Abdoulaye Doucoure

Where the hell has he been all season?!? This is not a Mazzari out thread, far from it, but I think we need some answers as to why Doucoure has been no where near the starting 11 for most of the season.

Since Sunderland he has started all four games, and in my mind been man of the match of the runner up in three of them! He never stops moving, intercepts passes, makes himself available for easy passes and best of all he can actually pass. All of this means we can play the ball from the back rather than just hoofing it forwards. I like Behrami, but Doucoure does his job so much better than him. I know Valon is basically crocked, but you have to wonder how he was getting in ahead of Abdoulaye.

Incredible, hope we keep him here for next season but other teams will be interested if he continues to play like this.

Keep up the top work Abdoulaye Doucoure! He really needs a chant.

 

He's our Kante.

 

I'd go with Viera more than Kante. He's a bit leggy, not as fast as Kante but he's still everywhere and loves to venture forward and have a shot or two.

 

I agree with most of what you say and definitely think he has played well, but I wish he was better at passing. I am sure if you look at his stats his pass completion is good, but I wonder what those stats would be if you only counted passes over 10m.

 

It is a strange one. On face value it looks like Mazzarri misjudged him, but who knows. Maybe he took time to settle. Maybe his attitude wasn't right when he first arrived. Guess the important thing is he looks a fantastic player now and hopefully he can push on next season.

 

I don't think we are a selling team any more, he won't be going anywhere, at least he better not be :rant:

 

Ditto Mapps. Wally really has lucked out in a sense. I'd hate to think of what his actual first choice team would have been if he'd not been forced to look at some of our best performers, by injuries.

He's clearly a terrible judge of player.

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Doucoure is the man. Plus he's the right side of 30 unlike most of the team.

 

Behrami was playing well at the start of the season and was in his second year with the club. Doucoure may have taken time to settle.

We can speculate about this all day but ultimately we'll never know the reasons for his absence earlier in the season. What's more important is that Walter has clearly noted [his mistake/Doucoure adapting/add reason of your choice] and has kept AD in the side. He's not too stubborn to change things, unlike QSF.

 

Doucoure is our best player I would say now. I love the way he comes to get the ball from the defenders. If he improves his passing further, I can see him going to a far bigger and better team.

Mariappa has been out best defender in the past 3 games as well, WM has certainly got lucky!

 

Behrami was Mazzari's man and capable of passing his instructions to the rest of the players on the pitch so unsprisingly for much of the season he has been in front of doucoure.
Delighted with the emergence of Doucoure, looks great for the future

 

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszo...er-stats/121599/1_PASS_01#tabs-wrapper-anchor

His stats for today. 64 successful passes, he attempted 73. Of those 9 missed passes, four were in the attacking third of the pitch and the remaining five were in the middle of the pitch. I do agree if you were to limit passes over 10m then he would have a higher proportion missed, but if you look at the style of his game he is not really that sort of player. He is a fetch-and-carry type player. by the same respects, I think you could apply that logic to any player and come to a very similar conclusion.

in addition if you look at mistakes leading to opportunities, none of his missed passes lead to opposition chances.

I think platypus and nisman are both correct, kante and viera both play/played football in a very similar way. of course he is not quite at their level yet, but ive been very impressed.

 

I think he probably misjudged him and was perhaps a bit blinded by faith in players he knew. as others have said Behrami has not been playing badly this season far from it, but with his legs the way they are his time is done now. doucoure certainly should have been getting a look in earlier on this evidence.

 

Just luck he was still around to be picked. Was it not down to a mess up with his loan paperwork meant he did not go out on loan at Xmas. I think that was Doucoure

 

mariappa has been great since being thrown on against west brom. he is far more athletic than other members of our back line, he can also pass the ball. as far as squad players go, he is more than worth a home grown slot.

 

wish he was better around the box and shooting, aside from that he's spot on, great energy, strong, tough tackler, keeps the ball moving, always available for a pass

 

My favourite current player. It's no coincidence we're playing fewer long balls now - Behrami wins or intercepts the ball, plays it simple and that's his job done, Doucoure does the same but is then immediately on the move looking to get the ball again, meaning the centre backs don't end up hoofing it. He sets the rhythm for the whole team, and it was telling that Spurs targeted him - it looked like they were under instructions to press him more than any of our other players.

I watched him a lot last year at Granada and they put stats up at the end of the game, every game he would have run further than anyone else. Doing that and yet still having the legs and footballing brain to track and challenge Sigurdsson today sums him up.

I also think he's under instructions to play it simple most of the time from Mazzarri, and it's the right call.

 

Doucoure has a huge chance of having a most influential season next year, he should on recent showings be in the team at the start and stay there, he also looks very robust, which hopefully means he doesn't get injuries like some of the others!

