By Joël Che on Sunday, August 10, 2008

Past results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R
Aug, 09	6:00 PM	AT	Fc Sevilla (N)	1	1	Draw

Wenger said he would go into the season happily without any more additions but would like to add a defensive midfielder if possible.

The team is fairly stable but one cannot ignore the little changes that have potential impact on the time it will take for this Arsenal team to really function at its peak. There has been no partnership up front even though Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner are not new (we cannot assume that the team has an instinctive play with their attackers the way Man United will have this season from the stability of players last season).

That is the same with both wide midfielders although only Samir Nasri is new and then again the case in midfield since Mathieu Flamini left. Although Arsenal only have a small number of new players who will be in the starting 11 always – in fact I guess it will only be Nasri who will be starting always if he keeps up – it doesn't actually mean stability because everything above the defence is changing. The Arsenal defence is the only part of the team where one might expect stability.

So having an experienced and most importantly, a SIMPLE defensive midfielder is important in a changing team. It is the heart of the team and really must be a consistent and predictable part. It is generally not a great place for learners.

If we didn't sign anyone, I have decided that my preference (after watching three pre-season games and four games from last season) would be Denilson. Wenger seems to be grooming Alexander Song for defence rather than midfield and he betrayed the fact that he might be banking more on Diaby for a defensive midfielder in a few interviews at the start of pre-season but I'm hoping pre-season has changed his mind.

Abou Diaby is a potentially great player. He is good on the ball, he can dribble, go forward and his shots are pretty good. I would think he would score quite a few goals if he played regularly. Diaby is also more composed around the box and can move left and right easily. Diaby is also taller and stronger than Denilson and that is important in the premiership.

However, Diaby is not simple. His concentration is poorer; his passes are delayed and not always accurate or not always the best options and most crucially, he doesn't know where not to risk a free kick by tackling clumsily. He gives away a lot of free kicks and with those long legs, he will be unfairly punished for some just like Patrick Vieira was. In my view, Diaby is far more suitable covering for Fabregas than replacing Flamini. He is also potentially a very good versatile sub because he is not that predictable for opponents.

Denilson is most importantly, simple. His concentration is very good. He has the concentration of a defensive midfielder – one that does not miss ghost runners in the box and that predicts where trouble is going to be. He may not be as strong but he puts his body where it needs to be to be effective in challenging. Like Gilberto, even when his challenges bring players down, they rarely draw yellow cards and he is aware of where he is not to give free kicks. Denilson is quite capable of scoring too and is good at joining attacks at the right moment. His short passing is simple, decisive and quick.

However, his size is a problem. Cesc and Denilson will lose a lot of balls in the air. They will also be pushed easier and premiership referees won't care. They would also not be able to help defend corners as much. Denilson's long passing could also be improved but on balance, he would be my choice.

The Amsterdam Tournament has been good for Arsenal. Arsenal would have beaten Seville had Wenger sent Bacary Sagna to his usual position and kept Johan Djorou in the middle. But the tournament told me that we would have to rotate / substitute strikers and midfielders in games more often next season to because we now have players that can come in and create a whole complete new team in case we are getting unnecessarily stifled as was the case in many games last season. That's good news about the squad.

I refused to blame the Arsenal defence for last season's demise. It is hard not to notice there is a partnership problem at the centre. Phillippe Senderos has great games besides Djourou almost always. I think Kolo Touré and William Gallas have some problems together. In any case, luck does have a play in football. Arsenal made a few defensive mistakes against Real Madrid and never got punished. Against Juventus the defence did well and got punished unfairly. Against Seville, tons of mistakes at left back never got punished and against Ajax, two simple mistakes got punished.

Wenger said of Adebayor after the Ajax game: "It's difficult to keep him quiet for 90 minutes". Very true! If he scored earlier in the game it would have been easier but we needed that kind of work out. In fact if Arsenal scored earlier in games last season, we would have won the League but I'm happy that with Ade, you get an increasingly good feeling that he will get one sooner or later.

