A very good morning to you. I can only apologise for the outlandishness of Grabs yesterday. It’s clear to everyone that Juan Seba Veron is a very, very old man, unsuitable for playing football, and frankly unsuitable for anything much except for playing dominoes on a warm roadside and talking about how the weather never changes.
But it did get me thinking about who we could add to the squad at this stage who would have enough experience, as well as offering us that extra sharpness in the final third, and also made me think outside the usual suspects for a bit. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think one Luis Figo fits the bill perfectly.
As yesterday, I know it might sound a bit strange, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. He’s getting on a bit, but we don’t necessarily need him for very long. He’s played at the highest levels continuously and has performed all that time. He’s skilful, has great vision and has always been more rugged than others of his ilk – bit like one DB10, if memory serves, and who wouldn’t put him in the team at the drop of a hat just now. He could play on either wing or in the middle, and we wouldn’t need him for very long – just until the other midfielders blossom into fully-fledged performers. I’m also sure he’d love the chance to play in the premiership for a bit in the twilight of his career, and I’m sure Inter would let him go for a bit of cash.
What do you reckon?
In terms of the other midfielders flying around I’ve had a look on youtube and I think Lorik Cana looks like exactly what we need. Big, strong and tough with proven leadership credentials, and the occasional goal. He also looks like a bit of a nutter, and as has been pointed out elsewhere we do tend to win more when we have more people sent off. He’s also at a good stage of his career for a big move to England. The worry is that the French league isn’t a good enough proving ground, but he looks like he could handle it.
The worry is that Marseille wouldn’t be that keen to let their club captain go, but most teams are in a selling mood at the moment. Presumably he wouldn’t mind swapping the south of France for London – I think it’s easy to forget what a draw that is to some players.
In other news (other than the fact we’re playing Bolton tomorrow and Megson has been talking out of his arse about it, which I refuse to talk about because the idea that he’s a human of sufficient wit and/or guile to engage in psychological games with le boss is so ridiculous as almost to make me spew my pain au chocolat) there’s been a lot of talk about the fact we might not sell out the Bolton game, and the implications of that. It’s being argued that we’re charging too much for a team that doesn’t win anything, but I think that’s bollies. Attendances have been levelling off all over the shop, and the Arsenal attendance figures are always a nonsense anyway thanks to their policy of counting all season ticket-holders as permanently attending. Anyone who’s glanced around the ground will know that we almost never have 60,000 there, and I’m not quite sure the logic of saying that we do…
The real issue (if there is one), I think, is that lots of Arsenal supporters (particularly new ones) are people who’ve over the last ten years gotten much richer from their North London homes and the generally benevolent fiscal situation, and Arsenal has become the club of choice for that particular brand of upwardly mobile, Nick Hornby style chap and their families. It was the rise of these fans which meant we could build the Emirates in the first place, and that people can still on the whole afford the expensive tickets and scarves. Perhaps in the downturn some of these fringe attendees are starting to drop off, and that explains the unusually slow sales.
Either way it’s nothing to worry about. Bolton are much more deserving of our fears.
Tags: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, emirates stadium, lorik cana, luis figo
January 9th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Figo is 3 years older than Veron! He’s 36. You idiot.
Also, judging a player from clips on youtube is a waste of time. This is an embarrassing post.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Andrew – I think he probably realises those things, looking at the context and previous posts…
January 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Hmmm, Your logic workds… however if we look at the practical, Gilberto (Brazils copa america winning captain) was too old to be a first teamer and sold off. Now we can Flamini in that role pushing him out of the door.
Now we need experience in our squad to pull the youngsters along while they develope and from who they can learn from, However I doubt Veron and Figo are options.
Loan options however might be a better bet.
As for Bolton, Gawd I cant wait to see some hard tackles coming in from our younsters like the old Arsenal that will send chills up there managers spine (cant be arsed to look up his name)
January 9th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Agree about Cana
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_bZAdOKhk
Just what we need. Yes he looks a little bit mental, but he’d put the fear of god into the opposition
January 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
ecumming – You’re an even bigger idiot
January 9th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I’m certainly very big.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I was not very familiar with Cana, but he does look class from the videos.
While I like Figo better than JSV, I must ask why you are such a big fan of players from the geriatric age group?
