The Diaby haters may as well be Spurs fans: Player ratings
For the Diaby-diatribe, click here. For an otherwise ecstatic match review, read on.
Now that’s a score I like to see! It was by miles the best derby win imaginable. Both teams were pretty much even in their crap-ness, and out of nowhere Spurs found themselves 2-0 down, and it provided the chance to subject Spurs to abject humiliation; the sweetest revenge after last season’s shenanigans.
The first half was summed up by how poor both teams really were for the first 40 minutes. Neither side really got going which can be owed to the fact Alex Song and Wilson Palacios were doing their jobs reasonably well. Tottenham’s poor service from midfield meant Peter Crouch could do nothing at all, while Andrey Arshavin appears to be in a bit of a funk at the moment and didn’t get involved much.
But suddenly, from a throw in, it all changed. Sagna fed Fabregas, who passed it straight back. The right back beat his man and crossed, and Robin van Persie somehow hot his leg ahead of Ledley King’s to toe poke home for 1-0.
At the Pig and Whistle, the Arsenal fans went ballistic. Not five minutes earlier, the scum were bringing out the ‘Pedo, pedo’ chant and going on about child molestation, and then BANG. It shut them up no end.
But I will pay $50 to the man who can honestly say they even saw the second goal. Still celebrating from the first and telling the Spurs fans to get on their bike, I looked to the big screen to find a player that had the same hair colour as van Persie celebrating rather emphatically.
Cue a collective delayed reaction and then absolute euphoria. Within 11 seconds, Cesc had put us 2-0 up. Palacios lost the ball, Cesc picked it up, dodged one Spuddie, two spuddies…maybe the whole team, who bloody knows, looked up, and drilled it past Gomes. The celebration of his goal was all love for Arsenal, all hatred for Spurs, love for the fans, love for the badge. A great moment that might just spur us on this season.
Half time, and Spurs were reeling. You’d have expected them to come back a bit, knowing our frailties at protecting leads, but they didn’t. Instead, we bossed the match from there, upping our possession, toying with them. Humiliating them.
Then some Spurs bloke clattered one of ours and the ref called one of the best advantages you’ll ever see, so good in fact most of the players didn’t know what to do. Sagna eventually sniffed an opportunity, kept the ball moving, and his cross got past Gomes and straight to van Persie, who grabbed himself a brace.
The rest of the match breezed past, as the pub rocked to the sound of Gunners chanting ‘we want four’, ‘you’re not singing anymore’, and a bunch of other jolly songs. The night was ruined a bit by a fellow Gooner chucking a glass towards the Spurs fans, which is blatantly stupid if it results in a popular spot having to clamp down on us football hooligans, but other than that, what a brilliant, brilliant night.
Almunia – 7: A good return to the side and we really have to stick by the nominated number one, now. His long balls are much better than his competitors in the club and he made a smart, essential save off of Bentley’s free kick.
Sagna – 8.5: Outstanding display from the rightback, who had Keane and Bentley in his pocket all game. In attack, he was just as effective – very aware showing to register the ref’s play-on call, and two assists makes him RVP’s best friend.
Gallas – 8: Authoritative, bossed the backline well. Even had time to get forward later on in the match, and was untroubled by some of the taller forwards challenging him.
Vermaelen – 8: Cool as a cucumber, his leap completely dominated Peter Crouch and he can be proud of his efforts today.
Clichy – 8: Had a break early on in the match but couldn’t get an effective shot on target. But the rest of the game was a defending clinic and Spurs could do nothing down his flank.
Song – 7.5: yHas actually had better games but used his upper body strength so well that he destroyed most of Spurs’ attacks through the middle. Last season, Palacios dominated at White Hart Lane, but Song easily surpassed the Honduran today.
Fabregas – 8.5: I LOVE THIS KID. His goal killed Spurs where they stood, and it was a real thing of beauty. His celebration was passionate, his passing was spot on. A league above the tiny totts’ level.
Diaby – 7: Came in for some major stick from the fans and it was totally unjustified. His job is to hold up the ball and run at defenders, and he does both. Yes, he loses the ball, but not even Ronaldo can keep it every time he goes at the backline. Broke up play well after a quiet first half and got back to defend on all occassions called upon. He is treated very unfairly by a vast number of Arsenal ‘fans’.
