I saw Ribery play with France in the last two games as a sub and he really impressed me, with very little time to play he changed the games so quickly, France was struggling AND in he went in the expense of Zidane and stole the show.
Henry looked happy to play with him, seems like a friendship is being built like the one with Pires before.
He is a player that always wants the ball and isn’t shy to keep it or attack with it, he can pass create and score goals with ease.
I was sad when I heard that Man Utd had offered 9m Pound for him without us making any move, but I heard that a French newspaper (provence) said that Arsenal are showing a strong interest in him and he should come to Arsenal after taking advice from the captain Henry.
Many would say that Arsenal doesn’t need him since we have players who play in his position and we need to cover other positions such as defensive midfielder and center defender, but I am having some dreams lately of Arsenal playing and winning without buying any defensive midfielder.
Assuming that Arsenal get Ribery how will they play?
2 options:
1) Arsenal will play in a 4-5-1 formation with Reyes on the Left, Ribery on the right, (Hleb - rosiscky) in the middle, Fabregas in front of the defenders and Henry upfront. How would that be?
2) In a 4-4-2 same line up but without Fabregas, he could change with either Hleb or Rosiscky.
I am basing my thoughts as If Hleb and Rosiscky raised their game and can stand in the middle without being bullied away, and that Fabregas eventually will have more muscle and weight in his body so no body can knock him down easily.
I know it is just a fantasy that could work with some effort or it might not, but who knows?
If we assumed that Wenger will play with 4-4-2 with Fabregas and Gilberto in the middle then it still worth to bring Ribery and have depth on the wings.
Reyes - Rosiscy on the left, Hleb and Ribery on the right, Ljungberg will play if all are injured.
With Henry, Walcot, van Persie and Adebayor forwards I am optimistic that Arsenal will score a lot of goals next season.
Ribery and Davies are my two wish list now.
If Arsenal bring them then I am confident of reaching the final of the champions League next season and beating Barcelona if necessary.
No team in the world would be more fluid and creative than Arsenal with the strong back four Cole, Eboue, Toure and Davies helping the team to focus on attacking more, it would be nice to watch Arsenal scoring for fun against the other teams.
A very young and exciting line up indeed that fits the magnificent Emirates stadium, in no way this team should fail to score since every member of the team likes to attack and can create something out of nothing.
Our young players from Senderos, Djouro, Walcot Eboue, Fabregas, Reyes and van Persie are gaining a very important experience in the world cup, so lets hope every one enjoy his time and come a better player just like what Eboue did after the African nation tournament.
The only thing that is concerning me now, does arsenal have the money to pay for Ribery and Davies, they would cost around 20m pond and if you add that to Rosiscky deal 7m that’s a lot of money? Hope they do because they need big squad to challenge for all trophies next season, and the year after they can know for sure if they need a Forward, Defensive Midfielder other than a Goal Keeper.
The new stadium deserves an investment in new players even if it seems a lot.
46 Responses to “Ribery and Davies are what Arsenal needs”
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June 6th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
IMO, there’s no way AW plays a central midfield of Fab, Hleb, and Rosicky in the Premiership. Too lightweight, escpecially against the tougher teams. Gilberto will not be sacrificed and Abou is out for the beginning of the season.
I agree that it would be great to have Ribery, but how many attacking players do we need at the expense of our defensive game? We need defensive midfielders.
June 6th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I have not seen Ribery play that much only a few times for the French youth team. But i have seen that newspapers are starting to link him with Arsenal. i will admit that the 4-5-1 formation you explained would be amazing. You would have to throw Gilberto into the mix because we still need the “invisible wall” to protect our defense. Which in my mind will be Cole-Toure-Senderos-Eboue. Unlike most others i think Cole is going to stay at Arsenal because Henry did, and Senderos will only become a stronger player playing in the world cup. So there is no way he is going to lose his starting position.
June 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I am personally not a big fan of the 4-5-1 formation as it is a little boring at times. Just look at the difference for England against Hungary. The first half was the most boring half of soccer I’ve ever seen when they were playing a 4-5-1 and when they brought Crouch in all of a sudden they turned it on using the 4-4-2. I also like a 3-5-2.
