A preview of the 2005/06 English Premier League - contd.

Arsenal

After the departure of Patrick Vieira, the media in my opinion, has been tryin to paint a gloomy picture in the Arsenal camp. If you and I were to follow statistical data then we would definitely conclude that in the past year or so Vieira’s performance has not been up to the mark. Whether this has happened due all the transfer speculation or not, we shall never be able to confirm. Or just maybe it was time for him to move on.

Move on, he did and so must Arsenal. The fantastic array of talented footballers that Arsene Wenger manages to bring out season after season has no doubt bamboozled all the football philosophers. Last season was no different; Fransesc Fabregas, Matthieu Flamini, Robin van Persie and Phillipe Senderos were rank outsiders the season before. Now they find themselves in the middle of it all. Alexander Hleb is a good signing; it seems that Wenger had been following him for quite some time. Filling in the boots of Vieira will definitely be the most diffcult thing to do for Hleb given the rash, physical nature of the game which Jose Reyes found out last season when Gary Neville welcomed him with a tackle or two.Alexander Song also has been training with the squad but he is only seventeen years old and definitely has a long way to go before he can get anywhere close to the playing in the league. Wenger has been searching for a keeper and he thinks Sebastien Viera might be a good replacement for the ageing Jens Lehmann. Manuel Almunia might have to play only in the league cup matches. Julio Baptista’s refusal to join Arsenal might not have been so good for the club but Wenger remains positive. He believes that Baptista’s refusal gives the younger players in the club to showcase his talents.


Players to watch out for

The back four:

• Phillipe Senderos seems to be the ideal replacement for Sol Campbell after a string of clean sheets towards the end of the season. I think it was like this: played 11; goals conceded 1; 10 continuous clean sheets. That one goal conceded was by Justin Hoyte i.e a penalty.
• Kolo Touré has turned out to be a fantastic discovery for Wenger. He has played in many positions on the pitch, in midfield, up front, centre back and right back and also as a right winger. Having found his spot last season he did pretty well and im sure he will continue to do well
• Gael Clichy is said to be the fastest runner in the team. Yup he is faster than Henry himself. Wenger did himself a lot of good by signing him as he is a ditto replacement for Ashley Cole. He might have to spruce up his defending skills if he is to find himself on the starting eleven.
  

The midfield

• Fransesc Fabregas was an inspired signing from Barcelona. Infact the Catalan giants were unhappy at letting such a talent leave the club. Fabregas has left an indelible impression on the minds of the footballing pundits after putting on very mature performances in the EPL and in Europe last season. He says that he is ready to fill in Vieiras boots. He has super control and can provide amazing passes. But the only drawback is that he doesn’t have a physical dimension to his game like Vieira did. If he can somehow manage to get that then im sure he would be the ideal replacement
  
• Nicknamed the ‘ dribbler’ Alexander Hleb has a lot of work to do to fill up the empty space left by the departure of Vieira. Primarily being an attacking midfielder, Helb provides more choices to Wenger’s gameplans. But this would leave the burden of defence to Gilberto who has shown that he has what it takes to do all the dirty work in the midfield.
  

Up front

• Thierry Henry is no stranger. So Im not writing about him
  
• José Anyonio Reyes was having fun last season till the match with Man U where he was the victim of many a vicious challenge. From then on he never really recovered despite scoring a few goals and popping up here and there to provide assists. A little more strength and tenacity in his game will do him very good to improve his career in Arsenal
  
• Robin van Persie does show a lot of promise but in my opinion he needs to keep calm on the pitch when things are not happening for him. He has a lethal left foot and has shown that he can play as a striker on the left as well the right side of the pitch

It is not going to be easy for Arsene Wenger. Vieira is irreplaceable. But like I said before the team must move on. There is no dearth of talent in Arsenal and as always Wenger continually keeps putting his faith in all the young guns of Arsenal. Go get’em guys!