RSSDiarra’s role, Hleb’s role and more on Dein
ON Lassana Diarra I’m not going to try and blag an intimate knowledge of the player that I simply don’t have.
I did see him play right-back in the Carling Cup final and his rave reviews were largely merited. But we have half a team of players with experience at right-back (Sagna, Hoyte, Eboue, Toure, Gallas and inevitably, Flamini). So it looks like we have ourselves another midfielder.
It’s too early to say how he will blend in. If he is just “Average. Another Flamini” (as my brother remarked last night), then on the plus side he is potentially a better quality Flamini and who are we to knock Arsene for improving the quality of the side. More optimistically, he will be able to offer the positional sense and protection to the back four so lacking when Gilberto is absent.
That, I feel, is what we need as much as anything now.
It’s Pompey tomorrow and I imagine we will see Gilberto and Fabregas united in midfield from the start for the first time next season. They are not, in my opinion, the perfect fit. But until Diaby learns to stamp his presence more on a game, they are by a distance the best we have. Gilberto’s positioning appeared particularly lacking in the season’s early games.
On the wings, I imagine Hleb will return if he recovers from illness. Some of you may keel over when I say this, but I reckon he was missed on Wednesday. Without him we looked a little less busy. It is possible that with Walcott doing fairly well in the week and none of our strike combinations totally convincing as yet, that Hleb will return as a second striker, allowing Theo to keep his place on the right. I doubt it though.
The first three months of the Premiership season are kindly filleted into four game blocks separated by international breaks. Tomorrow is the end of the first block and if we can find three points, it will have been a very pleasing start to the season. We seem to have stopped hitting woodwork so often, which must be a promising sign.
Finally, the Dein saga rumbles on and from what Usmanov told the Russian press yesterday, he is in it most clearly for the money.
I do, however, detect a slight shift in attitudes between Thursday’s events and back when Dein aligned himself with Kroenke. Then, there seemed to be a feeling that it was the board who were out of touch (almost touchingly) with reality.
Now, the focus has shifted very much onto Dein and even those who have struggled in the past for so much as a square inch of common ground appear in some agreement. Indeed in the case of me and the Independent’s James Lawton, we are rapidly starting to mimic each other.
Yesterday, I suggested: “But what of Dein? The longer this drags on, the less altruistic it all feels.”
Today, Lawton opines: “For some, anyway, the more he strikes an altruistic pose, the more he tells us about his life-long passion for the club, the less likely they are to forget that if he has done well for Arsenal, it is not half so well as he has done for himself.”
Yikes.
1 September 2007 at 11:48 am
I’m not even going to get involved trying to guess the outcome of the Dein saga. The fact is that Arsenal became one of the most financially solid clubs in the world once the new stadium was built so it was inevitable that rich investors would come running.
What they do from here is pure conjecture, especially since the current board remain unified in their desire to maintain control of the club.
As for Diarra, that’s another story and much more fun to consider.
The obvious place for Diarra is cover for Gilberto — also allowing the Brazilian to slip into central defence if necessary — and eventually replace him as the protector of the back four.
Wenger clearly is building a team of immense versatility, a side that no opposing manager can look at say with certainty will field a particular group of players or attack with a solitary set of tactics.
There are so many options now that Arsene is spoiled for choice.
Clearly he has his priorities and knows the club far better than I do, but if I’m permitted a wild guess, I think Eduardo ultimately will wind up in the Pires role on the left, skinning defenders to set up goals and then making those sneaky runs into the box, as he clearly knows where the ball is supposed to finish.
Another guess is that ultimately we’ll see more of Walcott and van Persie switching positions. Theo is a 20-25 goal striker waiting to happen, and RVP is really most lethal on the wing, drifting in to fire at will as he does for Holland.
But with players like Hleb and Rosicky capable of playing wide or bombing through the middle, Denilson looking comfortable anywhere and Diaby being groomed as a box-to-box midfielder who can win the ball and get things going the other direction, Arsene can pull any type of string.
Diarra gives him yet another layer of protection as waits for Gilberto to step aside and hand over that so-called “Makalele role.”
Let’s not forget that AW has a small army of talent pushing to join this group and offer even more options — Vela, Merida, Bendtner, young Gibbs on the wing, and so on.
Arsenal have loaded up with bags of genuine talent, much of it interchangable. Within a year or two, we may hear more comparisons with the awesome Ajax side that come close to perfecting “total football.”
Only Arsene Wenger could build one unbeatable side and then, as that group reached a peak and started downhill, discard the entire model and create other one that plays completely different — and yet still breathtaking — football.
What a wonderful side to support, however long it takes.
