1.Manuel ALMUNIA

A season of consistency amidst a squad that has been horribly inconsistent. Manuel poses an interesting paradox, as one of the elder statesmen of the squad, he has tried to take on the position as a leader and a voice for the team with some success. However, despite his age, he is still relatively inexperienced at this level, mistakes against Chelsea, Liverpool, United and Spurs again this season leave question marks over his big game temperament; but the Champions League Semi Final at Old Trafford might just have been a turning point on that score. Almunia has improved on a number of facets of his game which I have already alluded to in another article. Not at the stature of a Seaman or a Lehmann, which means he gets a lukewarm reception from Arsenal fans, I`d perhaps compare him more to Lukic (who was good enough to win a title with Arsenal). In terms of the Premiership`s current custodians, Almunia is one of the best. I wouldn`t have asked much more from Almunia this season, key saves in Champions League games will feature in many a UEFA highlights reel. Overall a thoroughly decent season from Almunia, he certainly impressed me more than Cech or van der Sar did. (Let`s face it, I could have kept goal for United for large chunks of this season). 8 out of 10.
Highlight of the Season: His one man team impression at Old Trafford in April.

2.Vassiriki Abou DIABY

Officially Arsenal`s appendix. Nobody knows precisely what it is there for, or what it does, but you`re sure there must be some reason for it. Diaby is considered not defensively disciplined enough to play central midfield, not good enough to displace Nasri, Arshavin, Cesc etc as an attacking midfielder and too gash to play on the wing. Has the infuriating habit of beating seven players at once with a mesmerising piece of skill, striding majestically past a sea of befuddled opponents, before whacking the ball out of play under no pressure. Diaby does not seem to fully understand what his qualities are, if he does he seldom plays to them. The manager has deployed him in big games due to his power, but that physical prowess counts for little when you continually give the ball to your opponents, I`m at a loss to understand why Diaby hasn`t used the last three years of being dispossessed by opposing midfielders to stop and think to himself, “hmmm, perhaps if I release the ball inside ten minutes this will stop happening?” Diaby undoubtedly has some qualities and when he engages his brain for long enough to tie all of the component parts together, he can be devastating. Goals against Fenerbahce, Villa and Newcastle all point to how he can roar through defences when he`s decisive. There is a good player in there somewhere, but my main worry is that, whilst Diaby has very good feet, I`m yet to see much evidence of a brain. 5
Highlight of the Season: The delightful kicking (in the metaphorical sense) he gave Fenerbahce`s defence in October.

3.Bacary SAGNA

Cries of second season syndrome have echoed throughout the press, but perhaps that exemplifies just how excellent Sagna`s inaugural campaign was. The truth is, Sagna has had to adapt to a shifting Arsenal midfield as much as any of the midfielders at the club. With Walcott in front of him, Sagna has to be far more defence minded as Walcott still hasn`t really nailed the tracking back as well as his predecessors. Hleb is a dream to play in front of for a full back as Sagna could motor forwards, confident that the Belarusian wouldn`t surrender possession cheaply. Walcott, to paraphrase Sally Fields, “is like a box of chocolates.” You know he is capable of producing the proverbial toffee fudge by beating three players and sprinting to the by-line with gazelle like grace, but he is equally capable of the coffee crème, tripping over the ball, falling on his arse and leaving the opposing full back to rush forwards unchecked. Overall, I think Sagna, considering the readapting period of playing behind two polar opposites in Eboue and Walcott, has produced a solid, if unspectacular, seven out of ten season. He does however need to work very hard indeed on his crossing, which is terrible. 7.
Highlight: His bicycle kick goal line clearance at Villa Park.

