Coloccini needs to sit out the rest of the season...but back in Argie squad

[merlin]

On previous discussions about Coloccini, I have stated that this player is NOT suited to the physical style of the Prem, and that remains my opinion ; I also said that I expect him to rejoin a Spanish club and I still do.

 

He has committed several basic errors over the season which have resulted in goals for the opposition and nearly all of them have been because he gets caught on the wrong side of a quick forward, playing a forward onside by lack of concentration or because he has been physically hassled by an opposition player(as was the case with the first goal in yesterday's match.

 

It is a pity because he looked to have ability on his first few appearances, but I believe he has probably struggled with the language and way of life - his confidence is now shot, and a  move at the season's end will be in everyone's interest. I would play Taylor & Bassong as CB's(if fit) for the rest of what looks like being a disastrous season.

[Jayson]

Two ways of looking at this.

 

The belief that colo, however crap hes been this season....will improve over time with better training...more confidence & be more adapted to the prem next season.

 

Or

 

That he will fail to adapt to the prem, as he has key weaknesses...like his speed...strength...lack of an ability to head....that if you dont possess in the prem...will get you run all over.

 

I think the second is far more likely.

Just because other players have taken a while to adapt to the prem...doesnt mean it can be applied to all that fail at this level. To not even be able to head a ball away.....or be fast enough to atleast pressure a striker who's just knocking the ball past you....just isnt good enough. Add to that his reaction speed being average at best.

 

I would love to see these class games he had for us, as i dont really remember any.

 

Someone name one or two class tackles he made, or good strong headers. I can name many for Taylor even, so it SHOULD be easy shouldnt it.

[samag]

He is to weak to slow . Every week he gets caught out with the ball over the top, he does not read the game well and has no pace to recover. Sorry is this guy will never make it in the premiership.

Please do not give me the crap about the midfield not been good enough to cover him, it is the same midfield that Bassong and last night Beye play behind, they do not play as badly as this guy.

He may well have played well in Spain, but he is crap in England

[Tachikoma]

Two ways of looking at this.

 

The belief that colo, however crap hes been this season....will improve over time with better training...more confidence & be more adapted to the prem next season.

 

Or

 

That he will fail to adapt to the prem, as he has key weaknesses...like his speed...strength...lack of an ability to head....that if you dont possess in the prem...will get you run all over.

 

I think the second is far more likely.

Just because other players have taken a while to adapt to the prem...doesnt mean it can be applied to all that fail at this level. To not even be able to head a ball away.....or be fast enough to atleast pressure a striker who's just knocking the ball past you....just isnt good enough. Add to that his reaction speed being average at best.

 

I would love to see these class games he had for us, as i dont really remember any.

 

Someone name one or two class tackles he made, or good strong headers. I can name many for Taylor even, so it SHOULD be easy shouldnt it.

 

Short memories? In the early part of the season he was class for us, like there was an aura of assurance about him. Colo's build does not strike me as "weak", it just seems to me that he does not know how to apply himself more physically, that is to play at "our level" where players are expected to go "all in" on tackles.

 

Give him a little more time, and I'm sure he'll pick up a thing or two from the likes of Smith.

[Jayson]

Early part of the season being The Man U & Bolton game ??

 

Because he had a disaster of a game against Arsenal & it carried on from there.

Even against United and Bolton he didnt nothing big did he, i just remember peopel saying general crap lik ehow good his "Composure" was. Any excuse to praise the new expensive signing really. He did nothing special atall.

[TRon]

It's pointless arguing the merits of Coloccini at the moment, he clearly isn't defending with 100% commitment, pulling out of the second challenge after giving the ball away for the first goal is proof of that. I still think the best we have looked defensively this season was earlier on when the back four was Beye, Coloccini, Bassong and Enrique, but there is no way he should be playing at the moment.

[Gallowgate Toon]

He was class against Man City home, the best defenders performance i've seen this season, and bar the goal against Everton i remember Lien saying he looked our best player. Away to Chelsea him and Bassong were both good. People are being fickle really and totally forgetting that he was pretty damn good for the first couple of months, especially considering circumstances.

