All posts tagged Abou Diaby

The Oakland Gooner’s Thoughts on Reading and Abou Diaby

by William Boone
William Boone on April 2, 2013 in Arsenal with No comments

So during the break for us to catch up with the rest of life (or the international break depending on what you want to call it) I started going through all of my notes from the season. Some of the things I’ve addressed/mentioned/ranted about but I didn’t get to everything as, well, it was disjointed. Strangely enough, the home win against Reading somehow brought it all together.

A great and needed win, eight more to go and as Arsene Wenger said, we can only worry about ourselves. We win out and I think we will finish 3rd and on current league form and our run-in vs. that of Chelski and the Spuds I don’t think it’s a stretch. Won’t be overly disappointed if they put in a good effort and I end up wrong but I think we can do it. Other thoughts and general observations:

  • Damnation, Reading can stick a foot in. They had so many blocked shots I was dumbfounded. So I looked it up. According to Sky Sports, Reading blocked 11 shots. And Arsenal still scored four goals. Maybe Reading got a little lucky; maybe it was another situation of Arsenal trying to walk the ball into the net. Not judging one way or the other, but that game could have easily been 10-1. Good on them, Adrian Mariappa looked to be a quality player to me based on what he was facing and who he had lined up next to him.

 

  • How Arsenal handled Reading in the first 10 to 15 minuets is exactly what they haven’t been doing regularly enough this year. There hasn’t been enough of seeing how the other team comes out before attacking and/or deciding how to defend what’s coming and getting caught on the break. The early goal was key. I don’t think this defensive unit is really built to keep all clean sheets to be honest (mental individual errors being the culprit there) but if the team can get one or two and get organized before the inevitable happens, then I think nine times out of 10 Arsenal win the game which I can live with. Now if they could only sort out defending set pieces and how to take corner kicks…

 

  • Gervinho reminds me of our last No. 27, the one and only Emmanuel Eboue. He could be useless, he could be dazzling. Sadly, “the Gerv” doesn’t do the little Russian dance before being subbed in. (It’s out there, and worth a watch but I got bored Googling it) Both players had both good and poor traits: The good: They run at people, squaring up the defender as opposed to trying to get past them like Theo seems to want to do. Great. Over elaborate? Less great. Fluff a sitter or two? Bemused. Gervinho has been on the border of that with his contributions over the last year and picked it up for himself/pride/etc. somewhat with his performance today and verses Swansea. I do miss Eboue, but for the entertainment on the sidelines, not for the player on the pitch.

 

  • Tomas Rosicky is the man. Even when he has an off day offensively passing as he did against Reading, he is always chasing the ball. If you watch him on a screen from a distance or a skewed angle and it doesn’t look like he has feet, it’s just a blur. He has such tight ball control in confined spaces as well. I loved playing with midfielders like that in front of me. I say a lot of things but honestly, I think Arsenal would have won something if he hadn’t been out for 18 months and then another six, respectively, between 2007 and 2010. Enjoy him while you can (and when you can for that matter) as he will soon go the way of the Pires…

 

  • Speaking of that, Rosicky and Abou Diaby both joined Arsenal in 2006 and I read somewhere that Diaby has played more games for the club than Tomas. Both have played less than 200 games for the club in seven years. If you do the math, sadly for both players and for the club, that’s a really low number. Which leads us to Abou…

 

  • Alas, poor Diaby. Good luck to him. When Arsene didn’t buy in January, he cited squad depth in general and Diaby in particular as to why he didn’t need to. Now all we have is Franny Coquelin to fill that defensive mid backup spot and he hasn’t been entirely convincing this year. (*shakes head)  Sorry, back to the point. When Diaby was on his game, he was very good. When he was off his game, he was most likely hurt and playing on it and making both the injury and fan perception of him worse which I think kind of sums up his time at Arsenal in a way. Having done my ACL and knowing what it takes to get back to playing shape I don’t envy what he has to do over the next nine months but I’m rooting for him. He may be a pampered, well-paid professional football player but with his injury history and persistence in trying to come back you have to feel for the guy, especially if you’ve donee six months of PT/rehab. The good news is he is only 26, so maybe he can have a Rosicky-like renaissance at 30 (which is probably the next time he will get off the treatment table…)

Come on, you Gunners!

Seriously, What Do Arsenal Need From the Window?

by William Boone
William Boone on January 29, 2013 in Arsenal with No comments

By William Boone (The Oakland Gooner)

Good win at Brighton on Saturday, even if we did leave it late and shut down a couple of times on defense (The table I was sitting at did not enjoy that). A win in a Cup tournament is a win. Enough said about that, on to the matter at hand and I’m not talking about a slightly in-form Liverpool (Luis Suarez bites people, and Brendan Rodgers gave him the arm-band???) on Wednesday. Let’s talk transfers, or more specifically what Arsenal need in this window.

