January: - Good, Bad, Happy or Sad?

This article has been written by a new member of Vital Arsenal, this is his first article so be gentle with him. Hopefully, Chris will, from time to time be writing on his views and opinions of the Gunners.


January: - Good, Bad, Happy or Sad?

To make the reference to Al Green’s Lets Stay Together, there is a line which says, ‘Loving you whether times are good or bad, happy or sad’. This can be applied to my view on Arsenal Football Club as it stands today.

We have been going through mixed emotions when it has come to Arsenal so far this season. The Good because we have signed two quality young players, we are Happy because of the signings we have made and the decent performances i.e. Middlesborough and its Bad and Sad because of the decline of our club that we have seen in recent months. The 7-0 thrashing of Middlesborough was a combination of them being shockingly bad and us being at our brilliant best, rarely troubled at the back and awesome going forward. But what a difference a week makes. At Everton we didn’t play well as we were out muscled but in midfield it was mostly Fabregas doing the slide challenges before he stupidly got sent off rather than Gilberto who I believe has lost it completely. Senderos doesn’t look comfortable at the back and its time to order a taxi for him, Gilberto and Pires at the end of the season.

However not all doom and gloom with the three in my opinion quality signings we made this month. Walcott looks to be a decent player. I have seen a few clips on the internet of him and he looks a superb player with a lot of potential. He’s quick tricky and nimble and is just like Thierry Henry in his play. We are all aware with the acquisitions of Diaby and Adebayor as well. People in my opinion are too quick to judge players that they haven’t seen. I admit that I haven’t seen either one play but the ‘new’ Viera and Kanu should be a big hit at the club. Diaby is just like Viera basically in his play, and if he’s half the player Viera was then we have a fantastic acquisition on our hands. Adebayor is the type of player that we really needed and have been lacking since Kanu left. In the past we have had such players like Alan Smith who are the similar type of player and have been successful at Highbury, why can’t Adebayor do the same? He’s more than capable with his scoring as he’s scored something like 11 goals in 8 appearances for his country to get them to the World Cup this summer.

However. One player I’m not sure about is the possibility of Rosisky coming to the club. I can’t see how he can fit into the system that we play unless we adopt the much debated 4-5-1 formation. As a central attacking midfielder I can’t see him being able to hack it in the Premier League as he’s too light weight so I have heard. We could play him on Right wing but don’t know whether he would fit in their, but at least I suppose it gives us another option if we do adopt 4-5-1. Another positive is the Wigan Carling Cup game. I thought we played really well and were unlucky to concede two minutes from time. If you look at if it was a Premier league game, we have won the game 2-1, so I think if we look at it, it is a positive sign against a battling Wigan side in good form.

Everyone in the squad needs to stand up and be counted as Almunia has said recently to help us reach the champions league ahead of Sp*rs, and the fans need to get behind the team. I know in this article I have been critical of the players but I’m just looking at it analytically, instead of moaning about this that and the other, be defiant and be proud of our team as we DO have a bright future ahead of us, we just have to bide our time.

Chris Aylward