May 13
[Two separate queries...]
Best in Two Decades: by arsenal904
Which Player at Arsenal do you think has been the best over the past 20 years?
Best memories of this past season: by Sachin
Wanted to put something up to capture some of the good memories of this past season. Here are some possible items for discussion:
If you could take just one snapshot of the season, what would it be?
What was your favourite goal this past season? Arsenal scored over a 100 goals in all competitions. The final total of 113 goals includes 74 in the league, 24 in the Champs league (including 5 in the qualifying round), 10 in the Carling Cup and 5 in the F.A Cup. Here are the Arsenal first team stats.
Who was your fav? For the record, Arsenal.com chose Cesc.
89 Responses to “Best players & moments”
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May 13th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Best in 20 years… Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, can’t decide which has been better!
Favourite moment… The 2:0 win over AC Milan in the CL
Favourite goal… Adebayor vs Spurs for 3:1
Favourite player… Bakary Sagna
May 13th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
arsenal904, your timeline for the question makes it interesting because that sets it right in the revival of Arsenal under GG.
Sheed, I am with you in that both Henry and Dennis were my fav’s. But I have to include Adams also because I don’t think Arsenal would have achieved so much under Wenger so quickly unless that solid backbone was there. 4 years ago, I would not even have thought of including Adams but considering how the defense has performed the past few years, I long for that old GG back 4, led by Adams. Also, I have to include Pires because he is one of my fav all time players.
This past season:
Fav moment: When Cesc ran to hug Wenger after scoring that goal against Milan. Cesc’s expressions were priceless in that moment.
Fav goal: I can’t choose just one. Diaby’s goal against Derby, Ade’s goal against Spurs in the Carling Cup and Cesc’s goal against Milan.
Fav Player: Sagna, Cesc
May 13th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Favorite Player… could be Vieira or Henry. No surprises there!
Favorite Moment this season… of course 2-0 over AC Milan.
It gave us all hope on all fronts… that it could be done.
Favorite Goal… easily Ade’s goal after THEO’s RUN against Liverpool.
It was THEO’s GOAL in my eyes… and it was spectacular.
Though the joy was very short lived, for sure.
Favorite Player this year: Sagna and Clichy - two young defenders with GREAT futures.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I am cheating here by including too much…but I forgot about Flamini’s amazing long range strike. That would have to go in my fav goals of the year as well. Must stop now, before I start including almost half of the 100+ goals
May 13th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Fav moment: taking it to Milan in Milan… after Carlo Ancelotti’s comments on arsenal not having enough experience to win the champions league… SUCK IT Ancelotti…. and then the cut away shot of Carlo stroking his chin.. thinking.. maybe i should buy one of these inexperienced players?
Fav game: All 3 goals away at Bolton… ten men.. pouring rain.. coming back from 2-0.. right after a string of ties and losing to chelsea.. to keep us in the title race… ugly win at the Reebok… i only wish it made Big Sam cry..
Fav player: Clichy — solid this season
Fav player that makes be feel embarassed to watch because of his dives and overeactions: Eboue
May 13th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Favorite Player: Bergkamp. Henry and Wright gets honorable mentions.
Favorite Moment: Eboue lifting Fab up in the air after Fab’s last minute goal seals a 3-2 comeback victory with a 10 man team Have the photo as one of my screen savers.
Favorite Goal: Ade’s goal against Spurs. Honorable mention to Flamini’s long range blast with the left foot to boot. There were at least 10 other goals which could make honorable mention.
Favorite Player: Sagna. Honorable mention to Clichy, Fab and Ade.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Favourite player: Alexander Hleb. Never seen a player ’spin off’ and give ‘angles’ the way Hleb does. He can really dribble and play a give and go better than anybody.
Favourite moment: Hleb’s dribble against Liverpool in the champions league. Such a shame that the slalom run was aborted by Dirk kuyt.
Favourite goal: Hleb’s goal against Fulham at the start of the season in the last minute. Acted as a catalyst for our good start to the season.
Favourite player: Hleb. His creativity from deep midfield and has allowed us to hold possession, play triangles, and generally dictate play. Did I mention he can play triangles with Cesc and Rozza?
May 13th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
that Fulham goal was crucial… with all the preseason write off… playing at home againist a below par team
May 13th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hey Mazza@7, never realized you are a Hleibist (LOL). If Hleib leaves for Inter will you change your allegiance?
May 13th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Based on Hleib and his Agent’s comments earlier on today it would indicate that Hleib is not happy in the “BIG” city. Maybe we should trade him to Real Salt Lake of the MLS, can’t get more country than that.