It is unfair to talk of defensive frailties (as most papers said of the Ajax game). Those were simple mistakes, it was the finishes that were spectacular. Not many players would have finished like Suarez or Huntelaar.

A team with a very mature defensive midfielder gets away with those little mistakes because the midfielders mop things up. Vidic / Ferdinand may look fantastic but they make many mistakes – sometimes many more than Kolo and Gallas. But the difference is that United's central midfielders are rarely over-committed in counter-attacking because of Ronaldo's attacking style which United uses a lot, does not require many passes in midfield. So their defenders spend their time composed and mopping up.

A very experienced defensive midfielder goes a long way. Flamini gave Arsenal energy but not composure. So while we have to sort out the partnership in defence, the crucial part really is solving the midfield problem.

User Comments

33

Jay

Posted on 15 Aug, 2008 at 04:14 PM - Reply

Wenger should sign Alonso, he's intelligent, gets stuck in, always on the move, he is a good allrounder and his partnership with Cesc would be immense

32

Mishko

Posted on 13 Aug, 2008 at 01:10 PM - Reply

WE SHOULD BUY YAYA TOURE OR VELOSO,& ARSHAVIN.

31

AG

Posted on 13 Aug, 2008 at 03:55 AM - Reply

I'd love to see Alex Song being used as a partner for Kolo Toure at centre back (remember how Toure's surprise promotion to main centre back alongside Campbell led to the great unbeaten league campaign of 2004?) This could be a similar story here, where I have seen Song improve immensely since his first year at the club, definitely deserves a crack!

As for the defensive midfielder, I'm afraid I believe that Denilson, although good defensively, is too weak and small for this area of the pitch, especially with Cesc being of a similar stature! We need an imposing and for God's sake strong, experienced, towering figure. Yaya Toure and Xabi Alonso are good, though probably aren't leaving their clubs and even if they do, will be for over-inflated prices, though if one of them doesn't start tomorrow's Champions League qualifiers there might be some realistic hope! I have gone on about this before, but I believe Mamadou Diarra of Real Madrid would be a fantastic option!

30

Zohaib

Posted on 12 Aug, 2008 at 04:22 PM - Reply

please stop with all the fuss about yaya toure !

he's not coming !!!

Barca isn't letting him go and i havent heard him say he wants to come here either. i havnt even heard we want him. its just the media doing the usual rubbish speculation since his brother plays for us. and somehow that makes sense for them to write about it as if its a real possibility.

i couldnt say how good he is from the very few matches i'v seen barca play so i shouldnt comment about his ability.

but has anybody seen lorik cana of marseille !?
that guy is a TERMINATOR. theres a few clips of him on youtube.

29

Muhammad Zahid

Posted on 12 Aug, 2008 at 07:52 AM - Reply

Dear Zohaib,
its nice to read any pakistani name on Arsenal's fan site .. If so.
Otherwise i was thinking i m the only gooner in pakistan .. I would be happy if you contact , if you can .
elegantegile@hotmail.com

28

Cyril

Posted on 12 Aug, 2008 at 07:13 AM - Reply

I think Ramsey and Coquelin are the best DM now,
but reallistically we should welcome EBOUE in that role.

Denilson is a cover for fabregas, he is not an arsenal defensive midfielder because he is too slow (gilberto like) and we like fast football.

The problem is that wenger wants Denilson to play first team to further his development, so he will play him out of position as DM in front of eboue/diaby/ramsey/bischoff/coquelin

27

Gunner1234

Posted on 12 Aug, 2008 at 04:23 AM - Reply

Who's the answer for defensive midfielder?

I agree, get Yaya Toure.

