Nigel De Jong

[1337]

People forget how young he is, he still has time to become a far better player.

He's 26 in november, hardly fresh out of the youth team!

hahahaha

 

[blu320]

The officiating was appalling. I really hope US Soccer goes through the video and sends the highlights of the bad ref to FIFA after these type of matches. I have read other national organizations have done that and gotten some satisfaction. The lopsided calls and protection of the better-known players is to be expected to some extent and we'll face the same in SA, so it's good for the players to get used to it, but the terribly lopsided nature of Cakir's calls really made the game unfair, especially in the first half. It also led to a very serious injury to a young up-and-coming player with the US. Shame on Mr. Cakir.

 

[Neil McNab]

The top and bottom of it, De Jong is not a good player. "He's tough", "He's a tackler". No he isn't. He's a headless chicken who chases shadows. He kills any forward play cos he can't pass the ball for shit, so sideways or backwards he goes. City have the capabilities and promise of playing fast, furious football that most of the Premiership couldn't handle - this won't happen while De Jong wears a city shirt. He ain't good enough for where we want to go. Let's get out of the mindset that a 'battler' is what we need. All of the players should be doing that....the difference being, is that the other players have talent to go with it.

Wow.

The Dutch national team manager seems to rate him quite highly (as does Mancini, obviously), but what do they know? Especially compared to some of the football brains on here.

Great logic there, Sven rated Gelson Fernandes, and so did a lot of managers rate a lot of crap players.
The facts are there, I watch what he does, which is in general pass the ball backwards or to the opposition, commit himself to tackles in such a way that he ends up in a heap on the floor as the ball is taken up by another opposition player or he watches as the ball flies over his head or is passed around him as he hasn;t the pace to get there.
The role you all have him down for is bullshit, he can only cut out 10-20% of attacks at best so has to offer something else to warrant a starting place.

 

[TVI]

I had to laugh at the Wigan match.

Everytime they had a free shot from the edge of our box all you could hear was "wheres Viera?" "your man Viera" "you're sh1t Viera" etc.

No mention of De Jong at all.

 

[Nils]

He's great at finding space, sadly he just marks it instead of finding an opposition player

 

[Lucas North]

Glad that a few of our more astute and knowledgeable fans are starting to see through the facade that is de-jong.

His snarling ,fist clenching and the odd overhead bicycle kick clearance can only kid people for so long.

The sooner he is banned the better and we can get on with clinching 4th spot in a far more fluent manner.

 

[blue_paul]

I posted this welsewhere, it has resonance on this thread though I feel:

The reason he's immune from criticism as you rightly point out is what I call the 'Claude Makelele effect.' Football fans have been creaming over this idea of a one dimensional defensive midfielder who just sits there and screens the back four. People forget however, that Makelele had world class players around him Real Madrid, Chelsea and France. He could sit there whilst Zidane and the rest did the business,
We can't afford to carry such a limited player and why on earth shouldn't your midfielders be able to tackle, track back and offer something going forward too? Because some idiots read Henry Winter saying every top side needs a holding midfielder!!
We need far more dynamic midfielders, the likes of Essien or players in that mould. Why on earth do we need De Jong against the likes of Wigan when he offers so little? We'll see an improvement when Barry starts in there with Viera or Ireland. De Jong is a clear cut case of the emperor having no clothes!

 

[ono]

Why do people play De Jong down, i think he is an awsome player who gets stuck into eveything and shows what he's about. Typical DCM players dont run through players and pretend their forwards, they move the ball about and keep posession. I rate De Jong very well!

I rate De Jong too. There might well be a case that in certain games he could be left out to give us a bit more going forward, but in general I would want him in the team, certainly against any of the top teams. And he is nowhere near as limited a player as people on here make out - if he was, he wouldn't be such a nail-on choice for Holland, would he? Might not play many (any?) killer balls, but rarely gives it away. And this idea that he stops us playing attacking football is pony - we weren't doing too bad going forward earlier in the season when he was in the team.

He's nailed on for Holland because they have Van Der Vaart, Robben and Sneijder in front of him, so he can do a similar job to what Makelele did for Madrid.

At City De Jong has technically limited players in front of him and technically limited players in either full back position. They're his main passing options. He's got very little option other than to play a simple sideways pass. It's not really his fault, but if we're going to insist on keeping him, we won't see his true value until we have better players around him.

 

[Dicky99]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

 

[1337]

Glad that a few of our more astute and knowledgeable fans are starting to see through the facade that is de-jong.

His snarling ,fist clenching and the odd overhead bicycle kick clearance can only kid people for so long.

The sooner he is banned the better and we can get on with clinching 4th spot in a far more fluent manner.

Lmfao. Brilliant post.

 

[Dicky99]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

 

[Neil McNab]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

Again flawed logic, you could use those stats to say, how come all those managers sold him on, wasn't he good enough?
He started at a club in Europe and has gone to a mid table team in England (which is what we were). Crap players get games, it doesn't mean they're great. Hollands manager has warned him about his "agricultrural approach to the game".
The whole idea of a holding midfielder is only viable if you're loading midfield with attacking players that don't balance their game with defensive duties, even then they need to be able to pass, tackle, run and move!
As for the walley who says we won't see the best from De Jong untill we get better players around him is in dream world, it's his passes that are shit, will he suddenly change his game and gain two yards of pace pmsl.

 

[Lucas North]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

Means fuck-all, the Nevilles have numerous England Caps, Umpteen medals and they are both kack.

If l was Vieira l would be livid, at least he tried to shoulder some responsibility the other night and got involved, not everything came off and he got slaughtered for it.

de-jong gave him no back-up whatsoever ,contributed nothing, hid, got by-passed, chased a few shadows and generally left Vieira to take the flak.

