So with the official news that Mathieu Flamini has upped sticks and moved to AC Milan, what's next for The Arsenal? At one point we had more midfielder's we could shake a stick at, now we seem to be a bit light. What with Lassana Diarra sold in January and Flamini going for a 'Bosman' I really do not see Brazilian play maker (?) Gilberto being allowed to leave.
So what have we lost with Flamini going? Let's no kid ourselves he was a good player, but and it's a big but it was only for ONE SEASON. He had in my opinion and I am not dumbing down his role at The Arsenal because he's gone, I wish him well, but seriously he had one really good season, you can make that two if you include our run to the Champions League Final in 2006 when he played out of his skin in a role not known to him at left back. Last summer The Flamster was making noises about not playing in his preferred midfield role, Wenger sat him down and said something along the lines of 'I believe you can do, fight for your place and prove me right'. I'm not sure many Gooners would believe the transformation of the Frenchman or would of been too despondent if he was sold or bought out his contract, which he was threatening at the time. At that time I'm not sure whether AC Milan would of known who Flamini was. But think back Gooners at the time what clubs were after Flamini? It wasn't the Milan's or Juventus' of this world. Birmingham City, that who was after Flamini last summer, so you can see how his stock has risen drastically in a year. We'll miss him, but not a great deal, we sold Vieira and survived, we sold Thierry Henry and arguably we're better for it - so putting it into perspective I don't think the absence of Flamini will be detrimental to The Arsenal. Like I said before I am not knocking Flamini or dumbing down what he has done for us this season but he was cog in a well worked machine - Wenger will find another such cog.
But who will he bring in? I've got a feeling Wenger will recruit from within, every paper and site has us lined up with defensive midfielder's from France to the Faroe Islands (OK maybe not the Faroe Islands) but you get my drift. I think Wenger has been taken by surprise that Flamini decided to go so but I think he knows who he wants to play that role. Will we Arsenal fans be disappointed that he doesn't go out and buy a 'Gattuso' or a 'Claude Makélélé'? Probably but I think the likes of Johan Djourou, Diaby, Denilson or even the born again Alex Song will be promoted to the defensive midfield spot. Only time will tell I guess but this summer will prove to be an interesting affair, hopefully. There's many a permutation and will evoke a lot of opinions. We're not too far off of having a great team, but those one or two super players Wenger was saying he wants to buy in the summer may or may not include a midfielder - we'll see. whatever Wenger decides he does need to replace Flamini with a decent experienced squad member to swell our numbers again.
What do you think will fit the bill? What do you think of The Arsenal's handling of this? If you have an opinion, jump on and leave your comments and enjoy: Who will fit the bill/ Jens Lehmann / Summers here
Allgoonerdup has a new comments section courtesy of WordPress. So now you can share your views on the days topics. If you have an opinion, then jump on there and have your shout, let your fellow Gooners mates know about it too and lets share in all things Arsenal - it's all new, so enjoy. The idea of the comments section is to gage what Gooners are thinking in general. I don't want people to just jump on and be in agreement with everything I say, I want people to have their own thoughts and opinions - so lets hear it: Who will fit the bill/ Jens Lehmann / Summers here
The competition to win a David Rocastle t-shirt has now closed. The winner will be announced on Thursday 8th May. So remember to keep it locked to see if you're the lucky name out the magic hat.
Once you get there have a look through the different categories to make it easier to choose just which shirt you want. Is there a shirt you like but would prefer it in a different colour? Well have word via email (shop@allgoonerdup.com) and we'll see what we can do for you, see how helpful the staff are? Go on, have a butchers - The Allgoonerdup Shop
Only one game to go, who will pick up the winners trophy - er I mean t-shirt? Can Brian Munich hold onto the lead?
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Got something to rant about? Want to see what the discussion of the day is? Well jump on board The Allgoonerdup Forum and register if you haven't done so already and have your shout about Arsenal and general football topics.
Ladies at the Double: The Arsenal Ladies have gone and done it again, another double. Yesterday The Arsenal Ladies spanked Leeds United (easy!) 4-1 in a one-sided FA Cup FInal. Well done girls, that makes it about 15 trophies in the last couple of years for Vic Akers all conquering team... Here we again: Arsenal kingpin Cesc Fabregas is already on the wanted list of Real Madrid, who's president Ramon Calderon says he wants to make the newly crowned champions 'more Spanish'. Great news that Gooners, oh well at least we can tell summers here...Cheers Jens: A player most people knew was on his way out this summer, Jens Lehmann got a great send off in the 1-0 destruction of Everton over the weekend. Arsene Wenger has said he wanted to give young Pole Lukasz Fabianski a go in the remainder of the games but I think it was a great touch to give the mad German fella a 20 minute cameo in the last game at Ashburton Grove. Ze German mentalist had his fans and foes in equal measures, you don't need me to tell you that, but whatever you thought of him - all I can say is a big thank you Jens.
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
| ATVO |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Click here for full list |
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Click here for full list |
Buy Arsenal Tickets with
 |
||
 |
||
|
