Glass half full or half empty?

Well I hate to be the one to inject a bit of negativity into proceedings but the good news is that I plan on making things positive towards to end as there is no other way. Firstly it was great to bounce back at the weekend but will it be another trophy-less season? If not so it will take something special to do so.

I thought that if we beat Spurs then we could have won the league cup this time around but it just was not to be. Then you look at the other three trophies and the draw has just not gone our way. Firstly there is the Champions League, in which we got the current holders Ac Milan. Now say what you want about their league form when it comes to Europe you tend to not get better. Then there is the Fa Cup in which we have drawn with league holders Manchester United at Old Trafford which will never be easy and at the moment we are chasing Man Utd in the league even though we are drawing on points no walk in the park either. We need to keep the head  down and we will need to show real class without Kolo and Eboue in Africa playing in the African Nations Cup.

Then there is the right way to look at it. I say we can win at Old Trafford. What happened at Tottenham, unfortunately happened and they caught us on a very bad day, in which we caught them on their very best day. But anyway back to the Fa Cup. We have won in Old Trafford before and with a bit of luck and good performance we can do it again. It could go either way and I hope we our at our best on the day as it is hard to beat us when that is the case. Then Ac Milan. It is a huge test, but we have come across harder or at least as hard. Look at Real Madrid and Juve a few years back. Also they are not at their best at home but we know what to expect in Europe, possibly the best team in Europe. But we can do it, once again we need to be at our best. Then there is the league. We know what we have to do, win. Week-in week-out we need to win. We win the head-to-heads then we can win the league and I don”t care if Man Utd have more experience it is all on the day and we keep going and we can do something special this season.

The one thing i do want to see is another center half before the end of the month, as for me Senderos, Djourou, Justin Hoyte and Gilberto are not good back there. So I would look to bring in a quality center half for third choice and maybe a winger even though Arsene may not make two signings. So maybe a center half. But even still without one we can still do something special this season.

Gunners coach : “We do follow Edin Dzeko”

Arsene Wengers right hand man Boro Primorac (First Team Coach) has confirmed Arsenals interest in young Bosnian talent Edin Dzeko.

The 21-year-old only joined Wolfsburg’s in the summer from FK Teplice but has scored five goals in 12 Bundesliga games.

with Robin van Persie struggling with his fitness, Arsene Wenger may be looking to strengthen his sides attacking options.And it is understood that Wenger will be looking to sign a striker  in the summer.

Primorac told Bosnian Daily SAN. “He is the kind of forward that could succeed in The Premiership, And Yes “We do follow Edin Dzeko,”

It is unlikely that Arsenal will be making a bid for Dzeko in this transfer window as Boro Primorac went on to say “Dzeko could well be a target come June”

“It is still not certain whether we’ll sign him, but his performance gets better every day and if you want to sign him you would need to pay good money.”

Dzeko is believed to valued at around the £6m mark.

Edin Džeko (born 17/03/1986,Bosnia)

Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003-2005 2005-2007 2007-present	FK Željezničar FK Teplice Vfl Wolfsburg	40 0(5) 43 (16) 12 0(5)

Young French striker Yoan Gouffan has also been linked with a move to the club.

So with 2 young strikers linked to the club plus the arrival of Carlos Vela, Who is going to be shown the door? My Money is on Nicklas Bendtner with Theo Walcott going out on Loan.

But who knows?  Watch this space

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Adebayor is a Disgrace

Not going to be the most popular post but this needs to be said!

What Adebayor did last night was nothing more then a disgrace, Yes today he has said “sorry” for the disagreement with Nicolas Bendtner

But sorry is not good enough, Adebayor should be fined by the club and be made to train with the reserve team as punishment.

Adebayor clearly has some anger management issues. in Dec 2006 Adebayor was arrested after his girlfriend walked into a police station claiming he’d assaulted her.

Yes I understand that players do things in the heat of the moment but we are Arsenal and have class, We do things the Arsenal way and I cant ever remember this happening before in our club.

Getting back to the incident Adebayor ran 15 yards to confront Bendtner before landing a headbutt on the young danes nose.No doubt something was said to Adebayor but would Adebayor have done this to Henry? , Of course not!

To his credit Bendtner did not do anything back but now I have doubts to weather he will stay with the club.

As for Adebayor, Yes he is the new darling to a large amount of Gooners but we can not have this sort of thing at this club.

