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Thursday, December 03, 2009

How Arsenal could play without Song, van Persie and Walcott and still beat Stoke

By 1970’s Gooner

If Arsenal are to have a good chance of beating Stoke (yes Stoke at the Emirates) then two team selections will prove vital.

The first one has to do with whom to play in the front man position.

Will Wenger continue to be stubborn and insist that Eduardo is the front man to make up for van Persie’s loss?

He made the choice to play Eduardo against Sunderland and the boy was awful.

Wenger insisted to play him again against Chelsea when it was so obvious that if he couldn’t cut it against Sunderland’s central defenders he certainly wasn’t going to cut it against Terry and Calvalho.

Again Eduardo was awful.

Wenger has two options. The first one is to select the only other available player that can play in that position and that is Arshavin. In my opinion he would hold the ball under pressure much better than Eduardo has done up to now.

The unfortunate thing is that Walcott will not be available as he could have taken up Arshavin’s position on one of the wings.

In this case then Eduardo or even Eboue could be moved to one of the wide midfield positions. The other would probably be filled by Nasri who was rested in midweek and has shown improving form since coming back from his injury.

If Wenger sticks to his guns and goes for 4 3 3 then I hope that he keeps Ramsey on the bench as he didn’t have a good game against Manchester City and brings Eboue in the middle.

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen, Traore

Eboue Fabregas Denilson

Nasri Arshavin Eduardo

Wenger’s other option would be to change formation and play 4 4 2 by giving Eduardo support in the front by playing Arshavin next to him.

This is to my mind a more viable option when taking into account the type of players left standing in the Arsenal squad.

This switch would also solve Wenger’s other major selection problem for Saturday.

Song’s forced absence could prove as big a problem as van Persie’s and by playing 4 4 2 instead of 4 3 3 does away with the need to play two more defensive midfielders.

In this case Denilson and Fabregas will be the two central midfielders with Fabregas assuming his old familiar role of the deep lying midfield playmaker.

In a 4 4 2 formation my team selection would therefore be as follows:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen, Traore

Eboue Fabregas Denilson Nasri

Eduardo Arshavin


I would go for 4 4 2.


57 comments:

Anonymous said...

4-4-2 sounds good to me but I'd go for this team

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen, Traore

Nasri Fabregas Denilson Rosicky

Eduardo Arshavin

Anonymous said...

we will not miss song and walcot as they are totally useless

Anonymous said...

Arshavin has been rubbish all season and it's not as if he is recovering from a career threatening injury.

Unknown said...

Walcott is terrible, every injury he gets is a blessing. He's really awful.

Anonymous said...

walcott is a joke. flop signing if ever there was one.
get rid of him, he will only succeed at a team like chester city

waste

Anonymous said...

It's too early to abandon the 4-3-3 and as you write Eduardo's failure is the crucial thing to admit. But why not put him on the bench instead?

Right now we should play:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traoré

Eboué Fabregas Denilson

Nasri Arshavin Rosicky

And when Bendtner and Diaby returns, we could have a more forceful starting eleven that could keep us up until the january transfer window:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traoré

Song Fabregas Denilson

Diaby Bendtner Nasri

I assume here Arshavin remains in his indifferent form and then Diaby could be used to get more power in the box although he isn't an ideal winger.

Anonymous said...

you guys are obiously the dummest cunts ever. how can u say that walcot is rubbish? you might as well chop your eye balls of and play table tennis with it. i suggest that u look at tapes of walcot playing games from previous seasons and then tell me that he is rubish.. hes jst come back form injury and it takes time for people to get back to their best. get a life

LEO said...

I will like the selection to be this way

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traore

Nasri Denilson Vela

Fabregas

Arshavin Eduardo

OR


Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traore

Nasri Denilson Fabregas

Arshavin Eduardo Vela


OR


Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traore

Nasri Denilson Fabregas Vela

Arshavin Eduardo

Anonymous said...

