Can’t Say They Don’t Deserve It
By: Abby | May 15th, 2008At least, I won’t.
Reports are reporting that Gaël Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas, and Emmanuel Adebayor are all to be signing new deals shortly. Of those, Cesc’s is the one I’m most surprised about- he sighed an 8-year one quite recently. But he is the team’s star, so perhaps a bit of a raise is in order to keep him that way.
As far as the other contracts go, there are few Arsenal fans in the past two seasons who aren’t just a little bit in love with Gaël Clichy (I’m definitely more than a little). His enthusiasm, skill, and general awesomeness have delighted Arsenal fans and made us all glad to be rid of that one guy who’s at Chelsea or something. He’s been a delight and I would love him to stay at Arsenal forever and ever. So yes, new contract & raise for Clichy, entirely deserved. 
Bacary Sagna, Gaël’s counterpart on the right side, is also up for a new deal. He signed from Auxerre, made everyone go ‘huh?’, and blended in absolutely seamlessly. Now that it’s been a whole season he’s the name Arsenal fans bring up when we talk about the best kind of signings to get for the next one- relatively unknown, absolutely brilliant. He’s adapted to England excellently. And while Birmingham may have destroyed our title challenge, I think if he hadn’t gone off injured at Chelsea (after he’d scored the opening goal) things could be just a little bit different. He’s passed the trial period and definitely deserves it.
Cesc Fabregas is, of course, Cesc Fabregas. One does not need to explain.
As far as Ade goes, he’s scored 30 goals this season despite being immensely frustrating. And brilliant. I like Ade a lot, I’ve decided. While he definitely makes me tear my hair out sometimes and his tendency to miss easy goals is frustrating, he’s done more than a good job this season, basically being the only forward for a good chunk of the time. Again, his enthusiasm and the clear joy he has from playing makes me like him. Also, 30 goals.
So raises for some of our best performers. Good plan, I’d say.
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yup…i love thse guys….especially “BAC is the future SAGNA”
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It’s time Wenger admits as much and revamps the squad. Yaya is just the beginning of what’s needed to build a winner.
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With some alterations to Yaya’s game he can replace Flamini, but why stop there? With talk of replacing at Arsenal I often wonder how Arsene could have fallen in love with Cesc. Now, while Cesc is a quality player, he never replaced Vieira. Vieira was not only a creator, but a ball-winner, enforcer, leader, bulwark, who could also score regularly. Cesc could never be expected to fill that role nearly as well, esp given his age and build. Yes, the young experiment has produced quality football, but there is no escaping the fact that once the pires, bergkamp, vieira seasoned warriors left the team, arsenal became second best. In the post-Vieira era Arsenal can no longer dominate, boss the pitch or hold up play. It’s time Wenger admits as much and revamps the squad.
Yaya is just the beginning of what’s needed to build a winner. Thankfully Wenger didn’t go for Luka, who is quality, but another three foot tall midfielder is not needed. (The secret’s out – teams know how to defend against Arsenal – insufficient wide-play. Eight defenders on the top of the box and Arsenal still try to dribble it in. You don’t see Manu doing that stupid stuff and they have not one intelligent player. Ferguson’s solution is simple- when they don’t play the ball wide to broaden the defense and create more openings not to mention more crosses, he takes the player out behind the shed til there’s blood in his stool.) (Wenger, in true development style, Eboue, Walcott, Rvp, Ben Alfalfa Jr. et all better be practicing their crosses all summer long).
Wenger, time to stop coddling the kids and give them some proper role models- Barry, Villa, Richards, etc. The current team is too young and short of real leadership on the field. Gallas you’re a man, check, but it can’t hurt to have an adult or two on the pitch.
Any self-respecting world class club with a player hinting unhappiness ala Hleb is immediately shown the door, albeit in the nicest most profitable way possible. This scenario also underscores the subtle but oh so real attraction of a winning side. Witness Gerrard. There is no manager more capable than Wenger of producing beautiful fluent football, but winning is important as well. Three trophyless seasons on the trot takes it’s toll. Witness Barca – two empty seasons and off you go, now I favor stability a bit more than that but a certain amount of ruthlessness can sharpen and focus young minds.