4.Francesc FABREGAS Soler

15 assists (including 9 in the Premiership) from a central midfield player who has missed half the season with injury would be considered an exquisite return from most midfielders. But Cesc Fabregas isn`t most midfielders. By his own lofty standards, you could say Fabregas has stood still somewhat this year, it`s perhaps the first season since he`s been at Arsenal where you cannot really pinpoint a part of his game that has improved dramatically. However, this is easily explained. Following his exploits with Spain in the summer, Wenger tried to rush Fabregas through pre season, which inevitably led to injury. He was then rushed back from injury again, so perhaps Wenger was the only person surprised to see him sit out three months when his tired muscles were not sturdy enough to withstand a crunching 50-50 with Alonso in December. Added to the fact that his three amigos Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini have been absent for various reasons, multiplied by being lumped with the captaincy in very difficult circumstances, it is not difficult to decipher the reasons for his comparative inertia. Upon returning from affliction, he was then cast into a new position behind the striker, an experiment that I would venture failed. His defence splitting assists for Nasri against United and Bendtner against Kyiv show Fabregas is more comfortable dictating a game from deep. Fabregas` workload has been made heavier by his manager being overly reliant on him, whether that be by placing physical or psychological demands on him that have been too great. Without Hleb, Fabregas has felt less able to get forward and replicate his goals tally of 2007-08 and has been cast with the burden of being Arsenal`s sole creative hub prior to the arrival of Arshavin. However, the Russian`s elevation to prominence should help Fabregas immeasurably next year, an experienced head, a leader and somebody to share the burden of playmaker. Fabregas has still enjoyed a very good season indeed, but we know and he knows that next season should see him produce even more. 7
Highlight: His last minute equaliser at Sunderland in October. Beating a very tall Mackems defence in the dying embers of a lost game. It was a goal borne of desire and an ability to drag an underperforming side out of the doldrums. It was the reason he was made skipper.

5.Kolo Abib TOURE

Taking the season as a whole, you cannot help but be a little under whelmed by our longest serving player. One of the players who I think has struggled in the absence of more experienced heads to supplement him, Toure is an excellent defender when placed alongside a centre half of physical stature, such as Campbell or Senderos. The word on the street, by the manager`s own admission, is that the Toure- Gallas axis lacks the requisite height to deal with the Premiership`s loftier opponents. Toure is now our longest serving player and often our oldest outfield player and I do not think he has quite taken to those waters with duck like aplomb. Shorn of a Gallas or a Campbell figure, Toure`s organisation skills are often found wanting, he is an able deputy that has struggled to make the step up to sheriff, I simply do not think he is that type of defender. A difficult opening to the campaign culminated in him losing his place to Silvestre and then Djourou, an injury to the latter at Villa Park in December saw Toure called into the side at the last moment and ended in a blazing row with the ever combustible Gallas. Toure handed in a transfer request but was quickly talked around. To his credit he has shown great mental aptitude to bounce back and cement his place in the team once again and make his partnership with Gallas work again- despite their indifference to one another. Toure, in defensive terms, is an eligible bachelor looking for a soul mate. Perhaps Vermaelen`s arrival will see him find happiness. But this season has been one largely spent in the lonely hearts column for Kolo. 6
Highlight: Breaking back into the team on Valentine`s weekend and looking like the defender that won our hearts back in 2002.

8.Samir NASRI

An encouraging debut season for Nasri. Asked effectively to fill two roles with Hleb and Rosicky unavailable and then again with Fabregas injured, when he was effectively asked to be the creative fulcrum of a side he was still getting to know. Even his more established hombres in midfield were struggling to get to grips with the shape of an ever shifting midfield, so it must have been doubly difficult for the new boy. Scoring three minutes into your full debut will always buy you patience amongst the support (ask Freddie Ljungberg) whilst the two goal salvo against United sticks out. I think he struggled slightly towards the end of the season and the fact that Arshavin outdid him for assists in half a season points to room for improvement, but at 22 it`s reasonable to expect he will develop. He was also asked to play on the wing, in the centre and latterly as a defensive midfielder throughout the season, but Nasri took to life very quickly at Arsenal and settled instantly. He appeared a tad injury prone in the autumn, causing his manager to publicly declare Nasri would need to be stronger after a robust challenge from Palacios in the home game with Wigan saw him hobble off once more. Since then injury has not plagued him nearly as much, so he must have worked on his physical strength. Very good for a first season, with him acclimatised to the English game I expect to see a lot more next season with him adding even more goals to his game. In all, I`d perhaps liken Nasri`s maiden voyage with Pires` back in 2000-01. If he can come close to matching Bobby`s second season, we`ve a lot to look forward to! 7.5
Highlight: Smashing the ball past van der Sar from twenty yards and slaying the European Champions at the Emirates.