Bendtner – 7: One of the brighter players in an abject first half but then taken off injured. Swapped flanks very well, a handful when his control doesn’t fail him. Good display, just very short-lived.
Arshavin – 6: Could have been a match winner today but instead played the spectators’ role. Caused some panic in Tottenham’s defence when he ran at them once or twice, but otherwise he just did not turn up today.
van Persie – 8.5: Turning into the man for all seasons. Can finish, lash it from distance, run at players, poach goals, the lot. Sparkling performance from a player who is now twice the centre-forward Adebayor ever was. Long may it continue.
SUBS: Eduardo – 7.5: Came on for Bendtner and got into a lot of attacking spots, only to be thwarted by some class Gomes saves.
Eboue – 6: Ran around a bit but didn’t do too much that changed the course of the game. Arsenal were cruising by this point.
Ramsey – 7: Quite unlike Eboue, actually did up the tempo of the game despite said ‘cruise’ status. This kid’s clout gets bigger and bigger every match, and his play high up the park was useful in giving Spurs further grief.
Prior to the goal-fest after 40 minutes, the first half was a dreadful blob of nothingness, with passes going astray and Spurs closing down the middle of the park to deny us space.
But after the two-goal salvo, Spurs were utterly destroyed. Some bench you have, Mr Keane, that you send on left backs and centre backs to try and salvage something from a game ‘deprived’ of Modric, Defoe and co. Considering we’re without Rosicky, Denilson, Bendtner (again) and Nasri stuck on the bench, it’s frankly no excuse. They’re a team well below us, and look set to be for some time onwards.
I don’t want to focus on the diatribe too much against Diaby at the moment, as that would take away from the result that left all of us in ecstasy.
But I’m pretty much discounting the opinions of a lot of other bloggers out there from now on who do not actually watch what he is up to. They resort to a copy-and-paste job when reviewing the player, assuming he’s been poor, contributing nothing, etc. It was anything but against Spurs. He was everywhere he needed to be defensively, causing trouble further up the park and while not the perfect performance by any stretch, I really believe he needs more support than he is getting.
I’ve heard many reports of people in the stands getting on his back to prove some point to a manager who knows more about football than any of us ever will. He sees the players in training every day and it seems people like Myles Palmer are getting into people’s heads with comments like ‘Eastmond is better than Diaby’ after one solitary game. It’s nonsense.
If you’re going to be a fan of Arsenal, you’ll support all its players for better or worse. You can criticise the players, certainly, but getting on their backs in a match? Booing them? On derby day? It makes no sense and is just plain juvenile.
Nevertheless, I think we can be really proud of the players who, while not playing their best stuff in the first half, destroyed Spurs over the course of 90 minutes and gave us the bragging rights until April.
The defence really has to be applauded today for a faultless performance and more clean sheets would be very welcome.
So ends October and apart from the two draws, you couldn’t ask for too much more from this side. November greets us with less fixtures, but tougher opposition. So it will be important to get our heads right and mettle toughened.
3-0 to the Arsenal, and we are laughing. Below is a very bubbly Arsene Wenger after the game.
More tomorrow – ciao for now.
Filed under: Arsenal, English Premier League, Tottenham
while i agree with the main point – diaby had a shocking first half, i doubt his pass completion stats hit double figures. it is frustrating, considering the game midweek, to have that on the pitch, when there are people apparently fighting for his place on the bench, who you know would at least string something together.
that said, he obviously got sat down at half time and was told to focus on the simple things and i feel he had a very good second half. the only way he’s going to get better, is by being played.
yet in a game of that importance, he was a passenger for 45 minutes – and that is dangerous and frustrating and that i feel, leads to the criticism.
Well said, wandarah. But then how do we explain the fact that so many blogs rate Arshavin as ‘better’ than Diaby? He did absolutely nothing the whole game apart from those dribbles I mentioned. Yet Diaby was more involved, not perfectly of course, but showed more effort, did the defensive work in the second half, and did what was required. My point is that people are getting on his back because for some reason, we’re in desperate need of a boo boy.
