Zakora it is then

Freak

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mamboza said:
The players were set to play different roles.
Zokora was quite impressive but a lot like DJDJ, may be with better technique, work rate and pace. But Yaya easily the better of the two in IMO. And to put Mascherano ahead of Cambiasso based on that performance?? They had different duties, and Cambiasso was quite a bit better with his role than Mascherano, in fact I think he was the most intelligent midfielder on the pitch with great sense of positioning but his work rate, pace and strength can not match Yaya.

For me:
1. Yaya
2. Cambiasso
3. Zokora
4. Mascherano
Zokora is hardly a djemba. He's not afraid to take control of things, and his passing is pretty good. Djemba could hardly pass. Yes, his built might reflect djemba's, but his play is hardly anything like djemba's. Yaya toure didn't surprise me in his performance, in the sense that I've always rated this fellow. For such a big man, he has amazing feet. More of a CM than a DM. Mascherano slowly came into the game in the second half, and that's the reason I put him ahead of cambiasso. I hardly noticed cambiasso during the game.
 

Cantona07

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United need to show they are still an ambitious club in the transfer market. Spurs are the only club at the moment other than chelsea who are busy in the market. SAF needs to sort this midfield problem once and fo all otherwise it is going to cost us another season. IMO both Mascherano and Toure are ideal candidates to invest on.

Mascherano is very strong in tackles and his passing ability is suited to our style of play. 12mil-15mil is what he is going to cost.

Toure was very impressive yesterday. His physique, pace and ability to play both defensively and in attacking would be a huge asset to the club. Problem is Arsenal and his brother Kolo. 9mil
 

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Michel04 said:
I doubt we're still interest in Diarra, as we never heard something anymore, probably too expensive. As for Zakora, i dont think he's good enough, as others said, a bit of a headless chicken. Would prefer Yaya or Mascherano (who was not that bad as many think, especially when you look at what his job was on the pitch!)
Did you watch the match or are you basing your opinion on what people have posted on here ? Only Zakora and Mascherano played as DM yesterday and Zakora was much better. Yaya is an attacking midfielder and played most of the game in the opposition's half. Not even Arsenal who normally sign every cheap African/ French player around were too interested in Yaya inspite of his brother's recommendation. They felt Diaby was a better bet to replace Vieira and partner Gilberto. Yaya is not a DM or holding midfielder.
 

mamboza

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Freak said:
Zokora is hardly a djemba. He's not afraid to take control of things, and his passing is pretty good. Djemba could hardly pass. Yes, his built might reflect djemba's, but his play is hardly anything like djemba's. Yaya toure didn't surprise me in his performance, in the sense that I've always rated this fellow. For such a big man, he has amazing feet. More of a CM than a DM. Mascherano slowly came into the game in the second half, and that's the reason I put him ahead of cambiasso. I hardly noticed cambiasso during the game.
You have your view I have mine, how about going over it again if you have a recorded game. At first I thought Zokora was the best, then after half an hour I changed my mind. He certainly did a lot of running, and had great burst. But in overall performance (base on each player's role), I still rank them as I did.
 

cesc's_mullet

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Instant Karma said:
I am worried about this Diarra signing. Lyon want 24 million and plan to replace Diarra with Zakora. Why are we paying 24 million for Diarra when someone as good is available cheaper ? If Lyon felt that Diarra cannot be replaced, they'd hardly be willing to let him go even at 24 million. They don't need the money and top clubs rarely let their best players leave.
Exactly right.

If Lyon feel Zokora is a adequite replacement for Diarra, and is available at half the price they'll be having a good fecking laugh all the way to the bank (and he's on fire today ladies and gentlemen).
 

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cesc's_mullet said:
Exactly right.

If Lyon feel Zokora is a adequite replacement for Diarra, and is available at half the price they'll be having a good fecking laugh all the way to the bank (and he's on fire today ladies and gentlemen).
Especially when you consider the fact that Lyon didn't want to sell Essien. They made it very clear to Chelsea but Essien forced the deal by pulling out of training and matches. In Diarra's case, Lyon are quite willing to sell him for the "right price". They just want as much cash as possible and keep refering to the Essien deal but in footballing terms are quite confident that Diarra can be replaced. When you think about it, Diarra could turn out to be worser signing than Essien.
 

