Holland are out of EURO 2008 after a 3-1 loss to Russia, but one player who did shine in the tournament was Robin Van Persie.
He has had injuy problems during his time at Arsenal, but I hope that he will recover during the break he has now and be ready to play consistently next season.
He is a great player who can score fantastic goals, he would also be the perfect partner for Adebayor, if Ade does stay. We haven’t seen them play together enough due to RVP’s injuries. If he can stay fit we have an awsome talent, one of the best players in the Arsenal squad.
Here’s some of his best goals from his time at Arsenal.
Kolo Toure has spoken about staying with Arsenal till the end of his career. He has been a fantastic player for us and apart from a little loss of form during last season, he is still one of the best centre backsw in the world today.
“When I put the shirt on it means a lot of things for me. I will be so glad to finish my career here. At the moment everything is going well.
“We had a great season and played some fantastic games, but we went away without any trophies – and that’s a big, big thing for us.
“The team are still really strong, the club are still really strong and the manager is doing a great job.”
At 27 he is at what may be the peak of his career, and with his pace and skill he will surely be an Arsenal legend when he retires.
Tomas Rosicky, surely the unluckiest player in the current Arsenal squad in terms of injuries. The guy is an amazing player, but he just can’t stay fit for us, ever since he joined the club he has been plagued by muscular injuries, especially to his hamstrings and groin.
“It will be yet a long time before I return, but at the start of the new season – some time in August – I will hopefully start with training,”
So after months out he may finally return to fitness in August. You have to wonder, how much of a role will he play for us next season.
This news comes after his operation to ‘fix him’ in May, which means that he should be injury-free next year. Rosicky should be better, but we have seen players never properly recover from recurrent injuries in the past. I just hope Tom can get over it and get back on form for us, because without him in the side we lack some attacking flair and pace.
Tomas was also upset at the spectacular defeat of his country, the Czech Republic, by Turkey
“The finish was a collapse, as if the guys stopped playing. I am very sad”
Turkey came from 2 goals down to win 3-2, after a horrific Cech error (scummy Chelsea) this sent the Czechs out of Euro 2008! It was a brilliant match, check the highlights out if you didn’t see it at the time!
New pictures have emerged of the Arsenal away strip for next season (2008/9). It’s based on the 1989 Championship winning kit, worn at Anfield when we won the title with a historic Michael Thomas goal!
I like this a lot better than the new home kit, yellow is the only good colour for an Arsenal away strip!
Personally I’d prefer a return to this classic style from 1991-93!
Yesterday saw Holland continue their good form and thrash France 4-1 at Euro 2008, putting them through to the Quarter-Finals, and France on the brink of disaster. The game itself was a great spectacle, both sides had a lot of chances, but Holland’s counter-attacking play ruined France’s chances of a comeback.
This game mirrored in some ways the transition at Arsenal, with players like Henry playing for an aging France side, while young starlets like Van Persie (when fit!) scoring. The Dutch play a great passing game, and have really stood out for me. The way they have brushed aside the two finalist of the 2006 World Cup is impressive.
I can only hope that we can start getting more results like this next season, and one for the future – I wouldn’t mind seeing Van Basten at Arsenal when it comes to the day that Wenger retires.
Eduardo is recovering fast from his horrific leg injury. Every week we seem to get little bits and bobs from his native Brazil on the progress he’s making.
We’ve heard even more recently as Croatia play without him in the Euros. Bilic, the Croatia coach, has now said that Eduardo might even be back for pre-season training at the Arse.
“He is recovering and may even join Arsenal for their preparations. Eduardo’s absence is a handicap, we feel it all the time.”
This would be great news, but the club should be wary about bringing him back too fast, I’m sure they will get it right this time, look at what happened when we tried to bring Van Persie back quickly – he got injured again.
For Eduardo to get back to his best he needs time to recover to 100% of what he had before. This will take a while and it won’t help to rush him back.
