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Friday, November 30, 2007

Arsenal’s failure to sign Anelka could be Man United’s or Chelsea’s gain in the title race


By 1970’s Gooner

A transfer that looks very likely to happen this January window is that of Anelka who is looking to play in the Champions League.

"I feel well in Bolton, but as I have said before, I want to evolve at a big club that seeks to be in the Champions League”.

As Liverpool and Arsenal look like they have completed their spending for this position the likely candidates are either Manchester United or Chelsea.

Both are indeed in need of a front player like Anelka, but for different reasons.

One of Manchester United’s major weaknesses last season was the lack of quality alternatives in the center forward position.


This problem is again persisting in this campaign with Saha being the only proper centre forward in the traditional sense. He is however very injury prone and has looked out of form recently.

The alternatives used by Ferguson have been Roonie and Tevez. But both are not really genuine centre forwards. They are more effective playing in the area between the opposing defence and their midfield.

Chelsea on the other hand have a quality center forward in Drogba who is scoring goals for fun.


The problem here is that there are no viable alternatives when he becomes unavailable; unless you consider Shevchenko, Pizzaro or Joe Cole as good enough to fill in that position.

And there is his enforced absence looming on the horizon with the Africa Cup of Nations drawing near. Drogba could join Arsenal’s “Ivorians” Toure and Eboue as early as the beginning of January.

Now step in Anelka.

He has a lot of qualities that not a lot of other center forwards have. I have expounded on them as early as last March when in one of my posts (Anelka for Arsenal)I considered Anelka as the most appropriate signing that could propel Arsenal to the title.

Now, alas, it looks as though he might be propelling one of our main rivals towards the title.

Wenger opted to go for Eduardo for about the same money that Anelka would have cost then. Although Eduardo looks a very good player who will be the longed for fox in the box he still has to come to terms with the Premiership.

So much so that during Van Persie’s recent absence Wenger opted to keep Eduardo on the bench and play with only one player up front. It will be interesting to see what Wenger will do now that Van Persie is still out for another three weeks.

Both Chelsea and Manchester United recognise that Anelka has a lot going for him. He is ideal as a forward to play with or without another front man. He is also a very skillful player who scores goals for fun but can keep the ball and bring players into the game.

He knows the Premier League well and at only 28 years old he now has a blend of relative youthfulness along with maturity and experience.

He has scored 11 goals for Bolton last season out of 35 appearances with 5 assists even. This season he has scored 7 in only 11 appearances. And for the goals scored this season he was playing the lonesome striker role; in an average, launch them long and high, Bolton side.

Imagine how many goals he will score in either a Manchester United or a Chelsea side that obviously create a lot more scoring opportunities than Bolton.

If his transfer goes through to either of these two clubs then it could turn out to be the most hotly contested title race for years.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lets hope Man City get him!

Anonymous said...

If we get more injuries to either Adebayor or Van persie then I am not sure if Eduardo or Bendtner can produce the goods.

Anonymous said...

We didn't and still don't need Anelka. You can only have so many players in one position and keep them all happy, otherwise you end up like with our CM problem or Liverpool's attacking problem.

If Arsenal bought him they would have to sell either Ade or Bendtner because frankly you can't have it all.
People keep talking about the lack of English players coming into the team- well he would be halting Walcott's chances even more unless he became a designated winger for good. I wish people would make their minds up (logically) and stick to it.

I can see how Chelsea would make great use of Anelka but Utd? Only if they drop either Tevez or Rooney (spelt with a y) which is pointless considering both are scoring at the moment. You can only score if you're playing so you can't just add more strikers and expect more goals, a player can only score at the expense of another player playing ffs.

1970's Gooner your name shouldn't have an apostrophe in. The apostrophe doesn't serve any purpose in that context.

Wrighty7 said...

Its a shame that he was advised badly by his brothers and that he listened to them in the first place. He could have been an Arsenal legend. Wenger always wanted to pair up Anelka and Henry as his dream partnership. He could do the business for Arsenal, imagine the goals he'd score with the chances we create! But it wont happen and anyway I think our strikers have a great future. All of them.

Wrighty7 said...

And to be honest talking about English players, I could'nt care less where the players come from! As long as Arsenal do well thats all that matters to me! Wenger was right about Arsenal 1st, England 2nd. It kills me when Arsenal lose!

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