26

john quinn

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 11:55 PM - Reply

hate to say this but we should have done more to keep saint gilberto

25

Don

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 09:52 PM - Reply

Denilson is the short term answer....and could be the long term if he (im)proves himself. Reads the game extremely well, is pretty pacy, can shoot as well as pick out a killer pass but can often drift out for periods in the game....which should not really happen in the holding midfield role. He also could do with being a tad taller (for winning headers).

24

pallioss

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 09:49 PM - Reply

Yaya Toure for me big ,strong ,powerfull and just looks another viera - but we all no he will go with Inler - cheap option , but in my opinion a big gamble - This is the season for wenger do Deliver no more backing him up he must deliver this season or else the fans will turn on him

23

Dumboo

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 09:00 PM - Reply

As an Arsenal fan I am lookng forward to see our arsenal line-up this year. As regarding this news I bet denilson will be far better in the defensive midfielder role than diaby because as wenger said he can attack very good and really all our other misfielders are the attacking type. Altough it would be nice to see toure reunited with his brother yaya. This year or at least the beginning I think that Wilshere should step in left midfield not diaby because I feel he is much better than diaby and we ave nasri and rosicky missing so it's between diaby and ramsey

22

aabbs7

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 07:27 PM - Reply

To me Denilson looks like a lightweight version of fabregas, I think we need a real bulldog type, hard, simple sort of player, not a silky smooth classy type player like Denilson clearly is, I think yahya Toure would be excellent sighning.

21

Charlie

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 05:26 PM - Reply

I'm not sure i agree with the bit about the Fabregas - Denilson partnership not being tall enough and it being a problem with corners and long balls.
Yes, they may not be the tallest but i never really thought it was an issue when it was Fabregas - Flamini.

Central defence is where we should have taller players. They're the ones who mostly have to deal with long balls.

Take a look at Barca for instance. They don't have too many tall players and haven't had in recent years but they seem to be coping fine as far as i'm aware.

20

Zohaib

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 04:37 PM - Reply

Micah Richards - didnt he sign a new contract with Man City last season ?
Wenger obviously knows more than we do. he's probably already looked into the situation. we all know micah richards is quality. he can play at RB or CB or even a makeshift RM. but it depends on wage demands and transfer fee. maybe its true that he wants to come to arsenal but if we were going to sign him we would have and if his contract situation allows maybe we'll sign him in january if we have problems at the back or next season if we need to. he certainly is worthy. another player who looks good is V. Kompany but i remember reading Wenger saying he wasn't after him. i wonder why. maybe wenger'l sign another unknown genius.
i'd like to see toure and djourou playing together. with a bit of work toure and gallas could work too but i'm worried why wenger hasnt sorted out the communication problems b/w them.

19

clubgitmo76

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 03:37 PM - Reply

i think that given the certain circumstances i would even use eboue in middle with cesc- seems to have been used there successfully in preseason at times- or move kolo toure to cm with cesc> can we afford to have senderos on pitch though?....
we lost a gem in flamini-
now he finds it hard to even fit into milan- i betch ya mathieu wishes he never left!

18

Chimango in Leicester

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 01:32 PM - Reply

It is amazing that for the third year running we are entering a new season with doubts. As a loyal Arsenal fan I look forward to a season when we will feel great about our squad before the season begins. It is clear to everyone who cares that we have a problem in defence and midfield and our summer signing are not going to address those problems. It is almost as though there is no pressure on the manager to win trophies. As good a manager as he is, he seems to have a stubborn streak that compells him to do things his on way even when certain obvious things need addressing.

17

David

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 10:08 AM - Reply

It's so frustrating to see so many young midfielders got injured so often. Something wrong with the training plans? fitness manager? or recovery room? Anyway, I don't see Diaby the right solution to the CM position, because he is simply too injury-prone and concedes too many reckless fouls, although his shooting ability is better than average. I'd urge Wenger to sign Alonso so he would have a better partnership with Fabregas as they are Spanish and can communicate well in Spanish.

