Dzeko's having decent games here and there. I think it's a normal start for someone coming midseason from another country. Citeh's problems start and end with the uber-defensive coach. I'd like to see what would happen if we traded him and Wenger for a season and they largely retained the squads they've each built

Tim wrote:

Dzeko is shite btw. Havn't seen anything in him thus far.

He's pretty useless. Never seen anything in him either. Profited from Grafite carrying him around in Bundesliga and now he's trying to do the same with Tevez, who unfortunately is only half the player in the supporting role. I've always said that he reminds me of Kezman. There's a rumour that the other players are making fun of him in the City dressing room. Apparently he sticks out like a sore thumb in training too.

I'm not even judging him on his poor goal return so far. It's his overall game that seems to be lacking.

From what I've seen at City, he's got a decent first touch and reasonable instincts in the penalty box, coupled with his obvious size and general awkwardness. But he's got no power or acceleration at all, no real sharpness and his link up play, which I thought was supposed to be his strong point, is mediocre. The amount of times he gets caught dawdling on the ball is ridiculous for someone 'worth' £28m. I'm not convinced he has enough about him to make it at a top 4 Premier league club. I think he'll turn in to a very well paid option off the bench within 12 months.

All that said, you can see that in a lesser league, with far fewer physically capable centre backs, and in a team built towards his strengths, he could be a real handful. I just dont see that happening at City or any other big team.

Me neither. I was watching a game a month back where the english commentator likened him to Ibrahimovic, who's one of the most creative players out there. You gotta laugh at stuff like that. It might well be what City were hoping that they'd get for their money, but apart from both of them being tall and strikers they're nothing alike. Dzeko is like a lump of wood in comparison. He's closer to the quality that Blackburn or maybe Villa are looking for than a top club with genuine title aspirations.

I'd still take him over those lumps who are supposed to be backing up van Persie.
Citeh are a badly-built team. Really should've spent more money buying at least one more attacking midfielder. If trades were common-place in the Premier League, a good deal would be one of our attacking mids (eg Theo or Arshavin) for one of Citeh's big units (eg de Jong or Toure Yaya)

Caligula wrote:

I'd still take him over those lumps who are supposed to be backing up van Persie.

I'm not sure that I agree with that. Neither Bendtner nor Chamakh have impressed lately but they've both got qualities that, at least in theory, are a good fit for the way we play. I can't see anything about Dzeko that would make him a good fit here.

Consider Chamakh for a moment for instance. He's a poor goalscorer but what are his strengths? His combination and link-up play is top class, and his workrate is impeccable. His technique is pretty good too and it's suited to playing along the ground. And how do we play? With centreforwards who drop deep to bring others into play, who often operate with their back towards the goal and has to be able to make intelligent decisions rather than to run in straight lines. In reality this worked very well too during the first half of the season even if he's lost the plot lately. It was one of the main reasons that some of us were very keen on bringing him in last summer.

As for Bendtner he's clearly a thinking footballer but his feet let him down. You can tell just by watching him play that he's intelligent as far as you can stretch the concept in football terms. He's got a bit of vision on him, reads the game well and could've been a great support striker if he'd had a more flexible body. He's also good at taking up goalscoring positions which, again, points to an ability to read the game. His inconsistent touch, poor technique, slow body and bad attitude means that he doesn't get as much out of it as you need to make it at Arsenal though.

Now consider Dzeko. As Tim has already pointed out, his link-up play is mediocre. He lacks power, acceleration and vision. He's got a bit of sharpness in front of goal with both feet and a good header on him, and he's got the size obviously. But he's neither very mobile or very good in his general play. He's the type of player you park in front of goal and spend the genius of a more creative one (like Grafite at Wolfsburg and, lately, Tevez at Man City) to support. He's bound to up his goalscoring stats eventually if they adapt the team to him but he is what he is. I've never had much time for him for that reason. The real indictment on City is that Aston Villa signed a much better and more proven box player in january for less money. And that player was Darren Bent who cost £24 million.

I think Dzeko is just settling in and could be a quality player next season for City.

He has shown glimpse of quality, thats quite obvious.

Wrong thread, but

1-0 to West Ham!