Swiss daily Le Matin reports that Johan Djourou has signed a 2-year contract extension with us.
Despite some admirable, if inconsistent, performances for us this season playing out-of-position at right-back, JD has come in for harsh criticism from some fans. Let us not forget that this was the same Johan Djourou who returned from a long-term injury last season, and was being acclaimed as the best in the league as he came back to shore up an absolutely horrific defensive unit in the fine form leading up to the Carling Cup final.
Opinions change quickly, and whilst Djourou would be the first to admit that he needs to work on certain areas of his game, he’s still only 25. He’s played more than 130 games for Arsenal, has 30 caps for Switzerland, and it’s great to have a player of that age with that experience. It’s widely accepted that central defenders start to peak towards their thirties, so it’s great news that he’ll be around to strengthen the squad.
Competition for places can only help him in the long-run, although he does need to play at centre-half and not at fullback (where he’s clearly not equipped to play on a regular basis). He really deserves more support than criticism, and people forget as well that he’s an Arsenal boy, and one of our longest-serving players. He’s been at the club almost 10 years, gone all they way from the scholars to the reserves to the first-team, and has rarely ever kicked up a fuss or caused trouble, and always plays with a smile on his face.
So just a 2 year contract extension? Has the club become more cautious on the long term contracts?Still good to know he has signed an extension and a decent backup to Kos,Verm & Per.
I’m glad to have him signed on. Last season when we were a defensive shambles he added stability and turned in some really great performances. This season he has played mostly out of position, doing his best to fill in where needed. I’m happy to have someone like that in the team. He’s a quality back up and one of our more senior players too he’s been at the club forever.
Not to mention he sometimes did well in that right-back position.
I also appreciate that he has a better eye for a ball than Per (reminiscence Walcott’s goal at Swansea) , at least that’s what I get.
Nevertheless, he “has rarely ever kicked up a fuss or caused trouble, and always plays with a smile on his face”, can’t have a reason to really hate him.
100% agree!
Great post.
Happy to have him signed up. Good guy and a promising centre back. If he can accept being behind Koscielny and Vermaelen for the next few years, we have great back-up.
so i guess that makes a central defence good enough to compete in all competitions!!i swear that is just what arsenal need in all areas of the pitch.JD could have gone to a mid table club and established himself as a good CB.but im glad he is willing to work hard and earn his place.we want our substitutes to be level headed,mature ‘impact players’ and ‘understudies’ and that what makes a good team.now i hope we approach our midfield and CF positions in the same way.that’ll make us an ambitious club,a club willing to compete in all competitions with a great squad.i have only one agenda for arsenal this summer.sell the deadwood and get a star and make a statement of ambition.trust me we will be back at our best.on other note im more than pleased with our wingers this season.Guess wenger afterall realized the need for speacilized wingers.
Has had a rough time being played out of position. Good reliable back up for central defence. Glad arsenal have kept faith in him. He deserves it.
classy central defender. top man. lovely.
Nice guy, loyal to Arsenal, what more can you ask? Glad he’s signed an extension and I hope he doesn’t get widely used out of position anymore. He’s had a tough time this season being asked to play in place of Sagna. Not easy shoes to fill.
Congratulations to him, let’s all hope that he stays healthy and improves. Voldemort nailed it.
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Ok name any fourth choice CB at six of europe’s top clubs.
Yeah, just what i thought. So just shut it. No club can have a pair of verminators and a pair of kosiers on their books. Plus he was so good last year before the bac sagnad his shoulder out at united
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WHY HAVE YOU POSTED 3 TIMES AND WHY ARE YOU WRITING IN CAPITALS?!?!?!?
U TWAT CYGAN
Oh the irony…
a 2-year extention on his current deal? if so, how long does this tie him to the club?
i think that extends it to summer 2015.
The 2102 Euro Championships
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“….FOR US?….” and goes on to call “US” “ARSE LICKING MUPPETS”
pat, there is no “US”.