Clichy vs Cole

I think looking back at the Gallas-Cole deal, we have done the best bit of business. Gallas cost us -5mil pounds and now we have Clichy, who based on his performance yesterday, could now be said to be on the same level as the best leftbacks in the league. He was sound defensively and the number of runs he made in the first half could have been more than the entire Fulham team.

Clichy is always calm under pressure. He seldoms clears the ball high into the air, instead holding onto it, and looking for a pass or to dribble round his marker, even when he is near his own penalty area.

Clichy was criticised the last few seasons, for his poor crossing. He always manages to get into good positions but he wastes his crosses. Now, we can see he has improved tremendously and even Wenger said so.

As for Cole, no doubt he is first choice at Chelsea, but after a season and a half there, he is not as worshipped as he was at Highbury before the tapping up. I read at a Chelsea website, that they thought they had the best bit of business in the summer of 2006, but now they realised, Arsenal haven’t felt the loss of their star leftback, and instead gained a new leader in William Gallas.

Cole has tremendous pace, as does Clichy, and his style is suited to Arsenal’s style. The partnership of Cole-Pires-Henry on the left, was the best in the country. When Pires left, it was weakened and that was consolidated by the fact Henry lost form. That dynamic teamwork may have gone for now, but on the basis of the game against Fulham, it wouldn’t surprise me if by the end of the season, we would be seeing Clichy-Rosicky-Eduardo do something similar. Between the three of them, they set up 2 goals and scored 1.

Clichy is 22 while Cole is 25. Both have good futures ahead of them but it will be difficult not to see Clichy becoming as good or even better than Cole someday.

Cheers

Reported by Sp1r0r

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Fulham vs Arsenal - Post Match Analysis

 

First up, a great performance away from home. We really wanted to kill Fulham off. And to those who hate Adebayor, that was really a great performance from him. And those anti-Senderos, he did put in a solid performance.

Almunia 6
Had nearly nothing to do. Could have been part of the crowd. Poor effort by Fulham

Sagna 7
Defended well and although his contribution goes unnoticed, had some good clearances that could have put us under threat.

Gallas 7
Good showing and put in a typical performance.

Senderos 7
For those who doubted him, he had a solid game. Cleared the ball when he needed to and won nearly all the headers. Unlucky to get a bloody nose.

Clichy 8
His performance in the first half was very good. Many said his crossing was poor, but that certainly didn’t show when he set up Adebayor with a delightful cross. Seol Ki-Hyeon didn’t track him and that was Fulham’s main problem.

Hleb 7
Doesnt get much praise for his performance but his little passes and retention of possession helped our game. He deserves credit not only for this game, but our progress for the whole season.

Flamini 7
An energetic performance as expected. Even tried to score a goal. Protected the back four really well.

Fabregas 7
Slowly getting better as each game goes by. Passing was neat but his shooting was off.

Rosicky 7
Had a good game and played Clichy in a number of times. His goal shows the qualities of a typical midfielder rushing in to assist the attack.

Eduardo 7
Did everything except score. He had limited chances but he did well both up front and on the left. His passing was quite poor but his dribbling has to be said is one of the best in the team. Good assist for the 3rd goal.

Adebayor 8
Got 2 goals and put in a good striker’s showing. He was all over the pitch and most importantly, in the box when it matters to score the goals. 15 goals and he is showing why he is currently the best striker in the league.

Surprisngly Wenger didn’t make any subsitutions but the team did well. It was a refreshing scene to behold when the team kept going even after being 2 and 3-0 up.

First two goals were good crosses and the finish by Adebayor was textbook. Thoroughly deserved the goals. On the third goal, I thought Eduardo should have passed first time to Hleb as Hleb was unmarked but in the end, it didn’t matter as he did well to provide the assist for Rosicky

A very good response by the team. We could have been back on top had it not been 2 goals in the last 15 minutes by Man Utd. Chelsea were also lucky to win. I thought Reading and Birmingham had very good games at home.

It just shows how much harder it is to going to be to win the league this season. But I’m sure, come May, we will be right there till the end.

Reported by Sp1r0r

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Vieira is gone - Get it through your heads

Posted by : The Fabster

Ok, it’s about time I had this little rant. I am in a particularly bad mood for some unfathomable reason so this should be a tidy little rant.

