Djourou crucial even if Toure stays + reaction to Arsenal “missing out” on Cana has been silly

Djourou will have a big part to play for Arsenal this season

Hello again – I hope you had a lovely weekend. Quite a lot to get through today so bare with me.

I’ll kick things off with Johan Djourou who spoke on Friday about the role he hopes to play at Arsenal this season. In his own words he said:

“I am ready now, I am ready to step up and I have shown that in the last year. Now I just need to stay fit and show the boss that I am ready to play in the team all season. That’s what I want to achieve this season because I really think that I have stepped up, I am strong and I can do the job in the centre of defence.”

Regular readers of the blog will know what a big fan of Djourou I am and I sincerely hope he gets the opportunity to play this season. He performed superbly alongside William Gallas early on last season and, as much as I like Kolo Toure, I thought the manager made a mistake when he pulled Djourou out of the side in favour of the Ivorian. It upset the balance in the defence and I believe contributed quite heavily to our defensive problems in the middle part of last season.

There are certainly indications that Djourou will play a bigger role at the club this season and may even start the season as one of the first-choice centre-backs. Leaving aside Philippe Senderos and Mikael Silvestre for the moment, we currently we have two left-sided central defenders (Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen) and two right-sided central defenders (Djourou and Kolo Toure) and it’s likely to be a direct competition between each pair to see who starts.

With Gallas only having a year left on his contract and extremely likely to move on at the end of this season I think Wenger’s idea will be to rotate Gallas, Vermaelen and Djourou regularly and use Toure sparingly with the intention of having Djourou and Vermaelen as the first-choice pairing for the 2010/11 season. As such – injuries aside – I think Djourou could get more playing time than any central defender in the squad this year and I’m extremely excited to see how he handles things.

Moving on and ex-Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has spoken of how much he would like Kolo Toure to join his new club Manchester City. He commented:

“Kolo is a great friend of mine. He is a big player for Arsenal and a top defender. He has been playing in the Premier League for seven or eight years now so he knows this league really well. If the manager could get him, he can get exactly what this club wants and needs from him. I’m sure about that.”

You really have to hold your hands up in despair at the way Adebayor has handled his exit from Arsenal. While he’s undoubtedly correct – Toure would be a great buy for City – for him to start speaking about poaching our players after only being gone for one week it’s pretty pathetic. It just makes me think that everything he said about loving Arsenal, about loving the fans and the manager is a load of bollocks and that all he really cares about is himself. And these comments from Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson just adds to that notion.

Alas, with John Terry stating his desire to stay at Chelsea I believe the chances that Toure might sign for City are reasonably high. They need defenders and Toure would go from around third or fourth-choice straight into the first team and get a hefty pay rise as well. He certainly won’t win anything next season but it does come down to how much football he wants to play and whether Wenger really sees him as the player he used to be a few seasons ago.

Changing the topic now and Carlos Vela scored the third goal in the Gold Cup Final with a trademark chip as Mexico trounced USA 5-0 (Video highlights here). He’s played a decent role for the Mexicans despite an early injury, scoring the winning penalty in the semi-final and now a lovely goal in the final and should return back to Arsenal training in a rather buoyant mood.

To finish things off today I just wanted to touch on the reaction on this blog to news of Lorik Cana signing for Sunderland. I thought I’d quote from Arseblogger who has put it exactly the same way that I feel:

“You have to laugh at the reaction of some people to the fact that Lorik Cana has signed for Sunderland. It seems most people’s knowledge of him is based on a 5′ YouTube clip of him fouling his way around the pitch like the love child of Robbie Savage and Joey Barton.

I will happily confess to knowing very little about him other than that video and the fact he’s been built up, in some quarters, as this mythical answer to all our midfield problems. But doesn’t the fact that he’s gone to Sunderland say something? Doesn’t the fact that no other big clubs were even linked with him say something? If there was the chance of him signing for Arsenal wouldn’t he have hung on before putting pen to paper at the Stadium of Light?