Glad to see JD stick with us. He can be a touch nervous, but so called “supporters” like pat do not help with their spittle flecked venom.
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Obviously you didn’t watch him last season, another muppet who writes off players being forced to play out of position. What other top side could he get into? Well he’s probably better than Cahill so Chelsea, definatly better than Jonny Evans, so united, better than savic so man city… Do I need to go on? OH AND CAPS IS REALLY ANNOYING AND INSTANTLY MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT
For a 3th-4th CB, Djourou is not that bad. And there is a potential for him to be better base on his age. I’m much assured when Djourou playing in CB at Carling Cup than Monteiro or Angha next year. So, it is a good deal i suppose.
So Arsenal continue with their policy of Signing average players but failing to get their best players to sign. If they sign Van Persie I’ll be impressed.
Yet more reward for mediocrity. No wonder we can’t afford to buy and pay quality players!!!!
i’m with pat i don’t know player you’ve all been watching but this man is simply not good enough. he was personally responsible for half of united’s goals in the OT trouncing. i don’t care where you put him on the back line; he is mistake-prone and is only fit half the time. particularly at his wage bill, he should have been sold some time ago as his chance has come and gone. he will always be a backup and is hardly good enough to do that for the mighty arsenal. could anyone here see him as a backup on a title contending squad? seems like a nice guy but this was a horrible decision for club with the ambitions we claim to have.
A propos of nothing in particular, I thought I would share an observation with you.
There are many who still slag off the Arsenal defence and claim it to be our weak link. Merson was banging on the same just the other day, saying that we’ll win nothing until we change the defence and it has become popular to rubbish Mertesacker, who I think is an excellent player, much better than Cahill.
So, how bad is our defensive record?
Well, we all know that Arsenal went through a trauma at the start of the season, losing three regular first-team players and then played the three games against Liverpool, Man Utd & Blackburn with three players suspended – Frimpong starting his suspension in the middle of the Liverpool game! On top of that, a number of injuries meant that we were unable to field a proper team in those games. So, it is unreasonable to judge the long-term quality of the defence based on those games.
We have now played 24 EPL games. Had we conceded goals at the same rate per game in those three fixtures mentioned above, as we have in the remaining 21 games, we would now be standing at 23 goals against for the season to date. That places our defence third best in the EPL, two goals worse than Liverpool and four goals worse than Man City. We are one better than Man Utd and Sunderland, two better than Spurs and six better than Chelsea. Taking the average over 21 games is a reasonable sample and I think it shows that our defence is not so bad, after all.
the chicken-licken-world-is-falling-in types won’t like that one bit
Whoa, you can spout researched stats on here, some people don’t like them
I’m so glad you took the time to do that. I think our biggest weakness now is in attack. The defence looks good, midfield are all fighting well, and if we can keep up the level of performance up front that we had at the weekend, we’ll be doing alright.
AJ admire your optimism, but you can’t take out our 3 worst performances of the season, & say that everything is all right.
The fact is that we had years of unbelievable defences, but the crop of the last few years have looked very brittle.
Djourou is OK, but he switches off in games. And it costs us. I want a talker at centre half. If TV & Kos can get fit & string together a few games, then I think we can talk about improvement at this position. I also think that Centre Half might be Alex Songs best position.
Mertesacker/Linighan. Anyone else see the resemblance
Lovely piece of stats…but what about the dropped points from winning/draw positions?
to all of those who seem to think djourou is somehow responsible for our ills, perhaps you’d like to swap him for title-winning jonny evans?
no, thought not
I’d rather take Gary Cahil……
hahahaha i reckon not siging cahil in 2011 could prove as disastrous as not signing tony cottee was in 1988.
You joker.
bloody hell, Tony Cottee. I haven’t heard that name in years. I wonder why…
……outside and give him a good shoeing?
Gary Carthorse? That bloke who presided over one of the poorest defences in the league this season? That bloke who has only been bought by Chelsea because no matter how absolutely dire he is he surely must be an improvement over old’ Weepy the Grass Muncher?
