Interlull Debate – Greatest Footie Player of the Decade
Who is this decade's greatest player
Well, the interlull is clearly upon upon us and like a tall sailing ship stuck in the doldrums it looks like Gooners the world over are bored out of their minds. These next few days are exciting to some extent, dealing with national pride and all that. The coming international matches will determine the last few national sides to make it to South Africa. The playoff matches are pretty exciting when you think about it, especially with some big country names having to fight for their World Cup lives.
Nonetheless, the interlull is looked at as a bad thing, especially when your club team is on a good run of form. It’s also a bad thing when your club team has a history of not doing well coming off of the interlull. It’s not like either of those describe a club from North London we all love. Like the Gooner faithful we are, the interlull hasn’t deterred is from incessantly discussing a league match that is still nearly three weeks away. I guess that goes to show you where our hearts and minds truly lie. And that’s not a bad thing.
But in an effort to show that we are a cultured lot and in effort to show that we can discuss football outside Arsenal. . .right? And given THIS group’s and sports fans in general natural propensity for debating we at YAMA would like pose to you this question – Who is the greatest player of this decade? Heady stuff man. Bit it’s easy right? That’s a rhetorical question.
So, seeing as how there are only a few weeks left before the dawn of a new decade, what better time than now (the last interlull of the decade) to discuss such an important topic? Or better put what a better way to have a discussion that doesn’t require you to scroll down to point #180.
We can tackle this a many different ways we can go for the absolute best OVERALL player regardless of position, or we can go by the best at a position. Oh hell, we could just do it both ways. Maybe if we get to some sort of consensus ( knowing you lot, I am sure we won’t ;-) ) we could actually have a working list that could lead to a full fledged end of year article. You game?
There are myriad players from different countries the world over, each shocking, awing, and entertaining the watching billions with his own unique style, his own repertoire of tricks that can’t be stopped, shots that can’t be blocked, passes only he can see, and moves that us mere mortals could only dream of making.
So who will it be? Ronaldinho? Fat Ronaldo? Cristiano Ronaldo? Rivaldo? Roberto Carlos? Riquelme? Zanetti? Zidane? Beckham? Cantona? Vieira? Henry? Makelele? Casillas? Fabregas? Klose? Xavi? Iniesta? Ballack? Raul? Van Nistelrooy? Bergkamp? Davids? Messi? Puyol? Torres? Seedorf? Ibrahimovic? Pirlo? Pires? Kahn? Cannavaro? Malidini? Nesta? Ferdinand? Eto’o? Lamprad? Shevchenko? Giggs? Figo? Owen? Kaka? Buffon? Deco? Gerrard? Nakata? Scholes? Totti? Or someone else?
Let the madness begin!
Special thanks to ChiGooner for the idea and the original content – which was only slightly altered by me to make Art happy and make this more “tabloidish”
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Hi OziKenyan. Excellent EPL coverage in NZ on Sky TV (cable). Almost all Arsenal EPL and CL games are televised. Many motels/hotels have sky tv in the room.
You’ll enjoy Queenstown.
Hey Kiwi,
I’m off to NZ for a holiday on Saturday. What is the Premiership coverage like there? Any pointers? I’ll be in Queenstown during the game…
I agree with Andez. This injury would fall into the unlucky category.
We do have other options so Wenger has prepared well for any injuries in that department, now we just have to see whether Eduardo or Vela can step up. It’s a gamble, but both have the quality, so if it doesn’t work out I’m not gonna pan Wenger for it.
Now if Song gets injured, then it’s a different story. I don’t think we have legitimate options to replace him and in season 2009/10, this shouldn’t really be the case.
Getting ahead of myself, but….
Given that Song’s on 4 yellows, would it be a little interesting if TV5 could be moved to DM and Senderos played at Centre back (with Gallas) vs Sunderland? If it comes off, AW can skip the January window completely….
So, RVP headed to Serbia for his placenta rub, Andre the Giant to steady the Russian ship and get his team through tomorrow as must the right side of our defense against a steady stream of Irish route 1 football….I’ll try to watch some of it with my fingers and toes crossed. (And is Cesc really headed to Australia for a friendly with his future Barca teammates?)
Weighing in on the debate about squad depth and how we move forward….I think our squad depth is quite good, but it is key to keep a majority of our “mature” players fit. RVP was certainly among that group, as are Arshavin, Fabregas, Dudu, Rosicky and Gallas. After that group of established (some might even say “world class”) players, it’s a very small move to players who are extremely in form and making a real name for themselves: Sagna, Vermaelen, Song and maybe Nasri (he’s looked very good in his early return outings). After that it gets a bit more iffy, where we’ve got a large group attempting to realize their potential but struggling with injury (Walcott, Bendtner, Denilson, Vela–all actually out) and I’d have to put Eduardo and Rosicky on this list as they both seem plagued by enough niggles to make their outings seem more like elements of their “come-backs” rather than expressions of full potency. We’ve also got a couple of extremely talented but very young players who might be the real deal and ready to make their mark (Ramsey, Gibbs). Then there are the players who the jury is just plain out on: Diaby, Eboue and Almunia (or our other keepers). Overall, it’s not a bad group by any means, but it’s also a group that’s not going to win just by walking out onto the pitch. We really seem on the edge, fitness wise, and the players who do get out there need to take their chances and perform.
