I know its early days but just wondered what your thoughts are on the 4 new signings who have played so far.These are mine; Enrique-could be the best of the lot,looks assured,good going forward,quick,retains the ball well ,kept walcott very quiet yesterday and was Man of the Match. 9/10 Downing-also looks very much part of the team already,moves around the field well and has good pace.Gives us something we haven't had for some while. 8/10 Adam-Has fitted in well and look forward to see him play with Gerrard.He controls the midfield well and his passing will be a real asset esp for Suarez 8/10 Henderson-not totally unexpectedly the least impressive of the new ones.Not that he has done anything wrong just not done too much to catch the eye.However,we all know he is one for the future and may not play as much when Stevie is back. 6/10 Overall pretty impressed and can only see them all getting better.With 'old' boys kelly,suarez and mereilles showing good form its all good at the moment.
pretty much agree exactly. the only problem with enrique so far is that sometimes he doesnt know whether to clear it or pass it back, but thats only because hes only played 2 games with us so far. I have to say i didnt realise he was that fast
Enrique , looks a good player,and more importantly a good DEFENDER, strong as a bull (hes like a movin wall) with pace to burn,Walcott didnt stand a chance yesterday,and I cant see many wingers gettin the better of him this season Downing ,does things at pace and will be massive for Carrolls game,and will after Stevie and Luis be our most creative player Hendo played a lot better yesterday,and looks like a box 2 box midfielder in the Terry Mc mould Adam is my least favourite of the gang, just gives the ball away too often for my liking As for the rest, Aggers like a new top class signing, Kellys a £10m player already.I still wudda started Luis though.And basically the squad is so strong that rubbish like Poulsen and Ngog should get nowhere near the team.HUGE win yesterday so early in the season,we were mentally tougher than Arsenal, I hope for similar performances away against the rest of the top 6. Things are lookin up
Enrique didn't get forward enough at Anfield last week for me but that's a minor complaint. Looks real good so far. Downing is what I expected and hasn't done much wrong. As long as Carroll learns to gel with him he'll be a definate asset. I disagree with DayDoDoe and I think Adam has looked every inch the type of player Kenny will want playing for us. Yeah his passing hasn't been 100% but he gets into great positions. His eye for the killer ball is definately there but whether he's got the ability to pull it off often enough time will tell. He does things with passion but not too much fuss (although trying to beat the keeper from the kick off is school boy stuff). Hendo has looked nervy but one for the future although I'm still at a bit of a loss as to why 20mill for him rather than developing Spearing and some of the other youth players. Anyway he played much better yesterday than last weekend so hopefully we'll begin to see more and more from him the more he settles in but still got a few doubts myself.
Like a lot of people said yesterday Enrique looks class he still has to gel with the rest of the team but he showed against Sunderland what he is about And yesterday he had a really solid game,i think he is going to make it difficult for everyone this season The way this lad is playing he WILL be the deal of the season for us.Looks solid has pace to burn and most of all he can defend and it has been a while since we had a good player at LB Downing is another that has impressed me he has come in and got on with his game he will get even better He will be our by line runner and passer in to the box and Carrol,Suarez will get on the end of them and score a lot of goals GET IN Not convinced by Henderson he has still loads to learn age is on his side Adam does what we bought him for his pass rate and his free kicks not to worried with him giving the ball away I'm sure that he will get that sorted as the more games he plays The win yesterday was massive for us it will act like a spring board for the coming games yes Arsenal did not have their 1st 11 on the pitch but still gave us a good game it was end to end stuff a great advert for the prem some really nice football from both teams but we wanted it more then them THINGS ARE DEFO LOOKING UP AND LONG MAY IT CONTINUE
Totally agree with that plus I think Arsenals starting line up wasn't exactly weak with 9 out of 11 players who are definately of first team standard: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Nasri, Walcott, Ramsey, Arshavin and Van Persie isn't really a weakened Arsenal team but their bench looked weak simply because Wenger has failed to add quality additions to his squad which frankly isn't our problem. For the first time in years we looked like a team with a good squad not just first 11 and that can only bode well for the future. Cheers Kenny
Yes we do have a team and we will only get better feeling rather positive Arsenal might have a hard season ahead of them a bit where we were last season A BIG THANK YOU TO KK,SC,DM&CO
I think Enrique will be sensational.I just love it when he not only tackles a player as they're trying to cross the ball into our penalty area, but he also turns on a sixpence and bring the ball out calmly or hoofs it out with some reasonable accuracy. And he adds another dimension in attack on the left (with Downing) that has been missing since Riera. Like some of the others, I'm still waiting for Hendo to flourish, but I think we should all be patient with him, as he gains confidence and see what a fantastic team he's now part of. My main worry (as I said on another thread) is still Andy Carroll. I think we all want him to become another LFC Legend and there is no doubt he has talent but I still felt he was lumbering around too much and, to be honest, falling over too often. Vermaelen pretty much 'owned' him the first half yesterday. When he eventually came off, the team dynamic changed massively. Moan over - I just want him to prove his worth asap. ) Nice to see Meireles back in the swing of things, though.... GKRK.
