Once upon a time, there was...

Darius Vassell

Darius Vassell- Oh how the English creamed themselves when he came unto the scene. He played for Aston Villa and Manchester City in the Premier League. Oh he was quick, he had lots of pace, once he got past a defender, there was no catching him. Somebody once suggested to me that he could beat the former Olympic 100m champion, Michael Johnson, in a sprint. Ferrari & Lamborghini were apparently researching his anatomy to develop new engines for their super-cars.


He was a winger with so much promise and threat. He could even play up top as a striker, but his best position was on the wing. His biggest asset was his pace. That's it. His last contribution for England, if memory serves me right was to miss a  penalty at Euro 2004. 


Then came Theo Walcott... Will Walcott ever really reach the high echelons of top players? Apart from his pace, what else is there to Theo? Can he dribble? does he have any skill really with the ball at his feet? Is he an intelligent player who can anticipate things, read the game well, adapt to the conditions, bring others into play? 


To his credit, he produces some assists for Van Persie, but then so could any winger who can square a ball from the wing. And at his age, will Theo ever really acquire these traits? I really doubt it. He is a one-dimensional player who'll run at speed and square a ball given time and space. But even that ball may not be a good one as we all see time and time again. And another worrying characteristic of his is he appears happy to coast through the game as long as the team is winning. When we are not winning, he is often anonymous. Should he really be a first team player? I think he is a good impact player and should be on bench. The problem we have with our current squad is who is better than him to usurp him in the pecking order on the right of our attack?

Alex Hleb

Alex Hleb- was a magical winger for Arsenal and for Belarus. He had magic feet, could walk on water barefooted and not sink or get wet. He could do tricks with the ball at his feet that just left defenders stupefied. He could dribble, confuse everyone on the pitch, including the ref and his team mates, then when he was facing an open goal, instead of scoring, he would look to pass to a team mate. Hleb was a very good playmaker, so much so that Barcelona, being the cunts that they are, bought him from us, thinking they had bought well. We all know how that went.


Along came a little Russian called Andrey Arshavin. Zenit must be laughing at us right now over that one. when he arrived, Arshavin was quick, had a mischievous grin on his face, looked like he knew something that we all didn't know. He had goals in him too. To be fair to Arshavin, he has been played in a position that  I think is not his best, I have said enough of that in my previous blogs. His best position is central, as a playmaker. Arsenal Latest does justice to the issue of Arshavin playing out of position.

Junichi Inamoto- Was the first Japenese player to play for Arsenal. He never played a game in the Premier League for Arsenal but made a few appearances in the Cup competitions, mostly the Carling cup. One wonders why Arsene bought him at all, perhaps he wanted somebody to polish his Japenese or he had some marketing potential in the far east? whatever the reason, he never made it at Arsenal and has gone on to achieve nothing of note.


Then came Park Ju Young. The South Korean striker was brought in from Monaco, a club Wenger managed in the past, when he should have joined Lille. Now perennially warming the bench, I suspect Park is wishing he had joined Lille instead. I have not seen much of him to judge him, but the fact that when other players are fit, he doesn't even make the match-day squad, says a lot about him I suppose.


José Kléberson Pereira, most commonly known as Kleberson (Hleb-arse-on), came to play for Manchester United after the 2002 world cup. Sralex Ferguson and the Manc-ies creamed themselves at his signing. The Brazilian International was touted as the best thing to happen to football since goal posts. He could marshal the midfield single-handedly, dribble, create goals, shoot, defend, hell he could even play as a goal-keeper if asked nicely. To be fair to the chap, he suffered injury after injury and moved from one club to the other, hoping to revive his career. He eventually went back to his homeland Brazil where he had to start from the grass roots. Seriously.

And then came Yossi Benayoun. The Israeli started at Westham, went to Liverpool, Chelsea and now on loan at Arsenal. His career in England thus far has been characterised by injury and perpetual loss in form. there is no doubting his talent, but can he ever really get back to his best? with age also catching up, perhaps he should go and play in Qatar where he can make lots of money before hanging up his boots...

The club is awfully quiet, as is the norm these days after a defeat of such significance. And with the United game coming up this weekend, we shall see just where or how far we have come. Progress is relative, and compared to where we were at the start of the season, we have made lots of progress. However, that progress means very little if our competitors are progressing faster than we are.

This Manchester United team is the poorest I have seen in recent years. Seriously, if you look at their players as individuals, there is nothing outstanding there, except Rooney, Vidic, Ferdinand and Giggs. They also have their injury problems but yet they still get the Job done on the pitch. The squad players come in and still get the job done when it matters. 

Manc-ies United aside, we need to address the problems we have with our team. We should not be subjected to these types of headlines:

Szczesny still confident of top-four finish

Is this what our ambition has become in the league? Top four finish? Do we now go into the season with a single ambition for the League TO FINISH IN THE TOP FOUR? Clearly from Arsene Wenger's press conferences in the past, he has suggested as much, that finishing top four is better than winning the Carling Cup. 

There are 17 league games to play!! We must be aiming to win them all and hope to win the league, not hoping to finish fourth. Honestly, the club trying to comfort us by promising us a top four finish is an insult. We simply are not aiming high enough, perhaps an acknowledgement on our part that we are not good enough.

If this is the type of thinking that lives at the club, we shall continue to see top players leave the club when their contracts are up. Wenger needs to do something about our squad. Fast. 

I don't buy the bit about there not being top talent available because even during the close season, we still waited until the eleventh hour to buy 5 players. WTF were we doing all summer? It was clear Fabregas and Nasri were leaving, yet Wenger still stubbornly refused to accept it and do his business early before the season began. 

Money is available. Deficiencies in the squad are obvious. The manager needs to do something about it. We have bought players in January before. Let's go and buy players this January.

Sideways march the Arsenal!!!