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Making the Arsenal
By Tony Attwood
OK, I know, Wilshere won’t be playing for Arsenal in September, but sometime in late October he will be ready for some experience, perhaps first as a sub and then as a starter in the games.
Which is great – but let us suppose (and of course it is a huge supposition) that we carry on with the good luck in injuries and don’t get many. (Or maybe it is because, as Anne pointed out last season, things have changed. Last year certain players were being targeted for injury by a few opposition players, seemingly with the connivance of the ref, that tactic has come to an end).
So we have
Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby,
Santi Cazorla
all fit and continuing to work as an impressive unit.
Lurking around we have Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin. Now I know that there are lots of Ramsey haters among the AAA, and I know that Coquelin is still learning his trade as a young player, but I would bring these two into the reckoning because I do think Ramsey does have enormous potential, and he is learning not to take any notice of the AAA, and Coquelin although at an earlier stage, is the sort of player we need to have; a player who can step in at a moment’s notice, in defence or midfield and who grows in confidence in every game.
But there is more. Because we also have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who can do all sorts of things in all sorts of places. We’ve seen him in central midfield as well as an attacking mid-fielder as well as a wide-man in the front line.
And it so happens that Frimpong is back as well, and although we might not be seeing him at the moment with such a strong midfield as getting a place, he is there, ready and willing and hopefully a little calmer than he was before he went to Wolverhampton.
As a diversion from all this we have the Alex Song saga. Do you remember all the “Arsenal is a selling club” stuff from the AAA, and the “just like last season” and the “Arsenal are braced to lose yet another star player” and on and on. Now suddenly the reason for losing Song is clear. We had too many players for the positions. If any of the rumours about Song not turning up on time, not following orders on the pitch and all that sort of thing are true, there’s another reason for flogging him.
Sadly for Alex, if he follows the Flamini Fallacy, things won’t be so good. Certainly he did not start in the last Barca game, being an unused sub. He has actually been on the field just once this season.
Barca are top of the league and for tomorrow’s match Eurosport has him predicted once again as being on the bench. Incidentally in that last game against Getafe, Fabregas actually played all the way through the match. I believe that is the first time that has happened in the league this season. Maybe for the occasional player there is life after Arsenal – but if so, that is still the exception.
But maybe Alex Song likes benches.
Anyway, back to Arsenal’s problem with midfielders.
- Mikel Arteta,
- Abou Diaby,
- Santi Cazorla,
- Aaron Ramsey,
- Alex Oxlade Chamberlain,
- Jack Wilshere.
Not enough to choose from? Add Rosicky in two weeks time. Want an outside bet? Andre Arshavin. And a totally outside bet: Tomas Eisfeld.
So, it is yet another crisis time at Arsenal. Yet another total balls-up by the incompetent manager Wenger at the selling club Arsenal, doomed forever to die in the shadows.
And the problem?
We’ve just got far too many midfield players.
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@ bob
Regarding Song’s attitude and what I said before about attempting to dictate the timing of talks to Arsenal, I assume you have read the quotes posted above, which came from Song’s representatives.
You previously said he was first-rate, so I was bringing up his lack of positional discipline as an example of an area in which he had not performed as well as he should.
You bring up his assists – did you notice that I said before we have replaced his creativity – Diaby and Cazorla are both effectively new players, Arteta is now a deep-lying playmaker but with better discipline than Song. Don’t you consider these players creative?
Regarding Gibbs – we don’t have a surfeit of left backs.
I acknowledged earlier that he has improved. I don’t have a downer on Song as a player, far from it. He’s terrific. I just don’t think he was indispensable to us.
We’d be gambling on the continuing fitness of whoever we had playing for us at any time – including Song’s.
I see no reason to doubt that Coquelin will continue to improve and Ramsey is already looking like the player he was 20 months ago. Wilshere doesn’t have to make a difference this season – like I said, we have six or seven good midfielders, not counting Rosicky, wilshere or Frimpong.
Of course there is a gamble, but there is a gamble in keeping Song – always assuming that he genuinely wanted to stay.
I didn’t say AW “has been known” to balance the books. That would imply it is an occasional thing. I said the opposite – that he is prepared occasionally to make a loss. Arsene makes the decisions on the football ins and outs. He often says that is one of the reasons why he is at Arsenal – that he is the manager, not just the head coach. He was asked specifically by Richard Clarke on arsenal.com about RvP, whether the Board/SK had made the decision. He bridled at the idea, and said that of course he kept them informed, but it was his decision.
I did deal with Chamakh and Arshavin. To revisit, you can’t move a player on unless they want to move AND somebody wants to buy them. And I did say Song had good reason to want a raise.
