Jegbie's Journal - Sagna and Clichy set an example to Senderos
I was gutted we lost yesterday. I wanted to beat Juve with our kids but I don’t think we can read into the defeat too much.
It was good practice for the boys and we were unlucky to lose although to be fair we didn’t really create enough clear cut chances to win. Real Madrid should be more open.
One thing the game confirmed was that Philippe Senderos is nowhere near good enough to play for Arsenal. He’s had so much time to prove himself but he hasn’t done so and we should get rid of him and get a quality centre back in.
Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy should be an example to him and he isn’t in their league. Swiss Tony should be shown the door.
The area where I worry about us is central defence. In William Gallas and Kolo Toure we have a lack of height and have no real commanding central defender in the mould of Vidic, Ferdinand, Terry or Carvalho who all love to attack the ball and get rid of it.
That brings me on to the captaincy and as with many Gooners, I was gutted when Gallas caved in at Birmingham. It was petulant and stupid but he did it and lets move on.
He’d just seen Eduardo cut down and Clichy give away a penalty (which never was) which pretty much put everything we’d done prior to that match down the toilet.
He let it all get to him – he may be on £70K odd per week but he is human and fallible.
Gallas is still the best man for the Arsenal captaincy. He’s got fire in his belly and he hates losing. He’s also our most experienced player and is well liked in the dressing room at Arsenal.
Cesc Fabregas is not ready yet to be captain but I am sure he will be in the future.
Wenger has got a two year plan and hopefully the addition of a quality signing will gee the fans up for the start of the season.
Remember, we only lost the title by four points last season and that was after people saying we’d be ruined when TH14 left. Arsene Wenger is a genius manager and he will want to win something more than anyone to vindicate his policy to stick with youth and not buy for the sake of buying.
You are only as good as your last game in football. This team will do us all proud.
I am certain we are on the verge of something special.
David Alexander
Reader Comments (15)
had you decided to write that about Senderos before the game had been played? Because it bears no relation to his performance yesterday as he was absolutely fine.
"One thing the game confirmed was that Philippe Senderos is nowhere near good enough to play for Arsenal" - That's completely wrong i'm afraid. It's just the same as a lot of other blogs proclaiming the same about Eboue. They'd decided he was going to play bad before the game and no matter what he actually does during the game, their view is so scewed the can't see it.
Well I agree with you re Senderos. He has had his fair share of chances and failed to consistently impress. Do you honestly think that this guy is capable of diplacing either Toure or Gallas? No chance. As far I can remember, Senderos has had far more chances than someone like Upson ever got. Sendy is a liability and too incosistent. Eboue is another one that should go. He offers absolutely nothing to this side and should only get near the team as a back up to Sagna in case of injury or suspension.
Why blame Senderos... He is a good player... give him a run in first tem an he will gave a very good performance(remember during the good run in the champion league until we went to final and lost to Barca). He has the quality to become top player in arsenal shirt. Eboue... nowhere near the best... spoil every move that we try to build.
btw... we lost to Juve by an OFFSIDE Goal... not the bad result for the kids against MEN and top class player such as Iaquinta, Chellini, Sissoko(top class),Buffon & NEdved & Trezequet(World class).
Jimmy,Baz and Aserr....You are so right about Eboue and Senderos yesterday.They both played their hearts out.Every team seems to have a whipping boy or two and it's about time our two had support instead of mindless criticism!!
Ricky - mindless criticism? Senderos's positional sense is awful.It may be down to lack of confidence but he has not developed the way he should have. Who cares if he played his heart out. There was a moment in the first half where he tried to pull back a Juve player which would have resulted in a red card in any other match. He always looks like he is about to cock up.Senderos as never been the same since Drogba did him.Regarding Eboue, his pace is a quality but his final ball is nearly always awful. If Eboue had some end prodcut he'd be 100% better.
A defender who lacks both speed and positional sense is never gonna be top class. Senderos, is far short of both these qualities, yes positional sense can be developed but the lack of speed presents problems which will increase with time. To be fair to the lad, he does show heart and commitment,and he is still young. Over the last two seasons I feel nervous whenever he plays, I almost expect him to make a mistake at a crucial moment.
I entirely agree with this post. Contrary to a couple of comments above, Senderos and Eboue did not play well yesterday - Senderos's positioning was dire, and he twice did his usual storming up the field and being turned, leaving us extremely vulnerable to a counter attack.
