Pogue, he hasn't even played a full season in England yet give him a chance. Besides him and Barry are different players, but for ability he far exceeds Barry.
Luka Modric
- Thread starter Brwned
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Some players look well suited to the PL but take a while to settle e.g. Vidic
Some players look like they're not suited to the PL from the outset e.g. Modric
Don't get me wrong, I think he's a decent footballer. I just don't think he will ever be seen as one of the best central midfielders in the league.
He is worse than Arteta imo.
He can make it in PL for sure. It's better to bump this next year after he has had a season to settle in.
Go right ahead.
Somethings tells me this is one thread that will remain un-bumped. Ho hum.
Palacios wasn't that good yesterday, he faded after about 30 mins and in the second half got little change out of Song despite us having 10 men.
He was the best midfielder on the pitch, by a margin.
Song finished strongly but couldn't get a foot on the ball for the first hour and was fairly immobile throughout. Palacios was everywhere, he's a beast of a player. Nearly scored too.
Song was a lot closer to scoring than Palacios and over the 90 was just as good despite playing mostly with 9 others. I thought yesterday was evidence that Palacios isn't really top 4 material.
Very talented player. Would shine more in a team that dominated opponents better and had better movement.
He's too erratic at the moment, but if he irons that out, he'll be quality in this league.
He's too erratic at the moment, but if he irons that out, he'll be quality in this league.
Song fecked up the more straightforward chance, I agree. However, forcing a decent save from 25 yards out counts as being closer to scoring than spooning a gimme wide of the post.
If anything, yesterday's game was solid evidence that Wenger definitely droppped a bollock by allowing Palacios line up in white.
Its irrelevant who came 'closer to scoring'... Palacios was the better player between the two by some margin. Surely there can't be any debating this.
Arteta, Modric & Palacios are all good enough to play for top 4 clubs, I reckon, and definitely all good enough to play for Arsenal. Not saying they'd be stars at that level, but they'd fit in alright.
I wouldn't put Modric on a par with Arteta or Palacios, both of whom have bossed many a PL midfield in their time. Something Modric has yet to do.
I agree that all three of them might be good enough for Arsenal though. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean they're good enough for the top four
I dont think he's had a good season regardless of Spurs fans goin on about how good he is. Good player nonetheless, but he's certainly not United quality thats for sure & he would get into Chelsea's team & maybe any of the top-four teams!
I was listening to the boys on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports & they share the same opinion of me - he's not played that well to generate some of the hype written about him!
I was listening to the boys on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports & they share the same opinion of me - he's not played that well to generate some of the hype written about him!
Modric hasn't been great yet but with time he will likely do better.
The lad can play some football, he seems to want the ball all the time which can only be a plus. He needs to be given more than a season to be judged fairly.
I reckon the combination of him and Palacios will prove to be a good one, but he has a long way to go to be considered one of the best midfielders in the premier league.
I'd never been that impressed with him though, I thought against us it was just a one-off.I thought he was quite good against Chelsea, but besides that the only times I seen him he was pretty average: City, Liverpool and Arsenal if I'm honest.
Don't see all the hype about Arteta, he's just consistently above average and whips a good ball in. I can think of plenty better than him and I fully expect him to be a level above Arteta in a few years.
Arteta is fecking miles better than Modric right now. Don't see why the situation would completely reverse in a few years time. Arteta's still only 26 years old.
Because one's still settling in and one's been here for years.
Berbatov didn't look all that impressive in his first 6 months with Spurs, but showed sparks of class and quality, you knew he had a great footballing brain.
I see the same in Modric.
Modric has the ability, he has the quality. He is/was just unfortunate to go to spurs at a time when they are at their worst in a long time.
He is better than Arteta. Arteta looks good because he goes to ground easily then whips in the resulting freekick for Everton to score the only way the can.
He is better than Arteta. Arteta looks good because he goes to ground easily then whips in the resulting freekick for Everton to score the only way the can.
That's bollocks though. So much more to his game than that.
Stephen Ireland is a better player than Modric in my opinion!
So in concluding: One is a baldy lying cnut & the other looks to have had his face turned inside out.... i'd take the lying cnut anyday but would also have to administer a shit-load of slaps to make him wise the feck up!
