Decent debut. Taken off in due respect to his match fitness. Looked combative a little off the pace at times/ Fluffed his lines from Sarr's pass and also bumbled into his team mates. But given time this will be a shrewd acquisition as with Kucka, Etebo and Tufan. All four proven internationals. All tigrish and all have ability with the ball. Etebo was absolutely excellent today. How he struggled at Stoke beats me.
He's better than Kucka and Cleverley. The midfield three that finished the game is as good as it's going to get for us.
Yeah, it was an average performance from him, but you're definitely not going to get consistently good performances in the Prem from Cleverley and Kucka, I liked the look of the midfield at the end of the game, hope Etebo's injury isn't too bad
Wow, I thought he was probably our best player certainly in the first half. Although it was a complete sea of crap out there.
Probably helps he has that ability to at least compete in the midfield. The rest don't - maybe Kucka once did but he is looking like a 34 year old now.
So we must all be in agreement that this guy is superb, what a signing he's been. I can't believe a more established club didn't sign him, he'd easily do a job for United, Everton, Southampton, Palace etc.
His legs seem twice as long as any other player, just sticks them in anywhere and comes out with the ball.
Devoid of quality but makes up for it by being a human battering ram. Could have signed and not really bothered, but he's quite obviously a top professional, and you'd say the perfect choice for captain
Is also up and down more than any other player despite his relative age - nearer the end of games he's always the one chasing back into defence to harry and inspire/cajole some of our actual defenders into livening up - sets a brilliant example/shames them into performance.
Played well in every game long may it continue drags the team up the pitch with his energy like clevs showing the youngsters what hard work brings to the team
Me and my brother were talking earlier at the game... Have we ever had a World Cup winner play for us before??
Disagree with 'devoid of quality'. You don't play 70 times for France and play in Champions League finals if you're 'devoid of quality'. His reading of the game in itself is a quality, as is spacial awareness and leadership. He does the simple things very well and is a machine in terms of stamina. A great player and a great signing. Exactly what we needed as our midfield was looking far too powderpuff before his arrival.
We need to offer him an extended contract as I think he has only signed a short contract to the end of the season, or am I mixing him up with someone else?
I think you might be right, I said I might be wrong, but I knew someone was only on a short contract. Having said that, unless he turns out to be injury prone maybe we should offer Nkoulou a longer contract as he has looked pretty good so far as well.
Agree with Nkoulou, assuming we can get a run of games from him. The quality is there and is already our best CB I think but no point if he's frequently injured.
He's definitely not devoid of quality. For a start he's arguably the best pure dribbler in the squad. When he wants to he can go past people with ease, which is brilliant to progress the ball through midfield and take us up the pitch. He's been a fantastic signing.
Signing French central midfielders cast-off by Spurs seems a very fruitful avenue for us. I wonder if we'll somehow end up with Ndombele at some point in the future.
Yeah, even at his age, the burst of pace he’s got and how he covers the distance is sublime. Twice the player Doucoure ever was.
I think it's very easy to write players off once they turn 30 (probably why it took Capoue so long to get a move away even though he was our best midfielder for a long time), but Jesus Sissoko is good. May not be the silkiest, but what he does is certainly not easy, and it's so very important
Leadership too. Watching the video the club put out yesterday, it’s Sissoko walking off at HT, 2-0 up, correcting Dennis for something that he’d obviously not done quite right. Not settling for what we had, pushing to be better and keep doing what we needed to do. Love seeing that. He’s superb.
I still can't believe we convinced him to join Watford. Should still be playing at the highest level of the game.
Probably a factor is that he did not have to uproot his family from friends and schools. After Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham, not many other options around the M25. I think he has a two years deal, and if we go down some Premier League team will no doubt snap him up at the price we paid.
I think he’s looking a lot more effective now that Louza’s sat behind him, allowing him to roam forward whenever the mood takes him.
