Alou Diarra - Equipe.

[Mick]

I read  on a Lyon forum and there was a thread about Diarra leaving. I translated about 30 posts with AV as i dont know that much french tbh.

I still could not get that much info about him.

 

The only post that gave me some optimism about this player was where some guy mentioned that he's been excellent everytime he had seen Diarra play, but too badly he did not play enough. I dont know how that would help us being positive about this, but still, better than saying that he's been really crap there. And i guess you cant be s*** if you were in the WC squad for France.

 

I was going to register myself on that forum and ask for some opinions about him as a player and so on. But i didn't as i guess that generally the french people doesn't want to speak english or cant. Probably better spending time with my dog and learn it to speak chinese..

 

Wrong, Boumsong.

[KaKa]

Heres a good little article which talks about Diarra's history. Was written while he was still at Lens.

 

French Focus: Alou Diarra (Lens)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Away from the fanfare surrounding the international returns of Zinedine Zidane and co., an interesting subplot was unfolding in France Coach Raymond Domenech's squad to face the Ivory Coast in August 2005. The under-pressure tactician had been a fierce advocate of his young, Ligue 1-dominated teams back when he was struggling to replace the old guard, but he gave little indication of knowing who his best players were. Suddenly, with Zizou and Claude Makelele taking two prized midfield squad places, Domenech was forced to show his hand.

 

 

Paris Saint-Germain pair Jérôme Rothen and Vikash Dhorasoo made the cut as expected, but there was nothing at all predicatable about Lens midfielder Alou Diarra jumping the queue ahead of Benoît Pedretti and Rio Mavuba. Relatively unknown in his homeland – or anywhere else for that matter – the tall and athletic ball-winner has nonetheless had admirers from all over the continent since he began his career with Louhans-Cuiseaux in 1999-2000.

 

 

A mere three games later, the 18-year-old Diarra was scooped up out of Ligue 2 by Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. He didn't manage to get a game for Bayern in two years, but he shone for France at the World Youth Championship in 2001 and Liverpool boss Gérard Houllier brought him to Anfield on a five-year contract in 2002. Yet again, however, Diarra found himself away from the action as the Reds farmed him out on loan to Le Havre. A season later, they sent him to Bastia, and his prospects did not change when Rafael Benitez replaced Houllier in 2004. The Spaniard reaffirmed the club's faith in him as a long-term investment, but a third-straight loan deal was cobbled together with Lens.

 

 

Many players would have struggled with the enforced, nomadic lifestyle - and the feeling not so much of having been put on ice but cryogenically frozen. Diarra is not one of them, though. "Actually, my journey through so many different stages has given me lots of experience," he says. "It's helped me to be competitive, ready to rise to any challenge." It also taught him to appreciate loyalty, and when Lens fought to hold on to him at the end of the 2004-05 season, it was hard to say no. He had been a revelation at the Stade Félix-Bollaert, even captaining the side on five occasions, and after Liverpool's best attempts to lure him back fell on deaf ears, he signed a four-year deal with Les Sang et Or.

 

 

Diarra admits he had the World Cup on his mind as well: "Lens are the club that helped me become an international, so it was a logical choice. I'm definitely thinking about Germany and the France team has now become a real objective for me. I'm going to try and make myself a regular." That's quite a statement from someone who admitted to being as surprised as everyone else when Domenech called him up to his first France squad less than a year earlier: "I really didn't expect it, I thought I'd need at least a good year with my club first."

 

 

Mavuba got the nod ahead of him to face Bosnia on that occasion, but he didn't stray far from Domenech's mind and eventually made a solid debut as a substitute in the World Cup qualifier against Ireland in October 2004 – a game in which Mavuba suffered badly. By the time France travelled to Tel Aviv for another tense qualifier in March 2005, Diarra was in the first eleven and winning plaudits for his no-nonsense physical display.

 

 

"Domenech's the Coach who knows me the best, so I'm very pleased he gave me a chance," he adds, and it's true that he had been ever-present in the former Lyon boss's Under-21 side from 2001 onwards. In fact, Domenech has referred to him as "Vieira's twin" in the past, on account of his long legs and bursts of acceleration, and it is a comparison Diarra relishes. "Being likened to him isn't hard to live with at all, it's just flattering. Patrick's the best in the world in his position and I've learnt so much from just watching him in training. He's also given me good advise about controlling my anger, which is something I know I still need to improve."

 

http://www.channel4.com/sport/french_football/focus/diarraalou.html

 

 

A Liverpool fans take on his performance while on loan at Lens ...

 

Having sat up all night to watch the latest Grid Iron offering "Ordinary Bowl" XXXIX and being bored shitless, I just thought I'd have one quick shufty at the Sky TV guide before retiring.

 

Channel 4 3.30 - 5.15 Paris SG vs Lens

 

Didn't sound worth staying up for until I remembered our very own ALOU DIARRA out on loan to Lens.

 

What I can tell you is this fella is a giant. Strong in the tackle, powerful in the air, he dominated the middle of the park throughout. He is more of a defensive midfield player akin to Didi rather than a Stevie G or Alonso type of player. His distribution was faultless on the night, picking out selective short passes rather than 40 yarders a la the other two.

