Anders: What is the tactical point of buying Gervinho?
Arsenal Transfers: Is Gervinho Who We Really Need? by Anders Marshall
The transfer market is extremely slow now, but will pick up as we move into July. Right now there are more rumours than concrete deals being struck, which leaves a lot of Arsenal fans already feeling uneasy.
Arsene Wenger is being his old self by not revealing any direct ambition to sign any player in particular, but we have been linked with many players over the past month, including the likes of Chris Samba, Radamel Falcao, Gary Cahiil and Gervinho. I for one am happy that we are being linked with lots of interesting talent, but am always skeptical of certain players.
My biggest concern is with Gervinho, who currently plays for Lille in the French ligue 1. Apart from his performances is the World Cup, I don’t have much to go on other than the brief glimpses I get of him playing for Lille. He seems a decent enough player, but not what the team needs in my opinion.
Gervinho falls in the “tricky winger” position for me, despite his supposed physicality and aggresion. Andrei Arshavin is of a similar mold in terms of descriptions of this manner, but they are vastly different players when it comes down to it. My question is, don’t we have enough potential and quality in the wings? We have Nasri, Walcott, Arshavin, JET, and even Wilshere played on the left wing against Chelsea! It would be a tough spot to compete for with so many other players who are comfortable in that position. This is an area that doesn’t need bolstering with another “project” or “depth signing”. If Wenger wanted to sign a winger, make it an established goalscorer, or just stick with what we have now.
If he were to be a second striker, then we would have to cut a position in the midfield. This could be a secondary formation of 4-4-2, which worked well with the Invincibles, but that would mean leaving out one of our great midfielders, most likely Alex Song or Jack Wilshere. The current formation would not accomodate Gervinho without some changes, which I am not in favour of, because our attack is already very effective.
Gervinho has a healthy amount of goals to his name, but for me he should be scoring a lot more. He’s not the best of finishers with his feet and will often be outjumped despite his capabilities. I would prefer a more clinical striker like Falcao or if rumours are true, David Villa. Arsenal lack the cutting edge in front of goal, and I really doubt Gervinho would remedy the problem.
Another problem he presents is what to do during the African Cup of Nations, which falls right before the January/February crunch period. Players will be tired enough after this part of the season, so there is no need to have a player who plays extra games that offer no benefit to the club whatsoever.
The only pro of signing Gervinho over someone else his price tag, a reported £10.5 million isn’t as steep as the likes of Falcao and Eden Hazard. Despite the potential bargain and pay-off of Gervinho, is he really worth it? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments sections and follow me on twitter for Article Updates @MarshallArsenal
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I’m agree with u. AW philosophy is not important for fans and also for himself. So, he must listen advise his former players and fans heartbeat. This is my opinion. But Wenger can’t listen any persons.
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Gervinho is quicker than the other guys you mentioned, and he will improve our squad. I have seen him in a few games for Lille FC, and whenever he gets on the ball, he tries to make things happen. I think he will be an instant hit with the Emirates faithful, and I am excited by his potential. Ofcourse, he isn’t quite the finished article yet, but he can do for us what Nani does for Man Utd.
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gervinho can play as a second striker.we cant get the players you mentioned to buy.i dont see why david villa would leave barca not to talk about barca leting him go so is falcao.he wont come now that the coach that helped him to reach his peak is in chelsea.
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GERVNHO IS GOOD BUT I DON’T TRUST THIS GREEDY BOARD BUYING ANYBODY
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I don’t understand, you claim to not have seen very much of him, but then go on and critique him based on what admit is little evidence. What is the point?
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i disagree with your post i think he will be a good addtion to the current arsenal team, and with the out of form arshavin being linked with a move away from arsenal gervinho could be a good replacment, he can score assist and puts in a great work rate. look him up on you tube and see for yourself.
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u got this all wrong mate arsharvin aint good enough and jet is a big striker unless u like the performance of bendtner on the wings, walcott is a striker and it clearly shows he dosnt have the positional sence like real wide men such as silva pires ljungberg etc etc arsharvin is lazy and dosnt cover the fullback & walks wen loseing the ball and song our defensive mid thinks he is attacking mid i do like song but he need more diciplin
gunner4life..