10.William GALLAS

What`s to be done with a problem like William. Harmful for team spirit? Possibly. Best defender at Arsenal? Definitely. Maybe his rant back in November was ill advised, but he appeared to unwittingly clear the air in a squad that was permeated by a poisonous atmosphere, the first stage of recovery is acknowledgment and Gallas, however malleable his moods, seemed to have said what was needed. Even if cost him the captaincy, Gallas showed his best form post outburst and the team got back on track too. Gallas, freed from the glare of captaincy which his flaky character could not handle, became the lynchpin of a defence that began to look sturdy again. When his knee collapsed underneath him in Spain, Arsenal`s season limped down the tunnel with him. You may not like the man beneath the scowl, but as a defender, he is one of the very best around. 8
Highlight: Using his shiny bonce to score a controversial late winner in the F.A. C up Quarter Final against Hull and booking Arsenal their first trip to the new Wembley. Anything that gets up Phil Brown`s nose that much is fine with me.

11.Robin van PERSIE

What can a fully fit van Persie do when he stays fit for a whole season has been one of the great philosophical hypotheses of the 21st Century. How about twenty goals and thirteen assists? Curbing his volatile temper once and for all as well as learning that his right leg is for a lot more than just standing on? Learning that ten other players play alongside him and that, you know, sometimes it`s a decent idea to pass to one of them once in a while? Two goals at Stamford Bridge to beat Chelsea? Not missing a single penalty all season? Player of the season by quite some distance. 9.
Highlight: Feeding off Adebayor`s scraps in the Stamford Bridge penalty area to score his second goal in three minutes and win the game for Arsenal away at Chelsea, proving he can deliver against high quality opponents in pressure cooker situations.

12.Carlos VELA

Vela instantly captured the hearts of the Emirates faithful with a swashbuckling hat trick against Sheffield United, followed by an audacious goal in the next round of the Carling Cup against Wigan. A speedy young forward who runs at defenders with gusto and that is capable of sublime finishing, as Burnley keeper Brian Jensen will attest. Carlos is still very rough around the edges, his decision making sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, but you expect that from a teenager. At times, he has lacked composure at the right time, as his myriad of misses against Burnley in the League Cup and his snatched last minute effort in the 0-0 draw with Sunderland demonstrate. However, having been foiled three times by Jensen at Turf Moor with low one on one finishes, the manner in which he lofted the ball over the big Dane at the Emirates shows Vela analysed that game and amended his finishing to suit the keeper he was facing. That`s a very promising sign of his intelligence and a lip smacking prospect of what`s to come. Hopefully, next season will see him progress further and become a mainstay of Arsenal`s frontline as Bendtner and Walcott have now managed. 7.5
Highlight: Outmuscling the considerable frame of Titus Bramble at the Emirates before sending a breath taking sand wedged shot over a bemused Chris Kirkland from the edge of the area.

14.Theo WALCOTT

Theo`s progress may have been enervated slightly by a couple of injuries, however, he has now become a first choice player on the right wing. His hat trick for England in Zagreb thrust him into the spotlight and he has handled the expectation excellently. You still sometimes get the impression that Walcott is a sprinter above all else as his feet sometimes let him down in tight situations, as does his brain. But his accomplished finishing, as seen against Villarreal cause me to think he has to make the switch to centre forward sooner rather than later. Evra marked him out of two games simply by closing him down quickly and denying him space to run into. I think being able to lurk in behind defences will add a great deal to Arsenal`s build up play and will occupy defenders in the way that Adebayor used to with his work rate and physicality. The fact that Walcott is often double marked in games, particularly in Europe, is the ultimate compliment for him. 7
Highlight: Assists at Ewood Park and the Reebok rove he can make things happen from nothing, but it has to be his outrageous finish against Villarreal at the Emirates, deftly spooning the ball over Diego Lopez from a tight angle.