If we come through tomorrow unscathed, and it sort of feels like we need to, (and, if all goes to plan, Andre might want to take it easy on the vodka, and Sagna and Gallas, likewise with the Cognac/Champagne) it will be very interesting to see what AW puts together for the Sunderland match. Personally I hope we go “small” with a 4-1-5-0. I think you all know who I’m talking about for the 4 and the 1 and even the five (AA23, CF4, TR7, Dudu and Nasri) but I bet we’ll see Eboue (for Nasri or Rosicky) and Diaby (for the other) if he’s fit. Personally, I’m quite eager to see how we fare without a traditional #9 (I’m thinking “goal-fest”….) And maybe RVP can bring back a bit of that placenta juice to rub on Theo or Bendtner in order to increase our options sooner rather than later….
Cesc is playing Austria. I presume they will be less rowdy then the lot we got here and less likely to injure himself there. Would have been good to see him play but ultimately I think its better he doesn’t have to go through such long haul flights for just a friendly.
Who are you talking about as the 1? (Scenes from the matrix just rushed into my head). Part of me really wants to see Song get a rest as he hasn’t had any, plus avoid a yellow in order to ensure he plays against Chelsea.
4-1-5-0 sounds fancy. I think we can make it work (can’t quite picture it on paper). All up, I’m looking forward to the game. I can see AA23 being the match-winner in this one (the way he did towards the back end of last season).
Oops….made the old Australia/Austria mistake (and I actually have a degree in Geography!)
And yes I do mean Song in the DM role, and I forgot about the whole 4 yellow card situation. Maybe Ramsey should get the run out instead…
Best to see how our players survive tomorrow’s matches before speculating about line-ups as suggested above.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=699223&sec=worldcup2010&root=worldcup2010&cc=4716
Adebayor bonus To-go
Emmanuel Adebayor, not content with being Manchester City’s go-to-ego, swaggered into Togo’s dressing room at the weekend and instantly promised to match the team’s win bonus with one of his own if the country beat Gabon.
I wonder how the lads felt. Patronised? Belittled? Honoured? Jealous? Whatever their feelings, they were multiplied by ten when Togo won a penalty and the self-confessed bonus donator stepped to slot the spot kick. ‘Will he shank it just to save a few bob?’ they legitimately wondered.
They needn’t have feared, for Emmanuel despatched his pen calmly, after realising that his weekly wage could happily support Togo’s entire economy for a week. No World Cup place for Emmanuel, though Togo are heading to the African Nations Cup. I wonder if Mark Hughes offered him double to blaze wide any chances that came his way during the qualifying campaign and thus ensure he’s around for the month of January…
That’s pretty funny, Nip…The Dade is pretty flash, isn’t he?
Luckily, he doesn’t have another big match until the ACN and he can probably cruise through those games and save himself for the really big one in April….When he comes back to North London to play the Arsenal.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to argue Stag. Not for the first time you get the wrong end of the stick.
Robin has a history of injuries since joining us 6 seasons ago (many meaning he is out for several weeks or months). His most recent injury for Holland was a result of a strong challenge, the type that happens in most games, so not sure what you’re saying. Dudu was different his injury was just plain horrible caused by an ugly dangerous challenge.
So my point is that Perse is fragile physically. He has an unfortunate propensity to suffer serious injury. He’s not the first player to exhibit this. Ironically the great Marco van Basten whom Arsene recently likened Perse to was similar and retired really early when at his zenith. I remember it well, world football was gutted, the premier centre forward of his time playing for the greatest club team of the period gone. Contrast Perse to Henry. Season after season injury free. Perhaps in a players early days you can put injuries down to luck, but after a while you just have to accept that the player is not as robust as everyone would like. It then becomes a case of what does a manager do – continue to rely on a player that isn’t robust enough to build a team around or cut your losses?
I dunno what Arsene will do. Most likely he will persevere with Robin. Yet as I said earlier, the striker role is fundamental to Arsene’s Arsenal and a role that everything relies upon. Having a guy that continues to break down for chunks of each season seems unsustainable. Whilst we can still win something despite an injury to Robin, our ongoing success relies on continuity, Arsene needs to be able to pick the same core regularly (note I didn’t say always). Would ManU have enjoyed success if Ronaldo had Robin’s year-on-year fraility? I just don’t see it working.
Fragile, as in, easily breaks.
I don’t think THIS INSTANCE was a case of him getting injured easily, like jogging in warm ups… or stepping wrong on the pitch.
If you get hacked down, it has ZERO to do with being fragile.
The lack of squad depth claim is invalid.
Afterall, we are talking about missing one of our BEST players. And ANY team when they lose their best players, they are going to struggle. As Chelsea couldn’t possibly have TWO Terry and Drogba. Liverpool couldn’t have TWO Torres and Gerrard. United couldn’t have TWO Rooney and Vidic.
So is it possible Arsenal could have TWO van Persie or Fabregas?
We got a lot of depth up front, Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela. Many clubs would not mind to have BACK UPs like them.
It’s just that they are not van Persie. Same as Johnny Evans ain’t no Vidic neither.
Even Barcleona doesn’t have TWO Messi. Two seasons ago when Messi was out injuried for large part of season, they didn’t win the league neither. And if Messi is out now, they too would struggle. So does that mean a club like Barcelona also have not enough depth?
The likes of Fabregas, van Persie, Torres, Gerrard, Messi etc are so valuable and expensive is simply because – they are DIFFICULT TO REPLACE.
If their clubs could replace them easily, they wouldn’t have been rated as the superstars of world football today, would they?
Now just imagine had Henry out for a few months back in 2004, would we have won the league? let alone going a full season unbeaten.
come to think of it, when Torres out for Liverpoool, they have Voronin as replacement. If Rooney out for Man U, they got Owen…. Thanks heaven we still got Eduardo. I’d take Eduardo over Owen and Voronin anytime.
We still have a number of players involved with their National Teams this Wednesday.
As fans, its wait and see……. who comes through their competitions healthy.