Seriously, Arsene could probably get 15-20 million for Hleib and definitely should sell him at a massive profit as per Arsene’s modus operandi. We can get 2 Sagna types with that type of money and still have enough in the budget to bring in 2 seasoned, day one starters.
Sounds like a good deal to me.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Best player in the past twenty years, Patrick Vieira. There’s simply nothing like Vieira. He’s the most complete and dynamic midfielder I’ve ever seen. He had absolutely no weaknesses to his game. Ask Steven Gerrad, Frank Lampard, or any other respected midfielder who’s ever played against Paddy and they’ll tell you he’s the best. To this day, every manager’s still looking for “The Next Vieira” but there’s nothing like him.
Best moment, after the first leg of the Milan tie. Milan knew that they were outclassed and that the same would happen in Milan. More importantly, you could tell our guys knew it too.
Best goal, Theo’s wonder run against Liverpool in the CL semi’s. It’s his time to shine.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
The Nerazzurri replica shirt is already in the post.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Favourite moment… Second goal against Liverpool. For a split moment it felt like heaven. Theo’s run was just incredible. Pity the ref’s decision was even more incredible.
Favourite goal… Adebayor against Liverpool. And yes it really was Theo’s goal
Favourite player… Bakary Sagna. I’ve got to say though that Hleb is a close second. If only he knew where the goal post is…
May 13th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
And my best player for the past 20 years has to be Bergkamp
May 13th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Theo, sorry Ade’s goal, was the most joyous for me, if horrible curtailed. (If only I’d switched off faster than our defence!)
Ade’s volley against Sp*rs the most stunningly lethal, closely followed by VanP’s thunderbolt free kick in off the bar.
But cleaning up my Tivo list, I did enjoy rewatching Gallas’s last minute equilizer against ManUre, esp. for Cesc telling Ferdinand to f*** off.
Sagna and, boo, Flamini were the most consistent. Clichy was not far behind, but he did have four ‘brain-freeze’ moments, two of which led to v. costly goals.
Hleb and Cesc were the most exquisitely intelligent - pure Wenger players when they’re at their best.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
fav players bergkamp henry pires fav goal fabregas vs spurs fav moment beating ac milan players of the season sagna and ade and fabs and theos run was magic
May 13th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
vieira i cant forget him the captian of arsenal 4 life
May 13th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
How about this?
Best in 20 years… I can’t decide really, there were plenty great players at the club… Aliadiere, Vivas, Jeffers, Cygan, Taylor, Stepanovs… tough choice!
Favourite moment… Eboue’s prayer when he was called for a foul(I don’t know which team we played against) and the dance Ade and Eboue had at Derby
Favourite goal… Cesc deflected shot from three players before going in against Bolton
Favourite player… Senderos
LOL
May 13th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
cygan what a pile of crap
May 13th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The obvious choices are Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Adams, Vieira… but for almost all of the 80’s the Arse were poor. When GG signed Alan “Smudger” Smith, I believe that the modern Arsenal was born. Smith was the catalyst for the teams that nicked the 89 championship at Anfield, the team with one loss in ‘91, the 94 ECWC champs. I think w/o Smith, there might not have been Ian Wright Wright Wright, and then no Rioch / Bergkamp. Surely having DB10 influenced Wenger to sign? The rest is history. So my vote: Alan Smith. Scored 86 goals for the Arse. The one vs Parma my fave. Best moment of 07-08: Ade’s goal vs. Spuds.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Favorite Snapshot: Fabregas and Wenger’s embrace after Cesc’s goal at the San Siro.
Favorite Goal: See Above.
Favorite Player: Gael Clichy. Played every game. Always reliable.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Fav player: Gilberto Silva. Seriously, this guy remind me of my brother who is far far away from me. :). Though he is now not that good, this guy has class.
Player that I admire the most: Hands down, Cesc 4.
Fav moment of the season: Wenger not spending during January window & Theo scoring against Liverpool.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Oh yeah, waiting for another good moment: RVP playing for Holland at Euro 2008 and getting injured again, and messing us up for the 08-09 season. Also waiting on Wenger to say ” RVP will be like a new signing when he recovers”.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=534652&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1&cc=5901
Very nice article.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Wenger has already said that RvP is world class and that he “hopes” he will have an injury free 2008-09.
