I’m Back / Adebayor / The Future

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.

 

14 thoughts on “I’m Back / Adebayor / The Future

  1. Welcome back. I would go along with this summation.

    I definitely expect us to buy somebody next week to fill the midfield void. It would be nice to get our business done early this year, as opposed to watching the seconds tick by on deadline day as per usual.

    This could be a good year for us…

     
  2. I think we have the most injury prone squad of players in the history of the premiership,i read all the time from bloggers”oh we have fantastic players if they’re all fit” the only problem with that is they never are.RVP for example it looks like he’s gonna be number 1 striker next season and the guy has played 79 premier league games in 4 seasons.Rosicky and eduardo are gonna be like new signings you all say but very injury prone new signings all 3 were injury prone long before they came to arsenal and we’ve won zero since they’ve been here.there is no way in hell we can hold on to 4th spot next season

     
  3. I thought it was a great article….and I totally agree with what you say.

    The main problem for Arsenal last season was not the lack of strikers, wings or defenders (we were just damn unlucky in that position with injuries last season).

    We have one gaping hole and that is in central midfield. Cesc is great, but he was much injured. The backups in Song and Denilson are okey, but we need another World Class holding midfielder. Hopefully Aaron Ramsey can also step up this season and give better cover in that position.

    Btw: Security image did not work earlier.

     
  4. i dont think we need a defencive midfilder now that we have seen how good song can be. at the end of last season we saw how much improved song and denilson are. and if diaby can stay fit he will also be a vital part of the team. i think the team the way it is could become exiting if we avoide injuries. In arsene we trust.!

     
  5. jack dude….get ur facts right…eduardo n rosicky were never injury prone when they came to arsenal.
    And in case of DUDU…u dont have to be injury prone to get ur leg broken by some A****le like Taylor.

    As a fan u have to stay N speak positive things about our team.
    when we sold Henry everyone said we will hardly manage 4th spot.
    If not for injuries, we would have won the league.
    UP UP THE GUNNERS

     
  6. we wouldn’t need big powerful players to ‘run’ our defence and midfield if wenger paid more attention to organisation. we are not set up to be a defensive team when we lose the ball. I dont think Cesc, Nasri, den or song are particularly weak players but as a whole defensively as a unit we simply are not as strong as the other top 4 clubs.

    I dont see wenger coaching a defensive mind set any time soon, so he will have to revert to buying one or two individuals who just have it in their. this is the way he has always solved these problems in the past eg Sol Campbell and Vieira. Vermalen might be the defender, but one would think we need the DM.

     
  7. Walcott states that we must learn how to win ugly,they are some clever folks them footballers,excuse but didnt Adebayor state exactly the same last Year or was it Gallas????????

     
  8. Wenger needs to sign LORIK CANA. Man is for sale and Arsenal should not try to bargain for him. No nonsense DM. Captain who led OM to runners up 2 points behind Bordeaux and way above Lyon. He’s just 25, big, serious Albanian. But no….. AW has spent all his energy chasing Melo who like all Brazilians, is a lousy DM. Elegant passers sure but not tough enough for England. Gilberto, Denilson….. softies…… nothing decent in that position from Brazil since Dunga or Mauro Silva. Sign CANA

     
  9. I really hope the adebeyor transfer happens. I have never known a player with so much potential be so ineffective as he was this year. How many offsides can one player have without asking someone how the offise=ide rule actually works.

    Don’t need any midfielders, defensive or otherwise. Need a big Central defender and goalkeeper.

    Can’t wait for barnet

     
  10. I love ur write even though I did agree with some of your views 100% but it was nice. A DM is a must for us this season then Denison and song can still remain back ups.

     
  11. Albert, are you serious? All Brazilians DMs are lousy? Like Dunga, Mauro Silva and our very own Gilberto but to name a few. I can’t remember Albania producing many great players over the years.

    You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.

     

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