With the transfer market closing down in the next several days, (I still don’t understand how they decided on this as the appropriate time and length, but that’s a different story altogether) everyone is clamoring for signings. Fair enough, we’ve put in a couple of crap performances this season—especially in January—that outlined the need for additional squad members. The highlight of this is the plight of Andrey Arshavin, who can’t be bothered to go to the gym, let alone play 20 minuets in a high-tempo Premiere League game.

To me, the issue is the squad: How thin is it? How thick is it? Where’s the deadwood? If I could, I would look directly at Nicklas Bendtner and Sebastien Squillaci (AKA the Squid) but again that’s neither here nor there. The question to me is what can be done to improve the group? No one person will change the 10 other people around them, regardless of the time, space or whatever else. So the question is, what needs (or doesn’t) need to be added before the window closes?

So I thought about this in several ways, and outside of making a chart I decided that I could simplify my thinking and look at in two ways which are broken down as such:

1) What Arsenal need with a fully healthy squad (I know, this is purely hypothetical and will never happen).

2) What Arsenal need right now based on current resources available. There are four positions, in my mind, that need to be addressed. Here is what I’ve come up with:

 

Striker/Center Forward

Healthy Arsenal: I think we’re good. Podolski can play there, and as much as I hate to admit it, Walcott can as well. He’s not TH14 in size, but pretty much everything else is of similar capabilities (blasphemy, but he did re-sign so he has a couple of more years to try), the speed to cut in incisively and could be used in that role if injury required. That being said, I think we could use another striker, unless Arsene thinks he’s turning someone into Bergkamp. If we’re playing a 4-3-3, we have plenty of options, but perhaps not a plan B.

Injury Riddled Arsenal: We are screwed. If Giourd goes down, who do we have? All of our purported strikers are wingers who come in. The ‘Shavin? He is both out of shape and out of contract in June. There is a definite need for at least a little cover and someone who can bring a difference to the side. They may sit on the bench if everyone is healthy but I think making some kind of move, even promoting from the youth team would make people a little happier.

 

Center Back

Healthy Arsenal: With Dijorou out on loan and looking for a permanent move away (I’m sad about this, by the way), there is the need for cover. Ignasi Miquel has done nicely when he’s played and I think he’s a keeper, but we only have three center halves (I don’t count the Squid in this as he is just there to make up numbers for training and look forlorn on the bench like Skeletor with skin). It would be good if he had more experience but he’s shown that he can do the job, even filling in as a full-back on several occasions. I’ll miss Kyle Bartley, I think he will come good as his performances in the COC showed but as long as he’s a swan, I’m glad he can only head it off the bar.

Injury Riddled Arsenal: We are screwed. If we let Miquel go out on loan, we need someone in. Period. Someone who would be versatile (could play on the flanks) would be nice but with at least (hopefully more) games to go, we need cover it we loan anyone else out.

 

Defensive MF/ All around player

Healthy Arsenal: His name is Aaron Ramsey. Now he gets to earn that new contract. I like him a lot and when he’s on—like he is now—he reminds me of Ray Parlor. Good box to box, as long as he keeps his focus and limbs attached (see previous article). I think that’s all we need until Mikel Arteta gets back into the squad. Emmanuel Frimpong could have been the cover here but I think he needs the games as opposed to the bench and hopefully he can get them with Fulham at the Cottage.

Injury Riddled Arsenal: If Arteta is out longer than expected, the run in is going to be tough. Counting on Abou Diaby and Ramsey to stay fit and Jack Wilshere to stay healthy as well is a big ask. I know that Arsene talks about not wanting to “kill” players like Coquelin with new signings, but we need to be honest. Unless they can all stay fit, there will be a hole there.

 

Left Back

Healthy Arsenal: Gibbs is the future, provided he can stay fit. Jernade Meade looks promising, but he’s had some injury issues this season. He looks to be one for the future, though. As much as I like Andre Santos as a character that every team needs, his fitness is a joke and I’m pretty sure that I would have been a better use of 8.5 million pounds.

Injury Riddled Arsenal: If Gibbs goes down we are screwed. Santos may be able to put in a shift here and there but against top class opposition he’s going to get destroyed, especially if Theo is playing in front of him and drifting in as he has been lately. Cover is definitely needed here, I just don’t trust Gibbs’ legs.

So what am I asking for in the transfer window? Not much. I think we really need some defensive cover and if we can find a player who can play full back and center half, I think we would be probably alright based on the form of the last couple of games. I may totally change my mind after the game with Liverpool on Wednesday but I guess that’s just a wait and see…