Alexander Hleb

[Gurgen]

No. That's how you pronounce an 'h' in Belarussian/Polish I do believe.

No, actually the letter 'H' does not exist in Russian and Belarussian.

His name is pronounced Khleb/Gleb, I believe Kh is the right English spelling for the letter khi ('x' in Greek and slavic languages).

 

[Jkreffer]

Yeh Gurgens right it is "Khl" eb. Like Kleberson( but hopefully better)

 

[hesham]

After seeing the Video's looks like a good player...
Good balance, runs well with the ball and has good vision
But some of the things said in theis place about is bollox
Go past 3 players easily, beegkamp vision watever else..
hopefully under wenger he can improve even more and more
but on wat ive seen on the simple basis of who is a better SWP anyday

 

[Legend#1]

'Hleb was one of the best players in the Bundesliga'

Alexander Hleb
By Chris Harris

Aside from fleeting glimpses of him in the Champions League, most Arsenal fans won't have seen Alexander Hleb in action.

The Belarus midfielder completed his move to Highbury on Monday but remains an unknown quantity for many supporters. What are his qualities? What is his best position? What will he bring to Arsène Wenger's side?

Raphael Honingstein, a sports journalist for German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, monitored Hleb during his five-year spell with Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. He believes Hleb is a worthy addition to the Arsenal squad.

"Hleb is a classic No 10," Honingstein told Arsenal.com. "He's most happy to be behind the stikers, almost like a classic playmaker. He likes to make things happen.

"Technically he was one of the best players in the Bundesliga. People have talked about him playing wide but he's not really a winger at all. He started there at Stuttgart because, at the time, Krasimir Balakov was in the centre.

"For the last few years he moved into a central role and became the focal point of every attacking move at Stuttgart. Everything went through him. He's very tricky, excellent on the ball and likes to look for the killer pass.

"People have said that he doesn't score enough goals when you consider how gifted he is, but he gets lots of assists. That was his main role at Stuttgart."

Balakov, a Bulgarian international who won 75 caps for his country, was clearly an influence on Hleb's career. He took the Belarussian under his wing when Hleb moved to Germany and supported him on and off the pitch.

"Hleb came over to Germany at a young age and learned from Balakov," says Honingstein. "They worked closely together, Balakov acted as his translator and they spoke Russian on the pitch to fool defenders.

"Hleb came in when Balakov was at his peak and he eventually stepped into his shoes, taking over Balakov's mantle. Hleb has achieved a lot in a short time and Balakov had a role in that."

Arsenal's new recruit has grown accustomed to a central role in recent seasons but it will be interesting to see how Wenger deploys him. Thierry Henry, Lauren and Emmanuel Petit all adapted successfully to new roles after arriving at Highbury, and pre-season should give us a few clues about how Hleb will fit in.

But whichever position he ends up in, Honingstein is confident Hleb will be a success. "Skillwise and technically he's brilliant," he concludes. "When things go right for him, it is beautiful to watch."

 

[Anonymous]

Pires scored 8 goals in two seasons at Marseille. Now he's scoring 15 a season. Players change.

That's not completely accurate. He failed to adapt at Marseille. He scored 35 goals in 3 seasons at Metz. Everyone who knows anything about Pires knows he was always a great player and goal scorer-- at Marseille he had personal issues which crept into his game. This is why he came to us so cheap. Hleb will never be a good goal scorer; he will probably score more than he did at Stuttgart, but that's hardly an achievement.

BTW, it's 11 goals for Pires in all competitions at Marseille.

 

[brianfrance]

Nope 13 goals French league + European cups at marseille (so a bit more as he obviously scored a few in the cup and league cup)
And at metz it's 11 goals a season in the league, 3 seasons in a row - plus 1 goal in 93-94 and 9 in 94-95
and he left marseille because a 'guy' (not talking about the player) like bobby simply can't play at marseille....a very 'strange' club you know...

Anyway, Hleb will score here, any attacking player gets at least 5 easy tap-ins per season :wink:

 

[patrick42uk]

Hleb loves to attack. The £6million Belarus ace, from VfB Stuttgart, said: “I don’t understand these horizontal passes, which are designed to slow the game down.

“Surely the whole point of the game is to try and worry the opposition, to deceive them and make life difficult.

“Sure, you can forget about creativity and try to score the only goal in the only counter-attack, like the Greeks did in Euro 2004 — but who’s going to watch that?”


he'll fit in well here methinks

 

[HalliGoalie]

Pires scored 8 goals in two seasons at Marseille. Now he's scoring 15 a season. Players change.