15.DENILSON Pereira de Neves

Possibly the only Arsenal midfielder who has done his job consistently and well, but there again probably the only Arsenal midfielder who has been tasked with the same job all season. He is a young man who has been asked to adapt to a new role and has done so impeccably. No Premiership midfielder has better ball retention or more interceptions, only two tackle with a better success rate than the young Brazilian and only four make more tackles. The biggest compliment you can ever pay a screening midfielder is if you do not notice him, Denilson`s immaculate work has gone largely unnoticed by doing those jobs that defensive midfielders must master so well. No Arsenal player has more minutes under his belt this season and that shows the players and the manager trust him implicitly. With three goals and seven assists he adds more than Flamini did too, even if most won`t acknowledge it. 8
Highlight: Absolutely bossing de Rossi and Totti in the home leg against Roma. Two of Serie A`s most revered sons kept well and truly schtum by an immaculate midfield display from Denilson.

Part two will follow

If this campaign was seeded by a bad start to you, then consider this.

After a 3-1 victory at Bolton, Arsenal became table-toppers in late September and it had the makings of the 2007/08 start when they climbed and glued themselves to the summit until the business end.

But the stopping of that imperious form hinged on when Hull brought them back down to earth. Who knows what would have happened had that momentum not been interrupted by such a HUGE upset?

The Emirates has seen some humiliating ends this season, but none was more infuriating than Hull’s tiegrish comeback and/or Villa’s resounding 2-0 win.

For a side which had been deprived of top-flight football for 101 years to come to one of the division’s most formidable grounds, go behind and then win like that was simply outrageous. And you could really lament where all of Arsenal’s prowess had vanished to. To be honest, the Gunners did not play bad on that day either.

More to come from me we have enough time before next season guys…

Player to watch: Kolo Toure

After the defensive horror show at Anfield from the Arsenal, how we will defend must be a concern for every Arsenal fan. Toure is our leader back there, and in the end, it will be mostly his job to organize our inexperienced back five.

Match Facts & Stats

Van Persie, Song, Diaby, and Nasri are all one booking away from a suspension for Arsenal.

Rooney and Evra are the only two on yellow card watch for the Mancs.

Giggs will be making his 800th United appearance. Very impressive

Arsenal can win their 100th European match and our 50th Champions League game tomorrow.

Arsenal have never lost a European semi-final. (1970, 1980, 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2006)

Ref Watch:

Danish referee Claus Bo Larsen will be the head official for this match. He was the official in Milan for Arsenal’s 2-0 win over AC, and he also was the ref who sent off Paul Scholes for pretending to be a volleyball player against Zenit. He also took charge of Arsenal’s recent game against Roma where Toure was booked for entering the field without permission.

Match Prediction:

Tough one to call here. Both teams know each other very well, so one would expect an evenly matched affair. I will go with an adventurous 2-2 draw, which will delight Wenger. Adebayor, Toure, Ronaldo, and Rooney to score the goals.
Next Fixtures:
2/5 (Sat) – Portsmouth (A) – Premier League

5/5 (Tue) – Manchester United (H)- Champions League

10/5 (Sun) – Chelsea (H) – Premier League

Arsenal Team News:

As you can tell from Arsene and the players this week, believing in themselves is the central theme. There is no doubt our young players have the talent. On our day we can beat anyone, like Wenger said.

Again, defence is the main injury worry coming into this match. Silvestre went off with back spasms against Middlesbrough, while Djourou made his return. Gibbs has a slight problem and will have a fitness test tomorrow. After being quarantined in his house due to suspicions of the dreaded Swine Flu, Mexican, Carlos Vela, has been allowed to join up with the squad. Bacary Sagna and Adebayor will return to the team after being rested over the weekend, while van Persie is out until the second leg. Eduardo may be involved, but nobody really knows what is going on with his injury situation at the moment. Gallas and Rosicky are definitely out, and Arshavin is cup tied of course.

I have been defending Denilson all the way from the start of the season but I think Denilson is tired now. Playing Song, Denilson and Cesc in one midfield isn’t working at all and from this formation we will always fail to use Cesc and see him as effective player. Once again a below par performance from young Brazilian. He did not deserve to start tonight as his showing against Chelsea was simply not good enough. Not good enough tonight either.

You will see after substitution of Denilson, The team started going forwad freely and revert to 4-4-2 which is our favourite formation. Arshavin also started to go forward and Song gave us that “back four guidance” that Denilson can’t give us. Player like Denilson should start from the bench and that is how they will learn about competition and putting personal efforts. He is an average player and may be with time he will prove all of us wrong but right now we need performance and not average perfomance.