I doubt we were even interested, mostly because anyone with any knowledge of French football beyond a YouTube compilation reckons he’s a staggeringly average footballer who is no improvement on what we have already. I will trust people who watch the French league week in, week out and if they tell me he’s not good enough then I will believe them far more than any hysterical blog which now reckons that we’re practically heading for relegation because we haven’t signed the Albanian Terry Hurlock.

Honestly, people need to get a grip. Nobody’s denying we need a midfielder but Cana is not, and never has been, the answer.”

And that is that. Thanks for reading and have a splendid, stress-free week.

Have your say on Djourou, Adebayor, Toure, Vela or Cana by leaving a comment.

Loading...

Comments

  1. Welcome back, SF. Hope you had a good weekend. 🙂

    Good stuff about Djourou. It’s looking more and more likely that Kolo will depart. While that’s unfortunate because I think we can use his experience in the side, if he’s not going to be first choice no one can really blame him for seeking greener pastures. If that gives Djourou the opportunity to step up into a regular role at the back line and to develop a real partnership with Vermaelen, I’m all for that. I like Kolo, personally, but it’s not about personal likes and dislikes when running the club. Arsene knows just how important this season is to the future of the club, and if he feels letting Kolo leave is the right move, I’m fully supportive of that and wish Kolo all the best at City (unlike Ade, upon whom I now wish a plague of scrotal boils).

  2. I think Djrouou could have an impact into the team this year, but I doubt he will play CB.

    He could play CM, or even as a cover for RB.

    Gallas, Toure, Vermalemen, and even Song are ahead of him in the CB berth.

    We will get injuries and suspsensions so there will be chance for them all to play.

    It is interesting to note Gallas and Toure both have a year to go on their deals, so I reckon one will leave, and we will sign the imposing CB we have been after.

    I think this season we will see Ramsey and Wilshire more in the first team.

  3. Nice post signals d begining of a gr8 week, djourou is a gr8 parterner 4 gallas if toure leaves but it will another loss if we let toure leaves. Adebayor has been greedy all his life despite he claiming to love arsenal ,vela has always been a gr8 player and i think he going to continue dis form wen d season start .though we lost out on cana, it’s not a gr8 loss cos i don’t think he is d type of player arsenal want.

  4. No offence at all intended with regard to the Cana bit but you haven’t really explained exactly why you don’t want Cana other than reshash what Arseblogger says. Let me first say that I know bugger all about Cana, however, I think its fair to raise a few questions surrounding this. Firstly you and arseblogger I’m sure will be the first to slam Wenger, as arseblogger did last year, for not strengthening the central midfield if it fails to happen. Yet I don’t see a suggestion of who he should sign instead! It is a very fair comment to make in response that this is Wenger’s job to make these calls, not your own to post youtube clips etc… But it’s worth looking at why Arsenal fans thought Cana was the answer, he’s cheap, he’s experienced and he’s tough tackling. Would it not have been easier for these same Arsenal fans to post links to De Rossi and say the same thing – they don’t because its unrealistic. The ultimate reality is that you only need to look at the sheer amount of quality central midfielders (Cana excluded) that have been transferred this summer to know that their rapidly running out. Perhaps the question therefore to consider isn’t ‘aren’t some Arsenal fans stupid for thinking we were going to sign someone who’s gone to Sunderland’ but, as Cana isn’t the answer, who exactly is? Isn’t it too much to expect another Sagna type signing out of the blue – and certainly it is if you want to fill the reason arseblogger dismisses Lee Cattermole – experience.

  5. DJOUROU + GALLAS/TOURE doesn’t WORK!!! Aston Villa vs Arsenal (twice), Everton vs Arsenal (away), Liverpool vs Arsenal (Keane goal), Man City vs Arsenal (away) are all games when this partnerhsip has failed or showed its weakness. The Toure+Gallas partnership which starting from boxig day until the day Gallas got injured only conceeded 3 goal yes THREE GOALs in over 4 months. That was the period of defensive stability (Song and Denilson in the middle together). We lost to Chelsea (twice) and United (twice) and drew with Liverpool because this defensive match-up was destroyed when Gallas was injured.