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491423&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=%27World+class%27+Van+Persie+can+bounce+back
May 14th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Very good article Nipuna. That wheelchair story had me cracking up.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:58 am
RVP GO A WHOLE SEASON WITH OUT GETING HURT NO WAY THATS NOT HIS STYLE LOL
May 14th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Henry! Though Bergkamp, Viera & Wright were great too of cocurse
May 14th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I’ve started watching football only because of Dennis Bergkamp hence the best player I ever saw on the field was Dennis Bergkamp.
Favorite moment of the season: The Theo Walcott run - Liverpool — It deserved much better than what it got.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Best in Two Decades: Thierry Henry
Favourite Moment this season: Gotta be Cesc’s late winner against AC Milan
Favourite Goal this season: I will go for Adebayor’s late goal against Liverpool in CL. That Theo Walcott run, had him scored it himself, it would have been the closest thing i ever seen to Maradona’s solo run against England in WC 86.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:22 am
the Favourite player part i think it should have renamed it the best player, as everyone has his own favourite player, regardless of his performance.
so my Best player of the season: Flamini. Consistently outstanding. but fuck him for jumping ship.
my Favourite player of the season: Walcott is my currently favourite Arsenal player.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Favorite player of last 20 years: Dennis Bergkamp. Watching EPL highlights after school on Phoenix, AZ, it was Bergkamp that drew me to the Gunners. I will be forever grateful. Freddie Ljungberg was a favorite also… but perhaps it was just the hair
Favorite moment: Theo’s run against Liverpool. I would come home from work at lunch (saying I had a Dr appt) for all the CL games, and he literally made me jump frommy chair and scream in an empty house. Watching him the next few years will be a joy.
Favorite goal: Flamini’s strike from range. Seemed to come out of nowhere… he will be missed.
Favorite player: Kolo holds a special place in my heart, but but I have to split it between Clichy and Sagna. I love watching those overlapping runs on the wings and they are both brilliant at it.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Fav player in two decades: Bergkamp (the reason I started supporting Arsenal)
Fav moment of the season: 2-0 win at the San Siro
Fav goal: Theo’s goal at Anfield
Best player of the season: Ade/Flamini/Sagna (very close)
Fav player: Cesc/Clichy (their attitude is spot on)
May 14th, 2008 at 3:18 am
reading the post by many here on the reason they supported Arsenal, most cited Dennis Bergkamp.
i guess Arsenal themselves are not awared of the fact what a player can do to a club in terms of increasing the popularity of the club. Far more effective than touring your team in the exhausting preseason trips all over the world. Especially a model pro like Bergkamp who didn’t just show class on the pitch, off it as well.
sometimes i think, on that day during Dennis’ testimonal match, Dennis would have felt a sense of fulfillment even if he never won anything with Arsenal, with such love from fans and respect from fellow players, his decision to stay with Arsenal for a full decade all seemed to be worth it at that day.
of course, players like Cashley would never be able to understand that - u can win as many medals with your new love, to fans, you are still a football version of whore.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Wenger defends Eboue
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491447&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Wenger+-+Why+Eboue%27s+critics+are+wide+of+the+mark
May 14th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Comparing Eboue to Parlour is an insult to the latter.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:22 am
I had compared Eboue to Parlour before as well, but I had no intention to insult Parlour.
More to the “role” Eboue playing this season, very similiar to what Parlour did - offered us some balance attacking/defending wise.
in terms of professionalism, there’s no comparison of course. Eboue is a pussy who made a fuss out of every small little physical contact.
yet that shouldn’t take away his ability as a player. this guy is technically solid, quick and powerful. the downside are his: (1) passing - Parlour wasn’t that great on this department neither (2) and without a left foot.
the fact that he doesn’t have a left foot significantly lowered his value. cos from what i recall, from time to time he got himself into good scoring position by cutting inside from the right, only to hit the shot wide. simply because everytime he hit the ball with his right foot, from the right, that gave him no angle at all. if he got a left foot, the fact that he got himself into good scoring position would see him scoring quite a few goals for us.
so let’s dont say this guy is crap just because he’s a cheat.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Palour was always 100% committed. Eboue is anything but.
Parlour scored quite a few key goals - FA Cup final against Chelsea, CL against Valencia, CL hat-trick against Bremen. Eboue has scored once in his Arsenal career and he was a right back then.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Originally, the question “was who’s been Arsenal’s best player over the past twenty years”. It seems to have turned into “who was your favorite Arsenal player over the past twenty years”. Understand, my favorite player of all time is Dennis Bergkamp for the same reason many of you chose him. But the best Arsenal player over the past twenty years has been, without a doubt, Patrick Vieira.
