones on here that think I’m mad comparing him to The Legend That became T .A believe me in his early days he made mistakes that Big Phil would blush at, But he had the one thing Phil seems to lack an inner beleif that he was the best and even when the papers slated him he came back and showed the slags they were wrong.
Big Phil comes across as a decent man who’s never really slagged the Arsenal of and for that I hope he goes on to prove what a good player he can be and in a side with less pressure and a good set up I reckon he will,
Good Luck
All the best Phil. In all probability you’re not a regular reader of goonerholic, but I really hope you’ll meet enough Arsenal fans out there to see that you are really appreciated for the good times and for the classy way in which you handled what must have been a disapointing end to your career as a gunner.
Good move for Phil, but I’d be shocked if Hodgsen was still at Fulham next season.
Big Phil deserves a big thank you and good luck. Always worked his socks off and tried his best in every situation, and you can’t really demand more than that. He just wasn’t good enough for us in the end. And as Dave said, we probably can’t under-estimate his importance in helping Cesc finding his feet in London.
So: I thank you and wish you all the best at Fulham, Phil!
Oh, f**k, that should of course have been “we can’t OVER-estimate his importance”…
Pint of Boddingtons for me!
Thanx for all that years Phil. Good luck. We will miss You.
shame to see him leave
goood luck phil
It’s incredible that the criteria by which we judge this still young defender is how (at the ages of 22-24) he did against the 28-29 yr old powerhouse striker that is Didier Drogba. Just exactly how many 21-24 yr old defenders even at the top clubs have been able to control Drogba?
I will always remember Senderos with great fondness and respect. He had great leadership skills, was very intelligent and never said a bad word about the club, a teammate or anyone – despite all the ridicule he received in the media, the wider world of football and from Arsenal supporters. He never uttered one word of complaint.
I wish him the best of luck. I think Hodgson can help him a lot. I hope to see him grow into a fine defender. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s like at the age when defenders mature – 27-29.
Great write up ‘holic.
Fully concur that the destruction(s) by Drogba cost him his Arsenal future. I thought then as I do now that there will be many other defenders ripped to shreds by Drogba’s sheer mix of size/pace/charge and Senderos was being unfairly cast away. I’d have rather have seen him 15-20 appearances last season than some of those we were (forced to) putting out.
I wish him well, except of course when he plays us. A very decent but not not brilliant central defender. His story mirrors Manninger’s in goal to some extent.
Good stuff ‘holic
good riddens to sendedross,i just feel sorry for the fulham fans who will have to put up with his pathetic play.
Firstly i think senderos is a better defender than silvestra why on earth did arsene loan him out and keep that old bag
It wasn’t Drogba that ended Philip’s career at Arsenal. It was grandpa Hyypia in the worst Arsenal night of all times. Arsene could forgive Senderos for Drogba and Torres, but not for lack of concentration in a quarter final of champions league football. Hyypia was allowed a free header!
I was always a fan of Philip but that night he broke my heath.
Still think he will make a remarkable defender if given another chance, tho.
good luck to him
Good write up holic. I agree totally. He has been destined to leave for sometime now. I would love to know how Arsene actually makes these decisions.
I will always feel a tad disappointed with Senderos. I had such high hopes for him when he joined, but he never really managed to match his big stage billing.
I think a lot have spoken about his dignity as a person and I for one echo that. He was never the greatest but I do not remember one match where he gave anything less than 100%. Perhaps some of those in the current squad who believe that they are more gifted can learn a thing or 2 from the big man where attitude is concerned. I also wish him all the very best.
A pity it didn’t work out…perhaps with a better coaching set up & a manager who knew what he was doing at the back & taught defence properly (a later day George Graham) it might have done & with better concentration & composure Senderos could have become a stalwart. Of course not being French or West African didn’t help-how many chances were the likes of Cygan & Silvestre given by way of comparison & even more so that greedy, low-class, vulgar, surly, junk-food gobbling, hummer-driving, tattooed, advertising board kicking piece of Chelsea trash, ex-captain about to leave on a free transfer probably didn’t do him any favours either.
Thanks Steve. Apparently the end for him wasn’t his performance at Anfield, but the fact he broke down in tears after the game. That was viewed as a sign of weakness, and he was out from that moment, allegedly.
he cried?
well, I did too. in a bar. allegedly. I dont remember 😉
Well said ‘holic. I still remember Phil’s performance the night we went out to Bayern Munich in the ECL at Highbury. I thought we had finally replaced TA6. His performances in our subsequent run to the final in Paris seemed to confirm the potential he displayed that night. His confidence was not helped by the press blaming him for defeats against Chelsea when others in the defence bore some responsibility too. What went on behind closed doors clearly ended his future with us. I still think he can make us regret his departure. Good luck Swiss Tony.
good luck phil altho it was a “must do” job for the summer as is releasing silvestre.