Arshavin as a CF? His 1st touch is worse than eduardos.
There is only one option up front - vela. If we play 2 up top, its someone alongside vela.
Hes the only forward left with the necessary control and link-up skills to be effective.
Eduardo, arshavin and nasri are good options to play either side or alongside carlos, but he is our only viable option. I hope wenger has the guts to pick him this time, as he should have started against chelsea

Tyler - agree Re walcott, although he could be an effective player if wenger used him correctly, not just letting him back in the side at every opportunity despite him never playing well for a decent run of games - the kid is believing the hype too much!

Anonymous said...

I agree with you mate. Wallcot just came back from an injury. Just very unlucky cause he was playing really good football. Not just for arsenal but for england. Or have you guys forgotten the hat trick against croatia?

Davi said...

walcott has been a terrible signing for us.
He plays brilliantly every once in a while and rides that wave for months on end.
He CLEARLY only gets in the side cos hes english. Vela is better than him in ever way possible, except theo is a bit quicker over the 1st few yards. Vela beats him on 1st touch, dribbling skill, finishing ability, passing skill, crossing, intelligence, workrate, strength, tackling. He doesnt have the arrogance (or the insane contract) of walcott and works harder for the team - yet wenger always allows walcott to just walk back into the side, stepping over better players (not just vela). It's ridiculous!
If wenger used him correctly, as an impact sub, and kept him on normal "promising youngster" wages at a big club, then I wouldnt have a problem, but the constant hype has really destroyed walcott.
Im sure hel come good eventually - and everyone will be so happy for him - but in the meantime, arsenal plays with 10 men 90% of the time walcott is in the side

Davi said...

"Or have you guys forgotten the hat trick against croatia?"
When he did that I said it was probably the worst thing that could happen to him. More hype to go to his head.
Fair enough, when he plays well, he plays really well - but when he doesnt play well he's completely worthless.
Rooney is a good comparison. Hes one who rides a wave of a single good performance at times - like when he wouldnt score for months on end and no one would notice eg when he scored the hattrick against fenerbache n then not again for a year in the CL - but in the meantime, at least he offers something to the side, at least he plays a decent game - walcott on the other hand is just awful most of the time.

Unknown said...

Amen, Davi.

Anonymous said...

5-2-3 sounds good for this occasion against Stoke as we're having trouble with our defending. Players do not challenge and attack strongly the opponents but turn back and let le ball through and thinking that Almunia will stop it but never be committed for this seasons. See how many clean sheets has he done?

L Fabianski,
Eboue Vermaelen Senderos Gallas Traore

Fabregas Denilson
Nasri Arshavin Rosicky

nn said...

wallcot is shite simple

Anonymous said...

bentley scored a hatrick against utd and they are 100 times better than the poorest croatia team in their history but hes still shite. so yes wallcot is fuking shite. lennon and swp are 10 times the player

Clive said...

for me this is the best we can play

almunia

sagna gallas vermaelen eboue

.......denilson
...fabregas rosicky

Nasri Eduardo Arshavin

give chance to eduardo in that position dont judge a player in 2 games !!

Anonymous said...

i agree with all those who say walcott is useless!!!his game lacks dimension; no dribbling, no end product just pace. i really don't understand y AW didn't add height to the team when that shite left for shitty.we run out options easily once a team closes of the box. we def need a tall attacking player. as for silvestre back up CB, No COMMENT. i must end by saying we've got the most arrogant n stubborn manager, who i think just wants to prove a point by no conceding that this youth policy also needs to be backed by some expenditure, i mean we r one of the richest clubs in the world, time for the shareholders to sacrifice some dividends!!

gooners for life

Clive said...

pls guys stop say against the team and players and coach :@ i hate this in many arsenal fans .... no one was saying that whne we were winning easily !! everybody was saying we have a great team great coach great youngsters now that we lost 3 games everybody saying things the other way !! our team needs support not to be criticised wenger knows what hes doing !! i trust in him and im sure in a short period we will comke back to winning ways !

Abhishek Rao said...

I would pick vela over eduardo.. at the moment eduardo just doesnt seem upto the job

Unknown said...