 

He looked like the ideal replacement or understudy to Didi. He continually won all the high balls in the middle of the park and was also a good defender of corners, where he picked up the PSG centre half. But the highlight of his ariel display was the bullet header with which he opened the scoring tonight, rolling away from his marker and bulleting one in from the back post.

 

He put in the highest amount of tackles on the night and often left his mark on the opposition. No surprise really that he eventually was booked for ONE mistimed tackle. He broke up wave after wave of PSG attacks and always found a player of his own. Looking at his game he is likely to pick up at least 10 yellows a season, due to the amount of tackles he makes in a game, but never looked like getting a red as his game does not include cynical challenges.

 

I find it strange that he has not been made part of our squad so far as wherever he has played (Le Havre, Bastia and now Lens), he has featured in the majority of games. This season for instance he has started 22 out of 25 league games.

 

I only hope that he is given an opportunity to play for us before his contract runs out, which I believe is in 2007. Sadly, I think we'll see him in a French shirt before we ever see him don the Liverpool Red. After tonight's performance it will come as no surprise to me if he is selected for his national side in the friendlies this week.

 

I have never been a big admirer of the French League, but tonight I had my eyes opened, where I watched a game played nigh on twice the pace of current Premier League games watched and our lad was still running strong at the finish.

 

Alou Diarra has a big future in the game, I can only hope he has one with us. Keep yer eye out for future Lens games or French International games, where I am sure he will feature again very soon.

 

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/article.php?id=816426

 

 

Sounds like a beast to me!

[Thespence]

And i guess you cant be s*** if you were in the WC squad for France.

 

What about Stéphane Guivarc'h who played for us up front, he was a world cup winner & mega shite.

 

 

[Baggio]

 

Hottiger, Barton, Fox and Asprilla were all s****.

 

Paid about £13 million for that lot, what would that be with the inflation on transfers today? £30 millionish?

 

I wouldn't say they were all s***, Hottiger wasn't that bad and went for more than we paid for him.  Barton was at the club for about 7 years, he struggled when he first arrived but improved.  Fox blew hot and cold but left for a profit and Asprilla left for the same as we paid.

 

We probably only lost £2 million between the four of them, the biggest and only loss was on Barton who stayed long enough to justify any loss.

 

I wouldn't say it was right to look how much a player was sold for to judge if he was a good signing or not, we as good as got our money back on Amdy Faye but he was a shite signing, easily one of the worst players to pull a Newcastle shirt on in the last 10 years.

 

The way I would look at it is did any of those signings make a significant improvement to the team for the value of their transfer, apart from Hottiger who cost less than a million I'd say no to all of the above.

[Ikon]

I read  on a Lyon forum and there was a thread about Diarra leaving. I translated about 30 posts with AV as i dont know that much french tbh.

I still could not get that much info about him.

 

The only post that gave me some optimism about this player was where some guy mentioned that he's been excellent everytime he had seen Diarra play, but too badly he did not play enough. I dont know how that would help us being positive about this, but still, better than saying that he's been really crap there. And i guess you cant be s*** if you were in the WC squad for France.

 

I was going to register myself on that forum and ask for some opinions about him as a player and so on. But i didn't as i guess that generally the french people doesn't want to speak english or cant. Probably better spending time with my dog and learn it to speak chinese..

 

Wrong, Boumsong.

 

Well i dont think he was shit at first. But after time he became shit..

 

 

And i guess you cant be s*** if you were in the WC squad for France.

 

What about Stéphane Guivarc'h who played for us up front, he was a world cup winner & mega s****.

 

 

 

 

Well of course. But mostly players who are included in France squad are not exactly shit..

[Guest ryunufc]

And i guess you cant be s*** if you were in the WC squad for France.

 

What about Stéphane Guivarc'h who played for us up front, he was a world cup winner & mega s****.

 

 

 

he missed three decent chances in the final

[Thespence]

But mostly players who are included in France squad are not exactly s***

 

That lad Sunderland signed Lillian was crap as well. For every Lillian or  Stéphane getting picked for France there is a Michael Gray or Mick Hartford getting picked for England. Lets hope if Diarra  joins us is more like Vieira than Dabo.

[Optimistic Nut]

For Joey Barton's Newcastle career, let's hope that's the case as well.

[Baggio]

The Times say he's turned down a move to Portsmouth.

[Yorkie]

Isn't the Times fairly reliable n'all?

[toontownman]

Looks good for us, that is if we are actually interested in him at all.

[Mr Logic]

Pretty quiet regarding this..

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

Signed for Bordeoux

 

 

[Guest SwissMagpie]

Bon Jour,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,its last week news

[M4]

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/9462/57449bordeauxdiarra2307yi1.jpg

[thenige]

We've needed this type of midfielder for what seems an age. We tried (and failed dismally) with Faye, so if the price is right, I'd love to bulk up our midget midfield with someone like that...and yes, we all know we need defenders, but we can't just ignore perfectly good targets in other positions.