June 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Yes, Ribery and Davies are my wish too…Ribery is a Pires and Lungburg rolled into one…I watched Marseille games just because of him…He is an exciting player with great passing, dribbling and a great shot…Total Arsenal player.
Many people forget that Lauren will be back and won’t necessarily be playing right back..Lauren used to be a midfielder and I can see him being the replacement for Gilberto and at the same time providing that muscle and tackling in the midfield…I say we play the 4-1-4-1 with
Eboue Kolo Campbell/Davies Cole
Gilberto/Lauren
Ribery/RVP Fab/Hleb Lungberg/Rosicky Reyes
Henry
This would be the best attacking side in soccer currently…And we would have plenty of depth to compete for all the cups…I know I left out Kerrea/Song/Clichy/Wolcott/Ade, but look at the possibilities…
Only thing is we might still be too reliant on TH’s 30 goals if the goals don’t come from Reyes/Rosicky/Ribery…We need another major striker…Torres impressed me with his runs in the Spain friendlies.
June 6th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
exactly….i would wish for ribery and davies as well……..but i think if ribery comes, then reyes will be sold…….
June 6th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
The reason we play 451 is because
1) We are too weak in midfield, physically
2) We have no second striker who scores regulary enough not to be sacrificed
I’d rather have Podolski then Ribery, who can operate as a second striker and drop back to the wing if needed and crucially, scores goals for fun. Both the beautiful “Arsenal” goals and those the scraps that Pires used to pick up.
We need someone big in midfield.. Cole is off. Let’s get Baptista thrown in as part of any deal from Madrid. He’s huge and physical. If Chelsea want him then we get one of their 1000’s of midfielders (are Chelsea the new Tottenham? Having 80% of their squad made up of midfielders?) Or if Juve are going down, we get Paddy back. He’s had his flirt with Italy, he doesn’t like it.Though he looked like the goal scoring Paddy of Old, maybe he’s re-juve-inated excuse the pun. He saw what we did last year and maybe he wants some of it. Get him to pair up with Fabregas and mentor Diaby when he’s up and about.
And I’m sure we’ll get Davies, he was excellent when we’ve played West Brom and will do to replace Sol who we have to punt. Waste of space that he is.
ian
June 6th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Well if we sell Cesc and Reyes to Madrid for 30 Million… that opens up a few midfield spots!
I’d rather Vieira come back or Toure be brought in… as a midfielder with some bite, strength etc.
I haven’t seen much of Ribery, but perhaps the World Cup will be his show place.
It should be a GREAT World Cup, with some names rising to the tops of everyone’s wish lists… and it will prove an interesting Summer as well… with all the Silly Season non-sense and Rumors flowing wildly.
Wenger said he IS HAPPY WITH HIS CURRENT TEAM… so that’d mean no more recruits?!
The current team has little chance of winning the league… I’d like to see a few more brought in. I think a few will depart.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
I think rule number 1 is never listen to what Wenger says about transfers. Or rather, listen very carefully to what he says. He’s happy, doesn’t mean he couldn’t be happier if the right name became available at the right price.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Sorry to veer of topic a bit, but I really don’t get the calls back for Paddy. Yes we are missing some steel in the middle. But, to be honest, he didn’t show very much in his last season with us, nor has he in my opinion, shown that we made a mistake by wowing at Juve. Other teams were less and less intimidated by him and Wenger once again has shown a keen eye for moving on when a player goes past his prime. I’ve watched Paddy a number of times this season and the man is a shell of his former self. I love him but we can do better now.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Yea I agree it’s time to move on we can find someone even with him or better than him at this point, and also younger. Yes he is still a great player but it doesn’t make much sense to bring him back for a season or 2 at the expense of the growth of Cesc, Rosicky, Diaby if he comes back, etc. We accomplished a lot with Cesc running the midfield and I think our team can only get better with him there.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I saw Vieira NUMEROUS times this season. He looked pretty good to me.
He is still good. He knows the system. He has the steel we lack in midfield. He is a leader. He is a mate of Henry. He is well liked by the other players.
He would not have to play in every match, like in previous years, and if we could get him at a good price, say 7 or 8 million… why not.
I don’t actually THINK it is going to happen.