Eboue! - are you serious? The guys was once a good left back but his last couple of years in midfield have destroyed him. No More Eboue in Midfield (I thought we'd all established this.
Eduardo - I agree, not good enough. afraid to shoot, Very Slow, very Small, Cannot hold the ball up.... Vela must get his chance until we get a striker with Height, Strength and Pace. (all of which Euardo has none).
Song and Denilson - someone said Song was useless? Song and Vermaeken have unboubtedly been players of the year so far (by a mile). Denilson is good when Birmingham's your opponent but just not at the level to play Man U/ Chelsea. Could imagine him playing Barca????
Rosicky - give the guy a break. He's not a defender sure...but he was given the ball under pressure and gave it away. Rosicky is one of our 4 or 5 MUST KEEP PLAYERS along with FAB, SONG, ARSHARV and VERMAEL.

Unknown said...

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Traore

Song

Nasri Fabresgas Rosicky

Arsharvin Vela

Bench : Wilshere, Mannone, Ramsey, Senderos, Watt

T2T said...

The difference between Arsenal and the other top team is that Arsenal have a young team with a few experienced players while the others have an older team with 1-2, max 3 young players.
Almunia
Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Traore
Eboue, Fabregas, Denilson
Nasri, Arshavin, Rosicky
Subs: Fabianski, Gilbert, Silvestre, Ramsey, Wilshere, Eduardo, Vela

Unknown said...

Wenger - I rate 4 out of 10. He has worked wonders with no money (which I give him his 4 points for).
He's has garnered some amazing quality but just hasn't put it into success.
Arsharvin who pretty much saved our season last year) he argued for a month - just to save a million pounds) we could have had him at the start of January and therefore about 5 games more than we did.
Fullback - Striker - Keeper : It is cler to everybody that we had no depth in these positions. Wenegr had about 20 million pounds to spend (fuck the stadium - its not his job to pay it off) When u play 50 - 60 games a year its clear there will be injuries as there has been every other year of my life. Huunterlaar, Dzeko, (that massive Brazilian Defender), Haangland, Wheatley, Eto are all players on offer last year! Wenger got very very greedy and kept the money. There will be room for Vela, Wilshere, Merida and Ramsey alongside these players as well. But, If GALLAS or VERMAELEN get injured in the next game or 20 we are FUCKED! FUCKED FUCKED! no strikers and 1 defender! Wenger I revise your mark to 3 out of 10

Davi said...

Lol - "he argued for a month - just to save a million pounds"
I dont mean this in an offensive way, cos it's easy to think this way about a football club these days but, it really is crazy the way football gets us to think

Anonymous said...

@clive personally i was still critical of the team even when we were winning.we have to be realistic. we lack attacking options when our normal passing game is neutralized, chelski flooded the box, kept us wide b/c they knew we didn't have n e 1 to cross the ball to, and shitty used a similar tactic!!! this is a serious flaw that teams will exploit....it will get better once NB returns but still think we need at least one more established player.
song is going to be arsenal player of the season & epl most improved youngster.

Davi said...

Gaz - Id have eboue over walcott at right wing everytime. At least you'll get a decent level of consistency. Clearly he has his flaws but at least he can hold win possession and even hold it once in a while, and offers some physical presence which we lack in the side overall.
Denilson always plays pretty well against utd actually, and wasnt poor against chelsea either. It was our defence that let us down.
Gallas has defended better than vermaelen this year imo, but nonetheless thomas is a good player - the trouble is his signing has turned out to be poor. He didnt solve our defensive problems from crosses. We DO need more height and strength in defence. The 2nd goal against chelsea, drogbas mere presence was enough to force a mistake from our defenders. We need a Campbell-type, not another skillful ball-player. Hopefully djourou can do that job eventually (hes a powerhouse AND a ball player - wenger cant say no to that!)

Btw, I hope you mean u rate wenger 4 out of 10 over the past 3 or 4 years - before that he was a definite 10!

Anonymous said...