Our general Patrick Vieira is gone. So stop bringing his sale back. It’s like you accidentally kill your dog go mentally insane due to the loss for two years, and just when your on top of your game, some c**t comes and shouts “YOUR DOG IS DEAD! YOU KILLED IT! YOU SUFFERED BECAUSE OF IT AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!”

All the doom mongers out there, are constantly bringing the Vieira sale in a pathetic attempt to try and disgrace Arsene Wenger. Arsene does have his faults, but when he really, truly is at fault then he comes out and says it. In the Vieira case he admitted it.

In all honesty, letting Vieria go was not a mistake. Not replacing him was a mistake but it was also a blessing in disguise. Cesc would not be bagging in the goals this season were it not for the education he started receiving two years ago.

Admittedly, we suffered for it but are now reaping the rewards. So I see little point in people trying to bring back the sales of Pettit, Overmars and Vieira.

I will tell you something. Arsene Wenger knows more than all of you, simply because he has come into training every day for 10 years and knows his players in and out.

Would you really want Vieira, who is closing on 33, back with us now? Admittedly, he would bolster a fairly weak Central Midfield in terms of depth but he would not break into the squad. He has made two starts in the Serie A this season, what does that tell you?

People are trying to link our current bad form with the sale of Vieira all those years ago. I don’t understand the logic. As much as I love Paddy, he would do little to help us win the league. In fact, I almost forgot he had ever played for us. The man was a legend, but his time has come. Get over it people.

We made a massive profit on his sale, and his departure has allowed talent to develop. 13m for a 30 year old is good money. Admittedly, he had about another two seasons at the top but he hardly set the league alight with Juventus, did he?

When a player wants to move, he will move. The manager cannot stop him from moving. He would not have done much for us last season, anyway.

So please, stop using Vieira in your pathetic cases in pleading that Arsenal are a “selling club”. That Arsene Wenger is an incompetent manager for letting such a talent go. That since Vieira left, Arsenal have never been the same.

We suffered two bad seasons, get over it and look to the future….

Rant over.

Arsenal v Birmingham Match Analysis

Overall I think that we were actually very good in the first half and should have finished the game there and then but hell we couldn’t create squat, we could have lost the game hadn’t it been for a penalty which wasn’t one in my opinion.

Somethings I can pick out though is that without one of our three playmakers we struggle to create anything, and as soon as Walcott came off and we shifted Hleb to the right and Eduardo to the left we were screwed. Both players will come inside and all Birmingham had to do was floor men into their own box and they could stop us easily. Noone went wide to pull them apart.

So here goes nothing:

Manuel Almunia - 7 - He actually had very little to do, in the first half he made a good save from Jerome but not much after that. You could blame him for their goal but I believe it took a deflection off Fabregas.

Bacary Sagna - 7 - Typical Sagna performance, did well defensively and nothing else I can say about the guy.

William Gallas - 7 - Made some good tackle, a typical performance.

Phillipe Senderos - 7.5 - I thought Senderos was great today, not so much in the first half, but definetly in the second. He has his ciritics but made some great challenges to prevent Birmingham counter-attacking. He even attacked well in the form of his headers when we have set pieces, I honestly rate him better at attacking corners that Kolo (but not much else).

Gael Clichy - 7.5 - This guy is great, he is great defensively and his crosses are slowly getting better. Hell he even had some decent strikers on goal today. Good performance.

Francesc Fabregas - 6 - It wasn’t one of his better games in my opinion. He gave the ball away cheaply too many times for me. Nevertheless I thought he had a good effort on goal in the dying seconds which I would like him to get back into doing.

Theo Walcott - 4 - I thought he was awful today as he was against Tottenham. He gets the ball and doesn’t pick the right pass or just gets brushed off the ball. I still think he will become a great player but he really needs to improve.

Alex Hleb - 7 - I thought Hleb had a good game altogether. In the first half he put in some great crosses with his left foot something which we lacked in the second half. In the second half its self all our midfielders really didn’t do well, when Walcott was taken off Hleb was moved to the right and did nothing on the flank and came inside which limited our options.

Mathieu Flamini - 7 - A good performance by Flamini today, made some decent tackles. He and Fabregas need to balance it up with who is attacking and who is staying back. Sometimes in the first half we were left open. Not much else to say really.