16

Bichwa

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 08:57 AM - Reply

I agree that Denilson can be a better option as defencive midfilder provided that He will be given chances to gain more experience in the position. I can't rule out the possibility of using Song in the position as the Manager is building him more to have defencive mind. With that in mind and his ability to defend he can do better as we can vividly refer to African competions where he did very well. Song can be a good backup for mighty Den.

15

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONER

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 08:56 AM - Reply

WE SHOULD BUY YAYA TOURE OR ALONSO.

14

osman

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 02:35 AM - Reply

Man! this is a great comment. I agree with you on most analysis especially the use of Denilson in defensive midfield in case none is signed. I also think that Arsenal last season's problem was a combination of feeble mental state and bad refree decisions. This year gonna be different hopefuly with Van P and Ade fit and with midfield contribution of Nasri and Fab. Samir is an exciting player and once he got used to the premiership, I hope sooner, he'll be hugely influential.

13

kukun

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 02:12 AM - Reply

denilson is the best.for my opinion Gallas-Toure have a lot problem.the best position for gallas is left back...or wenger can try gallas at defensive midfielder.
adios

12

arthur87

Posted on 11 Aug, 2008 at 12:45 AM - Reply

Yaya seems to be the perfect matchg to the midfield positio, but Arsene has the final say and looking forward to it.

11

Jason

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 10:48 PM - Reply

who do you think we can possibly get that could fit the role of a defensive mid besides denilson being your pick over diaby?

10

Zohaib

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 08:55 PM - Reply

Just read Diaby's out for a month.

The likely choice for the 2nd central midfielder looks to be Denilson. Even though I think Diaby is potentially a better player than Denilson, he's not quite there yet. Defensively Denilson is, at the moment, better. And to be fair to him, he has had a very good pre-season. He has looked a better candidate than Diaby for the role, although he may have had more playing time, which could make the analysis biased.

Ramsey's had a decent pre-season. But he's probably part of our Carling Cup squad before being a first team regular. Although, since Diaby, Rosicky and Bischoff are all injured, it means Ramsey's 3rd choice central midfielder for a while ! Good for him !

So thats the more obvious choices dealt with. Now for the 'Wenger-way'. Who's betting on Eboue or Senderos to play as out defensive-midfielder ?! Wenger's played them both at DM in pre-season, once each. Eboue was surprisingly not getting me frustrated. Probably because he had little running-down-the-right-wing-and-loosing-the-ball-after-not-knowing-what-to-do-with-it.
On a more serious note, my personal opinion of them both is that they are Arsenal's weakest link; Senderos based on technical ability - he's too slow. Drogba always gets the better of him, as do most other strikers. He's top heavy and doesn't have quick feet or good balance which is a big problem. Being 3rd choice defender he's just not good enough.
Eboue for the fact that he's one of the very few players in our squad who is not humble. The tackle with Evra last season describes him. He's just not mature enough. There was a brilliant article I read on here a few days back - 'Arsene Wenger and the pursuit of the post ego' ( http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/3105599/Arsene-Wenger-and-the-pursuit-of-the-post-ego.html ).
Thats what Arsenal is - a brilliant TEAM of humble players with great technical ability and great character as Arsene likes to point out. And Eboue, like a few other players who have played for us, lets the frustration get to him too often. We got rid of

Mad-Jens, but for those who like to see the drama, we now present to you Emmanuel Eboue.

The only thing he has going for him is that he was a right back and knows a little more about defending than Walcott. The reason why he's looking more like a first team regular (which for me is a troublesome thought) is that we no longer have Ljungberg or Pires or Hleb. We do have Nasri. And Rosicky. If they can just get fit and play together, that should keep Eboue out. :D
And this season hopefully Walcott will also help keeing him out.

The other two left for the central midfield role are Djourou and Song. Song has played there previously, but Wenger might play him as a defender rather than a central midfielder. Although if he doesn't sign anyone else in the transfer window and has injury worries, Song will probably be the more obvious choice as opposed to Djourou. The only reason why I've mentioned Djourou as a possible candidate for DM is because he stated his desire to play in that position if it was required of him.