For a number of years he was the most dominant and complete midfield player in the world. You could bring up your Figos, Zidanes, and Ronaldinhos with their player of the year awards but they were still not a complete as Vieira. He was as solid in attack as he was in defense. Paddy had no weaknesses to his game. He was unfairly labeled a DM because of his tough tackling but he was so much more than that.
Vieira had excellent vision, crafty ball skills, and was a very clinical finisher. In the unbeaten season, Vieira scored twenty goals. When he got into good goal-scoring positions, unlike Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Gilberto, and even Henry, Adebayor and van Persie, Vieira always converted. His only miss I remember was in the Galatasary game.
When Vieira was here, we won countless trophies and always finished in the top two. Since Vieira’s departure, we’ve not won a single trophy and not once have we finished in the top two. Adams: after he left, we still won trophies. Henry/Bergkamp: After Vieira left, Henry and Bergkamp were still here and we still didn’t win any trohpies or finish in the top two. Think that’s a coincidence?
May 14th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Agreed Joshuad@39 but you missed two other important factors which completed his abilities. One, he added steel to the entire team and secondly, provided more height across the defense.
No one is perfect and Viera’s inability to avoid yellow and red cards sometimes put us in precarious situations on the pitch.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Vieira was simply awesome - not least in the FA Cup final 2001 when he pissed all over Gerrard (naturally we created loads, but only finished one (even with Bergkamp, Ljungberg, Henry, Pires) and paid for it. Anyway, Vieira, great player, not a goalscorer, 3 goals in the unbeaten season (curiously we scored the same number of total league goals (73) this season).
Best in 2 decades - Henry. 5 consecutive seasons of 30+ goals, accompanied by 15-20 assists. How he did not win the World Player of the Year in 2004 I will never know, he was robbed by Ronaldinho who had as many assists but a mere 24 goals fewer in an unsuccessful season for Barca. Of course Ronaldo will win it on the back of one season of 40 odd goals and 3 assists…
Favourite moment…Untouchable John Terry breaks his foot on Eboue’s studs 10 minutes after trying to cripple Fabregas.
Favourite goal…Eduardo’s two against Everton truly announce his arrival in the PL.
Favourite player…Clichy. Phenomenal and he is still improving.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:32 am
My bad, boys. I got Vieira’s goal tally wrong. I heard a commentator say something that sounded like that and didn’t check the stats myself. It doesn’t change the fact that he was, in my opinion, the most important player for Arsenal in the past two decades.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Best of the last 20 years: Henry. Pires will always be my favorite, though.
Moment: 2 nil in the San Siro.
Goal: Cesc’s “dynamite” strike at the Lane.
Player: Flamini. (Oh well.)
May 14th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
@JESTANLEY GLAD TO SEE SOMEONE ELSE HAD THE SAME FAV GOLE AS ME
May 14th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
OFF TOPIC:
Who does Wenger want as his creative MF player signing this summer? For those of you who watched Zenit comfortably dispose of plodding Rangers team 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final the answer is Arshavin. We’ve been linked before to this player and maybe we are in the mix now His agent says he’s got 3 offers on the table and he looks to me like a 15mil (fill in the currency of your choosing) player. He looks like a definite upgrade for Hleb in terms of directness, pace and passing cleverness. He certainly won’t be engaging in masturbatory dribbling. By the way, what is up with Hleb saying he wants to be put out to pasture. I beg your pardon, Hleb said he wants a more bucolic lifestyle. So he can’t be going to Inter because they have indoor plumbing in Milan.
If Ronaldinho can’t find his way home, Yaya wants to join Kolo, Deco is done, dos Santos replaces SWP, who will be left for Adebayor to play with at his ‘dream’ club. You score 30 goals and suddenly you’re the new tabloid flavor of the week. Don’t let it go to your head Adebayor.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Best in two Decades: Henry, his stats are superhuman, I know football is more than stats, but his contribution in terms of goals and assist are just unbelievable. Veira and Bergkamp, second and third, respectively.
Favorite moment: Win against Milan
Favorite Goal: Theo’s run against liverpool
Favorite player of the season: Cesc, the lil engine that could, without him we lose our fluid football. Clihy and Flamini are a close second
May 14th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Best in two decades: Robert Pires.
Favorite moment of the season: Theo’s run versus Liverpool.
Favorite goal of the season: Fabregas’s goal against Bucharest in the CL group stage. Pure perfect setup.