I'd like to see Eboue's pass completion rate in the first half - I can barely recall him keeping the ball (whilst those around him - Wilshere, Ramsey, Denilson etc. - were playing brilliant possession football). In mitigation, he was better in the second half until being subbed.
For the record, I began the game (and begin every game) wishing the best for all our players - and on seeing Senderos so confident, leading the team out I thiought that just maybe he could be about to turn the corner. But he didn't, and he's not. I'd have loved Phil to have become a commanding Nu-Adams figure, but he's simply not good enough - although he'd perhaps do better with a manager who puts more time and attention into discipline and defending.
Eboue confuses me more. He was an excellent player for us (ignoring the histrionics) until ten or so months ago, since when his performances have been poor. The move to midfield could be partially responsible. I can see the value in having a player of his type in the squad, but on current form he shouldn't be getting in ahead of any of the in-form kids.
On a more general note (and again, in agreement with Jegbie's post), I'm incredibly excited about our band of young, attacking players, and I expect that they'll produce some incredible football this season, and yet again surprise the world. However, big question marks still hang over our defensive frailties and tactical naivety - and unless this is resolved, there will always be a danger that we'll fall short (again).
positives; Wilshire, Ramsey, Djourou.
Negatives; Eboue wearing an Arsenal shirt.
It was the same old shit different season from Eboue. Running down blind alleys, loose passing, falling over and terrible shooting. His effort in the 2nd half summed him up - sh*t.
He is the most despicable player to have pulled on our shirt. There have been worse players in the past but is character, his play acting and general effort is one that i cannot stand.
I thought Big Phil done ok yesterday. Gibbs looked ok at left-bck. It seems we are converting him into a full-back and Traore into a winger.
I'm confident ahead of the new season. I don't buy into teh doom and gloom. I don't think we've lost much over the summber. Gilbo was a great professional but hardly played last season. Hleb will not be a great loss, i think Theo and Nasri can easily replace him and Flamini had one good season and Ramsey looks a better footballer so i'm happy.
Vela will be class and Bendtner is improvng all teh time.
Ade's reception was deserved. We might be mugs for aying thousands of pounds each season but we're not mugs enough to believe hsi "i never said them things" when he clearly did and it was all caught on camera. So he now has to work hard to win the affection back.
Merse-10: I thought Gibbs looked better than ok at left-back. It's notable that most / nearly all of Juve's attacks came down our right-hand side.
all senderos needs is a bit of confidence and for us to get behind him he's not that bad you just always pick at him toure however much i like him made errors last season and so did gallas, and what about fabregas' open goal miss at liverpool no-one complained when that happened because 'he was off balance' yet if that was senderos you'd be effin and blindin at him. Give him a break, support the WHOLE team.
For God's sake it looks like people were just ready to get on his back. It's the first fucking game of the season for him and he didn't even play that bad.
He's not exactly the worst third choice centre back out there is he? Defenders always make mistakes and he's still 23/24, and we've seen what he can do when given a proper run out.
I have been on this for ages now. The best way out would be to put Kolo into defensive midfield where he fits perfectly (he can shoot, and his acrobatic jumps wont cost us penalties) while we get a tall strong no nonsense defender. We need to cut out the aerial threat. I dont know why the hell Wenger isnt buying a top quality defender. He mentioned it before that we need to cut down on aerial threat and for that he will buy a defender but god knows why the hell will he never fix his defensive problems. All he cares about is attacking options. You need bloody well good tall defenders (Man United and Chelsea) arent god damn stupid!! We cant just rely on our attack to score more than our goal deficit and win!
TW14 - Senderos does get support at the games. He even has his own song and his name is always followed by cheers and a distinct LACK of groans. He's not a kid anymore - he's had several years to gain confidence and learn from his mistakes, but still fails.
Please don't pretend that these failures are somehow the fault of people criticising him on a blog. I spend well over £1,000 a year supporting this club (as many others do) and am perfectly entitled to criticise a player (on a blog) for not performing.
If we could get rid of eboue that will be happiest day of our lives as arsenal fans...He was killing avery beautiful move we started yestday,....hes so wasteful!!
positives.wilshire,vela,jourou,gibbs,theo,denilson and ramsey.Go arsenal,go arsenal.
I am very postive.