But what have we learned today, that Mark scharzer is after all not an arsenal target?
Otherwise he would clearly have been involved or linked in a swoop/part exchange with senderos in the media
Harsh then, as wasn’t he subbed on into a midfield role just as Liverpool were about to take the corner? Hardly the best preparation for finding his man.
Or did I dream that?
“too bad”, you’re entitled to your opinion, I suggest you go and find a decent one as you sound like a plastic wind up merchant.
He wont be the first player to have a few tears after a game I guess. My opinion is that at the end of the day he just was not good enough at this level. However, his attitude and effort were always spot on, and you never once heard him complain. As I said above, there are many players and not just at our club that could do a lot worse than look to Big Phil for a lesson in how to conduct themselves.
There are many things that piss me off about Wenger – as it is well documented in this blog – but perhaps none more so than how shabbily Phil was treated by Wenger.
Thanks Steve. Apparently the end for him wasn’t his performance at Anfield, but the fact he broke down in tears after the game. That was viewed as a sign of weakness, and he was out from that moment, allegedly.
Maybe Wenger wants prima donnas who dont give a damn about the club – even if we lose! No wonder we are where we are.
I cried after the game. And I can totally understand why Phil did.
Btw, how come Toure doesn’t get any blame for his nightmarish defending for the other 2 goals?
james, you cannot part exchange a player who is not yours. Phil was out of contract.
because you dont leave a player unmarked in the penalty area in a sunday league game Sajit,
nevermind the quater final of the champions league .
Hah, true he was responsible for the first goal, but Toure was more responsible for Torres’ (second goal) and clearly for the penalty.
Arsenal’s best defensive record that season was when Toure was away on ANC. And yet Wenger for some reason known only to him, decided to put Senderos back on the bench when Toure came back from ACN
and we all know how that ended up!
btw, I maybe the only one who thinks Hyppia was lucky to get that sort of power from that far out, he was almost at the edge of the penalty box.
Agree with sajit. Wenger might have many qualities but his shabby treatment of several players over the years is a huge negative. Any astute manager wouldn’t have exposed Philippe to Drogba time after time. To drop him for an out of form Toure, on his return from African Cup, after he’d done so well was pretty crass and destructive to his confidence.This showed disastrously when Phil suddenly re-appeared on that horrible night in Liverpool after weeks of inaction. Man management is not always W’s strongest facet and many of his actions,particularly concerning Philippe, are inexplicable.
He made too many mistakes. Not just against Drogba.
The away game in sevilla we were one up and not looking in any trouble then up steps phil to let a ball bounce behind him after trying to clear and slipping over and sevilla going on to score and then bossing the game after looking in total control.
still alot better than Silvester good knows what Wenger was thinking. Guess he didnt want to sit on the bench all season knowing he was out the door at the end of his contract.
Good luck Phillip!
That confirms that Hangeland is coming to Arsenal! When you lose a defender , you have to get a defender to replace. And dats what Roy H has done. Hopefully Hangeland signature becomes a reality. Good Luck Phil!!!!!
Thank you very much for that blog `Holic. Like many I always had a lot of respect and many hopes for Big Phil.
I am trying very hard (damn you Google and your new algorithm that forgets everything older than a few months) to find an article wich had a good series of interviews on Big Phil (from youth coaches, Bould, Wenger etc). I think Martin Keown has a fair view on him: “With regards to Philippe, it’s an interesting question. If he has been able to learn from his loan move and if he is given another chance, he’s only going to be better. The thing with Philippe is he needs to learn the game. He’s a highly intelligent individual but at times he’s made elementary mistakes on the pitch. Football intelligence is a different experience to that off-field. What will be fascinating to see is whether he has improved those elements that he needed to.
The frustrating thing with him is that he has the raw materials to be an outstanding player. Too often though he was involved in bad mistakes. As a defender you don’t want to be around goals being conceded – he was. He may have got that out of his game, but if he’s not given the chance at Arsenal I still think he has a big career ahead of him.”
So do I but he needs to play to improve his game and I really do hope he will get the playing time he deserves at Fulham. He still has time to become a great defender (he’s only 25) but he’s always been a very respectable man.
All the best to you Big Phil!
@my 23 – yes I did dream it.
