Diarra has been a huge miss

[JackyFulham90]

He has been a huge miss this season especially with Dembele & Murphy going, I hope he is back fit soon & stays fit as he can make a difference for us, quality player

[filham]

So right but Karagounis has looked good and Sidwell has recently shown good form. Also we now have Frimpong.
I suspect Diarra we need a while to get back to full match fitness.

[Andy_M]

I have been saying this since he got injured. For me it has been the main reason for a dip in form. Before he got injured people on this board were talking about us qualifying for Europe.

[aussierod]

Some continue to say we've not replaced Murphy but personally I think Diarra replaced Murphy last season and showed he not only has the ball playing ability to provide the link between defence and attack through the middle (as Murphy did), whilst also able to win the ball and pressure the opposition (as Etuhu did). This then allowed Dembele to come in and provide the slightly more advanced role in midfield. For me, Diarra being injured has been as big a loss as Dembele.

Looking forward, once fit, a midfield combination of Diarra and Emanuelson could be similar to the Diarra/Dembele which looked so promising at the start of the season (ie the Norwich and Man Utd matches). We could then use Karagounis, Sidwell, Enoh, Frimpong etc to provide rotation, fresh legs at the end of the match and cover for injuries

[Andy_M]

Some continue to say we've not replaced Murphy but personally I think Diarra replaced Murphy last season and showed he not only has the ball playing ability to provide the link between defence and attack through the middle (as Murphy did), whilst also able to win the ball and pressure the opposition (as Etuhu did). This then allowed Dembele to come in and provide the slightly more advanced role in midfield. For me, Diarra being injured has been as big a loss as Dembele.

Looking forward, once fit, a midfield combination of Diarra and Emanuelson could be similar to the Diarra/Dembele which looked so promising at the start of the season (ie the Norwich and Man Utd matches). We could then use Karagounis, Sidwell, Enoh, Frimpong etc to provide rotation, fresh legs at the end of the match and cover for injuries

Pretty much agree with this, my only concern is over your point of playing Emanuelson and Diarra, one of Dembele's biggest attributes was his ability to tackle back and win the ball which was a big help to Diarra and the team defensively, not sure Emanuelson can provide this same level of help.

[epsomraver]

Why don't we wait and see, he has only played a few minutes and people are judging him already.