Hey mate Diaby is is a misfit. Perhaps you didn’t see on the tele what – saw in the ground, Wenger go ballistic with when once again he gave the ball away. He’s neither defensive or attacking, creates assists or rarely scores. Bearing in mind 4ong is hardly the finished article it shows he has done very well having Diaby next to him. I’ve never booed a player in 40 odd years but this is one very important position that needs improving. Furthermore, Aluminia looked very nervous for at 3 crosses when did take cleanly. Rumours that he had some form of a mental breakdown after the city game may or not be wide of the mark to explain his absence.
he was more than a passenger in the first half and even looked like he never wanted the ball, he looks scared and uninterested,
unlike you sir the “diaby haters” are fans that realise we can ill afford to carry a player any longer if we are to achieve silverware,
playing for arsenal requiers effort and lots of it and if like diaby a player puts in such little effort then they deserve to be moaned at,
especialy as us fans pay the season ticket prices and his wages whilst you watch in the pub!!
get off your high horse
Good article,
Agreed with the Diaby point. These people slagging of Diaby left, right and center are the very same people who said
Song was shit, Eboue would never make it at Arsenal, Van Persie cannot play central striker, Denilson only passes sideways (the most ludicrous statement ever!)
What it does show is how fickle and ill informed fans actually are compared to man who has been in charge of the club for 13 years.
I remember the days when our fans actually got behind our players and gave them confidence instead of draining it away from certain players.
It is fine for Arshavin to give the ball away repeatedly because he is a fan favourite. Diaby can win the ball back continuously throughout a game then give the ball away once then five minutes later he is being slagged off all over the blogs saying that someone like Jack Wilshere should be playing in his place, not taking into consideration that they are totally different players who play in different positions.
Sorry for the rant but this ignorance really gets to me.
Moving onto the game itself, Tottenham should have played all their bench if they are supposed to be stronger than ours. Because the ones starting were a pile of shite.
We should have scored at least five, in a weird way I am a little disappointed because we really are due smacking them big time. We have beaten them 3-0 many times.
I thought Tommy V, the rebel MC was superb once again, winning everything in the air and fantastic on the floor.
The league is ours this year. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
I’ve never booed an Arsenal player on the pitch and I never will, but Diaby is shocking. I honestly don’t know how anyone can defend him. Except to say that his continual selection for games he’s clearly out of his depth in isn’t his fault.
The one thing in Diaby’s favour is that I think he honestly tries his best, it’s just that he’s not very good… he’s a modern day carlton palmer with limited skills on the ball but an engine that lets him run up and down the pitch for 90 mins.
Diaby was much better to day in his defensive duties. But, attacking needs some work still.
Agree with the ratings.
Great result, from a no more than average performance by Arsenal today, but always fun to humilated the Spuds!
I was at the game, and I wouldn’t say that the crowd was getting on the backs of the team as twitching-’Arry suggested.
Diaby was abysmal in the first half, and there is no chance he will be anywhere near the first team by the end of this season. Come May, he will be behind at least Cesc, Song, Denilson, Ramsey, Wilshire and Nasri for one of the three midfield slots, never mind about the generation beyond that who will be knocking on the door, like Eastmond and Coquelin.
Diaby contributes the odd moment of attacking genius, but his general play just isn’t good enough.
Jammathon,
arshavin scored 4 in one game, away. if anything is going to make you a favourite, that is it. he was busy first half, abscent second. the exact reverse of diaby.
my point here is that arshavin has already proven himself, and i suppose that many feel, despite numerous chances – diaby has yet to prove himself.
im no hater mind, i like him very much indeed – but he blows so hot and cold, i cant see him keeping his place in the team myself. then again, wenger quite obviously, knows best.
I’ve been complaining about Diaby earlier this season as he is not very consistent. However against Spurs I thought he did a good job, sure he wasted possession but so did Song (for example hitting a back pass to a Spurs corner and taking some really heavy touches allowing the Spurs midfield to dispossess him). What I really like about Diaby is his long stride, his passing, which in contrary to what people seem to believe can be brilliant when he has confidence, he has a great technique and a good shot on him and he is cool when presented with a good opportunity. I agree he wasn’t the best player on the pitch but to boo our own player in a derby game we won 3-0 that’s just stupid.
