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In a rare moment of clarity, Our Stupot described Jerome as "Not as good as he should be", which I thought was pretty fair.
Having seen him a lot more, (Boateng, not Our Stu) I think I'm minded to now say that he simply isn't very good. Am I being too hasty, or have we been flogged a pup?

Bring back Bridge?

From what I have seen so far he is bloody useless, I only hope we see a huge improvement.

i think he is shite. seems to be scared of the ball as well, thats great when you are supposed to be a defender.

Funnily enough Piccs, I have just had a phone converation about City with a knowledgeable mate and discussed this very subject.

My thoughts are that we will not see the best of Boateng, Kolarov, Dzeko or even Silva...(I think he will get even better too), until next season. You may be right and we may find that when he does reach his potential, he still isn't good enough for us. I sytill think it's far too early to make that definitive judgement til then.

Keegan made a point of buyiong players he wanted for the next season, toewards the end of the previous one. he felt that it allowed a player to settle, find his feet both within the club and outside, build a domestic and social structure around him and get to know and feel comfortable with his surroundings. That meant that at the start of the new season, he would be able to focus more on his football.

If we were a Bolton or a Sunderland, we would have a bit of breathing space to allow this with our signings. Circumstances mean that our players have been thrown in at the deep end and have pressure to perform immediately. We have a dichotomy, we need time to assimilate these players and evolve but because every game is a pressure game coupled with the our challeges for trophies and CL qualification we don't have that time to offer them.

grit yer teeth Roger...(I believe they do that in Yorkshire so they don't slur their words)...have a bit of patience and we'll find out soon enough. You'll still be here next season won't you?

What I can't forgive is a player backing out of challenges. I absolutely hate it! Twice on Sunday I saw him do it and it really got on my tits. You've got players half his size like de Jong, SWP, Tevez, etc throwing themselves at everything and then there is some players where a ball is there to be won in a 50-50 challenge and they back out. For a defender I think it's criminal.
Some of his play is pretty poor at the moment but I'm willing to give him time.

One thing is for sure though, he isn't a right back.

If you have come to that conclusion based on his games at right back then i can understand why you think he is not very good.

However if you still have that conclusion based on his games at centre half then that is something i will have to question. Whenever he has played centre half he has look brilliant IMO. I think he and Kompany will be our centre half pairings for a long time to come.

It is fair to say allthough he can do a job at full back, he isn't one.

john68 wrote:Funnily enough Piccs, I have just had a phone converation about City with a knowledgeable mate and discussed this very subject.

My thoughts are that we will not see the best of Boateng, Kolarov, Dzeko or even Silva...(I think he will get even better too), until next season. You may be right and we may find that when he does reach his potential, he still isn't good enough for us. I sytill think it's far too early to make that definitive judgement til then.

Keegan made a point of buyiong players he wanted for the next season, toewards the end of the previous one. he felt that it allowed a player to settle, find his feet both within the club and outside, build a domestic and social structure around him and get to know and feel comfortable with his surroundings. That meant that at the start of the new season, he would be able to focus more on his football.

If we were a Bolton or a Sunderland, we would have a bit of breathing space to allow this with our signings. Circumstances mean that our players have been thrown in at the deep end and have pressure to perform immediately. We have a dichotomy, we need time to assimilate these players and evolve but because every game is a pressure game coupled with the our challeges for trophies and CL qualification we don't have that time to offer them.

grit yer teeth Roger...(I believe they do that in Yorkshire so they don't slur their words)...have a bit of patience and we'll find out soon enough. You'll still be here next season won't you?

Brilliant John, absolutely to type there.
To be honest, it's why I asked the question, am I judging too early? We're well into the season, but he hasn't actually played that much. But, are what appear to be pretty basic faults in his game, going to be ironed out with time?
On the plus side, Micah looked beyond help last season but has bounced back and players often do seem to have a turning point where everything just clicks. But if you are simply not good enough, no amount of time is going to change it.
Oh and I hope you are right about Dave, I think he is a fabulous player already.

Although he's played for Germany at full back, he seems to me to back off the opposing wide man, not because he's a coward but because he's frightened of being skinned. Playing at centre back he looks a lot more assured. If he has a future at City it should be in that position. I still think we have to give reasonable time to new foreign players although poor old Kolarov looks like his confidence is shot and probably should be taken out of the firing line.

Personally I would have taken David Luiz instead of the both of them but that's water under the bridge.

Fucking wank, lazy, shitbag when it comes to being a right back.

Gets in the way or twats the ball whenever he goes forward.

I heard he is decent at CB, but i dont think thats true.

There is no evidence so far in his career to suggest he is brilliant at CB. He's barely played there against any kind of oppositrion for City & he looked middling to iffy there in Germany. At international level he plays fullback.

I believe he can become a top defender if he learns the English game & shows some backbone though. Whther he'll ever have the power to play at CB against players like Drogba is debateable but if not, I'm sure he can be a solid fullback at least & decent coming forward. I can't see him or Kolarov becoming the kind of quality attacking winger/fullbacks (the job for which
Bob clearly hinted they were signed) though & I can't ever see him being better at anything than Micah, who is the same age.

I think he's too uncomfortable on the ball to play full back in a team who bases its game on passing, and I doubt that this can be fixed. It's particularly obvious when he has Kolo Toure, who is equally uncomfortable in possession, next to him.

mr_nool wrote:I think he's too uncomfortable on the ball to play full back in a team who bases its game on passing, and I doubt that this can be fixed. It's particularly obvious when he has Kolo Toure, who is equally uncomfortable in possession, next to him.

I think it's mainly down to a bit of nerves & not being used to the pace. He's a good footballer for a defender & will show it eventually imo. He'll never be a real attacking fullback though, more a defender who's decent on the ball than a marauding attacking player.

For stating this 6 months ago I got called to shit for it:

viewtopic.php?f=119&t=33275&hilit=germany

Of course that was mainly by an aggitated lunatic, but my point still stands.

not a very forgiving aroma on this thread

hes on the calendar for march! yayyyy

My gut feeling is that he'll come good.

Kolorov, on the other hand .......... well he might also come good if he gets his decision making sorted out.

And to think some took the piss out of the Rags for signing Smalling........-

A lot slated Zabba while he was becoming accustomed to this league, it took him a long long time and now he is one of our most consistant players.

I am not even close to being covinced by Boateng or Kolorov, but I am sure that i've not seen the best of either of them, in time I imagine one or both will be a fans favourite at some point.

sandman wrote:A lot slated Zabba while he was becoming accustomed to this league, it took him a long long time and now he is one of our most consistant players.

I am not even close to being covinced by Boateng or Kolorov, but I am sure that i've not seen the best of either of them, in time I imagine one or both will be a fans favourite at some point.

And Zaba is still only good enough as a second choice right back.However,at present,need dictates - he should to be our first choice left....