How about a few of your top players under 30 we should target? I would be more interested in seeing those.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
While Figo was indeed one of the greatest players in his time, his time is gone. He has never been a fast player, relying mostly on his technical ability. I highly doubt he could keep up with the pace of Arsenal’s game since it is expected that you are running for 90 mins. for the passing game. He doesn’t have the legs for that anymore and really he never did because he’s not exactly an able defender or trackbacks enough as we typically demand of our wingers. Yes we need experience, but experience in football today means late 20s very early 30s, not a man who has to take Metamucil everyday. He’s also become very injury-prone in the twilight of his career and the speed and physicality of the English game does not go well with his acclimatized Italian and Spanish football.
On Lorik Cana, I don’t know if it’s this blog but I’ve already thrown his name out there before. He’s definitely the poor man’s Jeremy Toulalan (Whose name I’ve also thrown in the hat). We seem to have some kind of good relationship with Marseille with Bobby and Nasri having come from there. Essentially I could see the likes of Cana, Cheyrou, Zubar, Ben Arfa and Mandanda all coming right into the Arsenal fold from Marseille if we could afford it, but that’s asking alot. Cana has the build, speed and tenacity to fit right into the Prem and I’m surprised Wenger hasn’t made an inquiry seeing as he’s a regular guest pundit for Canal+ on Ligue 1 games.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Guys, I do think the Figo suggestion was meant to be an ironic mockery of Grabs’ Veron suggestion. At least I very much hope so. So take the hostility down a few notches, Andrew.
On the other hand, I do think judging people via youtube is a waste of time, only one minor step above checking a player’s stats on the latest version of Football Manager. Wenger is never going to go for anything obvious. I imagine the Arshavin deal will probably happen sooner or later, and I hate to say it, but I don’t reckon he’ll do any more business than that.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
mates lorik cana is a great player for us.he is DM and very strong very hard work player,just like viera not with vieras pass and moves but with agresiv way of playing.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Well the thing is we don’t even really need Cana to be Vieira because while it is an asset to dribble and pass we have 9 other outfield players to do that. Gilberto couldn’t dribble or pass to save his life either but he was one of the best at breaking up the play and dispossessing opposition. All we really need in the midfield is someone with the confidence to do this so that Cesc and the others can launch some 5 man attack force on the goal like it was in the good ole days.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
WC – wise words as always. I’d maybe toss a new winger into that mix and be fairly happy with the state of the midfield.
Andrew is right I’m afraid, and I won’t stand to hear Grabber defended. Him and his YouTube research, eh? Pah! Disgraceful man. You won’t get any of that from me, oh no.
I always feel that at most those compilations can give you a pretty vague idea about a player, providing he’s a striker or attacking midfielder. As in, you can see Ronaldinho score that ridiculous goal he scored against Chelsea and you can tell that he’s got a bit of talent. Or you can watch Henry compilations where he scores an absurd number of fantastic goals against top class teams – and you can’t really argue with his obvious class.
Where it’s (obviously) much more difficult is with defensive players playing in *so-called lesser* leagues – like Cana and Veloso.
I mean, can you imagine what a Gilberto compilation would look like? They’d probably set it to a song by Keane and feature some of his more audacious shieldings of the ball, or him sitting on the half-way line looking intensely disciplined as pires, freddy and co stormed forward, or interceptions, or the odd clearing header – bone-rattlingly exciting stuff.
My oh-so-profound point here is that the game isn’t a highlights reel, nor is it a computer game. You can’t restart it if you lose and you can’t solve all your problems by having a greasy man who does lots of silly stepovers (though Bolton are giving this a go – Denilson must be the worst most expensive player in the world ever, surely?).
January 9th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Oh, how I would love to take my over priced seat at the Emirates tomorrow, then just as I start to take my first bite out of my over priced burger, there is an announcement – “We would like to welcome Arsenal’s new signing to the Emirates” and on walks . . .
. . . Lorik Cana.
This guy is one of THE best DM in the game right now. As said above, we don’t need him to make brilliant runs or to make pythagoras defying passes. We need someone to cover our woeful defence.
This lad was the reason why Portugal drew nil-nil with Albania.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed about tomorrow . . .
January 9th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I love Lorik Cana, my mate summed it up perfectly earlier after watching one of Lorik’s youtube showcases “…he fouled a player and offered to pick him up only to drag him across the ground a la John Sergeant in Strictly Come Dancing”…we need this lunatic at Arsenal and I mean lunatic in an affectionate way of course!!!