Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Vieira Coming, Senderos Going, Toure and Wilshere

Morning all. I'll be the first to admit I haven't been posting nearly enough this Summer, but I've been reinvigorated by the upcoming start of the season and so I'm back and I wanted to give my thoughts on everything that has happened in the past week or so while I've been in New Hampshire.

So first off we had the Kolo Toure transfer to Manchester City. My thoughts on this are that, while it's a shame that Toure left after all these years, he hadn't been at his best ever since he contracted Malaria on that African Nations trip. So I think it was good business to sell him. When you look at our center back situation now, do you feel that it is a strong enough area without him? Arsene is clearly convinced that Thomas Vermaelen is the real deal and is ready to go right away, and he also must have a lot of faith in Johann Djourou as a back up for both him and Gallas. After that I think it's a little weak, as Silvestre is just terrible and Senderos looks to be on his way out. (more on that later) Of course Alex Song can cover at the back if need be but that isn't ideal. So while in terms of numbers I don't think we have a lot of cover at the back, but I think in terms of quality, losing Toure isn't a huge deal. He's been a great servant to the club and always had the right attitude, but it was time for him to go. I wish him the best of luck when he's playing United, Sp*rs, the scousers, and Chelsea, and of course horrible luck when he plays us.


Speaking of great servants for the club, there's been a lot of talk in the past week about Patrick Vieira returning to Arsenal! This one is a really tough one for me, because I love Patrick Vieira. He's probably in my top three players of all time. But didn't we sell him 4 years ago because he was getting older and wouldn't be able to play at the same level much longer? And now he's 32 years old, has a lot of trouble staying fit, and Arsene is saying he may bring him back. No offense to the legend that is Patrick Vieira, but is he good enough at this point? Even on a pay as you play deal, surely we should be able to find someone younger, healthier, and better to play as a defensive midfielder? Maybe Wenger thinks Vieira can still get it done, or he just wants him to play sparingly in some of the big matches, which I'd love. To clarify, I would love to see Patty back at Arsenal, I just wouldn't want to leave the midfield too thin if Vieira gets injured or isn't up to the level we need to compete for honors.

So earlier I mentioned Philippe Senderos, and it looks like he may be on the way to Everton. There have been lots of reports that the deal has already been done, but I won't believe it until it's on Arsenal.com. I kind of think we'd be better off keeping him, but if we can get 7 or 8 million quid for him I wouldn't be too upset about it. I do think he's always gotten a bad rap though even though he's a pretty decent player, but it doesn't look like he'll be an Arsenal player much longer.


So on to what everyone is talking about at the moment, and that's Jack Wilshere, who's performances in the Emirates Cup were nothing short of magical. And they would still have been magical if he was 27 instead of 17. The guy is just so far ahead of his time it's ridiculous. Arsene Wenger has moved to calm everyone's expectations about Jack, seeing as he hasn't even made it onto the pitch in many first team matches yet. At the same time though, you've got to wonder how long we can afford to keep this boy off of the pitch. He brings so much to the table, that especially with Nasri out early on, I think we need to get him on the field. His composure and skill on the ball rivals that of Cesc and Arshavin already, and frankly I'm obsessed with him. I've already put in my order for a Wilshere kit for this year. At the same time, we need to not do like we did with Theo Walcott, and put unneccessary and unrealistic expectations on Jack at a young age. He's not always going to have fantastic games and score crazy goals and make much more experienced pros look like schoolboys. We can still be excited for one of our home-grown talents though!

That's about it for the day. I'll probably post again tomorrow, amazingly, and I intend to keep that going too. A couple more quick things, make sure you sign up to win tickets to World Cup 2010! It's really easy so don't pass up that chance. Also, I recommend you all have a look at ThirdGen's Portal e-mag. It's good already and it's only going to get better. Alright everyone, have a good one. Cheers!

5 comments:

Lord Nacho said...

good post today, a bit overdue. I hope Jack gets some minutes, we really need to let him get on the pitch, super sub role.

JT said...

Wilshere is amazing

Enough said.

Andre said...

I wonder if Vieira will be used as cover and training for the younger players and then move into the coaching staff. He, Henry, and Gallas have all talked about their desire to coach and their love for Arsenal. I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen in the next few years.

JT said...

And if Henry comes back when his contract's up

I do wonder if he's happy at Barca.

Unknown said...

Celtic in the Champions League qualifier? First leg in Glasgow? Yikes. I need you to talk me off the ledge LOL