It's all objective of course but I think he showed almost straight away at Latics that he was far too good for a team of that size and quality.
He is comfortable on the ball and very strong. I've seen defenders and other midfielders charge into him and bounce off. One negative is that sometimes he's too laid back and he can get caught in possession. He isn't a stand out player in the way that Essien, Gerrard or Lampard are, but I'd be more than happy to have him in my midfield.
Redknapp loves him and commented on his arrival coinciding with them moving up the table earlier in the year.
How much did he cost? Wasn't it something around 12 million? Bargain if you ask me.

De Jong only really impressed on a couple of occasions last season - Villa at home and Liverpool away. He is abolsutely fearless.

I wouldn't say we were poor. Regardless of Liverpool's current form, going to Anfield is daunting (especially when your club has as poor a record as we do at that stadium) and teams will be wary of the threat of Gerrard. You also have to remember that we are not the most confident team at the moment. We conceeded three against a poor team in our last game and we have only played well in patches. Don't forget that the team is still gelling.

I was disappointed because I felt that if we had been less cautious, we could quite easily have won.

Only a city fan would compare a nobody like De Jong to a world class midfielder like Essien

'Comfortable on the ball'? He panics with it. Neither can he carry the ball over distance or go past a player. Jenas is far superior in that area.




Don't you mean that his decision-making is poor? He's been in the Prem for long enough.




Redknapp would say anything to sooth someone's ego. He's like a second-hand car salesman.


He may be a decent midfielder (IMO I think Cattermole is better, and Cana) but he isn't a top 4 midfielder.

We are talking about bravery here, not as a footballer.

YSB

My own fault! I should have known better than reply to you
I'll go back to responding to the serious posters.

To be honest, I thought the same of you. I felt we were there for the taking and I was surprised with how negative City were for long parts of the game, I was also disappointed with us as we just gave up once we took the lead, you came out of your shell and got two goals, we hit straight back then both sides seemed to cancel eachother out.

I thought you could easily have beaten us on the weekend, but you didn't and to be honest, it just felt like both sides put in a half-d performance. You can take pride in the way you defended, but I felt most decent sides could have got a win on the weekend, especially with the early injuries we got.

I agree with you here. I really rate Cattermole, he is the sort of player that will wind up opposition, yet he will never back out of a challenge.

Any way, no player mentioned is fit to lace the boots of Darren Fletcher: Football Genious.

I've always thought that Essien offers far more further forward in midfield. He's got pretty much everything going for him, playing in the holding role limits him somewhat IMO.

Though I cannot see why there are question marks over his bravery, he's never come across as a shrinking violet whenever I've seen him.

I sincerely hope that was intended

At least City had a go at Liverpoo when they went a goal down, unlike another Manchester-named side to visit Anfield this season....and they got their just rewards to be honest too, if only they'd played that way from the beginning they could have won fairly easily.