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Just no pleasing people i seem to remember you complaining that we needed better players to come in than what we currently have. well currently our 2nd chpice right winger is bendtner. this fella will be improving on nik. he is around the same age and costing about as much as we should get for bendtner. i see no problem with this signing. surely the job of the manager this summer is to replace any first team squad members that leave with someone as good or better even if that player comes from within or is reasonably priced. clichy is next to be replaced will it be vermaelen koscielny gibbs traore or someone from outside.
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I watched him alot at world cup, and while he struck me as talented, I never got the impression he is a game changer, something I think we need. Despite his talent, he’s not what the team needs in my opinion.
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the only decent winger you mentioned in the team was walcott, nasri is boring as a winger and just cuts inside 24/7. And also why would villa come to us for fabregas, they have ONE striker, why would they sell him for a midfielder that they don’t desperately need
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Bendtner isn’t a winger, so I don’t consider him anything-choice. 2nd choice winger is probably Arshavin. Nasri and Walcott are first choice.
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I don’t think gervinho is quicker than hazard, but probably falcao.
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Speed isn’t everything, as proved by theo walcott. Fastest man in world football potentially, still has a lot of improving to do. Not saying he’s bad, just he’s young and still has a lot of room for development.
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enoch usher we don’t need to buy another winger in my opinion! I said it would be fine to stick with what we have now.
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whats pi**ing me off is that its taking sooooo long 2 sign him anybody could step in now and offer 15 mill and he’s gone im getting sick of wenger and i really do think he should leave if he fails next season!!! and about the samba case wenger needs 2 pull his finger out of his ass and jump on him cuz he is the real man we need at the back let that signing slip and we WILL be fighting for 4th AGAIN!!! also needs 2 replace clichy with someone good and can defend not gibbs or a kid who messi will have fun with!!!
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We don’t have a lot of depth on the wings.
Nasri and Walcott starters, with Arshavin and Bendtner as the subs. Arshavin and Bendtner both failed to make a consistent impact from the bench, and didn’t do enough to deserve a starting place either. So in terms of quality in depth we needed someone, especially with Bendtner leaving.
The other reasons are tactical. We are too many ball players at the moment and not enough direct players who try to get in behind defences. Nasri, Rosicky, Cesc, Wilshere, Arshavin all tend to come to the ball. Walcott is the only one from midfield who consistently makes runs off the ball. Nasri did more of that this season and got more goals but we can still use another player.
The other reason is pace. Without Walcott in the team we have looked too slow at times without anyone there to provide quick, direct running. We saw how much we missed Walcott at the Camp Nou. Someone else who can make a similar tactical impact is welcome.
And that impact is of course pushing teams back and not allow them to press us too high up the pitch, push the fullback back and shut that flank down offensively. And of course take advantage of space in behind defences.
Apart from that Gervinho looks like a proper goal scorer, and he seems to be a versatile player too. He can start on the wing and then move up top if we switch formations. And offer cover in case of injuries to our strikers.
All and all a good type of signing let’s hope he lives up to his expectations. And let’s hope the deal actually gets done, sooner or later.
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Nasri has one good game in three.
Walcott has one good game in four.
Ashavin has one good game in five.
JET is untried at first team level.
Gervinho has far better stats than the above mentioned and strongly suggest we sign him. He will improve our team, there is no doubts about that and out with the players who is soaking themselves.
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He has too many disadvantages for me though. I understand waleed what you’re saying but I think next season will be far better though, with everybody rested and back to full fitness.
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what he would give us are pace, physicality which would be useful in set pieces both during defending and attacking, strength in depth, flexibility in formation and a breath of fresh air.
If he scores say 10 goals and give 7-8 assists then he would be money’s worth
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I see your points guys, but I don’t think he’s the man to really help us compete against bigger teams.