Although I know it's early days I really did think we looked strong down the flanks yesterday both defensively and on the attack. Far from perfect but considering we were up against good quality wingers and full backs in Walcott, Gibbs, Sagna etc we looked solid. We now have three good right backs in Kelly, Johnson and Flanagan (plus Carra for emergencies) and three options at left back in Enrique, Aurelio and Robinson (plus Agger if ever required). Not only that but many of these can play/fill in on either side so can't see us having many problems at full back this year. We have Downing, Maxi, Kuyt, Henderson and even Gerrard who can cover either wide position plus Suarez who can obviously be effective starting out wide and coming in to the centre. The only areas we know we may be light is up front if we got a couple of injuries and the same at centre back. If we don't strengthen here before the window closes I won't be too bothered as I really do think Kelly could fill in there for a few games at least and I would have no problem with a young lad like Morgan getting a few starts up front in an emergency. It really is testament to the clubs policy of strengthening the squad and doing it as early as we possibly could, that we now have good cover in almost all positions No need to panic buy now and we can look at players who we only bring in if certain they will improve the first team squad or can be developed over time.
The signings have impressed me so far. Enrique came out of his shell yesterday, I hope to see plenty of dazzling runs down the flank like the one he did yesterday. He didn't go forward too much against Sunderland but that didn't surprise me as he hadn't had time to gel with the team, but he played very well defensively. I had doubts when we were linked with Adam but I like to give players a chance as soon as they're in that red shirt, he has impressed me. Although some of the corners and free kicks in the 1st half were not to his usual standards. But I can see him having a great season. Henderson has been an invisible player so far, but not put a foot wrong. He did run the ball into the Arsenal defense a couple of times yesterday but he has a good eye for a pass. Downing has provided lots of energy down the flanks, something we have desperately missed over the years. He will prove Le Tissue wrong as the "worst signing" of the summer.
Agreed with all but the bold. Gibbs was injured, the 19 yo was back there on Arsenal's left back, though he seems he will better than Clichy (never really rated him...) soon.
I agree. We've bought players who can do well in a variety of positions (excluding Carroll, who will only ever be a front man, although he provides good defence on corners...oh, and Enrique) so our squad kind of looks 'fuller' than it maybe is. Downing can play on either flank and off the front, Suarez can be a classic number 9 or the number 10 role (despite being number 7...), Henderson can play right or centre mid, Adam can sit back or advance. None are as versatile as Gerrard, but give us more options than numbers suggest. It looks on paper that we have a lot of CMs, but they all provide different things to the team and swapping just a couple of them around changes the entire dynamic.
Even less convinced by him now than when we bought him, he is too immobile, look at the chance he had at the weekend, yes he got the header in but it was from a standing start. A striker like him should be running onto crosses and smashing every one out of the way in an effort to get the ball.
