Good article from Football Italia...
http://www.football-italia.net/blogs/kk1.html
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Blog: Great Dane
Christian Poulsen has had to take on the critics since his switch to Juventus. But, as Karsten Krogh asks, when will he get the credit he deserves?
It was never going to be easy for Christian Poulsen to go to Juventus last summer. As everyone knows, he was on the receiving end of a little Francesco Totti phlegm at Euro 2004 and a few years later he and Gennaro Gattuso had their own little clash when Schalke and Milan met in the Champions League. In Italy Poulsen was blamed as the instigator of the aggression in both cases – wrongly – and he has suffered ever since.
For some reason, Italians tend to think that Poulsen is a dirty, technically hopeless player who relies on persistent fouling and running. His performances so far this season – in which he has overshadowed the much-hyped Felipe Melo – have shown that he is a technically adept and intelligent player.
He hardly ever loses possession and his vision is more than decent – exemplified by his assist to the winning goal this weekend against Udinese when his brilliant pass found Martin Caceres, who then just as brilliantly volleyed the ball across to Fabio Grosso and an open goal.
As usual Poulsen’s part in the goal was not mentioned anywhere. Journalists seem determined to ignore Poulsen’s positive achievements, especially when his play does not fall into the easy 'technically-inept-and-clueless-hard-man' category. Lazy journalism, really.
The media may not have realized it yet – or they may simply have decided that they don’t want to – but the Juventus Coaches have seen that Poulsen is quite a decent player, whether we are talking Claudio Ranieri or Ciro Ferrara.
The proof is in the team selection. After 13 Serie A games this season, Poulsen has started in nine and played in 11 games. Last term he played 23 Serie A games and started 14 – and he was injured for more than two months in the middle of the season which means that he almost only missed the games he was injured. In both seasons he has gotten lots of playing time in the Champions League as well.
If Christian is such a terrible player why do the Coaches persist in selecting him for almost every single match. Are Claudio Ranieri and Ciro Ferrara idiots? Or have they seen something the media has not?
On the Danish national team, which just qualified for the World Cup as winners of their group ahead of Portugal and Sweden, Poulsen has been the best performer for the entire campaign. By now, he is the de facto leader of the Danish team even if older players like Martin Jorgensen and Jon Dahl Tomasson are ahead of him in the captain hierarchy.
In the last six years for Denmark, Poulsen has matured from a workmanlike player with limited technical skills and vision to a complete central midfielder who hardly ever plays a bad game. The Danish national team would be completely lost without him.
I talked to Poulsen for a magazine interview last summer right before he moved to Italy and Juventus. At that time – after an impressive spell at Sevilla – many big clubs were after his signature and he chose the most difficult country possible. Wanting to know if he knew what he was getting himself into, I asked him: “Do you have any idea what they think about you in Italy?”
He simply said: “I think my clashes with Gattuso and Totti were blown out of proportion and
I’d like to show people that I can cut it a top club like Juventus. If I play well hopefully the sceptics will come around. If I don’t, the criticism will be my own fault. That’s professional football.” And that’s a typical Poulsen answer – just like his playing style, really. Simple, composed and ambitious.
Isn’t it time Poulsen got fair treatment by the Press and was accepted as the quality player that he has proven he is?
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