I’d rather have one Djourou than both of those two together. He’s a good player, a nice guy and will always give his best for the team, and as far as we know he hasn’t shagged any of his team mates WAGs.
I was thinking the same thing.
Probably not Sam, or that Savic at City. But I would take Alex over Djourou. Or even Senderos.
As a LB yourself, how would you feel about Leighton Baines in an Arsenal shirt?
Dear Pat,
No one cares and you could at least make it funny.
@pat, why do u guys forget this is the same JD, who gave a very decent display last season, notably vs Chelsea at home. I admire him.
And one heck of a performance against Barca at the Emirates!!
Can someone please enlighten me why they think Djourou is crap?
Personally I think he is a good solid defender but absolutely rubbish defending as a right back. When we needed him last season he perform admirably considering he was injured and has to gel with Squilacci and Koscielny (while TV5 is out) whom he never play with them till then. Even then the criticisms are still unjustified to blame our poor defensive record on him alone. Instead we should be blaming on poor retention of the ball, butter-fingers Almunia, killing game off when we need to, take minimal risk at the right time and etc.
Think about it as back up defenders go, JD are a lot better than most of them. I rather have him on my team than that overpriced, greedy Cahill. He is tall, strong, relatively good on the ball and fast for a defender. Reads the game better than most defenders in this league (although non of these seems to appear when he was played at right back). Don’t forget he was part of the team and the only team to beat Barca on english soil. He also knows the english better than any foreign replacement we get.
For those who said that we are rewarding mediocrity and we should get a replacement ASAP. Then who should we get? We have already 3 top class defenders in Kos, Verm and Mert. How are we to rotate the defence if we get in another top class defender?
Because hes not a right back. So when he plays there and struggles, obviously this means he’s shit. Never mind that he was, without doubt, one of our best performers last year, remember that
Month towards the end when he was out? We were all crying for him. But no, now he’s shit, should have signed samba/Cahill blah blah blah personally I love the bloke, glad to have him! DJOUROU THE DAMAGER!
‘.. and always plays with a smile on his face’.
Erm .. what smile? He always looks wretched. That pic is the first time Ive seen him smile. EVER!
Maybe you will see him smile in your second ever match watching Arsenal
Good call by Arsenal though I wonder, its been a few years since Senderos moved on; personally I think both of these guys are a bit inconsistent (or injury prone) – question is, who would’ve you rather have liked to hold on to for 4th choice CB?
Is that even a real question? Senderos??? Surely you jest sir
With vermaelen or Koscielny next to him he’s as good if not better than Mertesacker
Anybody know how much he’s getting a week in this new contract?
When is ‘Football Manager 2013′ out? It’ll tell you on there….
Love the way you get a thumbs down for asking a question FG. Must be an auto setting somewhere.
And I wasn’t being sarcastic. I just wanted to know how much we were paying Djourou for signing this new contract.
I actually think that he is OK for a third or fourth chioce centre-half. He was rubbish when he was unfairly asked to play at right-back, but he was our best centre-half last season.
I just hope that he isn’t going to get crazy money – paying stupid wages for average players is one of Wenger’s biggest faults.
It’s a fair question on salary. I think Djourou is an OK CB, but I question his attitude after seeing texts from him to someone we both know after a defeat.. I know this doesn’t give anyone on here much to go by, but it would be a bit out of order for me to give details in context or not.
I’ll still cheer him as an Arsenal player, but I really hope TV5 & Per can help him develop into taking more ownership of his own performances. Perhaps then he’ll be a real asset. But only at CB.
Also, when you see how much better Coq & Nico were at RB it’s tough to have much patience for the whole out of position thing – they’re both midfielders!