Every gooner fan is expecting the gunners to beat Stoke.Think for a moment if the gunners draw or lose .The repurcussions would be greatly felt from Rmirates to Ethiopia.
If the unthinkable were to happen, AW will be under tremendous pressure.He could ditch his project y and go on a spending spree.
Btw it aint as easy as as going out to buy experience.Prices will shoot thru the roof. All in all he has no one but himself to blame for not buying the quality players in place of the world class potential of kids.

Anonymous said...

No one has complained about our useless goalie,we need a new goalie and a big mid and a big forward............

Anonymous said...

Who are these johnny come lately mugs who have no f'un clue! Wenger does have his faults but before he arrived we were half the team we are now u guys gave no idea and I bet half of u have never been to an anyway game. Yes critise the odd mistake but ffs grow up and support the team

slipperz said...

man.. here we are in november and suddenly all gooner fans think the team is shiite and that it's time to cut off our footballng ball sack.....

Let me tell you this....

It is you who is SHIITTTEE.

Enough moaning and whimpering.
Yeah its tough, yeah were having a bad time, but does life get any easier with all ou pussys out there crying into their programs (more likely into their glass of Merlot at the the local bistro pub)

Do you support arsenal.........?????

Then fucking Support them you chumps!

Anonymous said...

slipperz has it the nail on the head. "Stop moaning" and be patient, there is a cession on that is getting worse and all these "supposed" arsenal fans shouting on about "wenger needing to spend money" and "sack wenger" or "get rid of so and so". I think patience will pay off in the long run because the clubs finances are in order due to wenger and people at the club running it. I f you want to get an American Express credit card and max out the credit go right ahead and see where it gets you. LOL in debt and ruination. The current squad is good enough this is just a bad patch for god sakes calm down.

Zigzag said...

Clich is back so Traore can play in the wing where he is even better.
Vela up front, surely.

mickey_g said...

I don't remotely agree that Song is rubbish. I seriously question the football knowledge of anyone who says so. Theo on the other hand, has blistering pace and nothing else. I have better technique than the guy standing still, and I'm 6' 3'' with two left feet. One bad twist of the knee and Theo's career is over. He has nothing else. By rights, he should have been a sprinter, although considering the money he earns I wouldn't hold it against him wanting to be a footballer. Only an English man, a very blind and biased English man, would disagree. I defy anyone not of English origin to disagree with me.
I wish it were otherwise, but Theo is not a footballer. The likes of Fabregas can utilise his pace though, sometimes, and make him a threat... but again, take away the pace and there is nothing else.

mickey_g said...

I'd also like to throw my hat in with the anonymous poster who says we need a keeper...
Football365 recently did a bit of numbers crunching and have pointed out after the Chelsea game that Arsenal have conceeded 18 goals from 41 shots against us. That means only 23 saves. 11 of which were made by Mannone against Fulham. That means that while Almunia is in goal, two shots on target will garauntee a goal... in fact it's closer to say that 2 of every 3 on target will go in. The guy came out of nowhere because he is a nobody at this level... we are a laughing stock with this level of goalkeeper as number 1... with only a few promising young men as backup. A complete joke. If you don't believe me check out the webpage below. I don't doubt it for a minute
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_5732519,00.html

Anonymous said...

denilson-fabregas-nasri

eboue-vela-arshavin

eboue's actually done really well this year and provides some pace and power going forwards. vela was great vs city as well considering the god awful midfield support so he deserves to play after eddie's poor past 2 games.

TOM, NAIROBI.KENYA said...

Eboue has been forceful going forward and take away three opponent and create the space.Arshavin has been the liabilty this season.The two goals against Chelsea came from the left when he swapped wings with Nasri since he wasn't helping Sagna.He stands when a pass has been misplaced and walks back.Should the talking on the field not the press.

Unknown said...