I would perhaps rather see Yaya Toure or someone else with some size and strength sure up the middle of the park for those cold hard winter matches against the Boltons and Blackburns of the EPL…
but I wouldn’t be upset if Patrick Vieira came back to the Arsenal. We could do much worse in many respects…
June 6th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Also, the Italian league is a much different league than the Premiership. I just don’t think that Paddy’s body could handle the beating of the premiership much longer.
And yes he’s well liked, and a good mate of Henry’s etc., but all that applied last year too, and I still think he’s not the man he used to be. Nevertheless, I do agree with your point that we need someone in that mould in midfield much more than we need attacking players.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Lauren can play defensive midfield but lacks the height of Gilberto or Vieira to be an effective defensive midfielder against teams that like to attack with high balls.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
If Ribbery comes in, then Ljundberg will be surplus to requirements at Arsenal. He had been very injury proned for the past 2 seasons so I think his time is up. Sometimes I wish Wenger will show a bit more ambition on the transfer market by bringing in experienced players instead of risking all those dough on young potentials.
June 6th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
gunner4life, i disagree about Ljungberg. Yes, he’s injury-phroned. But WHY?
Because he’s a Reyes-size player who play Vieira-type of football. By that i mean he’s someone who never shy away from physical challenge, putting his feet on where it hurt. Yet because of his small size, a player play like that naturally would be more easily to get injuried than someone who never shy away from physical challenge.
During the late stage of last season, Ljunberg needed to have the blood drained away from his leg after every game, so that he can continue to play. If he’s a SICKNOTE, he could have sitting comfortably at home and collecting his pay check. But no, he insisted to play.
Ljungberg is one of the few current Gunners got a real HEART, he’s brave, and he’s hardworking. We can definitely use more of these soft of players. No way we should get rid of him.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Andez, I agree with your assessment of Freddie’s game, and I don’t think that he will be replaced or gotten rid of. However, at this point in his career, he is injury prone due to his game as you pointed out and cannot be counted on as a steady regular. I think he is moving towards being a super-sub type of player with some starts as necessary.
June 6th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
First of all, your wish list is just like mine. Ribery and Davies are excellent young players and would make a great addition to our squad.
Some of the guys said that to sign Ribery we need to sell Reyes or Ljungberg. I don’t agree with that. If we want to compete with Chelsea we need to have at least 2 players at every position, and right now we have only three wingers, so we are one short. Some of you will say that Rosicky will play on the wings, but if he was signed to be a winger then we are short in CM. Fabregas can’t play every game next season and Diaby is injured so we are one short in CM then.
So I’m saying bring Ribery to compete with Reyes for the left winger spot and Rosicky with Cesc for CM spot, with Ljungberg and Hleb on the right.
I think that Wenger sign Song to be a replacement for Gilberto so I don’t think that he will sign a defensive midfielder, although I would put in Mascherano in the wish list too. And we will sign Davies only if Campbell is sold.
So only Ribery will do the job.
Here is the current squad with Ribery in there:
GK: Lehmann, Almunia, Poom
RB: Eboue, Gilbert, Lauren, Hoyte
LB: Cole, Clichy, Flamini, Hoyte
CB: Toure, Senderos, Campbell, Djourou, Cygan
DM: Gilberto, Song, Flamini
CM: Fabregas, Rosicky, Diaby
LW: Reyes, Ribery
RW: Hleb, Ljungberg
ST: Henry, RvP, Adebayor, Walcott
June 6th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Have anyone watched Holland friendly games, van Persie is in great form and he is playing as a right winger/striker, not like Hleb at Arsenal in 4-5-1. Holland are playing 4-3-3 with Robben, van Nistelrooy and RvP as a strikers and I can tell you van Persie is very dangerous when he attacks from the right, just like Thierry on the left.
Maybe Wenger should try this formation with Henry, Adebayor and van Persie as a strikers with Gilberto, Rosicky, Hleb/Fabregas in the middle.
It might work well.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
I think we need to have one more striker of Adriano’s quality and probably lauren can be our answer to midfield problems.I think we can gun down the Roman empire in anembarassing fashion
June 6th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
i like the idea of the 4-3-3, kinda mourinho-type formation, i mean, hey it wins titles, and i’m pretty sure we can pull it off with the squad we got plus maybe a couple of additions like some good cover for kolo’s side in the middle of the d-line, maybe kaladze from milan, and yeah i think another winger won’t hurt us, here i’d go for a frenchman like ribery or malouda.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Good idea- Freddie as super sub. Late in the game with his quickness & his sneaky runs which could be devastating to tired legs!
