Injured Denilson wasn’t going to play tomorrow anyway, Diaby will do the business
I like Denilson as a player and despite what people said about him last season, I defended him. Statistics supported my cause but then again stats are like marmite, you either love them or you hate them.
Denilson has been missing from the first XI now since he was subbed at Eastlands. Today came the news that his injury was a little more serious. The back injury will keep him out for 2 months. Cue panic.
OMGs Denilson is injured our midfield is screwed. Oh no not again. Why God? Why Arsenal? Why Denilson? What did he ever do to you?
Chill out. Denilson wasn’t going to be involved for tomorrow’s Champions League match against Olympiakos anyway.
“But that means Diaby is going to play.”
Yeah and? Do I need to pull out stats again to defend Diaby’s performances as well now? Okay this is from the game against Fulham, where apparently he had an awful match.
Those who say Diaby can’t pass – He made 1 unsuccesful pass out of 27 passes in total.
Those who say Diaby can’t tackle- He won 8 of his 14 tackles.
Those who say Diaby can’t read a game – He made 5 successful interceptions or alternatively, 100%.
Those who say Diaby can’t defend for the team- He made 3 successful clearances. Alternatively, 100%
And then there were those who said, Diaby holds on to the ball a bit too long. Perhaps, but then doesn’t Van Persie as well? And if Diaby holds it for longer, doesn’t that mean the opposition don’t have it for that period?
Like it or not I am pretty sure Diaby will play tomorrow against Olympiakos and he will start a few more games after that. Wenger has a lot of faith in a fully fit Diaby. Shortly after Diaby made that mistake at Old Trafford, Wenger came out and said that Abou could be that “powerhouse” Arsenal wanted. When a guy is 6 foot tall, you sort of expect that.
Those who read this blog know I am pro Denilson and not so much pro Diaby. But so far this season Abou hasn’t done much wrong. Instead the more illustrious Arshavin and Fabregas have excelled only in patches instead of the whole game.
Call it blind faith but the reality is when a player is fit and does more right than wrong in matches, even if it is making simple passes, it is hard to drop him.
A word on news about Bendtner’s car crash.
Obviously any accident, minor or major is not pleasant news for the individual/s involved or for the people who hear about it. As news reports go, they were detailed enough and said it was a minor accident. I hope Bendtner recovers not only physically but also mentally from this accident.
Bah statistic… Diaby is shite and you now it mate!… Be honest please dont just defend that spoiled brat to make you look like a true Arsenal fan..
Be realistic, and try to compare Diaby’s stat with Flamini’s and that is how you calculate that the our midfield is not replaced properly…
Jees Diaby should f*ck off, get injured for a long time, instead that dumbass broke Samir Nasri leg
What a way to make your way to the starting line up eh Abou Dumbass
Let us be clear about one thing. Diaby is not a defensive midfielder. That would be Song. If you want to compare Song against Flamini that is fine.
Flamini only had one good season in midfield. It is important we don’t forget that.
I’ve said before I’m not Diaby’s biggest fan but so far he hasn’t done much wrong. The tackle on Nasri was just an unfortunate thing. It is not as if he has built a reputation of horrible tackling.
@GoonerToday, yes you are right – Diaby is not a DM and therein lies the problem with his game. Arsene’s 4-3-3 formation calls for 2 DMs and 1 CM linking with 3 forwards who can freely rotate their positions to confuse opponents’ defenders (check the official formation at the start of each game which all coaches must submit to the FA).
While his skills are best utilised as a fine forward, Diaby is played as the 2nd DM in the absence of Nasri/Denilson and ahead of Ramsey. But he then bombs forward ever so often (60% of the 27 successful passes in the Fulham game were made in Fulham’s half) that the defensive strength on the left side is severely diminished thus overworking his nearby colleagues – Clichy, Song and Fabregas. Opponents now use our thus weakened left flank to bypass our midfield and attack the goalmouth, knowing that if they put two forwards on Clichy alone they stand a good chance of getting past him eventually.
Arsene really could consider having Diaby compete with Arshavin for the left forward role and consider Ramsey for the 2nd DM role – at least until Nasri returns soon.
Them stats from one game. one swallow don’t make a summer. you want to show how diaby been consistent this season which I think he has been, his wierd header vs ManYoo apart.
No ‘cos last season when Arsene Wenger put Denilson on Flamini’s place all he does was talk statistic statistic ballistic but you and i we both know our midfield are weak… Even Fabregas complains
Why are Wenger DOWNGRADE ing the squad?…
And why all he brags about is profit bla bla bla..