While several Prem clubs have spent and spent to the point that ultimately we’ll see some complete tragedies — perhaps even at one or two supposedly “giant” clubs — Wenger has created the perfect template for going on and on and on, fiscally sound and challenging for silverware almost routinely.
Brilliant.
1 September 2007 at 11:59 am
California Steve…bang on mate, could not word it better if i tried!!…finally someone that purely sees wenger vision…
getn sik of all those gooners that cuss wenger when they dont see a trophy for a little while!
1 September 2007 at 12:17 pm
I hope Hleb is available. We will need our best 11 to beat Portsmouth. Maybe he could win us a penalty against Johnson. Looking forward to that game. With our rivals all having easy games we need to win. Walcott and Eduardo are pushing for starts but I’d start Ade and RVP upfront
1 September 2007 at 12:23 pm
Really interesting last couple of posts, and an excellent comment above. I can see exactly where you’re coming from, Steve, and I really hope you’re right.
1 September 2007 at 12:56 pm
About time….someone intelligent writing about arsenal. Good article. Wenger’s vision is becoming reality and the rest of the league will be wondering what happened for a number of years as we dominate.
1 September 2007 at 1:03 pm
well said steve m8 no need for me to ramble on then! I’m excited about this team no matter what happens and i love the fact everyhone writes us off as for diarra, he adds more depth to the side and thats a good thin in my eyes roll on the next game!
1 September 2007 at 1:04 pm
Stevie spot on Californian Dream, we Gooner’s are so lucky to be around Arsenal when they are playing footie like this.Football is not all about winning silverware,Arsene has built a club not just a team and so on it will go.
1 September 2007 at 1:05 pm
Diarra is a terrible signing.
We have gone from 8 central midfielders to having 9.
We have 1 reliable striker in the squad in Van Persie and not one winger (although Theo looked ok on Wed).
We need a wide player who plays wide not central midfielders who are always looking to come inside, its too easy to defend.
You compare this team to previous Wenger teams this one finds it so hard to score goals and create chances. In previous years we would score 3 or 4 in first gear and have 20 shots on goal.
Hopefully I am wrong and we win the quadruple and spurs, chelsea and manu get relegated.
1 September 2007 at 1:10 pm
California Steve,
Bang on. Perhaps some of the doommongers and naysayers can now get back into their collective box.
1 September 2007 at 1:28 pm
I hate doom mongering as much as anyone, but as for branding walcott 20-25 goals a season waiting to happen, A player who has so far been completely unconvincing, to my mind, and yes I’m aware of his age, but this cannot continue to be made an excuse to mollycoddle him…. to suggest that is mere pie in the sky speculation at the moment…. but as for the brightness of the future let’s see where we stand in, say, january,…. a few injuries in key positions, and the fact that we seem to have a new injury on average maybe once every week lately shows that this is NOT a pessimistic forecast but a real possibility… then the shit may hit the fan. I honestly cannot believe we haven’t attempted to sign a winger but i still think we can have a decent season and maybe make another go at champions league
1 September 2007 at 2:17 pm
Spot on comments from California Steve, he hit the nail on the head, as for you AaronFC, you need to step back from listening to the Sky hype and the ‘big name’ glory fans talking of Arsenals demise, and look more at the team of what it can do now, what it can do in the future, what is coming through in the youth, and how self sufficient they are becoming. Arsene is planning so far ahead it’s scary, the current first team play fantastic football, free flowing with a smile on their faces, they are enjoying what their doing, and the best thing, the age!, these players (fingers crossed) will be together for the next (5 years plus) and will be improving year on year, each player is capable of playing in other areas at ease, and Diarra will add to that and he’s only 22! He was the best young player at both Le Havre and Chelsea for the past 3 years, and we welcome him the the Arsenal, with Arsenes tutorage I believe he will get better and better!
At the moment it is a joy to watch and support the Arsenal, and believe me you will only realise how good it is in years to come!
Come on you Gunners!
1 September 2007 at 2:22 pm
California Steve, great post. I know in the past you have also come out with supportive words for Stan Kroenke… What is your current take on his position? Is he likely to throw in with the current board and stay involved, or is he going to cash in on his investment when the Russian mobster and the tan-in-a-bottle-man David Dein inevitably make their offer?
1 September 2007 at 2:25 pm
Right on, California Steve.
From what I’ve seen of Diarra for Chelsea and France, he’s a good player and an excellent signing.
1 September 2007 at 8:00 pm
Totally agreed California Steve! We have an amazing team coming through now that can play amazing football. Also they are so young, that they will be top footballers for atleast 5-10 years on….
1 September 2007 at 8:24 pm
“Gilberto’s positioning appeared particularly lacking in the season’s early games.”
What?
