Håvard Nordtveit has never been closer to Arsenal’s first-team than he is now, and as the Emirates Cup kicks off this weekend, the Norwegian is looking to press home his cause and finally becoming an esteemed member of Arsène Wenger’s side.
Nordtveit’s showing against Barnet and then his superb performances in Austria have put the 19-year-old on the cusp of an illusive first-team place. Yet his pre-season rise is made even more remarkable by the fact he wasn’t scheduled to go out to Austria. Wenger had failed to bring in the cover he needed in defence so back-tracked on his initial decision to leave Håvard behind.
“I was first told I would not be joining the training camp, but after the match against Barnet, I got a phone call that I was taken out anyway. It was crazy.”
“They said they were impressed that I showed mental strength and played so well in the Barnet match. Wenger said I played very well.”
The centre back revealed he doesn’t know if he’ll play at the Emirates Cup yet, but he is making the most of every minute spent with the first-team.
“The only thing missing was Fabregas, Van Persie and Bendtner. So has been very constructive for me to see how Thomas Vermaelen and the other defenders are working, and I feel I have been working crazy during training camp.”
Arsenal are currently negotiating with Nordtveit’s agent Jim Solbakken over a new contract. The terms are yet to be disclosed but first-team action is the key thing if Howie is going to continue his development. So did Wenger give any indication of his plans this season?
“No, but when we were in Austria, Neil Banfield said that I did very well, and that I just had to continue. So that’s what I’m planning to do.”
WE need a proven CB and GK otherwise forget a trophy next year.
Title winning sides always have an excellent defence.
I’d go as far to say we need to play 2 DM’s or drum into the players about discipline.
Even Kossy and Vermaelen were marauding up the pitch. I know it looks good and exciting and I’m sure the players love it but it is damaging to our title winning aspirations.
The fact we haven’t replaced the quality of Gallas is very, very worrying. Whatever people thought of him as a person he was a quality player. Kossy may/may not be good, Djourou may/ may not last a season everyne else is totally untested. GK situation is a debacle
GK and CB yes
and its not a bad state we are in
I think Wenger will definitely add a CB and I am hoping a goalkeeper is also coming and hopefully Schwarzer
Its not as gloomy as you’re making it out to be
the reason we concede these late goals is because of the formation.
In a 4-3-3 formation attacking is fluent and brilliant but when it comes to defending closing down is the best way to defend but every time you stop it and give the other team time on the ball it gives them times to find the obvious chinks in the formation
After watching the WC 4-2-3-1 is the formation we should be playing with and I was hoping wenger will tweak it but wenger looks like he’s sticking with 4-3-3
Agree with Jason. The only thing about a 4-2-3-1 though is it leaves out players like Diaby and Ramsey, who a nor a DM or AM, but a box to box midfielder. But I’m sure Ramsey can be nurtured into a playmaker role and Diaby on the flanks anyway.
We need two more players a GK and CB I don’t what anyone says
this is our team next year in my view
GK
?
Almunia
Fabianski
Szczesny – Loan
Mannone – Loan
LB
Clichy
Gibbs
Taore
RB
Eboue
Sagna
Nortvedit
CB
Koscielny
Vermaelen
Djourou
?
DM
Song
Frimpong
CM
Fabregas
Diaby
Denilson
Wilshere
Ramsey
Rosicky
Nasri
LW
Arshavin
Vela
RW
Walcott
Bendtner
ST
Chamak
Van Persie
I think the most important player for us this year is Theo Walcott
every time I watch him play he gets into more goal scoring and goal creating chances than any player I know
If he improves his crossing and finishing ability he can be the player who can give us that extra edge and he really can win it for us
BUT
he either crosses in an area where there’s not a player in sight
or
he takes a shot where he should have just passes
or
try’s a cross when he should shoot
I hope he matures and become world class like wenger wants him but for me he’s the man who can win arsenal the title
If you watched the Celtic game then I’m surprised. Although he did create the goals for Vela and Nasri, and played a part in Sagna’s, he was poor over the 90 minutes in my opinion. He was reluctant to use his pace, walked around and his crossing was absolutely dreadful. They weren’t even overhit, they were inaccurate and often went out for throw ins and goal kicks. His part in Vela’s goal was good, but for Nasri’s I think he was quite lucky. If my memory serves me right, he ran into a defender and luckily he deflected the ball back into Theo’s path, who only had to tap in to Nasri. As for Sagna’s goal, he won the corner when he FINALLY decided to use his trickery/pace, by nutmegging the defender and speeding around him.
