i too am not 'anti-doc' - never was - but to say he was good is wrong. he was adequate. at the end of the day, you can't ask any more from a player than to give his all for the club, and doc did that. it wasn't his fault either that he wasn't quite up to the standard required. as i said above, de laet is a far better footballer than doherty ever was but he suffers from exactly the same problem that doc struggled with - concentration. one thing is for sure, i feel more comfortable this season with our defence than i did last season, so actually i think he has improved us at the back, as has naughton. yes, silly mistakes that are being punished at this level, but imagine if the doc made the same sort of mistakes he used to at this level - we'd be in far more trouble than we are now! give the lad a bit of time. he's impressed me overall
"de laet is a far better footballer than doherty ever was " That's a bit of a bold - not to mention ill informed - statement, considering de Laet has played, what, four games in the Premiership in his entire career (making howlers that have already cost us two goals and at least three points in that time) and The Doc played more than a hundred with an additional thirty odd caps for di Oirland. This is exactly the type of drivel I expect though to be honest so I really can't say I'm the slightest bit surprised. Absolute rubbish
The above post is entirely correct; Doc was adequate and served us fantastically well in L1 and was an extremely important player for NCFC. He wasn't atrocious, and was a good stopper.
If memory serves me, he scored some bloody important goals in league 1! please log in to view this image
I meant superman's post not sid's. Sid's logic is well a little illogical. It's a little bit like saying, Hoolahan is better than Lionel Messi becuase he's played more games. You can tell if a player is better footballer very quickly. How the hell do scouts spot talent, even if a player has a bad game , there is always enough info.
i'm afraid the only post that smacks of drivel is the one i'm quoting! anybody with an ounce of football nous can immediately tell that de laet has far more in his locker than doc ever did. tidy on the ball, powerful, pacey, despite his mistakes he reads the game quite well overall, certainly better than doc did... you are jumping on him because he has made three mistakes this season and all three resulted in goals. this is exactly the same attitude which meant last season, some people were baying for ruddy's blood. as i say, doc was perfectly adequate and was a good servant, but he was not a good player.
Not illogical at all, simply stating facts. What I find illogical is somebody claiming that de Laet is "a far better footballer" on the basis of virtually nothing apart from a blinkered and pre-determined opinion. Similarly with people's comments this week about how none of the penalties again us would have been given against United, Chelsea etc I can guarantee if Doc had made those howlers de Laet has so far this year this board would be full of posts about what a liability he is and how he should never play for the club again. However it wasn't The Doc, it was our new defender on loan from man united so he must be good and we can let him off as the mistakes probably weren't his fault anyway
just to add to that, i don't know whether de laet will ever have what it takes to make the grade at manchester united, but i do think he will be a mid to lower half premier league player throughout his career without too many qualms. he has all the attributes to be a top defender but he needs to be able to concentrate if he wants to have a successful career in the top flight. to compare, doherty did ok in the championship and very well in league one. big, big difference.
"you are jumping on him because he has made three mistakes this season and all three resulted in goals." Yes, how very harsh of me to do such a thing, particularly when these three mistakes that ALL COST US GOALS happened all in the first four games. Seriously mate, are you having a laugh? And for the record Ruddy made one mistake in a pre-season that people went on about all year and was less than convincing in the first game against Watford, apart from that I don't really remember him costing us anyting all year
having done some scouting in my time and also having played centre half myself, i'd like to think that centre halves are what i specialise in. to compare doc to de laet is laughable - the gap in class is very, very evident for all to see
You keep on thinking that pal, no skin off my nose. Well done on doing a bit of scouting and having played centre-half, not entirely sure how that automatically qualifies you as the oracle on everything to be honest. I do believe a certain Bryan Gunn played in goal a bit didn't he? Did some scouting as well i'm sure I remember reading somewhere. And remind me, who was his first choice keeper that fateful opening day our League One season? Just saying....
No one is saying he hasn't made mistakes and yes the mistakes have been very costly, that is absolutely correct. I thought the thread was about the relative qualities as a footballer, asn having seen him in four games, de laet is a pretty good footballer, It is very obvious. I think Sid is joking.
Not joking at all mate, I'm deadly serious and nothing any of you can say will make me change my mind as I KNOW I'm right about this Can anybody name a single goal that resulted from a howler of the type de Laet has made so far by The Doc in his last two seasons with us? There's your challenge for the day....
Sid if i were you I'd write to Paul Lambert and explain how he has got it completely wrong. Getting rid of Doherty was the biggest mistake he has made and should re sign Doherty in the January transfer window.
For the record I also think de Laet is a pretty good footballer and I'm not saying he's not good enough for us or writing him off already. All I'm highlighting is the BLATANT double standards going on, the same ones that always used to go on when it came to The Doc. It did my head in then and it does my head in now.
brilliant! so we are only talking about docs last two seasons for us then?! slightly ridiculous argument then! i have to say, i thought you were joking too - thats how badly you have judged de laet compared to doherty - and that is why you will be pretty much on your own in this debate. doherty was a liability throughout his canary career. he always tried but sometimes trying isn't going to be enough. his positional sense was AWFUL and he was so clumsy in and around the box it used to make me wince. this wasn't just a few times, this was EVERY game of EVERY season. to be that mediocre over such a long period of time tells you a lot about his ability. de laet is a youngster, still learning his trade, but anyone can see he has masses and masses of potential and the ONLY thing he has lacked so far is concentration. thats the only thing! the good thing abou the lad is that at least he has the pace to make up for his mistakes sometimes - doc never had that. i do find it odd that i'm even having to argue the case for de laet here!! compared to rio ferdinand or nemanja vidic then fair enough, but ginger pele?????????? wtf?
Oh, and I have NEVER said we should resign Doc at all, not even for a second. Not saying Lambert got it completely wrong either, not for a moment, and I'm not even saying getting rid of The Doc was a massive mistake either, last season's success proves that Lambo got it spot on with regards to that and we have moved on. If imagining/fabricating things I haven't said is your way of continuing this argument then it suggests that you're struggling somewhat. Tell you what, have another hard think of all those howlers that Doc cost us in his last two seasons, that should occupy your mind for a bit Oh, and another point I could add is that everything I have said about de Laet in this thread could be transferred exactly across to Leon Barnett, another CB who gives off the "accident waiting to happen" feeling far, far more to me than The Doc ever ever did
"he was so clumsy in and around the box it used to make me wince. this wasn't just a few times, this was EVERY game of EVERY season." Mate, now come on here, I fear you're losing it and making yourself sound a bit desparate Honestly fella, I have always respected your opinions on here and the 606, might have to think twice in future because I am having serious doubts that you have any idea what you're talking about at all
His lack of ability cost lots of goals, read super's post and you'll see. I am more in agreement with about Barnett , but not compared the doc.
It never ceases to amaze me how, despite all he has done, people still think PL makes mistake after mistake. Sid thinks De Laet is a mistake and on another thread he has set out that Morison is a mistake. Now we are told that selling Doc was a mistake. If Doc was that good why did he end up in League 1 - surely loads of better Clubs would have been after him. He was not bad and he gave his all but age was catching up with him and he was no longer Championship standard let alone Premiership. What player has Lambert sold who has gone on to prove him wrong? At least, with Sid, we have an early candidate for the first ' Lambert out ' post if, as is quite possible. we are in the bottom 3 at Christmas.