Ticket price gone up, merchandise gone up bla bla bla has gone up
but he refuses to flow with the market on getting replacement players for the squad?…
And expect us to keep trusting those spoiled brat?… While we witness horrible inconsistency week after week?..
Seriously this obsession with youth has got to stop…
If that is all he want to achieve…
he better coach them French Football Academy Claire Fontaine where he can find all the Diaby he want!
You make good points and we can’t forget that we do have the 3rd highest wage bill.
About Fabregas, of course he will complain. Flamini was not only good as a DM that year but he was a good friend to Cesc as well. And at Intl level, he has the luxury of Senna.
And to put in perspective about Wenger, he has brought Arshavin and Vermaelen since, both who aren’t teenagers.
Wenger, we don’t need Abu in arsenal squad again coz is not a good player.am now no dat there something between Abu and Wenger,(reason) Daiby injured Nasri just b coz of first 11,and wenger start to use him as a regula player. Denilson sory u we ok
Diaby is last year’s Adebayor. The scapegoat for every failure.
I need wenger to get me a good striker and not to depend on V.persie ok
have you seen tht goal v.P scored agnst fulham, hw many strikers can do tht wth just two touches.. not many.. v.p is the best for this arsenal side.. he is a great team player and he assists and scores goal, which suits our style..
Please you people should let Diabi stay ooooooo bcos no player has his strength in Arsenal today………He will be good and perfect with time please
Diaby is too inconsistent. He can paste Essien and Lampard one day and get dominated by Rory Delap the next.
The stats are fine. This is deja vu to Denilson of the last 2 seasons. Elite stats but looks so avg on the screen.
I believe one key stat to note for Diaby would be unsuccessful dribbles. Those stats didn’t record the number of times he backed into a defender after controlling a pass then losing it with out making a pass.
I’m a fan of Diaby as I’ve seen him rip world class players apart (Carling Cup FInal 06 or 07 can’t remember which one when he smashed fat Frank and co and the OT game 4 weeks ago when he dominated minus the retarded own goal)
But he also makes me want to cry when i see him play like rubbish against your Hull’s and Birminghams.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Diaby is world class but he might not be as bad as us fans sometimes make it out to be
Yes you make a good point about unsucessful dribbles, I noticed at one point he held the ball for so long that around 3-4 Fulham players were around him. But I still saw him find a safe pass which was an improvement from last year.
I think his passing range gets worse the further back he plays. With more games under his belt he will get better.
He is one of those players that needs a lot of confidence, belief injected into him.
if we let diaby be just diaby and not compare him with viera he will shine.. he is a good player.. this is the problem with some arsenal fanz.. last season we were fucking with eboue and now we praising and cheering for him everytime he does somethng brilliant.. dont discourage diaby- coz i bet you, you all have to eat your words when diaby will get bck to full fitness and full form.. he has the potential.. In arsene we trust !!!!
Diaby tends to hold the ball for too long. It is acceptable in Van Persie case because he plays up front. Diaby is a midfielder, he need to pass the ball fast so that the opponent does not have enough time to pack up their team.
Diaby has no sense of defense, that’s the fact if you watch his game closely.
Last game against Wigan, he caused Song a yellow card. You can find other examples if you focus on his movement and how he involve in team playing. Forget your statistic, it can’t tell everything. For example, Ces mis-passes so often because he tried creative passes instead of simple ones. Statistic number can’t tell you anything about that.
the fact is that it is much easier for Song and Ces to play their game if Denilson is around. Although he is not as strong as Diaby physically but his game reading is much better. You can compare the game with and without Diaby and see the main reason.
yes Reo I agree stats can’t tell the whole story. And the points you make are valid and give a more comprehensive reading to performances in general.
Of course you make a good point about Cesc’s passing being not as successful compared to Diaby. But if we say Diaby isn’t sound in his defensive responsbilities then we should be more patient and praise the things he does do well. sometimes a simple pass helps to get things going.
I’ve said before I’m more a fan of Denilson than Diaby but the reality is the Brazilian will be missing for 2 months. Also if you noticed in my recent post I said once Diaby was subbed, players like Arshavin took more defensive responsbility. Now if Wenger believes that he can use someone else instead of Diaby he probably will. But the fact remains Wenger has seen something really special about Abou and we got to give AB the benefit of the doubt for now I think.