Arsenal striker Wellington Silva scored a brace and made a goal for Emmanuel Frimpong as the Gunners dispatched Dagenham and Redbridge in a behind-closed-doors game at London Colney.
The Brazilian has been training with the club since last Monday and he was handed a start in a youthful second-string side against a mixed Dagenham XI. He scored the opener before playing in Emmanuel Frimpong for the second. Silva then wrapped up the scoring in a 3-1 win.
With thanks to our friends at Arseblog.
More to follow.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Man talk about one of the most underrated players in the world. I know everyone says Essein is the best def mid but this guy should be considered in the top 10 players in the world. He is able to run forever, great tackler, good passer, great drive from the midfield and is a big game player. There are 2 positions that are completely dominated by 1 player and that is Maicon at rightback and Essein at def mid. People think you have to be an attacker to be a world player of the year nominee but that should change.
Milo…LOL, everytime Gallas looks at Almunia you can tell he doesnt think much of his keeping abilities at all.
Lets see what he does in a year, but I have never seen him remotely involved in dead ball situations. He doesnt take the kicks and he is never at the recieving end of a corner, that I ever recall. His goal scoring record isnt great. He seems to not be trying very hard, particularly when you see him never get back on defense. I mean, Bendtner does a boatload of talking, but even he gets back. Nasri is young, and Arsene knows, but I havent see anything there to make me believe he is anything special. My guess is that he would have good touches, particularly on long passes, if he plays in the middle of the park. But is he better than Ramsay? Not a chance. I am not sure he is that much better than Fran either.
Shane, 2 things.
Essien top 10? Id take it a step further. Top 5. When you talk about the best players in the world, he is in that conversation. What kills me is that he was an attacking midfielder at Lyon, and going to be among the best at that. Chelsea needed him to be heir apparent to Makalele, so he became the best in the world at that. He is just a sensational player.
Gallas in his book tore Nasri a new one, said he was cocky and disrespectful. Gallas is a prime asshole, dont get me wrong, but he has also been around enough to know some pretty good players and to have someones respect.
Gallas callled Nasri cocky?
To tell you the complete truth Andres, I don’t always see a lot of the players busting their ass to track back, and it really angers me. It shouldn’t matter what position you play. Just take the closest guy to you and mark him if you are an attacker. Christ. They shouldn’t get free passes. It can get tiring I know, But EVERY MIDFIELDER SHOULD DEFEND!!!! Sorry that has been bugging me for a while. I never read Gallas’s book so I didn’t know. I can see where you are coming from, but I still think he can start, or come off the bench and do more than what is expected of him. Ramsey is a different type of player compaired to Nasri. In fact the contrast is stark. Ramsey will be way more powerful and cover a lot more of the pitch than Nasri. He is comfortable doing this. I give Nasri credit. He has tried the DM role a couple times and he wasn’t bad at all! But we shouldn’t fool ourselves. With his physique he will never be truly comfortable or effective in that role. In a few years time Ramsey will be a full-fledged box to box midfielder WITH skil!! :D
Andres- I said top 10 to not start an arguement lol. I can cut it down to top 7 with Messi, Ronaldo, Fabregas, Essein, Iniesta, Maicon, and Ibrahimovic (I dont care what anyone says, if you watched what he did in seria A last year, it was simply amazing. 25 goals and about 10 of them were amazing and did really get much credit. Essein wasnt an attacking mid tho he played the box to box role with Mamadou Diarra at DM and Juninho at Attacking mid. Very similar to how chelsea played with Mourinho. Obi Mikel in behind Lamppard and Essein. When I first got the “soccer channel” Lyon is the first team I liked. Juninho and Essein in the same team was amazing.
Milo….I dont agree that attacking midfielders should always track back. Part of an attackers job is to find space, get the ball and create. How are they suppose to find space if they are tracking back? That was what frusterated me about the Robinho situation. Robinho is a very creative player, not a hustle and bustle player. Any team that signs him should no that. You dont ask def mids to score, do you?
Yeah, I know but when someone is running past you with the ball, at least try to tackle them?? I don’t mean for say Arshavin to run all the way back and stand in front of Song or anything. I’ve seen some of the guys just standing there and watching. It isn’t even a really quick transition either. They just gotta turn around and put in a challenge is all. You should at least try to pressure and pass the guy off to a more defensive player?? I dunno a whole lt about tactics but to me it just means that you are taking responsibility and you aren’t letting your mates down. I see too much “I got it, you take it” type o deals from them sometimes.