Nevertheless, I hope his speedy recovery continues and he is back playing for Arsenal as soon as he is 100% better!
Arsene Wenger, that brilliant philosophical genius we all love, has hit Basel with the intention of signing some fresh talent for the Arse.
Arsene was at a press conference last night as Castrol Index ambassador, and he told journalists:
“I’m here with my cheque book If I see something I like….I don’t rule anything out.”
“If I fall in love with somebody, why not, but we all know the big players. What we know about big championships nowadays is that we don’t discover players any more in big tournaments.
“You expect Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Franck Ribéry to stand out, but I’ll have an eye on Mario Gomez with Germany, [Karim] Benzema for France and [Luka] Modric in the Croatia team.”
There will be a lot of Gooners out there salivating at the thought of Wenger out to sign up the top players of the tournament. I would say to them, have patience and wait and see what happens. If there are players good enough for us who can be signed then the club will do all they can to sign them.
Some Arsenal fans at the moment seem to be desparate for a signing. It is true that Spurs have signed up a load of decent players, but rest assured, if they were good enough for Arsenal then we would have got them, it’s unlikely that they would have chosen a lesser club after all.
So wait and see what gems Wenger can unearth.
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In Emmanuel Adebayor’s first two full seasons at Arsenal he has caused about as much controversy as anything else. Opinion is divided over his qualities as a player and personality. In light of criticism of his play I thought I’d take a look at his statistics in comparison with the sacred Thierry Henry after his first two seasons at the club:
Henry (All competitions):
1999-00 – Apps: 48, Goals: 26, Assists: 9
2000-01 – Apps: 53, Goals: 22, Assists: 3
Henry scored 0.54 goals per game in 1999-00, and 0.42 per game the following season. These were only his first two seasons at the club, and the rate of roughly a goal every other game is impressive for a player reconverting to the strikers role.
In comparison Adebayor, joined Arsenal in January 2006, but he only played 13 games so these stats count from his first full season at the club in 2006-07.
2006-07 – Apps: 44, Goals: 12, Assists: 4
2007-08 – Apps: 54, Goals: 30, Assists: 5
Adebayor scored 0.27 goals per game in his first season, playing approximately the same number of games as Thierry. The team was performing worse in the league at the time, eventually finishing fourth, compared to second place in 1999-00. In his second season Adebayor became a 30-goal striker, taking 0.56 goals per game, the video below shows all 30.
We can see from the stats that Adebayor, playing as second striker last season was not as effective as Henry in his first full season. Emmanuel played with Henry in 2006-07, and scored just 12 in comparison with Henry’s 26 in 1999-2000. 2007-08 has seen a marked different in the goalscoring. His 0.56 goals per game ratio is better than either of Henry’s first two seasons, although only marginally.
There are differences in the approach for 2007-08, the most marked change being Adebayor playing as a lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation, and has done better in terms of goals and assists. This is part of what drove the club to a title challenge during the season.
Remember that Adebayor wasn’t as experienced as Henry when he joined the club, having only played for three seasons in the first team at AS Monaco. Whereas Henry had already spent some years in Italy at Juventus, and played for the French national team, albeit on the left wing, before joining Arsenal in 1999.
The performance from 07-08 looks promising on Adebayor’s part, although it is unlikely he can ever scale the heights which Theirry Henry managed.
Statistics don’t tell the whole story, the league has changed drastically in the seven years between these seasons, and generally has become more defensive in tactical outlook. Arsenal’s formation is also different, and having a single striker may increase the opportunities for that player’s goal-scoring.
Henry is ultimately the best player Arsenal ever had, but the data shows that Adebayor’s contribution is not unimpressive. Although not as fast as Henry, or as technically gifted, he has dogged determinism, and passes the ball well.
They are different players, and so ultimately comparison is difficult. What is clear is that Adebayor has potential, it remains to be seen if he can really use this and develop into a top quality striker. If Adebayor maintains a high workrate then Arsene is right to believe in him.
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