Song is too inconsistent to be regarded as "top class" either. You have to consistently perform at the top like a Viera and Keane to get to that title. Also, Song as been fortunate that he's been around in our weakest midfield in sometime. What was his competition? Denilson?, the constantly injured Diaby?, the constantly injured and just recently playing well Rosicky? Wilshere's been injured all season and Ramsey's been off form. With that, Nasri, Cesc, Hleb and Flamini left. If you look at it, our options have been somewhat limited....
He's not a DM he is a CM. Some people chastise him for not sitting back to shield the back four, but if he did, we'd lose out on his attacking play. He has 13 assists this season and with them some absolutely killer passes in a Fabregas-esque style to set up RVP and Walcott. This is not to say that he ignores his defensive duites, which I think he does pretty effectively. I take on board the criticism that he can be a bit slow and get caught in possession, but overall, he is a very important player for our team.
No that's not really true though is it? Song became our first choice while we still had Diarra, Denilson,Diaby and Flamini in our team.(Flamini only got his chance because Song and Diaby where injured) Also United dont have consistant dm, Chelsea have Mikel, Liverpool have Adam. There's a good argument to be made for him being the best in the league.
It is true, had we kept our midfield in place then Song would have struggled to get in. Remember when we had that really good season back in 2007/08? Our midfield was Flamini, Cesc and Hleb and Flamini was having a storming season. If he didn't leave then Song would have been benched. I remember when Wenger was using him as a fill in Central defender! Sometimes a player needs some luck and Song got that. Famini left, Diaby got injured again, Diarra left (had he stayed he would have played), Ljungberg left, Reyes left.
Everyone thinks there team had the best DM in the league, when in truth there are just a lot of really good ones. Fellaini, Song, Lucas, Carrick, Barry, Tiote are all ace
I think Tiote has better defensive midfielder capabilities than Song. Song's 11 assists this season though for someone playing that deep is quite remarkable.
Barry?! PS: I'd agree, I don't think there's much difference between the likes of Fellaini, Song, Lucas, Tiote and so on.
Most neutrals I talk to would take Song in a heartbeat, even Man Utd, Chelsea and Man City fans. I think Yaya Toure is probably the best overall player in the league, but I still wouldn't swap Song for him. Song has many more years ahead of him than Toure. I think the pure DM is finished as a position, so the question whether he is best at it is a little pointless. If you look at Chelsea you will see how hard Essien is finding it, adapting to playing a more multi-dimensional role. You simply cannot afford to playa pure DM in the modern game.
Essien at one point was easily one of the best midfielders in the world. Unfortunately through repeated injuries and Chelsea's instabilities have been detrimental to him. Im sad for him as he's such a great player and wish his return to playing form.
If you try the kind of difficult passes he does regularly, you are bound to give it away sometimes. He has developed into a great player, and imo he is the second most important player on the team sheet to VP.
What is a 'top four player'?. We are a top four club and Song starts every game for us, is he therefore not a 'top four player'?
Why? Like I said, we are a 'top four club' and Song starts every game and is one of the key reasons as to why we are where we are. Is he therefore not a top four player? He only has the 11 assists to his name this season.
That would make some sense, if Song was some sort of squad player that does not do much. But Song starts every game for us and has been a brilliant CM for us. RVP will be the first to say so. Maybe you are overrating the quality of the 'top four'. Because for the life me I do not see why Song is a lesser player compared to the likes of Carrick,Parker and Barry.
Who is this 'real DM' that we should be buying? I can't really think of any top class midfielder who only defends.
We have had this discussion before. If we don't play with a real DM in our system, how would you know that Song would be out of position more often than not, if he were asked to play there? You are being waaay to simplistic. This is the level of detail that most clubs are going to tactically these days. I don't agree with all this blogger writes, but it shows you the detail that most professional teams work on. You simply can't possibly know who is "Out of position" because you don't know what position they are supposed to be in. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...nals-3-0-victory-over-wolverhampton-wanderers
Exactly. He is a good player and has the attributes to become one of the best but at the moment he has to do it at a consistent level. Sometimes he looks impressive, but sometimes he can get sloppy in possession, wayward in his passes and clumsy in his tackling. I remember when Essien was fit for Chelsea, man that guy was magnificant. He was one of the best players in Europe at the time and was beastly in midfield. No one could knock him off the ball, he was an excellent tackler, his passing and vision was very good, had a top shot and had an excellent engine.
I think when our formation and tactics were more straightforward it was easier to appreciate Song's qualities. As we have been forced to adopt more complex tactics we need to be more flexible in our play. When we are playing really well, perhaps Song doesnt need to make tackles and perhaps he doesn't need to carry the ball as much, nor do we want him to. I think the diversity of opinion about how well different players are playing is because it is so hard to understand what each of them is doing, or trying to do. If we are working on opening up the right side and closing up the left, then the fact that we aren't scoring down the left, is not really an issue, and you can't expect the winger there to look as good as the one playing down the right. They have different mandates and expecting the left-sided midfielder to find or create as much space as the one on the right is not realistic. I am not saying I know what is going on, but the more I learn about the game, the less I realize that I know. Ten or fifteen years ago, if you told me a formation didn't have to be symetric, I would have laughed at you.