  6. I’ve watched Cana play several games (full games on tv not on you tube) and for me he wasn’t good enough compared to what we have.
    Song, Denilson are fare better players than Cana. And he would only get some 5 red and 15 yellow cards a season so he would be out more than he would play for us.

  7. hello all,
    I have seen Cana play numerous times and he is not that good,why would Marseilles(they play St etienne on wednesday btw,i be there) sell their captain for such a low amount of money if he was this almighty enforcer that most people make him out to be?
    Arsenal need to beef up in the middle,they don’t need a shower of freekicks against them,which is what Cana is gonna give sunderland

  8. Tidy blog today. Agree 100% on Djourou, he is a very calm defender, intelligent and could become our best defender, he has the potential and I believe is not far off.

    On Cana, I have seen him a number of times. This guy is not for us, he is not remotely able enough to play at this level. It is notable that not one European team or quality outfit bothered with him.

  9. If toure goes, I’ll be really sad but even more optimistic, two players we wont lose in January for the ACN. I love Toure, and would like him to stay but part of me thinks we would be better off with Hangeland

  10. Djorou is shite. He was fleeced at Barnet. He only attributes are height and speed. He can’t read a game. Wenger knows nothing about defence. We won trophies with Geirge Grahm’s defence.

  11. @kris,
    well done mate, ur contribution was something else. Why will pple have a go @ some suggestions without any solutions? @SF, This is not ur kina post, I know u re more refine and smart @ what u do and ur originality ratherthat copy some1’s work of ages and give us to read without u letting us hear an alternatine to Cana’s inclution to our squad.
    keep it real bro.

  12. I wanted canna as denilson gets pushed off the ball to easy but canna went to sunderland because they were the first english team to show a real interest as he wanted to play in the epl He even took less money so he was straight up about it not like w@nker melo who resigned with his club then left for as much as he could and then try to get his agent a nice signing on fee by touting him around to anybody that had showed an interest in him.
    If we do sell toure then we will have 40 mill to spend and we could get a couple of nice players for that but what are the chances eh?

  13. I am also a big fan of JD. If Toure and Eboue go then I think JD is the obvious replacement. He can play at RB and CB. he is tall and quick, but still relatively inexperienced. the only way to gain experience is by playing. He is no worse than Toure, but whether he will first choice – I doubt it because of his age. A new CB like Hangeland could come straight into the team.

  14. Its silly that people react the way they did as we should be used to our club missing out on players by now.

  15. Adebayor £25million, Eboue £10million (lets hope). who would have deramed we’d make £35milliion from those two terrible players….now lets see if we are actually able to spend that money. even Fergie is saying we have no money to spend, how can this be? Cattermole is not the big name DM that we wanted but he’s young and english and full of energy, a flamini type player. Huntelaar would be my choice over Vucinic. bring in Wellington as well, he’s something special. and i wish we’d put in another bid for Hangeland.

  16. Do not sell Toure to City. We just need to buy a holding middfielder of class and a striker of class as backup for RVP, Eduado, Bendtner and Vela. The selling is irritating.

  17. how about u name 1 side in any of the 3 top leagues in the top 4 that need a DM but us Thats y non went 4 him & Djorou is a joke 15m 4 Toure u couldn,t get 2 for Djorou

  18. We don,t have any money can no 1 read a financial report Wenger has had about 10M a year 4 the last 4

  19. @ kris / MYWAY – I’ve provided some alternatives in the past – Mahamadou Diarra from Real Madrid for one – but didn’t feel the need to in this post. My re-posting of Arseblogger’s comments is not because I couldn’t come up with my own, but because he already expressed exactly how I feel and I don’t think there was a need to add anything else.