Favorite player of the season: Cesc Fabregas.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
@ josh:
you are right, i cant actually recall one time vieira missed a one-on-one. the guy was very clinical.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I will only answer the first question. Adams, easy, no question. Not just because of his skill but his loyalty, grit and determination. When he was on the pitch there was never a question about will to win.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
CTPA@45
OFF TOPIC
Having watched Arshavin’s performance today against Rangers I can now understand why we have been continuously linked to this player in recent times. He is superb and lethal and would be an ideal replacement for Hleib if he chooses to leave.
He is truly of the Arsenal mold and would be an upgrade to anyone we presently have in attacking midfield. The only potential problem would be that he is accustomed to have everything going through him and so does Fab. Would they be able to coexist?
May 14th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Some Arsenal blog made a nice point - let’s swap Arshavin with Hleb. Hleb can escape the hustle and noise of London for the calm and cold of St. Petersburg.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
@ 50
I was very impressed with Arshavin as well. I love the way Zenit play…period. I had the pleasure of watching most of their games through the tournament and they never ceased to amaze me. I thought their destruction of Leverkusen (sp?) was a fluke but then they did it again to Bayern. Absolutely amazing. They didn’t even have their leading scorer out there today. They completely deserved to win today and I don’t think Rangers have any right to feel hard done whatsoever. They are more boring than some of the prem’s worst anti-footballers.
When Arshavin rounded Alexander, I would have lost it had he been able to curl it inside the far post past the defenders that had gotten back to cover the goal.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I haven’t seen Ben Arfa or Arshavin play. On stats and records, Arshavin is a clear winner. He is experienced (26 vs 21 years). His goal scoring record is better. He is captain of Russia. Only thing going for Ben Arfa is that he is in Wenger’s “I can mould you in any way I like” bracket. Arshavin may even cost less, considering Lyon are notorious at selling players at a premium.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Favourite moment of the season:
The win over AC Milan
Favourite goal of the season:
Flamini’s 25-yard rocket against Newcastle — tied with the goal at Liverpool resulting from Theo’s sparkling run
Favourite player of the season:
Eduardo
May 15th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Best in two decades:
TH14
May 15th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Arshavin will not be a replacement for Hleb, he will be a strong upgrade.
Hleb reeks of failure and loser-syndrome. Arshavin on the other hand is a champion who steps up on the raw nights and takes “possesion” of his team.
Remove a loser, add a winner. Double benefit. No contest.
I was hoping Wenger would move really early and get in Arshavin for 10mill and Kranjcar for 3mill. But now that Zenith has won the UEFA, the price for Arshavin will increase significantly.
A wing force next season of:
Arshavin, Kranjcar, Rosicky, Vela, Walcott. Beautiful!
Lots of rotation among the five - with Arshavin also rotating with Fabregas from time to time.
PS: Ofcourse Hleb is playing his transfer like the chicken that he is. He doesnt have the balls to buy out his own contract. Everybody knows that Wenger is just bluffing about the whole “i will take you to court thing”.
Hleb should buy out his contract NOW and stop wasting our time.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Fred, it’s a lot better that Hleb works out a transfer thereby Arsenal getting a decent fee rather than him buying out his contract. Wenger doesn’t believe in keeping unhappy players and I suspect the only reason he is sticking to the “Hleb goes nowhere” line is to force Hleb into negotiating a proper transfer.
With reports that Rosicky’s operation is a success, I doubt he will sign two wingers.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:53 am
I think Fred mentioned Asharvin last week and I said that he’d be too expensive. Even before the game last night, that guy was always going to be expensive. If we could get money selling Hleb to help finance the purchase of Asharvin, then I’m all for it. We can’t afford him any other way.
I’ve been a fan of Russian footballers since Aleksander Mostovoi and Valery Karpin played at Celta Vigo. The Russians have a certain swagger about their play and I watch anytime they play in Europe as they’re very intertaining. In fact, I’ve got a Russia jersey I bought right before the ‘02 World Cup. I mentioned a kid named Pavlyuchenko who’s just as cold as any other Russian player who I think we could get for cheap.
I also like Denisov and was going to tell you guys to watch for him in the game last night. He’s actually the cousin of a colleague of mine (chic named Olga). After it became pretty clear to me that Flamini wasn’t going to sign, I started watching for someone who could come in for us that could be cheap. He’s a true box-to-box guy that can create, score, and defend. He scored the first goal last night and was very influential against Bayer Leverkusen when Zenit crushed them in Germany.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Here you go, Carrib.
