Not yet as good as it seems
But in terms of weighing-up the success of a period between international breaks goes, this one is still in the balance.
Birmingham at home, West Ham away, Spurs at home and Wolves away should be yielding at least nine or ten points really. Thus far we have seven from the three games.
Competition at full back is great. Nobody can accuse Sagna and Clichy of being complacent. But having understudies whose main strengths are in areas where the first choice two could improve will do no harm at
all.
Now both Rosicky and Nasri are seemingly fit, will we see one of them sometimes deployed in the role Diaby has been playing in? Physically we will lose something but it will be interesting to see how it affects how much possession we enjoy. What do you reckon?
West Ham away was two thirds of a defeat and so really only three points in the West Midlands tomorrow will do. Otherwise we’d have got a worse return than had we lost to Spurs and won the other three winnable fixtures.
Looking back at the week, there were some great moments. But I think one will linger for many a year.
Unlike a lot of people in the ground, I didn’t miss that Cesc goal last Saturday. Why? Because I’m such a paranoid freak that I refused to allow myself to watch replays of the first goal on the giant screen, so paranoid was I that my complacency would be copied by the team and that Spurs would score straight from the kick-off.
So I was watching as Cesc did his thing. Reading the papers you would be forgiven for thinking Cesc had been presented with the ball a yard in front of an open goal.
Sure he defending wasn’t great but how about a bit of praise for our man waltzing through the spine of their side from the half way line and then finishing under pressure from 18 yards?
There remain few sights as electrifying as seeing a player slalom through a defence and finish with (slightly unexpected) aplomb. Given the timing and opposition, it truly was one of those moments where everyone lost it.
Arsene and Pat Rice’s reaction is captured in the memorable photo below from the Arsenal web site.
For me it was a “hug thy neighbour” moment. Arseblogger called the roar “primal”, the man from East Lower described it as a “bundle”, an excellent last word that I last heard in the playground.
All in all, it was great, but in a way drawing at Wolves will be a bigger downer than drawing with Spurs would have been.
Leave it out
Now if only a few more supporters would stop using the excuse of yet another home game wrapped up early on as reason to head for the hills. After 90 minutes on Wednesday the ground wasn’t so much noticeable for the empty seats as for the few that were still taken.
Who do you trust?
I’m no expert on these things. But I do seem to remember Usmanov’s right-hand man Farhad Moshiri telling anyone who would listen what a disaster the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor was.
Which to me makes Stan’s silence rather endearing.
Goodplaya responds
Booland says:
Goodplaya says
I know what you mean but I guess in a sense the real surprise would be if being as attacking as we are, we didn’t sometimes look overexposed.
Stevie Morrow says:
Goodplaya says
To be fair, it was quite a while.
Gunnerlad says:
Goodplaya says
As I say above, it’s a tough one this. I’ll be interested to see how it pans out.
27 Responses to “Goodplaya on Friday: Wolves, celebrating Cesc, Arsenalisation and Diaby or Rosicky/Nasri”
I totally agree with you, Cesc’s goal will linger in the mind for years to come, yet its not even in Sky’s goal of the week competition.
Interesting conundrum with Rosicky, Nasri and Diaby. It’s amazing that Diaby’s longest ever injury free run has coincided with one or both of Rosicky and Nasri being sidelined. Usually, I’d put Diaby straight back on the bench as soon as Rosicky and Nasri are fit – but Abou is starting to play really well now and seems to have cut out the overambitious dribbling and consequent loss of possession from his game.
Re: Diaby, I understand the argument that he provides a physical presence that our team of munchkins needs, but really, how physical is Diaby? He’s not particularly strong in the tackle, he doesn’t seem to work hard to make his presence known in the center of the pitch, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him head the ball.
So what good is size if you don’t use it? I think it’s worth trying Nasri in place of Diaby. It makes for a small squad, but it’s worth testing it out.
Owen if you look at the matches Diaby has played from the start you will see that the number of tackles he makes is one of the highest of any player on the pitch.
The Diaby question is simply this, would he get into the first team at Chelski or Man U ? Answer that and you have the remedy. These two teams are the main threat for the Premier league.
I agree with J. I think the problem with Diaby is that he’s not very spectacular and therefore his good work goes unnoticed, which is understandable if he plays alongside someone like Cesc. I watched him specifically on Wednesday and it looked like the formation switches from 4-1-2-3 when we attack to 4-2-1-3 when we defend. He was always the first one to sprint back to cover Song and he did retrieve lots of balls. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in that area though
Chris, would Malouda, Anelka, Ivanovic or Anderson, Carrick, Nani and Valencia get in our squad at the moment? No… Stupid reasoning.
Chris – while he may not get in the starting Man U or Chelski side, he would get in the Liverpool team – no problem.
Perhaps I get frustrated because I want Diaby to use his size more than he does. You know, be more Vieira-like, (I realize that’s a bit unfair, but still.)
We’ve all seen Diaby at his best, and if he could bring his A game consistently, we’d surely have quite a player.
By the way, how did we get to the point where we have so many options in midfield? It wasn’t that long ago that we were all praying for Arsene to buy a midfielder (or two), and now we seem to have plenty of options. Amazing.
We haven’t looked that exposed in this new formation, to be fair. We have only been exposed when we became a bit complacent at the end. Would like our defensive unit to be talked about in same manner as our attacking unit. That can be only achieved by keep clean sheets. Anyway… asking for too much!