 

Colo's confidence has dropped dramatically, that is obvious and imo it's because of the way he's been told to defend. He isn't a sweeper, he's a front line defender and before everyone starting bumming Bassong that was the way Colo was playing and he was playing it well. Bassong came in though and Colo gets moved to a sweeper role and since then it's been downhill. Yesterday bar the goal, Colo imo was having a good game, he hadn't put a foot wrong until the mistake (which Duff is avoiding a lot of blame for here), he looked good, he was the leader and Beye was the sweeper, he looked a bit more confident.

 

He probably does need a rest he's played every game for the last 2 seasons and lets not forget how demanding this league is to a new player. Like Rich said you don't lose ability and quality you lose form and confidence, and Colo has a chronic case of that. He just needs time, but all these people who want to see Taylor at CB be warned you'll end up more disappointed than you are now, he might look alright at RB but that's easy compared to CB.

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

His initial mistake was lazy, but the follow up challenge was a disgrace. He could have taken the lot out when challenging Lampard as he got to the ball first but decided to try and block the challenge. If that was Taylor he would have wiped the lot out not allowing Lampard the luxury of continuing his run

[Guest Howaythetoon]

He was having an excellent game up until their goal, marked Anelka out of the game and was very strong in the air and it was good to see him pushing the defence up, although at the request of Dowie and Shearer on the touchline. But then those mistakes....

[biggs]

His initial mistake was lazy, but the follow up challenge was a disgrace. He could have taken the lot out when challenging Lampard as he got to the ball first but decided to try and block the challenge. If that was Taylor he would have wiped the lot out not allowing Lampard the luxury of continuing his run

correct i mentioned that in a earlier post should have cleared it when he had the opportunity.

[Dinho lad]

enough about him not hiding.....it's just the hair.

 

Nah, I hope Colo pulls through this and gets better, not just for this season, but for the next, too.(If we stay up). What I said about him on the match thread yeasterday was simply pure frustration and I didn't really meant.

 

:colo:

[Exiled in Texas]

Terrible couple of errors from Colo leading to the first goal, but i put the blame squarely on Duff for playing the ball back into the center when it was safe out on the wing. Duff just took the easy route when he was pressured, and he didn't even try to work the ball up the line. Duff - turn left - blocked, turn right - blocked. No worries, lets just hook in back into the top of the Penalty Area and let the D figure it out.  My U13s would have got a right earfull -had they made that mistake.

 

Shocking defensive work from Colo, but an incredibly stupid move from Duff.

[Guest Phil K]

Worried about the building scapegoat mentality against Colo.

That said, he hasn't worked, and maybe better to go and get some money back. I am also concerned about Bass dropping hints about Arsenal elsewhere. Maybe its time to bring in Brits and Irish only.

[Guest firetotheworks]

tired, wtf? the guy has just had 2 weeks off, hasn't played internationals this season and we've got knocked easily in both cup competitions

 

some of the chelsea players would have been on their 40-45th game of the season i.e. terry, lampard

 

get rid, i can't remember even bramble being the blame for this many goals or even boumsong at times now, it's every game he's costing us goals now especially at home

 

This simply f***ing cannot be allowed to continue to be our only answer to high-priced central defenders who do not perform consistently or excellently every week, no f***ing way.

 

We've paid £12m for this lad, a huge investment, much like it was with Boumsong before him and Bramble before that, and the club will not survive if it keeps buying these sorts of players and selling them at a huge loss after bad form. Concerted efforts must be made to help these players regain their form and maintain their confidence, if at all possible, instead of constantly aborting.

 

Right, honestly, Coloccini has been a f***ing abomination recently as a central defender, I know this. I saw it today, I saw it at Hull and I've seen it against Arsenal and numerous times prior. However, this is a 5'11" central defender from Argentina, dropped by Mara-f***ing-dona from his national squad playing in a brand new country, a brand new league and at a brand new club. He didn't speak the language when he arrived, found himself thrust into his debut at Old Trafford about 24 hours after signing (48?) and has since, to my knowledge, been doing his best to learn the lingo. Take a minute to think how this may have affected him and subsequently his performances... please...