Both midfielders who played at RB in the reserves and are 7 years younger, so haven’t fully developed a set position yet
You say that like its something in defence of Djourou. He’s 5/7 years older and was supposed to have been a versatile player – surely with that extra experience he should have better positional awareness even at RB.
versatile in that he was supposed to be like Song and play as CB or DMF but wasn’t trained like that in the end. Would you put Song at RB, knowing fully well he hasn’t trained in that position, and expect a true fullback’s performance?
He’s not built to be a right back. He’s too tall.
I’ve never seen a soccer-ball player ‘air kick’ and miss the ball as much as good ol’ Jonathan ‘Squidward’ Doroon, here.
We missed out on that Brazilian fellow from the Chelsea blues… Alexis, was it? Now playing at Paris Sans German?
Is this what passes for comedy these days?
Much like your name, eh bro?
I liked it. You have to appreciate an American with a sense of humour.
Most of them only have it’s feeble little brother, the sense of humor.
If you’re going to pretend to be american at least make it clever, or actually funny in the first place.
Don’t know what 2 say,is this a step in the right direction or what?
Don’t know. Which way are you facing?
He’s a proper lad, a true Gooner. That’s what keeps the squad together. Let’s not focus on a few below-average games from him while he was playing out of position. Up the Arsenal!
What a bad news for AFC. He hasn’t the level for AFC and EPL. He must go to allow AW to buy a really good defender.
Oh god.
Slightly off topic, but this is why I don’t think rvp will stay next season. He’s our captain he knows how desperate the fans are to keep him. He knows the club needs a lift and what better lift could there be than to have him say he’s staying
What reason is there to delay it, as our captain surely if he was staying he above would want it settled. It’s not about time, as the player is hardly involved, it’s the agent, I don’t buy all this distraction crap, the distraction comes from the constant will he won’t he questions.
If the contract was signed the distractions gone surely.
Sorry I know it’s not a popular topic but rvp should be signing a contract and can’t see a logical reason why is isn’t. Unless he’s waiting to see the clubs ambition, which so far has been non existent.
Or maybe to see if we win a trophy which seems unlikely.
Rvp will be off this summer that’s for sure but who can or could replace him on his current form and at a bargain price that arsenal want to buy at.
The thing is, we don’t know what work is going on behind the scenes with his agent. In all honesty, who knew Vermaelen was going to sign an extension last year or that Djourou would sign one now? Hell (and I’m sure I’ll get thumbs down for mentioning him), we were reported to have been negotiating with Nasri’s agent for a full year before he turned us down as he thought the grass was greener (a regular bench place proves it is not…). It’s 50/50 where RvP starts next season but he seems to be enjoying himself and seems to relish being the captain, so let’s at least enjoy it while it lasts. If his head is turned after giving us one full season in 8 years, despite the patience shown by Arsene, then so be it.
I think Djourou is not as good as some are saying but certainly not as bad as others are saying here. He’s a very good 4th choice CB to have. This is a position where I now feel satisfied we have the right mixture, moreso now than in the last 4 years. We no longer have to cower in fear that we’ll be left with Silvestre or (even though he’s still at the club) Squillaci.
We have Miquel and Bartley coming through, who also look pretty solid so I think we’ll be alright for the forseeable future at CB.
Djourou good 4th choice cb , but squillaci 5th chioce still scares me.
Arsenal 2 – Barcelona 1. Starting CB – Djourou
Man U 8 Arsenal 2, starting CB – Djourou. Worst result in over 100 years.
This was the team against Utd – Szczesny; Jenkinson, Koscielny, Djourou, Traore; Ramsey, Coquelin; Walcott, Rosicky, Arshavin; Van Persie
So it includes our #1 ‘keeper, a young relatively untried RB, our most consistent defender, and our captain/goal-scoring striker. So please tell me why or even how Djourou is to blame for that loss?
I think that’s the point that some people are missing. He’s a good back up to the center backs we have. He played out of his skin for a long period last year. Ok he’s has his bad games but don’t they all
his reputation has suffered due to his poor performances at full back but some players just can’t make that transition. As back up to the quality that we have he’s ideal. Give the bloke a break.