I didn´t know that

 

[Taozhe]

Pires scored 8 goals in two seasons at Marseille. Now he's scoring 15 a season. Players change.

That's not completely accurate. He failed to adapt at Marseille. He scored 35 goals in 3 seasons at Metz. Everyone who knows anything about Pires knows he was always a great player and goal scorer-- at Marseille he had personal issues which crept into his game. This is why he came to us so cheap. Hleb will never be a good goal scorer; he will probably score more than he did at Stuttgart, but that's hardly an achievement.

BTW, it's 11 goals for Pires in all competitions at Marseille.

You seem so determinded to prove Wenger wrong and hope Hleb fails so you can have a major ego boost ;D

 

[KingReyes]

Hleb loves to attack. The £6million Belarus ace, from VfB Stuttgart, said: “I don’t understand these horizontal passes, which are designed to slow the game down.

“Surely the whole point of the game is to try and worry the opposition, to deceive them and make life difficult.

“Sure, you can forget about creativity and try to score the only goal in the only counter-attack, like the Greeks did in Euro 2004 — but who’s going to watch that?”


he'll fit in well here methinks

Agreed, he is definatley Arsenal material with that sort of mentality.

 

[Soler]

No. That's how you pronounce an 'h' in Belarussian/Polish I do believe.

No, actually the letter 'H' does not exist in Russian and Belarussian.

His name is pronounced Khleb/Gleb, I believe Kh is the right English spelling for the letter khi ('x' in Greek and slavic languages).

That's what I meant, sorry. As far as I know Belarussian originated from Polish, and my best mate is from there, so I just asked him. He told me Guh-lay-b.

 

[velimir85]

Don't know about Belarussian, in Serbian it would be pronounced with H like in house. And Hleb in Serbian means bread

Best of luck to our new player, and I'm pretty confident he'll fit in. I'm looking forward to the situation - Hleb's killer pass - Henry's killer finish

 

[tbbosa]

Great signing, the guy has great movements on and off the ball. I don't understand this "he does not score enough goals" BS. Kezman scored lots before Chelsea, but now he is being pushed out. Aw will do magic with this guy and he just needs a little bit of polishing. People will be surprised how well and quickly he will adapt.

 

[IBL]

Thanks for those video highlights Black187.

Having seen those I'm even more excited about this guy playing for us. He has a great athletic build and two great feet, can dribble with the ball and and go past players, has a killer final ball and works his socks of for the team. He is quite similair to Pires in that he can play on the wings or in centre midfield. Also he takes a lot of set pieces and delivers a good corner.

 

[Double_H]

a Great Player with a Great Price
Since Taylor moved to Villa Arsen is going to get a Keeper for Sure

now its Batista or Torres ;D

 

[Double_H]

a Great Player with a Great Price
Since Taylor moved to Villa Arsen is going to get a Keeper for Sure

now its Batista or Torres ;D

 

[kel varnsen]

Thanks for those video highlights Black187.

Having seen those I'm even more excited about this guy playing for us. He has a great athletic build and two great feet, can dribble with the ball and and go past players, has a killer final ball and works his socks of for the team. He is quite similair to Pires in that he can play on the wings or in centre midfield. Also he takes a lot of set pieces and delivers a good corner.

yeah, he is pretty quick. i think he is perfect for our quick, free flowing football. he is extremely good on the counter attack; not hard to see why wenger signed him...

 

[sabret00the]

in the paper today they were saying how he's renowned over there for hanging onto the board too long, sounds like a bit of van Persie-ism in him

 

[Anonymous]

Pires scored 8 goals in two seasons at Marseille. Now he's scoring 15 a season. Players change.

That's not completely accurate. He failed to adapt at Marseille. He scored 35 goals in 3 seasons at Metz. Everyone who knows anything about Pires knows he was always a great player and goal scorer-- at Marseille he had personal issues which crept into his game. This is why he came to us so cheap. Hleb will never be a good goal scorer; he will probably score more than he did at Stuttgart, but that's hardly an achievement.

BTW, it's 11 goals for Pires in all competitions at Marseille.

You seem so determinded to prove Wenger wrong and hope Hleb fails so you can have a major ego boost ;D

trust me, my ego doeesn't need the boost. I hope he ****ing exceeds and makes me completely wrong in my assessment of him. That would make me very happy

 

[Ridge]

still, i have a problem with pronouncing his name. is it "ch-leb"? (which I heard from the news, Alexander ch-leb)

another thing, how much is the exact transfer fees? in pounds please.

thank you.