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es obvio que gervinho es un buen elemento yo spoy colombiano y se que falcao no entra en le juegpo de arsenal fc a pesar de ser buen jugador no ha hecho muchs goles ppor el piso osea me parece que el que escribio esto esta erroneo, en fin benzema seria el ideal y es obvio que falcao se va a chelsea, adios
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Gervinho is a perfect fit for Arsenal :S. 4-3-3- arsenal team next season- (ideal)
Schezza
Sagna, Cahill, vermaelan, Baines
Wilshire, song, fabregas,
Gervinho, RVP, nasri
Bench- samba, Walcott, Chamakh, Jenkinson, willian, Barton
He would fit well in our pass and move system. This is just my opinion . Feel free to criticise.
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Erm you do know the transfer window doesn’t open until JULY 1ST. So I don’t understand why people are expecting signings.
Secondly if you think signing Gervinho is bad then you obviously don’t understand what Arsenal lack. Walcott is not effective on the wings, Nasri plays better in the middle, JET has hardly even played in the first team & Arshavin is quality.
With that being said it’s obvious Arsenal lack wingers and our play suffers greatly. Have you ever noticed how the so called “wingers” at Arsenal never track back to help the side backs. Have you noticed how ineffective most of our so called “wingers” when it comes to drifting past players.
Fact arsenal need wingers and signing Gervinho who’s clearly a great will be great.
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He will be a good signing to me cos all arsenal needs now its ANYTHING more than ENOUGH. We can’t rely only on injury prone walcott and. Nasri.
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He’s an attacking midfielder of course wenger will sign him! That said there’s no guarantee nasri or fabregas will be there next season, not to mention arshavin was woefull for the majority and wallcott wasn’t much better not to mention rosicknote. I guess it might be nice if theo got a chance through the middle aswell
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Does anybody think Wenger will start playing Walcott as a second striker?
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You guys can talk from now till the end of next season…ARSENAL is still arsenal..really dont think much has changed from the team and the coach..always d same story..soon we will hear, we were just away from a couple of dollars..Wenger, buy top class strikers like d likes of Benzema, Falcao, David villa..just for once…please..if not..i dont see the team goin anywhere..we might even go down d table(as a xtian..i say ..God forbid)
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Im not saying he is bad, im sure hes a decent player … interest from a host of top clubs and the french double would attest to that claim.
But it feels like his main attraction is price! He is not exactly a star signing and whats more wenger said himself, very clearly, that he would only be going for world class, experienced players – well gervinho, at least in my eyes does not fit that bill.
Now hopefully this buy is a reaction to us losing some squad players and if thats the case, fantastic! We really didn’t need a denilson in the team, what with: Wilshere, ramsey, lansbury needing games.
But if wenger has bought him and now thinks, ‘ok thats that position seen to’ i think we have problems – especially if he sees him as a striker
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He’s a clinical finisher
RVP drops deep, we need someone like Gervinho who is good in the air and put his foot through the ball now and again.
Our attack is good but so often this season we have passed the ball around the box with no clinical finish – Gervinho is a solution to this problem.
The fact that he can play on the wing shows his versatility. Arshavin is far too inconsistent to rely on, Nasri prefers playing through the middle, and JET is untested. Therefore, Gervinho provides an excellent alternative of playing on the wing for 4-5-1 and as a second sticker in 4-4-2.
Perfect signing if you ask me, filling up the holes in our attack exceptionally.
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Goonerbegoin I certainly hope so, he is completely wasted stuck out on the right. He doesn’t have the ball manipulation skills to be a truly effective winger. Although to be fair to arsene he did say it was only temporary and he would play him through the middle eventually. I guess when he can handle being roughed up by the likes of vidic, in which case probably never; but time will tell.
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One answer to the questions raised regarding Gervinho is that the Wenger grand plan is stultified. Unlike most top managers he doesn’t really do tactics. This is a huge handicap and accounts for the whole world knowing how to play against us. Arsenal needs to be like other teams – able to adapt tactics and formations according to the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. This is both before K.O. and during a game.