No No No Davi!!!!
Eboue was the first Gunners player I have ever seen booed for a reason. I don't think he's is an option in any midfield position and probably too lazy for right back (I thought this was universally agreed except for Wenger). Walcott was great last season! this season is gone backwards a bit. Sure he forces he issue sometimes and loses posession But I think given his long absence and the fact he's thrown on when we're behind and needing a goal, I think we need to ease up on him.
Denilson is Average period! - Makes a lot of sideways passes and covers a lot of ground slowly (which makes his stats looks good) but Song has become a quality tackler and last ball provider as well. He's close to the beast we need in Midfield ( I think he's better than Gilberto).
Bendtner and Djourou are both good and needed at the moment but we still need another tall strong defnedr and striker on top of that. They are both injured and look how amazingly short we are.
As for AW, yep 10 in previous years, but since then 3/10. we have gone from the most succesfull UK club 6 years ago to 4th best and going backwards!
He has options and money and a talented squad to work with! why are we not challenging?
...and yes. AW would not spend 15 million pounds on Arshavin on Jan 1. Yet bought him on 31st Jan for 15 million. This Jan he needs to get Edin Dzeko and another Defender or Goalie stat!

Anonymous said...

all sounds better but , fabregas MUST PLAY CENTRAL MIDFIELD ROLE rather than striking option as wenger does always, then striking i could go for>

lineup
any keeper
sagna ,gallas , vermaelen, traore

nasri , fabregas, denilson,eduardo

arshavin , vela

Unknown said...

Comon Tom!
Arshavin the weakness and Eboue forceful going forward????? I konda know what your saying but...
If Arshavin was up for sale Every major club would want a piece.
If Eboue was up for sale Birmingham and Xeres would be fighting it out for him!....and they'd play him at Right Back!

Davi said...

Gaz - walcott great last season? In 2 or 3 matches he was. Apart from that he was a waste of space.
Eboue had more good matches than walcott last season.
Lazy? That's nuts. He had a bad game against Man City on wednesday, but it wasn't through laziness.
Walcott is lazier than him - hes only interested when we have the ball. And he thinks hes some sort of superman, when he came on against chelsea it took him 10 minutes to actually pass to someone. He has better attacking instinct than eboue, finishing, and a bit extra pace, but again, apart from that I think eboue is as good or better in every way.

Davi said...

Arshavin has been disappointing because of how good he looked last year, but not a weakness. Hes never been the sort of player to look amazing in general play, its just when hes in front of goal he generally scores or plays the pass just right
"If Eboue was up for sale Birmingham and Xeres would be fighting it out for him!" - I think you know that's not even close to true, Gaz. He's had interest from some pretty decent clubs, barcelona even - but yes, generally clubs that would probably intend to use him as an attacking fullback

Anonymous said...

Winning The Premiership this year would mean we get an uncharacteristic bullish run this December and January. That would mean that we must immediately resolve our striking and back problems. I think it’s time Wenger to do another Henry (He brought Thierry upfront when Anelka left and it must have been one of the most brilliant decisions in his gunners helmship)The guys that can have the answer could be Walcott and he can be paired up with Asharvin and Vela getting more play time and Eduardo can move to the flanks together with Rosiscky. In the central Mid, Fab, Denilson, Ramsey, Wilshere, Nasri for the moment can do. The back line i suspect Gallas and Sagna need some rest time to return to full fitness for the moment. Silvestre should get a role in the next 2-3 games. I think we have a Simpson out on loan who doing well in the Championship. A recall and trials in the senior team may reveal some good opportunity.Maybe Nasri Can be tried upfront if you guys think Walcott can't cut it. Nasri is not a shy shooter, but again lacks the height and muscles.

Come January i think we should Offload Eduardo and Bendtner and replace them with 2 no nonsense attackers. I vouch for Nistelroy and(or)Diego Forlan to be one of the two. Mutuidi can do the central Back and Song role.

Unknown said...