Milo -I agree you should close down a player if the ball is right there, but you said “To tell you the complete truth Andres, I don’t always see a lot of the players busting their ass to track back, and it really angers “. By the way, Doesnt it suck that Canada lost Begovic the new stoke keeper to?
Why is anyone having a go at Nasri? Doesn’t score a lot? He has 3 goals in 12 EPL & CL starts this year. That’s 1 in 4. He had 6 goals in 28 EPL starts last year. Nearly 1 in 4. Here’s now many #PL goals Fabregas has scored in the last 6 seasons: 2, 3, 2, 7, 2, and 3. This season he has 11 – Nasri could have that sort of progression. Nasri is being played a bit out of position. He’s more suited for Fabregas’ position – played centrally, allowed to roam and go forward at will. As for those who say they prefer Diaby, you must have a memory that only goes back to November. Before then, he had been dreadful for years. Sure Diaby would have the odd surging dribble and score, but until recently he much more often would kill attacking moves with horrible passing and decision-making – something Nasri very rarely does. No, Nasri’s no brute, not a great tackler, but his work-rate is decent and far better than Arshavin. Nasri’s more of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Good passer, decent finisher, some good performances in big matches, decent work-rate, decent at set-pieces (particularly corners), decent pace, good dribbler, good decision-making, and “tries” to defend. Not often is he the man-of-the-match, but never the worst. He has the type of consistency I wish some of our other young players had, like Ramsey, Denilson, Diaby (until recently), Bendtner, Walcott, etc. He’s 22 and has 15 caps for France. I think he has a bright future and there’s reason to think otherwise. Wenger always starts him when he’s fit and I think that should say enough.
I think Wenger didn’t need to buy Nasri. Hleb was far more aggressive, and we lack that on the wing. There are two types of wingers – technical winger (like Rosicky, Nasri) and a direct one (Arshavin, Ronaldo), and we all like those who are more direct. When Nasri/Rosicky gets the ball at the flank, he goes to the middle looking for the pass and complicates the simple game. When Arshavin/Ronaldo gets the ball, he confronts the first defender and tries to trick him out of his way, thus creating space to pass or shoot.
I must say I’m not quite happy with Nasri’s performances. He did adapt quickly, he does track back, but he rarely does anything else but pass around in the final third, and looks like a wide central midfielder.
I would say Ronaldo, Arshavin, Krasic, Ronaldinho, Witsel, Nani are those direct ones.
Hleb aggressive?
How can you say that you’d prefer Hleb and criticize Nasri for passing the ball around in the final third. That’s ALL Hleb did. Never scored goals and had very few assists. Like Nasri, Hleb kept attacking moves going by not misplacing passes. Nasri is probably more direct that Hleb was too – not to mention he didn’t moan about London being to “busy” constantly.
Nasri is just coming back from a hamstring injury and missed all of the preseason and first few months of the EPL season after Diaby broke his leg in one of the first practices.
I just find it amazing that anyone would pick out Nasri for poor play when we have Denilson, Almunia, and Walcott in the squad. Not to mention Clichy’s been poor returning from injury (understandably) and Arshavin has put in very little work in a many matches this season.
Me- Witsel is a centermid and a defensive minded one at that. The key to any team is balance. In a 4-3-3, it is best when you have one playmaker type, “#10” and 1 direct winger, “#7”. It creates more balance. When Van Persie is fit, you have Arshavin and Nasri/Rosicky out wide. That gives us that balance.
totally with you on essien shane. I agree with your top 7. because of essien, terry is in the conversation about best defenders, when he shouldnt even be close
Yeah nice dig there Shane with begovic lol. Yeah, yeah,you know even if I was a forward I’d still run hard to track back. It just does not look good when you just stand there and watch. I see it and it bothers me. Nothing I can do about it. To me it doesn’t matter what position you play. You can worry about the transition to attack when you are certain your team has recovered the friggin ball. I know that isn’t the mentality at this level but it all comes back to teamwork and commitment for me on this one. I don’t really care about Begovic because our National team has a lot bigger issues than him. We got a good young keeper who is playing in Finland right now. I forget his name, but he seems pretty grounded and he is only 18. He’s been called up for a friendly or two and he’ll probably be used in the gold cup some time.