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With Ryo and Chamberlain coming we will have back ups @ LW and RW so we don’t need Gervinho
What we need is a Striker maybe 2 if Bendtner and Vela are sold
Benzema/Falcao/Higuian/Bojan/Wickham/Lukaku/Nilmar
Def Mid backup for Song
Lass Diarra/Parker/M’Vila/Muamba/Rodwell
2 CB because Gibbs can’t play a full season and I don’t think we should get another LB with Traore coming back unless it’s Aly Cissokho and some of these players can play LB too
Sakho/Samba/Cahill/Hummels/Subotic/Vertonghen/Kjær
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I will write a response to this article because there seems to be a hot debate. Stay Tuned.
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Follow @MarshallArsenal to get updates on what I’m writing, give feedback, discuss anything Arsenal related, or to suggest future topics!
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Our attack is already ‘very effective’? Are you nuts? Why is it then we struggle to score against mid and low table opposition on a weekly basis? It’s because many of them pack the midfield, and we play 3 in midfield, not 5, so you know. Walcott adds minimal defensive quality, and Arshavin none whatsoever, thus we have been playing a 4-3-3, not a 4-5-1.
IMO a conversion to a 4-4-2 or some variation on this is precisely what we need to stop our midfield getting subdued in these games. The only way we can do that with the current formation is to get wingers who are capable of winning the ball back and defending to some degree.
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Gervinho is just second best .He is not for Arsenal .He will be a huge flop. After buying defenders ,then start thinking of the forwards .The defence is terrible.I will keep repeating myself.We need ruthless defenders like Tony Adams, Martin Keown . HA! I watch them play .GERVINHO IS A DISTRACTION
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@truegooner: you can sign anyone from 9th of June to 1st of July. It’s just that if he’s from another federation, it will only become active on 1st of July.
And Wenger doesn’t announce signings until they are active.
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@Dan I think you’re insane; our midfield are never subdued, we have one of the strongest midfield’s in the world, second only to Barca IMO, and we lose/draw to mid/low table teams because of a) bad defending and b) lack of finishing
Gervinho has a brilliant ability to penetrate defences and score goals, therefore, he’ll be a great addition to our squad: Wenger knows what he’s doing.
@Sam Gooner, no he isn’t a distraction, Wenger is addressing all areas of the field where we have been lacking this season. A lack of clinical finishing was one of these flaws.
Yes our defence needs serious work, but our team would greatly benefit from a top striker like Gervinho, who can finish and create moves, and ultimately put lower teams to bed.
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@Anders this is ridiculous. It’s blatantly obvious what tactical advantage Gervinho gives us if you watched any matches where Bendtner was brought on as a winger. He can deputise as a striker or as a winger. Arshavin is incapable of playing as a striker as we’ve seen, so is Nasri and Walcott seems to be suitable but hasn’t been trusted with the role by Arsene. This website should be called “Just any excuse to nail Arsene”. The players that don’t give us a tactical advantage are Falcao, Eto’o, Odemwengie. I see there are still a lot of people who don’t realise the basic fact that the window for transfers from abroad deosn’t open until July 1st and in their ignorance decide to attack the manager for not signing anyone when he isn’t allowed to.
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Anders you are wrong, there is simply no way Hazard got more pace then Gervinho. Hazard got good acceleration but he struggles to really pull away from defenders, at top speed I think Nasri is quicker then him.
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@ANTI-GERVINHO
For those of you who think Gervinho won’t make an impact then are you saying you prefer Bendtner upfront or on the wing?
This guy can play noth positions and is very quick. He has better control on the ball than Bendtner and can finish like any other top class striker. He will definitely improve the squad but more importantly, Gervinho as first signing brings hope to a dismal transfer season so far and build morale amongst the team and fans.
Once we get his signing, there will be a big sigh of relief that one is locked away. It can only get better from here! Don’t fret Arsenal fans, Wenger will deliver!
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Charlie Arshavin was deployed as a CF last season or the one before if memory serves, after RVP was injured yet again. I think he did a decent job at it. AlsO I would argue that skillwise he is currently our best winger.
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Look man open your eyes come on u arshvin is not for arsenal send him to Russia . The only player we have in that position is nasri he is going but welcot is is good only half time ,but garvinho can be the best don’t miss him sir
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Dont miss garvinoho
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Well,now that Villas-Boas has been appointed as the new Chelsea manager,bringing in Falcao is pretty much outta question..isn’t it????