Diaby and Song have formed a partnership. They haven’t been as spectacular as Gallas and Vermalean’s partnership, but it still is a solid partnership. When going is good – I would not want to change that. And Diaby has been playing consistently good, so he deservers the chance.
However, I am a bit biased towards Nasri. He is a better technical player than Diaby and can defend. We need to give player like Nasri and Rosicky more time on the pitch to make a difference, so would like them to start from the start.
Oh BTW, did you guys watch the Wed game on Sky Sports? Tony Adams was doing the Punditry and apparently, Wenger told him that our formation is 4-1-4-1.
Owen..”.I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him head the ball.” You obviously missed the ManU and Birmingham games. Think most of us would have been very happy if he hadn’t headed either.
Booland: neither 4-3-3 nor 4-1-4-1 does the intricacy any honours. Really, it is a 4-1-1-1-2-1. And interchanging all the time. So I call it the 4-1-5 (when attacking) or 4-2-4 (when defending)
Its clear that Denilson is the first choice anyway.
The Diaby question is an interesting one, as the way the rest of the team are playing he stands out when he does give the ball away. However, he does (mostly) work hard and give us a balance alongside Song in that he can attack and defend.
The answer is in realising that this is an improving and developing side. Part of the problem after 03/04 was that all of our team were at the top of their game but near the end of their Arsenal careers. This meant that Cesc aside, we did not have players coming through who were ready to be starters at a top side.
Now we have an XI of 8-9 players playing really well, and that is the best situation to develop a couple of improving players who are not quite there yet. Diaby reminds me of Song a year ago – the difference is that we can afford for him to make a few mistakes as he learns the game while the rest of the side are playing so well.
no-one knows whether he will be a great player or not, butI trust Arsene’s opinion on his potential more than the serial blog moaners who said the same about Song & Walcott
@Haho, for me the formation is: 2-3-2-3. Perfect Symmetry!
hi goodplaya,
glad to hear there are others as paranoid as me!
after the first goal I was also thinking “please don’t concede one now!”
what a pleasant surprise it was
i think the fact it happened showed just how spurs do not have the mentality of a winning side
instead of looking to score immediately they looked shell shocked and seemed to lack the belief that they could bounce back with an equaliser
hi all… its really quite simple. Without Bendtner Diaby must always play. You can’t teach size. Not only is the side small… it is tiny. Diaby is very important at the moment for set pieces.
@Good to be a GOONAH!!! – Diaby has the perfect size and physique for set pieces but paradoxically that is the least developed part of his game (both in defence and attack). He is a very poor header of the ball, is positionally suspect and is much better steaming forward on counter attacks and supporting the midfield as it breaks up play and turns defence into attack.
Lets not forget, there is a player who works harder, is more energetic, more efficient, more creative, a better passer and a better defender than Diaby. Oh, and positionally sound. Denilson. Nasri may be more creative and Rosicky too and they both have great grafting and hustling skills, but Denilson is my no1 for next to Cesc and Song. Amazing then that if things go badly, and we need more creativity (unlikely) we can sub Denilson for the other two and Ramsey, Merida and Wilshere. What a team. Fantastic.
Why do we need to question diaby,when its clear we have a top french international .Sure he’s had a few dodgy moments,but the lads missed alot of football, I think nasri will take his place soon, but lets just get behind our team and not knock em. Early leavers hang your head in shame! Talking of nasri, i thought he’s goal was a blinder the other night. As for cesc,he seems to have his mojo back and us gooners are loving it. Finally lets hope we continue our superb flowing football against the wolves tmoro. “Come on you gunners”
The never ending argument about Diaby yeah? The same as we always linger around Denilson, Eboue and Bendtner. Frankly speaking, I get anxious each time Diaby is on the ball (same for Bendtner and Eboue, but getting lesser as their form is improving significantly), other than his occasional brilliance in scoring, he gives the ball away too easily, and this is very dangerous when he plays central midfield, cos’ he usually loses the ball at, if not very near to our own half. Another thing, his header is really poor despite his height! Nasri will be a better option! He holds on to the ball very, very well due to his upper body strength! Leave Rosicky on the winger position!
Den,Deni,Denilson!!
The lad is 2 years younger but light years brighter than Diaby in his passing and vision.
He will prove to be our top choice for the job despite having a mediocre season last year.
Hope to see him bring more Samba spirit to our
midfield！
Re Diaby/Nasri/Rosicky, I would go with Diaby in EPL and Nasri in CL. And I see Rosicky playing either on the left or right of the front three. I don’t see it as much of a conundrum because I expect Arsene to be very circumspect with Rosicky given his injury record.
Ramsey starts! In for Song.
although diaby has physical prescence i don’t agree with the argument that he adds to our defensive capabilities because he doesn’t work hard enough and in the centre he is positionally unaware. he tends to just follow the ball rather than keeping the shape. nasri and rosicky are both harder working and more intelligent positionally as well as being better on the ball (obviously). also in the away leg against standard liege rosicky put in several excellent tackles and i thought was by far the best player on the pitch.
conceding late goals is a worry. at the moment we don’t have a grimandi to come on for the last twenty minutes to shore up the defence. i remember during the double winning year he came on in almost every match that we were winning and basically killed the game. not pretty but effective.
rosicky is an international captain for a reason. he’s a different class to the likes of diaby and denilson.