Amerigoon…you made sense until you brought up Arshavin. He has had a messed up foot all year and has been playing out of position and has still been doing pretty good.
David Monsalve…Begovic looks a really good player tho. I would have take him in a hurt beat over our current top 3 keepers/
I really agree with AmeriGoon regarding Nasri. That’s what I’ve been trying to get across but couldn’t. Although he could become a master at one of the roles you mentioned. In the future.
That’s it Monsalve! I was too lazy to look it up and I heard about him a few weeks ago lol:D Yeah Begovic is really good but you can’t force someone to play for a country. If he thinks we are too small a program and he doesn’t want to help us grow, then screw his ass. If he is getting pressure from his family to play for Serbia, then I fully understand his decision as that takes precedence. Just in case I was jumping the gun.
You meen Bosnia….I just hate when a kid plays for USA’s u20 team and in our academy then chooses another country.
The USA team could be Altidore Gioseppi Rossi
Dempsey Bradley Jermaine Jones Donovan
Bocenegra Neven Subitoc Hengledad Spector
Howard
That would be a very good team.
Sounds like Frimpong is gonna do the same thing only with England. He has played in England’s youth teams but is gonna play for Ghana instead. But he considers himself to be Ghanian and the competition to play for England is obviously much much greater. But still, make up your mind people! lol. I agree 100% If you play for a youth national team, you should only be elligable to play for that nation’s full national team. But that isn’t how the world works. It’s “I’ll go wherever I’m allowed to play in the first team” I laugh at players like Amauri. It’s pathetic. And he doesn’t have a hope of making Italy’s squad now anyways cuz he’s playing like shit. I’m kinda happy about that. It’s poetic justice in my eyes.
Although rossi isn’t taking the path of least resistance choosing Italy, and neither was Hargreaves or Begovic. It’s more like “I’ll play for whatever country allows me to play in the first team, or whichever country has the biggest program, OR whichever country my parents want me to play for” It’s not whichever country you live in at the time, or whatever country makes you feel the safest, or whatever country has the best governing pricipals. I guess this is a rant now, but the long and the short of it is, that it’s not right in my opinion.
Milo – The main problem this Arsenal side has is that lack of defensive work. What we lack in physical prowess, we should be making up with a never say die/work my bollocks off type attitude. Chase everything, fight for everything. But no, there’s a few in this current squad who don’t have that work ethic and/or the ability. When we beat Everton 6-1 on the opening day of the season, EVERY SINGLE Arsenal player gave it their all. It was THE proudest i’ve been of them since the Vieira days. After the game, i told my friend (Man Utd scum who sat there on my couch still half-shocked at what he’d just witnessed), if we play with that fight and hunger with this new formation ALL season long, we have a chance of winning this league. I still stand by that statement, but i wonder how much some want it. I can tell you now who DEFINITELY wants it, there’s no hiding place for the others:
Vermaelen
Gallas
Fabregas
Song
Rosicky
Bendtner
RVP (what people shouldn’t underestimate about him is his leadership qualities and overall influence on his team-mates)
These guys definitely want the title and are willing to fight for it, while never hiding. I can’t say the same for the rest although a few aren’t as bad as others. I only address you on this as i can’t stand what you’re talking about too. That work-rate is much needed for any title winning side.
Frimpong is a facebook friend, and has posted stuff about him wanting to play for ghana for along time now. I dont mind when brazilians choose a different nation or Jack Collison chooses Wales because it keeps the sport more competetive , but to bail on your country when they need you, is messed up.
He rejected mine, But I have Watt, Ansah, Rees, Hajrovic,Monteiro,
I found Martigoni, BenKhalifa, Afobe, Aneke and a bunch others,
I agree Samir nasri is overrated. Hes a player we dont need. He was never a replacement for hleb.
Nasri is a central play maker just like fabregas, rosicky, arshavin.
We needed a winger who could beat a full back constantly or go past players. Nasri doesnt seem able to do that from what i have seen. It doesnt make sense whenh we have wilshere, ramsey coming through as well.
Alexander hleb was one of the best 2 footed dribblers i have seen i really miss him.
