allumina,gibbs,denilson,bentner,rosisky,vela,(silvester-by unfortunate defult)

I think you misunderstood my point. I like Diaby and in certain games he’s definitely useful but would he really get into anyone’s first eleven given the choice of three from Cesc, Song, Denilson, Nasri, Rosicky. At the present time he would not but that’s not to say that he won’t someday, given the chances that particularly Song and Denilson had last season.

My point was that at present he is just a squad player and given the current injuries he’s getting in a good run of games. Some fans do however seem to expect that he should jump straight into the team and perform just as well as Song or Denilson. I think he’s a great utility player with some fantastic attributes but needs much more of a run in the team to be considered for many fan’s first eleven. It is very unrealistic and unfair to expect this of him. If he was at the level that these fans seem to expect, he’d be starting every game.

Speak for yourself. Just because you cannot see the worth of a player it doesn’t mean others don’t.

In spite of having that high pass success %, he does mis-place some passes without any pressure being on him – I think that is where you have a point about fans getting on his back, because every player does it. Henry used to do it all the time, and arshavin does now too! The thing is, it is felt more when the less liked players like diaby and eboue misplace a pass unfortunately.

As someone else pointed out on another blog, this season we are just replacing all criticisms of Song/Eboue with “diaby” its harsh, why support a club if you cant support the players!!

People say Xavi Hernandez is the best in the world. I say Cesc is a better footballer than Xavi.

But Cesc’s defending is slightly below average.

But we rightly don’t get on his back for it.

Otherwise it would be perfectly easy to moan everytime he fails to track back, doesn’t make a good defensive header, is out of position, fails to even make a challenge…etc

It’s the same with Diaby.

Diaby frustrates my cat. Kitty will be all happy on the settee watching the game. Diaby will dribble into a dead-end that it was obvious to all he couldn’t get past. I’d curse under my breath.

But unlike some extremists, I see that what he does do right, which is 97% of what he does, is outstanding. When he is poor he looks like an idiot. And when he doesn’t turn up for a game-something he’s unfortunately prone to every say 30 games, he looks like a mug.

But he’s in the team on merit. I think the only player who would keep him out of the team is Denilson. I even suspect Wenger will rotate Song and Denilson and keep Diaby in. That’s how highly Arsene rates him.

Not hard to see why: 6 ft 3, endless stamina, pace, power, can tackle, can head, can shoot with both feet and can play 5 positions.

You’d really be very spiteful of your face to bite offf your nose by keeping Diaby out.

Something a lot of people don’t consider or maybe don’t know is that Diaby is getting his longest run in any team in his career right now. People think he’s been at Arsenal a long time, he’s had his chance. No he has not. He started, had the 8 months when he was knocked out, and then subsequently was injured every few games. It’s very hard to develop if you can’t get a string of games-even a string of reserve games.

You can’t expect a player like that to just instantly get into the flow and dynamics of team play. It takes games. After 50 games as a starter, he’d be avoiding his brain-dead dribbles like second nature.

But you compare Diaby to midfielders like Cana and Palacios, who are truly atrocious passers of the ball, and you start getting a different picture of Diaby. We tend to compare Diaby to Vieira, which is unfortunate. It is like comparing any Argentinian player to Maradona. The comparison is always going to be uneven. Vieira was a giant. At his best he was one of the finest midfielders I have seen in my lifetime.

Diaby has loads of faults but he is nowhere near the “poor” player some try to make him out to be. He is yet another of our young, improving, but hugely talented players that NEED GAMES in order that we can see if they are going to make the final step up or not. He may not make that step up. But we wont know on the basis of 5-10 games, or even 15-20 games. We will only know after a full season of playing regularly.

Also, that comment above about Myles Palmer (who certainly spouts some real BS) saying we had TOO MUCH possesion and kept the ball too much last season. That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my lifetime. The biggest problem we had last season was that we COULDN’T keep the ball enough because our midfield was so young and inexperienced. Song was struggling, Denilson could only pass sideways, Cesc was missing for half the season, we just didnt have any midfield last year. Now with people fitter and with Song, Denilson, Diaby and Ramsey having improved naturally, we are starting to be able to control possession again, something we struggled mightily to do last year. I cannot see how anyone could say our problem last year was “too much possession”!!!

Diaby has played fewer minutes than Cesc & Song. Surely that should have occured to you!

Who cares what fans think. Wenger thankfully is intelligent to realise his true contributions and has retained him as a sure starter, a position he retains on merit.

Best example: After the Wolves game, Ramsey and Song got universal acclaim while Diaby was vilified. Most Arsenal bloggers, and commenters on their blogs said it’d been shown that Diaby can’t play the holding midfield role as he had been poor against Wolves. Only problem is that Diaby didn’t play holding midfield on that day, Ramsey did. yet, people said Ramsey was fantastic, while Diaby was rubbished for a role he didn’t perform.

Second best example: The widely expressed opinion that Diaby contributes nothing to the team defensively, whereas I check the stats after every game, using Guardian chalkboards, and in every single game he won the ball more than any other midfielder playing with or against him.

It’s madness!

Moral of the story:

1. People are sheep and like to get on bandwagons.
2. People hate to challenge their own biases.

Now whether or not he is being groomed for the holding midfield position during the ACN is not really the point. The point is that he’s a utility player. I don’t think you would find a single arsenal fan that would have him in the starting XI of a fully fit squad and not many would put him on the bench of 7. He does however provide a lot of flexibility in the same way Eboue does.

I think there was a time 2/3 seasons ago when he looked like he could get games and push for a first choice slot but injuries have been harsh on him and other players have stepped up to the plate and look better options. I know he’s still quite young and he could still prove us all wrong but even if he doesn’t and he remains a squad player, what’s wrong with that? He does a job (a good one if the stats are to be believed) and could potentially play in any of the front 6 positions of our formation. That is fantastic for a utility player and surely he’ll be on pretty average wages.

Compare him to someone like a Lucas at Liverpool, a Nani or a 35 year old Scoles and Man Utd or an Obi Mikel at Chelsea and he looks at least on-par as a player to turn to when some of the first XI are unavailable. I think some fans are far too harsh on the guy.

At the start of the season I had Song and Denilson as my choice for DM, with my other midfielders being 1) Cesc, 2) Rosicky, 3) Nasri, 4) Diaby and 5) Ramsey. It seems that TLW has decided that Rosicky and Nasri are better utilised further forward.

I have always thought of Diaby as a very offensive option, but the statistics tell a different story. I would like to suggest the following for the midfield. 1) We will play Song, Cesc and Denilson when we want a more defensive line up. 2) We will play Song or Denilson, Cesc and Rosicky or Nasri when we want to be at our most offensive. 3) We will play Song or Denilson, Cesc and Diaby for something in between.

It will be interesting to see where Ramsey plays in the CC. If he successful behind Wilshere and Merida, then he will provide solid backup during the ACN.