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Has the time come for Wenger to unleash ‘Ryodinho’?

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Without question, Arsenal have been in a poor run of form since the new season kicked off back in mid August.

With already four losses in their first seven games in the Premier League, every Arsenal fan has been occupied by the poor results so far and the calamitous nature of our defence. Add to this the recent north London derby defeat to Tottenham last week, its no wonder that a young kid called Ryo Miyaichi has suddenly disappeared from the minds of several Arsenal fans.

Miyaichi was signed back in January of this year as a 17-year-old school boy from Japan. After he failed to secure a work permit in England, Arsenal were quick to send him out on loan to Dutch club Feyenoord, where he showed no signs of being overawed by the huge step up in class as he helped Feyenoord to a respectable mid table finish last season.

His 3 goals and 8 assists in 11 appearances are impressive stats considering his tender age. Even more impressive were the quality of his performances that earned him comparisons with Brazilian legend Ronaldinho and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

When he returned to Arsenal this summer for pre-season, there was a sense of excitement surrounding the young Japanese star. He was pretty impressive during the Asian pre-season tour and Arsenal finally succeeded in landing a work permit for Ryo under the special talent quota. There were high expectations for the starlet; especially after Arsene Wenger expressed that he was ready for first-team football at the Emirates. But the story so far has unfortunately been the absolute opposite.

Ryo is yet to make his Premier League debut for the Gunners despite the poor performances of several first-team players.

AOC has proved in recent weeks that if you have the quality then you are good enough to play, no matter how young. Furthermore, Ryo did himself no harm with his performances in Holland last season and during the pre-season. So what is really preventing Wenger from utilizing the Japanese whizkid?

One thing is of course the huge number of wingers at Wenger’s disposal. With the likes of Arshavin and AOC on the bench, there is no doubt that the Frenchman is keen for all of them to get regular game time.

Another reason, according to me, is that Wenger is worried by the number of injuries to his young wonderkids. For the last two seasons we have had young teenagers becoming mainstays in the first-team and then suddenly getting injured. While Ramsey’s injury was a result of a bad tackle, there is no denying that Wilshere’s injury was down to the huge number of matches he played for Arsenal and England last year. No matter how talented, 60 games a season is just too much for the legs of a 19-year-old.

With Ryo not used to the physicality of the Premier League and posing such a small stature, I feel that the fear of injuries to his youngsters is holding back Wenger from unleashing Ryo and AOC.

But still given Arsenal’s poor performances of late, Wenger will be doing nothing wrong if he decides to play Ryo and AOC ahead of Arshavin and Gervinho.

So is it high time Wenger started using the young Japanese starlet?

Personally, I think it is.

While he is extremely young and inexperienced, I feel he can bring the element of surprise to Arsenal’s attacking line. With raw talent and several tricks up his sleeve, Miyaichi has it in him to succeed in the Premier League. He is also quick and generally likes to cut in from the wings, while also being equally good at dribbling along the touchline and taking on full-backs. While there is no doubt that he will have to upstage the likes of Walcott and Gervinho to land a first-team role, Ryo at least deserves a regular cameo role at this stage.

You wouldn’t earn nicknames like ‘Ryodinho’ and ‘the Japanese Messi’ for nothing, would you?

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15 comments

  • ike@Ghana says:

    I think Wenger is confused, frustrated and lacks ideas at this stage.Though the defence is poor, what happens in our opponents final third? Who feeds RVP? who takes the ball to the opponents? The back is exposed because of weak middle.The likes of Wilshere partnering Song wont expose the back this way, though the problem started during the last quarter of last season. The board and Wenger are simply myopic and do not think like football guys in the EPL. They are the BUSINESS AS USUAL type. They should tell the gooner family what they did to solve the problem at the back. Is is bringing in Per whilst there was no replacement for Clichy? Did they take into consideration the number of matches TV5 played the whole season last year? Did they consider how Cesc absence through injury affected the club? Are they aware that they need some names around to urge other players play well? Ryo,AOC are better options that Asharvin and Gervinho as things are now. Gervinho is becoming disappointing. Frimpong is not too good on the ball though he tackles a lot. Park should also be given the chance at the Emirates.
    I personally think we need Cahill and Samba and some mercurial signings in the midfield. Our scoring rate is awful this season.

  • Jgooner says:

    Wenger out!

