Posted January 28, 200916 yr Just seen Spanish Football Highlights from the weekend and in particular Barca v Numancia. Whilst everyone at the moment seems to (quite rightly) drooling over Messi I have to say not for the first time this season Dani Alves stood out and played magnificently as well. Superb going forward, a great engine and a top defender too. It makes you think back to the Summer of 07 when we came so very close to signing him. Boswinga isn't a patch on him. I guess the only criticism of him is that he seems to go to ground very easily, though in that respect he would've fitted in well with our mob i suppose. In fact if you look at the 'ones that got away' and our current predicament its very hard to not imagine just what a difference Alves and Robinho wouldve made to our team. Especially with a compatriot managing them. All ifs and buts of course but food for thought.
January 28, 200916 yr think bosingwa's been the best fullback in england this season, and this in his first season abroad. you never know, alves may have come here and not settled. it's one position that I don't really feel we have to look and think the grass is greener. alves is a great player though, and barcelona are amazing (although alves isn't really much of a defender- no side attacks barca down the left though as they are afriad of leaving any gaps for alves and messi).
January 28, 200916 yr i agree, alves wouldn't look out of place in any position on the pitch. he has been outstanding this season bosingwa is good but he can't touch alves
January 28, 200916 yr Author think bosingwa's been the best fullback in england this season, and this in his first season abroad. you never know, alves may have come here and not settled. it's one position that I don't really feel we have to look and think the grass is greener.alves is a great player though, and barcelona are amazing (although alves isn't really much of a defender- no side attacks barca down the left though as they are afriad of leaving any gaps for alves and messi). Like i said , all ifs and buts. Cant agree about Bos though. Im not a fan. But yes, we do have more pressing issues within the first XI.
January 28, 200916 yr Sid Lowe of the Guardian Football Weekly podcast has been raving about Alves all season and just this week he said that he's the second best player in the world behind Messi. Sid Lowe on Dani Alves
January 28, 200916 yr think bosingwa's been the best fullback in england this season What about that Ashley Cole fella?
January 28, 200916 yr well he's made as many mistakes (or perhaps more), and provided nothing like the edge going forward. bosingwa's crossing has gone off the boil lately, and I'm not a fan of his style of defending but he hasn't made many errors leading to goals or clear chances even, while offering more threat than any of our wide players. he's now our only outlet of any worth out wide, and what we need is more people to raise their level to what this guy has played at for the majority of his season so far. it can't be easy to offer the only directness and ability to beat players in the side from a defensive position, and it must be even harder when the rest of the side loses form and it's your first season in the league.
January 28, 200916 yr I agree with G4 on this, Bosingwa has been tremendous this season, and is among the best in the league at a not-particularly deep position, but still. For the first time in a long time we have a right-fullback who is strong in the tackle, can dispossess players, and yet looks totally at home charging forward and whipping in a cross into the six yard box. Although, as has been said, when we dont look great as a team, his play becomes more static and his crosses aimless. Alves is a great player, but its clear this Barca side was both made for his talents, and makes them look even greater than they are. When they have an inferior team pegged inside their own half, with Puyol and Marquez/Pique holding the line at the center circle, then Alves and Abidal get to look like the new incarnations of Cafu charging from wing back to play one-twos with Messi and their other forwards. They have that luxury in their system, and so far no chinks have appeared in their armour. I dont think Alves would have done nearly as well if he had wound up here. We might be playing him as a winger right now, but I really doubt he would be the player we see for Barca Basically, I am happy with what we have, even if what we missed out on looks world class right now
January 28, 200916 yr alves is a supreb player, hes also a horrible sod. the games ive watched hes been nasty, cheating and just a horrible sod. i cant remember which game it was but he spent as much time kicking and trying to get the opposing teams right winger sent off as he did playing football.
January 28, 200916 yr Author I agree with G4 on this, Bosingwa has been tremendous this season, and is among the best in the league at a not-particularly deep position, but still. For the first time in a long time we have a right-fullback who is strong in the tackle, can dispossess players, and yet looks totally at home charging forward and whipping in a cross into the six yard box. I think we are talking about a different player Westway! I havent since any of that from him. Not since August anyway. Personally i think he has been found out.
January 28, 200916 yr Did I see someone say Bosingwa whipping in crosses? Bosingwa's crossing has been appalling for donkeys now. If you choose a full back like Belletti or Bosingwa over one like Ferreira then it is because you are prepared to sacrifice some defensive solidity in return for what the player gives you up front. However when the attacking full back stops delivering in the opponents half of the field you start to wonder whether it is worth picking him - that is where I am with Bosingwa at the moment.
January 29, 200916 yr I love paulo- but I am treating his situation with some realism- he's so far out of favour the best thing for him would be to leave and prove what a top player he is. now that's exactly what I feel loz, about players like bosingwa, and what I feel is that while he has stopped crossing well (although even tonight, an early cross should have been seized upon by ashley for a goal in my view), he still usually offers pace that none of the wide players have, and an option to pass to that ballack, lampard and deco crave for. and in a side with duff and robben that's less important, but now, with the side in the form it is, to take him out for paulo (a far better defender, and my type of player and professional footballer even) would hurt the side overall, because paulo won't get forward nearly as often or as quickly. ashley cole has never been able to cross, but his getting forward still provides the midfield with an option to pass the ball to, and when the team plays well this type of fullback can pin a winger deep in his own half. also, after the newcastle home game in which bos skinned man after man, and made about 4 clear chances through dribbling and crossing, I'm probably in a daze. and really reluctant to let a player capable of doing that sit on the bench.
January 29, 200916 yr If my memory was right, we offered Seville around 25M for him, the deal was almost done then they wanted another couple of Millions, and we rightly pulled out of the deal. Paying that much money for a fullback is just robbery. I dont know who signed Boswinga, but by the look of it we didnt really consider Alves at the end of last season. For me, would be great to sign him, but for that amount of money, we should buy a striker or winger ( maybe we should have signed him as a winger). His success at Barca is no surprise, after all they do have the best attacking players in the world. Their expired product - Deco, is one of our regular, that just tells the gap of quality between the 2 teams. I doubt Alves can be the 'second best player' in the world playing with Malouda, Ballack, Deco etc..
January 29, 200916 yr Did I see someone say Bosingwa whipping in crosses? He sure whipped in the one tonight, across the face of goal with more velocity than dkw's new car.
January 29, 200916 yr Sorry G4 but Bosingwa has mainly ran ferociously into the opposition's half, then stopped, and either cut crosses back into our own half, or floated balls aimlessly into their box with no menace at all. He is a good player, and the past couple of games he has looked better, but why not get some stats from ESPN to back up your claims of him providing!
January 29, 200916 yr Two successful crosses in the last 7 games apparently, brilliant record. But hey, at least he's good defensively! ¬_¬ At least he seems to be getting at least closer to the byline recently.
January 29, 200916 yr He sure whipped in the one tonight, across the face of goal with more velocity than dkw's new car. i doubt that.....
