This. Of course he has his faults but he has been one of our main attacking threats for a long time and I'll think he will be a big miss, great pace and a direct threat really keeps opposing defenders back, tricks that other players don't have. Sarr is also great and having both of them really means the opposition can't just focus on stopping just one of them. He has carried a lot of our threat for most of this season and last, often on his own, and his work rate this season especially has been superb. Gutted for the lad as this must be one of the most consistent runs in a team he has had and was contributing hugely. Anyone who thinks a player of his talent won't be missed is barking in my opinion. Get well soon Gerri.
I'd quite like to see a bit more of Pussetto. If Pereyra plays he will have to put in the kind of shift we saw on Saturday, including the defensive support, every match.
If I remember correctly, Ekstrand never played for us again after that injury. It was a shame as I rated him highly, but it shows how damaging an ACL injury can be. Deulofeu has time on his side and so is lucky that he'll have longer to get back to his best, but some players are never the same after a long term injury. Take Michael Owen as a great example, after his injury he lost a yard of pace and since that was his main strength, he struggled big time. As others have said though, it's not the end of the world as we have the reinforcements needed
Each to their own of course but I think he's hugely overrated by some of our fans. Somebody even posted on here not too long ago that they think he might be our best ever player which is utter madness. He isn't even the best player in the current squad, let alone best of all time. Look at all the praise he gets - it is about how he looks threatening, was really close with a shot, just over hit a cross...but his actual end product is really poor. It's frustrating as some of his build up play can be great, and there is no doubt he has bags of talent but just such little end product. And when the end product does turn up all too often it is against weaker opposition. Sure he has his moments, who could forget the Wembley wonder goal, but when was his last good game? When he tore a team to shreds AND delivered something? I've seen Liverpool fans say they were pleased he went off Saturday as he 'looked the biggest threat'. But when he went off he had still delivered nothing other than a few 'ooh so close' moments.
Absolutely this. The defensive part of the role is massive, and is another reason Sarr is such a special player. His defensive work is incredible. He and Femenia are a proper partnership. Masina is clearly first choice LB now, whoever plays in front of him will need to form a similar partnership.
But can you imagine anyone else regularly even providing that level of threat? The fact that he can do special things, even if it ultimately ends in frustration most of the time, keeps defenders on their toes in a way that they aren't when they're up against someone else. As I say, Pereyra did well at the weekend and can hopefully perform better on the left than the right, and Pussetto and Welbeck are not horrendous options to have, but still, a long shot any of them actually being as good as Deulofeu
People that don’t like Geri, presumably loved watching Gavin Mahon lumber around with his pointing finger and sand-wedge feet. I don’t care how ineffective, petulant and downright frustrating players like Geri are, because they have the potential to pull off something absolutely outrageous every now and again, that instantly makes you forget all of the other ****, and keep you coming back until they manage it again.
Mahon was quite a polarizing player, a bit like Ben Watson - for much of the 2006/07 season he was considered by some one of, if not THE player of the season, and by others, mostly later on, to be our worst player after Darius Henderson. He wasn't Premier League standard for sure, but I think him leaving at the end of 2007 was a contributory factor to our massive decline in the second half of 2007/08.
The side that started Saturday is easily our best 11, and Geri is an important part of it. We will find it difficult to replace him.
Feel for Del boy, a very nasty injury. Might not ever be the same player again & long road ahead with the physio & rehabilitation. Also his transfer value probably wont be worth half as much as he was pre injury, given the nature of it. Clubs will be wary of that. He is a write off now. For us it will be very interesting to judge how the team perform without him & IMO I actually think it has the potential to improve us overall in the long run. We were always too over reliant on Del to perform & say what you like, his final ball & consistency was often lacking.
Looks very likely he'll be forced to retire. I will spend the rest of my days praying Van Dik suffers a severe and crippling injury.
One of the finest players to Don the shirt. I'm sure there's a place at La Masia for him.to coach should he want to.
Outstanding player for us and other sides he has been a part of. A real joy to watch when he was in full flow. Our midfield of Deulofeu, Capoue, Doucoure and Hughes was immense back then. Obviously his goal in the FA Cup Semi was superb but he could do that little bit of magic with silky skills not many posses.
And Pereyra. What we would do to gave a midfield of that quality now. It allowed us to compete with everyone because midfield is where games are won. The away performance at Wolves with Pereyra's habysharking aside from the first 10 minutes was complete domination. It was prime tiki taka Barceloba. Wolves could not touch us.
Never really rated Pereyra. He was obviously a good player but never really gave his all for us. Deulefou was much more of a heart on sleeve player who won hearts with his will to win as much as his beautiful skills.
Felt sick reading that report. One guy’s disgusting and deliberate actions majorly contributed to the downfall of an entire club and forced a player into near retirement. Yet most of our fans most likely think he’s the best defender of his generation and have posters of him on their wall. I remember those fans defending the bloke at the time. Vile.
He was useful for a time was Pereyra, he got off to a very good start at a time when he was pretty much our only source of creativity, but then he got injured and he wasn't as good again
Pereyra lost interest especially when we were going down. GD was brilliant and we would have stayed up if he hadn’t got injured
Deulofeu up there with one of the best to grace the Watford shirt. It’s a crying shame a Dijk head from Liverpool completely and utterly hampered both Deulofeu’s career and our hopes of staying in the Prem. That single incident…. The barsteward should personally pay off the rest of GD’s contract, at the very least. Thoughts go to Gerard and hoping he can find success in coaching thereafter.
He also helped put little Watford on the map and attract other ace players. A Juventus first team player moving to Watford is just mental.
Remember when a fairly large group of our idiot fans - including a number on here - used to slag him off because he didn't "work hard enough"? Hilarious stuff. One of the best and most talented players to ever wear our shirt, and I miss him deeply.