June 6th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
The problem is that we cannot have 2 players at every position that are Chelsea calibur, and if we do, it won’t last. The ONLY reason Chelski can afford to do so is because they can afford to pay millions over market rate for players to come in and sit on the bench. On no other team will world class players be content to do so. So, the dream of keeping everyone and to keep bringing in more world-class players is just that, a dream.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I like a 4-3-3, but I could also go with a 4-2-3-1 lining up like this:
GK: Lehmann
Defense: Eboue/Lauren, Senderos, Toure, Cole
In front of D: Gilberto, Fabregas
Midfield: Ljungberg, Rosicky, Reyes/RvP
Up front: Henry
Fabregas can still make his runs with plenty of cover & Ljungberg & Reyes/RVP can make runs up the wings or cut inside. Front Midfield 3 has to be active though to support Henry. 4-2-3-1, basically just a more advanced positioning 4-5-1 but more fluidity in attack than a straight 4-5-1 w/o giving up the defensive benefits of a 4-5-1.
Or even some sort of 4-2-2-2 / 4-1-3-2 with Ade or RVP or Reyes moving up as a striker.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
As I mentioned in a response above, we are not Chelsea. ONLY Chelsea can afford to have 2 worldclass players at each position because they can pay them well above market rate. In Chelsea’s midfield next year, you’ll likely have Ballack, Lampard, Essien and Maka. Which means Duff, Robben, Cole, and SWP will be ridding the pine. Believe me, that will only work when people are being paid ridiculous amounts and even then, it is only temporary. Again, we don’t have the players to do this and cannot, or shall I say, should not think that we should be signing world class players to sit on the bench. We need to plug in where there are weaknesses with worldclass players and then do what AW does best for the 2nd teamers. We already have a strong squad and if we simply buy players where we already have others, a season later, we will see a mass exodus. Wenger has developed a host of young stars and they will want to play, whether it is at Arsenal or not will depend on our transfer policy.
June 6th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Rungoman, i couldn’t agree more.
There is something called CHEMISTRY in every team. Like our old motto suggested - Victory through Harmony. Chelsea could pull it off, largely down to everyone of their player got a hugh pay check good enough to keep their mouth shut. Don’t get to play? But you get the PAY right? What the hell u r complaining about?! Arsenal, on the other hand, just like very other team, simply cannot afford to have a hugh squad and at the same time substain the dressing room chemistry.
June 6th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
I’ve been talking about Ribery for a few months now and I’m glad to hear that Arsenal are contemplating bringing him in. I just got hip to him this year since I came back from Iraq and he looks the real deal.
I’m also excited that he got into the French team for the World Cup as I didn’t think he would. France is so deep at midfield and for him to get in is shows his true class. We need to secure his signature before the world cup along with Johan Vogel to compete with/ replace Gilberto and Arsenal are golden.
I’m sorry boys but Vogel is much better than Gilberto, Flamini, and Song could ever be and he’s got the discipline to stay home and protect the defense and let our attacking players attack. He’s very good on the ball, he’s always available, and he’s a great passer.
Frank Ribery’s a must. The major factor that he would provide is the will to win tough games. I think Arsenal won 1 game in the whole of last season in all competitions where the other team scored first. Ribery’s leadership and drive will show the young guys how to win games that we’re supposed to lose. Manure did it in ‘99 as they should have lost the FA Cup to us and the CL to FC Bayern. They won both enroute to an unprecedented treble and we need that pedigree to match our beautiful football. Ribery has that spark.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:13 am
Ribery is a good player, but someone will have to leave for us to sign him. Wenger could finally realise that Reyes will not make it in the English game and sell him to Real Madrid. As has become the tradition at Real, one of the presidential candidates has promised to pursue Reyes if he wins.
I don’t see us playing 4-5-1 on a regular basis unless Walcott plays as a winger. We have too many strikers - Henry, Ade, RvP and Walcott with Lupoli, Bendtner and Aliadiere waiting.
