Arsenal Season in Review, Part II

By: Martin | May 26th, 2009

Today, we deal with the “so-so.” In other words, the things that went about as well as expected for Arsenal this year. Without further ado, in no particular order:

1. The Domestic Cups—Yes, we made it to the semifinals of the FA Cup. Which was good, and it had a lot of us rightfully excited about the prospect of a trophy. But we didn’t exactly face a murderer’s row of teams to get there. We beat: Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City (needing a replay), Burnley, and Hull City. Three lower division teams, and one team that should be. We had a good draw, so really, anything less than the semifinal would have been a disappointment. As for the Carling Cup, the main objective for Arsenal really isn’t to advance as much as it is to give the younger players a chance to show what they can do. And they did that this year (a 6-0 win over Sheffield United, a 3-0 win over a Wigan Athletic team playing their best squad) a few times, but showed their inexperience by getting badly outplayed in a 2-0 loss to Burnley.

2. Samir Nasri—Started out fantastic, especially when his heroic brace cemented the 2-1 win against Manchester United. But he really seemed to wear down as the year went on, and was pretty anonymous for most of the spring. This wasn’t helped by Wenger constantly shifting him from position to position. It’s unclear whether his future is on the left or in a holding role, but he has a lot of skill and plays very hard, so he definitely has a future at the club somewhere. I debated between putting him in “good” vs. “indifferent,” but ultimately decided that he really played about as well as you expect a £13 million player to play.

3. Aaron Ramsey—Arsenal’s £4.8 million golden boy, who chose Arsenal over Manchester United in a much-publicized bidding war over the summer, didn’t exactly set the world on fire in his first year at the club. Frankly, it was hard to see what all the fuss was about. But he did put in some solid performances with the Carling Cup squad, and showed some flashes of quality. And he’s just 18, so he’s got plenty of time to live up to his potential. Still very much a part of Arsenal’s future.

4. Carlos Vela—one of my favorite Gunners, I have to admit, and he developed pretty solidly this year. While he failed to make much of an impact in his limited first-team opportunities, he was pretty spectacular at times for the Carling Cup team. He also netted his first league goal. He’s got pace and skill, and isn’t afraid to run at an opponent one-on-one, and is willing to try some pretty audacious finishes. I think he’ll be a first-team striker for us someday, and if Adebayor moves on this summer, he moves up the totem pole and could see more action next year.

5. Denilson—I know he has his detractors (judging from the comments, everyone who visits this blog), but I still say that Denilson was asked to do far too much, too soon this year. The failure to replace Diarra, Gilberto, and Flamini in the offseason, coupled with Fabregas’ injury, all of a sudden thrust Denilson into the squad as the man responsible for holding the midfield together. That he couldn’t do this shouldn’t reflect that poorly on him, and he did work hard and put in some solid performances, leading the team in appearances. He’s still just 21 (remember, at his age, Gilberto was out of football and working in a candy factory), and with another couple of seasons, I think he could be a very good player. I still say he could suit up for Brazil at the 2010 World Cup.

6. Kolo Toure—Another year older, a little bit slower. Turned in a transfer request in January. Famously could not get along with William Gallas. But despite it all, Kolo was his usual consistent presence in the back. I like our young players, but I think they benefit from having someone with his character and experience around. He’s our last link to the Invincibles, and I hope he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

7. William Gallas—Frankly, wasn’t sure where to put him on the list. I thought about putting him under the “good” category, because he did, in fact, play very well in the center of defense for us. He used his pace and tactical experience to repeatedly put himself in good position and mark guys out of plays, and was a big part of the unbeaten run in which we suddenly became a very difficult team to score on. Or should I have put him under the “bad” category, since he was apparently a pretty terrible captain (why didn’t we give it to Gilberto again?), openly called the team out for lacking courage, leading to him being stripped of the captaincy and the team’s confidence really suffering? Also, he may have knocked up Eboue’s fiancé, which is not cool at all. Ultimately, I figured I’d put him in the middle.

8. Emmanuel Eboue—A similar dilemma. Frankly, Eboue was terrible for much of the season. He wasn’t tracking back, he was making stupid plays, and was consistently giving the ball away far too easily. Eboue was shockingly bad in a December substitute appearance against Wigan, which led to he himself being subbed off, and was loudly booed by the fans. He also stupidly took a second yellow card against Spurs, which led to him being sent off and the club dropping two points, which at the time appeared quite important. He continued his condemnable whining and diving. And then, in about March, the strangest thing happened. He just changed. Completely. All of a sudden, he was working hard, making pretty good decisions, tracking back, playing within himself, and became a valuable contributor. To be frank, for most of the spring he actually outplayed Sagna at right-back when he played there. He’s got a lot of pace, is apparently very popular with his teammates, and can play both at right-back and right-midfield—that kind of player is very valuable to the squad, and he could play a very important (positive) role for the team over the next few seasons, which I and many others would not have predicted at the beginning of the year.

9. Lukasz Fabianski—He took big steps forward playing in the Carling Cup squad, where he showed himself to be a big, athletic, aggressive keeper capable of going up and getting balls anywhere near his area. He then took big steps backward when called upon to replace Almunia—being aggressive and challenging players works a lot better when you’re dealing with Championship strikers than it does against Didier Drogba. I still think if he keeps working hard and gets some experience, he has a future at the club, and we definitely shouldn’t give up on him just because he was thrown into the fire and had a couple of shaky performances.

10. Johan Djourou—He hadn’t really done much in his Arsenal career prior to this season, but really stepped up when needed this year. He was stalwart in the winter when the unbeaten run started, partnering Gallas in what may have been our most effective center back partnership of the year. I’ve been saying for a while, and I’m not alone, that Gallas and Toure are not a good pairing together because they’re too similar—they both rely on smarts, pace and positioning. That’s all well and good, but all the smarts, pace, and positioning in the world won’t prevent a big, physical striker from pushing you out of the way and outjumping you for an incoming header. But Djourou brought a bit of a physical presence to the backline, which complemented Gallas well. But he certainly had his bad moments (the own goal against Chelsea, for example) and showed his inexperience at times. I don’t think he’ll ever be world-class, but he does look he’s turning into a good defender, and will be a very handy player to have around.