    I just think the reaction has been silly to Sunderland’s signing of Cana. Everyone who has posted that has actually watched full games of him suggests that he is not good enough yet a lot of people have built him up like he can solve all our problems. Obviously he can’t. I agree that we need another body in the midfield but if we bring someone in who is not better than what we already have, what’s the point? I can’t judge directly because I’ve never seen him play but the fact that noone has been interested in Cana except Sunderland suggests he’s not as great as THAT YouTube clip has made him look.

  20. I truly do not understand anyones fasination with Djourou. Yes he is quick and fairly tall, but can you see him dealing with a Drogba?? No nor can I….. In my eyes the centre backs we currently have are 2nd centre backs, the covering centre backs – the quick defenders that clean up when your big centre backs (Terry, Vidic, etc) cannot quite make the ground up. People need to think, we never had a problem scoring goals, and now with eduardo back ,and Velo looking a more accomplished footballer, we have no need to replace Ade-bye-or. He was a hinderance last year, this year i think we will score a hatful of goals. But we desperately need, and have done for some time a tall, powerful strong in the air Centre back. No nonsense and yes i know we hate him but a John Terry – every succesful clu will have an ugly no nonsense not afraid to put his face in the way of the ball centre back – we havent had that since Tony Adams, even though Sol Campbell did a job – we just need a row Z get it out and re-group centre back. Also what is just as needed is the pwerhouse that runs the midfield – little cesc cant do it, bor can little denilson or song – again dating back to Vieira that position has not been replaced. It is great playing what i would consider the best football in Europe, but we have to be equally as effective when we have NOT got the ball, and at the moment we are not, and i fear for every corner we concede or free kicks arounf the box because we have no physical presence anywhere on the field and until we sort that out we will NEVER compete at the highest level. We will be the nearly men of football and slowly but surely all our great little footballers will leave us one by one…..

  21. I’m one of those of the opinion that Djourou is not good enough. Not good enough for what we need right now. I like what he’s saying about believing in himself and that he can do the job but I didn’t see enough last season to convince me he can be anything other than cover. He’s a big cream puff. There’s no aggression in him. No fight. I think opposition forwards will be quite happy to see that big softy in front of them as they go streaming towards our goal.

    @Damian just up there above me says we don’t have any money but we just got 25 mil for Ade. Let’s spend it on a tough DM and even another defender so we can boot out Syl- ****ing – vester.
    Oh -and don’t sell Toure. Why sell? To a rival yet? Oy vay!

  22. BTW – Goal.com named Carlos Vela as World Player of the week for his contribution to Mexico’s win against USA. The following citation is from Goal.com USA’s Andrea Canales: “He had his hand in four of Mexico’s five goals, including netting one himself. El Tri went from average to special as soon as he came on.”

  23. Why sell Toure, make us weaker and possible rivals even stronger – Adebeyor i couldnt give a toss about – he will flop big time, but Toure has been our most consistent defender for years !! And the tail end of last year just proves that, if Vermalen is big strong and good in the air which i hope he is 0 he would be ideal player alongside Toure, and with best Fullbacks in world in Cliche and Sagne – finally our back 4 may be getting more intimidating like defences of old.
    Also plyers like Yaya, Diarra, that is what we truly need at this club – no more attacking players – lets get the DM position sorted and if so get rid of Sylvester, Senderos and Gallas and get in a big bastard of a centre back that will strike fear into opponents attackers – rather than the other way around

  24. I agree with most most of what you said SF but i have to disagree on Cana. AW took a £5m risk on a crock liked Bishoff last season, why cant he take the risk on an experienced player like Cana? Ive seen him play and he’s a good player that scores important goals, the fact that he went to Sunderland is irrelevent.

    And what Arseblogger said about him not being linked with big clubs is bollocks. According to reports, Liverpool were ready to sign him as either a Alonso or Mascherano replacement, but we know those players havent left their club.

  25. Sell Toure,Eboue and Senderos and replace them with Hangeland,Matuidi and Kalou and move Alex song till central defnse.

