By Bilal ZaidiLast night Senderos played at centre back with the reliable Toure. He was joined by young Justin Hoyte at right back and an even younger Traore at left back....and not Djimi. Talking of Djimi, Senderos could also be compared to the Liverpool legend that is Djimi Traore in terms of his reliability in defence. You may know from yesterdays post that I am still recovering from an operation on my nose and bleeding continues today...but last night Senderos was to blame for a few spots of blood dripping painfully onto my clothes.
Every time he got on the ball I was worried...shocked...stunned...I had no idea what to expect from a rusty centre back who has always been rusty. The difference between his rustiness and Gilberto’s rustiness was simple...Gilberto really was RUSTY and Senderos was simply being himself. As much as I like to back young players in this Arsenal team and say they should have time etc etc...with Senderos it simply isn’t the case. Gilberto didn’t have the best game but in general this could be excused for his lack of playing time.
I USED TO HATE WHEN WENGER SUBSTITUTED PASCAL CYGAN ON IN THE 90th MINUTE OF GAMES TO SEE THE GAME OUT.
When he left for £2 million to Villarreal I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to go through the torment of another centre back that makes crazy mistakes on a regular basis. But I was wrong...Senderos has always been a player who makes mistakes even if some of his other defensive abilities are reliable. In the past he has shown he can at least head the ball but even that isn’t enough to hold down a place in the Arsenal team of even be our 3rd, or 4th or 7th centre back.
Who remembers Stepanovs, Luzhny...Cygan....now Senderos....they are four players that should never have played at the level they did for a team that they did.
I WOULD RATHER DJOUROU plays are centre back in January when Toure gets going to Africa...He is more reliable than Pascal Senderos and he has more pace....I would rather Gilberto plays...I wouldn’t even mind Alex Song right now....I just can’t take centre backs that aren’t even that brilliant in other areas making STUPID mistakes. If Gallas played yesterday I doubt very much that we would have lost 3-1. We may have lost 2-1...or drawn 1-1....but we could have lost 5-1 yesterday.
Qualifying early for the next round isn’t always a good thing...we now will most probably finish second in the group and the momentum would have been lost...AND we would face a tougher side in the next round. That could be Barcelona or Inter Milan.
As for the rest of the team, Bendtner I thought did a decent job and Toure was his usual self. Traore had a lot to handle with Navas and Alves down his flank with little help from a striker playing on the wide left of midfield. Eduardo took his goal well but he was never going to do a defensive duty that Traore would have needed against two world class players.
Hoyte didn’t do much wrong but that is his way of playing...he doesn’t do much wrong but nothing that outstanding either...I like that about him....he is a hard worker and a good athlete. He went to my primary school and his younger brother Gavin went to secondary school with me...they were both outstanding athletes even at that young age...his family has Olympic athletes in their blood and those two are no different. That is why Wenger has him there, he is an obedient young Englishman who is quick and agile...More importantly he is English in a team with one other Englishman...However he has Sagna a tremendous French international ahead of him after just signing a new contract with Arsenal last term. How long will Hoyte want to fight it out at Arsenal? Lets wait and see in January.
Previous young English “talent” such as Upson, Pennant, Bentley and Muamba have all left and play regularly for other premiership teams. Muamba is another player who is local and he went to school in Walthamstow with a few of my friends...they tell me that he says he likes Birmingham...we never got a chance to see him play at Arsenal because Flamini, Cesc, Diarra, Diaby and Denilson stand in his way. Bentley has shown he has real quality but I don’t think he would have ever fitted in with the style of our play. Pennant just kept getting arrested and out of all those players Hoyte seems like the least likely to do stupid things....his personality seems like his football...reliable and no nonsense. Good luck to you Justin.
We have a good few away games in a row now and I hope this loss in a team that wasn’t our first team won’t affect us in those games. With Flamini, Hleb, Gallas, Sagna, Clichy, Adebayor all playing it is another story altogether. Aston Villa vs Arsenal on Saturday (
Should have the live stream available on this site by then)...Full preview to come...Check back for details.
Go To Article