Gervinho is strong,quick and would fit well in the Arsenal system and would be a good partner to Van Persie….
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“whats pi**ing me off is that its taking sooooo long 2 sign him anybody could step in now and offer 15 mill and he’s gone im getting sick of wenger and i really do think he should leave if he fails next season!!!”
This is because the transfer window opens on July 1. Nothing can happen until next friday. Amazing to me that people with such passion for the team on the pitch can be so ignorant of the rules and regulations off the pitch.
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@Anders, Arshavin was deployed as a CF but he didn’t do well at it IMO. The reason that he didn’t do well is that he could only take the ball to feet and in front of him, being the shortest player on the pitch. The attacks became predictable and easy to defend against. He had his moments of brilliance when someone was able to play a pinpoint perfect pass onto his foot with him facing goal but whenever the passes weren’t perfectly timed and placed the ball was simply cleared. Gervinho isn’t tall but he’s taller and stronger which means he is able to make a bit more out of not-so-perfect deliveries.
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Just to expland on that i think the reason why Walcott hasn’t been put into the forward role is that he needs space to run into and, particularly with his recurring shoulder problem, he doesn’t have the ability to keep control of the ball under pressure. RvP is known for his skill and finishing but he is more than that, he also has strength and balance. If you play with a lone striker that player must be able to keep control of the ball under pressure from the defense and my question wouldn’t be about Gervinhos’ pace or skill but whether he has that ability. If not i’ll have to take back my negative response and say he’s only useful to us as a winger so Anders your post makes a good point. He comes from Ivory Coast so somehow i doubt that he’s a lightweight, generalising in a purely positive way.
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This is interesting, Sky Sports scout ratings for Gervinho from a year ago (prior to the World Cup). Possibly not much more reliable than Football Manager ratings but make of it what you want.
The Scout rating…
Shooting: 8 out of 10
Passing: 8 out of 10
Tackling: 7 out of 10
Heading: 7 out of 10
Pace: 9 out of 10
Vision: 9 out of 10
Current ability: 8 out of 10
Potential ability: 10 out of 10
OVERALL SCOUT RATING: 66/80
Current value: £15million
Potential value: £28million
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In short, in my opinion, Arshavin despite being talented shud leave and Gervinhio to replace coz he is better.
And we definitely need
(1) a clinical finisher, a fox in the box, a true striker
(2) A brute big proven central defender
(3) a goal-eeeeeeeeeeeeeee to avoid any further non sense goal-concedes
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one thing in which did king henry used to play b4 he joined us and how many goals he used to score per a season 4 us
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One thing to note is what we should know is that there is not guarantee that who ever you buy wil be an instant hit something funs want. with that in the mind, know that its not easy to pick on players unless u want wenger to buy whoever is available.
Also you people say we have alot of talent in the academy but how will they break through?
We should decide on one thing, whether to abandon the youth project and always buy or go on with the project and only buy one or two a season but not half a team like some supporters want. thanks
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@Waqas. We have clinical finisher in RvP. You can’t argue with that after his goalscoring record last season. You can say that we need a backup fox-in-the-box because RvP keeps getting injured but if he’s fit he must play, he is more important to the team than Cesc. Last season there was no point comparing them, there was a chasm between them in terms of performance.
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if not stupidity and stinginess wenger can sign both of them and bring them to Emirate Gervinho and either facao or Eto upfront but i doubt wenger would not splash out the cash fro players i would like to have his phone number if possible to call him for more info to do (alen4eva@yahoo.com)
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@charlie
i think ure one of the brightest arsenal fan i’ve seen, please make ur own blog
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exactlz kind of player we need. fast, powerful, can break lines with his dribling, etc. we lack that dimension. others include hazard, willian and taarbadt (spelling). we need natural wingers! our midfield consists of center mids and a striker (walcott). natural wingers!
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I don’t know why people keep mentioning JET it their player choices.
