Philippe Senderos – is he the new Pascal Cygan?

Ollie Irish

28th, November 2007

8 Comments

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Three seasons ago Senderos was hailed as one of the best young central defenders in Europe. Many Arsenal fans believed he would be their new Tony Adams, only with less hair and more brains (he speaks six languages, roughly six more than Big Tony).
Fast forward to 2007 and Senderos’s career is, if not on the rocks, wobbling. He’s some way off being a first-choice centre-half at Arsenal and, crucially, he has developed a nasty habit of making Titus Bramble-like mistakes at least once in every game. Some experts say he’s not been the same player since he was given a royal going-over by Didier ‘The Bully’ Drogba against Chelsea at the Bridge last season. And he was dreadful last night against Sevilla – his mistake set up Sevilla for their first goal. Generally, he looked very low on confidence. I don’t deny that he’s very solid in the air, but he’s too slow for the modern game and has the turning circle of a small oil tanker.
Despite his menacing looks, Senderos is actually a sensitive, book-reading sort of chap, so maybe he’s just not cut out for playing in the incessant glare of the Premier League. What do you think? Is his time at Arsenal up? Is he the new Pascal Cygan? or should Arsene Wenger give him more time to recapture the form he showed a couple of seasons ago? So many questions…




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8 Comments

  1. Jide says:

    I totally agree, Senderos is the new cygan and might even be worse due to his young age.
    He looks better sitting at the back of the subs.

  2. whitebuildings says:

    I personally think that when he gets a run of games he can be excellent, but if he’s not playing regularly his game suffers. He always seem to need four or five consecutive games to find his groove. The problem is that he’s not likely to be a first team choice until Gallas gets injured or moves on. It’s a tough call though.

  3. Zekky says:

    Let him go…how about Wigan or Villareal?

  4. louisquatorze says:

    If he is the new Cygan, maybe he’ll succeed in another league. Like the actual Cygan.

  5. ey says:

    Ah ffs, it’s his first match in two months. When Gallas was injured this season, he was excellent, better then Toure at times.
    The whole back four was crap yesterday (including Toure, who was at fault for the 2nd goal).

  6. Brad says:

    Can Senderos regain his confidence? I don’t know.

  7. Za says:

    Cygan was amongst the best defenders in France before he came to Arsenal and he’s doing exceptionally well at Villarreal, just ask a fan. Cygan was just too slow for Arsenal. Senderos’ problem is his confidence. He is a solid defender and can be great if he could just concentrate and grow some cojones.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I think he needs definetly more time and games since he is still very young. He played a very good world cup and I think he will play excellent at the Euro 2008 in his home country.

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