Yes, a central midfielder is needed, and very badly at that. Would Wenger buy one? I doubt it.
For Cesc to be able to venture forward and get the job done, we need someone playing with him, who can anchor the midfield. As for the current options we have, Rosicky and Nasri are not people who can partner Cesc, but people who may be able to replace him for a short while if need be. Diaby doesn’t have a defensive side to him at all. He has had too many rash tackles which got him sent off, and he can’t defend at all, he is an AMF at best.
Rest, Denilson and Ramsey are primarily very good passers/play makers ala Xabi Alonso, they don’t seem to be that great in the tackle (like Flamini) or that great in reading the game and stopping it (like Gilberto). Hence, none of them fit the bill, probably Song would be the best bet for the role, however he is off to the Olympics and Wenger has already said he would use him as a central defender.
Lastly, I don’t want to include Amaury Bischoff in this category, firstly because he is injury prone and won’t be fully fit for another 3 months, second he is again one of those attacking midfielders/playmaker kind.
In the preseason games the guy who seemed to be best equipped to do that job was our recent recruit, Francis Coquelin. He was great going into tackles and the commitment was there for all to see. The problem with him is the same as with many other Arsenal players, not that old (hence needs time to develop) and lacking in experience at this level. He is just 17; I firmly believe given another 2 seasons or so, he would be ready to be first choice for that position.
Hence Arsenal do need a Central midfielder, who can partner Cesc. He has to have the maturity and understanding to read moves and give the likes of Cesc and Nasri the confidence to go ahead and attack. Gareth Barry seems to fit the bill in terms of what we need, premiership Experience, good defensively and in his prime. However, the asking price is a bit over the top for us; hopefully providing Justin Hoyte in exchange might help.
Some might say why we didn’t keep Gilberto then, well for one he got an extremely good contract from the Greek side and two he never complemented Fabregas.
Also, we need someone like Barry, and definitely not someone like Alonso, as he also can’t defend, and if you want Alonso, then we already have Ramsey and Denilson who are good enough to do the same job.
WE SAY THIS EVERY YEAR BEFORE A SEASON BEGIN,GIVE IT A REST THIS SEASON AND LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERT.
we DONT need some one like barry
he is NOT a defensive midfielder
someone like veloso or yaya will fit exceptionally well into the team
i would go for veloso because he can also play in defence, a position we may be a little bit undermanned in
but i agree with cheeckygonner – in arsene we trust
why the hell did he buy bischoff, this dosent make sense,but i think wenger will come thru to buy inler
Harris, I was thinking the exact same thing. The only reason I can think of is to utilize him as cover if and when injuries strike. Everyone claims he’s a nobody and I would be inclined to think the same but the boss must see something exceptional in him or else he truly is starting to loose the plot.
Cheekgooner is right in a way. But half of the fun is speculating who’s gonna play and what have you.
Sukhan, I think you are way of the mark with Diaby as are most of his critics who havn’t seen him really play. Remember this guy was touted as our Viera replacement and those that remember him playing before the bastard AKA Dan Smith broke his ankle will remember how strong, ferocious and tenancious he was. Having missed practically a year and primarily playing on the left wing last season, Sukhan, I can’t understand how yu would manage to question his ability in a central defensive role. As Flamini made it so apparantly clear last season you don’t neccesarily need bags of talent or technical ability to hold down the defensive midfield berth. Flamini worked his bollocks off and was rightly rewarded so, much like a Gattuso.
I think Diaby is the player we’ve really been crying out for the past two seasons and it’s such a shame that he’s been injured for the most part of that period. I think that he will surprise a lot of people and our competitors and truly believe that this is his season to shine. Also, at 6ft 2in he adds much needed height to our teams full of midgets. Perhaps he is the reason Wenger is refraining from buying a tall, central defender.
Does anyone else think Gallas is starting to wane a bit? I would much rather see Djourou and Toure starting at the back together, as again Djourou adds height. He may not be good enough to replace Gallas but give him a run of games please Wenger. I can picture him being a future Sol Campbell type of player.
My starting line up would be:
Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Clichy
Diaby
Nasri Fabregas Vela
Adebayour(?) Van Persie
I question marked Adebayour as I believe that we may have an even more potent striking option available in Bendtner. Actually, I would prefer to see Bendtner play up front with maybe Vela and Van Persie on the wing as he does so for Holland. The only thing I see good about Adebayour is his ability to continually run around like a clueless donkey and harrass the opposition eventually tiring them down. So it may be an option to play him for 45 – 60 mins before bringing on Bendtner to finish them off as he seems to me to be better than Adebayour in most departments other than an ability to run around like a headless chicken.
I also think that Le Gaffer should only play the above players for Premiership and Champions League games.
For Carling and FA Cup please Wenger play ONLY second string squad (The humiliation at Tottenham was embarrasing) and bench-warming first teamers who need the games to get fit / maintain fitness.
What do fellow gooners think?
Firstly,we need another replacement 4 flaminin l dont know d kind of wenga buyin players wit injury in dis time.anyway,l wil rader advice wenga to buy a striker and good defender if he dont want to go to relegation.
am a bit suprised tht wenger didnt go for a deal with barca when he sold hleb, he shud have got yaya coming to the emirates. yaya wud have been the perfect replacement for flamini. if we dont wanna spend big money for players for tht position, wenger should have gone for Frings, he would have come cheap although he is old, he was one of the best players for germany in the euros. we could have got the best outtta him for abt 2 yrs n by then our youngster wilshere would have taken over from him
@ Jav – Diaby was called the new Viera basically for his resemblance to him, the same kind of physique as Viera. As far as I have seen Diaby play dont think he would work as a defensive mid. AW has played him as an AMF more than as a DMF, also I do agree that the injury could have set him back. It may mean he never reaches the same potential. I dont think Diaby is the solution, however I am waiting to be surprised, wont mind a repeat of Flamini’s last year’s heroics
.
As for Gallas, he seems to be on his way down, and I would have been really happy if we had got Zapata in and got rid of Gallas this year. However, for Djourou I always feel he is the brains guy, not the hardened physical guy, despite his height. He cant be the fearless in your face Sol Campbell. The center back position takes maturity, and I feel the kids we have need time to get there.
And fully agree on the 60 mins for Adebayor and 30 mins for Bendtner theory
As for second string for FA Cup, dont think so, thats a serious tournament, for the Carling Cup, definitely….
@ frankenstein – I do agree, that Hleb deal would have been so much better if we had got Yaya Toure in exchange, but I guess the Catalunians didnt want to let him go…
Alonso has been sold to another team, so cut out the Alonso crap.
it should be apparent by now. wenger is scouting among the current squad for an above par dm. he’s not finding one, enter inler or the like.
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yeah, i agree with what Jav was sayin and i agree with his starting line up, adebayor and van persie work very wel together. But cesc needs a partner, i heard something about Arsene was intrested in Yaya Toure and Ruben De La Red, if im perfectly honest i think De La Red would help,we have far too many young players which i think will go far but Arsene needs to stop buying young players for a while and start focasing on the more older and expeirenced ones.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!