*wonders what other matches I have watched in my sleep…*
@tre: Honestly I don’t understand the Hangeland hype. Admittedly I have not followed Fulham too closely but besides his size I don’t see anything that catches the eye in him and at 29 he’s not going to become any better. I certainly don’t see how he would be an improvement over Gallas and since he’s not an asset for the future…
He wasn’t the only one who was gutted after we were cheated out of it at Anfield. Good luck Big Phil.
Holic
cannot say i am too fussed at Senderos leaving us
Neither yourself nor your followers responding to this blog have touched on the most important missing ingredient in his makeup,
He was too NICE to be a footballer.
He had absolutely no mongrel in him and that was his main downfall.
He never made any opposition player’ frightened’ to go near him for fear of getting a hammering.
All the top defenders are mongrels pure and simple,and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
The only yellow cards Senderos got were for being clumsy,i don’t think he ever got sent off from memory.
What self respecting central defender doesn’t get a red card or a suspension for excessive yellow cards,at least once a season.
That’s why Djourou will struggle to get a regular spot in the first eleven because he is the same,too NICE.!!!
Switzerland turns out NICE people,they were very nice to the germans during the war,they don’t have the heart to be horrible to anyone.
You only have to look at the Verminator last season to see how a central defender should ply his trade.
I rest my case.
So sad. It’s hard to believe that Wenger actually picked Sylvestre ahead of Senderos. I think he’s been harshly treated, but he’s always maitained his dignity and never bad mouthed Arsenal, so good luck Phil and hopefully Roy Hodgson will bring out the best in you.
BAZ I really feel you. wenger let his french prejudice, and pride get in the way of common sense. senderos would have been far better than sylvester and campbell.
think of how many important games sylvester cost us, since he got here. if it were senderos he would have been crucified.
he never got any praise for any thing god he did- which including forming the best defence in our 2006 euro campaingn.
it think he would make an excellent defender as he grows.
guys i think he deserved another year in our shirt to prove himself……….atleast this year could hv been his litmus test as we r losing so many defenders………………
I think Phil got the shitty end of the stick, but I do agree with Clive that he was a bit “too nice”, although I’m sure he was sent off a few times.
Anyway, it’s always sad to see players who don’t quite make it leave, but who can blame him for wanting to try his luck elsewhere.
Good luck Big Phil!!
Merci Philippe, et bon chance! Vous serez un grand succes en Premiership avec des jeux regulier. Toujors un Gunner!
Matt @ 36 – quite agree. I always try to watch Hangeland as closely as possible whenever Fulham are on the box, and I have never found him outstanding at all. He often appears slow to make up ground when getting back to defend, he doesn’t look particularly agile, and he doesn’t seem to command the area around him.
As for Phil, much the same could be said i suppose.
He always gave 100% but not always in the right directions.
He was part of the Champions League defensive-record breaking back four which, interestingly, was coached by Martin Keown, and at that time he looked to be a really good prospect. Maybe, with more of Keown’s help, he would have developed better. Keown was not, however, offered a staff position and left. Senderos then seemed to go downhill.
I have heard that he was loathe to listen to advice, but that seems to contradict his progress under Keown, and would seem strange for such an obviously intelligent and nice guy.
The thing I found most annoying about him was the continous attempts at set pieces to hang on to an opponent, who he then invariably lost, at the expense of both watching and winning the ball. Liverpool provided a couple of final instances of that, and his confidence was then completely shot.
A great shame, as he appeared to have all the attributes. A very decent lad who, throughout very frustrating times, never said one bad word about the club or anybody within it. Good luck.
H2H@42
If he was sent off mate,it would have been for 2 yellows for clumsy tackles,not a straight red for cruelty towards an opposition player.!!
The game that made Senderos last choice CB was the game against Liverpool… this game: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7332209.stm
He was at fault for 2 goals in that game… he lost all his confidence and if I recall correctly he apparently broke down in the dressing room in tears.
Since that game he became last choice CB, he rarely got a game since that bad display, he felt responsable for Arsenal going out of the CL.
Senderos could be like god at the back in some games, but the big 3 strikers, Rooney, Drogba and Torres made him look like a pub player all the time… when that happened he lost his confidence and affected him for weeks.
And unfortunately that was a constant vicious cycle with him… low confidence, slowly build it back, be amazing for a few games till the 3 big strikers took that confidence away from him, be rubbish for a few games, low confidence, built it back, amazing, lost it again… repeat… repeat…
Perhaps he should have been given more chances in the past 2 years but too late for that now, imo he left us 2 years ago, so this now is just a confirmation… good luck at Fulham Senderos.