  • The Don says:

    am sure wenger is learning from his mestaks with theo walcott

    walcott at 17 was expect to do great things at that age, and thats why for years now walcott has been geting alot of abuse from even our own fans.

    with the likes of ryo and alex
    they will become fist team players

    but there both 18 they need to take it slow and learn the game and not have any pressure.

    alredy people are talking about alex
    but if he has a bad game the media will be all over him.

    • i says:

      dont be so stupid im a gunner till i die but if ur a good player ur age dont matter phil jones was 18 when he became blackburns center back wayne rooney was 16 when he started to play for everton cesc fabregas was 16 when he played for arsenal

      • Richie says:

        Why do you start a comment by calling someone stupid? People disagree but leave the insults at home. I think ryo is a talent and we should not benchmark his teenage progress with the likes of Rooney. He’s physical stature may not cope as best with the premier league. He’s already suffered some injuries playing reserve league footie. Plus to gooners who don’t Speak English as a first language should avoid name calling….actually All gooners should.

  • aju says:

    time is perfect ryo shud play nd leave theo along with rvp let c wt he cn do may be rvp cn be bergkamp nd theo a henry. . . . We are down already if we are going down further we shud go down trying nt seeing d flops of arshavin nd rosicky again nd again. . . .

  • Mr cee says:

    Ryo has proven to be a little hit and miss in the reserve matches he has played in and I think we need to be patient with him, as he is still very raw.

    Ox is ready to play in my eyes.

  • Aussie Jack says:

    If Arsenal were winning then I`m pretty sure we would see Ryo, AOC and Parkes introduced at the 60 minute mark on a regular basis, but we`re not.

    Introducing young raw talent is intended to build confidence and at the moment introducing them could have the reverse effect.

    Wenger has to be very careful in exposing these lads, they are getting their experience and confidence on the international stage and much as I would like to see them in action for the Gunners the more experienced hands have got to pathe the way.

  • saintann says:

    guys wel say but one thing i think is Arsenal problem is communication among the players…Ramsey is to holding to the ball,Gervniho is selfish on the ball,walcot runs away from the ball,Arteta is not at tackling a player with the ball,Ramsey cant win ball against opponet..song is goses forward too much…santos.dnt understand english..per is too slow,,Ryo is a player that holds the ball he wil kill Rvp game just as Ramsey is doing now..AoC is always thinking of scoring forgetting his defence,,yossi is lazy..check me on twitter@saintann01,,

    • Aussie Jack says:

      What can I say? If this lot is as good as your grammatical English then we certainly do have a problem, but you`re damned right about `communication`, or lack of it.

  • nikkogunners says:

    4.4.1.1. will help us utilize all our players and not only Miyachi. We have lots of players not getting first team time yet they are excelling elsewhere. Case in point is Park, and AOC. Miyachi did real well in Feyernord and am suspecting our playmarker (Arteta)is not really performing. I suspect that maybe a midfield with Santos, Song, Arteta and AOC starting with a bench of Miyachi, Fringpong and Conquelin will hold. Someone said that Conquelin can start for Sagna who is injured because Jackinson is still too inexperienced and will need to grow into the role. If we have 2 strikers upfront with RVP playing behind the Striker then the central forward role can be shared out among Walcott, Park and Chamakh. RVP and Arshavin can share out the role behind the main striker. I suspect this will give better playing time to the rest of the squad and help alleviate on injuries as a rotation of sorts can be worked out. If Chamakh begins with RVP. Walcott can start with the next match and Park comes in in the 75th mark. Arshavin too can come in in the 75th. Miyachi and AOC substitute each other and Fringpong and Song share out the role in the DM. Arteta too can be given fewer matches to avoid injuries as we have Rosicky and even Arshavin can try playmarker in some matches. Indeed Wenger is failing to reorganize our troops and compliment our talents in the game. Even Miguel should get some roles and Matesacker or Konsienly being rested so that the new players can grow into the roles and our regulars can stay out of injury. I suspect if we reorganize Arsenal we will get us winning more. We loose too many chances in attack and that affects our defensive edge too. Defense is not just stopping goals from getting into you net. It is also getting to help score enough goals against the opponent. converting the chances we get.

  • Prince says:

    I dnt thnk we need overhaul bt 2 introduce experience esp at our backline.i dnt knw wht went wrong bt i would have prefered samba n cahil at cb instead of mertsacker. Wenger shld explore ryo and park 2 see wht they’ve got 2 drop…

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