Then the speculation for Saturday’s line up will begin.
very true…
many teams and supporters will be holding their breath and praying for… no more injuries.
A tricky game away to Sunderland. They have had a good start and accumulated points.
This is yet another little test for this team and their aspirations. For Arsene preparing a team returning from international fixtures is never ideal particularly when you have to travel for an away fixture, alas, this is the EPL and champion teams have to respond. If we respond positively it will be another mini-test passed.
Recently Arsene has been talking up his array of attacking options, now he has the chance to show what they can do under duress. The combined loss of Perse and Bendtner has robbed the team of any obvious candidate for the front-man role.
It’s a funny situation, whilst I agree with Mazza that with our style replacing the creative inventive scoring types like Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri and Fabregas is the most difficult, nevertheless, the focal striking role in this setup is likely to become increasingly critical. You need a player with a lot of intelligence and a broad range With 4-3-3 you can’t carry crap in the forward 3. When you’re under the cosh and the wide players are manning the pumps helping the fullbacks it leaves only the striker and places his ability under the microscope. Not many strikers have the capacity to morph themselves and respond to whatever the game requires.
With Eduardo, if he was fit and had had a run of say 3-4 months of regular football I’d be really interested to see how he would fair in the role. But given he is still very fragile it’s a big jump. Anyway, Arsene is in the best position to assess such things.
Heh, you just know that Eboue is going to get a few games up front. Let’s hope I’m wrong and he gets just a bench spot (because Sagna has stepped up his game at RB as well).
I don’t think we deserve to be champions if the injury to VP ends up killing our season. I expect us to deal with it and am confident our backup is more than capable. If we don’t keep faith in backup in the class of Eduardo, we would need a superstar, a starting 11 player to be backup and thats never going to happen. In fact I can’t think of a backup striker in the league I would have over Eddie.
And I do think there is a fairly big chance we will see a Romaesque strikerless formation where all our offensive players are constantly rotating. If it works and we click, it is going to be hell for the opposition defence. If not then it’s going to be frustrating for us fans seeing moves break-down, misunderstanding etc. But I think the players we have are good enough, have played together long enough and have enough self-belief and confidence that we should be alright.
I think the concern over Dudu is not so much re ability – more-so his physical readiness to carry the load.
I very much agree with your position that if Perse’s injury derails our title aspirations then we weren’t good enough. Perse has had 1 goodish season out of 6 at Arsenal. And even that goodish season (last season) saw him out during ‘the clutch’.
This isn’t a slight on the player just an iteration of facts. His fragility is a known quantity.
lack of depth would be the cause, not RVP being out…
and its not being “fragile” when you get chopped down…
is Eduardo fragile, because someone broke his leg with an idiotic vicious tackle?
Stag, when Kiwi said “fragility”, I don’t think he merely means phrone to get chopped down.
As a lone striker, you need to have the strength to hold up the ball. As a lone striker is the easiest target for defenders to mark. He’s the one to draw all the attention from the markers, thus free up his attacking teammates. If he can’t hold the ball up, it would be extremely difficult for our attack to gain a foothold in the attacking third.
Not sure about that Andez… fragile means… breaks easily. There is no other definition, whether you are a lone striker or a defender.
Personally, till Bendtner comes back, I want a front 3 of:
Arshavin – Rosicky – Nasri
with all three rotating positions constantly.
Behind them I want to see Ramsey – Song – Fabregas … with Merida and Wilshere as back ups.
No punks like Diaby and Denilson and sure as hell no Eboue in the front three.
what i predict will most likely be happen though is – with van Persie out, Wenger probably won’t be playing a FIXED lone striker up front.
He will encourage more position shifting instead. Like if Eduardo starts the game up front, he probably will shift his role with Arshavin, or Bendtner (when he’s fit) more often.
And AW will try to get the MF/Attackers to MOVE even quicker and more often. As I don’t think we have anyone who’s really comfortable of playing up front and try to HOLD UP the ball right now. So we need a quicker passing / and more players movement off the ball up front. A higer tempo passing game in the final third.
I do honestly, sincerely hope that the difficulty of filling in the lone striker role van Persie left behind is overplayed.
As I’d be absoutely gutted our chance of challenging the title this season is going to get killed by a meaningless international friendly.
This is gonna be a big chance for Eduardo to show what he can do. Frankly, I feel that he’s the lone victim of the formation 433. As he’s at his best playing off the main striker in a 442, IMO. Playing him wide is a waste. Yes he can create, and he got the dribbling skills to play out wide. But to me, his main asset is his off the ball running and cool finish. Or should we call it the “fox in the box”.
Now it’s most likely he will be the one to lead our line up front alone. Instead of running off the main striker, he will be the one to draw all the markers’ attention and try to hold the ball, and to spot his teammates running into open space around him, while playing with his back against the goal most of the time. It’s gonna be a tough task for him. But he’s our only hope now.
Let’s do not underestimate how difficult it is to play as the lone striker. Cos he’s the only player who has to play with the back against goal.
When u r playing facing the goal,you get to see everything in front of you. If you see a challenge coming in, if you are skillful enough, you could try to skip past it. YOu also get to see your teammates’ whereabouts.
when you are playing with your back against goal. you can’t see anything behind you. Not only you are not able to see your teammates’ movement, a clever defender would always give you a knock at your heel or your back trying to put you off. And you can do nothing about it, cos you won’t be able to see it coming even when you know it’s coming. I think that’s how Eduardo got chopped in his ankle and out for a year at the first place.
So it’s gotta be a hugh mental test for Eduardo as well. Let’s hope he can rise to the challenge.
You are right about the difficulty of a lone striker.
