After watching all of the pre-season games, I’m not too worried about the coming season, but there are a few changes that need to be made before we kick off against WBA.
1. Hoyte - We must sell him. Simple as that. With Hoyte gone, Eboue would be our second choice right-back and in my opinion he’s a very good right-back, was the best in the Premiership before Sagna arrived. Hoyte doesn’t fill anyone with confidence and whenever he plays against a top class opponent (sometimes even mediocre) he gets absolutely embarrassed. We witnessed this again at the Ajax Tournament.
2. Diaby near our goalkeeper – He needs to be as far up the pitch as possible. He is NOT the solution to our defensive midfield problem, as proved against Real Madrid. He is an absolute liability and he dwells on the ball too much. Push him up high and he can do little damage when losing the ball. I wouldn’t go as far as selling him, but we need to find his natural position, and it’s not defensive midfield.
3. Gallas / Toure partnership – This partnership has been a slight worry for a while now. Not entirely sure why it doesn’t work but it doesn’t. I don’t feel that either player really strikes fear into the opponent like Vidic, Ledley King, etc.. Has anyone ever read an interview with a player who has said Toure or Gallas are their toughest opponents? I haven’t. Not really sure what to about this one, apart from sell either player, but who are we going to sign?
4. Defensive Midfield – It’s clear that we do not have a player in our squad ready to step up and play in the defensive midfield role vacated by Flamini. Denilson has probably been our best player during the pre-season but he’s not a defensive midfielder, whereas Diaby is useless, and Wenger has made it clear that Song will be playing centre back, which is a shame as I’d fancy him in that position. If the rumours are true then we’ll sign Gokhan Inler very soon. A lot of people have already slagged him off for not being good enough, but let’s wait a while before we make a hasty judgment. Let’s hope he signs first!
Once we get these issues sorted, then I have absolutely no doubt we’ll go onto great things this season. A lot of people talk about us needing a striker, but scoring goals doesn’t seem to be a problem for us, it’s holding onto a lead which has always been the worry.
Someone take responsibility
4 Comments
August 12, 2008 at 8:47 am
yo, that an so much more brother. we need to improve in so many places. that said i say top four is within our reach but it’s not getting any easier. it looks like berba will stay and if pool gets barry, whoa pool has a full complement. who knows why we’re not spending but even with one or two more the squad is too lightweight to challenge for honours. can this team win the CL? sheesh… i hope we get past twente. if we bring in cana and inler and villa, then i will breathe a little easier. since that’s not in the realm of possibilities i guess i can just pull the rest of my hair out now.
August 12, 2008 at 9:57 am
I agree with you scottpuffin, that Diaby is really sometimes sloppy – one thing I have noticed of him is that he looses the ball too often, and sometimes gives away a pass in dangerous areas. But I think lets cool down on writing him off, maybe its his learning curve which is not that steep. The AC Milan game was much much better for him. For now though, I would prefer Denilson till Wenger bring in another one.
August 12, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I’m willing to give Diaby a chance. Not sure how much more I can take of it though!!
I’d actually play him as a second striker, that’s where he played as a youngster.
You’re right about Denilson, he’ll do a job for now, but we really need someone in quick.
August 14, 2008 at 3:24 am
For DM we can use Eboue.
(Denilson/Ramsey/Coquelin/Bischoff/Song etc..)
We miss HLEB, who could hold the ball high up the pitch therefore could build up an attack by waiting for the others to position themselves and drawing attackers to himself, which RvP/Eduardo/Vela do not seem to be able to do. Hleb was more of an attacking midfielder than RvP/Eduardo/Vela!
Also Hleb was good at defending high up the pitch by closing down space which disabled the opponents attacks quite effectively by keeping the tussle in the opponent’s half, unlike RvP/Eduardo/Vela
If you are thinking Diaby as Hleb replacement in the whole? Not reliable enough, too wasteful and injury prone.
WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER ; WHAT WE NEED IS TO BUY THE MOST TALENTED ATTACKING MIDFIELDER WE CAN GET, TO PLAY HIM IN THE WHOLE AND COVER FOR FABREGAS