A 4-3-3 with RvP may not work in the league. In such a system, 2 of the 3 CMs must be defensive or the two attacking wingers must defend (like at Chelsea). We all know how good RvP is at defending. Also, this system will not make the best use of Rosicky, Hleb, Fab and Reyes.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:18 am
Podolski has signed with Bayern Munich.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:21 am
People also forget that even though Lauren was a midfielder (and that was 8 years ago), he was a right sided midfielder, not a defensive midfielder. I don’t see Wenger using him there.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:47 am
About formations, the 4-5-1 resulted out of necessity than design. Wenger’s 4-4-2 is a fluid system where Pires could get ahead of Henry, and Bergkamp would come deep and let Ljunberg dart into the penalty area.
I think we should stick to that system and let players float a lot more. Reyes can get into the area every time Henry drifts left. Hleb can score more goals. Rosicky can do the same. The only fixed players should be Toure, Senderos and Gilberto.
June 7th, 2006 at 3:51 am
I haven’t seen Ribery…but I have seen Torres. Also, I think Van Persie will benefit the most from World Cup. I expect big things from him next year.
Wish list: Yaya Toure (watch out for him), although I think he’s happy in Athens
Torres, and Davies.
N
June 7th, 2006 at 5:03 am
Please note AW did not mention Cygan in his squad so I take it that he will be leaving. I agree if Sol is sold we then need a new young defender and Davies seems the one.
The weakest area we have is DM a very key position for the EPL and that is where I would like Joey Barton.
With regard to Ribery, this is a nice to have but we have more than enough cover.
One thing people aren’t talking about is the players that will be leaving.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:25 am
A lot of people have been asking for Barton. But is he a DM? Doesn’t Reyna perform that duy for ManCity? Barton looks more like Gerrard, a typical British all action midfielder.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:45 am
I’ve seen Torres and he’s rubbish.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:58 am
You don’t know what are you talking about. Torres is rubbish? He is the best spanish striker, better than David Villa who scored 25 goals this season only because he is playing at Valencia and Torres at Atletico Madrid. If Torres plays for a big club which play attacking football(Arsenal), he would score easily 20-25 per season.
June 7th, 2006 at 6:49 am
This will hurt stag133 the most.
From Sky Sports are saying that Olympiakos rejected 13 mil. euros from Arsenal for Yaya Toure in the January transfer window. I think that the offer was made before AW signed Diaby, so now when we have Diaby I don’t expect Wenger to bid for Yaya this summer.
Sorry stag133, but I believe that Diaby will be a better player than Yaya
June 7th, 2006 at 7:03 am
Valencia are a primarily defensive side so Villa did well to score 11 more goals than Torres, who plays in a side that plays FOR him. He is a decent finisher but he needs to loads of chances to score and his hold-up play is frankly terrible. I guarantee he does nothing against the quality teams in the world cup this summer. He may score against Saudi Arabia.
He is worse version than Michael Owen.
June 7th, 2006 at 7:10 am
Well Diaby won’t play until march so he still might strengthen, or change that to SHOULD strengthen. Wenger will probably leave us with Flamini and Song as back up.
June 7th, 2006 at 10:57 am
I think the 4-2-3-1 is really how we have been playing in the champions league. It has been called a 4-5-1 but it has been more attacking than the usual 4-5-1. Except villareal away where we played a 10-0-0 : )
June 7th, 2006 at 11:21 am
I think it was more 9-0-1
June 7th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Correct all action he can play everywhere, but he has a presence.
We dont just need someone to sit in front of the back four but do a bit more and pass the ball out and be a threat at both ends.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
By saying no more signings it takes the pressue off AW.
Also remember you have to factor in the possible loss of players.
Cygan and Campbell with perhaps Cole as well.
Then there is talk about Reyes going to Madrid so we might need players.
I personally think we should do all of the business we want before the world cup, including selling players but hey, that does not seem to happen to us, only Chelsea.
June 7th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Okay, Torres scored against Croatia. I’m eating the first slice of humble pie ;^)
June 8th, 2006 at 5:37 am
Torres not only scored against Croatia, he scored the winner in the 90th minute.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Nuts!
June 9th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I dont know if someone mentioned this before, but here it is anyway.
looks like Ribery prefers Arsenal to Man Utd as in an interview with his club web site he said so, here is the link:
http://www.om.net/index.php?pid=101002&lng=en&a=2668