 

He has played every single game this season (and did so last season for Deportivo). He has not hidden, unlike I'm certain a vast, vast majority of this squad WOULD do if they were suffering on-field as he has been recently. For those things he does deserve a hell of a lot of credit.

 

However, it is evident that he is suffering from shattered confidence and is constantly having the weaknesses in his game exposed by opposing teams (his lack of pace and his diminutive stature for a central defender). These things can be countered though with a bit of tactical nouse and organisation, which I hope the future (immediate and long-term) will bring. It must be noted though that it does not help that he has not been able to attain any respite - much like Boumsong before him - due to injuries and the general idiocy of the people managing this football club prior to Shearer's return.

 

He needs an arm around him, to possibly be "rested" for a few games if Bassong and Taylor are fit to return imminently (which they appear to be and which is timed very nicely for an aerial bombardment from Stoke), but he does not deserve to be completely written off. He has had some very good games and shown some very good signs of being a good footballer and a good defender. You do not lose that ability, but you do lose your form and psychologically you suffer. It's that side we need to work on, because he could undoubtedly still be a very good/big player for us.

 

I don't envy what he's been thrust into this season, though, and the same goes for what happened to Boumsong (who also had a few extremely bright spells in amongst the chaos).

 

Awesome post. Fully agree. 

[Guest Stephen927]

Had an absolute shocker yesterday.

 

Needs to change his way of thinking, he seems more than happy to take a touch, rather than getting it away, or letting a ball bounce rather than attacking it in the air. It's almost as though he's trying to prove a point by saying look I'm not nervous I can take a touch and pass it short.

 

Back to basics for Coloccini I think. He looks like a strong lad, but we just don't see him use his strength.

[Gallowgate End]

Its amazing what a few people on here say about Coloccini like, it really is.  He's had his poor games, and he's had his good games but he's never been shocking!  Bramble and Boumsong were shocking, they actually gave teams numerous free goals.  At worst Coloccini has not prevented goals he should have done better with, but he never gifts goals to the other team.  Also at his best he looks like a really classy defender.

 

He's had an inconsistent first season, but he's been pretty solid overall.  Either way some people need to stop with the goldfish like memories, remember our past defenders and get some perspective for fuck sake!

 

 

Nonsense he has been consistently dreadful all season I've heard people continuously excuse him despite him costing our team what is a quite staggering amount of goals.

 

Surely his performance against Liverpool still sticks in people's minds no...? that 1 v 5 lost was unbearable I've been disgusted by performances at St James Park before but never have I been more disgusted at such a gutless and dismal performance in a Black and White shirt before as Coloccini put in that day at fault for the 2nd goal, 3rd and for the 4th he should of been hurled off for alone.

 

Quite staggering really the amount of goals he has cost us this season here just few off of that long list -

- Stoke Home 1st goal at fault turned and out paced by Ricardo Fuller... Bolton Away at fault for the only goal failed to spot the danger and come across to defend the ball in left Gardner completely free... Sunderland Home 1st goal far to deep then decided to try and play Cisse offside clueless idiot... West Brom Home at fault for 1st goal pulled to pieces by Ismeal Miller... Everton Away failed to mark his zone on the areal ball to let Falliani free to score... Fulham Away at fault for the second goal his reckless lunging tackle on Johnson gave away a easily preventable penalty... West Ham Away 1st goal at fault completely lost Craig Bellamy run I'll let him off the 2nd although arguably his fault also..  Blackburn Home dreadful marking on Santa Cruz for the second headed goal... Hull City Home at fault second goal turned by Marlon bloody King... Manchester United Home at fault for 1st goal far too tight on Wayne Rooney... West Ham Away at fault for third goal cowardly turned his back on Di Michele shot... and that isn't even all of them.................. 