  26. RE: Cana

    I don’t think there are many Arsenal fans who have seen him play regularly, many have built the guy up based on a youtube clip – as is the norm with players these days. If he really was good enough for us Arsene would have had him surely. But I’m happy to be corrected next season; he could do a great job at Sunderland, no one really knows how he’ll fare.

    Kris makes a good point in highlighting the fact that top quality central midfielders that would improve us and wouldn’t cost the earth are incredibly scarce. But they are around. Mahamadou Diarra is the obvious candidate in my view and would cost under 10m. Over 6ft, 28years old and a DM specialist ala Makalele. What more could we want? Other than him there are guys like Cambiasso at Internazionale and Keita and Barca even who may be surplus to the 1st eleven. In the more expensive bracket there are guys like Toulalan at Lyon. They are around but I take your point that there aren’t many of them and the pool is quickly being drained.

  27. M Diarra is a no go. He already said he wants to stay at RM and fight for his place in the team.

  28. Hey SF. How’s it going? The defence this season is gonna be intersting to watch.I really hope kolo isn’t sold, however we probably do need to offload some defenders (silvestre).. We probably still lack the big centre half we’ve been hoping for. Unless you count senderos ( cue brickbats)..

    @gibbs
    Wasn’t Bischoff on a free?

  29. @ Gibbs – I don’t think Real want Diarra out; the guy doesn’t even have a squad number anymore after they gave it to Lassana Diarra. They’ll be accepting bids for him and I think there is every chance he will take up the offer and will leave knowing he has no future in Madrid.

  30. Gallas is a right sided center back. He and Vermaelen will be the first choice. Toure can go because he is average and we either keep Senderos, or sign a new defender.

  31. Gibbs, Bischoff came on a free transfer. Arsenal only spent money on his wages, and that certainly wasn’t 5 million quid a year.

  32. Arsenal find themselves in the odd position that we might not have any of our established centre backs of last season at the beginning of the 2010-2011 season.

    It’s likely that at the end of this season we’ll lose/have lost Toure, Gallas, Senderos and hopefully Silvestre (to old age at least). Silvestre and Vermalean might well be the only recognised defenders we have left at the end of the coming season. That’s not a very nice situation to be in, but it does highlight how important it is to get Djourou involved this season. All of my defensive worries would be solved if we signed Hangeland – never gonna happen, but what a dream signing!

    I always thought that it was naive to praise a player based on a youtube video, but Cana’s video didn’t even make him look good. I believe another Arseblog comment was to describe him as the love child of Robbie Savage and Joey Barton – absolutely spot on. He would be more at home in UFC than Ashburton.

  33. That should read Djourou and Vermalean, not Silvestre and Vermalean.

    And Bischoff was a complete freebie, but he still earned a wage. He probably kept a lot of our gym equipment warm though.

  34. Hi guys, I’m here from the Daily Mirror to promote the launch of our new 2009/10 Fantasy football site. Bigger and better than ever before, if you register before midnight tonight and only before midnight tonight, teams can get free entry. With the top prize being £75,000 and a full spread of £150,000 there is nothing to lose so get playing 🙂

  35. Great news about Vela.

    I really hope he gets a chance this season. He seems to have his head screwed on and has remained patient up until now. Fingers crossed he continues his grooming period and gets a few extra games with the departure of Adebayor, as I would love to see him as a starter for us in the next 2-3 years.

  36. Hi there! Great stuff on Djorou. Iam 100% in agreement with you. Kolo aint going nowhere or didnt I hear Yaya right? I always thought Adebayor was honest. Think he’s wolf in sheep’s skin. Damn his gluttony, damn his overambition and damn his egocentricity!