Not being funny but in my opinion nasri and denilson are the odd ones ut in the squad when we got the likes of ramsey, wilshere, diaby, song, fabregas, rosicky, arshavin
We need someone like A.Young, A.Lennon, L.Suarez, B.Ruiz, H.Ben Arfa
John…you are right, Nasri is not a winger but you cant blame him for that. See this is why it is so hard to make it for players now days. They move abroad to early before they are at their peak and the fans of big clubs just complain about them. Zidane and Platini stayed in from until they had completely matured. There every move was under such critic and they were looked at in only a positive light. Gourcuff and Nasri move abroad way to early, and people cast only negative thoughts on them even tho they are just 20,21,22. This 2 could be the next Zidane or Platini, who knows but we have to let them develope before we scrutinize them. John- You say you like Hleb but how long did it take him to fully develope into a top Arsenal player? Who knows if Hleb would have been just as good when he was 22.
Bedeuro….L.Saurez is a striker and a overrated one a that. Vela is a better prospect and if he was playing in Holland he would score a bunch too. Ben Arfa isnt even a starter for Marseille. We need 1 winger and 1 winger only. EDEN HAZARD…….. Garrincha, Best, Cruyff, Maradona, Figo, Ronaldinho, C.Ronaldo, Messi……and I believe next in line could be Eden Hazard.
Ben Arfa has been a starter for Marseille since the end of the winter break. Before that, Deschamps was putting him on the bench when every marseille fan wanting him on the pitch. Deschamps thought, I guess rightly so, that he lacked work ethic.
He is a fantastic player though, phenomenal skill, great vision on his day, he is one of the most exciting young players I’ve ever seen, Wenger would make him quickly the best in Europe IMO.
Deschamps has never been a fan of creative players
I see Hazard play every week (who often makes the bench for Lille by the way), and he is very good, but Ben Arfa has more to his game IMO
sorry for my english by the way, I’ve always lived in France and don’t pratice enough : “when every marseille fan wanted him on the pitch”
Shane, I totally agree with you about Essien. Chelsea is much more vulnerable when he is out.
But, I have to agree with Milo and TJ DA GOON about hustling on defense. If the opposition is controling the ball in your end and have brought their backs up into the attack, there is no reason for a winger to be standing around watching. In the game against Madrid earlier this season, a cross went completely across the area where two Madrid players were standing completely unmarked, while Walcott stood watching, 10 yards behind them. One of the Madrid players took the over-weighted cross and promptly smashed it into the net for the winning goal. Theo might not have prevented the Madrid player from getting the cross, but he could have made controlling it and shooting a lot more difficult. How many times have you seen a player rush off a bad shot just because he was under pressure from a defender? You will see Bendtner and Arshavin track back into the top of the area to help defend (Rooney does it consistently), but there are a number of young Arsenal players who almost never hustle back on defense and I consider that unacceptable. It doesn’t take much, just takes effort and attitude, to help out on defense. And, as for getting open for a clearance, it isn’t that hard to break for an open space on the field and make yourself available to receive a clearance or pass as soon as your team gains possession or the threat is gone. Watch Fabregas, he does an excellent job of doing that all the time. Solid players put in the effort and learn how to make themselves available in their own end, one-dimensional players don’t bother to try. At least that’s the way I see it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/city-reject-reals-claims-over-failed-bid-for-gago-1888737.html
“Arsenal have decided against signing the Montenegrin defender Stefan Savic, 19, from the Serbian Premier League team BSK Borca. Savic had hoped that Arsenal would sign him on a pre-contract today with a view to bringing him to the club in the summer on a permanent deal but, after a 10-day trial, Arsenal released him.”
Ben Arfa has more to his game then Eden Hazard? I really want you to save that comment then come back to it in 5 years. Eden Hazard is one of the best talents ever to come out of the french league. By the way he he has started 17 of 22 games in ligue 1. He has the talent to become World Player of the Year in a few years.
Oh man I just read here that Hleb and Nasri are equally direct. NEVER. Nasri can’t dribble, he’s too slow. He’s bulked up this season, which makes him even slower, but he keeps the ball way better. I really don’t know where would I put him in the team, ’cause he’s not effective on the wing that’s for sure.
And another thing. We DON’T play 4-3-3. Never in a million year is that 4-3-3. Look at Barcelona and Bayern Munich (I’ve said this before). We play a classic 4-5-1.
And to Shane, Witsel is definitely a winger not a DMC :S.