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/sport/arsenal/arsenalnews/display.var.2271257.0.gunners_boss_keen_on_zarate.php
May 15th, 2008 at 7:27 am
even if Hleb decides to stay now, it may not be a good idea. cos i remember what happened with Vieira after his flirting with Real Madrid the season before he left, fans started being more criticial on his performance. When he had an off day, the inevitably talks that “he has already had his heart elsewhere” emerged.
i can very much see the same thing is going to happen to Hleb next season if he stays. he will have to be 200% every match to win the fans back.
club loyalty is probably the most important factor in the player-fans relationship. take Adebayor, he can miss 10 chances a match many of us would still be backing him, as long as he stays loyal to the club. but if he starts to believe in his own hype, and starts flirt around with other clubs, he needs to score 10 goals a match to win the fans back.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Lets see, Kranjcar is shite bar the odd 25 yard shot once every four games. Vela is an unknown quantity who hasn’t even impressed for Osasuna. Rosicky is injured every three weeks. Walcott has still yet to prove he be a factor in a game against a good team for the full ninety minutes(Everton last week). Arshavin is class but how long will it take for him to adapt? Many Russians/Eastern europeans fail to replicate the swagger they show for teams like Zenit when they play in a top league or even a different league. Think of Izmailov at Sporting Lisbon.
Yeah Fred, great football manager talk there.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:53 am
An Interview with Clichy
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15052008/4/clichy-ready-sign.html
After..Hleb and Flamini…..this Interview shows Clichy’s class.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Cesc was asked at the filming of ‘The Cesc Fàbregas Show: Nike Live’ which player he would most like to see at Arsenal this summer and he answered without hesitation: “Villa.”
May 15th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Andez is right in #60. Hleb will have a tough time at Arsenal. If a legend like Vieira himself drew a lot of criticism, Hleb (who already divides the fans) will be at the deep end of things. If he can’t stand the physical side of the game and the hustle and noise of London, you have to wonder how he is going to deal with the fans not backing him. One thing is for sure, it won’t affect his goal scoring.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Joshuad@59
Amazing coincidence, I bring up Mauro Zarate 2 days ago on this blog as an ideal squad addition and he gets blown up in the Press next day as an Arsenal target. No, I am not privy to the inner workings at Arsenal but has watched his progress this season and just seems to be the type Arsene would like.
Mazza@61
Like Fred said, Arshavin is 27, a seasoned pro, played at the highest levels and is Captain of his national team. Someone like that adjusts more easily to a new environment and especially in his case because Zenit plays very similar to Arsenal in terms of passing and movement off the ball.
It’s also unfair to use one example to stereotype the performances of Eastern European players based on one example when both Rosicky (when not injured) and Hleib have both performed well for us throughout their tenure at Arsenal.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Sergei Yuran, Sergei Rebrov, Andrei Shevchenko.. Oleg Luzhny. It’s a risky business.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Still, I would want him to come. I just don’t agree with the belief we can get rid of player- who are INTEGRAL to our brand of football- and replace them with alot of uncertainties and unprovens and expect everything a smooth transtion of progress.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am
I thought a bit about the Eboue article on Arsenal.com. The “Goals as a team” bit. I then think - If we could score without RVP/Rosicky/Dudu and with the non scoring of Hleb/Eboue that maybe ..maybe we don’t need everyone to be able to score goals? Maybe a Hleb type player who sets so much up(yes infuriatingly doesn’t shoot at times) is necessary? Specially if teh three mentioned can stay fit for 80% of the season? Ok forget Dudu..but if those 2 stay fit atleast then even if Hleb scores 5 goals a season we will still be up there because of his overall vision and movement.
That takes nothing over the fact that he can suck up to Inter all he wants and move if he doesnt like it here. Its Cashley all over again and he can go if he wants to. Everything can go — but not your loyalty. Flam going is fine - Hleb going is weird and is no better than what Cashley did.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Hleb himself took two seasons to be an integral part of the team.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am
LDE, if we continue with the same team minus Eduardo, we are yet again depending on Ade to have a 30+ goals season. He may well do that, but it’s called good planning to make sure that we have other players who can share the burden.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I think it took him one but yes, that’s my point exactly.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Infact thinking about it, it seems quite unlikely we will buy Arshavin. The owners of Zenith are billioniares and connected to Abramovitch’s crew.
Any money we can offer them will be chicken change.
Lets go to northern germany and ask Bremen and Hamburg what they will take for Diego and Kompany.
As for CM - I would go for Song, but Wenger hasnt even played him there recently.
Yaya Toure is the only CM we are being connected with - but to be honest Kolo’s temperament is not exactly strong. His brother is likely to be the same.
