by 101-1133031608 » Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:37 am
Djibril Cisse Is Just Like Ronseal – He Does What It Says On The Tin
So what do I mean by this:
When the first inklings of our interest in Cisse was revealed, a good 18 months before the deal was completed, I began to watch a lot of French football to see what he was like and the progress he was making.
Now the first thing that was apparent was that he scored regularly, but it was also clear to me that he did miss a number of chances, but the thing was, he was getting into positions to get these chances anyway, which I found to be a good sign, and hoped that this would cease as he grew as a player, but the next season (his last in France) was much the same, many chances, many scored, but just as many (if not more!) missed.
Now obviously not everyone here would have been watching Cisse on a regular basis, but we all would have seen compilations of his goals.
Now as someone said earlier, it was clear that most goals were individual efforts, without much build up play.
Which brings me onto Ronseal*
We knew Cisse was a goalscorer, that he had killer pace and acceleration and was quite physically strong with a vicious shot. That is what it had on the tin, so to speak, and he is doing as described on the tin. He uses his pace and regularly fires off those vicious shots (often wild shots as we all know!). So do we REALLY have any cause for complaint?
He is doing what it says on the tin is he not? Well to the extent he can, considering the lack of regular starts of the past few months.
So maybe, the problem stems from us, not reading the instructions on the tin properly.
What I mean by this is, the instructions on the tin may say something along the lines of:
‘For best results, focus the team around Djibril, hit him everytime you can with through balls in between defenders and let his pace take care of the rest’.
Now when he was initially bought by GH, these instructions on the tin would have been followed to a tee. That was the exact way we were playing at the time, regularly hitting long balls for Michael Owen to feed off. And although just a guess, if we had continued in the same way (obviously under GH!) then, he may well have actually done what it said on the tin.
However, the problem is we are not using the given instructions and are trying to get best results, under a different formula. This is not a dig at Rafa in the slightest,because he has his way and will do things his way. That is not a problem, its just plainly obvious now (and I have tried to defend him so many times in the past, so its hard to say now!) that Cisse cannot change his attributes, or really change his style of play to fit into Rafa’s plan. He is only totally lethal, when used as the instructions on the tin stipulate.
My point is, I don’t think we should be as harsh on Djib, as many have been. He has his skills and attributes that make him a good player in his own right, its just that those skills and attributes are not being used and harnessed in the right way, to get the best results.
The tin told us what we would be getting, we knew he didn’t have ‘skill’ like a Garcia for example, we knew he didn’t have the heading ability of a Crespo, we knew he wasn’t a fox in the box like Fowler.
The tin said we were getting, pace, power and goals and who can argue that we haven’t got that?
As for the transfer price, he didn’t set the price, also lets take into account how much GH was willing to pay for Diouf, so £14m for a player wanted ACROSS EUROPE (c’mon Juve and Barca don’t come calling if you have nothing to offer) at the time wasn’t too bad a business, its just that we didnt read the instructions on how to use him.
It was sadly just bad timing, what with Rafa coming in and such. But I am sure if (more likely WHEN) we sell Cisse in the summer, the team buying him, will once again, just like us, know what they are getting, because it says so on the tin, but I think if they actually read the instructions and take heed, then Cisse will undoubtedly flourish.
