Great stuff yesterday from the Arsenal and if you’re not officially excited about this season, then you’re dead. Arsenal entered last pre-season with a decimated strike force and makeshift midfield, which would characterize our entire year in some ways, and with that team in this exact same fixture last year managed just a 1-1 draw. Yesterday, with Bendtner and Eduardo looking fit this Arsenal team were scoring goals for fun and beat the hell out of them 5-0.
If this keeps up, we are going to score our share of goals this year. Think about it for a second, with Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky, Nasri, Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela, and Walcott tearing opponent’s defenses to shreds, 80+ goals is a reasonable target this season.
Of course, 80+ goals in our favor is useless if we conceed 50+ goals which is what everyone is worried about with all these rumors that Toure is leaving coupled with the utter lack of any news about someone coming in to fill the perceived gap at defensive midfield.
To that end, the dot com released an exclusive post-match interview with Wenger this morning in which he basically confirmed the rumor that Toure may be on his way out, putting the ball firmly in the player’s court by saying “we’ll know more in 24 hours.” Toure is supposedly being offered £120k per week, doubling his current Arsenal salary and as we all know has had a strained relationship with other folks in the club since last year, which culminated in the player dramatically handing in his transfer request, only to rescind it shortly after.
I can see lots of reasons why he’d want to go, chief amongst them is that Arsenal’s defensive scheme can be very taxing both mentally and physically. Wenger’s high line defense has been the death of many a fine lad at Arsenal, Toure would be just the latest. So, if he goes, I’ll understand. I’ll wish that he hadn’t, I’ll pray to the gods that he shuts his whore mouth afterwards, but I’ll understand why he would want to leave.
When I watch Wenger’s uncensored interview I get the sense that he enjoys fucking with us, and kind of cracks little jokes with himself. For example, in the interview released today he said, with a twinkle in his eye and a sly grin, that Arsenal have “7 center backs” and that there are so many that he’s “forced” to play them in midfield. This is technically true: Toure, Gallas, Vermaelen, Song, Djourou, Silvestre, and Senderos are our current crop.
But, let’s assume for a second that Toure leaves, that leaves Arsenal with just two players with a good bit of Premier League experience: Gallas and Silvestre. In the second tier, experientially, you have Senderos and Song with Song having the most recent experience. And as I have said about Senderos, I suspect Wenger’s playing him to keep his fitness up and because he wants to get Vermy as much time as possible in the CB role partnered along side the other starting CBs. I doubt Wenger sees Senderos as a real defensive midfield option, Senderos is a stopper, no doubt, and that full range of tools was on display in the parts I caught yesterday but I also noticed that once beaten he didn’t track back and that reminded me that, frankly, he doesn’t have the engine for midfield.
So you have to wonder if that twinkle in his eye isn’t a mischievious little nod that he knows how Arsenal fans are and how we’re obsessed with transfers and that he’s got something working. When asked directly about that possibility, he was very obtuse and, again, smilingly said, that perhaps something is in the works, we’ll have to wait until after pre-season to see what we really need.
What I hope Le Boss doesn’t underestimate is the sort of bubbling cauldron that I see among many Arsenal supporters. If he sells Toure and Eboue (and don’t forget Senderos whom he said was on his way out last week) for an estimated £25m I think he will be under a tremendous amount of pressure to buy. It will be preceived as £50m in to the club and people will start talking about season ticket prices, the ambitions of the club, and how we could get Klaas Jan-Huntelaar AND Xabi Alonso AND Lorik Cana AND Blaise Matuidi in for that amount! So, if Arsenal don’t make a signing, I suspect you will see some things spill over a bit.
But that’s sort of a dooms day scenario, there’s whole weeks to go before people get all pessimistic about the season and Usmanov leverages that malaise to take over the club and turn it into his personal piggy bank, like Abramovich has done with Chelsea.*
Seriously, it’s pre-season, Arsenal are scoring goals for fun and frankly, maybe Arsenal will and maybe they won’t sign anyone, I don’t know. I do know that it’s 6:30am and I’m already sweating, it’s supposed to get over 100F today, and highlights of yesterday’s match are here… go watch them and relax a bit. There are a lot of positives at this club right now and it’s too damn hot to get all worked up.