At least he is 6ft 3in - and a complete workaholic. He might be our Essien - if his head is screwed on tight.
My “dream” (ie. unrealistic) wishlist:
- Arshavin - 10 million
- Kranjcar - 3 million
- Yaya Toure - 10 million
- Gomez (GK) - 5 million.
Sum total: 28 million.
Out:
- Almunia: 3million.
- Hleb: 5 million
- Gilberto: 2 million.
Recoup: 10 million.
Net expenditure: 18 million. Not bad at all.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Yaya is unlikely. Wenger has passed him up on multiple occasions. Having see few Barca games, he looks to me like a slightly better version of Diaby. We need a player who is at least as good as Flamini, if not better. Otherwise, we might as well stick to Gilberto + Song.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Generally when players get linked as strongly as Hleb to other teams, they come out with mock protestations of denial or hide in ‘no comment’. Hleb’s taste for gelato and his silence speaks volumes about his situation. Hleb, we want to know that you want to go, not that you want to stay. Isn’t it strange that a player at a club suddenly only communicates with that team’s supporters through his agent. That’s some cold s**t.
Kompany has been quiet on his Arsenal link. Hamburg fans should be worried.
There are some inferences that point in the direction of Zarate. Wenger want sa (young ) “creative” player with EPL experience. McLeish saying that Zarate would do well in a team with more technical ability than Birmingham City after his 6mo. loan spell where he scored 4 goals (including a FK). I wonder what team that could be, Fulham perhaps? Yeah, right.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Mazza, ideally, we would all like Hleb to stay and Arshavin to come in. But your favourite player has rubbed everyone connected at Arsenal on the wrong side. What would you do now?
May 15th, 2008 at 11:26 am
@ nipuna: Actually I am not one of those who would like Hleb to stay.
The guy stinks of failure and doubt. There is a reason Stuttgart only won their first trophy a season after a left. The stench of having one of your main men as a serial loser had gone. And the trophies dried up here as well since he walked through the door. You could call him the “barren” man. LOL.
Anyhoo, jokes aside. His character is not exactly clean either. Duplicitous fellow (acts as badly as A. Cole), lies badly about it (icecream), then has an embarrassing slap to get out of playing. The antics of a conniving rat.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to leave Arsenal. Instead of just coming out and saying he wants to move - he is playing a stupid passive-aggressive, immature game.
Poor character outside the pitch. Poor character on it.
He should buy out his contract for 3 million and get the fuck out. The loser.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Nipuna, you are right. If we kept Hleib, brought in Arshavin and trade Hleib in the January transfer window this would allow Arshavin the time to gel with the team. Don’t jnow if we could afford that though.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I’ve read several people saying kompany has been playing right wing for Hamburg. Not sure we need another athlete who crumbles under pressure.
With Hleb, I think he has gone already so we will find out next season how we cope. I think not very well but we’ll see.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Stuttgart 2000-2007.
Due to high debts and the lack of results, Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder finally resigned from VfB in 2000 to take over offices at DFB, UEFA and FIFA. New president Manfred Haas had to renegotiate expensive contracts with players that seldom appeared on the field anyway. As in 1976, when MV had taken over, the team had to be rebuilt by relying on talents from the youth teams. The VfB has one of Germany’s most successful programs in the de:Deutsche Jugendmeisterschaft (Fußball).
Coach Ralf Rangnick had started a restructuring of the team that won the UI Cup, but the resulting extra strain of the UEFA cup participation ended in barely escaping from relegation in 2001 by clinching 15th spot. Rangnick was replaced by Felix Magath.
With players like Andreas Hinkel, Kevin Kurányi, Timo Hildebrand or Alexander Hleb earning themselves the nickname the young and wild, the club soon re-bounded and finished as Bundesliga runners-up in the 2002–03 season.
———————————————————————————————————
Yet another load of bollocks Fred. Don’t let all that get in the way of a good rant though.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Load of bullocks? What exactly have your proved with your cut and paste from wikipedia???
I lived in Stuttgart in those days. Keep on copying and pasting though. Dumbass.
Next you will try to go even further back and tell us how you “watched” Hleb in the UEFA cup in 1999
Dont let your Hleb-infatuation get the better of your sanity.
And feel free to leave this website when he does leave!
