Right, so the internationals are over and that’s the end of the Interlulls until February of next year. This, as you will have gathered, is a good thing.
We can start looking forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards Arsenal. With the players due back at the club to asses their fitness and so on it’s unlikely we’ll get any team news until later on or tomorrow. I haven’t found any reports of new injuries but the situations re: G*llas and Sagna need to be resolved. Fingers crossed there are no other casualties.
Now, there are very many Arsenal fans who have bemoaned the state of our midfield this season. I am one. You are another. And that bloke over there is another. But it’s all fine and dandy me giving out because nobody listens to me, and with good reason. However, when the best player in the team has something to say about it then people should listen. And by people I mean Arsene Wenger. Cesc says:
Our squad is a bit short on numbers and we are very young. Behind me there is Denilson, who is 20, or Alex Song who is 21. Theo Walcott is 19 and Samir Nasri 21.
It’s hard to imagine a midfield where I am the oldest member. We find it very hard to win matches, as we do not possess enough experience.
That last line in particular is a killer. You hardly need reminding of the experience we let go last season. But I’m gonna do it anyway! Gilberto – gone, not replaced. Diarra – gone, not replaced. Flamini – gone, not replaced. And it’s obviously affecting Cesc’s game, something he alludes to himself:
I scored 13 goals last season but then I had plenty of allies. Tomas Rosicky was around, Mathieu Flamini covered every blade of grass and Alexander Hleb was like a brother to me out there. Now none of those players are in the side and I feel like a rare being. We are more defensive-minded and sturdy as a team but we don’t play so much skilful stuff.
Well, Rosicky is still around, he’s just in a wheelchair. And while I appreciate Cesc and Hleb were good mates I think in Nasri we’ve replaced him with a more efficient player. But the big gap in the squad is obviously in the centre of the park and a player with Flamini’s workrate and drive is what we miss most, in my opinion.
Let’s face it, Cesc isn’t saying anything that we haven’t been saying. And he’s not being critical of the young players, just stating the facts. I think we’re expecting far too much from Denilson and Song who have done all right but just all right. They’ve done as well as two players with such limited experience can be expected to do but the bottom line is that we’re weak in central midfield.
It would also be true to say that most of our woes this season have come from players who have far more experience and while that is true having a better midfield makes it easier for you to recover from the mistakes at the back that have cost us goals. Perhaps the return of Diaby might prove to be a fillup for the team but then counting on Diaby to stay fit is like expecting Phil Collins not be a bald irritating cunt.
Anyway, I’m not here to flog the dead horse. The horse is long dead and I’m not the only one that has been flogging it. It was long dead before Cesc got his flog out and gave it a good flogging but hopefully it will make the manager do something about it in January. Otherwise we might as well all start flogging each other because it’ll be less painful.
Reports in Spain say Pep Guardiola is willing to let Yaya Toure leave Barcelona. Could he be the answer? Yes, he could, if the question is ‘Who is the midfielder we have been linked with the most without ever signing just because his brother plays for us?’.
Manuel Almuni is a confusing man. He says the chances for young players at Arsenal are ‘less and less’ (¿ que?) but says Carlos Vela is a very charming fighter. El Matador de Cancún. El Goleador. La Chupacabra de futbol. Just some of the nicknames we could use for young Carlos. But we won’t. Why would we when Carlos Candle is top of the pile?
So there you go. Not much else to tell you about really. As I said there’ll be team news ahead of the Everton game tomorrow and an Arsecast so tune in then.
Have a good Thursday.