Eduardo da Silva - 6 - He had a typical game, he got into some good positions and made some good headers for a guy of his size. However my only problem with him is that he does not get on the ball enough for my liking at all. In the second half he was put on the left wing and constantly came inside and limited our options and on the few occasions he went to the left he didn’t put a decent cross in. I thought his penalty wasn’t one at all to be honest.

Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - Scored a good penatly but did little after that. In the second half you would see him sprinting back to win the ball back which is nice to see but sometimes we just need him in the box so we can actually score.

Subs

Bendtner - 6 - Didn’t do aswell as I would have hoped when he did come on, he had a good chance to score when he was put in by Fabregas but he dragged it wide unfortunately.

Diaby - 5 - Not much time but he didn’t do much. Some poor passes and constantly coming inside and losing the ball.

Goal Analysis

Adebayor - Penalty

It wasn’t a penalty in my opinion. I thought the former Spurs defender got the ball but Eduardo thought he’d made enough contact to go down and we got a pen. I’m not complaining but it wasn’t a penalty for me. Good shot to the bottom right corner, almost saved by Maik Taylor.

Garry O’Connor - Deflected Header

Some poor defending by Flamini on O’Connor but the header got a deflection from Fabregas that took it past Almunia. I feel sorry for Almunia because some people are going to blast him for it but it wasn’t really his fault, if it hadn’t been deflected im sure he would have made the save.

Anyway just my side of the coin.

by AF2.

Arsenal Vs Birmingham (preview)

Arsene Wenger sets his side out to face Birmingham and to do one thing, win. Following the draw vs Spurs in midweek Arsenal will be looking to stay top of the league. It will not be an easy game and there is a lot of injury worries for Arsene”s team. Robin Van Persie picking up the flu aswell as Johan Djourou on the sidelines with a thigh injury. However Phillipe Senderos has been passed fit after picking up a knock in the midweek game. And of course two blows in the team as Kolo Toure and Emmanual Eboue have begun the African Nations Cup with their respective countries.
Arsenal could have a lot of key men fit however as players like Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas and many others will hopefully be raring to go as they have had a well deserved weeks rest for the Burnley and Tottenham games. But the blow is Robin Van Persie as everytime he starts again he seems to be slowed down or stopped due to more injuries and we hope when he comes back training his season of injuries will be done. As Arsene says we need edges in these types of games.

The main thing Arsenal want here is a win and no matter how much the margin is a win is the most important thing in order to keep things going in the Premiership. This is what Arsene had to say in his pre-match press conference.

“We rested a few players recently to give them a breather mentally. It is all more mental than physical at the moment. But you still need an edge in these kinds of games and I feel that is down to how well you prepare, especially mentally. That will make the difference.”

Arsene was handed Manager of the month too on Friday and we hope the “curse” does not strike. This is what he said.

“I don’t believe in curse, I believe in performance. It is as simple as that. I’ve won the Manager of the Month award many times and won the next day.”Alex Song is also missing as he is with Cameroon at the African tournament. This is what Arsene said on the situation. Interesting to see Justin Hoyte may get a game center half. However I would prefer a quality center half much more. Micah Richards maybe perfect. So when Kolo gets back he knows he is not in the team for sure but he will get a lot of games because I really think we are not covered well in that area as Djourou has not proved much for Birmingham and Senderos is a poor play in my opinion. This is what Arsene said anyway.

“We had hoped Song would not be retained by Cameroon,” he said “But they gave a list of their squad and he was in it. He now looks like he will play with Cameroon. The latest all the African Nations Cup players are back is on February 10 but Justin Hoyte had a good game in the centre of defence so we can count on him. Gilberto can also play centre back, even if he does not even enjoy it.”

Also Robin Van Persie is understandibly upset by his injuries. This is what Arsene said.

“He is highly frustrated,” said Wenger. “You don’t see him smile. He loves football so much that he is sad when he does not play.

“We thought we were over it this time. The only positive thing on Wednesday night is that he was feverish and perhaps what he felt in his muscle was the effects of the flu than a real set-back. I did not see any muscular set-back during the game.”

The most imporatant thing is that there is no slip-ups on Saturday for Arsenal.

Who is Luke Freeman and is he on his way? English players discussion also!

Rumor has it that Arsenal are set to kick off their spending in the January transfer window by bring highly rated 15 year-old Gillingham player Luke Freeman to the club. Arsene Wenger announced in Fridays press conference that he is set to make the star an Arsenal player.

