There has been a lot of debate if Gilberto, Fabregas and Flamini are good enough to replace Vieira. For a moment, let’s skip that question and ask another one. Are three central midifielders enough for one season of league, CL and FA Cup, i.e., roughly 50 games? Last season, we saw how much we were affected by the absence of Gilberto and Edu. I dare not contemplate how we will cope with something similar this time round. So what are our options? Alex Song is too young and I don’t think we’ll see him in first team action this season, except for the League Cup. My best bet would be Hleb. Unlike Pires, he can defend too and he has playing in the middle, albeit as a support striker or behind the front two. I think we can use that to play him in central midfield when the need arises. I can’t seem to think of any other player in the team who can do it.
13 Responses to “Is three enough?”
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September 11th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
The whole team is not enough! We are a ‘Lightweight’ squad because Wenger played his hunch that Arsenal could compete without major reinforcements, he was wrong! We are a man short in central defence, central midfield and up front. Plain and simple this years Arsenal are no better than Liverpool or …Spurs. Block the midfield, frustrate our passing and shut us down.
September 11th, 2005 at 1:01 pm
If Alex Song is too young to play for us, then what the HELL is Wenger doing gambling the future of our club on Cesc in midfield for?!
If you can play, you can play. If Song can contribute, then I hope he gets a chance. He can’t be much worse than what we’ve seen so far. Asking Cesc / Flamini to carry the weight of the team in midfield is not very smart. They are too young and inexperienced to do so for an entire season. Wenger gambled, early on here, it appears we lost the gamble. Its not working.
Now you are trying to play Hleb or Pires or Toure or whomever, OUT OF POSITION… to try and fill perhaps the most important position in the park.
But everything is just fine. We are 9 points back already… Henry out… Sol hasn’t played a match… Cygan is being Cygan… Sendy lost his confidence quickly… Toure plays great one match/ medsa-medsa the next… THATS WHAT YOU GET WITH KIDS… good/bad/ugly…
THUN…
If they’ve done any homework, its 10 behind the ball, and Arsenal will try to make 7 perfect passes and walk the ball into the net.
MADNESS. Absolute Madness.
Welcome to the House of Fun.
September 11th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
I agree with the assessment, but not the cause. I don?t think that AW played a hunch; he knows too much about football to think that this squad is sufficient. His hands were tied by a lack of funds. No matter what the management says, the evidence is too compelling to ignore ? the new stadium project drained cash flow and made it impossible for the team to make significant additions. My best guess (and hope) is that management hopes to scrape by this year ? make it to the top 4 and spend during the off season to strengthen the team for the first year in the new stadium.
September 11th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
Three is not enough ? even mid-table clubs ike Everton, Villa and Fulham have better depth in the central midfield. The bigger problem is we don?t even have the right kind of midfielders. Over the last two years a lot Arsenal?s success can be attributed to having a physical pair of central midfielders who broke up the opponent?s attacks and won the 50-50 balls. Neither Flamini nor Cesc are ready to provide that. Even Hleb is not that kind of player. We?d be better off with Parker, P. Neville or even Nicky Butt. Right now I really think our best hope would be to pair Campbell and Senderos in the back and move Toure into the midfield ? it smacks of desperation but given the squad it looks to me to be our best option.
September 11th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
lauren can also play the midfield role, as he is frequently attacking on the flanks a la ashley cole. i just feel that if we “gamble” on some youngsters, why not give others a shot? quincy, song, hoyte (too late), clichy….why not give these guys a try?
September 11th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Its always good to have an extra player specialy at the age of mid 20’s. Yes I think we need CM … But most important we need better CB.
Our style of game that depends on passing and playing beautifull football could creat some kind of lack of defending when a counter attak by long ball comes to us.
When we are winning, our style does well, but when we zare in hurry to score our passing would not be accurate enough to finish the job. This is why I Like Van Persie playing, he takes shots and he does something different from time to time.
Cygan is ok to be in Arsenal, but he is clumsy … the second gaol he was totaly out of it, even the first goal he was not quick enough to realize whats happening …
Now Sendy is good, but I think he good to have him on the bench or to play 60% of games rather than to be first choice. If Sol is fit we are ok,… but if AW was not intending to play jim so soon, he should have bought a CB .. it would not hurt to have an extra player who can increase the comptetion between our CBacks.