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Instant Karma said:
Did you watch the match or are you basing your opinion on what people have posted on here ? Only Zakora and Mascherano played as DM yesterday and Zakora was much better. Yaya is an attacking midfielder and played most of the game in the opposition's half. Not even Arsenal who normally sign every cheap African/ French player around were too interested in Yaya inspite of his brother's recommendation. They felt Diaby was a better bet to replace Vieira and partner Gilberto. Yaya is not a DM or holding midfielder.
Zakora did not impress me that much, did not play that good as you think. and just because Arsenal did not buy a player does not mean we should not go for him
 

unitedgogi

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I have seen Zokora a few times (four-five) and he has never struck me as world class but I have never seen him put in a bad performance either. I said this before, but got laughed at (I know that memories from DJDJ still hurt), this guy is a good value buy. Was a lot better than Mascherano yesterday.
 

cesc's_mullet

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Instant Karma said:
Especially when you consider the fact that Lyon didn't want to sell Essien. They made it very clear to Chelsea but Essien forced the deal by pulling out of training and matches. In Diarra's case, Lyon are quite willing to sell him for the "right price". They just want as much cash as possible and keep refering to the Essien deal but in footballing terms are quite confident that Diarra can be replaced. When you think about it, Diarra could turn out to be worser signing than Essien.
Another good point.

Though I feel to some extent Diarra made Essien. As he was always there to back him up, do the defensive duties, be vigilant, free him up, etc etc.

But as for the 'willing to sell him at the right price factor' you'd expect Lyon to be even more reluctant to let him go due to Essien, their main midfield cog, being sold the previous season. This either speaks volumes on Zokora, or alternatively volumes on Lyons valuation of Diarra.
 

Parks Life

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Spot on those who mentioned the Lyon comments, If Lyon think Zakora is a good replacement for Diarra at only a 1/3 of the price, why the feck are we buying Diarra?

The people labellling Zakora as another DJDJ are fecking idiots, he's worlds away.
 

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Lyon do not consider Zokora as Diarra's replacement...They have bought Toulalan, and should Diarra be replaced by Zokora they'll make a huge turnover in midfield, with Kallström as well.

Nobody would replace Diarra strictly speaking, they'd play differently. That's what they made with Essien, replaced by Tiago who has a completely different style of play.

Zokora is a little more offensive, less physically dominant and less experienced. In fact i don't know if he'd be a starter if Diarra leaves, it may be Toulalan or Kallström.
 

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Mascherano stood out in yesterdays game for me, Zakora was decent but in the second half he seemed to disappear a little. Mascherano on the other hand constantly broke up attacks well and covered the defence supurbly and was full of energy throughout. His passing wasn't to bad either, he's not what i'd call a keane type (but then who is) but he did look like he could fill the DM role well for us and he's young which meets two of fergies requirements for players we want.
 

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onlyoneunited said:
Mascherano stood out in yesterdays game for me, Zakora was decent but in the second half he seemed to disappear a little. Mascherano on the other hand constantly broke up attacks well and covered the defence supurbly and was full of energy throughout. His passing wasn't to bad either, he's not what i'd call a keane type (but then who is) but he did look like he could fill the DM role well for us and he's young which meets two of fergies requirements for players we want.
Thats stupid, the second half was when he was at his best.

I think Mascherano is getting overly prasied by people who spent the last few months desperatly suggesting us to sign him.

Zakora £8 - 10 million, Mascherano £18 - 20 million.

Zakora would be much better business, especially if we are signing Carrick.
 

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mamboza said:
For me:
1. Yaya
2. Cambiasso
3. Zokora
4. Mascherano
I agree with you, Mascherano wasn't as effective as i thought he would be and was overshadowed by Cambiasso in a way, Yaya was very good aswell.
 

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Compared to the hype Mascherano has received on here, he was completely useless yesterday. The Ivory Coast midfield ran the show.

Based on what I've seen so far, Carrick is our best bet - followed by zokora/toure (couldn't distinguish between them yesterday due to the shit telly I was watching it on).
 