What is sacred to me is commitment to and respect for the club. On that basis, I am offended by the attitude evinced in the second set of quotes particularly.
You can’t override AW’s judgement about who deserves a pay rise. You don’t have the information or expertise. Some players will be on a bit more than they deserve, others on less. That’s just the way it goes. When they sign the contract, the club is gambling on future development. Sometimes the development doesn’t take place.
I would characterise the difference in our outlook more like this: I put the club first. I mourn favourite players when they leave, but that’s the nature of a football club – players come and go, the club endures.
why so worried about Song anyway? its probably the best for both parties. Le Coq will most likley outgrow song in near future, Frimpong will outgrow song. Diaby and Arteta is doing a fine job. Song would not have been a guaranteed starter in the team this year. Would he be happy sitting on the bench?? With him gone and the possibility of Walcott being sold we have effectivley sold all of the players that lost the CC cup to burmingham xcept kos, sanga and Woj?? this team is all new, no old baggage.
Was Song unfairly treated? Why? its Arsenals right to sell any player they want. Thats a part of the game. And if they saw any reason for him not to be in the club then ship him off!!! Why keep a player you dont want??
Was it Dein or Song who pulled the strings here? Honestly as a player you are responsible for your agent. The same goes for RVP. Your agent speaks for you thats why you have to be able to controll him. You and him are basically one. What he says will always reflect on you.
You reap as you sowe. And if someone puts out a statement on your homepage, then thats your statement. If your agent tells the fans you hate Arsenal then thats your thoughts. Simple as.
I did like song though, he had good values, he cared for the right things in life. He would not have been sold if he did not want to go. And he was sold to a great club and will winn trophies. For song this is a win -win situation. I think as a player Barca and Arsenal are great clubs to be in. And i think alot of the reason many Arsenal fans hate barca is that they are a club much like ours but in addition they are a bunch of arrogant twatts too.
we are not.
Song is gone, hes water under the bridge… we should use our energy to support who is left instead of debating those who willingly left over money……..remember Chamakh and Arsharvin are impossible to sell as they dont wanna go. You cannot be sold if you dont wanna leave… simple as.
Shard,
Yep, have to agree with and appreciate your balanced analysis of the possibilities; and only time will tell. Now and going forward, there are petro-dragons to slay, on the front burner, and starting today.
“I would characterise the difference in our outlook more like this: I put the club first. I mourn favourite players when they leave, but that’s the nature of a football club – players come and go, the club endures.”
As I read it, you’ve absolutely separated what you call a sacred love for the club from fans’ (profane) love for their favourite players. If you are that absolute, that a club can do no wrong, or no wrong enough for fans to justifiably protest, advocate, even, in extremis, to walk away, then you’ve well characterized our differences. To clarify, for me it is more situational.
To wit: When as a life-long fan of a certain sports club, I witnessed the shipping out of favorite players by Management; players they deemed wrong – too colorful, non-comformist and unpredictable – to appeal to (Management’s desired) a new fanbase. I quit being its fan. To many of us, its moves were racist, class-biased, and against the former multicultural look and feel and heart that gave it broad appeal. It felt totally wrong in principle; and, most of all, it broke the hearts of traditional fans for moving out – wholesale – the very players whom we had emotionally invested in. With many others, I then quit my loyalty that team for doing this. It was management that ruined it when they shipped players who were the heart and soul of our passions and imagination for economic calculation.
Against that backdrop, I don’t believe in abstractions or absolutes or the primacy of economic calculation; and find your mantra about “players come and go but the club endures” as coming this-close to regarding them (objectively-speaking) as cannon fodder. Let’s not expect players loyalty then, as many demand in the name of their clubs. You may mourn this one or two or three, and continue your non-conditional love for the badge. But, that’s where we part company. I love certain players who, for me, are the heart and soul of the club and these are inseparable for me. Who, to me, with the coach, are the club; and this in a way that no management regime can override. Why, pray, is ownership the legitimate club, as opposed to its players and coach?
FunGunner,
p.s. Some unfinished (future) business: In relation to my last comment (above), I’d wager we will/would be having the discussion above when Sagna is consigned to the trash-heap. My wager is this will happen soon. Based on your last, you might be mourning (maybe, don’t know if you think he’s a “terrific” player, like Song); but, hey, it’s all in the game, isn’t it. No loyalty for the loyal servant for having the unbearable cheek to state out loud that (his friend) Song’s leaving got him to thinking about his future at AFC. Nope, we don’t “need” him, do we, by your standard of need. Ah well, I invite you to consider discussing that event when it comes and reaffirming your sacred principles in that context.