The mad Janmaater!
With a few wins under our belt and the pitchforks aimed at Pardew put away for safe keeping this week, I thought I'd take a quick look at one of our new recruits Daryl Janmaat. After a slightly protracted transfer due to the Debuchy move to the Gunners, Daryl Janmaat signed on for six years from Feyenoord.
Janmaat did come with some serious credentials as a world cup player for Holland and I think the general consensus amongst fans that he was potentially a very good signing. He did have some pretty big shoes to fill with the departure of Debuchy who really played well for us even when the side was struggling. To his credit, Janmaat has looked far from daunted by the crash and bash of the Premier League and has adapted quite well to the fast paced nature of the league. To me, he has looked better as each week has passed and has shown to be a good attacking outlet as well.
The thing I personally like about him the most is that he has a bit of mongrel in him. As far as I am concerned, every defender needs to have a bit of mongrel built into their DNA, without it opposition forwards would have nothing to fear and have an easy time of it. Take his tackle against Balotelli on the weekend. It was a no nonsense challenge that could have easily garnered a red card but it showed that he will not back down from a tough situation. I am pretty sure Balotelli didn't touch the ball again from that moment on. I am not condoning bad tackles, don't get me wrong, I am talking about tough mind sets and a bit of fire in the belly stuff. If he had gone in studs up and brought down another player, I would be all for him getting carded an suspended. Debuchy has a similar mindset but was a little more prone to cards. To his credit Janmaat has only 3 yellows from his 10 starts. Not too bad for a tough tackling defender. He has also popped up with a goal which shows he can mix it up in the forward half.
Like I stated earlier, I think Janmaat is improving with each game and he is going to be a key player as the season progresses. I just hope we can hang onto him a little longer than we did with Debuchy.
What are your thoughts?
