It’s funny how quickly things can change in football.
Less than two months ago Kolo Toure handed in a transfer request to Arsene Wenger, citing the complete breakdown in his relationship with William Gallas as the reason behind his desire to leave. While it’s clear there was an issue between the two men it probably had more to do with Man City’s desperate desire for a centre-half.
They made it very clear how much they wanted Toure, how much they’d pay him, and with Kolo struggling for form, in his flowers with Gallas and witnessing the emergence of Johan Djourou he asked to leave the club.
Now, with the transfer window closed and his place in the team more assured than it was he’s happy to stay and he appears to have mended fences with Gallas. He says:
Me and William know each other really, really well and we are definitely quite happy to play together. I don’t want to talk about my transfer request. That is over now. I’m just delighted to be at the club because I love Arsenal. They are the club of my heart.
And things change not only with players but with fans too. Since his return from the ACN in early 2008 Kolo has struggled for form and fitness and I think if there had been an assurance that money raised from his sale would go towards buying a top class replacement then I think many fans would have accepted his transfer. I don’t say they’d have been happy to see him go but I suspect they’d have thought £12m, or thereabouts, would have represented good business.
And here we are, less than eight weeks later, he’s back in the team, playing better, part of a defence which is producing clean sheets in a way it hasn’t all season and captaining the side in Cesc’s absence. It still looks like the blistering recovery pace he used so brilliantly is gone, at times he looked like he was running with lead boots during the Sunderland game, but I’m happy to see him make things better and his form improve.
And I think it illustrates that things change quickly not only for players but for fans too. With the demand for information and news and discussion perhaps we get a bit too short-sighted when it comes to players and their performances.
Not always, but sometimes. A few good performances and he’s the second coming of Pires/Bergkamp/Henry/Vieira. Some poor ones and the guy has been filled full of the juice of Gus Caesar and needs to brought to the knacker’s yard. That’s not to say players are beyond criticism – because that’s foolish. But there’s a huge amount of discussion going on every single day and never before have players been so scrutinised. That brings about a certain vehemence to people’s opinions.
But maybe we need to step back sometimes and not be so quick to write players off. Those that have consistently underperformed or who illustrate week in, week out that they don’t have what it takes – they’re a different story. But someone like Kolo Toure who has been a great servant to Arsenal, a player who has always given 100%, perhaps deserves a little more understanding. Players go through periods where they struggle with form, most of the time good ones come out of it again, and hopefully that’s what we’re seeing with Kolo.
A player currently not currying too much favour with fans is Nicklas Bendtner. The Dane was guilty of a poor miss in the second half and a horrible touch in the first saw what should have been a decent chance escape him. Yet it was his pass to Robin van Persie that saw us win the penalty and Bendtner is happy with that, saying:
I would have liked to score myself but it wasn’t to be. The most important thing is that we won. I’m happy to have contributed to the winning the penalty. As long as I know I gave my contribution I can leave here with my head held high.
He’s got eight goals so far this season which isn’t a bad return considering his place in the squad. However, with the amount of games he’s started it wouldn’t be unfair to expect a few more. On the other hand he’s just 21 years old, established as an international, and perhaps not quite ready to be a starter. I think he’s probably better as an impact sub and spending as much time out wide as he’s been asked to do robs him, and us, of his presence in the penalty area where he’s probably most effective.
He’s certainly the most dangerous player we have in the air but he’s got to work on his first touch. His control is truly awful at times and that simply has to get better if he’s going to get improve as a player. Perhaps in a couple of months, after a run where he’s got a few important goals, opinions on him might change as well. That, of course, is all down to him though.
Gunnerblog points out a sly foul by Francesco Totti on Denilson in the game on Tuesday night. What’s most telling is the ITV commentator saying “[Denilson] hurt himself in tackling Totti”.
Hurt himself? Pathetic really. You can be quite sure if that had been a foul on Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney they’d have spotted the way Totti raised his boot and quite deliberately kicked backwards like some kind of demented Italian pony. That the ref was only a couple of yards away and did nothing is nearly worse. Nearly, because as we all know nothing is worse than ITV’s football coverage.
The Telegraph reports on concerns that the property market slump is affecting our finances. Obviously the Highbury Square development looked like a much better prospect 12-18 months ago but with the half-yearly financial report due out today we should get a better idea of what’s going on.
Beyond that not much going on. We can start previewing the Fulham game tomorrow and there will, of course, be an Arsecast.
Till then.