I am absolutely certain Diaby will come good and prove doubters wrong
The fact he blows hot and cold is probably a result of his age. He’s not an age-old veteran, whereas Arshavin, Gallas and increasingly Robin van Persie are.
And MeanLean is right in that we’ve slagged off Song and Bendtner to death, and they’ve proven us wrong by coming through. Eboue went through the same thing and is putting in vastly improved performances, but people are starting to get on his back again. I agree that if everyone were available for selection, Nasri and Denilson would be ahead of Diaby for selection, but who knows how good he might be in a few years time? We’re using what we’ve got available and still getting results.
Diaby works harder than arshavin….all day and all year long…
Arshavin has brilliance, that is why his four touches were four goals last season….But that does not happen everyday,every match…No messi and no ronaldo can do that…
That is why at his day, arshavin’s better than anyone in the world, and in the rest he is worse than Diaby…If You don’t put a work rate in football friend, your performance will never reach even mediocrity…Brilliance can only add to the base of hard work….
Wenger said-Arshavin’s EFFICIENT…least work maximum result…but of all, even wenger knows arshavin’s this attitude will not take the team a long way….(and to be fair to him he has started working harder from before, may be he was not used to it before..)
So it is didifficult to compare Diaby and Arshavin…Most of Diaby’s diatribe is justified..He has no positional sense while defending, Song puts more aggressive, dangerous and bold passes than him, he cant head for nuts, and loses balls in dangerous areas consistently…i must confess thou,there was a day where i thought Diaby was the future of arsenal..
That hope is not gone…Diaby has all the basic capabilities, he just needs more belief and mettle in him…The point is will wenger’s patience to get it out of him run out ?? Will Diaby grow up as fast as song did ??
Everybody’s Patience has limits, their own limits…just that many’s have run out already..As mine’s is finally wearing thin too….Wenger’s hasnt…Till then believe in Wenger and his patience…After all wenger too knows of Diaby’s shortcomings as he sees the same matches that we do…many more times..
Diaby was poor in the first half. But he had a very good 2nd half. The Diaby haters haven’t got a clue like Mean Lean noted. It will take them a year to work out why Diaby plays . Just look at your commenter who says he has no assists or goals. Not true! I havent seen the stats for yesterday but when he’s played this season he’s won the ball more than any player on d pitch. One day MOTD will note his contribution & suddenly he will be a genius.
Ole Gunner, it’s been said many times that after all the flack other players got, the fickleness of the ‘Arsenal punters’ out there was evident for all to see.
@Vj’s, I don’t think the point is ‘how fast’ Diaby grows up, its that he performs when called upon. Right now he’s being called upon more than he would have expected, due to the injuries the squad is facing. I think he’s a very handy squad player and with any luck, might develop from there in a season or two’s time.
Anyone who watched yesterday’s match could see Diaby sleepwalking and daydreaming the whole first half. He handle touches the ball and when I was passed to him he simply stroke the ball to the player next to him or backpass the the defenders. I do not want to dispute whether he is a good or bad player but his concentration is horrendous. Technical abilities cannot replace concentration and focus during the game. Take a look at Van Persie’s first goal it was total concentration and commitment otherwise he won’t put that most important goal in and the same for Fabregas’s goal. When we saw the commitment of all the other players, Diaby made me boil because he was having a dreamy Sunday walk in the park. Song was not ranked higher than Diaby before but he had proven that he is dependable and a very committed intelligent player. When Song loses the ball he fights it back but Diaby will just stand and looked, just couldn’t bother. Diaby should be benched and use only for 20-30 minutes because his concentration level lasts only that long. For those who disagree please take another look at the match again and see for yourselves.
Eddie Yak: “but Diaby will just stand and looked, just couldn’t bother. ”
See, thing is, second half, he did all that. He ran about, tracked back, tackled, made a nuisance of himself. Or does that just fly in the face of the copy and paste criticism of him a bit too much?
