If statistics are an indication, Ashley Young, who finished the 2007-2008 league season with 8 goals and 17 assists, numbers on par with Cesc's 7 goals and 19 assists, should be the Aston Villa player Arsenal should try to acquire, rather than Gareth Barry. Then, of course, there's Gabriel Agbonlahor, the forward who looked really dangerous when Arsenal played Aston Villa last season. High rollers like Man United and Chelsea take the best players from opposing teams all the time, sometimes, take the case of Sean Wright-Phillips at Chelsea, just to keep them from playing at all.
I'm all for pillaging Villa's first team to bring in both Young and Agbonlahor, but Arsene might be looking at Barry because Arsenal have suffered heavy losses in central midfield with Flamini, last year's starter alongside Cesc, off to AC Milan; Diarra, who only stuck around for half a season, now at Portsmouth; and Gilberto past his prime and perhaps on his way out.
My review of the Arsenal first team only identified Diaby and Denilson as candidates to play with Cesc in central midfield. The open position is for a holding midfielder, and Gareth Barry fits that description. He's received good reviews when he has started for England in that position. He's been playing at Aston Villa for several seasons, and his form has been up and down. He's not a very exciting option, but he might be a good one.
Diaby, shown here in his number 2 kit, is a more exciting option. During his time at Arsenal, he's done nothing to demonstrate, so far as I've seen, that he would make a good holding midfielder, but he can make some great runs forward. He really has a knack for using a little trickery to free up some space and burst forward.
Denilson, pictured above, from what I've seen, could do the job, and he would be my choice. Arsene Wenger hasn't trusted him enough to give him many chances to play, and I think I'd noticed a general trend against him in the consensus opinion of the Arsenal faithful, but I've remained a stout supporter, and repeat my call here for him to be given a chance as first choice in central midfield.
Back to stats, briefly, Paul Doyle took a look at the stats at the end of last season. Arsenal's starting left back Gaël Clichy was 2nd in the league in passing, right behind Cesc and right ahead of Flamini (top three passers being Arsenal players should be no surprise), and Clichy also led the category of intercepted passes with 136. I don't care who you support, it's hard not to like Clichy.
At the bottom of that Paul Doyle article there's a link to more stats from last season. I just noticed that some of those numbers, from Opta, contradict the numbers for Ashley Young and Cesc that I had above, from Actim, at premierleague.com.
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3 deflections:
Nice piece, 433!
I'd like to see Denilson given a chance. I think he can do the job. He is better than Flamini because he has better technique. He has been bulking up last year and I would expect him to step it up in the coming season.
Diaby, I have my doubt. I was really high on him for a while but he seems to lack the drive. I think you and I have had this conversation before; he tends to drift in and out of the game which is a "bad thing" if one plays in the middle of the park.
The transfer window closes on August 31. I reckon AW will use the month of July to have a good look at the players to find out what positions he needs to fill. Though I would be really surprised if Arsenal get Gareth Barry, he would be a very nice addition to the team.
334, What is the basis for your Denilson love? He reminds me of Harold Minor--looks the part, but never really shows the skills. I always feel for players who get frozen out by an uncaring manager, but I have to side with the average Arsenal fan on this one.
4 up front - I like it.
Harold Miner. Now there was a basketball player. He has a wikipedia entry that says he lacked basketball IQ (I had to do a quick search because it's been over a decade since I had thought of that name, but it all came flooding back). But yes, he had ups, as they say in America, but an unsuccessful career.
Christiano Ronaldo's early career is a decent analog: lots of stepovers, with little end result. Now he's arguably the world's best player, and the same could have been for Miner if those know-nothing coaches would have ever given him a start!
I love Denilson as a player because I think he definitely has the potential to be world class, a complete midfielder, strong in the tackle, great on the ball, and a blistering shot from distance. He could be a future captain of the Brazilian national team, and Arsene Wenger hasn't been giving him a game - not good enough from le Boss, I say, especially, Especailly: when Eboue is getting starts (please no pedantic conventional-wisdom arguments about right-midfield not being Denilson's position).
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