Under closer inspection, although the 07/08 team was a better TEAM, i don't think they were player for player, much better than our current team. What we did have was Fabregas. He was able to bring the team together and create so much from his possession. The fact that we had Eboue playing on the RW shows that we lacked quality (he was a quality RB).
Yup also he was a regular in the leanest defence in EPL history. Jose's Chelsea conceded 15 in the league all season in 2005. Consider we just conceded 49 last season with Koscielney at the back. (and 44 the season before)
We did have a better defensive unit, but how much better was it? I think it was more to do with us keeping possesion in midfield better than us having a much better back 4. If you remember, it was so hard to take the ball off us in midfield, Fabregas was amazing. The trio of Fab, Hleb and Flamini was excellent. Our current midfield simply does not keep possession as well and even lesser teams like Swansea can compete with us in this respect.
He Kolo next to him and he made up for lots of mistakes made Gallas, Gallas was very good for Chelsea don't get me wrong but I said rubbish for us Kos in my opinion is a better defender than Gallas was for us, when he was at Chelsea I would give a slight edge to Gallas
I think even when considering the very basic of attributes and performance record, the 07/08 team had to be better. That they came close to taking the top honours has to be a glaring difference with the current one which was largely one-man dependent and which only made it to 3rd through that one man and the wayward end to Spur's season. That the 07/08 team lost sight of the prize is disappointing but it has to be a better squad.
It's hard to justify letting in 49 goals a season and still say Kos is better than Gallas. After Kolo contracted Milaria, he was never the same again. But the Kolo and Gallas duo is still better than Kos and Vermaelen at present. This could obviously change and so can our CB partnership with big Mertz. 07/08 Home - 11 goals conceded Away - 20 goals conceded Total: 31 11/12 Home - 17 goals conceded Away - 32 goals conceded Total: 49
??? Its not just Kos' fault we conceded so many goals, look at the players around him making mistake after mistake - Vermaelen included. Vermaelen let in 49 goals as well, not just Kos (that is aimed at the Bear who loves Verm but not Kos for some bizarre reason)
We hardly played with a settled defence last season to be fair but conceding 49 goals and still coming third is a bit ****e
I'm not blaming our defensive woes on Kos, i'm just replaying to someone who said Kos is better than Gallas. It was a collective failure than just one player. At the end of the day, conceding 49 goals for a top club is unacceptable.
Koscielny is the best CB in the league, going from his form last season. If any of you want to call me out on that, feel free to do so. I'll happily back it up. Gallas has never been at this level that Koscielny is now.
Thats a bold statement, Personally I would go say that accolade was with Vincent Kompany, but football is a game of opinions (thats why we are on here I guess) and you are entitled to yours.
Thank god some sanity has been brought back to this thread. Although i wouldn't call Kos a lanky streak of piss, he is clearly not in Gallas's level at the moment. Gallas for Chelsea was outstanding. For us he was very good, but it was more down to our rickety organistation that made him look worse. You stick him in our invincibles team, then he would look great again. Kos still has a way to go to be one of the best in the league. He is still young so has time on his side...
So if you agree it was a collective failure how can you use that as reasoning in your argument that Gallas is better ? Playing Devil's Advocate, look at the Chelsea defence Gallas played in, miles better than ours !!
Geezer, i'm saying Gallas is a better player period. Ok Kos was unfortunate to be in a leaky defense, but it's not like we were rock solid back in 07/08. Also if you recall, Gallas and Toure hated each other, yet they conceded 18 less goals. Injuries or no injuries, that is dreadful and Kos was part of our dreadful defence....
We came 4points off a CL/PL winning Man Utd in 07/08. This season, we were more than 10points off a much much weaker Man Utd. Says it all.
Wow I'm very surprised you would say this, you could say the same about Gallas who has often been out muscled by strikers.
Please ignore the imposter I am the real Zlatan, this child continues to tarnish my good friends name, BringBackBenitez wishes me to apologise for this mans actions.