First I can’t recall him even playing a full game for the senior squad. (I think I might have seen him in the last 10min of an FA cup game?)
Secondly he plays for Cardiff. When I saw him in the championship play-offs he was rubbish. No confidence in front of goal and his first touch was terrible. Granted hes got room to develop but should no way be associated with a first choice role.
As for Gervinho hes just our NB replacement bench warmer. He’ll come on when we’ve run out of ideas, or when RVP takes his leave of absence.
Also 2 (maybe 3) players in your list are looking to leave, so perhaps maybe not as much competition as you think.
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None of those players that you named, nasri, walcott, arshavin etc. are actually wingers, wenger just plays them there…so i’d say we do need one proper winger.
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For the hundredth time.If Arsenal are to win anything next year, or rather just be in the contention to win next year, we need an overhaul.Chelsea are going to be better,Liverpool are going to be better,City are going to be better and ManU too are going to be better. If we are to win anything or rather stay in the top 4 next year, we must bring in 4-5 GOOD(rather great) players in…the likes of Gervinho and Samba dont fit that bill(They are borderline good, rather maybe just above average) What I suggest is:-
1) We need a leader in defense(not a raw monster like Samba)Someone experienced might be good, but I personally prefer SAKHO who is young but still a born leader.In addition hes french(so added bonus)
2) Again we need mental character in the midfield.I would vote for PARKER. Hes english and used to the game.Also hes good.
3) HAZARD-Great Talent. Needless to say anything else
4) BENZEMA/FALCAO-I would prefer Benzema. That being said both deals seem unlikely.
5) FABREGAS out- He’ll probably leave in not too long. Let him leave now
6) Contract extension for NASRI-just give him the 110 grand per week. Not worth losing such a great player over 20 thousand.
7) Sell the likes of Bendtner, Denilson, Almunia, Squillaci, Rosicky. Might even sell Dibay and Arshavin(not necessarily)
If the likes of Gervinho and Samba come in as our major signings this season, we can wave goodbye to a top 4 finish next year, leave alone actually winning something.
PS-Switch to the 4-4-2
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Has everybody forgotten what happens when the pressure is on in the big games?
Cesc finds a little corner to hide in. The defence decide to run around in circles and the goalkeeper decides the best thing to do is read a book in the back of the goal. Sadly not the Big Boys Book of Goalkeeping.
This teams issues are phychological – one bad result turns into a series of bad results and the same mistakes happen over and over and over again, made by the same players (Eboue, Djourou, Squillaci, Arshavin big polish fella in goal).
THEY’RE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH! AND WON’T EVER BE.
Why oh why won’t the manager recognise this and BUY BETTER PLAYERS,
Why does everybody over complicate it. Buy better players than some of the crap we have. Easy.
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Stupid. All wingers we’ve seen last season are not really a winger. We need a born-to-be winger who has a typical winger creativity. And I think Gervais is the right one. Open Lille website, check how many goals he scored last season, and how many assist he made. You’ll find the answer.
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Wenger needs to stop being silly and just buy;
Falcao -> Great Striker, can also score headers unlike most of our strikers
Hazard -> Fast, Young, skillful AND Knows French, he’s perfect, and he would love to play for arsenal
Samba -> Big, Black, Hench, Raw, he’s like sol campbell at his best, AND he knows French
Taraabt -> Fast, Tricky, Young and skillful, would also relish the chance to play under our stubborn manager, he ALSO knows French.
all within the £70m Range, if we sell Fabregas we’ll be rolling in money
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lmfao
who should we get then admin?
pink panther or wood pecker?i can’t believe some of the writing over here,big ups to all of those that think gervinho will improve our squad along with samba,cahill n anyone better then song n denilson,surely only then we’ll do better the last six years,barca was the best team last year,yet they still signed villa n wanted fabregas..we won nothing n u telling me we’ll do better next season n this team will grow wiser n older n suddenly will win the epl?
lmfao
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I am an arsenal fan and I have been for a long long time but they will always be top 4 only with wenger in charge. From all the transfer rumours I can see Gervinho will be our “Big” signing of the season. If this is so I am tempted to stop supporting unless they change manager or Wengers way of thinking. The worst thing is he always gives a glimmer of hope like mentioning Benzema as a target. Where is that deal now?!!