So in concluding: One is a baldy lying cnut & the other looks to have had his face turned inside out.... i'd take the lying cnut anyday but would also have to administer a shit-load of slaps to make him wise the feck up!
Is he as good as Dunne though?
(I agree - Arteta runs tings for Everton and could step up easily I reckon. But Modric could get to that level in a couple of years.)
(I agree - Arteta runs tings for Everton and could step up easily I reckon. But Modric could get to that level in a couple of years.)
Agreed, Arteta's massively overhyped for some reason that largely escapes me. Even though Modric has been disappointing so far I'd take him over Arteta any day. Must do a 'most-overrated XI in the PL' sometime.
Modric gets pushed off the ball like a pre-pubesent girl
I don't really rate him much
I don't really rate him much
Wow.
Class, I think.
Stands out at a team like Everton because they lack it all over the pitch.
Nice range of passing, great cross and good set pieces.
Hardly enough to make him deserve the hype he gets.
The biggest problem with Modric is that he creates an unbalance in a team. As good as he is on the ball, he's pretty much just as crap when the opponents have the ball, and thus you have to build the team around him, otherwise you end up being extremely vulnerable in midfield.
Buying Palacios is definitely a step in the right direction, as his energy and ability to win the ball makes up for Modric's weaknesses.
But I do fell that people gets blinded by his abilities on the ball, and thus overlook some of his weaknesses which has shown to be a liability quite often when I've watched Spurs.
Buying Palacios is definitely a step in the right direction, as his energy and ability to win the ball makes up for Modric's weaknesses.
But I do fell that people gets blinded by his abilities on the ball, and thus overlook some of his weaknesses which has shown to be a liability quite often when I've watched Spurs.
Modric hasn't done badly and is undoubtedly really talented. It's just that he came with really sky high expectations. He was supposed to Tottenham's key signing, but honestly he hasn't quite lived up to the hype. Who knows, maybe this is not the right league for him.
it's obviously still early days in the season, but it's looked that way now for a while
reckon Italy would be better for him?
Spain or Italy would suit his game far more than England. I'd favour Spain, just because you get a free kick if someone in the crowd sneezes too loud.
Your assessment is way off IMO .... Palacios was very good. Granted you didn't have your first choice CM partnership playing, but Spurs more or less dominated the centre midfield for virtually the whole match, including the 37 mins (?) or so before you were reduced to 10 men, and the performance of Palacios was the key reason for this.
As for Modric I thought he also played reasonably well on Sunday. It's taken him a while to settle in, not surprisingly, but generally he looks better and better with mostly each game now. However, I agree with those saying that the time to make a proper assessment will be during next season.
I think our strongest midfield line-up, for home games at least, is now as per Sunday's line-up:
----------- Palacios -------
Lennon ---- Jenas ---- Modric
... with Modric playing loosely in LM, but with a licence to roam. Or Huddlestone could play in place of Jenas in that line-up.
I still can't understand this obsession with people having DM's in there, with the other centre mid playing further forward.
Palacios was all over the place at the weekend, and that's exactly how he plays every match.
He doesn't just sit there and break down play, and Jenas doesn't stay ahead of him at all times and dictate play further forward.
It's this new obsession with moving away from 4-4-2, I reckon, to make the teams less typically English.
Agreed. It's bollox IMO.
Speaking of bollox, that sums up Jenas' display. He was atrocious. Palacios is a good signing but Spurs squad is still distinctly mediocre. They're in for a nervous last few months of the season and missed a golden opportunity to earn some breathing space at the weekend.
Speaking of bollox, that sums up Jenas' display. He was atrocious. Palacios is a good signing but Spurs squad is still distinctly mediocre. They're in for a nervous last few months of the season and missed a golden opportunity to earn some breathing space at the weekend.
I thought Jenas looked like a superstar compared to Denilson. I've seen quite a few Gooners around the web trying to defend Denilson, saying he's much better than people and the media are giving him credit for - well, he certainly didn't show that yesterday.
What you say is true. It's not that Palacios just sits in front of the back 4 (he doesn't) or that Jenas stays ahead of him at all times (he didn't) ... it's just that IMO Palacios will naturally take - and be more suited to - a more defensive role and Jenas a more attacking role, but there are no hard and fast distinctions: both players have great engines and will cover a lot of ground between them.
Calling it 4-4-2 or 4-1-3-2 doesn't really matter that much in terms of the actuality.