He’s played just twice, once as a centre-half (where his positioning was quite excellent).
Settle down.
1 September 2007 at 10:11 pm
diarra is a good signing! flamini is a little light weighted and the jury is still out on diaby! diarra is better then both those two!!it wont be so bad if gilberto does carry on with his tantrum about not being capatain and leaves!!!!
2 September 2007 at 3:39 am
Please refer to below article especially the table in the middle of the article which re-enforces my point.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2007/09/02/sfntac102.xml
I live in Australia g00ner and we do not get Sky here.
Why do we have 9 central midfielders in the squad and no wingers?
I am not all doom and gloom I want to win everygame we play but we will struggle to score goals against good teams with no wingers.
We are Arsenal not Ajax.
I want to win trophies now and not wait 5 years for these guys to develop.
2 September 2007 at 6:47 am
aaronFC last season when our goal scoring was at its worst, we struggled to score goals against not good teams but the pack the bus teams ( like sheffield united).
we have 9 central midfielders and no wingers because arsene wants it that way. that wont change even if he is given more money to spend. he will probably buy more central midfielders.
and what is all this obssession with wingers anyway? our full backs have been doing so well in expanding the play to the wings and at the end of the day what use are crosses from the wings when there are no players to head the ball?
and pires, overmers etc were never wingers but cms that were converted to play on the wings.
personally am quite happy for one thing we missed last season is so far available to us - goals from the midfield.
no club has an absolute right to instant trophies. if you want trophies now then we all know whare you should go.
2 September 2007 at 7:10 am
California great article.
Trophies, trophies,trophies…I’m going to say it, I DON’T CARE!!!
Nope that’s right I’m a life long Australian Gunners fan and I don’t care about trophies.
As long as Arsenal continues to play as it has under Wenger then I’ll continue to believe in his vision, because to me its the purest.
What has Wenger suddenly lost his mind and his ability to build a team? I really doubt it.
By the way for all those doom mongering what your track record record at Premiership management because i know Wengers.
2 September 2007 at 9:17 am
All i know about Diarra is that the Chelski fans rated him highly and believed he would eventually be as good as makalele. They are not happy at all that we got him and that’s good enough for me.
As for signings, Man u look like they might take a while to settle with the extortionate signings they’ve made. Chelsea look strong to me and will be well up there. However i find the Scousers side a bit disturbing. I can’t ever remember wanting to watch Liverpool on the telly, now i think they are a real title favourite. They look too fucking strong and positive to me. Rafa has really been shrewd in the signings he made this summer and they now look well balanced and much more dangerous than ever. However I still believe that Arsene is the man with signings and am pleased with eddie and sagna, Diarra will be another great addition too. We have a much better squad this year and haven’t risked too much money getting there either.
The biggest plus for me though is the amazing team spirit we have developed over the summer and what looks like a real winning mentality. I’m sure we are close to winning something and have a very good chance again this year. I was talking about Liverpool having a better balance, but i believe we also have improved our balance. I know we are not the finished article and some of our players are still raw but i’m still optomistic about how much stronger we can get over this season. If we keep winning before christmas i think we are in with a shout for the league and the champions league. My prediction is for the Champions League. It’s our trophy this year! The Premiership next year! Unfortunately i feel it might be the scousers turn for one year only.
I have to say that i never saw why Wenger was so patient with Flamini before. I always felt that he was too small and ran around like a headless chicken. I was wrong. If you look closely he wants to win every tackle, every header. He gives a hundred percent every minute of the game and is improving all the time. He has given us a fighting spirit which was lacking last year. i can’t help thinking that he is important to the team for that reason only. So ease up on him a bit. Diaby will see him out in the end but right at this moment he is crucial.
I’m off to the emirates to watch the portsmouth game today and the player i want to see playing is Hleb. I believe this year he has the ability to make and score goals which clearly last year he lacked the confidence and vision to do. His quick feet and ability to beat players does remind me of a very special player, Bobby Pires.
2 September 2007 at 7:33 pm
The email address for the PR company working for Dein and Usmanov is enquiries@finsbury.com . I’ve emailed to say what a disgrace it is that any company should be involved with someone like Usmanov. Let’s see how many people we can get to complain…
3 September 2007 at 3:51 am
Look at this shit: http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2007/09/alisher_usmanov.html
3 September 2007 at 8:14 am
California Steve,
DITTO MY FRIEND!!!
3 September 2007 at 10:20 am
yes california steve, oh yes oh yes… rightly put and hit right on the centre of the nail. Arsene wenger… most ingenious manager ever to grace the football ring. Most brilliant i tell you… most brilliant. Can’t wait for this week when we try to break the twittering totties on their home turf..