*Son, I… I say, son, it’s a joke, son..
If Arsene sells Kolo, it will convince me that he is getting somewhere with Huge-man-Fulham, or some other likeness. He cannot sell experienced, loyal defenders without replacing them; Can he?
Bendtner/Eduardo combination up-front was lethal for Arsenal in the 1st half yesterday. But Eduardo/RVP combo did not work as well in the second half. I hope we get several combos to work. Our attack will then be awesome.
Insightful remarks Tim.
Anxious for the season to start and fill the replies about player and team performances.
For those players seemingly on the transfer fence: Toure, Eboue, & Senderos, I’m curious for how Arsene closes the chapter for the fall roster.
lets not get carried away 5-0 against snobody that good is hardly the same as playing Liverpool. it is pre season, if Arsene lets Toure go he better have a big type centre back lined up or teams will have big height advantage over them
I thought Arshavin took his foot off the gas for yesterday’s game and who would blame w/ a game on Wedneday and the Emirates Cup T-ment on the wkend.
Whoever he brings in to replace Toure needs to be mobile and a good passer capable of joining the attack to expand it against ‘bus parking’ teams.
@ctpa, that rules out Hangeland, doesn’t it?
The way I look at it, buying Hangeland would require an entirely different attacking and defensive philosophy, he’s too slow to play the high line that Wenger currently employs.
@Tim, That was indeed the subtle point I was making. I’m not a fan of bringing the CB from lower ranked team just because they were the cat’s meow on that team. Cahill, Upson, Hangeland are not what I’m looking for as a replacement. Campbell was the exception but he possessed the qualities I’m looking for. I hope Wenger agrees w/ me ;). Tall, athletic, pacy, aggressive and strong in the challenge in the air and on the ground is what I’m talking about. A Carlos Puyol type would be ideal.
@ctpa, Ideal yes. Do I see it happening? No.
i dont know wat ur talking about because everyone arsenal are playing are rubbish we’ll see if they score goals 4 fun in the emirates cup
@MING, go back to Wet Fart Lane…
You write “if Arsenal don’t make a signing, I suspect you will see some things spill over a bit.” Spill over a bit where – on Arsenal blogs? I think you and other bloggers forget that your world is very different from the real one, the one Arsene Wenger and his players inhabit, devoid of youtube-based judgements of players and rumour after rumour. Nothing will “spill over”, no matter what happens between now and the end of the transfer window. While Arsenal bloggers indulge in masturbatory faux-journalism, Wenger is doing his job, a real one, as best he can.
@Mark Flatts, in the real world people openly booed Eboue and Adebayor last season.
In the real world, I saw tons of empty seats at the end of games last season.
In the real world, people criticized Wenger’s transfer policy to his face at the end of last season.
The comments people make on blogs are indicative of the sentiment of a lot of Arsenal fans. I’m not saying it’s right, but there are a lot of people who are hot about Wenger’s lack of movement in the market.
And as for the faux-journalism remark, welcome to the 21st century; there’s nothing less real about reporting on the Toure deal than there is about Sky Sports re-reporting a story from ESPN. There’s nothing less-real about my opinion pieces than Martin Samuels’.
If you’re mad at other blogs who click whore then go there and yell at them. On this blog you’ll see that there are almost no ads and I’m not beholden to any corporate or other entity whatsoever. I say what I want, when I want, about whatever I want. I report what I’m feeling at any particular moment, mostly about Arsenal. If you don’t like it, bugger off, but I think you’ll be missing out on something kinda special.
Thought the “faux-journalism” comment might hit a nerve…
@Mark Flatts, congratulations, you’re as mature as a 5 year old.
I’m cool with Kolo going as long as we get someone to replace him at least for backup. Hangelaand has the size, but you have to remember he excels in Fulham’s park-the-bus system. Would he be that good playing in an attacking system that often pushes up and has to sprint back on counter attacks?