We've all read some names in the media about the possible new signing. Yaya Toure, Gokhan Inler, Xabi Alonso and others. Today we're linked with Sebastian Giovinco of Juventus
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_3961306,00.html

Now that Diaby's also on the injury list maybe that means Arsene will sign someone. It's got me excited !

9

dexter213

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 08:18 PM - Reply

Against Ajax Denilson made a few perfectly weighted passes. With him in the team Arsenal's football flows smoothly. After that one game and all this banter about a DM he just looked so composed, focused, aggressive and above all cool.
As much as i want an experienced midfielder i am curious to see how this guy turns out playing week in week out.

8

Emmanuel Julius

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 07:39 PM - Reply

I think you are right.Arsenal lost the last premiership due to some error e.g We dont have a second team that is our first eleven played all the competition last season and since they are not machine they will surely get tired on the run...And that of the defencesive mid-fielder I thind denilson will be better,I belive with some training from proffessor Arsene Wenger (called here in Nigeria) he will be of good work over there...

7

seun

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 04:12 PM - Reply

i think flamini and denilson are comparable but diab is far to rough viera got away with but now u get red cards for little things

6

Muhammad Zahid

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 02:58 PM - Reply

Agree with your thoughts my dear Jol .. Other than this few holes in Arsenal's style are as follow.
1. Burning desire to kill the game.
This team severely lacks in killing instinct which other teams have in abundence at the same level where Arsenal stands.
Look at Man U and Liverpool they hardly look satisfied after one, two, three and even four goals, though Chelsea had a different story a season ago.
2.Too many experiences in a season.
Lot many experiences in a single season is a routine at Arsenal football club. Every year we spent an ample time to establish two or three players in one or two areas which is good because we have a pipeline of talent but time is an importent factor in the league.
3.Rotations of positions.
This term is self explainatory for all gooners For exemple yet we dont know where Song will play when he will return from China.We are living in the world of SPECIALISTS. Are we meaning it?
4. Guts on the Bigger occasions.
Lack of Guts we experienced in the second leg of our final game in champions league, game against Chelsea and ManU in the latter half of the season where we came empty handed after taking lead even.
So my dear we need only these few elements in the team along with your technical analysis and this is the time to instat this energy in the team otherwise it would be too late.
With all the respect to all gooners and THE TEAM.

5

fredi

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 02:42 PM - Reply

i agree with your article,denilson is the best option we have @the moment,i also believe a new signing isnt necessary because wenger has signed some promising young talent after telling them @arsenal the will have their chance,we cant afford another diarra gate.youngster choose arsenal because we are a big club that will play them,so i say lets stick it out with denilson,diaby,ramsey&bischoff

4

Jay

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 02:04 PM - Reply

Whatever Wenger does he needs someone with stamina like Flamini , so he can get back easily giving Fabregas more chances to get forward

3

Yousef

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 12:15 PM - Reply

ever thought of converting kolo toure to defensive midfield?? senderos looks good in preseason, and he can make a good partner to gallas

2

Bakati

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 11:56 AM - Reply

i think denilson with his passing and ability to keep the ball should cover for fabregas, not diaby. I was impressed with a diaby denilson partnership weve seen in the preseason but we were too weak in midfield with denilson partnering fabregas, not enough speed and not enough running. we need a transfer.

1

AllyB

Posted on 10 Aug, 2008 at 11:22 AM - Reply

A newspaper speculation about Man Utd bidding for Micah Richards got me thinking ... Why not Arsenal? He supports Arsenal, wants to play for them ad can play almost any position. He could start off as a DM and move back when some of the midfield prospects bulk up or raise their game. He would take his chance when one of the back pair got injured ... and probably stay there for the rest of his Arsenal career!

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