Americangunnerfan…..yes there are times the wingers should track back like when the fullbacks are caught up the field. Here is why you help prove my point. If you watch Arshavin, he looks very drained as we get into about the 70 minute. I would much rather him using his energy in the attacking third rather than running around tracking players. If you ever saw him play for Zenit, he is amazing when he plays behind a striker and finds space to receive the ball turn and make things happen. He often looks to tired to take players on in the 2nd half. Plus if you want all attacking players to track back, then who do you play the ball to once you win it? Everyone would be marked and you would have no where to release the ball.
http://www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1954225,00.html
Sanchez seems to have a good attitude http://www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1954225,00.html
Me…Bayern play a 4-4-2. I think you are refering to the fact that our wide players like to come in to the center midfield alot. By the way Axel Witsel is a centermid and I dont want to argue this anymore because it is a fact. He played at wing when he first came in to the standard liege team because the had other older centermids. Since then he has been playing centermid.
What happened to our counter-attacks. I don’t remember scoring from a one in like 2 years or so, while Man Utd scored 3 in our last 2 games against us. We were famous for our CA in the past.
Shane you obviously don’t watch Bayern. They are a very attacking team, playing 4-3-3 in it’s essence. Ribery – Gomez – Roben, it can’t get much 4-3-3 than that :). Ok, Ribery’s been injured for a long time, but there’s Muller who can pop in at every attacking position.
Axel Witsel is a central midfielder. Anyone who thinks otherwise only knows him from Football Manager.
Yeah, and Nasri is a winger who plays better on CM, so does that make him a winger or a CM
Axel Witsel is seriously overrated. Anyone who thinks otherwise only knows him from Football Manager.
Defour is twice the player.
Me….Bayern have been playing a 4-4-2 with Robben at right wing and Muller on the left. Van Bommel and Schweinsteiger in the middle and Gomez and olic up top. And since Ribery has come back he has been subbing on for Olic and playing left wing with Muller moving up top. Know you football before you talk please. And Nasri’s natural position is a center attacking midfielder. Just like what Iniesta, Modric, Rosicky etc but can be deployed on the wing.
And if you want Bayerns whole line up, It is Butt-Keeper, Badstuber-LB, Demichelles and Van Buyten- CB, Lahm-left back
Bayern play a 442
_____________Butt
lahm vanBuyten Demichelis Baadstuber
____VanBommel Schweinsteiger
robben_________________Ribery/Müller
______Gomez____Olic
sorry i ment lahm- right back
James pond- close but Muller has been moving up top and olic goes of when Ribery comes on, but i think the guy gets the point
Hazard is a good player he might become a great one. I really like him.
But you can save my post, Ben Arfa is by far the biggest talent in France, the press, the coaches, the french federation, all agree.
he has a work ethic problem, that’s the only thing that stop him to explode
Still a good player mind, but definitely not a winger.
Sharpovic….lol….of course the french federation, press, and french coaches(even tho i doubt that can be proved) think this of Ben Arfa instead of Hazard. He is FRENCH and Hazard isnt. Ben Arfa was let go by Lyon and brought in as Nasri’s replacement. How does he become higher rated then Nasri all of the sudden? Not to mention Hazard is 3 and a half years younger and already better.
http://www.bundesliga.de/en/liga/news/2009/index.php?f=140698.php
I think gourcuff would argue with that sharpovic.
Ben Arfa or Hazard? I would definetly take hazard his attitude seems to be alot better.
Yeah shane your right about müller.
Did savic actually play?? and what about galindo?
lol Ben Arfa has always been rated higher than Nasri! where did you hear that Nasri was considered the better prospect?? Ben Arfa left lyon because of his behaviour, not his talent..
Houllier (technical director of the federation) said a couple of weeks ago that if Ben Arfa didn’t explode on the world stage it would a disaster for french football
younger yes, already better that’s only your opinion, far from a fact.
I like both players, they’re actually very different. Hazard is quicker, Ben Arfa is a lot more skillfull, he can play wide and as a number ten
And JamesPond, yes Gourcuff is the better player right now, because he is more consistent, has better work ethic, but in terms of talent Ben Arfa is just something different believe me
on his day he is unplayable
me…LOL, so an article is how you got your info. How about you only comment on what you have actually seen or you come off looking very misinformed. Flip on your tv and watch the game.
I would also like to know what has happened to Galindo
Sharpovic…lol, this is one of those arguments that will go no where. Like us said..save your comment then 5 years from now look back on it.
@shane how can you trust my eyes?? You can only trust your eyes, so read the article and trust them :)
Shane I’ll have to agree on this one
In conclusion, for the sake of the national french team, I really hope Ben Arfa makes it
Me…please stop….I watched the games. You are making sense, just turn on your tv and watch the game. This is another conversation that i dont want to continue.
