october 2nd
08.34 – Something you’ll find most Arsenal fans in agreement with at the moment is the fact that Kolo Toure has been doing a great job at centre-half. His performances have belied his relative inexperience in the position. He seems to be learning as he plays each game, he’s fantastically quick and he wins far more ball in the air than a guy of 5’11” should do.
His performances haven’t been lost on Martin Keown either, who is fullsome in his praise of K-Lo. “Kolo has all the tools to be a top player and he’s a willing learner, and it’s a joy to play with someone who wants to ask questions and wants to learn.”
According to Toure “It’s very good for me to play alongside experienced players like Martin Keown and Sol Campbell. They are both really good players and have helped me a lot.”
We all said we needed a centre-half in the summer. It’s obvious that Arsene Wenger was far more willing to try and young, inexperienced guy rather than play Pascal Cygan, and maybe the fact we didn’t have any cash this summer meant Kolo got a break he might never have got if we’d gone out and spent lots of/some money on another defender. Obviously it’s very early to lauding him as the answer to our defensive problems, but he’s brought a new energy to the back 4 this season.
Another thing you’ll find a large number of Arsenal fans in agreement with is that Sylvain Wiltord needs to spend less time on the pitch at the moment. He’s done his usual trick of starting the season really well, then playing like a total cunt. He’s had a contract offer from Arsenal on the table for months now, he hasn’t signed it. I doubt if he has any intention of signing it, and quite honestly, I’d be a bit pissed off if he did sign at this stage. I’ve never been one to hold his transfer fee against him, we got caught at the top end of a hugley inflated market (£28.5m for Veron, anyone?), and to keep beating him with the £13m stick isn’t fair in my opinion. That doesn’t alter the fact that he is playing like a cunt, and looks like he doesn’t care that he’s playing like a cunt.
Earlier in the summer Wenger warned about players with 1 year left on their contracts. He said in September they were thinking about January, in January they were on the phone talking to other clubs, and before the end of the season they’re not focussed at all on the current club because they know they’re going somewhere else. It could be called Overmars Syndrome. Anyway, that’s what’s happening with Wiltord. I hope AW plays Alaidiere or Bentley ahead of Wiltord, and soon. I know they lack experience, but they can’t possibly play any worse than SW11 is at the moment. If we want to use him to the best of his ability, we should hand him the mower and get lovely concentric circles on the pitch before the next home game. Otherwise it’s play the kids and/or get busy in the January sales.
An interesting piece on Arsenal World. Is football all business? Is football ‘like it used to be’ gone forever, and is that completely a bad thing? Lauren likes Lehmann. Arsenal’s AGM takes place today and there are plenty of issues on the agenda, not least of which is the new stadium. If we can get a report from there we’ll put it on the site.
Ok, more inductioning today. Later.
/td>
