We Need to Re-Think What a 'DP' Is
I know many will disagree with me (just try to keep the discussion civil).
I'm getting a little annoyed with the constant criticism levelled at JDG. To my eye, he has without a doubt been one of our best players so far this season (of course he's had bad moments here and there, but I'm talking overall). We're a better team with him on the field, and to me, that's all that matters.
But so many people are saying things like "He's not good enough for a DP," or "as a DP, he should be doing better." But if you stop to think about it, what does that really mean? How does one rate the worthiness of a DP (other than goal-rate for a striker)? Especially JDG -- he's a holding/distributing midfielder . . . do you have to break down his every move -- how many balls he wins, how many passes he completes -- and decide what ratio you think is acceptable? That would obviously be a bit ridiculous.
So here's my proposal:
A DP should be considered a success if he's the best player available to you at that position.
We cannot realistically sign a Michael Essien or a Michael Ballack, therefore, JDG should not be compared to or held up to that sort of standard. JDG is by far the best player available to us at that position, and I think we're lucky to have him. It's not his job to score goals, so he should never be judged by that. And he's not going to complete 100% of his passes, so just because he misses one or two, people shouldn't jump all over him. But if you actually look at the way we pass the ball around with him on the field as opposed to when he isn't, you'll see we're definitely not as good a team without him.
Another point: with three DP slots now available to each club, we have to stop thinking of the DP as a 'monolithic' thing. We definitely need to allow for more variety in our thinking. For example, you can have DPs like:
-- A defensive-minded player, who has had experience in Europe (or wherever), whom you need to pay more because of that experience, but not millions, so you sign him as a DP for around $800k. He provides good, solid defending, but he's no Ashley Cole (but you can't expect him to be), but he does what you want him to.
-- A guy like JDG, whom you want for many reasons (the exp, plus great ball skills, plus Canadian) etc, and you pay him around 1.5 mil. His worthiness is a combination of what he brings on the field plus some marketing stuff plus other intangibles.
-- Thierry Henry, David Beckham etc.
People shouldn't complain that JDG isn't one of that third category, and people shouldn't complain about how much a DP gets paid, because, at the end of the day, all that should matter to the supporters is how much it counts against the cap; everything above that -- whether it's an extra 400k or an extra 2 mil -- is the FO's money, and doesn't affect us in the least. So we should never say 'he's not earning that 1.5 mil.' All we need to care about is, 'is he earning the 400k against the cap?'
I would argue that so far, JDG is, and will continue to do so more and more in the coming years once we get those few other players we need to truly be a contending team.
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Originally Posted by DreFuss
