News catch-up 7 August, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
Loads of random bit’s of news today. Nothing really that exiting. The calm before the storm? Who knows…
My new legend, Gael Clichy is hanging on for an international call up according to Wenger. Gael has been excellent this pre-season and has worked his socks off throughout all the games; a fine example of this was the winner against Ajax. I expect this will be a great season for Clichy and he’s hoping it’s good enough to show the French selectors he deserves an international call-up.
Alex Song. Well…what can I say. Not the greatest Arsenal player in the world but at least he’s trying. He wants to try and play more games this season at centre midfield and centre back. He wants to prove himself to everyone this season. I’d love for Alex to become a great player, but he’s got a lot to do. Good luck to him, hopefully this season’s a good one for him too.
Ryan Garry has signed for Bournemouth on a five month contract. He’s never really made it at Arsenal, which is a shame, but the time has come now for him to move on and I’m sure we all wish him the best of luck.
Arsene says Van Persie looks like a new man this season and is going on to bigger and better things. Wenger says he’s ‘transformed’ into a much better player, a better passer of the ball and a great striker. He’s also said that now Thierry’s gone his responsibility is much higher, I believe Robin can deal with this and I think that now the focus is off Henry it will improve RVP’s game.
Last season when Bendtner was deciding whether to return to Arsenal or stay with Birmingham he emphasized that he wanted first team football and would only return to North London if he would be playing regularly with the first team. I’m worried that Nick will not be happy with the amount of football he’ll be getting this season. He is very young and Wenger has described him as a ‘raw talent’. He’ll get a decent few games this year I’m sure, and even more if we’re unlucky with injuries, but he is still developing.
Gallas has said he’d like to be an Arsenal captain. Great.
Also Hleb says his target is 10 goals this season. Sure.
I’ve had enough for today. Laters.
Clichy will be the french first choice left back before too long, im certain of that. Big season ahead for him. Its gonna need a big effort from the back four this season, we cant afford to ship sloppy goals. But even before a league ball is kicked i think we are stronger.
Lehman has a much improved Almunia and an up and coming hungry keeper in Fabianski to keep him on his toes. Sagna looks the part so far, a tuff battler of a rightback we have missed since Ralph. Gallas and Toure need to gel as a unit but i think they can, quality players both. Gilberto’s importance is realised by everyone, so i look forward to his return to the team. I have no problem with Gallas as captain til Gilberto returns. thats what i think Wenger is doing. And Clichy just keeps getting better and better. His attacking game has improved too, hes found that final ball hes been missing.
Hleb , Rosicky and Cesc need to get 25 goals between then next season. We had Freddie and Pires contributing that between them and while none of the above 3 will be as prolific as the departed 2 individually, i cant see why those 3 cant get that target between them.
Denilson and Diaby look like becoming good players so lets hope they continue to develpe and get a fair number of games to allow this. Flamini is a fighter and i like that he stuck around. Song needs to up the pace of his game though – both in thought and action.
VanP looks like hes the man man up front now that Henry is gone. He is a talented footballer no doubt and i thibk he will grow into a world class attacker this season. Eduardo and Ade should be able partners for VanP. And a return of 15 apiece in all comps for those 2 shouldnt be an unrealistic target. If Eduardo settles right in and Ade continues his development i dont see why they cant achieve that. I wont expect too much from Bentdner in his first season but Walcott needs to make sure he works hard and learns from the more experienced players around him. These 2 players are young and this season is all about realizing whats expected of them in the premiership.
Roll on Fulham
2nd gun?
What happens if RVP gets injured? Walcott is still a problem, he just relies on speed and its not enough. I dread it any time Song plays, I hope its never in an away game.
Bentdner has a big ego, and stil has a lot to learn.
After all the talk about super players we end up with 2 new first team players, theres still severl superstars out there, but AW wont pay over ten million
solgooner,
He might do if you ask him nicely
You’re right about Bendtner. I would think he’s behind in the pecking order:
1. RVP
2. Ade
3. Eduardo
4. Walcott
5. Bendtner
Carling Cup it is for him.
my question is: what happened to diaby? he didn’t play any of those amsterdam games? is he injured? i really expected to see him a cesc paired at some point. I just odn’t know what wegner has in mind for him right now. another season on the wings would be pointless for him.
yeah he has a slight injury. nothing to worry about.
The league will be won or lost on goals from midfield, always has been and always will be.
We won it with the likes of Overmars, Pires and Ljungberg hitting double figures (I know they did not all play at the same time), Man U won it with Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and more recentley Ronaldo hitting double figures. Chelsea won the league when Lampard was scoring for fun.
The problem we have is that we are too dependant on our strikers for goals, our midfield simply do not contribute enough goals and I think that this will be our weakness this season.
Hleb has said he wants to score 10 goals + this season – can anyone see this happening? bearing in mind he probably did not shoot 10 times all last season.
How is it that Cesc can pass the ball to a player any where on the pitch without even thinking, but he cant put the ball past a keeper from 18 yards?
Gilberto scored alot last season (well alot for him anyway) but most of these were from penalties, wich you would imagine that Van Persie or Eduardo will now take. Gilberto should be chipping in with 5 or 6 from set pieces though.
Rosicky is the one that frustrates me the most, He has the pace and skills to go past defenders, he has an awsome shot on him and never looks rushed on the ball – how he is not scoring 10 – 15 goals a season has to be down to injuries – hopefully once he is fit we will see the real him.
I know they are only squad players, but I would like to see Denilson and Walcott get on the score sheet more this season aswell.
Hopefully the midfield will look up this season, see Henry is not there and have a go their selves – once on goes in……. well you all know what I mean
Bentdner looks like he’s constipated.
Might miss the start of the season
I thought Bendtner looked quite good actually in the preseason. I think he will get some playing time because I think Walcott will still play mostly on the wings. It’s all going to come down to injuries. Adebayor is set to miss the opener which either gives Bendtner a start or Eduardo his debut. I think Nick will be quite good this year. We’ll see
http://arsenole.com
nah. no way is arsene giving dudu a start. he’ll get ten minutes at the end of the first game. I ‘ll think we’ll go with hleb in the 10 spot. although it really would help if he would shoot, you know, once even.
and I agree mickey, this is a big season for rosicky, we all saw at the end of last season how he started scoring again, but then bam, another injury. it’s not possible for someone to get injured that much. or is he another robben? great player but strong as a china tea cup.
sanfrangoon,
But a china tea cup isn’t very strong