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@fab4 thanks. I could write my own blog but to be honest i’m in China now so don’t get to see much football and therefore don’t think i’m qualified. Need to be thick skinned, there’s always some pretty tasty banter amongst these comments. You never know but Gervinho sounds like a good bet to me. Not sure about Samba for Arsenal. I don’t think the problems are all about size, i think it’s about intelligence, experience and leadership. Most defenses should be able to deal with most set-pieces IF they have someone on the pitch to organise them. Are Nasri and Walcott gonna instinctively know where there’s a threat at a set-piece ? no. It’s no good for the defenders to mark their man and leave it at that, they need to direct the players who aren’t defenders so they’re more than just spectators.
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All I want is one centre half, sell Squillaci and Eboue, buy a left back, and leave the rest as it is. We have Lansbury, JET, Vela and Freeman will also fancy his chances next season. We will have Kyle and Cochelin back. Frimpong will offer backup to Song or Wilshire in the small games, so what’s the big deal?
I want Rosicky to go also. The biggest problem for Arsenal has never been personel, even though many of you think like that. The problem is with Arsene, not rotating enough. You find the same players working week in week out, by December they are tired and performance levels reduce.
If you watched ManUre closely these past few seasons, the manager rotates on a constant basis, by February many of the first team players are still fresh.
That coincides with the time we always get season ending injuries.Arsene can buy all he wants, but unless he learns how to rotate, then we still have some time before we win another trophy.
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@Charlie you are completely wrong. RVP often finds himself isolated and without any options, you can’t rely on one man to do the finishing all the time, a partnership would be much more effective.
Also, as i previously stated, RVP likes to DROP DEEP and help create moves, therefore a 2nd striker is needed.
I really think Gervinho will be an answer to our slight flaws going forward, for all you people unsure, look at his stats for last season or, better still, youtube him, you will not be disappointed.
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Gervinho is a fantastic player if and only if gets players of his type like walshare, nasir, and walcot, I bliv gervinho will contribute much for arsenal.
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Indeed the publisher of the article doesn’t have adequate knowledge about Gervinho. Arsenal has all along lacked the physical attributes the Ivorian possesses. I’ve watched him play for Cote d’Ivoire and for Lille and such is his power skill & technique. Add to that, his ability to finish moves and create chances are way beyond what Arshavin can offer to the Arsenal team. Wenger could possibly have signed Gameiro, a better scorer, but the Ivorian’s attributes clearly make him a much better pick for Arsenal. There is surely no mistake in landing him.
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You are wrong. The wingers have beeen really poor this year and I believe that in a 4-3-3 the critical point is have good wingers. Arshavin was poor this season and Nasri and Walcott have a lot of injuries. JET is not good enough and wilshere is not a winger. We do need wingers if we don’t switch to 4-4-2.
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wenger OUT !
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Very constructive Bob, thanks.
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There’s no perfect formation Beasty Gooner. If you sacrifice a midfielder to add a striker basically you sacrifice possession but convert more possession into goals. Any lone striker will be isolated but RvP does well. Having said that a winger who can also play as a striker might make him less isolated, it’s an interesting point. We haven’t signed him yet, this discussion might all be pointless.
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gervinho is very good pls wenger sign him
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Guys…Gervinho is a good addition…Samba will be a great addition…but u know what we need? Change in our defensive coach n tactics…That will win us trophies!
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I think that this post misses the point. The Ivorian that I have seen play since his time at Le Mans has penetration. Actually his whole style is based on taking on defenders at full speed, clever dribbling and creating chances. I think that given our tendency to pass the ball around the box with no purpose and penetration, he would be a good addition to the squad.
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Verity good point. Arshavin is also direct but he’s a bit lightweight and he’s not as quick as he once was. He has said himself that he has noticed his pace diminish and his ability to take the ball past players is not what it once was so the team lost that. Be good to get it back.
