Some of you may have noticed I haven’t posted on here as regularly as I usually do, or maybe not.
Partly it’s because I was devastated with how the season turned out. As fans we live on hope and that gradually died as the season went on, and despite the ‘scathing’ posts I might have posted over the last season you’ll see that most of my posts over the last few years have been particularly positive. As ever, before the new season starts I have fresh hope and optimism for the season to come.
Another reason is while this particular blog and domain has been going running since February 2006 (initially started in early 2005), back then there were a handful of Arsenal blogs online. Now though it is a Arsenal blogosphere, and there are literally hundreds of Arsenal fans airing their views online. While this is great, there is now an over saturation of Arsenal information, unfortunately most of it completely b*llocks. Newsnow is awash with so much transfer crap it’s unreal. But obviously these cheap hits are used to increase traffic to advert filled web pages called ‘Arsenal blogs’. This site costs me money but I do it for the love of Arsenal I’m glad I don’t fill the site with needless adverts.
Anyway, we know Wenger’s transfer policy, and that will be 2 or 3 players over this summer if we’re lucky. And then there’s the annual ‘Cesc to Barcelona’ stories, and now it seems Arshavin has been dragged into it with quotes from last year before he joined us.
The fact is over the only way to not go crazy is to ignore the rumours and speculation over the summer. It gets tiring season after season and unless someone signs or leaves then it’s not news.
Adebayor
But it does look like Adebayor is leaving us.
I’ve held back from commenting on this as I didn’t want to jinx the move. When I first heard the news I was ecstatic, and on reflection how sad is that? I am happy for a player to leave Arsenal. But Arsenal is a club built on respect and the fans aren’t stupid, they know when a player is taking the p*ss.
Despite pretty much hating Adebayor over the last season (like most of you no doubt) the season before he was epic. For me in the 2007/2008 season he was phenomenal. Don’t let his idiocy over the last 12 months fool you, this guy was potentially on the way to becoming one of the feared strikers in Europe.
Playing alone upfront is a very difficult skill and he had it. You need incredible power, strength and desire to pull off that position but he did it. He would single-handedly rip defences apart for fun. He was close to becoming a Didier Drogba (not the diving play-acting one). He brought us to the brink of our first Premier League title in 4 years.
It’s funny how quickly things can change.
Desire was a massive part of Adebayor’s form and ability but this season he lost it. Without his personal motivation he’s not even half the player he can be. So while we’ve done well getting somewhere in the region of £25 million for him don’t think Manchester City have just bought a dud. It wouldn’t surprise me if he found his spark again and scored 25 goals for Citeh next season. He has a new challenge to look forward to and will be playing alongside some top class players.
The Future
No doubt we’ll be linked to various strikers to replace Ade once he officially leaves, but I don’t think we need a new striker.
We have RVP who seems to have found his form, although that is largely dependant on whether he can stay clear of injuries. We’ve got Theo who might be asked to step up this season and then of course we have Eduardo, who is sensational and deserves a whole season to show what he is capable of. Bendtner will also be used a lot more this coming campaign with the departure of the Togan.
And we also have a lot of other options on top of that.
If Nasri and Rosicky can keep fit and give Arsene options out wide then that leaves Arshavin to fill in behind the first striker, and that is something I would love to see. This boy can score anywhere on the pitch and the team should be based around his world-class talents. If Wenger uses him right, he could has as much impact as Ronaldo did for Manchester United. He is that good.
I would be happy with one more signing, and if it was a physical central midfielder.
Arsenal will always make chances to score goals, it’s in our blood. But unfortunately, defending as a unit isn’t. We don’t have big players like Vieira, Petit and Gilberto anymore who know how to fight and win the ball back. On paper, our back five isn’t bad – our major weakness is that our defence is exposed far too often.
We need to learn how to defend as a team.
A defensive midfielder with a bit of experience would set us up nicely for the season ahead.