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djemba's arse said:
Compared to the hype Mascherano has received on here, he was completely useless yesterday. The Ivory Coast midfield ran the show.
Based on what I've seen so far, Carrick is our best bet - followed by zokora/toure (couldn't distinguish between them yesterday due to the shit telly I was watching it on).
Spot on, obviously a good player but compared to the mirror image to Keane claims and the Rooney equivilant for midfield comments he was a mile off.
 

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Didnt want to say this, but I told you all the positives about Yaya Toure after his performances in the ANC, but nobody paid much attention to it. He's physically dominating, passes the ball well, and would be a great signing for us. However, somebody did mentioned that he was sent to Greece, so that he would meet the work permit requirements to sign for Arsenal?? Can anybody verify that??? From what i know, he was passed, after a unimpressive trial with Arsenal a couple of years ago.
 
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Michel04 said:
I doubt we're still interest in Diarra, as we never heard something anymore, probably too expensive. As for Zakora, i dont think he's good enough, as others said, a bit of a headless chicken. Would prefer Yaya or Mascherano (who was not that bad as many think, especially when you look at what his job was on the pitch!)
It's true what you say about Yaya. The lad is awesome. Especially because he is so two footed and as fast as his Arsenal brother plus his passing range is brilliant.
 

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lets sign Zokora as well as Carrick

It will piss off Spurs because they got Zokora eyed up as replacement for carrick
 

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SittingBull said:
Didnt want to say this, but I told you all the positives about Yaya Toure after his performances in the ANC, but nobody paid much attention to it. He's physically dominating, passes the ball well, and would be a great signing for us. However, somebody did mentioned that he was sent to Greece, so that he would meet the work permit requirements to sign for Arsenal?? Can anybody verify that??? From what i know, he was passed, after a unimpressive trial with Arsenal a couple of years ago.
Yeah I heard he will be joining Arsenal in January.

I suppose Family ties will always win the day.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Parks Life said:
Spot on, obviously a good player but compared to the mirror image to Keane claims and the Rooney equivilant for midfield comments he was a mile off.
Gerrard and Lampard were wonderful yesterdat werent they?
Mascherano has a very limited role with Argentina, he sits way deeper than everyone else. Id like to watch more games to judge all of these players. But one thing we know is that there is definately some good talent out there.
 

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Hawkeye said:
lets sign Zokora as well as Carrick

It will piss off Spurs because they got Zokora eyed up as replacement for carrick
:lol: it would be nice.
 

fatboy

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Well, unfortunately for us, whoever performs the best in the WC will just have his transfer value doubled. So it's a bit of a catch 22. That's the price you pay for doing your scouting on the world's biggest stage of football.

And the worse thing is that even the best performers may just be on great form for 3-4 games. So even an excellent showing is by no means a guarantee. Remember Poborsky?

Honestly I wished we'd done our scouting and transfer moves before the WC even started. Surely we should have run the rule over our transfer targets sufficiently, without needing to watch them for another couple more matches before deciding (probably along with a whole bunch of other big clubs) that he's the guy we really want.
 

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Zakora and yaya look great

But what worries me is that last night was a huge night for them and their county first game in a world cup against one of the giants of world football. it would be foolish to buy on the basis of this game. After all a certain Dwight Yorke looked Amazing in midfield for trinidad in similar circumstances yesterday would you like to see him in uniteds midfield next season?
 

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Hawkeye said:
lets sign Zokora as well as Carrick

It will piss off Spurs because they got Zokora eyed up as replacement for carrick

Why do we want to do that when we are fighting for trophies and they are fighting to secure European cup places...

How about we sign quality players like Diarra and Riquelme instead of pissing off teams
 

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Toure and Zokora would be a cheaper but effective solution for our midfield. I mean they are both strong and while Zokora seems to be more attacking minded Toure adds steel to the side. Unfortunately both players are African internationals, that would mean losing them for 1-2 months every 2 years. Can we afford that?
 

MrMarcello

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devilish said:
Toure and Zokora would be a cheaper but effective solution for our midfield. I mean they are both strong and while Zokora seems to be more attacking minded Toure adds steel to the side. Unfortunately both players are African internationals, that would mean losing them for 1-2 months every 2 years. Can we afford that?
No. And Yaya wants to play for Arsenal.
 

Parks Life

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Excellent again today.

That £10 million release clause is looking an absolute bargain.

Carrick and Zakora, midfield sorted.