Lankan gooner: Five defensive options for Wenger

Lankan gooner: Five defensive options for Wenger: "Pape Diakkhate Club- Lyon (loan) from Dynamo KyivAge- 26Height- 5ft 11 Reasons for Versatile- can play left back as well as left midfie..."

Five defensive options for Wenger

Pape Diakkhate

Club- Lyon (loan) from Dynamo Kyiv

Age- 26

Height- 5ft 11

Reasons for

• Versatile- can play left back as well as left midfield.
• Cost- will not be expensive as his parent club does not see him as part of their long term future
• Language- French speaker hence will be able to fit in easily and communicate well.
• Age- he is an experienced CB who is coming into the prime of his carrier so his best days are still ahead of him and will also be able to sell him on if he is regarded surplus in the future

Reasons against

• Height- not the tallest CB and height is something we are desperate for
• Contract situation- he is with Lyon till end of this season and that will rule out the possibility of him joining us in the current transfer window

Philippe Mexes

Club- Roma

Age-28

Height- 6ft 1

Reasons for

• Experience- has great experience at the highest level with both France and Roma
• Language- As a French international and French speaking player will fit in with the team well
• Pace- has a fair amount of pace and will suit our high line defensive play
• Cost- out of contract in summer so could be bought for cut price

Reasons against

• Positional play- poor positional play and often gets caught out of position a lot
• Injury record- has been injured quite a bit in the recent past and might not be the best cover for our injured players
• Form- has been in poor form and fallen behind on loan Bourdiso at Roma

Cristian Chivu

Club- Inter

Age- 30

Height- 6ft1

Reasons for

• Winner- Part of successful Inter and Roma teams and a born winner
• Versatile- Can play across the back line as well as holding midfield providing much needed cover for Song
• Cost- Age and squad status at Inter will mean that he will be available at a relative low price
• Technical ability- can pass the ball and very comfortable in possession which is vital for our playing style

Reasons against

• Cup tied- cup tied for CL
• Age- at 30 with his injury records his best days might be behind him
• Natural position- Started off as a CB but since has become a jack of all trade and never really established as a proven CB
• Seria A- has played majority of his football in Italy, PL could be a big step up with its demands

Christopher Samba

Club- Blackburn Rovers

Age- 26

Height- 6ft 4

Reasons for

• PL experience- Knows the league well and will need little adopting time
• Cost- Samba has made it clear he wants out of Blackburn and could be available for fairly low price
• Leader- natural leader of men and vocal- will help our defense communicate better
• Aerial ability- Will bring aerial strength and set peace defending know-how not many of our current defenders have
• CL availability- Will be available to play in Europe and suspect Messi et al will not fancy much of him charging at them
• Ball playing ability- has filled in as a striker at times for Blackburn rovers and good on the ball for a big CB

Reasons against

• Lack of experience at the highest level- No European experience and playing for a club like Arsenal is a big step up from Blackburn
• Squad status- should he join us he will become a squad player once our first choice defenders return, might not be happy to sit on the bench
• Arsenal V Blackburn history- Arsene has never had the best of relationships with Blackburn management in the past, despite changes in ownership that might still play a part in them deciding not to sell to us

Servet Cetin

Club- Galatasaray

Height- 6ft 4

Age- 29

Reasons for

• Experience- experienced at the top level having played 48 times for Turkey as well as in European club competition
• Aerial ability- very strong in the air and a fighter, just what we need at Arsenal
• Determination- famed for his never say attitude and playing through injuries- almost an old school English CB we all seem to want at the club. Nicknamed ‘Bionic Servet’ for his passion and determination ( also known as clone of keown)
• Goals- for a CB he does contribute with few goals and will b a strong threat from set-piece

Reasons against

• Injury- has suffered fair few injuries in his carrier and at 29 might be a gamble
• Lack of experience outside Turkey- All his carrier has played in Turkey, might be a step too high to come in to PL mid season
• Price- Galatasary have no need to sell and might demand high fee for a player who’s coming into his 30s

Lankan gooner: The Russian master

Lankan gooner: The Russian master: "AA23 remains an individual who divides opinions among both Arsenal fans and pundits but what can never be questioned is his quality. On his ..."

The Russian master

AA23 remains an individual who divides opinions among both Arsenal fans and pundits but what can never be questioned is his quality. On his day he is as good as any in Premier league and is a nightmare for best of defense, as a well drilled defense of Rafa Benitez found out on that night at Anfield.

It is no secret he had a relatively poor start to his season but the first half of Spurs and Villa Park are anything to go by he is rediscovering his form, just when we need the big players to step up and deliver.

His low center of gravity, vision and audacity to do the unthinkable is what we need to push this team towards the title glory during what promises to be one of the tightest if not the tightest ever premier league competition.

