I reckon Abou has all the footballing ability in the world but might be pea brained when it comes to football IQ (not general IQ, it's possible to be thick as pig sh*t but still an incredibly savvy footballer and vice versa). as shown by his tendency to take a million touches on the ball without figuring out where the best option is. Throw in the injury proneness and he is a wholly frustrating footballer for mine no matter his pure talent and size.
Rose tinted glasses.
Bull, I concede that he is far from perfect, and clearly him being constantly injured obviously will not help his cause, frustrating perhaps, but it's hardly fair to condem him for something that is beyond his control.
Yeah I wouldn't disagree with most of that, Denilson seems to have a decent awareness on the pitch, and can pick a pass, but what Arsenal really need from their midfield is a player who can tackle well and add an extra dimension to the attack, he offers neither of these things. Would really like to see Ramsey get an extended run in the side tbh, would have thought that with all the injuries at the moment it's not out of the question either. Like you say though, Denilson is clearly one for the future, at the moment I would be happier to see him making sporadic appearances rather than appearing week in week out, but again, with the current injury situation it perhaps cannot be helped.
Players are condemned for injury prone-ness all the time. Watto, for example. 95% of Australia hates him because of it.
Yes, but I would say there is a difference between a general distain for an injury prone player and critique of his abillity as they are wholly seperate things. The point I was generally making was that just because a player is regularly sustaining injuries does not neccesarily equate to him being a poor player, nor does it detract from his level of skill/ability etc...(Ole Solskaer for example).
I agree we have been somewhat hampered by injuries over the past couple of years, but surely having an injury prone squad would require having a deep squad at the same time and not requiring to rely on sick notes like Diaby (every time I hear Arsene say Rvp and Eduardo will be like new signings I mutilate my labrador (whom I named Freddie) mediocre players like Eboue, Bendtner and infants like Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela etc to step up and make an immediate impact in the squad.
Eboue is having a shocking time of it lately, being subbed on and then subbed off later in the match is absolutely unheard of for an Arsenal player, rarely have I seen an Arsenal player get such a hostile reception from the fans as well, which is a shame, as a few years ago in the season which we reached the champions league final he looked like a very useful player indeed. Will be nice when Rosicky is back in the fold, as he is a very useful player to have in the side, but again, totally unreliable with regards to his fitness, and yes....it's probably only a matter of time before Van Persie is crocked again. I think the return of Eduardo could be quite significant, if (and its a pretty big if) he can get back to the kind of form he was in before he sustained his broken leg then he could really add something a bit different to the team going forward, as at the moment we don't really have any pace up front, esspecially with Walcott out for a while.
Am very optimistic about Eduardo, know a lot of Dinamo fans here in Melbourne who tell me he's hard as nails and always comes back stronger when faced with adversity (think black Brazilian becoming a hero of even the most radical Eastern European). Rosicky I don't know. Fisrt he was scheduled to return start of this season, then during December and now Arsene is saying he'll return in March. Very pessimistic about him tbh.
I think Ray Parlour was a hugely influential player for Arsenal, Romford Ray was massively underated in my eyes, and could never understand why other people didn't rate him more highly, not only did he fight and scrap but he had bags of skill and excellent technique, I would go as far to say as he is the player who has improved the most under Wengers tenure at Arsenal, though there are arguments for countless other players as well.
Want another one? 0 goals and 1 assist last year as a specialist winger at a big club. Shocking stuff, seems very whimsical about when he bothers to track back and support the Bakster as well. Very meh player for me plus the added factor of being excrutiatingly embaressing.
I can understand why Eboue was used, though I think it reflects more on the lack of options available than than Wenger himself. Putiing Vela on in a match like this when Arsenal needed to protect a slender lead against a team that were scrapping for all they were worth would probably not have been good for him, Eboue in theory should offer a bit of experience and a bit of defensive grit, obviously it didnt pan out this way, but I can see the logic behind the decision.
I would suggest it's the latter tbh, the Physio staff at Arsenal have a very good reputation, though obviously I have no real way of validating such a claim.