Clive,
Cruelty is EXACTLY the quality we need in our defenders to keep players like Samba away from our goalkeepers. When Blackburn pushed one of our players into Fabianski, who dropped the ball onto Samba’s head to score a critical goal, it should have been up to the referee and our defenders to stop it. Cruelty on the part of our defenders, combined with an ounce of reasonable judgment on the part of the referee, would have ensured Samba was unable to score such a cheap goal, not to mention a critical one. Bring on our new defender with a deep cruel streak!
Can anyone who watches french football kindly give a comment on this Lorient fella we are tracking?
have to say although im not a fan of sederos, i like him as a person, always showing commitment, respect and loyalty. I seriously just believe that a club like arsenal was just too high for him not that he hasn’t got any qualities because he has, its just that in this modern day against the likes of villa, torres, rooney, messi, drogba, anelka, ronaldo, ibrahimovich…. etc….. senderos really can’t stand a chance against them to be honest, but all the best of wishes to him at fulham a place I really like too, i think hodgson is a fantastic manager, good club too although I also think senderos doesnt deserve to go to a club that low, maybe a team like roma, juventus, bayern munich where there league isn’t really as competitive as the english league and especially our top 4 regime, GOOD LUCK SENDEROS HOPE IT TURNS OUT WELL FOR YOU
good luck phil, ur’e avery honourable man
And he goes on to have a storming World Cup for Switzerland.
Pffzt! Who knew?
Why didn’t they take Silvestre on a toofer? Why is no one taking Silvestre?
Oh. Silvestre is about to sign a one-year extension? Arrghh!
Senderos goes to Fulham. Gallas to Panathinaikos. Campbell to Celtic. And Silvestre’s staying means that Wenger brings in just the one new central defender.
Again, I say Arrghh!
Nonsense! Good riddance to bad rubbish! Horrible defender that was a calamity at the back! Countless own goals, countless penalties, countless f**kups at the back, bitch to rooney and drogba, bad tackler, slower than an eygptian mommy, zero recovery rate after he has been beaten!!! C’mon Senderous the ‘Dangerous’ was a super liability in the heart of Arsenal’s defence that made every arsenal fan shudder with fright whenever he played.
If AC Milan and Everton could even notice how gaff strewn Senderous was, how on earth would the folks at Fulham not notice that? Anywayz, that’s their headache now and we look forward to better defenders to help plug our backs!
Next stop, Tweety! Lol
Sad to lose him as he was a good fella, I just wish we hadn’t sacrificed him for the likes of Silvestre.
All the best to him at Fulham.
Farewell, Swiss Tony.
It was inevitable but it’s still sad that he’s no longer an Arsenal player. He’s one of those players who you always felt gave his everything and a few of our current crop could’ve learned something from him. Good luck Big Phil.
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Like some on here, I can’t see the attraction of Hangelaand and can’t see that he will dramatically improve our defensive fortunes.
Getting back to Phil, so it’s a lack of mental strength to be upset following the defeat to Liverpool, but its ok for French Billy to sulk on the halfway line after the Birmingham game?
Whatever you think of Senderos as a player, you cannot deny that Arsene Wenger obviously has his favourites and he has not treated Senderos fairly.
Watch out for Phil scoring a header from a set piece against the gunners sometime over the next year or two……
The ultimate slap in the face for Big Phil was the way he was allowed to leave on loan whilst Silvestre stayed at AFC. You can’t tell me that Senderos would have been as bad as old Fishface in the last few games of the season just gone. I feel a bit sorry for him, he’s barely played at all in the last couple of years.
Keown was a really clumsy player until he was 26/27 if I recall – and he turned into an amazing defender. Hopefully Phil does the same.
So we have lost Senderos, probably Gallas and maybe Sol. Looks like we will sign Koscielny, Djourou will be coming back too – but we need at least one more.
The ultimate slap in the face for Big Phil was the way he was allowed to leave on loan whilst Silvestre stayed at AFC.
No argument from me, beast.
I can’t see the attraction of Hangelaand
Thank Christ for that, zico. I was starting to think this was a case of Emporers new clothes syndrome. I just don’t get the stories linking us to him.
@45 Clive, you’re probably right sir, Senderos was a “clumsy” tackler.
Still think he may of improved, but hey our loss is Fulhams gain and if he had to go to another PL London club, then I suppose there’s not many of us that would begrudge him his move there.
Just a 7up for me please, it’s opening time soon, send one of his choice over to Clive too.
Cheers.
Someone mentioned Senderos never getting sent off, and while he never got two yellows in the same game for us he was sent off for bringing a Pompey player down when said player was clean through on goal. We were 2-0 up at the time and Kanu scored to make it 2-1 a few minutes later, but Rosicky made it 3-1 just moments later after having received a pass from a quick free-kick from Cesc.