Also, I still want a midfielder in the middle.
I trust AW, so I’m not gonna waste my time worrying or demanding that Huntelaar or Alonso be bought.
@615Gooner, Exactly my point. See my reply to Tim above.
I don’t see Wenger doing anything until the big spending teams have had their fill, the last thing he needs is to move for someone only to be outbid by those teams. Plus I’d say he wants all the players he’s selling to be gone so he can see exactly what he needs and exactly how much he will have to spend.
You’re right Tim, he will be under pressure from fans to spend on new and experienced blood, the again when is he not? Personally I’d like him to get a good cheap DM just to shut people up although they’ll probably still find flaws in his policies no matter what he does.
I’m looking forward to next season and one plus is that in the first month alone we have some high pressure games against strong opposition, if we can hit the ground running and win those, our confidence will go through the roof and we’ll be in a very strong position to challenge for the title, which i believe we will win this year.
When will we find out who we play in the champions league play-off?
@Bongo, Playoff draw will be held 8/7/09 after the 3rd Rd qualifiers are completed. Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina, Stuttgart and Lyon will then enter the picture along w/ yours truly.
Toure leaving does not make sense, especially since he is tied to a long term contract and Gallas has only 1 year remaining on his, with no intention of re-signing.
Vermaelen, like Gallas, is a left footed defender and will be the full time replacement when Gallas makes his move next season. Once again, we would be losing experience and club house strength if Toure moves.
I also can’t understand why we are selling our good players to the direct opposition. Toure and Ade to city helps them a lot more than what we benefit money wise from those transactions.
For the past 2 seasons, Arsene has being saying our squad has been weak because of injuries and loss of players like Hleib, Gilberto, Diarra and Flamini, but yet, we are selling more players than we are acquiring.
The logic of what is being done, versus what is being said leaves me rather perplexed, but I will wait for our final roster before making my predictions.
@CaribKid69, This is what I was saying yesterday. Why are we selling our established players? The only thing I can think of is that Toure is pushing for this deal to go through. Disapppointing but understandable from Toure’s point of view. He’s been in the club for a while, seen the highs and lows, paid his dues and now has been a 18 month form dip. I will be sad to see him go but I think it will makes sense if, and only if, Arsene replaces him.
Regarding the above comment about the pressure from bloggers on Arsene to sign players. It’s not just people inhabiting blogs, and it’s not only fans, and its not just the worldwide soccer media. Players like Van Persie and Fabregas have come out in the recent past to state their desire for enhancements to the club. So we’re not imagining this pressure on Arsenal to bring in additional talent.
@ArseChicago, I totally forgot about that, good point.
Cesc has said that he wants some real quality in midfield, which is a huge cut to Denilson, frankly.
F*cking Wenger’s said that Arsenal need a defensive midfielder.
Arsenal fans are in a weird place right now, people don’t know whether to be 100% starry eyed optimistic, or 100% doom and gloom.
I have to believe most fans are cautiously optimistic. Expectations were not high at all for the team the first year Henry was gone to Barcelona. Obviously that team surprised on the upside and barring a few critical injuries (Eduardo and Sagna), that team was championship caliber. I won’t even go into the refereeing debacle in the Liverpool champs league matches.
Anyway, that performance made everyone’s expectations for last year a lot greater, which enhanced the disappointment. Similarly, last year’s underperformance coupled with the player sales and lack of big name purchases has certainly tempered expectations going into this year. However, the vast majority of supporters will end up loving this team, particularly the supporters that view Ade’s departure as addition by subtraction. This will be a hungry, vibrant, more confident squad that no one will have fun playing against. Just like last year, the pubs will be full of all us supporters lamenting the failure to sign a midfielder or another defensive stopper, but it won’t diminish the fervor of support.
Almunia has also echoed similar sentiments.
As for Kolo, it will be a great loss. He provided tremendous leadership for the squad and was a veteran presence on a youthful squad. He obviously lost a bit of a step last year, but he had medical issues going into the season. The mitigating factor here is the African Cup tourney which will take up a meaningful portion of his season at Man City. We would be without him for that time of the season and with the depth we have there (and with possibly increasing that depth with another buy), I think we’ll survive.