Eboue 1 crap game?????? He had a 39 crap games last season and has made a decent stab of it this year as well (Wolves game I made a point of counting all the times he'd pass the ball away - not someting you want your fullback doing). He is hidden a bit more at Right back (which he's been playing this year). 70 thousand people people don't boo a player they support without some serious reasons. I have never seen a substitute substituted because they were just too crap before!
I know I'm being harsh but I just see so much potential and I fear that Fab, Merida, Vela, Arsh. might all lose interest unless we start making some head way.
At best he's Sagna's understudy (which isn't saying a lot cos here a right back that cannot cross or shoot to save his life).
...ALSO.. He's a diver!!!!! and I fucking hate that! Reyes was too and I'm glad he's gone.
I'd be very interested to hear your opinion of Diaby though Davi???
I had so much hope for this guy. every now and again I see brilliance but just seems so Immature and reckless ( a little bit like Theo)

Davi said...

Merida & Vela are held back by walcott, not eboue.
Actually, this year early on in particular, eboue was one of the best players on the pitch many many times. Hes probably had about 2 bad games this season including wednesday.
Diaby's a strange one - i too have/had higher hopes fo him, and he didnt look so impressive in most of his games when he had his chance this season - but he did make a difference. We saw when ramsey took his place against sunderland, we saw diaby's presence was not worthless (although I think really fabregas was asked to play diaby's role, and that's what didnt work), but at the same time you often wish he'd do more. I think he'll be a late bloomer. Maybe like theo, yes - Id have him in my side over theo currently tho because I think he plays well more often, and an off-form diaby is still more effective than an off-form theo AND I see real world-class potential in diaby, in theo I say a useful forward player in the making - not necessarily a title-winning 1st team player.
I think with diaby, he hasnt figured out yet he's going to be a central midfielder, and one who needs to be defence-conscious at least if not a true defensive midfielder - the game against AZ this year was probably his best imo. He had hunger and challenged midfielders more often, "put himself about" and he was great, he deserved his goal at the end - when he realises his role and plays like this consistently I think we'll see big improvements - immature is exactly the right term

Davi said...

Btw, people see what they wnt to see. Theyl cheer walcott through thick and thin, but eboue becomes the scapegoat so easily.
That guy earlier in the post even said SONG was useless - arguably our best player this season.
If we had 3 songs in midfield we wouldnt do too badly imo.

Davi said...

"That guy earlier in the post even said SONG was useless" - my point being that this is the sort of mentality we're dealing with, they see what they want to

Andy said...

I cant believe people are putting eboue in ahead of Rosicky...??

That guys is class, and on the left or right is a sure starter tomorrow over eboue. He did lose the ball for the first Man citeh goal, but that was just the start of a long line of errors.

Almunia is a joke, and we will never win the league with him.. ever. And that fact about shots to goals ratio, unfortunately is true.

Anonymous said...

Look, who ever is suggesting that we play vela up front is a donut. He will never make it as a central foward in the premiership. He is just TOO SMALL. Here is the squad that should go out tomorow.

Almunia
Sanga Gallas Vermaelen Traore

Rosicky Fabregas Denilson
Nasri
Arshavin

Unknown said...

Arsharvin is smaller than vela though?
but you're right Vela is too small to play sole striker.
(we missed huntelaar) Edin Dzeko or even carlton cole now! (I mean Jan 1st). as well as another CD. Is wheatley still at middlesborough?
and Davi...I meant Eboue was holding arsenal back because he is a serious weakness that will be exploited by a good team (especially in midfield). Arsenal need to start winning or some of our top youngtsers will move on. Ie Fab, Fran, wilshere???
I'm thinking we have absolutley no hope in the champions league unless Nik Bendtner shines..cos any forward we get will be cup tied

Anonymous said...

Well done, your article was backed up by todays performance, well done you gunners and well done Wenger for the right team selection.

Anonymous said...

Goooo Totenham H xox

Paulyt33 said...

Good call on the line up , also agree with everything in your article , Eduardo is clearly out of his depth and should be sold on , he is a good guy and has given us a lot but doesn't cut the mustard , so sorry Eddy ...Also our need for another striker is so obvious its painful , maybe Carlton Cole ,
Anyway keep up the good work..

