Here we go folks, the season is over so what best to get talking about? Next season of course and what players we have lined up and what players have The Arsenal lined up. Last summer we had Ryan Babel bleating how much he wanted to join The Arsenal (and how we could of done with him flying down the wing!) and this year is no different. The player to get the 'I want to play for The Arsenal' ball rolling is Valencia's hot shot David Villa. The 26 year old who many have earmarked to join CSKA Chelsea as he is rated in the £20m bracket and will have a host of Europe's big guns after him will shun them to join London's finest he reckons. The Spanish striker said amongst other things in this gleaned report "I watch the Premier League a lot and the team I'm most attracted to is definitely Arsenal". Well there you have it straight out the horses mouth - a top striker wants to join us, question is, will Le Gaffer Arsène Wenger OBE dust down the chequebook and buy a world class player and believe Villa is world class.
I am not jumping on the 'we need to sign a player, any player' brigade but Villa would be a proper addition to our forward line up. Lets look at what we have up front.
Manu Adebayor: A good striker, provides an ariel threat, he's not as bad as some Gooners think when they are slagging him off. He's scored 26 goals so far this season, not bad for a player who's been playing that lone role for most of the season. Obviously his finishing is a bit all over the shop but at 23 years old you would think he could only get better, providing he doesn't believe all the hype and stays humble. In my opinion he works better in a front two than on his own.
Robin van Persie: Probably the most skillful player at The Arsenal. I love Robin but what with his injury history will he ever have a full season playing? As good as he is, having van Persie on board is a bit of a luxury if is only playing 15-20 games a season. I want us to keep van Persie I am not saying we should shift him but if we do keep him then we definitely need cover for him.
Eduardo: Big question mark hangs over our Crozilian hitman. Obviously I want him to come back fully fit and firing on all cylinders, however what with the injury he got who knows when he will play and what sort of player he will come back as.
Nicklas Bendtner: A good player but like Adebayor believes in his own hype a bit too much for my liking. Strange how at international level he is proper awesome. If he could transfer that form to club level then we would be laughing. What Bendtner needs is playing time, which he has been getting this season but hasn't grabbed the opportunity with both hands. At 19 years old I think its a bit naive for Gooners to believe he is the man to lead the forward line over Adebayor over the course of a season.
That's it - that is our forward line up. But if you want to be generous you could add Theo Walcott to the list as that is his natural position. Again I think we should deploy Theo up front, however would he last the course of the season if he was played week in, week out? At international level, well Under 21 anyway Theo is the lick - he is one of the best players on the pitch every time I've seen him play or he gets more involved in the build up play. I agree with Wenger that he is an 'impact player' or has been this season. Walcott needs games under his belt, even though he looks like one Theo isn't a baby, he is now 19 years old. Michael Owen was scoring for fun at that age, although all that non stop playing seems to have caught up with him as lately he's more crocked than our own Robin van Persie. In my opinion Wenger can't use the excuse of Walcott being an impact player, Walcott is another player off the England conveyor belt who could be world class, we just need to see if he has the mentality and commitment. And having a possible star in our ranks who should be starting games and not just making 15-20 minute cameos is criminal, especially when you look at who is in front of him on the wings - Manu Eboué!
Any road up this piece was on our forwards but as you can see it's not as if we couldn't do with a 'real' world class forward in David Villa. We have only three forwards going into next season. Eduardo is injured until - well who knows when. So call it two and half as we have Adebayor and Bendtner as Robin van Persie is constantly injured. So, who wouldn't take a gamble on David Villa? As it is I think Wenger will be taking a huge gamble on not getting a proven goal scorer like Villa and believing Eduardo will come back the player he was. As it is Eduardo wont be coming back until early next year and by that time dear I say it, it may or may not be too late for our season.
What's your thoughts on the David Villa story? Would you take a gamble on him? Jump onto The Forum and share your thoughts. The Forum: David Villa to Arsenal
We all miss you Rocky, you were not only an Arsenal Leg-end but a right gent as well. Allgoonerdup is holding a new win a t-shirt competition and it's to honour the Arsenal hero. For your chance to win a Rocky t-shirt just answer this simple question, what number shirt did David Rocastle wear for The Arsenal? Get your answers down and let us know your name, size and postal address - job done.
Send your answers to:
iwannafreebie@allgoonerdup.com
Competition ends 30 April.
Good luck Gooners.
For all you Gooners out there that have FaceBook there is a FaceBook page dedicated to Rocky, do yourselves and join up. David Rocastle - Arsenal Legend - Never Forgotten.
We all miss you Rocky.
Once you get there have a look through the different categories to make it easier to choose just which shirt you want. Is there a shirt you like but would prefer it in a different colour? Well have word via email (shop@allgoonerdup.com) and we'll see what we can do for you, see how helpful the staff are? Go on, have a butchers - The Allgoonerdup Shop
Latest standings after the weekends game.
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Got something to rant about? Want to see what the discussion of the day is? Well jump on board The Allgoonerdup Forum and register if you haven't done so already and have your shout about Arsenal and general football topics.
Sagna - what a leg-end: Contract rebel Mathieu Flamini should take note from fellow countryman Bacary Sagna who has spoken of his love of all things Arsenal and says he wants to stay a Gooner for life. Could this guy be any more of a Arsenal leg-end in the making... Transfer rumours: Well seeing that our season has ended and next season starts now lets get some transfer shenanigans on the go. Apparently Alex Hleb's ice cream loving agent is hawking his player around the European giants of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus and makes the veiled threat that the big boys are after his client, although they haven't made any bids. Don't you just hate agents? Also on the transfer front The Arsenal are apparently having a look at giant keeper Heurelho Gomes who plies his trade for PSV Eindhoven. But with a price tag of £12m it remains to be seen if Arsène Wenger will get his chequebook out... Make some noise: Arsenal blog Le Grove (a great site by the way) is trying to get something done about the noise level (or lack of more to the point) have butchers on their site and add your thoughts or alternatively you can jump onto the Allgoonerdup Forum and stick your thoughts on their - Ashburton Grove - Bring the noise and we'll get the ideas together and send them as well as ours onto the Le Grove boys... That's your lot, we out of here, au reviour mon amis...
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
| Sky Sports 1 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Click here for full list |
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Click here for full list |
Buy Arsenal Tickets with
 |
||
 |
||
|
RSS Feed