I have seen a lot of threads on the chelsea board here saying that we need wide men ...while i agree we are a bit short of the right wing..i think for the left side we already have a player in our ranks who is as good if not better then any of the available left sided players around the world .
The only worry is that he has been out injured most of the time and even when fit has found hard to break into the team as he's had to fight it out with ashley for the left back position but i think his natural position is left wing and in my opinion he gives the team a lot more in terms of creativity and flair then malouda and should be starting ahead of him !!
Early signs are that villas boas has taken notice of this and rates zhirkov more then ancelotti ever did!!
Yuri zhirkov!!
posted on 24/7/11
Not convinced about Zhirkov.
I was a fan of his when he first started playing for us, but last season he was dreadful.
And i am not sure you can stick him out wide. He seems to prefer running from deep positions and cutting inside.
posted on 24/7/11
I prefer him to Malouda, that's for sure. Hopefully if given a priory run in tge time he'll show his true colours but ge had some uncovincing performances last season. In his defence he wasnt given a proper chance - Malouda was played again and again and Zhirkov started one and got dropped for tge next 2 months. In 09/10 he produced some very good performances from LB when actually given a run of games.
posted on 24/7/11
In his defence he wasnt given a proper chance - Malouda was played again and again and Zhirkov started one and got dropped for tge next 2 months
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Exactly. It's clear Carlo much preferred Malouda. Good to see Yuri impressing (or at least being better than most others) so far. Hopefully AVB can give him a decent chance. If next season goes well he may end up extending his contract.
In any case, he's still a good LB. I would say leave it one more year before sticking Bertrad/PVA as second choice. Yuri can fill this temporary void