May 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Best player. Viera and Bergkamp. Honourble mention to Henry
Viera - a true captain with physical prescence and had very good technical ability as a DM. You go into battle with a guy like him and already every teamate would have his confidence boosted by an extra 15%. We don’t currently have anyone like him, and Henry + Gallas as the suceeding captains are a joke - don’t even compare
Bergkamp - A true professional and gentlemen. He had an amazing technical ability and as a bonus he is a true team player. He never blames his teamate and he accepted his “fostering” role in his latter years and helped Arsenal transition into our current team. Too bad Wenger didn’t offer him a coaching role here instead of Ajax.. Hopefully the iceman will return one day to coach our team.
Henry - unquestionably the most talented and consistent superstar in our generation. Forget about those “one season wonders” like Drogba, Hasselbaink, and I would even dare say C.Ronaldo. Winning the golden boot for one season is great, but NO ONE ELSE has done it 5 times like Henry did. But his leadership qualities (or lack of) was woefully exposed when he captained our club during his last season, and we saw the “ugly” side of his game always blaming others for mistakes instead of encouraging the team.
Best goal this season - Cesc’s long-range strike at the San Siro, just because when you think we had nothing else to give, he surprised us (and Milan) a PRECISION strike to the bottom corner - even the 6′7″ tall GK couldn’t reach it. It gave us BELIEVE during a time when we thought everything went against us (well, eventually it did but at the time who would have known?)
May 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Wenger on Vela -
“He has played the whole season at Osasuna on the left wing and he had to work hard there. But for me it is not his position he is a central striker, an Eduardo type.”
Walcott to continue on the wings + a new winger?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Wenger defends Eboue’s role for providing “defensive balance” to Arsenal, not goals. Nice try, Arsene. What defense did he provide when he was at RB and on CKs?
Eto’o to Sp**s to replace Berbatov. Now Sp**s will be ‘guaranteed’ a top 4 finish next season!!!
I want to take a shot at the once proclaimed young and up and coming English manager of the future, Aidy Boothroyd. He claimed that Watford had been “punching above their weight” after their crushing defeat to Hull. WTF kind of excuse is that? Your team only got relegated last season and you were 9 points clear at the top of the Championship after 12 games this season. Now you get destroyed by a team (Hull) with a 40yo CF and who if promoted won’t be able to get double the letters in their name in points in the EPL. Managerial promise unfulfilled, no, managerial dross rewarded.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Fair enough Hleb isn’t exactly denying the stories of his departure, he’s on holiday no? Besides, Vieira went though this 3 seasons in a row and never got the useless abuse being directed at Hleb. Why not wait until he has actually left Arsenal football club and is no longer an Arsenal player to abuse the guy! Does he not deserve the benefit of any doubt?
The biggest thing though in my opinion is that there seems to be a bit of short sightedness going on about what he does or does not bring to the team. I think anyone who watches Arsenal should understand how important Helb is to our pattern of play. Instead he has been branded rubbish by people who think solely in terms of goals and assists - football was a team game last time I looked - it’s no coincidence that our full backs overlap into a lot of space, it’s not a fluke that Fabregas finds space and then the ball in front of the back four, it’s not some mystery that we don’t play as well without Helb and with Walcott.
Bergkamp, a centre forward and the undisputed master of playing in the hole, from 1999 onwards:
1999-00 - 6 goals (all competitions)
2000-01 - 4 goals
2001-02 - 11 goals
2002-03 - 4 goals
2003-04- 4 goals
2004-05 - 8 goals
2005-06 - 3 goals (ok, he was ancient by then)
Surely a centre forward should be scoring more than that…
May 15th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Well Fred, your assertion that Stuttgart were doing swimmingly before Hleb became their assist king is total nonsense. As proven by the fact Stuttgart finished 15th and narrowly missed relegation the season before and then finished 2nd the season after. The fact that you happened to live in Germany during this period means what exactly?
Pirate. Good points. Although some obviously do believe these things happen without any apparent reason.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Calm down Mazza, dont get your panties in a twist. He is leaving soon.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
best moment
Michael Thomas vs Lpool HAS TO BE
player HENRY
May 18th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Fionn. I think they mean - best moment THIS season. But I hear ya!
Fred calling for a fellow member to leave the site, because he disagrees with Fred’s assumptions… again… what a shock!
Yes Fred, we’ll all leave and you can have the site to yourself.
I think Yaya would be a good addition. But I’ve always thought that!
And…
I doubt Wenger will bring in a 27 year old player. For what, 2 seasons at most?
He does NOT normally buy players that age.
Who knows, maybe he’ll surprise us. I just don’t see it.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:23 am
for me its dennis or liam….proberly go for dennis but i always loved watching liam brady