Sharpovic…For the sake of the French national team, fire Domenech..lol. Simply a horrible manager.
yeah, I agree, hire Wenger next season when he’s free
It’s all well and good signing these players but when do we ever get to see them play in the first team? Also I would like to know if this Montenegran player that’s been touted as becoming an Arsenal player actually played last evening, and if so how well did he play?
This is a good showing for him. Silva is very good. He should help the big club. Brasil has a ton of talent. http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
What happened to our counter-attacks. I don’t remember scoring from a one in like 2 years or so, while Man Utd scored 3 in our last 2 games against us. We were famous for our CA in the past.
Me said this on February 4, 2010 at 10:17 am
————————————————————
Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin and Carlos Vela. They are the only three attacking players we have in our ranks at the moment with frightening pace and Walcott and Vela barely play. This is my point. We have far too many players who are in the same mould, i.e. Nasri, Rosicky, Merida, Wilshere. How i would love Hazard and Balotelli next year.
Also, our tactics on corners (attacking AND defending) are the worst i’ve ever seen. We never used to be like that on them. We would always have an outlet on defensive ones (and that’s why, as you say, we used to be dangerous on counter-attacks). Much like Rooney is on Man Utd ones, which burnt our bullshit naive tactics. The Spuds have it with Defoe. Hell, even Leeds were deploying it last night with Beckford. Why does EVERYONE have to come back when we defend corners? If Theo is on the pitch, leave him the fuck forward. What good is he coming back? The same goes for Arshavin and Vela.
When taking offensive corners, why do we always toss it in the box if statistically we have the smallest average height in the fucking league? We do we only leave one or two players back when sometimes they are matched up with two opponents? It should be short corners all day every day. I may never be as good a manager as AW but come on now, this is just common sense ffs. You can tell we NEVER practice set-pieces in training and that’s quite sad to say the least.
For one, we hardly counter attack, because it is hard to counter attack when we always have the ball. Yes tho, the team does need variety. Eden Hazard is the only player I really care that we sign. If we get Hazard, we will definetly be set up for the next 10 years with adding a player here and there but with a foundation of Fabregas, Wilshire, Vela, Ramsey, Song and Hazard. Those 5 gives us a definet world class backbone with a lot of quality in other positions to.
Well i’d be VERRRRY pleasantly surprised if we got Hazard. This Nasri debate is kinda weird. I just can’t lay into him yet. If he doesn’t improve over the next year and a bit, then i might change my mind, but I don’t think he is bad at all. Someone mentioned that we have too many players who are similar, like Wilshere, Ramsey, Vela, Nasri, Fabregas etc. EVERY ONE OF THOSE PLAYERS IS VASTLY, VASTLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER. It’s not even funny. And I might add Diaby to that list of players who put their heart and soul on the line for the team. I’ve been so impressed with him. He isn’t quite all the way there, but even when things aren’t going his way all the time, I still see him trying to make a difference. If he stays healthy and has his top form consistently he will be a monster.
I totally agree with TJ, we haven’t got any tactics on our corners, whereas last year 90% of our corners were ultra short passes for van Persie/Fabregas, with two or three players covering them, thus making more space in the penalty area.
So, IMO we lost our corner tactics, we lost our counter-attack, and the one thing that caught my eye this season is the shortage of real clear-cut chances. I remember how many has Adebayor misplaced, how Eduardo on the other hand turned them to goals, but that was 2 years ago. This year we really don’t play as beautiful as we once did.
Me- I still think that is because of the change in formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. Yes 4-4-2 carries the old english stigma of unimaginitive play, but Wenger made that formation his own and revolutionized it. He should his roots. 4-4-2 was by far our most successful formation. Say what you want but this has been bothering me for the entire year. THE ONE ARGUMENT TO THIS IS THAT WE ARE MISSING POSSIBLY THE ONLY STRIKER THAT CAN PLAY IN A 4-3-3 COMFORTABLY. THAT IS RVP. WALCOTT AND VELA WILL NEED MORE TIME TO ADAPT TO THE LONE STRIKER ROLE IF WENGER IS GOING TO CONTINUE USING 4-3-3. Also we don’t have a midfielder in the Vieira/Flamini model. Song doesn’t have the pace of thos two. I LOVE Song though and I’m just making a comparison to prove my opinion. Diaby doesn’t want to fill that role either. I have been saying for some time now, that the most entertaining football I have seen was played by the Arsenal in the 2007-2008 season.