 

For me his performances away at Chelsea, Boro and Manchester United were possible his only decent or good (if your kind) performances all season and at £10 million that's not good enough.

 

Quite rightly ousted from the Argentinian National Squad in recent months...

 

Cannot stand the bloke..

 

Well I thought he was surprisingly bad yesterday....... 

 

And yesterday......

 

On a serious note i'll be quite surprised if Alan doesn't play Steven Taylor alongside Bassong next week providing he proves his fitness absolutely crucial Bassong is back for Stoke though.

[Ridman]

We never should have sold Faye like.

 

Enrique - Faye - Bassong - Beye 

[Mr. Snrub]

Terrible couple of errors from Colo leading to the first goal, but i put the blame squarely on Duff for playing the ball back into the center when it was safe out on the wing. Duff just took the easy route when he was pressured, and he didn't even try to work the ball up the line. Duff - turn left - blocked, turn right - blocked. No worries, lets just hook in back into the top of the Penalty Area and let the D figure it out.  My U13s would have got a right earfull -had they made that mistake.

 

Shocking defensive work from Colo, but an incredibly stupid move from Duff.

 

Jesus christ.  One of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read on on this forum.  Well done.

 

Coloccini makes 2 glaring errors, yet it's all Duff's fault for playing it simple.  I feel sorry for the kids you manage.

[Guest ObaStar]

in England vs Slovakia Skrtel looked like a fucking pub team member. if the defence has no protection from midfield (Butt) and their are playing vs rooney and anelka and the best strikers in the world of course hes gonna make mistakes and look shitty. if we solve the midfield we solve the problem. colo is just under constant pressure all game vs top strikers

[La Parka]

in England vs Slovakia Skrtel looked like a f***ing pub team member. if the defence has no protection from midfield (Butt) and their are playing vs rooney and anelka and the best strikers in the world of course hes gonna make mistakes and look shitty. if we solve the midfield we solve the problem. colo is just under constant pressure all game vs top strikers

 

That is all well and good, however he hasn't been able to cope, at all, with the pace and power of the league. His positioning is horrible, he cant head, granted he is good 1 v 1, but the rest of the time I lack confidence in his ability, much like I did with Bramble and Boumsong.

[Dan Gleebals]

Shocking people are putting him in the same league as Bramble

 

Facts:

First season in the premiership - takes time to settle it

Started very well and has slowly declined

Rest of the team cannot protect the back 4

Rest of the team generally do not defend well

 

Give the lad a chance FFS, we players like Butt covering him, it is hardly a suprise he is getting the wobbles.  You do not become an Argrie regular when you are shite - FACT.

 

He will come good, very good in fact.  Just give him time..

[joeyt]

No-one else had the same dream as me last night?

 

We were playing Everton away (don't ask why) and we had two penalties in the first half, both taking by Colocinni. First one he blazes over the bar second one he tries a little chip; fails miserably. Wished the dream was true, we beat them 1-0 with a Martins goal  :-[

 

Moral of the story: Don't put Colocinni on penalties 

[jimmymag]

I think Coloccini is a good footballer but what we are seeing now is a player devoid of all confidence, and for that reason, and the position we are in, I agree that he should be taken out of the firing line if Bassong and Taylor are fit.

 

Further to that, I am very disappointed with Coloccini's character, even when he makes a mistake he shows no real desire to get back and try and rectify it. If he had shown some heart on Saturday he could still have prevented Lampard's goal.

 

 

[La Parka]

He isn't going to make it in the premiership in my opinion for one reason, and one reason alone. His lack of physical attributes.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

Shocking people are putting him in the same league as Bramble

 

Facts:

First season in the premiership - takes time to settle it

Started very well and has slowly declined

Rest of the team cannot protect the back 4

Rest of the team generally do not defend well

 

Give the lad a chance FFS, we players like Butt covering him, it is hardly a suprise he is getting the wobbles.  You do not become an Argrie regular when you are s**** - FACT.

 

He will come good, very good in fact.  Just give him time..

 

This.