Alexander Kolarov

[CityReg]

I think few deliver a better final ball than he does. I'd still have Clichy over him, but what a second choice left back he is.

 

[blueabdi]

he was MOTM last night against wolves, he was Man of the match against villareal , he was the best when he came on munich match, he has improved a lot since clichy came. he is shown that he is capable of defending and as well as attacking this guy deserves more . it is not fair the criticism he is getting from the fans . i know clichy is better than him against some opponents but we are lucky to have two world class left backs.

 

[FeedTheGoat10]

In him and Zabaleta we have two very good full backs. Clichy and Richards are also very good, and probably edge it due to their pace.

 

[smiles]

his crossing was excellent against wolves, he could have easily provides 2 or 3 goals had dzeko got on the end of them. While clichy is safer all round, kola has the edge going forward.
He saved us against Napoli and put in a great performance against Villareal. He's def upped his game of late and we now have 2 good left backs.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I don't think that any single player can stop Silva, but I am quite certain that he would easily handle other three.

Never mind those 4, the players he can't handle are the ones with pace. He was getting murdered by journeymen and kids at times
Last year.

I haven't seen a single one of you address that issue yet.

Because we're not talking about last year?

Jimmy Kebe, I think you're talking about. He was a player in top form. He murdered Baines, in fact Everton lost that game almost exclusively from attacks down that side. Kebe ran time and time again at Kola but we didn't come that close to conceding. The main problem in that game was a total lack of movement up front.

It's a more difficult position to play than it used to be, for tactical reasons. An experienced guy like Evra can concede three goals in three minutes. Clichy was stigmatised as the cause of much of Arsenal's defensive problems last year. Cole did absolutely nothing last year.

The left back is part of a grand tactical scheme. The guy in front of him is actually an attacker in a free role. The left back has to do his bit and defend in the box, defend his flank, but he also HAS to attack extremely aggressively, because if he doesn't, or if the rest of the team are slow in transition, don't circulate, drag the right players about, or if they just lose concentration, then the entire thing sort of collapses.

I'm not pretending he doesn't have his limitations, but surely you can see that he's capable of winning us games. That's incredibly rare.

I said earlier in the thread he has a nice left foot and puts some good balls in. I also think he tried hard and is a good lad with a good attitude. But he will always be extremely limited in this league because he is too slow. One of the reasons, maybe even the biggest reason , we took control against united is because clichy dominated their wide players and they started coming inside instead of wide. He had an injury and he's better this year . He's fine as number 2 left back, just like zab is number 2 right back.

But as I said earlier , it's clichy for me every game if he's fit enough.

 

[binns]

I have never understood the criticism of Kolarov - he is a fine player & will continue to prove his worth - especially if we continue to progress in the Cups.
We are fortunate In having Kolarov, Clichy, Zabaleta & Richards available for our back four.
Be good now if people stopped knocking him!
Too many people on this forum too quick to pick a target for their ill-informed criticism in my opinion.

 

[BlueJill]

We looked better in defence last year with Zab at left back. I think most clean sheets would have been from when Micah-Vinnie-Lescott-Zab were the back four.

Made 27 starts in the PL, so discounting his injury he started pretty much every game and that defence certainly didn't keep most of the clean sheets.

Stop letting facts stand in the way of a good Kolarov bashing.

-- Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:11 pm --

He come in for a bit of stick wince he joined the club but I really think that since the arrival of Clichy, he's really upped his game. Defensively he's been sound and he's making the right decisions when he constantly rampaging down the left side now.

Hope he begins to get the praise he deserves from our fans now.

I frankly think this sentiment is bullshit. Kolarov had a serious injury in his first game in a new country in the toughest league in the world. He played well last year. Perhaps not as well as he is playing this year but as well if not better than should have been expected.

You simply can't judge a player until they have had time to settle with a new team. This is true for Mario, Kolarov, Milner, Dzeko and Boateng. All were slated mercilessly and all are showing their true class now.

This business about upping his game because Clichy is here now is a cheap way of avoiding the truth. Many many people got it dead wrong on a number of players last year.

You make a good point to be honest. He wasn't as bad as many made him out to be last season and considering the points you made (new club, new country, injuries etc) he didn't do to badly at all.

I do still think that he has improved since arrival of Clichy though.

Yep, he is better than he was last year. I just don't know if we can say it is because of Clichy.<br /><br />-- Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:19 pm --<br /><br />Bottom line. Without Kolarov we would be out of the Champions League. That is a fact.

 

[redmizzle]

Why do we let Kolarov (goal against Napoli noted) take every freekick within 35 yards of goal? There is so much creative talent available I just think it's a waste more often than not.

He takes freekicks because he's good at taking freekicks. Hope that helps.

 

[pudge]

Why do we let Kolarov (goal against Napoli noted) take every freekick within 35 yards of goal? There is so much creative talent available I just think it's a waste more often than not.

He takes freekicks because he's good at taking freekicks. Hope that helps.

But he ALWAYS shoots from free kicks, i wish he would at least attempt to cross it in the box, a hard hit, fast, head height ball in the box off his left foot would be more dangerous than him shooting from 35 yards out each time imo

 

[Mancini wooooahh Mancini]

He's been excellent this season. Prefer him over Clichy if i'm honest although Clichy was excellent on sunday.