Hazard renewed his contract till 2014 today.
If our players were fit, I would play 4-5-1 with Song on DMC, Fabregas and Nasri at CM, Arshavin as AMC and van Persie as FC
So did Nasri one month before we signed him I think :S
Milo…how can you say that the formation makes us less entertaining? Before Van Persie got hurt, we were on pace to smash the permier league scoring record. Plus we havent had as much success…we have only been playing this formation for half of a year. And Song is the perfect guy for this formation. Flamini..lol. He is a 4-4-2 def mid, not very strong. I would not chose another def mid in the world aside from Essein to play that role. This team will fill out into a great team as long as we add 1 real quality winger like a Hazard, and as long as Fabregas doesnt leave in the next couple years.
JamesPond…..Signing a new contract just insures lille a transfer fee.
Me….our problem is no width and you want to through more players in to the middle? Plus you forgot a player in you line up/
Shane I really like your optimism, but you really tend to overrate not only the potential, but the current ability of all our players.
Yeah, and our problem is based on us not having players that can flourish on wide positions, so I would just use what we have. As for the player I missed, put Ramsey with Fab and Song.
Jamespond…Plus I dont care if he stays at lille for a while, but when he moves on, I dont want him to join any other club but ours.
Lol…the you would have no wide players at all. Anyways, how am I over rating any of our players potential. Jack Wilshire already an England u21 player and definetly has shown alot of his quality, Ramsey definetly look quality and is already Wales leading man, Vela is already a Mexico starter and has shown some world class finishing not to mention was the golden boot winner at the 2005 u17 world championships, Bendtner won the Denmark player of the year as a 21 year old for a team that finished ahead of Portugal and Sweden in the world cup qualifier, Song just made the African cup of nations team of the tournement, of course Fabregas….I could keep going but you get the point. Instead of always looking for what these players dont do, notice the positive things they do. There arent that many players that are world class at 19. Let the develope.
We let Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor develop, I just don’t want us to lose the potential we have, but we must remove dead wood, such as Denilson, Almunia and make some competition for our out of form fullbacks duo.
Adebayor was always going to be sold. He is over rated and 25 million for him is more then enough. Denilson is a good squad player. We have quality at fullback. Yes a keeper is a must. And a winger or 2, a back up def mid/ centerback. Then we are set.
Adebayor was forced out of the club, and he’s not overrated, his stats tell their story. When Wenger sold him he told it’s because of Vela :) very funny, what a judgment.
Me…..Its funny that you say his stats tell the story….In the 07/08 season wher he scored 24 league goals, 8 of those were verse teams that got relegated with 6 of those coming verse Derby who set the record for least points in a season. 17 of them came against teams in the bottom half of the league. He only scoed 2 goals verse the other 3 teams in the “big 4”, in his entire Arsenal career.
Doesnt sound to impressive anymore does it? Your right, stats tell the story. Like I said over rated.
Shane, I said that Song isn’t suited to play 4-4-2. He is perfect for 4-3-3. In my opinion he is in the top defensive midfielders in Europe and he’s only going to get better. You yourself said that Song isn’t suited for 4-4-2 because of his lack of pace. I just think we played better with 4-4-2 is all. And I wasn’t saying that Flamini is better than Song. They are very different players. The thing I like about 4-4-2 is that there is actually more opportunity to take risks because everyone knows what their role is and they can work in tandem more with eachother. There aren’t players running around who don’t know what they are spposewd to do. I won’t name any. It’s simpler, but everyone seems more comfortable, so they have enough confidence to elaborate upon their role and upon the system. Plus having two strikers helps as well. We’ll be fine with whatever formation we play with anyway. As long as everyone is healthy. If we don’t have all our first choice players healthy though like Van Persie, then it is harder to force players in to a 4-3-3 like we have been doing. That is the main problem I think. We don’t have 22 layers who are comfortable playing the 4-3-3. If you want to talk about attackers only, then we don’t have 12 guys who can slot comfortably in to a 4-3-3. We’ll see though over the course of the rest of the season. He’s putting faith in Bendtner which is a pretty big risk, but if it works out, then he was right all along and we have nothing to worry about.
