As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Great news, I really was writing off every trophy going if he was injured...he has been one of if not the most improved player at Arsenal and compliments Koscielnys reading of the game with his power and ariel ability.
Johan Djourou is he good, yeah yeah yeah (to the tune of Metal Guru by T-Rex)
One thing (and I am not trying to defend wnger here as I would have loved Samba in jan) is that had verm been fit we would have started with him and Djourou as our centre halves. Koscielny and Squillaci would have been blooded in the Carling the FA cup alongside one of our main guys. BOTH players have moved up a league, changed country and never played together before. Seriously you cannot blame either this season and I think that you will see a marked improvement from both next season. Rarly do players play well in their first season and it has been known for pairings of players to take a couple of years before they start to play as a unit. What I am trying to say is get off their backs. I would probably find ALL of you writing 'get rid of Djourou' over the last few seasons now look at him.
In 11 games we have won 9 and drawn 2 when he has made up part of the defence, conceding 8 goals and scoring 27. When we take Djourou out of the back 4 and we put Squillaci and Koscielny together the figures are very ugly indeed. In 11 games with this pairing we have won just 4, drawn 2 and lost a colossal 5 games. Over this period we have conceded a disastrous 17 goals and scored 18. The numbers do not look good when the boy is not there.
piresistible wrote:One thing (and I am not trying to defend wnger here as I would have loved Samba in jan) is that had verm been fit we would have started with him and Djourou as our centre halves. Koscielny and Squillaci would have been blooded in the Carling the FA cup alongside one of our main guys. BOTH players have moved up a league, changed country and never played together before. Seriously you cannot blame either this season and I think that you will see a marked improvement from both next season. Rarly do players play well in their first season and it has been known for pairings of players to take a couple of years before they start to play as a unit. What I am trying to say is get off their backs. I would probably find ALL of you writing 'get rid of Djourou' over the last few seasons now look at him.
You definitely wouldn't find me saying that.
I don't blame Squillaci, I blame Wenger for buying him.
Obviously Wenger couldn't have predicted TVs injury but he had the chance in Jan to retify this, he didn't and we just got to hope Kos and Djourou stay fit long enough for TV to come back.
Squillaci is 30 years old, you don't buy a player of that age and not expect him to slot straight in.