Playing styles for strikers are similar to those of basketball players (1st analogy that came to my mind), some are comfortable to play with their backs to the basket. Players who develop this skill, see it as an offensive advantage. Carlton Cole & Drogba – good examples, but they have the strength to overpower the defender.
For a player with the ball & back to the goal – teammates must make an adjustment in their runs and expectations to receive any pass.
I always thought RvP was more in the mold of an attacking midfielder or the supporting striker, but he has developed a clinical right foot and loves to use his quickness to get his shots off.
For me the 4-3-3 is misleading in describing our system of play. 4-1-5 seems to be what has transformed this season;
Fortunately, we have a talented pool of players who can provide us with many attacking options.
Eduardo’s injury – I thought Eduardo was taking the ball forward b4 the Martin Taylor tackle ? (not sure)
u pointed out one crucial point – yes, i too noticed van Persie has improved a lot with his right foot.
previously he relied so much on his left foot when comes to striking the ball. this season he scored quite a few with his right as well.
Dec/Jan are huge months in terms of the volume of games – 3+8+8 (Nov-Dec-Jan). So assuming all goes well and he returns some time in January he’ll have lost a lot of game-time. Potentially 11 EPL fixtures (27 remaining) and all the various cups matches. That’s a fair chunk of the season – even if it doesn’t sound too bad in calender months.
With Eduardo I dunno. It’s asking a lot of a guy who clearly is being handled very carefully to assume the front man role game upon game. Eduardo is a lovely finisher and a quality footballer yet for me despite the goals he always looks a little lightweight in the EPL in general play. If Arsene turns to him – I hope he steps up, I’m sure we all do. Yet on balance, if he does get the nod, you’d have to anticipate a period of adjustment for him and the team. That’s the challenge of this formation.
It’s just such a shame that after the team worked their way through the adjustment in the early part of this season, learning to play 4-3-3 with Perse at the apex, that we now have to re-learn with some one else. The right-sided relationships between Perse, Fab and Sagna was looking really useful and now the team needs to develop new productive outlets. That’s not necessarily straight forward.
OK, RVPs out…now he’s saying 4-6 weeks, which sounds hopeful to me, but who knows….
Consensus is that Eduardo will be the replacement and maybe that’s a positive in that he is the proverbial “fox in the box”….
To me, he’s seemed quite a bit off the pace and not taking his chances (esp vs Spurs), but he made the own goals vs Wolves so you never know….
Last night I watched the eastern conference finals of the MSL or whatever it was and the crazy phenomenon of Cuauhtemoc Blanco who could not make a goal for himself or his Chicago team which ended up losing on penalty kicks. I had the sound on, when I could stand it, and, according to the announcers, the entire game seemed to revolve around whether or not the other team (Real Salt Lake? –please?, that’s the name of the team, gimme a break…) could stop him. This is a 36 year old, overweight guy who can barely run but supposedly….
My question, is…is Dudu our Blanco? Is he our genius who will unlock defenses, be a target to distract defenders away from our other threats, win matches with moments of brilliance, etc.? I love Eduardo and wish him only the best after all he’s been through, and hope that he can be all that, but I wonder…..
I don’t Eduardo is an RVP.
He is not the same player.
A real shame for Perse, his recent form was very good after his slow start. But let’s not forget the reality – it was a slow start – and that has only recently bloomed into something more convincing.
This event does reaffirm our achilles heel. The tri-crocklet of Perse, Eduardo and Rosicky are still very much an enhanced risk that costs this young squad dearly. Only time will tell if it is terminal yet again to our aspirations this season, I hope not – yet the risk is very real. We rely greatly on that threesome. They are ‘now’ players. When they are unavailable or forever in/out it is very disruptive and cuts down on Arsene’s genuine attacking options.
Focusing on Perse, deep sigh, can he ever become as important as Henry? Henry may have a reputation as a flashy player yet he was incredibly robust and resilient. Sadly Perse isn’t. And there is no doubt that Perse is Arsene’s intended focal point in attack. The emerging ‘new Arsenal’ should reflect his style and strenghts. This means his physical robustness, or lack of, takes on a greater level of importance. Whilst his current injury need not derail our hopes, it certainly disrupts our development and places a long-term questionmark over his capacity to play that key role.
The injury toll is a bit scary. Perse and Bendtner are both out, while real questionmarks hang over Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott, Vela and Diaby. Are any of them ‘fit’. It seems each has a ‘handle with care’ label on them. That leaves…he hem…Mr Arshavin as the only fully fit attacking player. That quite frankly seems ridiculous. Even the young tiro’s like Ramsey and Wilshere have injury issues. With Ramsey having a back problem and Wilshere joining the throng of returning players.
It could well be that Arsene can stitch together effective teams over the next month and that this buys sufficient time for the returnees to mesh into a effective attacking unit. Let’s hope. But you know, we seem to just reach this position a bit too often. And it’s hard not to say – ‘well what do you expect when you carry crocks’? We let Adebayor go, and that seems a good thing in many ways, yet you can’t escape the eternal truth that winning teams need core players with a high degree of robustness – if you aren’t on the pitch you can’t influence the game.
The headlines are “positive news for Van Persie”.
Arsenal breathing a sigh of relief…
But that good, or positive news that he will be out
4 to 6 weeks.
I guess its a case of glass half full or empty.
We could have really used him in the huge match against Chelsea.
Hopefully someone will step up …
If it’s been revised to 4-6 weeks, I’d expect to see him in 8.
Typical ;-)
But I would have to agree with you, recovery time a reserve ficture included.
A report from RVP himself
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5696973,00.html
I think the supposed difficulty of playing as a lone striker is being overplayed. Last season all I heard was that Adebayor was the only forward who could play as a lone striker, and that RVP wasn’t physical enough, but yet now once again we only have one guy who can play as lone forward?
