Goodbye Eduardo + news round up 22 July, 2010

Last night we played our second pre-season friendly of the season and the first of our Austrian training camp. We beat SK Sturm Graz 3-0 with Nasri getting two in the first half and Lansbury getting the other. I did watch the game over the internet but I don’t really feel like I studied it well enough or the game had enough meaning to deserve a full match report! I will say though that Nasri had a good 45 minutes, which is to be expected against lesser opposition, but I am looking forward to his season. I do like Samir as a player and I hope he has a successful year. Emmanuel-Thomas, Frimpong and Wilshere impressed again, if they have a successful pre-season then they could find themselves in the first team squad this year. I don’t think any of them will be in our favourite starting XI just yet but the way we are with injuries I see these lot getting a chance this year.

There was another run out for both our new signings who did alright. They’re still getting used to things here and still need to get to full fitness before we can judge them properly but it’s good to see them in action. Nordtveit did well in defence though and he could be looking at the vacancy left by Gallas and have set his sights on it along with Koscielny and Djourou. This pre-season will be really important for determining which three of those is preferred to partner Vermaelen but I’m still kind of hoping we add one more to the squad.

However the top story yesterday was not the 3-0 victory but the confirmation of Eduardo Da Silva’s departure. We all knew that he might move away this summer and in the past week I heard that he was close to a move to Shakhtar Donetsk. Well a deal was finally done and he has moved to the Ukrainian champions for a reported fee of around £6m.

Eduardo’s Arsenal story is an emotional one, there’s no doubt that he was loved here but it all went wrong for him and we all know why. I’ll never forget that day at St. Andrews in 2008, it was a horrible challenge that Martin Taylor inflicted on Eduardo and we all hoped that he would some day recover to continue his fine form he had just found at Arsenal. He was signed after Henry left to join Barcelona and he was starting to show himself as a goal-scoring machine in the Premiership. We never recovered emotionally from that leg break, went on to drop two points that day and signalled the end of our title challenge.

It was a horrible thing to witness but we had to pick ourselves up and move on. Eduardo was gradually reintroduced a year later; he was finding the net but struggled badly with fitness. We were patient with him but as much as we didn’t want to admit it, it became apparent Eddy was never going to recover from his broken leg. He could’ve become an Arsenal great but his career was ruined before it could hardly get going. It’s a terrible shame to see that happen to anybody but unfortunately all we could do was let him go and move on.

The whole diving incident against Celtic didn’t really help either; he was slaughtered by the British tabloids and thus fans of other clubs. In his return to football he really needed a bit of faith and it was made even harder by everyone’s opinion of him. They forgot what a great striker he was, they forgot about the trauma he had been through and suddenly everyone turned on him as some diving cheat. No one cared about that broken leg anymore, for some reason journalists were determined to break his and Arsenal’s reputation. It was very strange how everyone suddenly turned on Eduardo, it’s not like it was the worst dive ever and certainly didn’t change the game but for some reason everyone picked up on it. Diving goes on throughout the Premiership and Champions League but this became an opportunity to have a go at Arsenal and one of our foreigners and Eddy never recovered from it; he was a great guy, never went out to hurt anyone or cheat but his reputation was shattered by one little incident.

I have no doubt that everybody associated with Arsenal Football Club wishes him all the best at Shakhtar Donetsk and he can find that magical goal scoring form once again. Eduardo has left a message for Arsenal fans thanking them for all their support and Arsene Wenger also expressed his sadness at letting him go. I won’t forget the story of Eduardo and his three years here and I hope he goes on to great things.

Moving on and Wenger has been talking about Jack Wilshere. Gunnerblog has been trying to determine whether he’s ready to step up this season or whether he might go on loan again but Arsene has hinted it’s time for him to stay at Arsenal and push for the first team:

“At the moment I want Jack to gain experience, if possible at Arsenal. So I give him a chance now to play so that he can integrate into the first team. But of course we will make that decision later. Ideally it is better that he gains experience with us.

I am a bit keen not to create too much hype around the young English players. They need to work hard and we have outstanding English talent.”

He’s been playing well so far of what I have seen so if he continues this form them I’m sure he’ll stay with us this season. He could make a big impact this year if we pick up an injury in his position and I know that he would snap up the chance if it came to him. He thinks he’s ready, we just need to give him a chance to prove it. The 2010/11 season could be pivotal in Jack’s Arsenal career.

Arsene also spoke about the goalkeeper situation after last night’s match. He’s given me the impression that all our ‘keepers are on a level playing field this pre-season and it’s up to them to impress and stake their place. It’s interesting that Almunia hasn’t featured at all yet despite being fit and ready and everyone else is getting plenty of game time. Who knows what Wenger has up his sleeves but I’m still hoping that he’s going to open his chequebook to solve this particular problem.

We haven’t got another game now until next Tuesday so it’s time for the players to work hard, get fit and fight for those first team places. I’m looking forward to seeing how we’ve improved by next week. It might also mean some time for Wenger to sit down with Gazidis and make some progress in the transfer market. Who knows?

And that’s a whole blog post without mentioning one particular Spaniard. Isn’t that a refreshing change?

Thanks for reading.