DEFENDERS

BACARY SAGNA

This guy has lungs of steel. Him and Clichy are the two guys that probably run the most of our team. Sagna is a very athletic defender who can play against anyone.  The only liability for him is that he is a little short for set pieces and corners. But he makes up for a lot of that with heart and competitive attitude. Only if he could cross the ball properly he would be so good. So many times the guy makes a good run on the wing and then his cross is absolutely horrendous. Once in a blue moon, he would deliver a good cross but he needs to be much better than that. Overall, I like Sagna a lot and I think he is a great defender.

THOMAS VERMAELEN

This guy is the real deal. I guarantee you, we would have won the Premier League this year if he had played the whole season. He just has this presence about him which makes everyone else around him better. Born leader. Moves well, reads the game very well, great header of the ball and very strong left foot. He has the qualities to be a captain of this side. Excellent defender.

JOHAN DJOUROU

I think Djourou really made some big strides this season. I really like the fact the he is very athletic for his size. He can over power people and at the same time he is not a slow guy. He still makes some mistakes from time to time but after Vermaelen he is our second best central defender.

LAURENT KOSCIELNY

I would say his first season was up and down. Had some good games and showed good abilities and then had games were he looked really confused at times. Since this was his first year in English football we can cut him some slack and I think he can be better than what he showed. Overall I expected more from him, but I think he can still develop and adapt to the Premier League style of play.

SEBASTIEN SQUILLACI

I am not going to lie, I am really disappointed with Squillaci. He was one of the few players that we have who is over 30 and I expected a very experienced defender who could help us at the back. Instead every time I saw him play, I was not impressed. He didn’t look comfortable at the back, at times didn’t look athletic enough to deal with faster guys. I would expect someone with his experience would not take a long time to adjust to the English style of play. Let’s hope I am wrong but to me Squillaci has been a big disappointment.

GAEL CLICHY

As I mentioned above with Sagna, Clichy also runs like crazy. He covers so much ground on the field I have no idea how he does it. Very fast and athletic and his crosses are better than Sagna’s (although it’s not too hard to cross better than Sagna). Overall, one of the best left backs in the league. My only concern with Clichy is that at times he makes very dangerous/costly mistakes. It doesn’t happen every game, but there have been number of occasions where he would put us in a real tough situation with a silly mistake.

KIERAN GIBBS

I really like Gibbs. I think he is the next Clichy and I hope he stays injury free for longer periods of time. Fast, athletic, also covers a lot of ground. I would love to see him play more often and to do that he needs to stay healthy.