QUOTE (Danny @ Jan 5 2015, 11:45 PM)
That's not even slightly true. We've never lost a competitive match with Alex in defence. Your pro-Mexes bias is blinding you to how astounding Alex has been for us. I've been pretty fair re: Mexes, he's played well recently, hothead moments aside, but Alex is simply our best defender.
Mexes in defence - we lost in Genoa. We're yet to lose with Alex at the back.
His cameo v Roma while half fit was arguably the reason we held out for the draw.
For me Alex is the best bits of Mexes, Rami and Zapata mixed together. Puts his head where it hurts, absolutely titanic in the air, astounding positional sense, fantastic at last-ditch blocks.
Maybe this is OTT but IMO he's been as good for us in his appearances as Silva was. Albeit in a much weaker Milan.
With Alex we drew a good deal of games, most of which because we couldn't stop the opposition from scoring once or twice in each game
We've managed to keep clean sheets with Mexes in there, most notably against top opposition like Napoli and Roma. For me, whether we won, lost or drew doesn't really figure into this, for example, we won against Parma but conceded four, I repeat, four goals. Sure we won, but that's hardly a certificate of excellence for the defence
For me, our best defenders ARE Alex and Mexes, no doubts about it, as for me they're a level above both Zapata and Rami. But what I'm looking at is when Alex was the "leader" sort of in that pairing and when Mexes took on that role, and I think you can see how good Mexes is by looking at how both Rami and Zapata performed when he was in there.
No one can deny how hugely important Mexes has been since he's been used as a starter again, and this after spending months sitting on the bench because of whatever personal issues Pippo had with him
Not to discredit Alex who is colossal in the air and such a physical presence, but I do think Mexes is the more tactically astute defender of the 2, which is why both Rami and Zapata thrive next to him, and this has always been the case. Which is why I think we'd have a very strong defence if we manage to get both Alex and Mexes fit at the same time and playing regularly together
QUOTE (Danny @ Jan 5 2015, 11:45 PM)
You've not watched Essien recently much - he's been far more like his old self. I've been harsher than most on his failings especially given how happy I was with us signing him, but recently he's been quite simply very good indeed.
As a DM backup for De Jong he's a fine deputy.
Re: the rest, we need Bono up top as we're threadbare there and Cerci isn't ready to start. Otherwise yes, for me our best midfield is of course De Jong, Monto and Bona, and for now the best attack is Menez, SES & Cerci. Hopefully we get Destro and that completes the puzzle.
I think you know by now that I watch Milan religiously, so I've seen Essien just as much as you have. And while I agree with you that he has done well the last 2 or 3 games he's played (certainly a LOT better than Muntari), he still has a lot of issues, mostly the fact that he's very slow, and takes a lot of time to control the ball and decide where to pass it, which has put us under pressure a fair amount of times either because the ball is taken off him or making a terrible pass under pressure
Basically he's Muntari 2.0 without the shots at row z and the ridiculous passing attempts to no one