Has shown moments of quality but not at Right back
Where does this leave Bartley and Miguel?
Hopefully Squid will go in Summer but that still leaves Kos Verm Big German JD Bartley and Miguel
Boateng looks awful on reserve highlights plus Hoyte needs shifting too
So many players on books taking up wages which need shifting
We have about 8 goalies Sch Flappy Clown Martinez Shea McDermott Posh bloke do we need to pay wages to all these only 1 can play in goal!!
Who is miguel???
You’re counting youth players?? I’m sure we’ve got some 9 year old goalie you haven’t mentioned, get him off the books too!
Hell, if we’re really serious about cutting the dead wood we should get rid of those lazy blokes who just sit on their comfy seats and only bother to come on after 67 minutes.
11 Good Men and True. That’s all Arsenal need to be world beaters.
Why so many thumbs down regarding JD’s contract extension?Maybe because he’s had a few shaky games at full back?JD isn’t & never will be a top full back,but he is a decent centre back,& excellent back up for the 3 players in front of him in that position.Lay off him,it’s not his fault the manager asks him to play right back-& most times he’s played there he’s been badly exposed because he’s had little or no help from the midfielder in front of him!
I’m pleased he has signed this extension and while he may not be the most comfortable on the ball he’s a decent guy who is a very capable defender. Its so depressing to see the amount of over the top/offensive criticism that people within the club are receiving not to mention the arguments online. There is always room for improvement but this is Arsenal football club and it deserves our support no matter how infuriating it may be at times. Rant over.
He isn’t Senderos.
Are you sure? Has anyone ever seen them together?
no doubt he`s a lovely lad who tries his best , but in all honesty he`s never far from a bad judgment call or a mis control in dangerous areas even at centre half. i think we could buy better . maybe he`s been given an extension to bump his price up in the summer , i suppose the bottom line is how you react when a player has to miss games through injury , and in all honesty i can say i dont hold my breath till he`s back , still he`s better than cygan
What an abysmal decision. Arsenal should have dumped in and spent the (probable) extra £5.2m in wages on a real defender. But then, what does Wenger know about defenders? Fuck all.
Giving this dolt a wage increase is a fucking insult.
Wenger’s got no idea about defenders. Just look at Koscielny and Vermaelen!
Or K Toure, S Campbell, Lauren and to an extent Clichy…. 3 of those were part of the invincibles weren’t they?
Don’t forget about Sagna, jesus what a terrible buy that was…..
Good news. He might not be everyone’s cup of tea but when he’s brought on as CB he can put a real shift in. People also forget he can play in Song’s spot.
Would take JD over Squid, Senderos, or Silvestre any day!
Squad player and I believe he understands that. Never heard him complain, always seems positive.
The trouble is (as others have pointed out above) many people are judging his performances based on his minutes as a fullback this year. He’s not an outside defender. He’s a supporting central defender who makes some rather nice clearances. If you stick him wide and ask him to cover Nani (who is a tough mark for anyone), he’s going to have problems.
Let’s not forget that even the great TV5 has cost us a few goals from his wide marking and positioning as well.
I hope that after seeing our fullback problems that some of our previous doubters start to respect the quiet, efficient work of players like Sagna.
He’s done ok for us at right back, and is a very decent center back with more to come.
I think he’s under-rated and definitely treated unjustly by some fans. glad he’s signed, would rather have him onboard over some other little pricks. (I’m looking in your direction Mr Vela)
Off topic. But John terry is one poisonous piece of shit, he destroys everything he touches and everybody but him suffers for it. What a total cunt of a human being.
I know a Chelsea fan who has a friend who has done business with Terry, They friend went out for a meal with him and said he was a filthy, arrogant cunt that treated staff in the restaurant like shit.
How do you do more than one thumbs up on this thing?