Don’t get me wrong, Theo has the ability and potential. He DID use it yesterday but his OVERALL performance told me he still doesn’t perform well enough for the whole 90 minutes. I’d say he’s still best suited to a supersub role.
I think Theo deserves more than a sub role
but he is lacking the final ball which when he gets right will turn him into a complete player
he does everything right – he makes himself available, he gets away from the defender, he finds space to run at but he just cant complete the move he either shots the cross wide or shoots when he needs to pass and its so frustating
but he’s not that far away I just hope he gets there sooner rather than a few years time
He’s been like this for the past 3-4 seasons with no substantial progression i can think of, but even tho he wastes 90% of the chances he still seems to walk away with assists in the majority of games.
He offers something v.destructive when it works but to be honest every time he gets hold of the ball now instead of getting excited and edging closer to the tv, i just slump in my chair, half close my eyes and grimace and what i know is about to happen. And when it does the cushion usually gets it.
Sort it out Theo, please, it’s agonising.
I think he’s becoming scared of using his pace because of how many times he’s dislocated his shoulder by being checked by a defender as he runs. There surely can’t be many reasons why we barely see him run fast with the ball? Sure, he uses his pace when someone plays a through ball but when he actually has the ball at his feet, he RARELY runs with it at lightning speed. When he was younger, say 18, remember that Adebayor goal vs Liverpool? When Theo ran past 3-4 Liverpool players? We haven’t seen anything similar at all since.
I have to disagree Andrew, Theo is unfortunately not one of our top 10 outfiled players. IMO we only have 1 world class player (Fabregas) 3 exceptional players (RVP, Vermaelen, Arshavin) and 5 other very good players (Sagna, Clichy, Rosicky, Nasri, Song) The rest are either average, still unproven, inconsistent or very inexperienced. We need a world class centre half and a world class striker we also need an exceptional goalkeeper and an exceptional holding midfielder.
You have to include Koscielny and Fabianski or Sczesney to even make up a strong first x1, but in these players we are not including a world class, exceptional or very good player. Obviously this is only my opinion, but my opinion is not too different to that of the international managers or even Wenger’s. IMO Our current best x1 + subs would look like this
Fabianski (reluctantly)
Sagna, Djourou (reluctantly) Vermaelen, Clichy
Fabregas Song
Rosicky Nasri Arshavin
RVP
Strongest Bench
Sczcesney Eboue, Koscielny, Diaby, Chamakh, Walcott, Vela
With the exception of Koscielny this is nearly all our full international players, with only Bendtner & Ramsey (of our internationals) not making my first choice x1 and subs.
bc we dont have world class players but we have world class talent
and I think its Arsene’s hope that these players will turn into a world class player
its a method which saves money which as we all know we didint have at the time and still lack to a certain degree
we have a player in every posiiton except RB who has the talent to become world class but the only thing will they fulfill their talent
Fabregas is already there
but on the fabianski hasn’t
next in line are
vermaelen
clichy
song
Diaby
RVP
and I think Arshavin is already World class along with Fab
I know what you’re getting at bc but i can’t say i agree completely. For a start our wage bill would be unsustainable if we added 2 wc + extra proven players. Why people ignore this vital detail i do not know.
I would also say that categorizing a player is just a matter of opinion and buying just on that requirement is illogical.
Wenger obviously believes that the team are of the right quality, and every one of them is or will be exceptional players.
Im interested to know in your opinion what makes fabregas a world class player?
Anders – Fabregas, 19 goals, 19 assists last season whilst missing a big chunk of it, world cup winners medal, europen championship winners medal, captain of his club at 23 need i go on.
As for wage structure 4 players wages would not be unsustainable, we are making record profits and currently employ the largest professional squad in the premier league. Reduce the quantity and improve the quality.
As for Wenger believing the team is the right quality, that is exactly my point. Yes it is the right quality to finsh without trophies for the last 5 seasons, but i would like a little more than that for my £6,000 a year (season tickets and away spends)
Exacly how many world class players did bayern munchen have before CL finale? How many world class players did holland had before world cup finale?
To say Fabregas is the only world class player in the team is so wrong. Sagna, clichy, diaby, nasri is world class too. So is rvp and a few more. Suddenly Song became world class and you say he is not because he has not won the world cup? To win world cup you’ll got to be lucky enough to play with a world class national team like fabregas did.
