05 November 2009 - 08:35 PM
If you have a problem with my moderating, take it up with the admin or PM me. Some people could take offense to what you posted and we want this community to be open to anyone. In my books, both spellings are considered racial slurs.
Anyway, on the subject of erding, a nice little article about him on the french league site:
[indent]Thrusting young Turk Mevlut Erding would like to put one thing on record: he’s not Paris Saint-Germain’s saviour. Yet with Erding in the team PSG have gained 13 points from five games, without him a paltry three from five games. His team-mates recognise the French-born Turkish international’s importance.
On Sunday the 22-year-old enjoyed an eventful return from seven weeks out with a left shoulder injury. Erding missed a penalty at former club Sochaux and scored the third goal in a 4-1 win as the capital club won for the first time since he injured himself to move back into the top half of the table.
Midfielder Clément Chantôme, who joined Erding on the scoresheet at the Stade Bonal, said: "You've got to look at Mev's return to action. He gave us the option of an out ball. Without him we were playing too much to feet. With him in the side we were able to play much further up the pitch."
Jallet: "No co-incidence"
Christophe Jallet was equally impressed: "He came back and we scored four goals. Maybe that's not really a co-incidence," he said with a smile. Erding does not agree: "I'm not the saviour. It's a happy co-incidence, but it was the whole team working together which enabled us to score four and win the game. All I did was score a goal. The important thing for me was to get back up to speed after seven weeks out."
Choosing PSG over Lyon
Erding joined PSG for 10 million euros on a four-year deal this summer despite Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas attempting to hijack the move, approaching Erding in the dressing room at the Stade Gerland when Turkey played France in a close-season friendly. The signature had PSG fans and players salivating at the prospect of Erding terrorising Ligue 1 defences in partnership with Guillaume Hoarau, last-season's top scorer with 17 Ligue 1 goals. Central defender Sammy Traoré said: "He (Erding) will bring pace and depth to our play. He's also good in the air. I think the duo he'll form with Guillaume Hoarau is a complementary one."
Injuries stifle Hoarau partnership
Things haven't quite turned out that way. Injuries to both parties mean they have shared a Ligue 1 field for just 19 minutes so far in the 3-2 win at PSG coach Antoine Kombouaré's former club Valenciennes in Week 3. Hoarau is currently out with a knee injury and some doomsayers claim the giant striker from the French island of La Réunion will not play again before the winter break.
It means that Erding, newly recovered from his shoulder operation, will have to, ahem, shoulder the burden at a club which never strays too far from the headlines. He hopes the Sochaux win will act as a turning point. "After all the problems of recent weeks, including swine flu, and not having won since the end of August, well we really needed to show a different side to ourselves. We spoke a lot in the week leading up to the Sochaux game. There were conversations at the dinner table and in the dressing room to find answers. We wanted to get things back in hand and we did it in the most beautiful of ways. But we cannot afford to stop there. We have to keep playing like that in the future."
From France youth to Euro 2008 with Turkey
Born in Saint-Claude in the Jura region of France, Erding represented Les Bleus at youth level before plumping to pin his colours to the Turkish mast at full international level. A member of the so-called 1987 generation of young French talent, Erding found his path into the under-21s blocked by the likes of Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri.
Erding is very matter of fact about a choice which saw him represent Turkey at 2008, although he won't be at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as the 2002 semi-finalists failed to qualify. "I played for France at youth level but I wasn't called up to the Under-21s. I chose Turkey because they called me up. I didn't have a choice to make."
After scoring 11 goals in each of the last two campaigns to help Sochaux stave off relegation, PSG fans hope Erding will beat that total this time around to fire the club back into Europe. [/indent]
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