I don’t buy it. Yes, he was in great form and doing well, but I think he’s far from irreplaceable. Eduardo and Vela can bring their own identity to the role and in some areas we may actually improve. Especially in terms of having a bustling, direct runner through the centre for balls over the top. Yep, RVP scored a good one against Fulham, but I think Vela and Eduardo are more inclined to go in behind and give their centre backs a more physical challenge.
I would be more worried if any of our floating midfielders got injured. When they get injured, the whole thing collapses. As it is, the magic can still go on.
Agree 100% Maz…..
RvP has made our system (this year) much more fluid, than when Ade was up front. RvP is a scoring threat PLUS excellent at serving the ball to teammates; but we have many others with the same skills to link with teammates: Arshavin, Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri
I would like to THINK Vela can be added to this mix, but HONESTLY, other than playing for Mexico, I don’t remember his last match for Arsenal – does anyone?
The health of Song and Vermaelen is of much more concern for me. THEY HAVE NO “quality” BACK UPS.
Anyway, this is a good time for Rosicky, Eduardo, & Nasri to see more playing time.
Off the injury topic:
If Arsenal were an 8 cylinder car, I would say we are only playing on 4 or 5 cylinders!
Who said we only have one guy who can play lone forward. Also you need to note the system we are now playing is far different from the 4-5-1 we were playing the Dade or Bendtner in last year.
Mazza you mentioned the key word FORM, do not underestimate it!
If Edu’ and Vela can hit form great, they are both more than capable of doing a job. Butthe issue is that four letter word, are they in form and is Vela even off the injury bench? Edu’ has not hit top FORM this season in terms of decision making and clinical finishing. How long will it take for the real Ed’ to stand up? That is the reason why losing RvP is POTENTIALLY a big blow.
But I suppose being a newly converted HO you are very optimistic ;-)
IF RvP is injured, my best bet for his replacement would be Arshavin.
Despite his massive height disadvantage, if we keep the ball on the ground (which we do very well), he has the ability to bring other players into play and link up very well with Cesc and Rosicky. Plus he is not afraid to take tackles from opponents, something which rules Eduardo out. Finally, he loves to play centrally and this should see him put more effort than he usually cares to in most games. :)
Nip is correct…….
Actually, Arshavin is more durable to contact than RvP, and skill wise the team loses nothing.
This is great opportunity for Arsenal other players to step up; WHO WILL SIZE THE OPPORTUNITY: Vela? Wilshere ? Theo ?
Front line:
Eduardo – Arshavin – Rosicky/Nasri
Personally, I think RVP going down is extremely bad news as our entire new formation (4-3-3) was built around him and his extreme mobility (ability/desire to come back for the ball). Combined with his willingness to work with the other forwards and let them move into more forward positions we were on the path to being a very difficult team to defend against as our strikers were becoming essentially interchangeable. Unfortunately, due to injury, we haven’t had any consistency on the right (3rd striker) but RVP and Arshavin had slowly been learning each others tendencies and providing cover for one another. Now we’re down to (little, lazy?) AA23 (among guarenteed 1st 11 forwards) and I just don’t quite see how our back-up options are going to slot in with him.
I saw the injury as it happened and it wasn’t the tackle. RVP rolled over and landed awkwardly, pinning his right foot on the turf as his body continued. The force straightened his leg and compressed his toes towards his shin, tearing his ankle ligaments in the process. It was very, very strange and I have no idea how serious it might be, but he was clearly in a lot of pain.
In the short run Eduardo is the obvious replacement with AA23 actually ending up more central. I question whether Dudu has the fitness/desire/vision to actually allow Arshavin to drift into the danger areas while he does the harder work that RVP had been doing. I also think that Rosicky has the skills, mobility and awareness to maybe step in and make the sort of contribution RVP was making, although getting way forward doesn’t seem his thing. Vela might be the most able to actually do what RVP was doing, but that seems a long-shot for somebody who has essentially vanished. Walcott would add pace no doubt, if none of the other attributes. All these options, however, leave us extremely small (tiny) and vulnerable/useless at set pieces (plus who takes our corners/free kicks from the right?) Now is the time for AW to use his best players and “go small” but I fear AW will rush Diaby back, hoping his size and “aerial ability” will do the trick. (And might we see more of the Eboue at right forward?) Right about now is when that Chamahk dude might’ve been the ticket.
And, of course, fingers crossed for the 2nd leg of the France and Russia qualifiers on Wednesday…
Fingers crossed indeed.
You make some very good points HTS. Vela has nopt vanished he is/was injured not to sure which one at the moment. Even if he was fully fit it would be a gamble to some extent due to his lack of experience. As you said Ed is the obvious choice. As you alluded Arshavin came seem a little lazy althouh I think it is simply because he has not got the stamina to last a full game at his wonderful best. But the stamina issues may well be a big problem for him if he were the lone striker.
Losing the Perse is a big blow for us but being a HO I am hopeful someone will be able to step up to the task.
Thanks Arthur….and nobody’s a bigger hippie than me…
Another point about RVP is that he was popping up lately as a useful target for balls into the box, linking up particularly well with Sagna. Bendtner (if he were available, or Chamahk, if we’d bought him) might serve this purpose. Without him it seems we’ll do better keeping the ball on the deck–the antithesis of the English game.
Just watched the injury again and I was wrong about how it happened, as it was his left leg that seemed to get stuck in the turf. It looked like a clean tackle from Chiellini and I think he must’ve landed on RVP’s right ankle with his butt after the ball was away. Very aggressive, but no intent to injure, IMO.
