hey. I'm someone who really rates Denilson and I hope I might be able to help you. I'd like to point out to you also that its good you take this approach and dont just go with hes good or bad like a lot of fans are guilty of.

Anyway onto Denilson. I think you will find that if you watch his game closely and focus on him more than other players, look at how many times he gives the ball away in a match... hardly any. 2 goals and 3 assists in the league this season is not a bad return either. His delivery from set pieces is good and although a slender figure, his defensive side of the game is improving. He, like Fabregas cannot play to the best of his abilities because of the partnership so we still havent even seen the best of him. In short, he is someone who is second to none at keeping possesion, has a good end product, is ok defensivley, is useful for set pieces and tries his heart out. For someone who is only about 20, I think that is seriously seriously good and I wouldnt be surprised to see him be one of the best in the world in 3/4 years time.

Thankyou some insight into how good he is! u have underplayed him he has 4 assists! just to point out once more that I actually like him as a player just don't think he has been utilised at his best.

denilson is a good player. he is sort of like gilberto ( i think) in his passing ability. Denilson always makes a horizontal pass (flank to flank), which in many cases are high percentage passes. he has the potential to thread the needle like cesc, and has a few times, but he seems to prefer the high percentage pass more often. i think he needs the freedom to be able to make the creative, swift pass, but no protection in the back..

"...look at how many times he gives the ball away in a match... hardly any."

You're kidding...
I really watched him closely, focused on him against Fulham.
He was terrible. I made a list(good pass, bad pass, tackles...).
I don't remember exactly but I think he had 12-15 bad passes.
He is short, slow and weak. He can't tackle and pass.
I'm sure he will leave Arsenal soon.

Next, I will watch City match on DVD again and I'll make another list.
It won't be better.

The fact that you're trying so hard to justify a player is quite a statement itself. Like most fans guilty of the inability to think critically and analyse you don't see the forest for the trees. Keep trying. (hint, look at our results.) JonJon, an attendee at the city game had an interesting comment on Deni's attitude - check it out.

denilson is a preity amazing prospect, even for arsenals standards!

he has been put into the fray a little to early it appears, his game is not developed and he is a little to inconsistent to be playing first team football in one of the biggest teams in the world!

however, he has been pushing on that door for a long time and now he has his first team place, im not saying its been disasterous(*), he is not living up to the expectation.
also playing him in the first team will no doubt improve his game so perhaps we should be patient!

but to conclude, i think den is hard done by...when the team play well everyone praises the young man, and he has scored and looks like the only player who tackles like the defenders of old! but when we play **** as a team he usualy bares the bront...why, well because its his position that we all wanted to be filled by a new dm! so he is used as a scapegoat, and unfairly so to!

a message to givons2 who criticised what I wrote about denilson, I was unfortunately on holiday for the Fulham game and did not see any of it. I know he had a bad game yesterday but how many other players didnt. Whenever I have seen him play apart from yesterday I honestly have never come across a player who gives the ball away so little. And another thing, u cannot say that when a player of 18 years old(as he was back then) runs rings round Ballack and Lampard in midfield in a carling cup final does not have amazing talent. U just cant say that.

Denilson is a very good player it is jus that he and Cesc are too familiar, Denilson is not a defensive midfielder.

Denilson is a fantastic player.
He has played out of position all year and outperformed Fabregas on each occassion.
He was the best CM on the pitch against Man U and hardly gave away the ball, and won many tackles.
It is true that he struggles in the DM role but this is hardly his fault. He is young, small and still developing and should not be required to do a man's job.
He has played a couple of bad games, but this inconsistency is to be expected from an inexperienced player who is asked to do a big job by Arsene and the fans. In the game he has played badly, so has the whole team, and unfortunately he has become the scapegoat for these losses without much evidence to back up such claims.
He will turn into a world class midfielder. I would be more worried about Song. He has had experience in the role with Charlton and is bigger yet has been horribly inconsistent. In the Tottenham game, he came onto the pitch sharing a laugh and then decided not to chase Jenas despite being on the pitch for two minutes.
I dont want to get the boots into Song because i think he will develop into another fantastic player, but I think Denilson has been unfairly criticised.

I don't really like Denilson. He's not hardworking like Flamini. And MOST of the time I see Fabregas doing all the dirty work as a DM and that's why Fabregas' form dropped. Denilson can't attack, defend and most importantly score goals, plain and simple.

It's not a question of trying to work out if Denilson is good, it's a matter of understanding the Actim index is crap. Go to the telegraph site to the club page for Arsenal and look at the actual stats. The Actim choose to give huge importance to some things and not to others it's far from an accurate picture. In fact it's such a good measure that an average player like Denilson is 6th, that tells you all you need to now about Actim.

He's a player that retains possession well, but we all know that's not Arsenal's problem.

We make plenty of passes but rarely the right ones - the ones that the defence doesn't see coming. I think our movement has fallen off - we used to get players in much more dangerous positions, and so there were more opportunities to make the right pass.

Denilson for me is one of the players who can pass until the cows come home but will rarely get himself or his team-mates in a position to do damage.