People always say Bendtner is a great player and he is developing well, I dunno about that. I know what I see and from what I see Bendtner isn’t the player we all think he can be. It seems like his progress is going backwards. May be it’s something to do with confidence. I rated him highly above Adebayor last year but he isn’t that player we hoped he can be. We can’t forget he is only 20 years of age and after all, we said the same thing about Song last year and now it seems like we want to see Song in starting line up every time Arsenal is playing.

Arshavin was the great buy. It shows us that if we can buy quality player and not 18 years kids everytime transfer windows opens, we will see trophies again at Emirates. What more can you say about this guy, he has good vision, quality, skills and he can provide goals also. what a player, what a game against liverpool.

Hold your breath.

Chelsea are a different prospect, and aside from Toure we had our reserves out there trying to stop them scoring. All along we’ve known that Chelsea were going to score at some point, so the best approach was surely to attack and try to peg them back – in this case attack was absolutely the best form of defence.

Sure, Denilson was rested, and Diaby, while coming back from an injury, only played a short while in midweek, but leaving out Arshavin was criminal. The guy has shown himself capable of single handedly cutting through the best defences already, and with Chelsea so well organised at the back he was a trump card waiting to be played. Instead, Diaby was selected simply based on his height, which again focused our team on nullifying the opposition rather than playing to our strengths. Because the Russian is one of our greatest strengths, and a rested one at that.

I don’t want to be too critical, that would be churlish after such a wonderful run, and a series of occasions where Wenger has proved us wrong (not least in Song’s progress), but the level of frustration is high tonight simply because this was a glorious opportunity missed.

Even more so after Walcott had given us an early lead. It was actually Chelsea who threatened first, Gibbs clearing off the line after Drogba had won the ball in the air against Fabianski, outside the area, after the Pole had rushed out wildly. My comment at that moment? “Fabianski looks nervous. Fingers crossed if doesn’t make any more mad decisions”. Ouch.

But back to the opening goal – Ade held the ball up, before slipping a neat pass to Gibbs, charging up the left flank. His cross found Walcott, who volleyed without much conviction, but a deflection of the unmentionable one’s hand took it away from Cech, and we were ahead. At that point, we could have gone on – we had plenty of possession in that spell but never offered much going forward, a problem few of us would have predicted before the match.

Slowly, we let Chelsea back into it, a couple of shaky moments in our defence giving them hope – Fabianski completely missed a Malouda shot that squirmed wide, before Chelsea found their equaliser. When it came, it was as sloppy as our opener had been. Malouda chested down a long ball, and with Eboue not tight enough, he easily shifted the ball and beat Fabianski at his near post.

On Setanta, they were roundly critical of the keeper, and he may feel he should’ve done better, but I couldn’t help but feel they went for him more because he’d been so erratic up to that point. Realistically, Malouda should never have been allowed to get his shot away – it was an all round poor goal to concede.

And it nearly got worse moments later. Denilson played a casual ball to Diaby inside our area, but that would’ve been fine had the Frenchman cleared with his first or second touches. But he dallied, Anelka nicked it, and curled a shot against the post. It was us that that welcomed the half time whistle when it came.

In the second half, Chelsea turned on the power. The only chances we managed were from two Walcott crosses, the pair evading diving efforts from Van Persie and Diaby respectively. At the other end, Chelsea were getting closer, Lampard firing wide and Drogba causing general havoc.

But the main problem was our midfield. Someone needs to tell Denilson and Diaby that on some occasions, smashing the ball into row Z is a viable option – the former must have been caught on the ball four times, while Diaby persistently ran into trouble. It gave Chelsea confidence, and with six minutes to go, they finally made us pay – Lampard’s long ball finding Drogba, who outmuscled Silvestre, rounded the onrushing Fabianski, and knocked us out.

Initially, I defended Fabianski for coming out – he had to narrow the angle, but in retrospect, his charge out of goal was almost Manninger-like in its wildness. By coming so far out of his area, he made Drogba’s job easy. That isn’t to say he was the only culprit though – Silvestre was weak in the challenge and shouldn’t have let his man get away so easily.