  37. We only won trophies with George Grahams defense……? Did you forget the invincibles ALREADY?

    Cole Campbell Toure Lauren were first choice Jesus what a stupid comment

    I don’t see why just because he doesn’t suggest a better player than Cana it makes him silly to say we don’t need him. There might be better players who we don’t know about or haven’t considered. Whether or not we missed out on Cana or should buy another player are entirely different questions which don’t need to be answered at the same time. To give an extreme example if we got linked to a 45 year old league 2 player you wouldn’t feel a need to say we shouldn’t sign him because ‘x’ is better. Considering only sunderland were interested and at that price and people who watch the French league say he’s not great why not just presume it’s probably true. Better options such as flamini are obvious and don’t need to be tagged onto every mention of Cana. As for ‘realistic’ signings wenger is sometimes surprising and unpredictable so it’s very hard to know which good players he could genuinely be after.

  38. toure is no loss he wouldnt strengthen city, a couple of years back yes, now no. Hes error prone, too short, constantly out of position, a panicky influence and as his pace wanes he cant get himself out of situations he creates with his errors.

    initially i always thought he was too little and positionally inept, but he made up for that with pace and power, (the inter game at highbury when he was up against martins summed this up) now these are going hes not top class anymore.

    a ok defender but not good enough 1st choice for a top 4 team anymore. (if ever).

  39. @ kris / MYWAY – For some of these signings, I would say the manager is spot on. He knew about CANA and let him go cos he’s not better than SONG. If FLAMINI didn’t leave, there would be no need for any re-enforcements at all.

    @Swanny – Why do we need to replace VIERA? Why cant the pattern of play change a bit to reflect the players we have? When we lost Gilberto and FLAMINI, the coach stuck with DENILSON and SONG and finally it has paid off as SONG’s game has improved tremendously….just the same way FLAMINI’s improved when we lost VIERA. But WENGER had the option of changing the pattern/formation when it was obvious the boys would be bullied/outplayed in midfield. Eg ………some of the games we lost.

    I still maintain we need just a striker who can compete at the highest level without being fazed…if EDUARDO can stay fit – he can do it and I guess this is what is keeping WENGER from going for a replacement.

    I’ve said it time and time again, we dont even need a DM, but, the loss of NASRI is quite an issue here. What I would want is for SONG to remain in our half and guard against counter attacks…the same kind of job MAKALELE/MIKEL does for Chelsea. If our target is just to win the league, then these crop of guys can do it, but if we want to win the Champs League, then we need to get a reputable finisher.

    Finally, its good to see VELA do so well…this boy has a lot of potential.

  40. Toure has ONE year left on his contract, and with Gallas still at the club, and with the signing of Vermaelen, it may be that Toure is far from certain of being a first team regular this season.

    If he’s not a regular, then it’s doubtful he’ll sign a new contract, so if we don’t sell him now, he’ll walk for free next summer.

    If reports are right, £14-15m is a lot of money for a defender entering the last year of his contract… especailly a defender who has had problems with his form and fitness over the last 2 seasons!

    That said, I don’t like the idea of selling to Citeh, as they are one of our rivals now, but if they’re willing to take Ade & Toure off our hands for a combined fee of around £40m then I can understand Arsenal biting their hand off to do the deal!

  41. My take on these months mind-rub on our wonderful club is for us to add to our squad where necessary, other clubs are no fools to dole out cash to get the best.

  42. Hi everyone, Kris has made some very important points in regards to Cana. Some Asnl fans seem to think that he is not an asnl type player,and im not saying they are wrong but please explain to me what are the attributes of an ansl type player and is not a no messing more physical type player what the squad is missing. Why wont Wenger promote players in the mold of Dixon Adams Winterburn Wrighty and of late Cana. Football is not all about silky skills. Asnl have that in abundance. Dont they need something slightly different.

  43. This is the perfect opportunity for Djourou to prove all the haters wrong.That kid is the next Ferdinand.watch the space.b4 we know it he’ll be shining with spanish clubs wanting 2 poach him from us as is their custom!

  44. Paresh, did you really watch eboue last season. He did go through a very bad patch but stuck with it even after abuse from a few fans. In last 8 games e played much better infact even better than Walcott with many attacking runs and scored a few goals. Why do Asnl for one reason or another loose so many of their experienced players. They either want to leave of the fans want them out.