We’ve always had a player who is a target for the “boo-boys”. Even during the Invincibles Season, they were slagging off Gilberto Silva in the same way Denilson is now slagged off.
Diaby is just the latest target. But he is a bit sh*t TBF.
Well spotted, Manx Gooner re: Gilberto, but I think Diaby does bring something to the side with his physicality and again, no-one is saying he is first team material yet. He’s just there because of injuries and given the experience he now has, as a squad player he’d be pretty good to have come on from the bench if required. Nasri is no doubt the #1 candidate for his spot, and Denilson might get ahead of him as well. (Ramsey is getting there but talk of Wilshere and Eastmond being ahead of him as well is just idiotic).
My point is that there shouldn’t be any boo-boys. If you’re an Arsenal fan, those in the shirt should be who you support. There are special circumstances like Adebayor who did everything he could to disgrace it, but off the pitch. These guys are human in the end and they deserve our support if the manager sees something in them. Later, we can take stock. Seriously, we might have high expectations but they’ll never be reached if we continue to jump on their back.
Off to bed – but continue the discussion without me. I’ll respond to as many points as I can in the morning. Ciao.
Arsenal were Dominant in the game
Diaby was great and will always be great and stop doing the thing u did to Eboue last season .
We have a full team and we are going to win Trophies this year and I hope we bring an Attacker and a Defensive Midfielder in January.
Diaby’s in the team because his team mates Nasri, Ramsey, Denilson and co are either injured or not as tall. To be fair, he’s kept his game very simple in recent matches, possibly on orders from le boss. In the past, he’d try to do the fancy stuff, most of which don’t come off.
As for myles palmer. I used to read his blog, but nowadays, it’s just drivel.
Good article..a bit too much support for Diaby though, and although I detest boo boys because they are cowards and not real AFC , I can understand the frustration. It is my belief that Diaby is no more than a good squad player who is ‘lucky’ that Nasri, Denilson and Rosicky are missing so much. If they were always available tha lad would not get a game.
The cowards who slagged off Eboue and Song are very quite but still not ready to praise their contributions, which have been great this season. But that is why they are the know nothings that only see one or two of our team as ‘class’.
Arsharvin is a one off…he can be terrible and lazy for half a match then produce the flash that no one else can. He will ,one day ,replace Cesc in the creation role when sadly he returns home. My biggest concern is that Eduardo seems to have lost that killer touch in front of goal lately. His instinct is there as he showed with three great runs into space but he really did not seem to decide how to finish?
Looking at out three squads, I repeat what I said in January, this is the best group of players on all levels that I have ever seen at AFC, and I go back to my first match in 1950. The only player I would love to bring in January is a world quality Alonso type to sit with Song . This would help cut out the silly goals against that has cost us at least 5 points so far that were in the bag. Just add them to our total now and see the difference it should have made!
Carry on Arsene ,as usual you have proved the sack Arsene merchants wrong and stupid.
You like all the Ade lovers who could only see positives regardless of how bad their performance is. Just as long as they are wearing an Arsenal shirt and picked by AW, therefore he is GOOD.
YOU who proclaim that other people simply just ‘copy and paste’ about Diaby’s performance must have been watching ANOTHER match. Diaby’s performance was WOEFUL just like Ade last year and taking your point of ‘AW seeing them in training everyday’ and we see Diaby performing like shit, WE have the right to then think GAWD!!! Vela, Ramsey, Wilshere and Merida must be god damn awful in TRAINING, because Diaby is so woeful in the match, the rest must have been worse in training to not be PICKED!!!
His passing and consistent losing of the ball NEVER EVER winning a headed ball challenge despite his height and size (don’t get me started on when he totally missed the header WITHOUT a challenge and the 2 chances he had at the 2nd half where the ball hit his shoulder instead of his HEAD.)
Someone above mentioned Arshavin, don’t think that his lacklustre performance has been ‘hidden’ by the fact that we’ve won/draw games. Real fans DO notice that he stood at the bye line, made a 1 touch pass and REFUSED to run goal ward was shocking. Is it his stamina? Is he lazy? Are we witnessing someone who thinks he’s too good to be in this Arsenal squad?