Or dare I say it Ade could have filled in reasonably well LOL ;-)
I don’t see RvP as an effective in the air. If Arsene wanted to utilise aerial ability he would haved played Bendtner there or better still kept Ade (I know I am being extremely provocative here!) But that is not the game Arsene wants to play hence dropping Ade at the end of last season and ultimately selling him.
£80,000 a week was too much to be left on the bench as a back up to RvP, he had to go. Ade’ success in terms of contract negotiation was his downfall in terms of his Arsenal career.
I haven’t seen the injury yet. But let’s hope he recovers ASAP. I suppose us being HOs and so anti-“realist” we believe he will be ready for Saturday :-D
Agreed. We can afford VP injured over one of the CB’s or Song. Those 3 spots in the team I would be a lot more worried.
Still would have been nice to see VP fit for a whole season (or most of it). He was in line for a monster season and I thought he might be able to get golden boot if he stays fit. We haven’t had a golden boot winner since Thierry.
Most of the reports suggest a lay off of about 2-3 months but with VP, getting him back to full fitness could take up most of the season as he picks up a niggle here and there on his way back.
In terms of replacements, Eduardo should take his place as the main man. Offers something different to VP and if the team adjusts to the differences in attributes I can see us keeping up our potency and also see Eddie banging a few in true poacher style.
It’s a big big blow the loss of van Persie. He’s arguably our MVP so far this season. By that I don’t mean the BEST player, but the most valuable player. Cos he’s playing the most difficult role – the lone striker.
You need to have strength, and extremely good control in tight situation to be able to play there.
I am not sure whether Eduardo, Vela or Bendtner could fill the role. Eduardo is excellent running off the main striker. But to ask him to fight off the physical challenge, usually from not just one, but two or three markers crowded around him like van Persie did it may be too much to ask for.
Bendtner simply doesn’t have the mentality. He perfers to play when facing the goal than with his back against the goal.
Damn I don’t care how many players Chelsea out, I would rather van Persie to stay healthy.
you just gotta love those international fixtures. the last time van Persie was out for half an season was when he’s away with Holland. Now this…
“You need to have strength, and extremely good control in tight situation to be able to play there.”
Arshavin
I think Eduardo has the the tight control to operate in that position. can you recall in recent games this season Ed’ been cornered by two or more players and pulling out a couple of tricks. One of those was in a very recent match. As for strength I do not think RvP has anymore of that than Ed’.
What we will miss the most about RvP is his form, he was on fire. Ed’ at his best is the most clinicl striker we have but we have not seen this since his return from injury and I do not know how long it will take for him to fire up.
In truth Arshavin could do a job there although he is not as strong as the aforementioned, but I think when he is roaming those two flanks and cutting in there is no other player that will score us more goals from those positions yet we have FW well able and debatabley better equipped to play the LONE striker.
Okay I am just going to say that maybe I am being overly optimistic – but given what everyone is thinking is a severe injury to RvP wouldn’t Sky or BBC have as a major story?
I have the Guardian, the Mail and the Sun having it. Hell it’s not even up on Goal.com and we know “reputable” they are.
I am not saying he isn’t injured. He obviously is. But I am seeing people already “jumping” and saying this is doom for us.
Yes, Robin is an integral part of our attack but if we are going to win anything we can’t be dependent on one person. The strikers are an area I hate to say that we are okay in depth wise.
Both Walcott and Vela are set for returns (to some extent) after this break. Dudu seems to be real hungry and since his team is out of the WC knows glory is only the team. And he was dynamite in his friendly with the brace.
I still think even with the loss of RvP we are still a potent club. Now if it were Vermaelator we were talking about – I’d be shitting myself.
Major story you’ve probably seen by now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/6573707/Arsenals-Robin-van-Persie-sidelined-for-two-months-with-ankle-injury.html
I was hoping to see more Eduardo and Vela going into this season, so now we have an opportunity to truly test the depth of our deepest position.
Yes, be careful what you wish for, and I do agree with Andez point about the size/strength we lose. But I think we’ll benefit from the additional speed, craftiness and clinical finishing. I’d like to see DuDu, in particular, with some solid, consistent time up front. His potential has always been exciting but, for a variety of reasons, he hasn’t had a chance to fully make his mark. I’m a believer.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1227939/Arsenal-fear-Robin-van-Persie-miss-rest-season-Holland-striker-suffers-horror-injury.html
When I saw the game, that was my worst fear. I just hope that is not the case. Frustrating though. It was in a meaningless friendly against Austria that RVP was injured a few years ago.
Anyway, the Italy-Holland game looked anything but friendly. Lots of nasty challenges.
Also hope Arshavin can come away from the 2nd leg on wed fine. I think his comments about Slovenia being an easy opponent might have led to him getting a rough treatment in today’s game.
World Cup qualifying is one thing… it is important… its the biggest tourament in any sport… in the world.
A stupid f’n friendly match, to make money for the federations of the country, is just RIDICULOUS!
England v. Brazil in a far away land?!
WTF is that all about, if not money?
RVP being injured is the WORST possible thing that could happen to Arsenal right now, other than Cesc going down… in my humble opinion.
He is the closest we have to a scoring/difference maker… having an excellent season, and was on FIRE.
With Bendtner and RVP out for extended periods, we are a bit short up front… with Eduardo… is he 100%? hasn’t been for much of the season.
F’n SUCKS!
More potential bad news as Lampard may make the tie yet.
http://www.bluetinted.co.uk/article-standard.aspx?id=106
RvP’s injury does not actually look too bad, but his reaction probably mean it is. I dont even think Chiellini caught him at all, he just blocked the ball.
All this for some FUCKING friendly AFTER already qualifying!
