Posted on Sunday, 16th December 2012 by The Goon
Many still believe Arsenal FC are lacking a proper defensive midfielder in the squad, and I’m one them.
Despite Mikel Arteta playing just in front of the back four, the Spaniard is not a natural holding midfielder. But he is doing a good job. While Jack Wilshere, although he is tenacious and isn’t afraid of getting stuck in, is more effective pushing forward and creating. The same goes for Santi Cazorla, who is very rarely seen in his own half when the opposing team has possession of the ball. He is a creator, nothing more.
We have the likes of Francis Coquelin and youngster Emmanuel Frimpong who are natural performers in the defensive midfield position. But for me, they are not yet ready for the role due to their lack of experience and discipline.
As a result of our apparent problem in the aforementioned position, we have been linked with a number of players to fill it since the summer sale of Alex Song to Barcelona. And the latest name to be added to the list is Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko.
The 23-year-old has snubbed a new contract at the French club and The Gunners could land him for around £8 million, reports the Sunday Mirror.
The newspaper also suggests Newcastle are interested in the Frenchman, but the midfielder desires Champions League football.
Sissoko is a good player – powerful, skilful and a hard-tackler. But I don’t think he is the right man for the job.
I would like to see Arsene Wenger hold out for the summer and attempt to sign Chelsea’s Micheal Essien, who is currently on a season-long loan at Real Madrid. He would be an immense signing for the club and the ideal man candidate for the role. Him or Daniele De Rossi from Roma would be great, but this is only wishful thinking.
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Tags: Alex Song, Arsene Wenger, Daniele de Rossi, Jack Wilshere, Michale Essien, Mikel Arteta, Moussa Sissoko, Santi Cazorla
Posted in Tabloid Talk, View From The Sphere | Comments (18)
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December 16th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Essien? We’ve gone down the Chelsea reject route before with no success.Better to identify and sign someone who can do that job on a long term basis.Arsenal need to get this one right as it looks like Diaby will never be fit for more than two weeks at a time
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December 16th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I honestly hope Wenger will go for this guy and not some up coming kid making waves with his first season.And btw how many game changers has Wenger in the senior team?
That will will show how far the gunners have declined the last seven years.I need not say any more.
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December 16th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Essien?!
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December 16th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Fuck essien. Do we have no pride
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December 16th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
maybe our arsenal will buy but this one led by Stan, wenger, hill wood and gazidis prefer to buy a ranch worth £80m.
we shall buy him after these 4 have milked our club dry, became a middle league club and lost our value.
for the meantime join another club and claim arsenal actually wanted to sign you.
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December 16th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Essien is injury prone.
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December 16th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
WTF is up with some arsenal fans.. Essien?? really? arsenal need to go for top quality players if we want to push forward,A 30 year old overweight chelsea reject is just bad news.I would love us to sell arteta,squillaci,chamack,walcott,gervinho,djourou,santos, arshavin this jan and bring in maybe 3 or 4 top class players like.. huntelarr,tiote,shaarawy,bains and maybe a top winger,, jesus think of the team arsenal would have.
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Den Reply:
December 17th, 2012 at 9:19 am
El sharawy can’t come coz ac Milan is still a great team.
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December 16th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
This guy is good. At 23 hes a good age too. The kind of player we are missing and easily better than obi mikel. You will do well to find a realistic alternative who is better at a fair price. De rossi would be great, essien wouldnt now.
We should have got him b4 chelsea did and we probably wouldnt have 8 years without a trophy
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December 16th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Was makalele a body builder?
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December 16th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
So is it Capoue or Sissoko that we’re interested in? My impression is that Capoue is more of a “no nonsense” defensive midfielder, whereas Sissoko is more of a box-to-box type who can contribute going forward?
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December 16th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
If we don’t replace Diaby in Jan, no chance of getting our 4th place trophy. AW has been taking a beating. IMO, the most legit criticism of his recent moves was selling Song and gambling that Diaby could stay fit. Had Diaby stayed fit, we would be comfortably in top four and within striking distance of 3rd or even 2nd. But it was negligent gamble. This type of player and the physical prescence is critical and must be addressed now.
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December 16th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Essien? Really? That’s the best you could have come up with? Sorry but 2005 called, it wants its headline back.
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December 16th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Song was sold for non footballing reasons I would think.The gamble on Diaby was always going to fail,and frimpong etc just dont seem to be at the required level yet.It just shows how fine the margins are ib top level football,as I agree that a Diaby type player is all thats separating us from the upper reaches of the table.Making the right acquisition now could still allow us to be in the mix by the season’s end.You’d never know we might even get the luck of the draw in Europe this time round
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December 17th, 2012 at 6:27 am
I’d say it’s odds-on that Arsenal will buy a French speaking physically dominant defensive midfielder this January, or that might be wishful thinking. Capoue, Sissoko and M’Vila are the candidates in my opinion. M’Vila has had problems with discipline so Wenger might see him as too much of a risk, particularly for a struggling team. I don’t watch much French football but i’ve heard good things about both Capoue and Sissoko. Arsenal need a player that will improve the posession stats in their favour and these players will probably do that. One difference that i’ve noticed since Song left is that the opponents get more posession than they used to. It has led to some more open games and less teams “parking the bus” but it has also meant that the opposition tend to get more chances to score.
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December 17th, 2012 at 6:44 am
I checked my facts. M’Vila was banned for having a night out and actually has a very good disciplinary record on the pitch. It seems that he can be a bit moody like many French players but Arsene should be able to deal with that. Based solely on what i’ve read about him and the fact that he has 20 France caps at the age of 22 he’d be my preferred choice. Plus he is banned from internationals for 2 years so that means less chance of injury and more rest time.
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December 17th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Mvila it is so.I read somewhere over the weekend that the decline of the French national side and the decline of Arsene Wenger were intrinsically linked.Perhaps he feels most comfortable dealing with his compatriots,perhaps not.I do feel that someone of mvila’s type is essential to allow our creative players to rotate and concentrate on their strengths.Walcott and the ox need to knuckle down and remember that for Giroud to be effective he needs accurate service from the wings.Forget about those who have left and concentrate on our clubs near future.As an aside Song must be thrilled now that he doesn’t have to have a sky subscription to watch Barcelona play every week.
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December 17th, 2012 at 9:32 am
Just get a young,strong and hardworking player(with James Milner’s workrate).
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