By the way, I’m very annoyed at how the media is singling out Arsenal as the club to be replaced by Man City. I’m sorry, but I know Liverpool and Man U fans aren’t banking on the top 4 being a cakewalk this year. Yes, we’ve sold some players, but Man U has been weakened somewhat and Liverpool isn’t the most stable situation at the moment.
Arsene did say he will sign somebody before the close of the tranfer window according to a report at BBC.com. I think he is cooking up something and as you always mention Tim, Arsene is playing his cards close to his chest. I still think there will be 2 more signings before the close of the window.
By the way, Kolo is not under long-term contract with Arsenal. His deal expires in the summer of 2010, or one year from now. Yet another mitigating factor surrounding this likely sale of Toure.
Give Arsene some time on the transfer front. He’s given us Arshavin, Nasri and Sagna for about the total of what Xabi Alonso could command in the transfer market. Not to mention, he’s not made too many mistakes in his sales. Granting you that Diarra would be invaluable at this point, despite his prickliness and outspoken nature.
@ArseChicago, Your right Kolo has 1 year left, but Arsene was messing about last year over a couple of million for Alonso and so we missed out. This year because of his good season last year the price has doubled and has therefore priced him out of our range.
@ArseChicago, Diarra comes from Chelsea and just runs his mouth. He goes to Portsmouth and the ink hasn’t even dried on the contract and he’s pimping himself out to a ‘big’ club. The biggest ‘pimp’, er club of ‘all time’ does indeed whistle and he goes running (I don’t blame him for wanting out of Portsmouth)and he has finally shut up. Now he’s in a fight w/ Gago and ‘big’ Diarra.
Chicago, spot on. Chelsea is aging and the Mancs’ losses have been more important players to their squad than ours (Kolo’s not officially gone yet, mind you). I think Liverpool is the preseason favorite for the title, but this is the premier league. For all we know Fulham could finish third. Man City has a great agglomeration of talent, that is certain. However, I just don’t see Mark Hughes outwitting Ancelotti, Ferguson, or Wenger. Sagna gets hurt, Eboue deputizes. EVDS gets hurt, Ben Foster and his ipod step in. Gareth Barry shreds an ACL and Michael Johnson is city’s fill-in. See what I’m saying? Man city will be good, but they don’t have the world class depth yet. I think next year is when they can really start competing.
Don’t count on Chelsea aging this this year, 615Gooner. If Ancelloti get’s his players to buy into his system they will be the favorites to win it all.
@615Gooner, Chelsea looked awfully good on preseason tour here. They haven’t missed a beat. Interesting that Ancelotti is trying to convert Deco into his new ‘Pirlo’.
I have to say, after watching the highlights of these preseason games, Bendtner looks GOOD. Now that Ade is out of town, I think he is very comfortable, and will come into his own. His lay off play, heading ability and quick feet should play his way into a starter role especially against teams such as Fulham who have a big back line. A strike force of Van Persie, Eduardo, Rosicky, Arshavin, and Cesc, paired with a new def mid (please for the love of God please sign one Wenger!!!) with Walcott, Nasri, Bendtner, and Denilson on the bench… needless to say, I’m excited for this year. Excited for the prospect of 80 goals, and absolutely abhorring the fact that we will most likely give up at least 50 with such a suspect backline with little depth outside the starting 4 (Gallas, Vermaelen, Bak, and Clichy)
Although its disheartening to see King Kolo leave, 14-16 mill is def. good business. Fact of the matter is that Kolo IS past his prime. And with the proceeds from his and Adebyewhore’s sales, Wenger has ample funds to buy a strong, solid CB and a much coveted DM! Heck, we can even afford a dream signing like Villa, however unlikely that is. The new 4-3-3 formation seems to be what Wenger wants this season, and its looking good. It makes sense with the quality attacking players we have that want to play up front: RVP, Arshavin, Eduardo, Bendtner, Walcott, Vela. And with two of Fabregas, Rosicky, and Nasri operating in front of a solid DM (Song or Diaby if Wenger banks the cash) and 80 goals is a realistic target. I’m quite excited and optimistic for the new season, to be honest, even if we don’t get any new players in.