I dont think veirra would helped in this sitituation. If Veirra was to play the Veirra of 2002 or 2003, yes he would have helped.
its too late now, but I hope this could serve as a wake up call. If we avoid point dropping against mid table teams we can still win the title.
September 11th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Remember my favourite word for this season - Reality. Mr Wenger and some fans don’t live in the of world reality and we are paying for it. I’ve seen and heard all sort of excuses and the excuses are running out fast. We will win on Wednesday and people will forget word Reality until we meet the big boys. Out of the 4 games we have played so far this season the Fulham game was the 80% good the rest was sh$t. You can’t hide from the fact that against Newcastle we were soo bad but the referee gave us the points.
It was just over a year we were labelled the Invincibles but we forget to build on that. Reality again.
I taught the NY Jets would have put a smile on my face after that joke I saw yesterday. Well be life is getting better when it comes to my football teams.
September 11th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
I feel we got to give Wenger as much trust as possible. Isn’t it a little unfair to clamp down on him after a couple of results? You have to admit that on another day, we would have swept past Boro early on, and no one would have said anything after that…
Still I feel our midfield is in for a telling time this year, and the person who’s going to be the key is Gilberto. For so long he’s been the unsung hero of the squad, and whatever anybody else may think, his absence was one of the key reasons we lost the title last year to Chelski.
If Gilberto can avoid major injury, then we can afford to play him together with a more creative player in the centre like cesc or even hleb. Flamini is a little more defenisve minded, and that is why Wenger will plump for him in more of the away games.
Of course given the fact that they are still young, we may need some more muscle in the middle of the park. Baptista would have been ideal, as I feel Wenger was thinking of him as an ideal replacement for Vieira. But that is over and done with, and we should be looking out for the next gem, and not buy foolishly like what some others do.
September 11th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
You are on target today my friend.
Sorry about the Jets.
Did the Patriots stand still this offseason? or did they make changes?
I believe they made changes, to try and improve yet again.
Maybe Wenger should call Bill Belicheck and see what the hell is right from left.
September 11th, 2005 at 11:30 pm
The 2 out of 3 we need and can probably get are Javier Mascherano as CM, great replacement for Viera and boyhood idol of Viera, Vincent Kompany as Center Back. The 3rd would be a striker but I can’t think of a Julio Baptista like striker than we can pry away.
September 11th, 2005 at 11:57 pm
How about a straight forward goal scorer, who can head the ball, no fluff, no finesse, JUST GOALS. Oh, he is English, and he can be had for a few million.
Andy Johnson.
September 12th, 2005 at 3:20 am
Three is not good enough for any team in the world and definitely not good enough for Arsenal. What’s really shameful is the three that we have are not good enough for Arsenal, not yet. They don’t provide steel in the midfield, they don’t intimidate anyone, and they are lacking the ability to impose themsleves on a game, and they lack the creativity and fire to take control of a game and break down a resolute defense.
I’m also concerned whether 3 is enough in the back? Drogba has shown the world how to beat Arsenal; go at them strong and challenge their will to fight you in the back. Teams are going to put their strongest and scrappiest strikers against our questionable center backs and make them prove that they are good enough. We have to be tough and we have to be mean in the back. Drogba’s said “Hey, these guys are a bunch of yummies in the middle and in the back”. This isn’t a question of talent but a question of the will to fight and win tough battles. Some of our guys may not have that ability or will. Shameful becuase there was no question of Keown, Adams, or Sol having that ability and will. I think we’ve got a few yummies at central defender right now and if they don’t toughen up quick this season will be over quick.
That goes for the midfield too. Did you see the way that Brazilian guy for Boro played? He did whatever he wanted. With Petit, Vieira, Parlour and Edu teams came fully prepared to get kicked, outmuscled, and outclassed. Now we’re just soft in the middle; just like a creme puff. No one fears Arsenal right now. Wenger asked us to trust him so maybe he knows something that I don’t. I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I’m not a f#*king retard either. Maybe some of you guys know something too. Please enlighten.
September 14th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
can only score penalties in the premiership