Hope he destroys the scum when harry fucks of now, and they drop back down were the fuck they belong
And why is he having a trial after Euro 2012 but Suarez was straight away given? Can anyone explain?
Saurez was dealt with by the FA whereas Terrys case is going through the courts.
I’d rather have djorou sign an extension than have squalaci sign an extension I mean some people will complain but djorou is a better choice than squallaci who we do need to off load so it would be unrealistic to off load 2 centre backs in the summer and find a better replacement willing enough to come and warm bench.
If they’re willing to come just to warm the bench in our 5th spot you do understand that they will be about as good as Squillaci don’t you ?
Outragious decision. He’s just not good enough. Was really hoping he would have been 1 defender to go and bring in better in the summer. Has no idea on defensive positioning or when and when not to commit to a challenge. Yet again the club looks at wages over quality! This mentality will not bring us silverware…..
Its pretty laughable that people are blaming JD for the 8-2 when you consider that the full backs were Traore and Jenks who then got sent off towards the end. Kos was playing too but apparently its all JD’s fault.
Then they ere
Was trying to say they played behind Arsh, Walcott, Coq, Rosicky and Ramsey, not exactly the strongest midfield to put out at OT.
But suppose thats JDs fault too?
Unrelated note, but Gervinho’s goal today to see off Mali means he won’t be back in time to face Milan next week : (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2eoJL4TdM
Let’s see this finishing more for Arsenal!
He was paying attention when Henry scored against Leeds then?
What if he flew directly to Milan and put his boots on while he was on the aeroplane?
Guess that means another guaranteed start for the Ox!
Mmm.. Wonder what this means for Bartley?
he’s a great back up centre back. much better than johnny evans or skrtel.
I can understand both sides of view and to be honest I am dissapointed we are keeping him.
RB’s Sagna and Jenkins learning his trade
LBs Santos and Gibbs learning his trade
Centre 3 players Djorouh will never be ahead of in Metersacker Vermallen and Kos ……I honestly had hoped for Vortengen and we would have had the best defence maybe since George was our manager ….. with the knowledge Vermallen could fill in it at left and Vort at right if needed.
Its a case of keeping another play thats never gonna be really Arsenal standard.
Low rate it all you like I am not slagging him off just making a point. But id sooner u point out why a lot of us are wrong to think it,
Have people even watched Vertonghen? He’s fairly prone to lapses of concentration and lacks consistency. He’s about as comfortable at left back as Vermaelen. That is to say, not very.
Don’t get me wrong. Vermaelen did a job for us on the left, but you can tell it is not his natural position.
Clubs are still after him (Vertonghen) since he doesn’t seem to be renewing his contract. But do you really think he’ll come to Arsenal to be 4th choice centre back and maybe play right or left back if injuries mount up?
That’s why Djourou renewing is a positive thing. Check out other “top 4″ team 3rd/4th choice CB. Luiz, Evans, Dawson, that Savic guy? Not exactly world class defenders.
luiz evans svic , dawson are all better then johan djourou
I hope he’ll improve soon otherwise we ar dead !!!
Steady on old chap. Stiff upper lip and all that. Don’t want the ladies to see you like this do you. Get a grip man. Get a grip.
Will you all haters shut the trap and get behind the team, why are some of us having a go at JD, is a god? Fuck not everybody has is ups and downs, maybe he does his more but give him a chance, and don’t ever blame only him for the OT loss, he wasn’t the only one playing and what about the manager and the coaching crew and everyone else?
We are the Arsenal and we kick asses with blazing guns, COYG!
erm….
yes?
I’m sorry but in England we don’t have a coaching crew. We have a coaching staff… which is a big stick the manager hits the players with if they don’t work hard enough… Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the bruises on Arshavin the next time he comes on as a sub.
Good thing he signed, the last “nice guy” utility player we lost was Eboue, don’t tell me we haven’t missed Eboue.
And the 8-2 was fault of Traore, not this guy.. He has his bad moments though, noone can’t deny that, but he’s a very good 4th choice CB