 

Sell Capoue in summer , move Behrami on and buy Allan from Napoli.
Uche as back up .

Midfield three from ...

Doucoure
Cleverley
Pereyra
Allan
Agbo

And Zarate as a possible front of diamond player .

 

Getting better each game.

Even the woman next to me grudgingly admits he is playing well!

 

The club signed him for a reason and deserve credit for another great buy. The luck of him not being loaned out roughly equates to the (bad) luck of losing pereyra and zarate - so it all evens out.

I'm not saying Mazzarri is fautless, just thought I'd focus on the positives instead.

 

Saw him come on earlier in the season and thought he was pants. He has taken some time to get up to speed. Loos a really decent player now. Maybe Walt should tale some credit for his improvement?

 

I expect that he wasn't ready to play - moved over from France, his missus was pregnant etc. Not everyone turns up in a new country ready to drop into a new team. The club aren't going to splash the intimate details of his life everywhere. He was probably nearer playing at Xmas as he was kept in the squad.

He was the first to celebrate with Capoue for the goal today.

 

Thats my reading of it. Lets not forget that Doucoure, when he played earlier in the season, wasnt putting in the sort of performances he is now. If any thing a fair few were quite critical of him/not impressed.

 

He would have picked the injured ones. Which of them would you hate to think of in the first team?

 

I agree he is a “fetch-and-carry type player” and his energy is great, on current for a must in the team, but we need the ability for a good passer to open up opportunities. In the first half today he and Cleverly failed on almost every long (not hoof, >10m) pass they tried, meaning the great opening they had created was lost. Either they need to add better passing to their game or need someone to give the ball too with a short pass who can then create the opening.

 

Going back to my amateur days we signed a "foreign" (as in Irish ) midfielder on reputation, we lost a few on the bounce and unanimously the rest of us decided he was very overated, particularly his blind passes always went astray ... However it really did turn out our forwards had been making the wrong runs and decisions and once they got used to each other he was easily our best player. Needless to say we went on to win our league that season and comfortably at that.

The same story can be told for virtually every team in the land at some time and to an extent I think it may be true of Doucoure too.

 

Britos and Behrami

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Walter, around Christmas time, commented on him not being picked due to football decisions, not fitness or personal issues, and pointed out that if he played then he would have had to have left out Capoue or BehramI. Even Gueds was a regular pick back then, whilst Doucoure barely figured at all.

If I remember correctly, he was eventually thrown in against Spurs cos of injuries, and was played out of position. He wasn't very good that day, but neither was anyone else. The next game against Stoke, in a more withdrawn position, he was our best player. I even pointed out on the match threads that he looked a bit like Viera back then and was annoyed that he hadn't been played sooner.

He then had one average game and was dropped for a player that was "average" at best every game - then it seems he was nearly moved on in January until saved by a paperwork issue at the last minute.

There is no excuse for him not playing sooner and more frequently, or at least being on the bench. His ability should have been recognised by Walter and he should have been one of the first names on the team sheet. Even his praise of Doucoure has been guarded or faint with references to his lack of goals, etc.

Walters judgement must be just exceptionally poor, or he picks his team based on something else, such as the fact that he wasn't "one of his", probably tinged with some stubbornness.

 

He played a few games during the injury crisis and was nowhere near the very high standards he is at now. Perhaps not having to play in a second string team and having Cleverly alongside him and Niang as an outlet has helped? Who knew!

 

Doucoure looks a very good player and hopefully will be a big part of the team next year.

Mapps is a decent squad player but isn't good enough to hold a regular place in the team

 

Doucoure was initialy frozen out but then due to injuries he got some game time but out of position. Only when he was played in his current position has he shown what he can do.
You have to question WM why he was not playing earlier.
With him in his proper position he is able to link the play and move the ball forward. The long balls we were playing for most of the season are gone; now when we do go long it is much more constructive. If Parayra and Zanate were fit then he would be able to give them the ball in situations allowing them to create and do their thing.
That's why it was a crime for him not to be around the team until it was forced on WM.

 

There is some distance between being the first name on the team sheet and a player who wasn't even on the bench until we were down to the bare bones.

Based on his limited appearances, Mapps has been close to MOTM on each occasion and also adds leadership from the back. I saw him organising throughout the game yesterday and also positioning Prodl, who isn't exactly a junior.

Whether Mariappa would hold these standards up for a whole season is up for debate, but I think it's hard to argue with the case that he's been severely underused up until we had 3-4 injuries in that position.

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No idea what the stats are, but he has spent quite a few games on the bench. He has also spent quite a lot of time this year injured, along with most of the squad. Didn't he have a hamstring at the start of the season then month+ out with a head clash with Janmaat ?