Virgil van Dijk

I said more competitive. Also, Van Dijk came from a club near the bottom of the Eredivisie table, last i checked.

 

Where did Hooper come from again? Oh yeah the mighty Scunthorpe!

 

But your point was way off, as it hasnt been an Ajax-Feyenoord shoot-out in a while.

Last season it was close between Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord for long spells.

11/12 - Again PSV were in the hunt.
10/11 - Ajax won, but Twente and PSV were close, Feyenoord 10th.
09/10 - Twente won it.
08/09 - AZ won it, Twente 2nd, Feyenoord 7th.
07/08 - PSV won it, Feyenoord 6th.
06/07 - PSV won, Ajax and AZ close behind.
05/06 - PSV again, by a margin
04/05 - PSV again
03/04- Ajax. PSV 2nd.

So aye Ajax and Feyenoord havent battled it out solo for some time.

 

Lustig and Matthews aren't the worst, eh?

Izzy in his first season was * as well, wasn't he?

 

I didn't know it was so competitive. Really looks a great little league and one the SPL ought to be trying to copy IMO.

 

None of the people you mention are centre halves. Thats what I am talking about. Kelvin Wilson was our only decent centre half we've had in at least 6 years.

 

It's been hit and miss I'll give you that.

Hooiveld - Didn't get much of a chance, but wasn't good regardless.
Rogne - Had great potential but injury hindered his progress.
Majstorovic - Came in and did a decent job, wasn't spectacular and made a few bad mistakes but he wasn't a bad signing. Always gave his all for the team.
Mulgrew - Got POTY at centre half and has been played everywhere else but there for the majority of the last season or two.
Ambrose - Splits opinion. There's definitely a footballer there but his mind wanders too often.
Wilson - Very solid last season but gone now.

From 6 signings, I'd say 3 have been successful - Mulgrew, Majstorovic and Wilson.

Van Dijk will come good though.

Edit: No doubt I've missed one or two..

 

I`m going to back Virgil. What I`ve seen of this Bhoy he can clear a ball from the back to one of his own and not bad with the heid. That has been the central defences` problem(un-needed pressure). I`ll give him time till he gets the hunger.

 

My thoughts exactly mate. He can score with headers, defensive headers, take free kicks pretty well apparently, just needs to find a good partenr for him.

 

One thing I'm concerned about with Van Dijk is his propensity for avoidable free kicks/bookable situations. Yesterday he elbowed the ICT striker in the back who took the opportunity to fall to the ground; and in the first game he played he was shirt-pulling like *.

Now, I don't have any problem whatsoever with robust challenges - in fact, I think there should be more of them - but from what I've seen of Van Dijk (which, admittedly, is very little) he seems to do all this in a very blasé fashion.

I can see him losing us completely avoidable free kicks and getting yellow cards.

Just a thought. I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

 

lennon was quoted saying van * was suppose to come in to go beside wilson in center back but obviously wilson left, think he's gonna try n bring another defender with some pace cuz he was saying that we were lacking pace at the back yesterday.

I hope big johan is working hard on buiding on their partnersip intensly the week after that shock display against that goat killing mob.

 

He needs time to settle into the side and get fully fit.

 

Not overly impressed by him thus far, but what I will say though is he does have a bit of a coolness about him, never look flustered or panicked, I think we need to give him time.

 

He is good in the air and comfortable on the ball, but he didn`t showenough good positioning and good tackling.

 

Give him some time. I remember Wilson being very poor to start with.

 

Not strong enough.

 

I find it absolutely ridiculous that we are questioning a players ability after 180 competitive minutes for the club. As some pointed out already Wilson had a poor start to his Celtic career but was excellent in last season. Lets go further back. Hartson didn't score in his first 10 games for Celtic. Larsson handed Hibs a victory on his debut then scored an own goal on his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

 

I hope he's solid at the back, cuz a centre back who's comfortable on the ball and can pick a pass could be a great addition to this team, considering half our passes end up on the back line. If he has a good understanding with Balde, it may not be pretty but it could create chances, and we need to take them anyway we can get them.

 

Disagree, thought he looked really strong on Saturday.