EPL: Fulham vs Arsenal | 26/09/09 | 17:30 ESPN

[USArsenal]

Rozza is surely more dynamic of a mover than Nasri is, so i think as a forward he would be more successful up front than Nasri...

 

[tam1886]

Yeah, I can see the sense in that decision as well. I think you do too, US, it's just that Diaby frustrates you a lot. But look at it this way: if we push Rosicky too much and he suffers another setback then we'll have many more months of Diaby to look forward to. We're playing this right by introducing Eduardo and Rosicky to the team slowly.

I said before the game that I'd happily have Diaby playing in a few more games if it gave us a better chance of getting Rosicky back fitter and sooner. The more he plays just now the more likely we are to risk him an injury, so it's the sensible thing to do. It won't be popular, but those who criticise Wenger for it would be the same one who would criticise Wenger if Rosicky got an injury through being overplayed.

As for Ramsey, I think his style is better suited to those types of games than Diaby's is but I'm not sure he's ready to be starting for us, I don't think he's as ready as some other seems to think he is. I can see a use for Diaby when we are playing at home against defensive teams and need a bit more directness and penetration, which he has the ability at times to give us. But away at Fulham when we are likely to be pressured, it makes more sense in playing players who are comfortable in playing possession football and keeping play ticking over, which isn't exactly one of Diaby's strong points.

 

[banduan]

Diaby

lol.......hope not.

Why, you mean he'd hopefully be gone by then? We've been moaning about him going on 2 1/2 seasons now. And the same "same old ****" routine has been used as well during that time.

 

[law90026]

I'm not entirely sure what the defence is for Diaby from some of the posters, other than "we won, Cesc was ****, so stop picking on him".

There is a difference between Cesc's performance and Diaby's performance. Let me just say that Cesc didn't play that well. But you can also see a marked improvement in his performance once Rosicky came on because he had an outlet to pass to. Cesc's passing might not have been spot-on but you also can't deny that he a) created our goal (seriously, that was a peach of a pass, perfectly weighted to take Hangeland out of the picture) and b) created a goalscoring opportunity for Arshavin in the first half (watch how he first times it perfectly for him). Not a great performance? Yes. But he wasn't the worst player by any means.

Diaby on the other hand did f**k-all. He was a non-presence defensively. He didn't win many headers even though he's a tall lad. I recall at least twice when he got bumped off the ball in our own half, despite his "strengthening" over the summer. He moved away from a ball outside our penalty box and allowed a Fulham player to nick it. He passed badly in most situations. He also opted to play a pass outside the penalty box when a shot might have been a better option.

Diaby was very obviously our worst player on the pitch. And yet it's ok because we won? We won inspite of him, not because of him.

I don't know if AW is trying to let him play out of the funk he's in but Diaby is currently not suitable for the first team. Right now, we're playing 10 against 11 in most situations and, if that's the case, then I would prefer Ramsey start because he gives us more than a Diaby that has no confidence and/or is not trying anymore.

However, it was a good win because it was a game we could have lost and quite possibly would not have won in the past. I'll be happy if we can keep grinding these results out until we can find a decent patch of form.

 

[stiiphunn]

I'd rather have Diaby than Ramsey on the pitch. Right now, Ramsey is average at best. As someone said, Diaby's problem is that he vanishes for large portions of the game. Yesterday he didn't do much wrong, but he failed to really dominate the game.

That said for the first time in his Arsenal career he's actually getting a good run of games in central midfield. Maybe he'll improve, who knows. I still think he's going to surprise a lot of people this season.

i feel the exact opposite of almost everything you said here..

i would rather have Ramsey playing.. at 18, he shows more composure on the pitch

yesterday, he did almost everything wrong from what i saw. wrong decisions, losing the ball, etc..

i dont think he's going to surprise us this year.. he's played in 5 matches, and been competent in 1 of them.. 1 of 5 is not a good ratio..

eh, i dont really like to bash our players (search my posts, i try to avoid doing so) but he has been so poor for us overall IMO, that I can't hold off on criticism

No problem. Your criticism about Diaby is fair.

As for Ramsey, him not playing gives him the benefit of the doubt, and therefore people want him to play thinking he couldn't be worse than what we already have. It's always been like that on AM. Anytime someone's injured/not playing he's hyped up by the fans.

 

[marco]

Just got back from the match- that was a hell of an away game. Beautiful day, beautiful area(right on the Themes), and a great stadium. "Restricted view" seats consisted of this metal overhang thing 5 rows in front of me, which meant f**k all considering we stood the entire match.

One of my favourite aways, Fulham. Always a cracking atmosphere, good pubs etc etc.

yep totally agree saturday was a cracking all dayer-paid for ti yday though!

 

[Mbaki Mutahaba]

Diaby of 3 years ago?. Which diaby was that? Has this dude even have a full season of playing football with us? Last year was the closest we had and even that it was 2 games followed by 2 weeks out. You havent seen him enough to claim he has had chances and cant make it. One just has to go look at Song threads back then to realize the nonsense being spewed out then by our football minds A-M forums. Its too early to discount these players as cant make it.

And you see the pattern. Those fast in dismissing the players as CANT make it are as equally fast in throwing another potential as the "solution". You cant argue for Ramsey against Diaby. Ramsey is not even ready to be considered as first team player. Just not ready yet. I get frustrated with Diaby as well. But he has somehting he offers that no one has (maybe Eboue at times)..the thrust. I dont worry too much about his passes(too much is made of it). My main gripe with him is just stayin with the ball for too damn long. I think he has an important role to play in our team. Everyone offers something different.

