Sunday, December 14, 2008

Arsenal won't win a match in which Diaby-Denilson-Song all start in midfield.

It was a bit of a rubbish game, all in all. Some nice early passing yielded little, with Diaby blasting wide when he should have passed to Ade, then shooting straight at the keeper when he was played in himself.

But, we took the lead from a Fabregas-Adebayor corner combination, and it looked like things actually might go our way; until Jeremie 'I only score against Arsenal' Alililliliadiere scored after sloppy defending from Clichy, Song, and Gallas.

After that, aside from a Stuart Downing effort, we dominated, but with little reward. Robin van Persie continued to show his 'enigmatic side', shall we say, by missing a host of easier chances than the two he put away against Chelsea a few weeks ago. Consistently inconsistent, at least, which I suppose just makes him a player who consistently can't produce the goods week-in, week-out.

It was all rounded off by Bendtner blasting the ball straight at Turnball, when Adebayor was practically waiting in the area with a ten-foot billboard above his head which said 'IF YOU PASS TO ME I WILL SCORE'. It certainly didn't smell of team spirit.

So, what does this match tell us?

Firstly that, again, Arsene is fantasising when he talks about us finishing in first place. This will not happen, despite the fact that if we were even a little bit better we could be making a real fist of it this year. United, Chel$ea and Pool all dropped points this weekend but we made up no ground on them. Just think, if we'd beaten Stoke, Hull and Fulham we'd now be top of the league. Really think about that for a minute. We're not first now, and without major signings, we won't be first come May.

Secondly, when any three of Diaby-Denilson-Song-Eboue start in midfield for us, we will not win. There is a chance, although with every week I watch them I wonder how great this chance is, that these players might make it and turn into great players, but at the moment they are neither offensively nor defensively strong enough to boss games. They are a sea of dross with the island of Fabregas's quality floating among them. His face after the game said a thousand words about what he thinks about the quality that surrounds him at present.

Thirdly, that, without signings, this is our level. Maybe a draw in the north-east is a good result for a team which is realistically aiming for fourth, not first place.

Lastly, Arsene's post-match comments are getting weirder and weirder. To say that it was a good result because 'we might have lost this game at the beginning of the season' is to imply that he knew how weak our squad was in September; which may well have been the case, but simply shows he failed to do his job over the summer of constructing a squad strong enough to compete for the league this year.

So, all we can do is crawl through to January where reinforcements have to come in. Because if not, we are looking at fifth place.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

great post, well written.

Spot on.

Lets hope our wide players get fit soon, so Denilson can start CM.

Anonymous said...

Agree with you mostly

Only I still believe that denilson and diaby are good enough for arsenal at least as vgood squad players. As shown by their performance vs Manure. But Diaby is not a LM or a DCM he is in a similar role to fabregas i.e. attacking cm. He has rarely played there. I think him and cesc could work in CM esp vs poor mid-table sides at home. Same goes for Denilson. However against the best teams in prem and europe and away from home dont think either pairing is strong ehough so playing all three is best option like vs Manure. Problem then is RVP I think he would have to move out to right and nasri left. That is bet option with the current squad away and against best sides. If we had a flamini type (DCM) to play with cesc then yes play 442 against best sides and use diaby and denilson as back up for cesc and diaby back up for RVP behind striker. Song and Eboue not good enough. Eboue is a half decent back up to Sagna at right back and thats it he shouldnt play anywhere else. Song is probly better at CB but still not good enough.

Anonymous said...

Get off their backs! Who could have forecast all our wingers getting injured? It's not that we don't have enough quality, it's people like you who don't even watch the games (at least that's how it seems!) knocking all the confidence out of the team!

Anonymous said...

I agree. This season has convinced me diaby den n song are not arsenal quality.

Anonymous said...

Only Mr. Wenger believe......what can we do ?

Don't know how long he willing to buy CM like Alonso and one CB who can partner Djourou or Toure

Emmanuel Adebayor may request exit Arsenal and may be Fab...I really afraid this will happen on this coming Summer....don't you understand Mr. Wenger

We are not request whole squad change...just one CM and CB.
Diaby-Denilson-Song will benefit from there...now look like Mr. Wenger destroy their confident if thing happen with empty trophy and fans not happy with their performance even they talent...

DaNi said...

You are right m8, i was just saying that to my friends.We are not going to win games if Song,Denilson and Diaby starts..

Anonymous said...

Didn't think i'd ever say this but....Wengers days are numbered!!
it's his fault we're in this mess, the big 3 are having a mare & we're not good enough to capitalise!!

Sort it Arsene & quick!!

Anonymous said...

ALMUNIA is the common denominator for all bad results, he is useless! God, please let something (hopefully nice) happen to him so he leaves! Did anyone see his reaction to the firsr Boro corners? Laughable, but I'm not laughing! Otherwsie, I agree that SONG should have no place not even in Arsenal C team, and Diaby and Dnilson must be regarded as squad/reserve players, not main players!

Anonymous said...

ALMUNIA is the common denominator for all bad results, he is useless! God, please let something (hopefully nice) happen to him so he leaves! Did anyone see his reaction to the firsr Boro corners? Laughable, but I'm not laughing! Otherwsie, I agree that SONG should have no place not even in Arsenal C team, and Diaby and Dnilson must be regarded as squad/reserve players, not main players!

Anonymous said...

i think diaby in central midfield wouldn't be such a bad idea. my problem is song and denilson. these two clowns have no vision, no attacking instict and every time the ball lands on any of them play stops and either the ball is lost, squred unnecesarrily to slow down play or lost. personally i don't know what wenger is waiting for. same thing was happening with senderos last season untill we were kicked out of champions league.

Anonymous said...

I think Diaby and Denilson have a lot of potential for the future, Eboue is a good squad member, but Song is really getting on my nerves, I have never seen a player misplace passes so much, I have always felt confident when the ball is at any Arsenal players feet as all our players have excellent bass control, Song on the other hand cant deal with being closed down, looses the ball and does not track back, Song you are the weakest link....Goodbye.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone please tell me what Wenger sees in Song he is clearly not a footballer.

Anonymous said...

great post, great points. its tough to watch an arsenal side when clearly mediorcre players are starring and better players are playing out of position and thus out of sorts.

i dont think wenger is dumb enough to allow this to continue though. hopefully january will be what we're all calling for

Anonymous said...

Wenger needs to start being honest with himself, swallow his pride and use some of that big money Hill-Wood says we have in reserve. It is evident that we're missing something and we seem to have the funds to at least stop the bleeding if not entirely fix it.

Still petitioning for a proper CM in the Jeremy Tuolalan persuasion. Giving Cesc absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of tracking back would be a breath of fresh air for the season. Also when can I expect us to score a goal outside of the box? Part of our early success last season were players taking chances from outside the 18. Remember Cesc's streak of goals which he lashed from a distance in the first few weeks of last season? Where is that guy?

Anonymous said...

Now what is this?

http : // www . arsenal. com /news/news-archive/arsenal-holdings-plc-board-restructuring

"Ivan Gazidis, the incoming Chief Executive, will join the Boards of the Company and the Club with effect from 1 January 2009.

Richard Carr has announced his resignation from the Board of the Company having served as a director for twenty seven years. Richard will, however, remain a director of the Club.

Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith will be leaving the Boards of the Company and the Club with immediate effect."

[please remove the space in the link before you enter it in your browser]