Back to Diabolical Diaby, he is totally NOT cut out to be an Arsenal player. He does have a great ball skills, but he is a 2-3 skill half pony. Defenders easily read into his ‘drop shoulder’, ‘body feigns’ etc therefore he keeps losing the ball, what we’ll ask then is, THEN STOP the body feints and go straight to a COMPLETE pass. instead of trying the same trick again n again and losing possession again n again.
Its all well and good to be supporting The Arsenal. I glady call myself an Arsenal fan, yet, I’ll be ashamed to be so blind that I’ll trick my mind and psycho myself that anyone in red n white is above blame.
Support Arsenal, but don’t do it Blindly. Makes u just a glory hunter.
This Diaby support is pure trash. I hate it when people who watch matches at the “PUB” and don’t go to matches give it all the lemon.
What did he do to deserve more than a ONE rating in the first half? NOTHING.
His second half I admit was more of a 6 but average a ONE and a SIX and you get THREE POINT FIVE. NOT 7.
I never booed Eboue, I never hated Song. But this blind defence of a player is unbelievable. I even came home and watched football first and I really do not see what you Diabolical defenders see in a player who does not belong in a team as good as The Arsenal.
ArmChair Experts out in force against abou diaby again!!!
Funny how you belittle peoples opinions who watch a game from the pub, as to say that they dont grasp a bigger picture which you guys at the ground can see.
while wenger who scouts a player so many times, consults a host of support staff about a players attributess,physical and mental conditioning and also not just having the opportunity to watch the players train but also telling them what to do on the pitch, has less insight than people like Franny cause Franny goes to the game and forks out his money then he is better placed to assess players than people who watch matches from pubs and people who actually manage the club and its players day in day out.
The fact wenger bigs up and plays diaby says a lot more than the bullshit u talk
You sir must be genius or is tha a penius
It’s good to see a blogger who is willing to stand out from the crowd. All your points are well made. Diaby will provide more consistent performances as he gains more experience and confidence, but it is up to the supporters to support him and the rest of the team for this to happen. Getting on his back when he makes a mistake will just drain his confidence and affect the overall team performance. Arsene will not drop him from the team in order to play some 18 year old who had a goodish game in a low key competition, so get over yourselves and either support the whole team or do one.
Lay off diaby, he’s done more for the arsenal than any of you craps..
He broke is ankle in an everton match, nursed it 1 year
took another year to gain fitness
Now he is getting a decent run of games, so lay off.
I’m SICK of hearing fans talk about “paying for season tickets and wages of players”. You boo and abuse opposition players to put them off there game and stop them from settling……SO WHAT R U GONNA GAIN FROM BOOING UR OWN??! Crap “fans” r usually the lucky ones who get to go to games and its these so called fans that give emirates the kinda atmosphere that gets us ridiiculed by other teams. Ur too busy booing ur own players to try n put off any1of the opposition.I’m no fan of diaby n his performance was quite poor yesterday but how do expect the guy to improve by givin him abuse. U av favourites dats d long n short of it!I used2despise song……look at the guy now!I used todespise eboue..but faild to remember he is a good right back and its wenger that plays him out of position. So don’t mock the ordinary guy who watches matches on tv and only gets to games by listenin out for general sale tickets….we do a better job of supportin r team than u! (This was directed at GOONERTELBOY and all ignorant ***** who
Diaby’s 1st half performance was the worst by any player in an Arsenal shirt in Wenger’s entire reign – worst than Eboue’s boo-day! I didn’t boo him, not many did, but he cannot be a starter any more. And he won’t be -Ramsay must start from now on. Nasri will come in to fill-in the right after Bendtner’s injury but Ramsay has to partner Song & Cesc.
