Our Man in Paris (Alou Diarra)

Posted by WOOLTONIAN on February 7, 2005, 05:50:35 am

Having sat up all night to watch the latest Grid Iron offering "Ordinary Bowl" XXXIX and being bored shitless, I just thought I'd have one quick shufty at the Sky TV guide before retiring.

Channel 4 3.30 - 5.15 Paris SG vs Lens

Didn't sound worth staying up for until I remembered our very own ALOU DIARRA out on loan to Lens.

What I can tell you is this fella is a giant. Strong in the tackle, powerful in the air, he dominated the middle of the park throughout. He is more of a defensive midfield player akin to Didi rather than a Stevie G or Alonso type of player. His distribution was faultless on the night, picking out selective short passes rather than 40 yarders a la the other two.

He looked like the ideal replacement or understudy to Didi. He continually won all the high balls in the middle of the park and was also a good defender of corners, where he picked up the PSG centre half. But the highlight of his ariel display was the bullet header with which he opened the scoring tonight, rolling away from his marker and bulleting one in from the back post.

He put in the highest amount of tackles on the night and often left his mark on the opposition. No surprise really that he eventually was booked for ONE mistimed tackle. He broke up wave after wave of PSG attacks and always found a player of his own. Looking at his game he is likely to pick up at least 10 yellows a season, due to the amount of tackles he makes in a game, but never looked like getting a red as his game does not include cynical challenges.

I find it strange that he has not been made part of our squad so far as wherever he has played (Le Havre, Bastia and now Lens), he has featured in the majority of games. This season for instance he has started 22 out of 25 league games.

I only hope that he is given an opportunity to play for us before his contract runs out, which I believe is in 2007. Sadly, I think we'll see him in a French shirt before we ever see him don the Liverpool Red. After tonight's performance it will come as no surprise to me if he is selected for his national side in the friendlies this week.

I have never been a big admirer of the French League, but tonight I had my eyes opened, where I watched a game played nigh on twice the pace of current Premier League games watched and our lad was still running strong at the finish.

Alou Diarra has a big future in the game, I can only hope he has one with us. Keep yer eye out for future Lens games or French International games, where I am sure he will feature again very soon.

© Wooltonian 2005

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