  45. I can’t wait for the real season to start and the transfer window to close soon after that. I’m tired of hearing of a dozen players being linked to and away from Arsenal. And then the interwebs go a little crazy when Arsenal don’t sign a player. Were we even sure the club was interested and had talks? And if there were talks, we don’t know what was said or what was going through the player’s and manager’s heads. Things don’t fit all the time.

    Let the players land where they will and let’s hope for an entertaining season.

    But an experienced midfield partner for Fab would be nice ;p

    Or maybe it’s me that’s crazy.

  46. Don’t want to mess in the Cana transfer saga. But what strikes me is that is arsenal to much concerned to buy an certain player. Yes sometime it may happen that we might get an ordinary player after paying an extra ordinary price. But why can’t we even take one small gamble. Don’t say me that signing T.V was gamble. Football is also sometime about luck but if are so afraid to buy any one. I am sorry it would be difficult to win something this season as well.

  47. I think Djourou had good defencive tackles every time he came on, as compared to Toure. Toure’s contribution to the club is immense though but he made some defensive errors that cost the club points last season. I think Wenger knows that he needs to monitor the prospects of Djourou that is why he was not loned out. Hope he partners the signining Vemerlean. But of course we need all our players given that most of them are injury prone.
    Isaac Ssawe – Uganda

  48. good warm up so far, Bendtner and Eduardo have looked good. Traore looked good at left back again.

    Arshavin is a bit rusty again!

  49. I have to agree with the whole Cana not being good enough. btw looking for a good Arsenal blog?

    THE GUNNER BLOG
    Thegunnerblog.com
    Best Arsenal Website on the Web
    -Transfer rumors- Ones that have a basis, no crap like Obefemi Martins to Arsenal
    -Last match highlights-EVEN THE FRIENDLIES
    -Arsenal videos and other good videos
    -In depth analysis of all things Arsenal from an expert’s viewpoint

    THE GUNNER BLOG
    thegunnerblog.com

  50. WTF Toure is 1st CHOICE!!!

    him partnered with gallas saw less goals sccored against arsenal then djourou with anyone, hes bollocks

  51. DJOUROU CAN’T REPLACE TOURE. THE IDEAL REPLACEMENTS WOULD BE: GABI MILITO, MARQUEZ, MARCHENA, UPSON, LEGGROTAGGLIE, GAMBERINI, LUGANO(FREE), MEXES, JUAN… PLAYERS WITH EXPIRIENCE AND EACH ONE HAS PROVEN HIMSELF AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL (EXEPT FOT UPSON AND GAMBERINI MAYBE. WE SELL SENDEROS, SILVESTRE AND TOURE AND BUY A NEW CENTER DEFENDER. THEN WE HAVE GALLAS, VERMEALEN, DJOUROU, NEW GUY, SONG

  52. TOURE SHOULD ONLY LEAVE IF A WORLD CLASS DEFENDER COMES. I WOULD PREFER GALLAS LEAVING OVER TOURE. TOURE IS CLASS AND SHOULD STAY, BUT IF HE LEAVES, THEN ONLY FOR A BIG NAME.

  53. Hey – no goals conceded against the mighty Szombathelyi Halada! Maybe Arsene’s right and we don’t need to bother about defenders? It’s the new formation – we’ll play ten upfront and just leave Almunia behind to handle any goal attempts. Wey-hey!

  54. i hope wenger gives jack wilshere more play time this season what a great prospect also eduardo looked sharp tonight and took his first goal very well.

  55. Toure and Gallas are by far Arsenals best pairing at CB. Last season Djourou showed inexperience in his lack of concentration. Gallas was like a rock. The only thing the pair lack is real height. Toure would also make a very good DMF. As you have seen, he can also drive fwd when necessary. Arsenal have to many players who can play as creative midfield players and not enough stopers in the center of the park. Arsenal could also do with one fwd whoes job it is to only put the ball into the net. An Ian wright. This player does not have to be world class because Arsenal have always created so many chances for their strikers.

