I just would like to gauge our impressions on our summer signings.
For me, the best signing has to be Habib Beye, who is performing 2 tasks well. Firstly he is keeping Carr out of the lineup but most importantly he has shown himself to be a very experienced and clever player with several attributes to his game which help the team immensely. Shame we didn't find him a few years ago. 8/10
Abdoulaye Faye has impressed me both with his defensive ability and versatility, who will be a vital part of our drive for success. Standing out and becoming a vital part of a new look defence he is solid and most of all consistent. 8/10
David Rozenhal, a bit hit and miss for me. Has ability but is often far too casual and switches off at times. Tall and fairly good in the air and not too bad on the ball he provides good backup but as a starter? Not for me. 6/10
Jose Enrique, Flashes of potential, limited by a new environment and a whole new defensive setup. Hopefully he can work his way back into the team freeing up Zoggy to his more favorable left wing. The guy has potential, I hope he works hard to adapt and move towards a first team slot. 6/10
Alan Smith, at first I was skeptical, and Sam made him even less appealing by playing him in the middle or even on the right highlighting his weaknesses. As of late however, back in the striker role he hopefully can become more comfortable in, we hope to see the improvement continuing.. 7/10
Cacapa, those 15 minutes cost him his place, but in my mind he is still a great player. Solid and reliable bar that nightmare game I feel he is vital to pushing on this season. 7/10
Geremi, from a promising pre season to frustration after frustration. Being made captain makes him more of a target and rightly so, he just isnt doing a job at the moment. I hope he can turn it around, but is this the best he has? 6/10
Joey Barton, an unlucky injury and prolonged setback leading into a lack of fitness and poor performance. He is slowly starting to look a bit of the player he was at City. However his weaknesses at present are obvious and lets hope he presses on, develops his passing and cements his role in midfield. Hard to rate him really- he could go one of two ways.
Mark Viduka Flashes of brilliance, great technical player but so far, far too injury prone. I hope he continues to do well when fit, but keeping him fit may be our biggest worry. 7/10
He has started to look much better upfront. 6-8 i my guess. He has improved the teams play since moving upfront. Something equally as important.