Yesterday’s match gave me an insight to two major aspects of our transfer dealings (or lack of them) over the summer.
First, Silvestre seems to be more like an underhand deal done by Ferguson to undermine Arsenal’s position. He has been almost rubbish in the two games he has played. Yesterday our central defense was as good as non-existent. Our offside trap wasn’t working at all, we scored an own goal and the long balls lead to a goal. I agree Song was as culpable as Silvestre, however being the experienced defender he is expected to lead Song and not be even worse than the young learning defender.
Second, Diaby was simply great, which further substantiates my belief that he is not the central midfielder we all hoped he was. He is an Attacking midfielder who can play in the hole behind the strikers or a single striker; however he can’t be the central midfield general that we all wish he could be. The moment he is expected to tackle, we are on the shaky ground of getting reduced to ten men. His tackling is pathetic, but he can surge through groups of players and thanks to his stint on the left side last year, can even shoot with left and show more trickery. For the first time in his career Diaby looked at home in a position and that was the attacking midfielder.
Lastly, our captain of the night was simply brilliant. I had my doubts on Almunia being made the number 1 goalkeeper at Arsenal, but yesterday it could easily have been 5-5 had it not been for the star performance of the most senior member in our squad. Hope he can go on to even better things, and help us win something this year.
To conclude, I feel Silvestre is in no way an improvement on what we already had (Senderos) and except maybe earning us some money (when we eventually sell Senderos) it has probably made our defense weaker. Also, Diaby is not the Central midfield enforcer that we need to be playing alongside Fabregas hence Wenger’s decision to not buy a replacement for Flamini still seems to be a penny wise and pound foolish decision.
way too harsh on silvestre!!his performance in turkey was no where near rubbish and neither was the match against everton (the second half at least)! also just because diaby can attack doesnt mean he cant defend! poor poor article
that wasnt the argument, diaby just cant defend, its obvious
Don’t be harsh on Silverstre! He has played well so far. How many defenders do you see come into a new team with immediate results?!
why write an article if you are going to chat rubbish!!!
This article is a load of bollocks.
Firstly, Silvestre has been a rock in defense for the last two games. It is great to see someone with a no nonsense attitude to defending, something that we have sorely missed. Also it give Kolo and Gallas some competition which can only be a good thing. The own goal was hardly his fault, Song was beaten to the ball at the far post. Also for the second goal Song was at fault due to his poor positioning. All in all Song had a stinker of a game and was the weakest link in our defense. I remember how hungry he was when playing in defensive midfield but recently he has adopted Gallas’ rather languid approach to defending.
Also, it would be erroneous to judge Diaby’s defensive ability when for that game he was asked to play as a second striker. Yet he still was everywhere on the pitch which is quite impressive considering that this was his first start of the season. I still believe that his best position would be defensive midfield. I say this because I remember how he played when we first bought him (Jan 06 I think) and his brief stint in DM before that bastard Dan Smith of Sunderland broke his ankle was very impressive and reminiscent of Viera. Seriously tho guys what did Flamini do other than run around like a headless chicken and often drawing needless fouls in vunerable positions which inevitably resulted in goals. I would much rather see Diaby play alongside Cesc than Denilson who I think is too soft and too short and not a great tackler either.
However, I do agree with your summary of Almunia. He was great and thanks to him we saved face.
Ur article is right.. Everyone has been criticizing the young lad song.. When siltestre was mostly at fault..guiza lost silvestre many times and song tried to cover for him.. I believe your article
I don’t necessarily agree that Silvestre the dancing clown has made our defence weaker. He just seems to be one more quality defender in a line-up that should be good but seems incapable of organising itself under a management that really seems not to care about this kind of thing. That’s a harsh criticism but there is possibly something “keegan-esque” about the Arsenal approach to football at the moment and I think a lot of people are losing sight of the fact that if Almunia had not had an excellent game the result could have been a lot closer. A better strike-force would have taken advantage of our weaknesses.
The defence was atrocious.
The own goal wasnt his fault, but him and Song made Guiza look like he was Torres.
your comments on Silvetsre are unfounded and its only his second game so no need to lose it mate give him a few more if i remember well we were willing to give Senderos a whole season inorder to get a good g#performance out of him.
Silvestre has speed and experience and that an improvemnt on Senderos……