“I met the boy and I like him. He has personality and he looks alert. He’s a striker and to play in a first team at 15 years of age is something special.We were quite well on the case and we are very positive that we will find an agreement with the club without going to compensation. We will pay them a transfer.”

So who is he? Well as I already said he is a highly rated 15 year-old who has already been capped at senior level which of course was a record. Aswell as being Gillingham”s youngest ever senior he was also the youngest ever in the FA Cup proper.

That itself is a big achievement and it is no surprise that we are not the only team in for this talented kid. Interest from Premiership sides Newcastle and West Ham means that there is a lot of competition for clubs looking to seal his signature.

Signed by Charlton at a very early age Freeman was released at the tender age of eleven and went to his current club Gillingham and since then he has grown form strength to strength. He would join a number of quality young Englishmen if he was to choose Arsenal. The likes of Henri Lansbuary, Marc Randall, Justin Hoyte, Gavin Hoyte and of course Theo Walcott are all young players on the fringe if the first team or playing in in the youth setup at Arsenal.

And Wenger knows he is a special talent. How often do you see “le boss” say that he is about to sign someone. Wenger who signed Jermaine Pennant as a 15 year-old for £2 million pounds from Notts County had a lot of praise for Freeman and hopes that a deal can be agreed by a transfer fee and not compensation.

He would not join just young Englishmen at Arsenal of course. We are producing youngsters from all over the globe at Arsenal and the sad thing is that they will not all make it it. Question is if Freeman comes to Arsenal and even though he has a huge reputation it does not mean he will succeed. The question on Gooners” lips will be this. “Will he be another Jermaine Pennant?” That remains to be seen. But I would defenetley wait a long while before he is introduced to first team matters as it is possible Theo was introduced too soon and it is fair to be said that he has not made it yet.

Gillingham however feel they are on the verge of losing a special talent and the club have said that Arsenal are front runners in gaining his signature. Stimson told Gillingham”s club website that they are working out a deal with Arsenal.

“As we speak, Arsenal are the front-runners for Luke Freeman and they are talking to the chairman,” Stimson told the club’s official website. “We are trying to negotiate a deal, but that could take a day, a week or a month.”

“We realise now that we are going to lose him. It is sad that is going to happen because he is a special talent.

“We have got to get the best deal for the club and when that is done, we’ll let everyone know.

“It wouldn’t be right to stand in the boy’s way if the deal is right for Gillingham.

“The good thing about it is he realises that and so do his parents. They know he will only go to a Premier League club if the deal is right for our club and that is what we are trying to negotiate.”

He maybe a great addition in years to come if he signs and would add to the feeling that Arsenal really have and tend to produce great English youngsters. We would hope that he shows better signs then Theo Walcott and Jermaine Pennant however as Theo is still developing and Pennant never broke into the first team in a permanent manner.

Also on the subject of making English players, Arsenal tend to be said we don”t sign/develop enough. Well look at Steve Sidwell, David Bentely, James Harper, Justin Hoyte , Jermaine Pennant, Fabrice Muamba, Ashley Cole, and there is as much English as foreign players coming through the youth setup such as Henri Lansbuary, Marc Randall and Gavin Hoyte.

Chelsea get praise for having so much English in their ranks. Well all I can say is they sign the best English around and sit them on the bench. I take Steve Sidwell(again), Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson, Carlton Cole, and I am sure I missed one or two but you can see what I am getting at.

However on that subject I guess I regret that outburst as I don”t care if a player is from Trinidad and Tobaggo, Russia or Wales. I think a player should be judged on how good is football is and I feel that is the way it is at Arsenal and I am happy that is the way it is at Arsenal at the end of the day its the football that counts and I would not change the way it is even if I could with the Arsenal setup right now regarding the foreign policy.

But back to Freeman and I hope he signs. If he does I hope he does very, very well with us.

Too Many Bit Part Players at Arsenal

The Spurs game has caused me to think seriously about our squad and of the undoubtedly tough few months coming ahead. Perhaps I have been viewing our squad through tinted glasses but they were shattered last night by our abysmally shit game of football.

Arsene Wenger proved all critics wrong at the beginning of the season, and I loved him for it. My love for the club and it’s players and my love for optimism had never been higher. The sense of satisfaction and pride at seeing my team at the top of the league once again, I cannot explain.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Arsene and trust him and the squad for getting us where we are. But I want us to remain at the top, and for us to do so, I think a few changes have to be made.

