I think its Time to back Eboue

augie · Post by **augie** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:24 am

I too thought he was far and away our best player v fulham (although that wouldnt be hard

) but I didnt think he played that well on saturday especially in the 1st half anyway. He has improved a lot, especially attitude wise, but as has been said before we will wait and see if it is a short term change or a long term change. Personally I'd rather have 1 eboue than 10 greedybayors but ten I am probably in the minority there too

The one concern I do have re eboue though is that he will prevent the development of theo. I have no doubt that if nasri was fit last sat it would have been eboue and nasri on the wings with theo as back up as I feel that wenger is happier going to places like blackburn, kiev and bolton with eboue ahead of theo for defensive abilities and physical strength

tomkingsbury · Post by **tomkingsbury** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:16 am

ive always had a soft spot for eboue, and i only went to blakcburn to see him!!
anyway, i thought nasri werent that bad against fulham either, at least he treid to go past people.
Eboue is a good player, who's versatility is making him become a more key component to our team. i think he could play as a rb,rm,cm,cb,lm competently.
as we all know, only his attitude lets him down - i still maintain on sat he was caught and it was a penalty, but remember him in the cup at manure last season. and then when we beat the spuds 3-0 at ashburton when he was tackled, fell on the floor, got up to confront the spuds player, and then fell to the floor again - i suppose it adds some comedy to the game.

the only thing i fear is he will get sent off in a really important game for diving and then he will come in for some fierce criticism.

conclusion; keep up the good work manu!

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:51 am

gus ceasar is a legend wrote:I don't think anyone doubts he has done well so far this season.

However, it is going to take more than a few games to make peoples attitude change to a blatant and often embarassing cheat!

I hope his form continues.

Agreed 100%. If he goes ten games without diving, elbowing or whining and rolling around when tackled, then I may start to believe he has changed.

I can't deny his playing has improved. I always said he could play - IF he could get past the urge to dive and cheat...

gus ceasar is a legend · Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:59 am

Think we are going slightly overboard with our love of all things Eboue here.

He has been better than last season yes but hardly pulling up any trees. As for all these other positions Tom suggests he could play in, I am sorry but that is fanciful. I was ok with Eboue at right back and he seemed competent there but has since long been overshadowed by Sagna. If he was so capable in these other positions why has he never played in any of them before unless in times of crisis? I would ask Wenger the same question. The fact is he has been, here we go, asked to do a job there and he has. Not because he is a natural there but because we were down to the bare bones. There is more to playing central midfield than making a few tackles and running lots. We may well have won against Fulham with our normal midfield providing some decent service to the strikers. Eboue rarely can find the whole of the 18 yard box with a cross let alone a slide rule pass from a congested midfield.

I won't go into the players theatrics and general lack of morals again as my feelings are already well known. Fine, Eboue as our second choice right midfielder or right back but if you want to win the league you seriously cannot expect players of this ability to positively influence the season.

tomkingsbury · Post by **tomkingsbury** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:29 pm

gus ceasar is a legend wrote:Think we are going slightly overboard with our love of all things Eboue here.

He has been better than last season yes but hardly pulling up any trees. As for all these other positions Tom suggests he could play in, I am sorry but that is fanciful.

im not suggesting the guy can play in these positions second to none, but that he can play in these positions. i dont think cb would be a good choice, but if we were down to the bare bones he could fill in. similarly, when i say he can play in all these positions, we already have a better player in each position i suggested, it just he is becoming a dogs body for the team, which is useful. He's a hard worker and fills in, thus a decent squad player.

JakeN13 · Post by **JakeN13** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:42 pm

Even if the bloke win us the CL with a hattrick in the final I would still have problems with him in an Arsenal shirt, the guy is an embarrassment not just to Arsenal but to football and I think it's a disgrace Wenger accept and defends him when he does things like he did on Sat. Players like Stepanovs, Malz, Cygan were poor but they always showed respect for wearing the shirt and I'm sure took a lot of pride in it, Eboue on the other hand don't understand the meaning of the word and I can honestly say if there's one Aresnal player I wish to get injured for a very long time it's him.

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:46 pm

He is fit for the Kiev game so was he carried off on a stretcher at Blackburn as a cover for his DIVE

JakeN13 · Post by **JakeN13** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:08 pm

donaldo wrote:He is fit for the Kiev game so was he carried off on a stretcher at Blackburn as a cover for his DIVE

yep...looks that way, I could have accepted they maybe just did it a s a precaution but makes it harder to swallow when he was rolling around like he'd been shoot.

afcnick · Post by **afcnick** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:20 pm

Done it. Just got home from the club shop with Eboue on my shirt.
The guy in the shop asked "Why Eboue"???????

Loving it.

gus ceasar is a legend · Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:35 pm

afcnick wrote:Done it. Just got home from the club shop with Eboue on my shirt.
The guy in the shop asked "Why Eboue"???????

Loving it.

Mentalist!

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:01 pm

donaldo wrote:He is fit for the Kiev game so was he carried off on a stretcher at Blackburn as a cover for his DIVE

or it could be he was in pain, had hurt his knee falling after Warnock's leg had caught the back of Eboue's leg and caused him to go down but the injury wasn't as bad as first thought?

Tallest gooner · Post by **Tallest gooner** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:20 pm

gus ceasar is a legend wrote:What is the extent of the injury? Anyone know?

Cant be that bad he's in the squad and flown to the ukraine!

Eboue will never be 'outstanding' in my eyes unless he scores a hat-trick against the ****

Seriously though he does my head, the only arsenal player i have ever been embrassed about, people may say thats harsh but last season he was actually embrassing! (diving-whinging-cheating-childish behaviour-no goals-no assit's)

Improving on last season cant be hard, so yer he is doing 'alrite' at the start of this season but 4 games in aint enough for my blessing yet!!

gus ceasar is a legend · Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:40 pm

I would prefer it if we applied Roly's Theo theory to Eboue and sell him now his stock is highest.....after a few reasonable performances!

RNTGOONER · Post by **RNTGOONER** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:39 pm

I remeber I used to think of Flamini in the same way as him, but he improved vastly, Eboue is a better athelete than him, and should be able to hastle and boss the midfield but he does not, he is not even very effective in stoping people comming passed him when he plays on the wing.

He has moved up a notch, but that still only puts him on notch one. I would like to see him ditch the childs play, and put some aggresion in his game.

The best thing Eboue ever did was break Terry's foot.

Moon River · Post by **Moon River** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:00 pm

He was pretty much faultless in the run to the CL final. I remember questioning Wenger's decision to sign Sagna 2 last season, such was Eboue's form in the team. Of course I ended up eating my words as Sagna has proved to be priceless, in contrast to Eboue's form dropping like a stone. Point is, we know what Manu is capable of, and despite the jokes and the taunts he is still an important member of the team.