Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystik
Wish him all the best, not what I was expecting in terms of the world class defender that was supposed to replace Maldini (?). Never really watched him play, I'll still hope for Santacroce but I doubt we'll get him seeing as we have so many CB's now.
|
My last hope is Kaladze is sold and Santacroce bought in now. Like nefremo I have major doubts though now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hwmook
Ok let's make things clear, his newcastle partner is Titus Bramble, the worst crap to be called a defender IMO. What can you do when your partner is so crappy? I don't think you can be so horrible and keep one of the best attacking team quiet in Conf Cup.
He is a good transfer IMO. We really need to get rid of dead weight like Kala, Favalli. Nesta, Silva, Bonera are the only 3 CBs i would keep in the team together with Onyewu only make 4 players.....
|
I agree Bramble was an embarassment of a partner, but let's not beat around the bush, Onyewu at Newcastle was really not a solid defender and looked a mess himself, never mind Bramble.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saliwonczyk
For those who say this player is slow, they are terrbily mistaken. He has this unique speed to him, almost like.... teleportation!
In an international against Mexico, he takes a massive throw (as long as a cross) from the boundary, into America's attacking box. The header is deflected, and Donovan hits it back in high. That's is when, alomost like lighning, Onyewu is in the centre of the box to header it past Ochoa.
So, yes, he is fast, but in a different way.....
See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khQDt...eature=related |
He had 7-8 seconds between his throw in and the ball coming back to him. In that time he had to cover maybe around 15 yards? It's really not very hard to do that.
I might seem like I have something against Onyewu, but really it's not the case, I wish him all the best, especially now that he's with us. What annoys me about this transfer is we're getting a player who until now hasn't shown anything in his career. In addition to this, what are we sacrificing? I've mentioned in other posts about the new generation of players having a lot of promise, with Santacroce being the most obvious talent, but also Zapata and Bochetti. These guys are young, have immense talent and all are likely to go on in the future to become high quality players challenging for top honours. Onyewu after all these years doesn't even come close to these guys.
People have and will argue about us needing Onyewu's physical presence. I will simply say that the physique of a defender doesn't necessarily make him a good defender for crosses. History has some good examples of players who aren't known for their towering height but managed dominate well in the air (e.g. Cannavaro, Baresi, Bergomi). Quite possibly Milan's greatest ever backline (and potentially the best backline ever) was Tassotti, Costacurta, Baresi and Maldini. None of them were dominating players in the air so to speak, yet we never used to talk about the problems of us being weak in the air when they playerd together.