In agreement that the 4-3-3 should be the preferred formation, and have been tirelessly saying that for the past 2 seasons. The 4-3-3 can also morph into a 4-1-2-3 or 4-1-4-1 depending on required strategy.
The interesting problem with this is that we will have to score like how Barca did last season, and I’m not quite ceretain at this point whether we have enough clinical finishers to do so. Currently, Eduardo and Vela are our only 2 clinical finishers. The big “IF”, is whether RVP and Bendtner can step up their strike ratio.
Still a lot of questions left to be answered by this squad, but it should be interesting. At this point, I am of the wavering conclusion that we either will be brilliant or just stink up the place.
@CaribKid69, The Barca 4-3-3 relies on the 3 frontmen to defend from the front. We theoretically could do this but depending on who you call our front 3, some of them are piss poor at tackling. RVP especially I think is a given starting berth but he’s as terrible as Paul Scholes when it comes to ball winning skills.
Agreed WC, but we don’t have many other options with the type of squad makeup. We are a small, mobile team which will have to play high up the pitch and depend on collective team defense to mask our obvious weaknesses.
Have not seen enough of Vermaelen yet to comment, but Song, Sagna and RVp 🙂 may be our most ferocious tacklers.
@WC, Yeah I dont think we can be as dependant on the 4-3-3 as barca. I still think a 4-4-2 works the best for us if we have the right players starting. Perhaps we can use both to good effect depending on who we are playing, scoreline etc.
@WC, once Arsene finishes shuffling his deck of player decisions we will have a better idea for our future system(s); with the current roster, don’t see how we could play a 4-3-3 effectively.
Realistically: If AW did not buy a DM last season, playing Denilson his 1st full season, + song the last few matches, what reason is there to believe that he will buy a DM this time? With a denilson+song more developed? So I will go with no DM again.
@Yan, No reason for him to buy a DM because I think Denilson will be even better this season. Don’t forget his 7 assists last season.
@ctpa, Precisely my point. I dont think we will see a new DM
Yan, there’s believing and then there’s hoping. I’m in the “hoping” camp and assuming that there will be no new additions between now and the season start.
@ArseChicago, Let’s hope then.
Cant wait for the season, just around the corner. 2nd best botched penalty ive seen in a while only to the failed Henry “tricky” PK a while back. I think both sides get a good deal withthe Kolo transfer if it does go through, but would like to see 1 or 2 new FB come in. This will be Tricky Nicks Breakout Year as well as Vela and Eduardo. My Prediction Is that RVP will not be our Scoring leader. I love the depth of our Attacking Bench, a little worried about the back line Depth and I Still love Almunia in the net. Did I mention I Can t Stand the wait till the season. ps Painkillers make me ramble
I’ll miss Kolo but really what I’ll miss is his character because quite frakly he’s an average defender. He’s on an exceptional team so the sheer quality of Arsenal flattered his real ability – sorry to say that to any Toure fans but it’s the truth. We’ll miss his experience and possibly option for depth, but 16M for a 28 year old defender? That’s business of the highest caliber. I think Wenger has something up his sleeve that he’s not letting on because to lose 2 starting players and not replace them or see the need to replace them doesn’t seem very professorial to me – I give Wenger more credit than that. He’s shrouding his movements in secrecy and I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one new face comes in and money spent. Perhaps Wenger is simply trimming the fat in order to make the team leaner and meaner with these rumours of Senderos, Eboue and Toure leaving North London. Citeh and Madrid have injected alot of cash into the market and it’s spread throughout various clubs so perhaps Wenger is taking advantage of this rare opportunity of high cash flow – it’s a sellers market with Citeh buying everything in sight for over-inflated prices.
I’m suspicious of Wenger now, but in a good way because he seems to be plotting some heinous scheme to turn football on its head.
