Quote Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory View Post
GW has gone gay! What is this?

No seriously, I think Merts and Kos have a good balance. Merts is more calm and composed. Reads the game well, often snuffs out danger and clears a lot of dangerous balls. When we sit deep he's fine. Him and Kos kept Bayern quiet in the first leg of the Barca game even though we had a lot of pressure. In fact, in the big games against City, Utd, CL games like our Bayern win away some seasons back or Dortmund, he's been solid along with Kos. Since he's arrived in our team, we've looked more stable on defence, Kos especially and we finally have a dependable CB partnership that. I wouldn't be so quick to write him off. I remember Kos before he arrived and what we were like when it was Gallas and Toure, or when Verm was paired with Kos. Pace and over aggressive defenders are overrated because both feel they can just dive into tackles without the over one covering.
Okay we differ, I have seen Merts over 5 seasons now and he is going nowhere. He is good for some types of games where the play is all in front of him and he does not face pacy attackers harrying him from the whistle. His nemesis is the ball over the top. This led to his last red card. An astute manager will not have him so high up the field, but alas we do not have an astute manager. I dont mind him coming back against other PL teams in the run in, but against Barca I would prefer Gabriel. If anything Gabriel is not aggressive enough, he needs to hold his own against the brutes in the EPL. In his favour however, he can keep pace with the best of strikers. He will need it against Barca.
(BTW: Have double checked this time. No double entendres or Homo terms included this time)