However, a few of the less savvy posters still think he is 'class' ,'mint', 'ace'.

 

[Neil McNab]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

Means fuck-all, the Nevilles have numerous England Caps, Umpteen medals and they are both kack.

If l was Vieira l would be livid, at least he tried to shoulder some responsibility the other night and got involved, not everything came off and he got slaughtered for it.

de-jong gave him no back-up whatsoever ,contributed nothing, hid, got by-passed, chased a few shadows and generally left Vieira to take the flak.

However, a few of the less savvy posters still think he is 'class' ,'mint', 'ace'.

He must be mint because he's Dutch, shouts a lot, cost a lot and plays the Makelele role lol!
If you're a good player you move from Ajax to Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Munich not Hamburg and then to City! His career has gone backwards, who'd come in for him right now if he wanted away.........you can bet nobody in the Champs league would come knocking!

 

[ono]

Ajax - 95 apps
Hamburg - 66 apps
City - 47 apps and counting
Holland - 34 caps

All these managers cant be wrong. Top Class managers at that, but oh no wait, there are so many Top Class managers sat on here isnt there? With all them qualifications and knowledge of top flight and international football.
He should play every game for us, end of.

Again flawed logic, you could use those stats to say, how come all those managers sold him on, wasn't he good enough?
He started at a club in Europe and has gone to a mid table team in England (which is what we were). Crap players get games, it doesn't mean they're great. Hollands manager has warned him about his "agricultrural approach to the game".
The whole idea of a holding midfielder is only viable if you're loading midfield with attacking players that don't balance their game with defensive duties, even then they need to be able to pass, tackle, run and move!
As for the walley who says we won't see the best from De Jong untill we get better players around him is in dream world, it's his passes that are shit, will he suddenly change his game and gain two yards of pace pmsl.

Walley?

Lol

You've misread me. I was saying he isn't suited to our system. If we insist on playing him it will only really work if we play a diamond midfield with technically sound full backs and two central midfielders in front of him who are good on the ball.

In that sense, we would get the best out of him. I'm not sure how that logic makes me a walley.

 

[Lucas North]

So we change an entire team in the hope that it might, just might bring the best out of de-jong ?

 

[Neil McNab]

Again flawed logic, you could use those stats to say, how come all those managers sold him on, wasn't he good enough?
He started at a club in Europe and has gone to a mid table team in England (which is what we were). Crap players get games, it doesn't mean they're great. Hollands manager has warned him about his "agricultrural approach to the game".
The whole idea of a holding midfielder is only viable if you're loading midfield with attacking players that don't balance their game with defensive duties, even then they need to be able to pass, tackle, run and move!
As for the walley who says we won't see the best from De Jong untill we get better players around him is in dream world, it's his passes that are shit, will he suddenly change his game and gain two yards of pace pmsl.

Walley?

Lol

You've misread me. I was saying he isn't suited to our system. If we insist on playing him it will only really work if we play a diamond midfield with technically sound full backs and two central midfielders in front of him who are good on the ball.

In that sense, we would get the best out of him. I'm not sure how that logic makes me a walley.

OK I'll de-class you as a walley but I've not missread you, even playing as you say, he's not a good enough midfielder to play that role, he isn't technically sound, that's the problem!

 

[manapai siti]

De jong is a one dimentional player,he is good at destroying
the opponent moves and covering the back four. HE needs creative mobile
player around him who attack and creat goals.The dutch team has
abundance of creative talent around him,thats why he looks good with
them and shit with us.We do not have that kind of midfielders.

 

[ono]

So we change an entire team in the hope that it might, just might bring the best out of de-jong ?

We'll we're going to have to change around half of it to get to where we want to be anyway...

No i'm saying an anchorman is only really successful in a system where his defensive play doesn't negatively effect the team. So Makelele was great because he always had quality attack minded midfielders to pass the ball. De Jong continues to start for Holland because he has quality attack minded midfielders to pass the ball to. I'm not saying we should change the team. I'm giving an example of how we'd need to be set up for us to get positive use out of De Jong. I've said numerous times before that i'd prefer a more complete players in his place.

At City he doesn't, so actually deploying an anchorman doesn't really work. In actual fact he drops deep, or wingers push wide and the oppositions midfield tuck in, and it leaves Vieira or Barry chasing shadows.<br /><br />-- Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:29 pm --<br /><br />

Walley?

Lol

You've misread me. I was saying he isn't suited to our system. If we insist on playing him it will only really work if we play a diamond midfield with technically sound full backs and two central midfielders in front of him who are good on the ball.

In that sense, we would get the best out of him. I'm not sure how that logic makes me a walley.

OK I'll de-class you as a walley but I've not missread you, even playing as you say, he's not a good enough midfielder to play that role, he isn't technically sound, that's the problem!

Yeah i do agree. I've said before that i'd prefer a technically better player in that role.

 

[Neil McNab]

So we change an entire team in the hope that it might, just might bring the best out of de-jong ?

We'll we're going to have to change around half of it to get to where we want to be anyway...

No i'm saying an anchorman is only really successful in a system where his defensive play doesn't negatively effect the team. So Makelele was great because he always had quality attack minded midfielders to pass the ball. De Jong continues to start for Holland because he has quality attack minded midfielders to pass the ball to. I'm not saying we should change the team. I'm giving an example of how we'd need to be set up for us to get positive use out of De Jong. I've said numerous times before that i'd prefer a more complete players in his place.


At City he doesn't, so actually deploying an anchorman doesn't really work. In actual fact he drops deep, or wingers push wide and the oppositions midfield tuck in, and it leaves Vieira or Barry chasing shadows.

I don't think he looks particularly impressive for holland, when holland fail it won't be because of their attacking frailties! Makelele looked good because he was good!