Do the Friendlies Tell Us Anything?

By: Martin | July 27th, 2009

I’ve watched most of Arsenal’s three friendlies thus far. But the question is–do these friendlies give us any insight into Arsene Wenger’s thinking about the squad, or which players look set to bust out? Or are these friendlies against lower opposition just an excuse for players to get some game fitness?

I suspect the answer is a lot closer to the latter than the former, and that we really shouldn’t get too excited about anything that happens in these friendlies. But there definitely have been a few things that jumped out at me from the action so far:

1. Armand Traore has looked pretty good so far. Now, I don’t think he can unseat Clichy (or, for that matter, probably even Gibbs), so I’m not saying he’s any threat to the first-choice 11. But he’s 19, he played a full season for Portsmouth last season, and now looks capable of being a good left-back at a very high level. This presents Wenger with a real quandary at some point–we now have what appear to be three very good left-backs, aged 19, 19, and 24. It would appear that at least one of them will have to go at some point. Now, Gibbs has also played at right-back, and with Sagna a bit older at 26, we could keep him in the reserves and cup squad for a few seasons and groom him as our “right-back of the future” for when Sagna moves on in a few seasons. But if Clichy stays, will Traore be happy to ride the pine for the foreseeable future? You’d have to think not. Traore has played some on the left-wing before, so Wenger could possibly make that his primary position. Regardless, though, having too many options is one of those “good problems” to have, and for this season, I think Traore provides cover at left-back and the left wing. If he keeps improving, we’ll either find a place for him or sell him for a lot of cash to some other club that can.

(UPDATE: Literally right after I post this, I see that Birmingham is looking to sign Traore on a season-long loan. Could be a decent move for everyone involved.)

2. Okay, I know you guys are always dogging me for defending Bendtner. But he’s looked good–really good–in the last couple of friendlies. Maybe he’s motivated to prove to Wenger he doesn’t need to look elsewhere for Adebayor’s replacement, or maybe he’s finally maturing and making the jump to elite striker. And sure, his goals in the friendlies have been mostly easy chances–but isn’t “he misses so many easy chances” what everybody complains about? I know I’ll probably be teased for this, but I really think if he starts regularly Bendtner can give us 12-15 league goals this season.

3. Here’s something that bears watching. Something interesting happened in the friendly today. Wenger brought on Philippe Senderos . . . as a holding midfielder. Now. This was probably just a way to get Senderos some action, and doesn’t mean anything. However, to play devil’s advocate, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Wenger, having missed out on Cana and Melo, doesn’t see any other holding midfielders out there that are worth their asking price, but both: (a) realizes he needs another holding midfielder to cover for Song; and (b) either doesn’t want to let Senderos go and hasn’t gotten any satisfactory offers for him. He may have thought to himself that if Phil could play holding midfielder, he could kill two birds with one stone, at least for a season. Senderos’ game has never struck me as suitable for anything other than a center back, so I think if Wenger is thinking along these lines, he needs to think again. As I said, though, hopefully this was just a way to get Senderos into the game after we already had a big lead, and nothing else.

4. Silvestre continues to age in dog years. In the last friendly, against SC Columbia, a semi-professional club, he got beaten for lack of pace several times. If he can’t even keep up with players who aren’t full professionals, he will be eaten alive by Premiership attackers. At this point, I can’t imagine anything he offers the club on the pitch that couldn’t be replaced by one of our reserves kids–it’s time to let him go, on a free transfer if need be.

5. The other guy who has really looked bad the last couple of friendlies is Eboue. Now, I thought Eboue had turned a corner last spring and could provide valuable cover at right-wing and right-back this season. But he appears to have reverted back to the old maddening Eboue–terrible at keeping possession and making decisions, etc. If the rumors of an £8-9 million offer from Fiorentina are anywhere close to true, I think at this point that offer should be accepted immediately. That’s decent money for a mediocre player, and between Gibbs at right-back and Wilshere and Arshavin on the right, we’ve got cover for all his positions.

As I said, I fully acknowledge that these reactions are probably dramatic overreactions to meaningless games that no one involved is taking all that seriously. But isn’t dramatic overreaction what blogs are for in the first place? Besides, there’s not much else going on and I thought this could start a conversation–does anyone else have any thoughts on the three friendlies thus far?