His strengths are his weaknesses as well, when not in form his attempted magic balls do not come off, passes go missing and he starts to look like a lazy player oppose to one taking clever positions in the final third of the pitch to keep the opponents backline on toes and pull them apart to create space for Nasri, Chamakh et al. to exploit just as they did at Villa park. Biggest strength of Arshavin is perhaps his ability to make the game look simple, just like all the great players did. You often heard the same about DB and Henry and in recent years about Cesc.

Is Arshavin back to his best yet?? I think not, there is more to come and when he discovers that, I suspect it will be January onwards when we will see his best, we will start to control more games, loose less balls in the final third and his pace, dribbling and ability to take on men will give us the needed edge and different dimension in the attack to push us towards what looks a very winnable title. 

Lankan gooner: They cheat and they have history of doing just tha...

Lankan gooner: They cheat and they have history of doing just tha...: "The weekend gone was a great one for Arsenal with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester city dropping points. We are two points off the..."

They cheat and they have history of doing just that

The weekend gone was a great one for Arsenal with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester city dropping points. We are two points off the top and I fully expect us to be top of the table by the time Chelsea kick off against Birmingham. For me the game that intrigued me most last weekend was the Manchester United Vs Aston Villa game, which ended in a 2-2 draw. This game was refereed by Mike Dean who also happened to be the referee in our game against New Castle.

Mr. Dean sent off Laurent Koscielny for a professional foul some distance away from the goal and going by the law one can argue that was the right decision. However, when Wes Brown brought down an Aston Villa player inside the pen box he only booked him. Rio Ferdinand was not covering him and at best was level with Brown and the lack of distance to the goal from where the offence took place and the fact Rio had also dived into the tackle meant he would not have been able to cover Brown and Dean should not have hesitated to produce a red to Brown and yet he only gave him a Yellow. The subsequent penalty was taken and scored by A Young and he went to celebrate with the crowed and as by the rule book he was booked for the offence. Within 10 minutes Vidic scored to bring the score level at 2-2 and ran to celebrate with the fans and yet he was not booked. It must be noted that Vidic was already on a yellow and another would have resulted in him being sent off. Not only Villa would have had a chance to win the game but Vidic would have also been suspended for a game. Mike Dean has shown great inconsistency in that game and when you factor in the sending off of Kosielny it is even more baffling to understand the reasoning behind Mr. Dean’s decision making. Often it is claimed the Referees are under pressure from Old Trafford crowed and is given as an excuse for majority of decisions going Manchester United’s way at Old Trafford but this was a game played at Villa Park.

Now lets look at few other games where the referee’s have given unexplainable decision in favor of Manchester United. When they played Stoke at Brittania G. Neville should have got sent off and yet the referee did not deem his studs up challenge was worthy of a Yellow and it must be noted that he was already on a yellow and a early sending off could have left United with a near impossible task. These are two of many incidents which point out that united get big calls going for them not just at home and the referees tend to become very inconsistent when they officiate Manchester United games.

Now let’s go back in History to 1915 the former first division game between mid table Liverpool and relegation threatened Manchester United on the 2^nd of April 1915. Two of the oldest and biggest rivals in modern football locking hones would, almost always, lead to high octane and full blooded games with no quarter given. However, this game was anything but a fully blooded affair and Manchester United ran out 2-0 winners. Later suspicions were raised by the referee of the game and investigations proved that the game was fixed in favor of Manchester United. Players of both team made substantial amount of money through betting on the game and United avoided relegation by a point (win carried two points in those days) and it was Chelsea who got relegated that season.

The match fixing took place last century and the refereeing phenomena is of modern day. There is no way both incidents could be linked directly however when one observes the decisions Manchester United seem to get from the English referees am I wrong to ask if History is repeating it self. With their financial situation it is paramount that Manchester United stay at the top and challenge for honors every season.  Alex Fergeson has proved over the past that he will do anything to win and his own players have testified to this in the past. Players have been asked to dive and cheat and players have been asked to pull out of internationals when they were fully fit, which is the reason why FA brought in a rule saying players must report anyway to be assessed by the national team doctors.

Now who can honestly say that Manchester United do not pay the referees to get the decisions their way. I have no concrete evidence to prove so but the circumstantial evidence leaves me with an overwhelming impressions that there is something going on which is against the rules and values that govern the beautiful game and of course they have history and have the taste of cheating and who is to say they will not try again or are not doing so……..

Lankan gooner: Same old Arsenal….think not

Lankan gooner: Same old Arsenal….think not: "Every time we fail to get three points from a game the first accusation that is thrown at the team is SAME OLD ARSENAL…makes me question wh..."