Over the last few years, Arsene’s transfers have been criticized. When they first arrived, the likes of Hleb, Rosicky, Diaby, Denilson, Senderos, Walcott, Adebayor, Eduardo, Eboue and Djourou have not exactly set the league on fire.

In recent months Hleb and Adebayor have put in some good performances, and Rozza and Dudu have also put in some good performances as of late but the others….

All of them show potential, but potential will not win you a league.

Diaby is a powerhouse, he owned the Chelsea midfield last season but it was one game. He overplays and is greedy with the ball and his touch lets him down. He has other qualities to his game, but qualities he can only develop playing the center of the park and I do not trust him in that role.

Denilson shows a hell of a lot of potential, but is incredibly raw. He is a good fourth choice central midfield though, I would rather have another player ahead of him.

Eboue fails to add anything to the squad. Yes, he can cross but I don’t see the appeal of his “dribbling”. He knocks the ball past a player and then uses his pace to regain the ball. He is lazy and simulates play. He is not shit, you don’t mark Ronaldiniho out of a game and be shit but he is not showing his worth. Not a good enough back up if you want to win the league.

Senderos has been living off his good half a season for too long now. Yes, then he organized the defence well and looked like a monster in his tackling but I think Kolo also made him look good on numerous occasions with his monstrous pace compensating for Phillipe’s complete lack of it. He seems dependent on the offside rule now and looks generally clumsy in his play. Not a good enough back up if we want to win the league.

Walcott has potential. However, I never want to see him play on the wing ever again. His decision making is shit and whenever he gets the ball, he looks like a headless chicken and doesn’t take advantage of space and generally runs into players. He is not a bad back up, especially when played upfront but we can do better.

Johan. Interesting player. I was impressed by him last season and wasn’t very pleased to see Arsene had loaned him out. He had an unimpressive loan spell and was p!ss poor against the scum. I am willing to give him more time though. His recovery is good and he looks a hell of a lot a better all round athlete than the other lanky Swiss man. A good 4th choice Center Back.

And I almost forgot about Gilberto. This season, he has taken shit to a whole new level. I admire his professionalism, but now it is time to go.

I think some of us have taken our early season performances out of proportion. Yes, our squad was impressive but that was using our strongest XI. Our first XI will not last us a season.

Where does that leave our squad? With average players on the wings, in the center and in defence.

Sagna and Hoyte are our most impressive center backs at the moment (bar Gallas) and that’s not even their original position. If the god’s are with us, Arsene will play Sagna in the center and Hoyte on the right. Or even play Diarra on the right, but I’ll come to that later. Arsene has never been one to go with the general opinion though, and I can see him playing Gilberto or Senderos at the back, a thought which is giving me the shivers.

We will need to dip into the transfer market. We some good, versatile, experienced, Premier League standard players who can come in and do a job. Not enough players to phase our youngster our, just one or two.

We need a new right winger, but not having one won’t ruin our season. I’d actually would not mind some young talent there as long as we don’t have to go through the bullshit that is adaptation.

We do need some good, solid experience at the back though. Why not go for Wes Brown? He really is not as bad as some fans make out, a decent player and will not cost much. There is the question of whether he would join us or whether United will let him join us but I would certainly welcome him in here with open arms. He will want regular first team football though, and bar this month, I don’t think we can give it to him. A pity really, as he would’ve been a fantastic back up.

In the center, I would be quite happy with Cesc, Flamini, Denilson and Diarra. So what I am trying to say is: “Do not sell Diarra”.

CM is a position where experience is required, and I think Diarra could go on to do great things for us. He has really impressed me and has looked like a monster of a player. I would not object to Denilson playing a few games throughout the season, but I don’t think he is ready for regular football yet. I would feel a lot safer, should Diarra still be playing for us.

Flamini or Cesc are bound to hit some bad form at some point and Arsene is not keen on playing Diaby at CM. The second half of the season could be a good one for Lassana, should he choose to stay. Should he leave, I think a new CM spot should open up.

Keeping Diarra is even more important, should Arsene decide to play Sagna at CB, I trust Hoyte but he too is also young. Having Diarra ready to slot into RB would put my mind at ease.

If we bring in a new Center Back and keep Diarra, we should get through this month fine.

That’s the long and short of it, I reckon.

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