After Thomas Vermaelen was sold off in the summer after being a non-playing Arsenal Captain last season, Mikel Arteta was the newly appointed Top Dog in the changing room. Since the Spaniard succumbed to injury poor old Per Mertesacker took up the slack as designated vice-captain, but his performances since then have left much to be desired.
Yesterday Arsene Wenger dropped the Big German and played the new-boy Gabriel instead alongside Laurent Koscielny. The Boss was pleased with the Brazilian’s peformance and said after the game: “He had an encouraging performance overall.
“He was surprised by the intensity of the challenges once or twice but he made a great tackle against Romelu Lukaku in the first half.
“He’s highly focused, has a good concentration level and is quick.”
Now the latest Arsenal rumours are saying that Mertesacker will be allowed to leave in the summer with Gabriel being promoted to the starting XI on a regular basis.
There are few Arsenal fans that would disagree with that idea right now, especially after Mertesacker’s famous ‘ducking incident’. I am sure that they amount of work that Wenger’s scouts did in the run up to buying Gabriel in January they must have identified many other possible centre-back targets that could replace our ageing BFG.
Could we see yet another one of our players fall to the usual Arsenal Captain’s curse?
Situation doesn’t even compare. While Vermaelen and Arteta were injured and barely can find game time, Mertesacker played most of the games. Vermaelen was dropped after that 0-3 at Everton (and rightly so) while Mertesacker should have been dropped after Stoke already.
For losing a betting stake worth U.shs 500,000 when Monaco overcame Arsenal football club 3-1 in a European champions league fixture, Deus Ruhinda a resident of Kakiika in Mbarara district did the unthinkable – hung himself to death.
An eye witness intimated to Kawowo Sports that the decision resulted from a betting receipt gone sour.
The deceased (Ruhinda) was working in Kasese district, took a decision to terminate his life after losing Shs 500,000 in a European Champions League match bet.
The deceased was a bodaboda (motorbikes used for public transport) rider and the money he staked was reportedly belonging to his boss in Kasese. Upon the news from the bet, he moved back to his home village (where he had left six years back) and committed suicide.
The witness says, Ruhinda, whose mother and father had died was lost for any action as he narrated the incident to his relatives – many of them condemning him apart from the grand mother – Nalongo Geturiida, who expressed commiseration.
He became more angry as the guardians rebuked him for not coming back to see them and vowed never to assist him in any way nor give a single penny to overcome the situation
Oh, The Curse of The Armband!!! Hey, who’s seen that movie?
Spill over comment____
@Muda, I do agree. Ozil assisting two goals is not something one should ignore. But may I just be sincere, sometimes a player can assist or score but still end up as “flop of the match” (not saying he was a total flop yesterday, but his all-round game wasn’t colourful).
If a player contributes to a win then he is never a flop.
At the end of the day it’s about winning. One can be pedantic with players in a match an scrutinise their play, but nobody is perfect. I don’t care How much we spent on him. Fact is he contributed to two goals and we won by 2 goals. So Ozil and Arsenal got the job done.
@Fred. How about a scenario wherein a player (say a defender) scores one for his team and ends up putting two in his own net and the game ends 2–1, in favour of the opposition?
Like you said, if a player contributes to a win, then he is never a flop. I did not say Ozil was the flop.
Lets be careful not to hate on oziL ……. Tho carzola’s been awesome…… He hasn’t created much chances at goal but his all round game is just great….still, GoaLs is really wat brings winnings…. I regard em both, i have Lil choice at the moment
Ramsey was scoring a goal a game at the beginning of this season while he was poor throughout each match, and we all highlighted this after about 4-5 games.. Most of us were saying Ramseys goals so far are papering over the cracks of this poor overall contribution and that he should improve.
Isn’t it?
Indeed, Ramsey became quite overly obsessed with goal-scoring that he would repeatedly forsake his midfield responsibilities, and personally his game this season has not impressed me.
Well said and spot on. When Ramsey makes is automatic(????) return to the starting 11lets pray to the heavens that AW has instilled the fear of God in him and his B2B tendencies concentrate on the defensive side of the pitch.
Per needs to start parking, thanks for everything. But if we wants to watch from the bench it won’t be too bad either. But gabREAL is the deal here. XI material.
I’d really love to have Mertesecker in my dream team. Eh, my basketball dream team.
yeh, cus he’s really agile and such a good jumper
Can we have a left footed Bellerin (young and promising) to stay on alert for left back position??? Just saying!! I really trust the kid’s ability.
What about our LB in Academy? Forgot his name. Do you know if he is any good?
@muda
Bellerin is 2 footed…
Ppl you all need to give it a rest over BFG. That man has played so much and needs a rest. Yes we have the new player but the top teams will run him mad at the moment. And I think in the summer he need to buy another defender to play alongside our new defender and make them the future. And our boy TW not playing is pi—-g me right off he is far better them most and I want to see him play with Sanchez
I can’t understand TW14’s situation either!
Is TW carrying another injury or something ? I am extremely perplexed at him not playing. Even as a substitute, he is second choice to Welbeck right now. What the fu*k is happening ?
The happening fu*k is that Prince Theo is not good at defending and he does not believe in hustling for the team, like Welbeck and the Ox do.
But this is the way our manager has made him. I have seen him work his socks off defending b4 he got that injury. This is down to our manager who now is trying to be hard lol that won’t ever happen. And our goalkeeper issues surely the goalkeeper that we using now should be put on the bench and four Shaznay to be used seeing that he had such a bad 2 games last week?
@arsenalkid1970
You’re kidding right?
Theo doesn’t defend because he can’t be arsed. And those times he did defend to some extent was half azzd attempts at closing down a player or 2…
Ospina has 3 clean sheets out of 7 matches. Szczesny has 3 from 17…
Why do people keep saying that Walcott does not defend or track back? Before he got injured last season he was occupying that right side from defense to attack.