Anyway, on the positive note, the striker position is the OTHER position (after LB) that we have enough reserves in. I imagine Eduardo is next in line. Bendtner can play there. Vela can play there.
Hopefully the RvP thing is about 1 to 2 months so he can come back by January … when he will be like a NEW signing!
Bendtner is out for now as well. Eddie has had constant knocks every few games but has looked alright for the last 2-3. Scored 2 for Croatia so hopefully the positive of this whole international BS is that he comes back in good form and we don’t see a drop in quality from VP
It doesn’t look like there was any contact from some angle but from others you can see he goes through his right ankle (I think with his trailing leg). Though the contact didn’t seem to heavy. Let’s hope he isn’t out too long.
“when he will be like a NEW signing!” LOL!
Sad though, RvP was in top top form. Hope Eduardo can step up as vela and Bendtner are still injured.
We could well see Sanchez Watt on the bench the way things are going, he is a good player though.
We will have to wait for the final diagnosis for RvP…..hopefully it’s only a bad sprain – not a tear.
I’d have no problem with a front line of:
Eduardo – Arshavin – Nasri
soon to be available: Vela, Wilshere (remember him), & Theo…..
Ramsey is playing sensationally; 2 assists and a goal for Wales yesterday; so he is a mid-field option with Diaby.
For most of us who have wondered if Vela was still part of Arsenal, this maybe his opportunity.
Hey, if we hope to win anything this year – WE ALL KNEW that others would need to step up and contribute.
FOR ARSENAL SUCCESS, I’d have more concern if Vermaelen or Song were hurt.
Vela was injured. Is he still injured?
I would prefer Ed’ as my CF and Nasri in MF alongside Cesc and Song. Is Rosicky fit yet? if so he takes Nas’ position up front. If Rosicky is back on the sicklist than Nasri upfront is a good bet but maybe I would go for Eboue instead and drop Diaby in the MF slot.
But it shows the versatility of our squad that we can all come up with so many viable alternatives and yet we hardly ever complain about players being played out of position anymore.
So far we have two time frames being put out there:
1. Martin Borman of Dutch TV is saying two to three months with a torn ankle ligament.
2. Another estimate is 6 weeks.
To add:
1. A Dutch news papers says he is ot 1-10 weeks
Possibly one week? SOLD
Am sorry to say, there is no way Henry comes close to being best player of the decade. An Arsenal legend for sure, but he just was not a big-game player. His really abysmal record in finals is just a part of it. He didnt have the cold-bloodedness that separates the very good from the great.
Still in my top 5 for the decade though.
To be honest, outside of Zidane, the options are a bit slim for this decade.
For the 90s however, the options are plentiful!
PS: Why is Cantona in the list (in the article), he didnt play in this decade.
Ditto Fred……
see my reply to Stag and Arthur above.
I quote arthur3sheds @ November 14th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
“Zidane all the way!”
Ars’ I agree with you…. and even Fred ;-) on that one.
Just think Henry despite his lacklustre performances on the international stage is superior to Bergkamp that’s all.
The link for the RvP injury is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haoGpaWMaww
I am no specialist and I can’t really see where Chellini gets him. He is holding his RIGHT ankle but if anything it looks like Chellini gets the left ankle. I dunno really.
It looks bad on the zoomed out shot. Not so bad on the third replay (around the :20 mark)
I am not a doctor. I just play one on tv. My diagnosis is that looks bad. I couldn’t really see too much contact. But often times, those are the worst. And I would assume it might have to be pretty bad to force him off against Italy. Even if it is only a friendly. Van Persie is the type of guy who seems to take wearing the Orange pretty seriously.
Zidane all the way!
I will never forget the world cup semi-final against Brazil he beat them at their own game he looked like the only player on the pitch he was so outstanding, he was in fact the difference between the two teams and there appeared to be a massive difference in class, all because of Zuzu.
RVP just stretchered off in Italy-Holland friendly….doesn’t look good.
Any word on the extent of the injury?
I had a feeling all of the Chelsea injury talk was premature.
We desperately need Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas, Vermaelan and Eduardo to make it through this break fully fit.
Ramsey shining for Wales as he creates all three goals (scoring the last one himself) against Scotland. And it is only half time.
Rambo has yet to prove his brilliance against top class oppostion so far but it is only a matter of time I suspect.
@ Nip.
YES. I am not surprised at all that Drogba has a broken rib!
Evans almost drove his spikes thru his chest, and the ref actually
gave DROGBA a yellow card on the play.
Evans should have been given a straight red, fined and suspended.
Amazing.
Drogba, Cole, Boswinga and Lampard out?
This just adds PRESSURE to Arsenal.
It will be an absolute MUST WIN situation, if Chelsea
don’t have this group of players or 3 of them anyway.
I hope they are all out.
I don’t care if we win 1-0 and they only have 9 healthy players…
because we need the points over the top team… and we need the confidence boost.
Rumours going around that Drogba has broken a rib and is out for 3 weeks. This is weirdd.. jus 2 days after I made the comment about how rugged Lampard and Drogba were they both get injured (well Dropba not confirmed but fingers crossed). I even commented on the record set by Lampard for consecutive starts in the league. The stars seem to be lining up in our favour.
But like someone said, it is very possible the extent of the lay offs have been overstated and they will be ready to face us. Either way, at the least I’m hoping the niggles will throw them off their games.
I’ve now seen a few stories that have said the same thing. Didier Drogba has a broken rib and will join Cole, Bosingwa and Lampard on the Bench for the match against Chelsea
Throw in John Terry’s ankle knock (Extent unknown) and Chelsea now have as big and probably a more important injury list then we do.
Let’s rip ’em a new one!
