Javi Garcia (continued)

[taconinja]

Question... was it him that started the sequence that led to our goal? I don't have time to watch a replay but I'm curious.

Nasri IIRC.

Forgot to come back and correct that! Yes, I watched the replay and it was Nasri. Garcia had made a decent tackle a few moments earlier. Thanks for catching that though!

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Been really impressed with his last two performances. I didn't think there was a huge improvement prior to the Chelsea cup match, I still thought he was way too passive but his last two matches he has closed people down with noticeably more urgency, there has been much more bite in his tackles and he has shifted the ball a bit quicker. He needs to keep it going till May now so we aren't so reliant on Fernandinho.

 

[Damocles]

Kept him when he was poor - now he's becoming the player we thought we bought we sell him?? Where's the sense in that? Excellent cover and versatility.

Because 5 games to a decent standard and 1 to a "good" standard is just form when compared to two years of awfulness.

 

[Dipsis_LTU_MC]

He has started to play better because he plays a lot now in his natural position - holding midfielder. Last year and at the beginning of this year he played as a CB couple games, then couple games as a holding midfielder, now he becomes a consistent player.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Kept him when he was poor - now he's becoming the player we thought we bought we sell him?? Where's the sense in that? Excellent cover and versatility.

Because 5 games to a decent standard and 1 to a "good" standard is just form when compared to two years of awfulness.

You don't believe in improvement then. You'd rather ignore that and focus on previous poor form.

 

[BigOscar]

It's a shame that he's never really had much of a chance to adapt to the team or the league. He missed preseason in his first year and was forced to play CB in pre season this year, he's really never been able to put too much of a run of games together actually playing in midfield for us. His ability or willingness to play as a pretty shoddy emergency CB has probably ruined his chance here

 

[Lancet Fluke]

It's a shame that he's never really had much of a chance to adapt to the team or the league. He missed preseason in his first year and was forced to play CB in pre season this year, he's really never been able to put too much of a run of games together actually playing in midfield for us. His ability or willingness to play as a pretty shoddy emergency CB has probably ruined his chance here

I don't agree, I have been as critical of Garcia as anyone but if he plays in the manner (and generally to the same level) that he has done in his last couple of appearances from now until the end of the season then I think he will win over most people. Personally, I never had an issue with him in terms of centre back because as you say, that isn't his position. I know people said he was much improved for the last few months, personally I thought he was just marginally improved but IMO his whole game has looked different since he came back from that injury. He looks fitter and stronger too. During the Chelsea cup game, his whole game looked so different to me that I wondered whether our approach for Fernando had given him a kick up the arse.

 

[Proelia]

Kept him when he was poor - now he's becoming the player we thought we bought we sell him?? Where's the sense in that? Excellent cover and versatility.

Because 5 games to a decent standard and 1 to a "good" standard is just form when compared to two years of awfulness.

You don't believe in improvement then. You'd rather ignore that and focus on previous poor form.

Yea looks like it , a pritty pathetic view to have

 

[BigOscar]

It's a shame that he's never really had much of a chance to adapt to the team or the league. He missed preseason in his first year and was forced to play CB in pre season this year, he's really never been able to put too much of a run of games together actually playing in midfield for us. His ability or willingness to play as a pretty shoddy emergency CB has probably ruined his chance here

I don't agree, I have been as critical of Garcia as anyone but if he plays in the manner (and generally to the same level) that he has done in his last couple of appearances from now until the end of the season then I think he will win over most people. Personally, I never had an issue with him in terms of centre back because as you say, that isn't his position. I know people said he was much improved for the last few months, personally I thought he was just marginally improved but IMO his whole game has looked different since he came back from that injury. He looks fitter and stronger too. During the Chelsea cup game, his whole game looked so different to me that I wondered whether our approach for Fernando had given him a kick up the arse.

I think that a lot of fans turned on him pretty unfairly because of his CB performances and it's taken a lot to recover from that, his confidence clearly took a knock as well. But on top of that, I think he's had to "waste" a fair amount of time trying to adapt to playing CB, which he really needed to have to adapt to playing midfield in our team/league. He still has probably only started about 25 games in midfield for us in the best part of two years and that's been with about 8 different partners or systems, it's hardly ideal for a player trying to settle

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

FWIW, and with our squad looking goosed at this time, I would have Garcia in the team for the Final. I can't say I'm bothered about whether the game is to be a showpiece or not. Great if it is, but it's all about picking up the trophy first and foremost, and then we can get our focus back onto the far more important task of EPL success.

I expect that Sunderland will be all fired up and will do a lot of running about. They will be physical rather than pretty to watch, and with too many of our squad carrying knocks or just being overworked, a team to grab a 1-0 or a 2-0 victory will suffice. I don't consider either Yaya or Fernie to be true 'holding' or defensive midfielders in the same way we could have called NDJ or Barry that. Indeed, both players like to get forward when they can which might not be a bad thing when we are scoring for fun, but at this present time when goals are hard to come by, we have to make sure that Sunderland do not get as much as a sniff at the target.

With this in mind, my team for the final would be:-
Hart
Zab Vk JL Clichy
Garcia
Yaya Fernie
Nasri Silva
xxxxxx (whoever is fit)

It won't be as flowing as we have seen this season but it will be a powerful lineup that shouldn't give too much away and it won't stand any messing, and Garcia will be a big part in it.