He was causing problems in attack while helping Sagna too. His last game in the FA Cup against Spuds last season, he was so good up and down and got injured because he made 2 tackles consecutively, 1 in the Spuds half and had to run back to help the right back in our half, that’s how he injured himself tackling a spuds play in our right back position.
That was on one occasion.
Everyone knows walcotts defensive work rate is 2nd only to ozil in terms of being non existsent.
I agree with wenger in playing chamberlain and Welbeck over him when Ozils playing 10 as having both of them on the pitch at the same time will leave us extreamly open.
Im suprised your a fan of walcott he’s like the winger version of ozil, great goal contribution, poor defensive work rate, disapear for large periods in games, doesnt contribute much bar one or two moments in a game.
Got this funny feeling he is off in the summer to Spain. Don’t need to say what club ? We all no but if it is part of a part X deal I will be so p—d coz he is far better then Danny
Have you been frequenting Caughtoffside???
TW is in contract negotiations. However unlike last time he does not hold all the cards. There a re plenty of alternatives we can use. I think what is being shown here is that he can not hold out for a bumper contract. I expect when he does not sign before the summer we will sell him as not to have a stand-off next season. He is replaceable…
By not playing him that much also Walcott’s mind maybe changing to wanting a move away.
@supertuur
Thing is, where does he go?
I think he still is the fastest player in the EPL – that has to be worth something.
Don’t know what is going on with Theo but not sure what some of us are looking for here. What we are seeing for a change is a little strength in depth – something we have all been banging on about for some time now. The downside of a little depth is people’s favourites not playing – there is only one slot/position for Theo in a 1st X1 and we have 3 possibly 4 who can play in that position. We should be happy not angry.
We all are in agreement that Mertsesacker has been a joke since the season started. Can’t remember a game this season where I stood up and said Wow Merte was brilliant. Been poor all season.
But I am loving how we are dropping under performers now. SZNY first and now Mertesacker.. Other under performers better watch out, things have just got serious now.
Lol
Reid and Schar are both available on free transfer. They could be good replacements for Mertesacker.
Yep..think Pers luck has just run out.
Gabrihell looks the part and seems to be much better equipped as a defender especially with the demands of the PL.
If we get rid of Mertsacker, surely we need a Top defender to replace him.
Hummels, Verane, Ramos, Howedes, Godin, Clyne, shawcross, fonte, Baines, Correa, Jagielka
Is be happy with any of them.
I don’t think Gabriel is quite ready to replace him yet. I think we need 3 top CB because of injuries that we have every season
he will not be ready….lets spend some money and sign some quality world class defenders
Fred,
I think it will be nearly impossible with AW’s summer transfer budget to spend BIG on a Varane, Laporte, Godin, Ramos, when it seems the boss is ready to offer $15M plus for either Schederlien, Bender, Gonalons, Illarmenda(sp?), etc. If Santi, or even more surprisingly Wilshere or Ozil are sent packing this summer than any of these incredible CB”s are in play.
I think a more likely scenario is adding a Fabian Schar, or taking a chance on Tyrone Mings from Ipswich Town @ that 8-10M price tag.
Incredible Summer
IN:
Scharr….$10M
Schenderlien….$20M
Dybala…..$30M
Abdal Rahman Abba(Ausburg)…..$8M
Cech…….FREE
OUT:
BFG……$5-8M
Poldoski…..$5-10M
Nacho…..$8M
Campbell…..$8-10M
Jenkinson…..$5-10M
Schez……$8-10M
Flamini….released
I concede the fact that this amount of roster activity is the anthesis of everything Le Prof stands for, especially team solidarity, however which of these players honestly have a future @ the Emirates? Even if each of these Gunners are sold for the mimum of there transfer value worth, the net spending for the Summer business would be around $20-30M, even less if Athletico make an incredible bid for Santi.
Next years squad:
CF…..Giroud, Welbeck, Dybala
LW….Sanchez, Gnarby
RW….OX, Walcott
NO 10…..Ozil, Santi
B2B….Ramsey, Wilshere?
DM…..Coquelin, Schenderlien
LB…..Gibbs, ARA
CB…..Koz, Chambers, Gabriel, Schar
RB…..Bellerin, Debuchy
GK….Cech, Ospina
I like our chances…
One final piece of business, sell Wilshere and bring in Sissoko from Newcastle.
since when is baines a CB
Varane for me. Think it’s possible RM would sell also and his young french talent so no doubt on AWs radar..
If Wenger continues with his new, ‘play badly and actually get benched’ methodology I can see us finishing strongly. Szcz and Merte benched, Ozil just about surviving with “assists” (not sure you can call them that) and hopefully Ramsey and Wilshere stay on the bench and wait their turn for someone else to lose form. Even Walcott has to wait now because the other wingers work harder.
Mert just too slow and not too strong enough. We need a Strong CB like Kompany or Terry. Not fast but strong. Gabriel is a fast CB but he’s not strong enough and same like kos.
I don’t get the hate on Mertesacker. Yes he deserved to be benched much sooner because of his very average displays but people have very short memories. He was one of our better players last season and still can contribute to the team. He played very well against Middlesborough. He should not be used against good oppositions especially those with pace but still is a decent squad player. No need for all the hate.
I wouldnt call it cursed its just that Wenger doesnt choose the right people or for that matter buy captain material players.
TBH I am more worried about our lastest Captain – Senor Cazorla, especially with all these rumours circulating around, I hope it isn’t an unhealthy dose of deja vu.
He is great for Arsenal – loved by all the fans, and could go on to take his place as one of our legends – to lose him would hurt.