Same case with Denilson. I believe our best balance so far(offense/defense) has been with the denilson/cesc/song combination. At time we will need that..just as we will need Diaby in some games. He adds good value to the team.

 

[Rain Dance]

What was Diaby's reputation like when he joined us? How was Denilson performing in the reserves? What was Eboue like 3 years ago? How did people rate Bendtner when he was 16?

Nothing is for sure in football.

No recall of Bendy 3 years ago nor Denilson

BUT this is what Farrukh said 3 years ago

Diaby has no football brain, Eboue is a joke and Adebayor is ****!

 

[qs]

Diaby of 3 years ago?. Which diaby was that? Has this dude even have a full season of playing football with us? Last year was the closest we had and even that it was 2 games followed by 2 weeks out. You havent seen him enough to claim he has had chances and cant make it. One just has to go look at Song threads back then to realize the nonsense being spewed out then by our football minds A-M forums. Its too early to discount these players as cant make it.

Song was 19 when people wrote him off and it was too early, he's proven that. Diaby is 23 though and has played around 70 games for us.
We have most certainly seen enough of him to make a judgement.

I wish people would stop acting like he's still 18 years old.

 

[qs]

What was Diaby's reputation like when he joined us? How was Denilson performing in the reserves? What was Eboue like 3 years ago? How did people rate Bendtner when he was 16?

Nothing is for sure in football.

No recall of Bendy 3 years ago nor Denilson

BUT this is what Farrukh said 3 years ago

Diaby has no football brain, Eboue is a joke and Adebayor is s**t!

Bendtner was known 3 years ago as the supplier to the great hope Lupoli. However Nik was a year younger than Arturo and was being hailed as a real prospect for the future.

Denilson had just arrived and had a reputation as a leader in the Brazil youth teams and was being touted as the eventual replacement for Cesc.

 

[Captain]

I think it would be a good idea to move Diaby on, both for him and for us. I don't think that he even had it in him to become a Fletcher type player.

 

[redanddread]

I think it would be a good idea to move Diaby on, both for him and for us. I don't think that he even had it in him to become a Fletcher type player.

Bollocks...

 

[qs]

I think it would be a good idea to move Diaby on, both for him and for us. I don't think that he even had it in him to become a Fletcher type player.

Bollocks...

You're a big defender of Diaby, thats fine. Is there any chance you could calm down for 5 seconds and make a case for him rather than just keep posting stuff like this?

 

[celestis]

Diaby's problem is mental , his confidence is easily dented. Murphy tackled him early a couple of times and Diaby just shrunk into his shell , instead of rising to the challenge and taking the game on ,he hid and tried to do as little as possible . Not sure he knows his role in this team .

 

[AnthonyG]

Diaby's problem is not releasing the ball. Beats one, sometimes two, then ... whoops. I guess that could be mental.

 

[alboots101]

and thats never changed from day one, the trouble with this team is they are not the invincible`s.

 

[TomasCR]

Diaby's problem is not releasing the ball. Beats one, sometimes two, then ... whoops. I guess that could be mental.

That's it exactly, it's like he wouldn't know when to give the ball away and when he actually realizes it's the right time now, he doesn't have the ball anymore.

I don't like his thinking, it's way too slow to become a proper CM. It would be the biggest surprise ever for me if he could somehow improve it. That's the sort of things you must have at a certain age, he doesn't even have it now.

 

[James]

Diaby's football intelligence and quickness of thought (or lack of it) was summed up when Bendtner had the shot across goal in the second half. Half a brain, and he would've been following it in, and tapping it into an empty net.

 

[redanddread]

Yeah, I can see the sense in that decision as well. I think you do too, US, it's just that Diaby frustrates you a lot. But look at it this way: if we push Rosicky too much and he suffers another setback then we'll have many more months of Diaby to look forward to. We're playing this right by introducing Eduardo and Rosicky to the team slowly.

I said before the game that I'd happily have Diaby playing in a few more games if it gave us a better chance of getting Rosicky back fitter and sooner. The more he plays just now the more likely we are to risk him an injury, so it's the sensible thing to do. It won't be popular, but those who criticise Wenger for it would be the same one who would criticise Wenger if Rosicky got an injury through being overplayed.

As for Ramsey, I think his style is better suited to those types of games than Diaby's is but I'm not sure he's ready to be starting for us, I don't think he's as ready as some other seems to think he is. I can see a use for Diaby when we are playing at home against defensive teams and need a bit more directness and penetration, which he has the ability at times to give us. But away at Fulham when we are likely to be pressured, it makes more sense in playing players who are comfortable in playing possession football and keeping play ticking over, which isn't exactly one of Diaby's strong points.

I agree with you as his power and strength when moving forward are a real weapon. And agree with your reasoning that we could use with a more defensive minded player "away at fulham". However, Denilson would have been that person, he's out and Ramsey is still only 18 and unproven, and to throw him in away at Fulham in an evening game might be a game too far, IMO. Also, is he a "more" defensive minded player than Diaby or even that much better?

 

[redanddread]

Diaby's football intelligence and quickness of thought (or lack of it) was summed up when Bendtner had the shot across goal in the second half. Half a brain, and he would've been following it in, and tapping it into an empty net.

How many tap in's have we had in the last couple years? Not many. The days of countless tap ins(Pires, Lungberg, Henry et al) seem to be over. But someone should have been following in and in that case it was Diaby. Why more of our players do not follow up a shot for the tap in, God only knows.