Milo, I agree with you. The 4-3-3 doesnt work without the true top class attackers. You cant really play with a striker that isnt the finished article yet and you really need top class wingers because they need to score more and create more in the final third because there isnt that 2nd forward to get goals. Barcelona would not work if they didnt have an Eto’o/Ibrahimovic up top and a Ronaldinho/Messi out wide. That is why we need a Hazard. A 4-4-2 is much easier for players that are still developing. Still once our players develope, the 4-3-3 will work as long as we get that top class winger. Also the 4-3-3 is much better for winning the ball back on defences because you have 3 center mids swarming to the ball.
I actually like Adebayor,
I think he was pressured to leave, I will forgive him for flirting with other teams,
He was angry, because I think he wanted to stay.
184 comments on a single article and it all seems to be about football! Well done folks! Just to bring it back to Wellington, it does amuse me when people get massively excited about a young player putting a few goals away at youth, reserve or lower league level. It is so different to actually making that final transition. I just did a word search for ‘Lupoli’ and Im surprised nothing came up. Do people not remember Arturo Luppoli’s stunning rate of return at youth and perhaps reserve level? Dont get me wrong, im excited about it all, but as I said before, Vela was seen as being Arsenal’s bright hope when he was out in Spain and now he’s here…well…it all takes a lot of time and success with youth is far from certain.
Did you not read those stats I provided. Not to mention he was super lazy and just complained about money all the time. There was a reason he left on bad terms from Monaco too. If you like Adebayor and would turn down 25 million, then I would much rather have Edin Dzeko who would probally run around if not a little less then that price.
Yeah you are right about it being easier to win the ball back! That helped Barca immensely last year!! By the fuckin way (scuse my language) Chelsea got their transfer bamn lifted completely!! Are there any fuckin rules or aren’t there?? If this were us, i’d bet we would get a two year ban. I hope we kick their asses on Sunday. Cheaters. We might cheat a bit too, but it hasn’t come out publicly, and it hasn’t made it to court like their case did. The Cesc business was a little shady, but we are getting pay back with all the propoganda that Barca is spreading through out the media. So fair is fair and I say we are all square on that one. As well as with every other European club as far as I can see. I HATE CHELSEA!! AND I HATE THAT FUCKING BOARD THAT OVERULED THE TRANSFER BAN. Rules?? there are no rules here. :S lol.
I meant to say transfer ban. I guess it doesn’t make much sense to get angry about it anyways. We have Wenger to do our scouting and transfers so we’ll continue to make better buys and investments than Chelsea anyway!!:D
Money cancels out rules.
shane of course I would like Dzeko better, I’m from Bosnia too :), but it’s not going to happen. When Wenger says someone is too expensive, he thinks he’s not worth the money the club wants for him. Arsenal always have the money available, I assume much more then we would ever anticipate, but Wenger hasn’t come out of the closet since 2004. with his bids. I don’t say it’s a bad thing though, but Adebayor had to be replaced ASAP, and we see it now.
Me…you didnt read my comment write. I said to Bedouro and you, for saying that you thought we should have kept Adebayor instead of selling him for 25 million pounds. I said if we had a 25 million dollar striker, I would much rather have Dzeko than Adebayor. It was in response to the Adebayor comments. I didnt say we should spend 25 million on Dzeko.
Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal youth site says that Wenger declined to sign Savic.
Phil D- Vela and Wellington have both performed at senior levels. Lupoli was a reserve goal scorer which yes it is different. Vela is already a Mexican international.
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Phil D, I liked Lupoli aswell,
Shane, Yes I read what you posted, I just like Adebayor,
Ola Toivonen, Luis Suarez, Bryan Ruiz, Park Chu Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor,
I’ve been really impressed with ola Toivonen whenever I have seen him play. Great touch, great passer, fine finisher. He reminds me of a right footed Van Persie. He’s about the same size too, if not a little taller than Robin.
Ola Toivonen is garbage. Everytime I see him, he rarely does anything. Even in the u21 tourney in sweden, he didnt look very impressive. He is one of those guys that looks good verse weak competition. Luis Suarez is another guy that is over rated. In Holland you cant look at there goal scoring record because alot of teams are really bad. You have to watch when they play psv,feyenoord, AZ alkmaar,FC twente or herenveen. Hell Alfonso Alves scored 7 in 1 game. I am willing to bet he will be a flop when he moves on. Bryan Ruiz is good from what I have seen of him. Havent seen to much of Park Chu Yong but I know who he is.