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

When speculating on what Wenger may or may not do in the transfer market, before the who, why and where’s, the first thing to do is take a look at his history. On numerous occasions he has resisted calls to get out the cheque book and instead, although not always, let someone already in the squad blossom and fill the position. Fabregas / Vieira, Song / Flamini, Clichy / Cole are the obvious ones. Anelka / Henry would provide an outnumbered but legitimate counter argument. This leads me to think that calls for a new goalkeeper for example are at least 12 months premature.

If Wenger finally agrees with the majority of Arsenal fans and gives Almunia the elbow then he is likely to give Fabianski at least a few months to copper fasten his place as our No.1. Should that go horribly wrong then maybe he would look to the transfer market in January 2011 to fill the void. He may also decide that by then Wojciech Szczęsny or Vito Mannone are mature enough to warrant an extended run of games between the sticks. That would put any potential purchase a further few months into the distance.

Buying a centre forward would at the moment seem a priority but again don’t be surprised if this doesn’t happen in January. Considering the boxes that this player would have to tick (Champions League eligibility, Arsenal quality, experienced, big in stature, low wage demands and low, if any, transfer fee) it would be a lot easier to find someone suitable in the summer and rely on Bendtner going injury free for the rest of the season along with Vela and Eduardo getting up to speed with more game time.

Our other perceived weakness is our over reliance on Gallas and Vermaelen at centre back. God forbid should one of them get a long-term injury then we are relying on Silvestre or Song to step into the breach and neither of those two covered themselves in glory against City last week in the Carling Cup.

Although you shouldn’t judge or condemn a player on one performance in Silvestre’s case it is a damning verdict built up over a lot longer. Philippe Senderos is of course still on our books but seems to have disappeared from Wengers radar while Johann Djourou will be lucky to see any game time this season and Hazard Nordveit while plying his trade in the Bundesliga is being deployed by Nuremburg as a defensive midfielder.

While like everyone else I would love to see Wenger splash the cash and shore up our goalkeeping, defence and forward unit it is with more hope than expectancy that we face the next transfer window. A more realistic hope would be that Wenger finds a way of integrating our existing talent into a formation that removes the need to constantly remind ourselves of how much better things would be if Robin van Persie was still out there. The sad fact is that van Persie is never likely to go a full season without an injury lay-off and its probably best that we see such brilliant players as Robin and Rosicky as a bonus when we have them as opposed to a blow to the team when we lose them.

There is a certain team on Merseyside preparing for our visit next Sunday and I would be confident that had their manager a chance he would trade Arshavin, Vela and Eduardo for Voronin, Lucas and Kyrgiakos. Things might have been better at the Emirates from time to time but they have rarely been worse at Anfield.

It’s all relevant. Keep the faith.

Unknown said...

Oh My God! If ever I've heard someone so content with going backwards this was it! I totally agree with most of what you have said but am flumoxed! (..and I have never used that word before)...at how you can be so at peace with what is happening.
The main difference between Liverpool and Arsenal is that if Things go pear shaped for Liverpool and they finish 6th this season they will spend like Mofos in the off-season making sure it is a one off!
Arsenal use to be the best club in the UK....Now.....its hard to say. ....we're definitely in the Top 6. Many Gooners seem to be entirely OK with this. Things can always be worse!!!!!!! But things can be better and I'm sick and tired of NO MONEY being an excuse. AW could have bought Dzeko or Hunterlaar and Haanglang last year and still been a profit!
As a true gooner its not our responsibility to understand the finances or understand AW over dependance on teenagers. Its our responsibility to urge our team onto win the Premier League and Chamions League (for the first time ever)!
You are right in your predictions For sure, however it annoys the fuck out of me that you're so OK WITH IT! We have absolutely NO DEPTH in our squad. Period! this is a key ingrediant in any competition and no'-one would dispute this. What makes it worse is that Rosicky, Arsharvin, Fabregas, Nasri, Vermaelen....maybe even Wilshere are some of the most talented players I've ever seen at Arsenal. Equal to Bergkamp!!!!!! It burns that we are not able to translate this in success.
So keep the faith....but be a little pissed off!!

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