I meant no disrespect to the player. He's been solid. But I wouldn't compare him to the great defensive midfielders yet. Let's just give him time. He'll surely be a starter next year and we'll see how he does in the long run. After a year we can talk about how good he is.

For everyone who says I know nothing about football, maybe that's true, but let's also remember that I'm the one who said:

- Townsend is a good enough player for a mid-table team in the Premier League when 99,99% of you were bashing him and wanted him gone

- Kelly and Ward playing at left is one of the main reasons the team played bad in the last year under Pardew. And no, NOT everyone had noticed that

- van Aanholt is worth even more than 10 million and Sunderland is making a huge mistake selling him, when you all were saying how he's terrible defending and doesn't justify the fee (I'll show you the thread). van Aanholt has scored against Middlesbrough and that goal is probably the most important of the season.

- Cabaye is the engine of the team, the one who does the pressing and should be kept in the team because it will be worth it when everyone was calling for him to be sidelined. And no, I didn't see many arguing his case even though now you'll say his contribution was obvious

So, I don't know how bad I am at judging football. If I'm saying Milivojevic hasn't proven himself yet is because there's no conclusion you can really draw after 7 games, 2 of which weren't that good. He's basically playing deep-lying playmaker.
He's doing ok in this 4-3-3 formation where Cabaye and Puncheon are dropping down a lot and helping him, while also doing the pressing. Would he do ok in a 4-4-2? Doubtly. He's rather slow, that's his weakness. Leave him with just 1 other central midfield and he'll be exposed, probably outrun quite a few times per game.

On his qualities, I can obviously see he has good passing (I'm not blind, I appreciate that at him), he's got a great physique and is an improvement at set-pieces defending. He can also take a free kick. He's obviously a technically gifted player and is tall and strong. One could argue- what more would you want from a defensive midfielder? But I feel the best DMs in history weren't the solid ones, but rather the fast ones like Makelele, Lothar Matheus, even Ronald Koeman. Like Kante is now.

If in 1 year Milivojevic will have proven that he's a wonderful player, I'll be the first to admit it. It won't be hard for me to say I was wrong. But for now, the guys who have really saved the team from relegation have been Zaha, Townsend, Cabaye and van Aanholt, coupled with McArthur's fine former the early part of the season.

The others have been important as well, but not essential. That's just my interpretation. I feel it would have been the same with Flamini in Milivojevic's shoes. Maybe I'm wrong. Time will tell

This post has been merged from a topic called 'Every1 bashes me 4 saying Luka hasn't proven much' by Guntrisoft

I meant no disrespect to the player. He's been solid. But I wouldn't compare him to the great defensive midfielders yet. Let's just give him time. He'll surely be a starter next year and we'll see how he does in the long run. After a year we can talk about how good he is.

For everyone who says I know nothing about football, maybe that's true, but let's also remember that I'm the one who said:

- Townsend is a good enough player for a mid-table team in the Premier League when 99,99% of you were bashing him and wanted him gone

- Kelly and Ward playing at left is one of the main reasons the team played bad in the last year under Pardew. And no, NOT everyone had noticed that

- van Aanholt is worth even more than 10 million and Sunderland is making a huge mistake selling him, when you all were saying how he's terrible defending and doesn't justify the fee (I'll show you the thread). van Aanholt has scored against Middlesbrough and that goal is probably the most important of the season.

- Cabaye is the engine of the team, the one who does the pressing and should be kept in the team because it will be worth it when everyone was calling for him to be sidelined. And no, I didn't see many arguing his case even though now you'll say his contribution was obvious

So, I don't know how bad I am at judging football. If I'm saying Milivojevic hasn't proven himself yet is because there's no conclusion you can really draw after 7 games, 2 of which weren't that good. He's basically playing deep-lying playmaker.
He's doing ok in this 4-3-3 formation where Cabaye and Puncheon are dropping down a lot and helping him, while also doing the pressing. Would he do ok in a 4-4-2? Doubtly. He's rather slow, that's his weakness. Leave him with just 1 other central midfield and he'll be exposed, probably outrun quite a few times per game.

On his qualities, I can obviously see he has good passing (I'm not blind, I appreciate that at him), he's got a great physique and is an improvement at set-pieces defending. He can also take a free kick. He's obviously a technically gifted player and is tall and strong. One could argue- what more would you want from a defensive midfielder? But I feel the best DMs in history weren't the solid ones, but rather the fast ones like Makelele, Lothar Matheus, even Ronald Koeman. Like Kante is now.

If in 1 year Milivojevic will have proven that he's a wonderful player, I'll be the first to admit it. It won't be hard for me to say I was wrong. But for now, the guys who have really saved the team from relegation have been Zaha, Townsend, Cabaye and van Aanholt, coupled with McArthur's fine former the early part of the season.

The others have been important as well, but not essential. That's just my interpretation. I feel it would have been the same with Flamini in Milivojevic's shoes. Maybe I'm wrong. Time will tell

So, we can't make a proper assessment of Milivojevic until he's been here a year, but we can make a proper assessment of van Aanholt after - what is it? four matches. Zat right?

I have been reflecting back to last year when my wife and I went on a cruise and one of the stops was Athens. The port is actually in Piraeus and we got a bus into Athens. I knew that Olympiakos actually played in Piraeus and I asked the chap selling bus tickets about the club. Didn't quite understand at the time but I now believe he was 'Waxing lyrical' about Luka. The bus from the port took us past the Olympiakos stadium.

Luka has been a terrific signing. We needed a 'Jedi' in that vital 'Engine room' and my word we have got a helluva player.

It doesn't really matter what you think. Milvojevic has hit the ground running for Palace and been a main part of our revival in the last 6 games. He looks the part played against 2 of the top EPL teams and coped easily.

I'd say they have been good. I'd even go as far as saying Sakho has been great. But I still wouldn't pay 20 million pounds for him