Apologies for not publishing any post yesterday. I suffered from a serious case of accumulated fatigue so I engaged myself in a sleeping marathon where I broke the world record with 14 uninterrupted hours in dreamland. Even a marathon record holder like Haile Gabrieleseleselselsesiee *bites tongue* had nothing on me.
Arsenal takes on Sunderland tomorrow but Arsene Wenger has been on the spotlight for more reasons than one. A few days back, Dennis Bergkamp unveiled Van Persie’s user manual but Wenger has responded to the Dutch legend in the best possible manner:
“Robin’s best position is on the football pitch. On the right, on the left, up front, behind the striker, he can play everywhere. It’s as simple as that.”
“He is most suited to the team and adapted (and) adjusted to the quality of the other players. In this position he has scored 26 goals in 32 games so you cannot say he is in a bad position because the numbers go against you.”
“But you have to be open-minded. He can play as well behind the striker, on the right and on the left.”
“When I bought him he played on the left wing. At Feyenoord, he has been educated like that. I put him as a centre forward, because he is a quality player.”
I seriously doubt if Van Persie would have scored 18 goals in 17 games if he was playing in the hole behind the proposed main striker. Arsenal had the likes of Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh as the only recognized strikers but they were not half as good as the Flying Dutchman. Van Persie has also said that he’s feeling better than ever and that’s a good thing for Arsene Wenger and his men.
Wenger also had a thing or two to say about Theo Walcott critics:
When you look at Theo, he’s a player who you think sometimes ‘He could have contributed more’, but then you think ‘Who scored the goal? Him’.
“Or ‘Who made the pass? It’s him’. He’s a player who is very efficient. Theo has made progress as a team player. He works very hard. He’s naturally a guy who thinks forwards and is working harder for the team.
“You feel now there is a real desire to play with others, which was his weak point a little bit.
“There is a bit of a problem in England. As much as I feel the Press protect the players in the club, they put them under too much pressure in the national team.
“Sometimes at the clubs the players are over-protected but in the national team the pressure is unbelievable. In England your expectation level is too high.
Well, that’s the media Vultures for you.
There was a point in time when they had good things to say about Walcott when Sven-Goran Eriksson put him on a plane with 22 other blokes in the summer of 2006 in Germany but they were quick to crucify the young lad by saying that he had no football brain.
That was one Hell of a punch line and I’m pretty sure that it hurt Walcott more than anyone else. He was quite decent during England’s qualifiers for the World Cup in 2010 but he was shown the boot by Capello on the day of reckoning. He scored 13 goals and laid on 10 assists last season and he has built on it this present campaign with three goals to his name so far.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a player that is in the mold of Theo Walcott and he earned a place in the spotlight after his brilliant hattrick on international duty but Wenger has said that he will not rush the Chambered Ox into action. However, he has tipped the lad for a place in next summer’s European Championships.
Fabio Hitler has told the media Vultures that he’ll hang his suit, specs and diary after the European Championships next summer but Wenger has ruled himself out of a potential move to manage the Three Lions. He has tipped Twitchy Ol’ Harry Redknapp for the move.
Arsenal has been playing well in Europe but currently in shambles in the Premier League. Wenger says that the club is under less pressure in Europe unlike England. This reminds me a bit of the 05/06 season where Arsenal almost ended the league in 5th place but they were flying high in the Champions League.
I can never forget that amazing run of games that saw Arsenal play FC Thun, Sparta Prague and Ajax in the Group Stages before taking on Real Madrid in the first Knockout Round, Juventus in the quarterfinals, Villarreal in the semis before losing to Barcelona in the Paris 06’ finals.
The media Vultures have been on a transfer news frenzy involving Arsenal and some had the kind of spice that was needed with sugar and everything nice to form the PowerPuff Girls.
They’ve revealed that Arsenal’s proposed target from Sochaux Marvin Martin wants to see out the season with the French outfit. The short elf from France is a technically gifted footballer that has been very impressive in Ligue 1.
They’ve also linked Arsenal to Chelsea’s out-of-favor Ivorian winger that looks like Windeck’s Cabo Snoop. Is it just me or is there a slight similarity between Cabo Snoop, Asamoah Gyana nd Salomon Kalou?
They say Arsenal is also keeping tabs on the Romanian Messi called Gabriel Torje and they’ve added Arsenal to the list of clubs that want VV Venlo’s Ahmed Musa. As a Nigerian, I’ve seen Musa play and he’s not your average 18 year old player because his maturity levels are eons away from most of his peers.
They’ve reported that Arsenal is gearing up a £20m bid for Yoann Gourcuff in January and a £14m move for Fiorentina’s Juan Manuel Vargas. Other names like Q.P.R’s Adel Taarabt and Chelsea’s Alex have also been linked to Arsenal.
To wrap it all up, Arsene Wenger has revealed that he’s ready to flush out the free agent he acquired from France because P.S.G remains strongly linked with him. Chamakh hasn’t really blown our minds but Wenger of all people should know what Chamakh brings to the Arsenal squad.
Work rate, aerial ability, link-up play, team work and tenacity. Chamakh might not be the greatest of goal scorers in the club but I’ll be sad to see Marouane Chamakh leave the club. Let’s remember that he scored 10 goals in his first 21 games for Arsenal.
That’s a distant memory now.
Sayonara
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