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i dont think so, gervinho are a winger or midfielder edge. He seem to arshavin but he have a good passing game and arshavin not. also walcott yet are a lot irregular and nasri maybe he can play on cesc position if barcelona buy our captain. Im still confidence about get back to before formation 4-4-2. For example:
zcscesny
sagna, cahill, vermaelen, gibbs
gervinho, song, wilshere, nasri
van persie, lukaku
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we asked for signings den we end up scrutinizing where he will be deployed .. if he like like let him play at left back as long as he does a decent job at it would i care ? he was brought to bring drect competiton for places , replace the dead wood we are hoping to offload and to offer stiff competiton and a strong bench … we already have van persie as our point man any1 who can fit in and do a decent job gets my vote
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Nasri is not a winger, Arshavin is not a winger, Walcott is only effective on the wing in bursts.
However, our wing play is irrelevant!! Sanga can put in a decent cross, but how many times is someone in the middle to receive – not too often. And as chamakh has been out of form and bendtner is likely to be off, why do we need to spend £15m on a winger.
If wenger intends to convert him to an out and out front man then I accept that but surely, the world and his wife can see we need defenders!!!
And as for the transfer window not opening til 01/07. Why have Utd confirmed £35m odd of new signings? Liverpool £20m? They may not be able to join until July but get the business secured!! Don’t leave it and lose our targets to city or spuds or whoever. It just frustrates everyone when wenger comes out in March saying that we couldn’t find the right players etc etc. Just gets boring and it feels like we always scout for the other big teams. We spend years following a player, refuse to meet anyone’s transfer fee – and come on, how many times have you heard Arsenal won’t match the fee for ‘enter name here’ – then moan when someone else snaps them up.
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wenger is a stupid man he will never buy gervinho.
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@Ryan. “Although, in England, the transfer window formally opens on 1 July, transfers between clubs in the same association can take place as soon as the last competitive fixtures for the season have been played.” From Wikipedia. That explains why United have bought Phil Jones and potentially Ashley Young and why Liverpool have bought Jordan Henderson. None of whom i’d want to see at Arsenal. The only transfer being talked about relating to Arsenal is the Samba one because the rest of the targets are based abroad so cannot be signed until July 1st. Blackburn are trying to hang on to Samba so it’s not Wengers’ fault that he hasn’t bought him yet.
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i am not clear why these so-called fans still believe in stupied AW who lead one of the greatest club in the world with out thropies for 6 solid years for the mere reason of his transfer policy.pls you true gooner come together and boycoot this old guy to be sacked from the club
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Gervinho is a great player, besides being fast, is very intelligent with the ball, has good vision, gives good passes, plays on the right and don pepito Arshavin on the left … Arsenal needed, is very good player . from Argentina by the Arsenal forever … San Lorenzo de Almagro.
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@feysel plz step up to manage our beloved club o great one wenger is a fool to think of success on and off the field our board needs someone like abramhovic as our new owner so that there wil be 6 managerial firings every year and manager should be a new ferguson should eat chewing gum blame the refrees and play some ugly mind games rather than try n win things royally leaving ur shame on the streets o feysel become our new manager AS TRUE ARSENAL FANS WE KNOW WHATS BEST 4 CLUB WE ONLY NEED A CHANGE THAT TOO A SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE MANAGER NOT OF THE MANAGER WHO WIL U APPOINT NOW AS ARSENAL MANAGER RIIKARD,SCOLARI,HIDDINK?COMEON THEY JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT ARSENAL IS IN ARSENE WE TRUST GOONER 4 LIFE
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first of all we need new generation of supporters who support the clua with heart and pride no offense to those who ll and did support the club 4 ever offense to those who say we lost faith in the club,who say we ll support other club i mean how can we describe such people who leave the stadium when the team is losing some day another manager might come and we get tired of him too we may even turn our back on the manager,players but never turn our backs on our club coz thats the least expected of fans after all true great teams hav true great fans
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@feysel if u truly want to see what wenger has done 4 us and is doing 4 us wait just til the end of the next season if stil u have any doubts then we ll all join u to boycott the so called stupid by u
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