Diaby is a huge talent, when in full flow he is unstoppable. But that happens in only 10% of a game and its just not enough. He needs to develop more and work harder – and he will only do that if he loses his place and knows he has to step up. He keeps going from the treatment table to the first team. He needs a fit spell of fighting for his place.
lets not forget franny jeffers and pascal cygan whom we sold upson for,how much surveillance was done on them and would the fans be right too think they were mistakes that arsene tried too justify by playing them more than they should of
can arsene actually make a tactical decision too win a game thats not going our way and if the answer is no, well then maybe the fans assume he cannot see a player going badly and feel they have too voice there opinion
The sad fact is that Diaby is not good enough, I don’t slat him will never slat an Arsenal player, I criticise, he doesn’t have the link up to play alongside Nasri,Rosicky,Arshavin,Walcott and Cesc, he loses the ball too easily, doesn’t tackle, doesn’t chase back, doesn’t support players, I hope he is not to replace Song when he goes to the ANC.
Diaby is a good sub that’s it, he has a decent run in the side but he still has too many faults, I have never booed a player never will, a lot of the fans at the Emirates are a joke, I give my home games on my ST to my brother and spend my time going to the away games where there is a better support, and you will hear criticism of Diaby because he simply isn’t good enough.
@tom, 1:57am: That’s hyperbole and you’re exactly what I’m talking about. That’s just a diatribe and in no way has any thought really gone into what you’ve said. You’ve just taken a criticism to an extreme.
My general reply to all of this is that he is a squad player. No team has players who are all equal to another in skill. There are heirarchies. Right now, injuries have robbed us of certain players. So whats the point in booing the squad player who gets a run of games? You’d rather play an inexperienced 17 year old who would probably wilt in a north london derby? You say “they surely must be better than this piece of crap”, but that’s just a blind diatribe as a result of demonising a player. No one can actually excel in the environment you are setting up at the Emirates. I agree 100% with inzaghi.
I was at the game. No-one booed Diaby, al this crap about him getting booed is bollox.
The crowd, including myself,, groaned at worst when he lost the ball, was out of position etc etc. It is hard to get behind a player that has a decent game 1 in 10 when we have likes of Ramsey and Nasri that can play the box to box player 50 times better than Diaby.
The guy was dreadfull. He didn’t do a thing right. It is making me sick that he has a heard of ‘protectors’ that want to take the right away from a supporter to groan about a player playing badly. It is natural to not too be pleased with a player if all he does is give ball away and break up his own teams play.
Get off your high horse and except he shit and shouldn’t be wearing an arsenal shit. Arsenal ladies maybe.
Goonertelboy,
And Arsenal also needs fans who can stand by their players when they are having an off day. If your child (assuming you have one) did not bring home a good report at the end of one term do you think you would be helpful by calling him/her an idiot who will never make it in school? All of us cannot claim to be perfect in what we do all the time……so let’s stand with the team through thick and thin.
agree with you 100%
there are some utter f*ckwits out there who love to have a couple of nice easy scapegoats for every bad result
to these morons it is easier to lazily blame the same players rather than objectively watch a game and analyse things properly
eboue was last year’s scapegoat, diaby is this year’s
diaby has actually done pretty well over the last month, he is improving, people need to remember just how few runs in the side he has had without getting injured
the very same morons wanted song sold last year and look how they’ve been made to eat their foolish words
How long do we need to keep standing by him when he been at club for 4 years and never improved as a player or hardly shown any glimpsies. We living in dream land keep hoping he will one day be the great Pat Veria.
It not that I dont him, it just I dont think he good enough and I truely think his own performances has dented his own confidence and not the crowd. He just not good enough.
And for the record, I have never boeed Eboue and I have always rated Song. Even when performance wise, when Eboue was not playing at his greatest, you could always give him credit for putting hard work in. Cant say the same for Diaby. All he wants to do is try and run thro players with the play and try and dribble round them instead of playing simple fast flowing balls.
As with a lot of supporters who can see the potential that Diaby posesses but for one reason or another cannot seem to produce a string of consistent performances, I too find it frustrating.
The player has the potential to be as good as Viera (dare I say it) if not better..( a thousand and one expletives!) but he needs to start producing on the pitch otherwise I feel Wengers patience will eventually run out, which is a great shame as he could be a great Arsenal player. He posesses all of the attributes needed and I feel its just a case of instilling some confidence in him but if some fans start to get on his back then things won’t work.