Though improved, it’s difficult to see the current squad as champions given what they are up against – deeper, more mature sides with proven winners as well as great young talent. Another five young gunners can go on loan again as we bring in experience. A page from Ferguson’s book needs inserting: no one understands the requirements to be successful in the premier league better than alex. Power as well as speed, strength as well as skill, youth as well as age, size as well as squirts, add to that durability and depth, with utter devotion to the squad mentality and yet accommodating a quirk here and there. It is also the mark of a superior manager to admit mistakes and move to correct them(best privately and expeditiously).
No one aspect of Arsenal this season was really scintillating, are they worth keeping around for so long to only entertain but not win? ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool are not slowing down for anyone. Although I have to laugh at those silly Liverpool directors, turned down Dubai Int’l Cap for tweedle dolt and tweedle jackass.
Arsene, with all due prudence of course, bring in the power that brings credibility, respect within the club and without and wins. Arsene, build anew, not names but players(how old was Bergkamp when you bought him, Pires?). Also, a strict wage structure cannot exist in isolation, but it can certainly implode. What was Flamini paid 20k/wk? Those are 90’s prices. I can just see Flamini looking down at Eduardo’s erstwhile ankle and think “I’m bustin’ my ass and risking this kind of injury in this physical league for 20k/wk and my teammates are pulling in what?!” Arsene, you effectively asked Flamini to go. After dumping Kaka on his arse and chopping up Milan with razor precision, Flamini was a goner. This is the massive and little discussed downside of developing vs buying and paying fairly. The question remains, which is preferred developing or winning? Only 25 million for transfers, doesn’t make sense. If Kroenke and Usmanov are billionaire Arsenal supporters, time to prove it. No one is bigger than the club.
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Dan, I totally agree with your extremely long response. If you want to win you have to bring in winners and pay them competitive wages for them to be happy and want to stay. It’s great to play football that is pleasing to the eyes but what’s the point of doing so if it doesn’t result in any trophies. Like the major teams in Europe, Arsenal needs a major shake up, starting with Eboue. I am aware that they know the system and have been apart of it for ages, but then it’s a failing system. We have a great group of youngster in the form of Clichy, Sagna, Walcott, but we are a team lacking experience. Gallas is an excellent defender and an asset, however, he lacks the leadership skills we see posessed by the like of Terry, Gerrard, and even Ferdinand. As a man you can’t cry and behave like the kids. Also in the case of Hleb, I think like Dan said, if he doesn’t want to play for us, let him leave. Anyone who doesn’t like where they are isn’t going to give their best.
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Usmanov is in no way the solution. He’s hardly an Arsenal supporter. He’s not going to be an Abromovich, he’ll be more likely to fleece the club. Kroenke is interesting- at least he’s a sports magnate. He’s likely to at least know how to run a team, knows when to spend and know when to be cautious. I grew up in Denver so I’ve seen a lot of his work, and we could definitely do a lot worse. (Look at Liverpool.) I’m not sure him as full owner would be a good idea, especially since it would likely involve debt a la Liverpool and Man U, but I think he’d be a good investor with an eye towards the future. The current owners won’t last forever.
Also, Dan, while I see where you’re coming from, I’m sick of everyone talking about Liverpool as being ahead of us. They spent a lot more. They have Torres. But did they accomplish anything more than us? They’re a strong cup team but they haven’t challenged for a title in oh, ever. They certainly came out with less than us this year, and now there’s backroom struggles. They’re hardly who we should be striving for, I’d say. And again, while Gerrard is a good player, he can’t really be a comparison, especially in the case of Hleb. He has more than the lure of a winning team (because Liverpool aren’t really that any more than we are right now), he also has the lure of being a hometown hero and staying at the club he grew up at. Alex Hleb is from a continent away and misses Stuttgart.
And while Villa and Barry are definitely good role models (although Villa can be stroppy, but he is a striker), Micah Richards is hardly the experienced name you’re calling for. He’s younger than Fabregas. Talented, big, strong, and I’d love to have him, but he’s not what you’re looking for in an experienced leader. Just because he’s English means that he’s a bit overhyped, and certainly calling him the sort of role model we need is an example of that.
I agree we need more strength. But I don’t think that Wenger doesn’t know that. He’s likely to have something up his sleeve. As I alluded to, it may not be the superstar galactico sort of signing. But I’ll take a team full of Sagna-type signings over a galactico any day.
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