  56. @ icehammer – I personally think Gallas and Djourou are the best combination. However, I’ve not seen Vermaelen play yet and don’t know what he’s like. I’d like to think he’s better than all the rest but we’ll have to wait and see!

  57. Georgetown, do you think Arsenal might already have enough players like Wilshere, ie small lite creative and skillful. Could that be where the problem is. He is also so very young and lacking in experience. Imagine midfield as, Wilshere, Denilson, Fabs, and Walcott. What about Nasri, Vela, Ramsey and Rosicky? Get the point.

  58. By the way, would you gooners be happy if Wenger purchased Upson from us hammers as stated by rockknroll. He is a very good player who gives a solid performance wk in and out. i think he is a little slow like John Terry but his positioning is excellent. I dont think he is Wenger’s type player.

  59. I think sharva will be the leader this year and will take over the prem as anyone that can score 4 goals at anfield must be special (but then baptista did and he’s hardly special)
    Also bendtner is looking good in pre season scored another 2 and another header so the lad must be playing better without the fear of getting head butted by his own players. Also Henry is THE best ex arsenal player to of ever left as again he’s talking about us with a lot of love and I’m soooo glad he won the cl final with barca but I would welcome him back anyday.

  60. I watched the game 5-0 to Arsenal last night. Toure was captain in the 1st half, so all those quotes about him not being selected were wide of the mark. I was very impressed with Song and I think he can do the job in the CDM next season, he always seems to have time on the ball and was also playing some telling passes. Bendtner scored two very well taken goals, and so did Eduardo. RvP penalty was like a rocket. I have never seen a substituted player come back on again and that happened twice last night. Hanover will be a tougher test but last night was a good result especially as we only drew with them last year. They had a penalty which was very comical, as the brazillian ran up he went to slow down, slipped and then put it wide, very funny. The manager obviously didn’t think so as he was off about a minute later. Looking forward to the next game. We still have Gibbs, Walcott, Vela and Cesc to come back in. When you look at the players we have got I don’t think we need any one else. Up front we have RvP, Bendy, Ed, Vela, Walcott, Arshavin. Maybe if we lose Toure we will need someone else, Senderos played at the CMD position again last night but I don’t think he has the mobility to that job.

  61. Rather not see Toure leave. Good player. If him and/or Senderos leave it means Fishbowl may end up in CD if there are injuries. And no-one wants that to happen.

  62. @ theicehammer – don’t forget that Upson was a Gunner before he joined your mob. In fact he went from the Gunners to…somewhere else…can’t remember…before he went East. I think it was Birmingham. He’s Arsenal schooled and it has been mooted before that we buy him back but that never seems to happen with Arsene so I doubt it. He had a few injuries when with us and at the the time we were sweet defensively so I guess it was just one of those things…bad timing. I rate him but you know…it’s just unlikely. As for your comment about needing an Ian Wright type striker – that’s Eduardo. This guy has one aim – put the ball in the back of the net. I swear I cannot recall ever seeing another striker so calm in front of goal. He’s an ice man. We do not need another striker. But we do need a centre half and have done since Flamini left. Ah well – sigh – Trust Arsene.
    I hope you’re genuine, icehammer. I lived in London for 20 years and worked in Hackney and i never once met a Wham fan who was an Arsenal fan too. Not once.

  63. I disagree SF. I think Toure is an excellent defender and a great servant of Arsenal. I’d prefer him over Djourou any day. I’ll be very sad if he leaves.

  64. Well i have mixed feelings about this one. i hope Djourou really plays well this season….but i dont understand why Wenger would allow him to leave. even if he is not our first choice (which he could be), Toure brings experience, hes faster then Silvester and Gallas, and for me he symbolises the great arsenal of 2004. what if we are injury plagued like previous seasons toure is a class option (if not in first team). well i will allways trust in Wenger but i wonder if the board are just in desperate need of money??? any thoughts?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.