Moussa Diaby - Confirmed

[Footy-Vill]

Moussa Diaby: "We're still fourth in the league and have seven games more to fight for the top four. We have to win a lot of games to fight for the Champions League. I believe in this team, I think we can get this position at the end of the season"

[Flamingo Lane]

I was surprised to hear it said during the Wolves game last week that Diaby has played in every one of our league games this season.

[Footy-Vill]

Thought he was the weakest attacking player v Arsenal.
And the worst performer from the excellent starting 11 rightfully subbed for Leon

[PaulWinch again]

Also player of the month, so it’s not that big of a deal he had an off day.

[Footy-Vill]

It’s just considering the rest of the teams performance it was disappointing

[Somniloquism]

Thought he was the weakest attacking player v Arsenal.
And the worst performer from the excellent starting 11 rightfully subbed for Leon

First half, we seemed to be in deny mode rather then full attack mode and he put some challenges in. Even Watkins 1st half effort was more a defensive pass mistake rather then any proper move. I do think the plan was always to bring Bailey on once we have stated to frustrate them and they started to leave space.

[VillaTim]

Poor today going forwards but did some excellent tracking back . I think he's going to be a big player next season .

[Steve67]

We clicked when he went off.  Bailey occupies two players all the time and this creates space for others. Diaby will be fine but had an off day with his forward play but did some good tracking back to help out when Arsenal were on top.

[AV82EC]

Poor today going forwards but did some excellent tracking back . I think he's going to be a big player next season .

Think this is a fair summation of his game today, nullified any threat down that side and doubled up on Trossard when reqd.

[olaftab]

We clicked when he went off.  Bailey occupies two players all the time and this creates space for others. Diaby will be fine but had an off day with his forward play but did some good tracking back to help out when Arsenal were on top.

I agree😊

[Demitri_C]

Thought he was the weakest attacking player v Arsenal.
And the worst performer from the excellent starting 11 rightfully subbed for Leon

Have to say didnt have a good attacking game but defensively he was veey good. He worked hard in getting back and helping the back four

[Footy-Vill]

Diaby is at a record signing. I want to see more from him. Despite being featured in every game, he has only played 90 minutes four times in 33 Premier League appearances.
Can we anticipate more from him next season? So far, he has 5 goals and 7 assists, but with Cole Palmer scoring 20 goals, I expected Diaby to provide more. Yes, Palmer is on penalties at Chelsea, but he scored 4 last night against Everton, with only one of his goals coming from penalties. He scored a hat trick last weekend too

I just want Diaby to be an actual goal scorer and contribute even more because he's clearly a talented  player. Having looked fantastic throughout the preseason tour in the United States and scored on his debut in the league vs Newcastle I expected bigger and better things.
This season, he has appeared absolutely lost at times, therefore I would attribute his poor performances to learning the language, settling in and understanding the  tactics.
I know Emery will be demanding of him and to me it’s not unreasonable to expect him to be as effective as Bailey in attack, it would be just great, but I am continuously disappointed with his lack of consistency on the pitch and that if it was between the two players am far more in favour of Bailey who excites but also delivers - consistently!

[Risso]

Agree with all that Footy. He's done OK in terms of his goals/assists this season, but after a good opening few weeks, he's gone off the boil a bit. He's been better of late, but thought he was largely missing against Arsenal again. Emery seems happy that he's progressing as part of the team's growth, so that's good enough for me this season. I do want to see a lot more from him next season though. He's our one player with genuine, frightening pace, and he's got a wicked shot on him, so the ingredients are certainly there. Seems a decent, genuine lad as well, so hopefully a pre-season and he'll be the player we all hope he can be next season.

[Drummond]

I think his role on Sunday was to play more defensively, so I don't begrudge him his performance.

I think what we saw early on in the season was his natural ability coming through, I suspect he's taking time to adapt to Emery's methods though there are signs his confidence is coming back.

It makes the transition Rogers has made all the more impressive too for the speed with which he's adapted.

[Smithy]

Diaby is at a record signing. I want to see more from him. Despite being featured in every game, he has only played 90 minutes four times in 33 Premier League appearances.
Can we anticipate more from him next season? So far, he has 5 goals and 7 assists, but with Cole Palmer scoring 20 goals, I expected Diaby to provide more. Yes, Palmer is on penalties at Chelsea, but he scored 4 last night against Everton, with only one of his goals coming from penalties. He scored a hat trick last weekend too

I just want Diaby to be an actual goal scorer and contribute even more because he's clearly a talented  player. Having looked fantastic throughout the preseason tour in the United States and scored on his debut in the league vs Newcastle I expected bigger and better things.
This season, he has appeared absolutely lost at times, therefore I would attribute his poor performances to learning the language, settling in and understanding the  tactics.
I know Emery will be demanding of him and to me it’s not unreasonable to expect him to be as effective as Bailey in attack, it would be just great, but I am continuously disappointed with his lack of consistency on the pitch and that if it was between the two players am far more in favour of Bailey who excites but also delivers - consistently!

I get why people say things like "he's our record signing, I expect more!", but honestly, that's a pretty misleading thing to throw around.  Sure, he's our record signing, but he's not even among the top FIFTY most expensive signings in the league.  To expect him to be a standout player on a regular basis is a bit much.  His form has been a bit up and down, but it's first season and he's scored some important goals and contributed to the team performance on many occasions.  £50m buys you a player who can regularly contribute in the first-team for a side with Champions League ambitions, and that's what we got.  It certainly doesn't buy you the "best player in the team", which might have been the case a decade ago.

I genuinely expect him to be better next season, maybe not to the level Bailey has been at this year (he has been a revelation), but certainly closing that performance gap considerably.