@WC, I once asked the question do you have to like the players on your team to support them? I think Toure of all the recent departures since Henry was very well liked. Great attitude, heart on sleeve, fights to the end, vocal. You wouldn’t ask for better and I will miss him. He is suppose to be getting a medical 7/29 and make 120k/wk or double his Arsenal salary. For him, this is his last chance for a long term contract at 28yo and I will be happy for him.
Wenger is doing now what he missed doing w/ other short term contracts in the past. Signing the ‘keepers’ and getting rid of the the ‘weakers’ (hey, it rhymes).
I do believe well bring at least one more player despite having 7 CBs on the roster. That statement is disingenuous at best and he’s pulling our chain.
@ctpa, As I said I’ll miss him because he’s been in the fabric of Arsenal for so long but in pure player terms, Gallas is the better defender. Kolo had more character though but maybe Wenger’s giving into a compromise of a bit more practicality in order to show that his team is not all about “on paper” football and that they truly can compete.
@ctpa, definitely will need to replace toure because 1) we are bound to have injury probelms. we have them every year so let’s not pretend that we may not na 2) i dont consider silvestre and senderos proper CBs. they are there to make up the numbers
With the imminent departure of Toure and the still likely departure of Senderos coupled with the fact that Song leaves for the ACN in jan and also that Silvestre is past it and shit I’m assuming that Wenger is gonna bring in a defender. I think he was bringing up the whole havin “7 defenders” as a way of explaining to fans why he was letting Toure go. I’d love to see Zapata of Udinese come in as he’s young and already is a similar type player to Toure but perhaps better or even Hangeland.
Heads up: Whoever plays LB tomorrow, I hope will have a lot of work defending Nelson Pipino Cuevas, paraguayan, pacy, good dribler, close control striker who is on trial at Hanover:-). In case he sucks, he may be heading to my local club, Olimpia de Paraguay. I still dunno if I want him to suck.(really bad phrasing on my part, LOL)
I would be happier if players were brought in prior to letting our players go elsewhere. With all our rumoured targets signing for other clubs I hope Arsene doesn’t leave it to 5 mins before the window shuts, as for our 7 centre backs, with Kolo gone that leaves good players but none of which are world class (Gallas was)this coupled with no world class DM sitting in front of the defence leaves me worried (not 50 conceded goals worried) I’m not spouting doom and gloom, but would rather see the sun shine a little earlier because we’ve had a shit summer!
@Bull, do you buy a new home before you sell the one you’re living in ?
I have, many times. Depends on the market.
@CaribKid69, actually your reply describes the situation at Citeh, and Real and not feasible for most clubs in the market place.
Financial position influences all buying decisions.
FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF CLUBS, the current market is dictating selling assets before buying new ones.
@arsesession, I might fucking have to the way the market is at the moment. Anyone want a 3 bed house in Caerphilly Wales? A lovely spot right by the 2nd largest castle in Europe.
I’ve remarked how terrible Mark Randall has been when I’ve seen him play CC and preseason games over the last 2 seasons. This is how bad when you can’t get a loan deal w/ a Derby team that boast Robbie Savage in MF.
10) Man City: 4) Arsenal-Adebayor, Toure
5) Everton-? Lescott
6) Aston Villa-Barry
Man City=Machiavelli :O
Let’s not get too optimistic over clinical finishing in pre-season friendlies against 4th rate opposition. The Emirate’s Cup will start to define what we will be looking like at the season’s start and the boiler fights with the EPL 10 man defenses will show our mettle, good or bad.
One thing for certain, Arsene needs to get Vela on the pitch. He is a potential superstar waiting in the wings. Said this 3 years ago.
@CaribKid69, Agreed Carib. These pre-seasons against clubs no one has heard of are just glorified training sessions and in no way reflect how the team will do in the actual league. Even the Emirates Cup needs to be taken with a pinch of salt – Rangers and PSG are second rate clubs if you ask me and Atletico always flatter to deceive – one thing is for sure they’re no Liverpool, Man United or Chelsea. I would like to see Wenger play the formation and players he has decided on in the new season. I think this whole getting everyone into shape is great and all but the players who will actually be on the big stage need to get used to the system and formations Arsene will deploy in our title charge. I think for us fans too he needs to lay it all out on who is and isn’t first string material so we’re not getting mixed signals about players being at the club or on the 23-man roster.