And I don’t believe for one second that Wenger would have lost his confidence in Phil just because of a few tears after a game. It must have been something much more serious than that. Players cry all the time after losing important games, there’s nothing particularly strange about that. But Phil did have a real stinker of a game that night which may well have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I think I´ll join the general consensus here; Nice guy, not quite good enough (he did make a fair few mistakes), but SO much better an option than Silvestre. I can only think that Arsene was always planning to sell, but still…
And good luck to him at everyone´s (slightly presumptive of me) second team.
BBC reporting that Xavi has been offered extension on contract until 2016… so unless they sell Iniesta, where would Cesc play??!
Or maybe they are finally being realistic?
Catalan, surely Xavi must be going to Chelsea at the end of his current contract – I heard he had Russian DNA 🙂
Ha!
Not sure what DNA he’s got, but he needs to change the record. You’d think the spin doctors could think of more than one line!
The amazing thing is that the fans over here buy it and solemnly regurgitate it as if it’s law.
Frightening brain washing techniques!
Join me to say thank you William Gallas since we’re at it. A french radio is reporting that Gallas will not renew his contract with Arsenal. Gallas is “disappointed by the lack of consideration (for himself) by some people in charge although he had given th epriority to Arsenal to lengthen his contract in the last weeks”. The radio went on to say a wage agreement between the 2 parties could not be reached.
Meanwhile Sagna revealed that Gallas tends to criticise him a lot (others and himself as well) but the paper adds that on the other hand Billy isn’t very receptive to other players’ critical comments.
Looks like it’s over for Gallas at Arsenal and his team mates won’t miss him too much off the pitch… Another case of Toure/Adebayor syndrome?
And a bit of a good rumour: the french press report that Arsenal is about to offer 14 mils euros to Lyon for the goalkeeper.
I’d be pretty surprised but at the same time very happy if that was true.
I forgot to mention: l’Equipe reports that within the France team there’s a revolt against Domenech to play Diaby instead of Gourcuff. That’s already the general feeling in the french press after Diaby’s good performances.
That one had me laughing hard considering the BBB is bleating non-stop on how we should offload Diaby and buy Gourcuff.
Morning Holic & Holic`s
I am not going to lie I personally didn’t think Senderos was good enough for Arsenal. He struggled to read the game and his positioning was poor. However I can not call his passion and drive into question shame he didn’t progress as much as I would have hoped.
Reading a game and positional awareness normally come with experience which as Senderos was not given over the last 2 years of his Arsenal career and on top of that he may not have been our best defender but was a country mile in front of silvestre. Maybe with more games under his belt between the age`s of 22-24 he would have taken the next step needed but who knows now ?
Re the departure of Gallas from what filters into the papers now and again ( if true ) he is far from the most popular player at the club. He dose seem to think he invented defending which is a shame because if he did you would think he would be better at it. I lost any respect for him after the Birmingham game 2 years ago. When dose a captain go to the half way line and kick advertising hoardings when you are about to face a penalty ? What if it was saved and bounced out or hit the post would he be there to put his size ten through it to clear it ? NO !
I personally never wanted to see him in a Arsenal shirt again after that and my feelings have not changed. It was a stressful game for the boys with what happened to Eddie but when you need your captain to stand up and be counted he was found woefully wanting, he would rather go around blaming anyone he could point at than get the lads back on track.
So Arsene your journey to try and talk Gallas into staying seems to have failed and I for one am glad I will not see him grace the shirt he dose not deserve to wear.
If only Arsene tried to persuade flamini and gilberto to stay as much as he tried to make gallas stay. Sorry I still think it was a massive mistake to let these two go. Arsene was willing to change his over 30 policy for him but not others ( strange ) Pires must be pissed off I would be.
So goodbye Phil I hope Fulham give you the chance you want to prove yourself and make a fool out of me. As for gallas you wore the shirt for too long in my opinion after that disgraceful display at Birmingham, and that will free up the number 10 shirt which you soiled after the one and only Berkamp wore with such pride.
Matt,
Diaby is a great player. He’s been one of our best players this year, doesn’t matter what everybody says, that’s how it is.
http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html Marca might be an unpleasant propaganda sheet for the Real Madrid empire but they know how to design a natty World Cup calendar
Regardless of how well Diaby played for us it appears that competition for places keeps you on your toes. With Gourcuff breathing down his neck, Diaby is only doing what I expect from him.
AFC1974: Not sure how you can infer that from the Diaby/Gourcuff bit. It doesn’t seem to hold true for Gourcuff who has been an undisputed starter until now.
I tend to agree with you in general but there can be exceptions at time depending on the player’s mentality.
@71 the beast
That is a wicked calendar!
Thanks for the link.