And the fact that you just ignore Fabregas being on the bench most of the time in world cup makes your point so wrong. Basically you say he is world class because he is part of a team only. Thats like saying Theo is world class because he is playing in Arsenal. but you say he’s not.
Fabregas is pretty much our ONLY world class centre. That is why we need to keep him. Nasri is very good their too but he is needed in the wings.
@ bc. Cesc’s stats and achievements are exceptional and pretty much unique. Of course i agree that he deserves a world class tag, i’d rate him in the top 3 in the world and challenging Messi based on stats, but a world cup winners medal or EC medal is not a bench mark imo. In my view a world class player is someone who can and does compete at the highest level without being made to look like a muppet. So for me that would also include v.persie, arshavin, Nasri with consistency, Song, Vermaelen, Clichy and Sagna. Some of those are exceptional and others bordering but still able to do the business at the top level.
I think, and correct me if wrong, that your view is of someone who has mastered every aspect of the game to his most potential. I’d say that is exceptionally rare and to by able to go out and buy 2 or even 1 is not as easy as you seem to think.
I agree we need to add these players to the squad (by my definition as opposed to yours), and sell those who are now clearly not going to make it, but i get the feeling you mean get rid of players like Denilson, Diaby & Bendtner to name the most hated by some. If that’s the case can you honestly say that these players, or younger developing ones will not eventually become amazing players? That’s a matter of judgement that can only be made by someone who knows them inside out, and has the experience and foresight to know what he’s doing. As fans we get frustrated at their inadequacies and rarely pick up on the wider picture. Fans, especially in this era, are too impatient and will sacrifice everything for immediate glory. 5 years without a trophy? Wow, that many eh? how long have you been a gunner i wonder. Just enjoy the football, the emotion, the atmosphere and the feeling of knowing your beloved team are about to kick off in 10 minutes.
World class is a tag that appears to be given far too easy, I never said that winning the world cup makes you world class. George Best was world class and he never even played at the World Cup. I think world class is afforded to players that are at the very top in their position or as near damn it. Winning the top prizes at both international and domestic level is (generally)another indicator of a very good or exceptional player. Another indicator of world class is the amount of top teams wanting your players and transfer targets – Cesc aside i cannot recall any of the top teams showing any interest in the rest of our players and cannot recall any of them bidding against us for Koscielny, Chamakh a little different as he was on a free.
Lets face it we all have opinions and i hope mine are not just replicas of other people’s. I set my standards high, so my opinions are generally different, if you are someone who sets his standards a little lower and that is not an insult, then your opinions are bound to be different. When i was younger my standards and expectations were not so high, hence i did not expect to see world class players and trophies at Arsenal.
I certainly do not want to sell Bendtner, Diaby or even Denilson, at least not until they have been replaced in the squad by better players. The problem is you read that everyone wants to win trophies, yet they are not prepared to wait for that success. I have supported Arsenal through times when we won nothing, for many years more than the current barren run. However, my standards and expectations are now higher and in my opinion we need to bring in better players if we are to win the trophies that i want to see us win.
I saw Havard Nordvteit today in Enfield town HMV with his girlfriend.
His girlfriend is very attracivr shes very short but she looks great.
lol say anything to him?
i think if we get another Center back he has to be Left footed considering that Koscielny and Johan are both right footed…so thinking of all the left footed defenders out…the only right footed defender I would like to see is Mertesacker(more experienced and taller) / Zapata, I wish we would buy him…but as for left footed i am guessing one of…Jan VERTONGHEN….Serdar TASCI…Neven SUBOTIĆ (too young but good) ….Toby ALDERWEIRELD (too young but has great defending skills)
There’s also Mahamadou Sakho but our interest has died out.
Why didn’t Nordtveit play in the Emirates Cup?
Don’t you think he’s much more reliable than Djourou?
reading the comments and you just have to ask..why are Arsenal fans so demanding, you want a Sugar daddy switch to Chelsea, don`t be afraid 80% of their fans made the great Migration in 2005
Watt is going to Leeds and I hope he can help them in to PL this year
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_6291947,00.html
and JET and Simpson are being contacted by Bristol City
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/football/City-target-Arsenal-s-Simpson-Emmanuel-Thomas/article-2483201-detail/article.html