@CaribKid69, lets not forget that the team is undergoing 2 -a-day training sessions, with the emphasis on fitness; the goal of these early competitions is to build on team spirit, AND add diversity to the demanding training.
Arsene Wenger surprised us when he successfully converted Kolo Toure to Centre Back. I suspect that he may yet surprise us again. I also suspect that Djourou may play more than a bit part role this season. I’ll wait to be proved right or wrong as the case may be.
Went on a little overnight backpack with the kid and just got back and WOW, Kolo’s gone. Can’t say I’m surprised. Like many have said it’s good business and Kolo, while loveable, just hasn’t performed at the level we need. I definitely think a move or two is in the works and we’ll see it (them) by the weekend.
I came to the glory of Arsenal quite recently and Toure, (like Gilberto before him) was one of the players I WANTED to love. Unfortunately, what I saw on the field didn’t coincide with what I had heard (or read). I thought he played fairly well in the second half of last season and helped keep the squad together as we weathered injuries, etc. His improved performance was a bright spot as we pulled it together and regained 4th in the league and took advantage of our easy draws in the CL and FA cup. I will miss him, but “In Arsene I Trust” to bring us somebody who will make me not miss him…
Finally, if this is a blog about Arsenal from an American Perspective….Tim should’ve said at least something about the Gold Cup final and Carlos Vela. Nil-nil at the break, Vela comes in, 5-Nil at FT. Coincidence, I think not. Sure it was against an all MLS second team, but my oh my (oh Mayan–After all Vela is from the Yucatan and has the nose….)
@17highburyterrace, Yet they gave Dos Santos player of the tournament – funny how that works isn’t it? I’m guessing he got it just because he’s a former Barca player.
@17highburyterrace, regarding the Gold Cup…….we can only hope that Vela’s performance will translate into more playing time.
@arsesession, Dos Santos played every minute of every game while Vela had the scary injury a couple of minutes into the first game, but he was the difference in both the semi and, of course, the final. To me he actually looked a bit off the pace and maybe a tad heavy, but the skill level and the calm eye for the correct move or pass was just head and shoulders above everybody on the pitch.
Dos Santos, who finished the past season on loan at Ipswich town (!?!) also looked pretty good (I’ve never been impressed in the past) and took a particularly nice goal in the quarterfinal. I wonder if his good showing will see ‘Arry play him a bit for the Spurs, or will he sell him back to Mexico while the moment is ripe? He’s got some pace, but seems a bit one dimensional (sort of like T. Walcott, maybe?)
@17highburyterrace, agree with your observations.
I’ve almost convinced myself that Vela’s heavy appearance is deceptive. How many times have we seen Vela take a tackle or shoulder charge and seen the opponent just bounce off.
When Eduardo returned in the spring for a few matches, Vela was paired up with him and seemed to have great chemistry.
@17highburyterrace, dude you missed yesterdays blog, I LOVE VELA!
@Tim, Sincerest Apologies….And a very, very well written blog, now that I’ve read it. I guess in my early morning preparations for our little overnight backpacking trip I thought I had read it but I hadn’t…
Personally I can’t stop thinking/talking about Vela and I even bugged a nearby Mexican construction crew just now to talk about Carlos and the game. My mind keeps going back to the late season game at Portsmouth and the forward combo of Arshavin, Vela and Bendtner (and decent service from Ramsey and Denilson in central MF). I’m in complete agreement that we’ve got the goods at the attacking end even with Ade moved on. A ton depends on how we start the season, but if we can get some good results away to Everton, ManU and City and do the business in London, the depth in attack should really start to roll as we move into the darker days.
Lol. remove Ade from your image up the top, rather not see his greedy cuntish person there everyday.