I thought he took his chance really well at Sunderland. Admittedly they didn't have anyone upfront but he played with confidence and I thought did well, apart from the dribbling out of defence error in the first half. I'm sure he had a few nervy moments when going in for a tackle and 'will my knee give way' but overall a good game. Any comments?
Good to see him playing at last. Interesting thought, we've got three centre backs - Hangeland, Hughes and Senderos - who are the cornerstones of their respective international side's defences, another two international defenders - Bairdinho and Halliche - who can play in the centre, plus at least two promising youngsters - Briggs and Burn. Burn is the only one of those who I wouldn't want anywhere near the first team just yet. Even after his highly shaky turn against Peterbrough, I still feel it's too early to judge Halliche as inadequate. He may yet show us that he's got what it takes, if he ever gets a chance among such a depth of options. All in all, I think right now we're as well covered at centre back as I can remember since the golden days of Blake, Cusack, Morgan, Angus and Cullip!
I thought he struggled a bit. Maybe my vision's been colored by prior poor performances, but (IMO) he didn't show pace and touch you'd expect from an Arsenal player. In the first half before Sunderland collapsed, I can recall several players getting passed him with the ball. It was not a convincing performance for me. He wasn't a disaster, but be he didn't inspire my confidence.
I've never been a big fan but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the next few matches seeing as this was his first for a very long time. I only saw highlights but the only mistake I saw in them was his kicking the ball against malbranque early on. Like I say - happy to give him time to get back to match sharpness.
Hughes and Hangeland all the way for me. Indeed it does seem we have got ourselves a very secure defence- this season we have conceeded joint fourth fewest goals, 36, level with arsenal and behind chelsea- 28, City- 31, and United- 33. Impressive....
I'm not a Sendros fan, but I've been wrong before. If Fulham's team selection was dictated by my first impressions, Baird, Pantsil and Etuhu would have played just one game each then never seen the light of day again. So what do I know?!
Given that he'd been out for a long while, Senderos was ok at Sunderland on Saturday. He had a slow start and made a few mistakes in the first half but frankly I was more concerned about Salcido (Centre backs are not a problem, but the wing-backs are - We'd be in trouble without Chris Baird). Having also not been a particular fan of Senderos, I think that he's ok and a reasonable back-up to our outstanding regular Hangeland-Hughes pairing.