I really hope he does start to get his game together soon as I would love to see him up against Essien, Anderson (Hargreaves) and any other midfielder who thinks they can hold their own in the centre of the park because on his day he can handle ANYONE, honestly. I think Wenger feels the same and that’s why he’s sticking by him(I thought Diarra was a great little player but Wenger chose to sell him because of diaby.. Further comments?) but if he gets a continuous run until the new year and doesn’t produce then I feel his days are numbered
I was at the game as soon as diaby first touched the ball the fans were hating him. the fact is fans dont like him and well all i will say is he has shown some amazing stuff and he is young players have bad games then they his form again but not with stupid fans hating him idiots
I love that the Arsenal can play poor, and Diaby can be pedestrian at best and still win. Playing less than par , and still winning is key to being Champions.
Diaby will learn and improve or the manager will bench him. All the ‘fans’ can slag him off all they want but like you mentioned, I think he does okay and enough. Could he do better? Of course, but with many of our players out through injury he has been given the chance and he’ll either take it or he’ll lose his place. At the end of the day, Wenger will get it right so i’ll leave it to him!
Up the Arsenal!
@Los, those are pretty close to my own feelings. When players like Nasri et al make their proper return, the natural order of things will be restored. Diaby is doing his job as a squad player, and clearly it’s a thankless task.
Diaby is absolutely pony.
The guy has had potential for about 15 years now. He’s had about 3-4 good games for Arsenal in 4 years or so. He’s useless.
Stepanovs was only given about 15 games to prove how good he was, Diaby has been given 72 attempts!
No good.
He is sloppy. He holds onto the ball far too long, and loses it in dangerous positions, normally our own half. He’s absolutely diabolical.
note to inzhagi;
first of all i do not boo or barrack any arsenal player i just happen to have an opinion which i relay on boards like this!
secondly up until last season i too supported the team from my tv because i couldnt get tickets, but when you are standing about 20 ft away from the player for 45 mins i think you get to see more of him than you do when the camera points at him that is my point.
note to ugg gooner;
if my child came home four yrs running with a bad report i would call him an idiot and if it said doesnt try hard enough i would question why? wouldnt you ??
u
Diaby had a very, very poor first half and a reasonable second-half. He gets groaned at, not booed, in my opinion as fans are getting bored of his in and out performances. I actually thought he’d turned a corner in the last month and was starting to “put a shift in”. That all washed away after Saturday’s game.
Arshavin was pedestrian and hasn’t looked up for a game for a month or so now. Dunno if he has an injury, but he actually contributed less than Diaby throughout the entire game.
Eboue . . . I changed my opinion of him at the beginning of the season, but the last 2-3 appearances I’ve witnessed the horrible nasty cheating side of him again – throwing himself to the floor, claiming freekicks, etc. THAT is why he gets stick. If he stuck to his job, he’s be OK, but he has this theory that he has to win free-kicks and just ends up looking like a cheating tw*t. Wenger needs to slap that out of his game for good.
Diaby takes too many touches on the ball,dribbles into trouble,can’t head te ball [see goals versus Man U,AZ and West Ham all situations he should have cleared] never chases back when he LOSES possesion.Very,very sluggish.Seems to be one step slow for this level.
Aw went ballistic [coat off hurled into chair] bcos of him losing the ball!
Another thing: he give away free kicks for fun..
Diaby is, and will continue to be, a weak point in our team. He was mostly invisible during the first half. Indeed he tackled the ball more effectively from Arshavin than Spuds. He has great physical tools, but thinks about the speed of my 90 year old grandmom. He doesn’t see passes, he doesn’t move off the ball to clear lanes, he clogs lanes, he doesn’t track back well… I don’t see what you see in him at all. Yes Arshavin was lazy, but he never stole the ball from his own team. Yes he was invisible in defense, but unlike Diaby, he’s a striker, not tasked with defense. When Rosiky or Denilson or Nasri or Walcott get healthy and take this (at best) capable back up’s place on the pitch I will be a very happy Gunner.
Lets try this experiment:
If Diaby does these things:
Tackles back,stop dribbling into blind alleys,slows down attack momentem,actually use his head to head the ball instead of shoulders,jaws etc.,stop giving away free kicks,shows some urgency.
would the crowd boo him?