Not surprised that Drogba might have broken a rib. Did you see that kung fu kick from Johnny Evans? Continuing in the ManU tradition of breaking down opponents (literally) without any censure. Remember Neville on Reyes?
My heart will always say Thierry Henry.
To borrow a quote:
“Genius at work, his name’s Thierry Henry.”
Could score goals unlike anyone else. Wore his Arsenal heart on his sleeve and single handedly lifted Arsenal on so many occasions . It is a real robbery that he never won the world player of the year award because when he was on song, no one could match him.
After Henry, Zidane. 360 turn unlike no one else. A real artist.
Thierry Henry.
He was IMO “underrated” among the superstars the past decade. One reason most people would think of Zidane, the old and new Ronaldo, is they all had won World Footballer of the Year.
Titi never did. Cos in at least on occasion he was robbed. The original Ronaldo won the award despite missing through injury all year and only came back on time to shine in the World Cup Finals. And he beat Henry for that?
It’s true Zidane shone in the BIG occasions far more often than Henry. Henry, amazingly, still NEVER scored in a cup final, from Carling Cup to World Cup.
But I’d like to think CONSISTENCY, if not being more important than shinning in big games, at least it’s equally important.
And when comes to CONSISTENCY, NOBODY was as consistent as Henry with his consistent brilliance which started from 2000-2001 to 2005-06.
Decade: 2000 – 2009
Outside of Arsenal, Henry (one of my favorites) never was the clutch player for his National Team. Zidine took that spotlight. Even though it did not fall in the 10 year period, it was Zidine that single handedly beat Brazil in the ’98 final. Its that type of performance against a world power that makes some players soccer immortals. On the Barca team, Henry’s importance was overshadowed by Messi and Eto’
Anyway, I always placed Bergkamp and Vieira on a higher pedestal than Henry. Hell, half of Henry’s goals came from balls served beautifully from Bergkamp.
Actually, for the decade, I just don’t believe there has been one player that was heads above others.
Half of Henry’s goals came from Bergy?
No. Not quite. Bergy didn’t play very much the last few seasons, and they were among Henry’s best.
Henry might be the best Arsenal player EVER… definitely a better striker.
Ars’ how can you put Bergy, God bless him in the same league as Henry.
Henry is as superior to Bergkamp as Zidane is to Henry. Henry was a complete striker and prolific scorer, the only thing missing from Henry’ game was heading ability. He provided a large amount of assists too although he did not have the quality of Bergkamp in that sense.
Maybe my memeory fails me I know Zidane scored a couple of goals in the 98 final but he was not as dominant as he was in the meeting between the two in the last world cup?
Stag & Arthur, you miss the point of my comment.
Henry was fabulous for Arsenal in league play. What is a fact is that outside of Arsenal league play, this player certainly falls short of Bergkamp and Zidine performances.
Arthur, go back & read the highlights for the 98 final…….the 06 WC just seeded Zidine’s greatness: for producing great match performances on the big stage of pressure. ( head butt excluded).
As Arsenal fans we all waited for Henry to have that shining performance outside the EPL. To date, its not happened.
Let’s agree to disagree on this one Ars’.
As for Zidane I remeber 98 quite well Zidane did not dominate Brazil single handedly he had a good game even scoring two goals, if I remeber rightly one was a free kick and the other a header. The semi against Brazil in his last world cup was the best I have ever seen him perform for 90 mins. Probably one of the best performances I have aever seen from any player for 90 mins. He was a world apart from anybody on the field, outstanding in the fullest sense of the word.
Henry performed well in Europe also, he scored a bucket load of quality goals one or two hat tricks even. In fact he was better than Bergkamp in Europe as well as the premier league. One of the outstamding things about Henry is how much he contributed to the team aside from scoring goals, i.e he clocked far more assists on average than any other CF/Striker in the PL during his peak. But as I said we will have to agree to disagree.
THIERRY HENRY!!!
I’m only 22 and have been following football properly for about 10-11 years now and he is the first player to have given me that feeling: The one where every time he gets the ball your expectations jump a little bit higher, that emotion of greatness waiting to happen comes up, the unexpected moment of brilliance is suddenly just a few seconds away and the opposition team i sh*tting themselves. Absolutely beautiful.
I remember the day he scored that goal against United. ( I was gonna write ‘THAT goal’ but there have been so many ‘THAT’ goals that it would be far too ambiguous). Anyway, I’m talking about the goal where he flicked it up with his back to goal and hit a swerver with the outside of his boot over Barthez into the top corner. This was back in 2000 and there was oh so much trash talk at school about the game (with me being one of two arsenal fans amongst about 20-30 United fans). Brilliant!!!!
But like mentioned, it is very subjective this and many players can make a case. Zidane has that touch, the one where he seems to control the ball with his mind rather than his feet. Watching him in full flow is very much like watching Dennis Bergkamp, pure footballing art.
Excellent write up by the way. Thanks.
Player of the Noughties – same debate is going on at football365 mailbox. The consensus seems to be Zidane, but I will go with Henry. :)
I personally love the World Cup. So, World Cup qualifying matches are pretty damn intense… and with that much riding on the outcome, are great drama, and good football usuaully.
So, I don’t mind the break from a sheer footballing view.
After this week off, the World Cup is set…
As evidenced by our site alone, we all have our favorites and our goats. You don’t like this players game, I think he’s good.
Best player of the decade? Going to be highly debatable, and debated no matter who your choice is!
Its not Ronaldo or Cesc or Torres … too young, didn’t do anything at the beginning of the decade.
I think France has had a good decade, and Zidane is probably the likely candidate to be the “Best”.
For me… I’d take Henry… as he is still playing and contributing to club and country.