Mistakes were certainly made for all three goals, and our makeshift backline was exposed as exactly that – makeshift, but errors were not restricted to the eleven players out there. Wenger has to take some criticism for his decisions on the day – first for sending the team out with a negative mindset that was always the wrong way to approach the game, and then for some odd substitutions. The reason for taking Van Persie off has since become clear – he had a groin problem that may keep him out of the Liverpool game, but once one striker had gone, why take Adebayor off? Sure, he was having a quiet game, but that was the case in both legs against Villareal, and on both occasions he popped up with crucial goals.

Moments after Ade was taken off, Drogba scored the winner, and we were left with Bendtner up front on his own trying to rescue the game. Nasri came on with five minutes to go, joining Cesc, Walcott and Arshavin as attacking options, but it was too little too late. Wenger has since talked about the need to rotate his squad, but with Villa drawing again, surely this match was the one to really go for, even if we suffer for it on Tuesday?

As I said earlier, I don’t want to be too critical or negative, because Chelsea were always going to be a tough prospect, but I guess the frustration is borne out of the fact that we could have really gone for them, but instead we played a protective game, exactly the sort of game we aren’t great at, and got punished. After they gifted us an early goal, we had a golden chance of reaching the final, and it feels like we’ve thrown it away by not having the enterprise to go for it.

Tomorrow is another day, and we still have the Champions League to fight for. Perhaps by then we may even have some of our defence back. But today was a chance to reach the FA Cup final again, and we’ve blown it. That we lost doesn’t hurt as much as the fact we went out so meekly.

Thanks to the Beautiful Groan for article.

In 32, Malouda rifled a right foot shot inside Fabianski’s post. What can you say about that goal? I heard Wenger said one time Fabianski is a world class keeper didn’t you?

In 84, Lampard hooked a ball over the top and Drogba powered beyond Toure and Silvestre and took it easily round the Pole and slotted with fine authority to win my bet on Over 2.5.

Fabianski doesn’t know when to come out of his area.

As I have said regularly for two years, Adebayor is not fit to lace Drogba’s boots. Or even clean them. And he never will be.

Overall I think there were three things which cost us today, shit team selection, dodgy Eboue and Diaby and Fabianski. He is not ready yet to be a first team Arsenal keeper.

Bacary Sagna was a late withdrawal because of a virus – more disruption to a defence already without William Gallas, Johan Djourou, Gaël Clichy and Manuel Almunia. Robin van Persie did at least pass a fitness test and was preferred to Denilson, confirming Wenger’s attacking intent.

Fàbregas’s fabulous back-heel in midfield helped Emmanuel Eboué’s pass to bisect the Villarreal back four, Walcott ran clear and clipped the ball over Diego López. Pleasingly for England, the winger’s pace made Joan Capdevila, Spain’s left back at Euro 2008, look anything but a champion.

From then on, the Gunners never looked like surrendering their grip on the tie, most of the hard work already done in securing a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Spain last week courtesy of a brilliant scissor-kick strike from Emmanuel Adebayor.

Certainly there seems little weakness in Arsenal’s forward line, which will add the mercurial Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin, who is cup-tied in Europe, to the mix, while Croatian hitman Eduardo is another expected to be ready to grace Wembley.

In midfield, the reputation of Alex Song, still only 21, continued to grow, with the Cameroon international holding the line to allow Fabregas more freedom.

Arsene Wenger does not often get things wrong – and everyone else will soon have little option but to believe his latest Arsenal generation are destined to be the best yet.

Now, though, is the turn of Wenger’s latest generation to repay their manager’s heart-felt belief they have the talent to deliver silverware once again.

Man of the match for me is Song. He had an immense game. The best of his career so far. He was breaking up Villareal’s attacks, winning the ball tenaciously and making forward and accurate passes. He showed that he can be a leader and can now stake a serious claim for making that defensive midfielder’s role his own.

Theo Walcott had a few doubters from commenters on goonersweb blog recently. I tell you this boy is the real deal. He has added strength and tenacity to his pace but has also improved his crosses no end. Most of all his finishing is getting lethal.

The coolness he showed when through against the keeper by chipping the ball over him was frightening.

More to follow….