please log in to view this image After the Stoke game Jol said, âGiorgos (Karagounis) is not the youngest at 35 but I miss him every game I play the other players.â âLast week I was a bit annoyed that he played 70 minutes for the Greek national side (against Switzerland) and that is not what you want, so I played Emmanuel Frimpong instead (against Norwich).â âBut against Stoke I knew that we needed someone, who could play and make us tick in midfield and I think he did that.â And indeed he did. Karaâs performance in the Stoke match was fantastic; 67successful passes out of 71 passing (94%!), and not only was he spot on, he distributed his passes in a way that kept the Stoke defenders completely off guard. 22 forward passes, 26 backwards passes, and 23 square passes. With that kind of distribution, he was obviously making our âmidfield tickâ and deciding where the next attack would come from. Here is his Opta chart: please log in to view this image The Greekâs heart, desire, and most of all work rate are second to none, and itâs obvious by this dash. Look how all over the pitch he was. He was concentrated a bit on the left simply because thatâs the side of the midfield he played on (Sidwell was on the other) but he ended up just about everywhere. In fact, Kara was involved in 3 of the top 4 highest passing combinations in the match. He sent it to John Arne Riise 17 times, to Ruiz 13 times, and got the ball from Hangeland on 11 occasions. Having signed as a free agent from Panathinaikos his contract expires in the summer. In the same interview Jol told reporters, "Giorgos loves to play here. And if we feel the moment is right we will sit down with him and offer him a new contract." And I say to Jol, âNow, do it now!!â
He is a great player who left Panathinaikos because of the financial trouble they are in and was not part of their manager at that time. Surely they miss him!! The only problem I see is his age. Probably he won't be able to play week in and week out and that is something that Jol and Kara both need to factor in. Although he played very frequently when in Panathinaikos during his first spell, subsequently he was not used to the same extent. This means he has some footballing years left but his age is a drawback. The benefit we get is that he will not complaint and will provide some guidance to new players. Offer him a new contract now...
He's been a great Murphy replacement so far. Even if we only use him sparingly (ala Giggs, Scholes) he still has a lot to offer. If I were to have a name/number on the back of a replica shirt, it would be Karagounis'. Sign him up!
It was telling that when he came to take a corner in the Haynes/Hammersmith corner that he got massive cheers and paused a second to thank the fans before concentrating on the corner. We love him and I think he appreciates the support; as said above the only issue is his age, because his play has been great for us this season. He doesn't seem to have suffered the complete loss of pace that Murphy did and his distribution is very good. He keeps our team moving and I think he is a key reason why our team on Saturday seemed different to the November/December team despite Kara for Baird being the only change. As Bidley said, Karagounis would be the name on my shirt right now (or possibly Riether). Sign him up!
Is that for his contribution to the team - or to get value for money for the shirt with the longest name!!! - or do they charge per letter?? I can only agree with everybody else - he has been excellent for us. I think our troubles this year have had far more to do with the loss of Danny Murphy than Dempsey and Dembele - The two D's were important for goals and a birt of class in midfield, but Murphy was the hub, the driving force and until Kara came along we hadn't really filled that hole. So - sign him up!!!
I can only agree with everyone else - he gives 100% every game, still has bags of pace and skill and (notwithstanding Hangeland being captain) has turned into a midfield general. Someone alluded to this in another thread as not being a problem and I agree - it leaves Brede to marshall the defence which is what he's best at whilst Kara runs around seeking and giving instructions in, I would imagine, a slightly mad Greek way
For what I thought was just a desperate squad filler our Ancient Greek has been a surprise and a half, if he can display that sort of energy for 70-80mins as a 35yo why not as a 36yo. Sign him for another year? yes.
You should've gone down the shop the other day Surly, you could've touched both of their faces! And welcome to the board, Dean!
Yeah, right pair of smilers [video=youtube;IlOZmSBrpeg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IlOZmSBrpeg[/video] Wonder which one will get Player of the Year? And welcome from me as well, Dean
Okay, so maybe I didn't get to go because I was working. But I did know about it ahead of time. And C58 Riether has to be ahead, if not just because Karagounis wasn't playing regularly until December. It's a sign of how well Kara has played that he would even be mentioned in the player of the year discussions after missing so much time.
When he signed, I've got to admit, I had no idea the impact he would have had would be this big. I didn't think it would be as pointless a transfer with the likes of Litmanen and Tavares but certainly not up there with Riether and Diarra. You can see his influence on the pitch is exactly the sort of thing we have needed since Danny left.
