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Wenger eyes Henry as RVP back-up at Arsenal

By 2011/11/25 14 Comments

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Cross everything – fingers, toes and eyes – before you read on: I am trying to imagine our season should the king of the world get injured. In no way am I tempting fate. Let’s be honest, he has had his fair of share of ailments has our Robin. He has put them to one side and is in an amazing  run of form with 38 goals in 41 games for club and country. But it’d be just our luck. But what if? What are our options if RVP is sidelined for any period?

Poor old Marouane Chamakh would have been a shoo-in this time last season, and probably was. But he has seemingly lost confidence in himself and AW has done so too and there is even talk of the French-Moroccan striker being shipped out in January.

Of course, Theo or the Gervster could lead the line. Walcott is in fine form and would no doubt welcome the chance to harness his use his new found aplomb down the middle, a position he consider his best. The G-man needs to ditch his Adidas crowd-finders and a goal or two would help his belief. Trouble is that he will be away with the Ivory Coast for three weeks at the end of January in the African Cup of Nations.

The job might be too much too soon for Ju Young Park. And, no, we’re not getting NB52 back, either before you ask.

AW has said he isn’t looking for new recruits in the transfer window but our old mate Martin Kewon has a cunning plan. He reckons that AW should look no further than our former king, Thierry Henry, as back-up. Henry is training with us and Keown suggests we snap him up.

He said: “Perhaps we need a centre forward. Thierry Henry is now training with the team and it’d be nice if he came in on a loan period, but that would only be a short term solution. There’s a lot on Van Persie’s shoulders. It’s not about one player, but he’s scoring the goals, and we need another goal scorer.”

I was told by someone with reasonable links to the club that AW is monitoring Henry’s fitness in training before he makes up his mind – he is “mulling it over”. I think he has said publicly that he won’t be signing him but posotions change, right?

Would Tel be the short-term answer? If AW does give him a go could I suggest we take Bobby Pires back as well – you know, for old time’s sake.

In other Arsenal news, Sebastien Squillaci is a target for Espanyol – but the Spanish side are struggling to meet the club’s £4m valuation. And I am struggling to work out how on earth we value him at such a high price.

CARL ELDRIDGE – Irking the purists on Twitter @eldomedia

 

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Arsenal fan for 40 years. Schoolboys, North Bank, Clock End then East Upper. Then Emirates. AFC dream team: Wilson, Dixon, Sansom, Adams, Pates, Brady, Williams, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Wright. Subs: Seaman, Eldridge, Wilshere, RVP, Ball. Manager: Arsene Chapman.

  • HonestBigsy

    The Million dollar question and of course you are right to analyse the point the unthinkable of RVP getting a long term injury, I vaguely touched on it the other day but I will make my feelings known now because Mashman did question it briefly and I failed to answer it, I said Arsenal need a plan B, the reason I said that is that teams will now try and snuff out the link ball to RVP, he might well be the best in the world at the moment in his position but he can only do it with the ball, I think teams will try to isolate him, it does work, it can work, the Germans done it very well for 45 minutes on Wednesday, so it is possible !. (pack the midfield, press)
    If you press high and deny the midfield time and space that link pass is harder to find, again an example on Wednesday in the first 45 minutes, Berg10 made the right comment and I have said it all along, Theo’s pace is the outlet ball and he should slot in to a central role in RVP’s absence, it is not the way Arsene likes his football played but a more direct approach using the channels for Theo to run into would certainly be the solution, Spurs were so one dimensional last year it was untrue, teams worked out that if you allow Crouch to head the ball but deny VDV the second ball you snuff him out, and that is exactly what happened for the second half of the season, (another reason twitchy went for adebayor, he has more to his game than just being a giraffe) I expect European teams to have the ability to press you more than the likes of QPR so I doubt it will affect the prem situation at all, you cannot replace a player like Van Persie he is unreplaceable..but as my gooner cousin said last night..”I am now at the stage where I wish we had others stepping up, he is becoming hot hot gossip, and we may not be able to keep him anyway now” my response..”nothing to do with playing for a new deal at the emirates or elsewhere then ” ..don’t be too hasty and too judgemental on my last comment, Arsenal have been top of the food chain for years, for the first time in a very long time, they now find themselves being in the horrible place their neighbours have been in for 50 years, there are more appealing teams financially and with trophies assured looking at RVP now from these shores and afar..a gem indeed !

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    • Berg10

      We’ve had the RVP situation before with TH14, PV4, Cesc most recently but yes we need to continue this great run of form to be able to attract the top performers that will in turn help us hold on to our best players in the near future.

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      • HonestBigsy

        I am going to slightly disagree with you and here are my reasons, Cesc should not really be brought into the equation in my view it was always about ‘home’ over Arsenal, so only one winner there and rightly so, home city, family, emotional return..not really football related he would still have gone if they were 2nd each season at everything..he wanted to go home..Vieira was a relative nobody being messed about at milan after a few average years at Cannes,and owed Wenger an incredible amount of loyalty for taking a chance on him and letting him demonstrate his ability in the prem, Henry again was a wide man being messed about at Monaco with a reasonable return in goals but had a tough time at Juve and Wenger got hold of him and whilst I don’t think you can really give Wenger too much praise for what Henry was, you cannot teach a genius, but you can give him the shoulder to cry on and the love and stage to perform with confidence, he owed Wenger…Van Persie is slightly different he was already a Dutch Youth talent of the year, he was already an established player with a tidy record building up, he then joined Arsenal when they were undoubtedly the best team in Europe but were starting to disband from the heights they were at, he did however witness some quality stuff, and his career with Arsenal has gone backwards ever since in terms of quality around him and silverware..he does owe Wenger an enormous amount of loyalty due to his injuries and the way the club have stood by him..but he is very different from the others..they were part of true class from nowhere..he has gone nowhere (this season aside) from class !

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        • Berg10

          I see where you’re coming from on PV4 and TH14 but you have to give Wenger a bit more credibility for establishing a winning formula utilising those two, Pires, Ljungberg etc. same as Mourhino at Chelski, they’ve been up there since his departure but nowhere near as good as when he was in charge, and let’s assume they’re over the hill a lot has to be said for experience as well as regular time together to know how each other ticks.

          A similarity is at Liverpool, Dalglish took over the same squad as Woy and transformed them within a few games.

          I don’t think any players moving away from Arsenal (possibly Cesc but early days) have shone as bright as they did under Wenger at AFC.

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          • HonestBigsy

            No they haven’t and in truth this is a topic that could have a lot of mileage in it because it is key to being succesful, I think fans have got to look at this area more than they currently do, at Spurs right now the fans are blindly wandering around saying that VDV loves Spurs and won’t leave, utter nonsense, he will be the first gone in January in my view, he has a world cup final, Real Madrid on his CV and has been there and done it, the reason Spurs are so succesful this term is because we have hit on a team of youngsters and young men like Bale, Modric, Lennon, Dawson, Defoe, Walker, etc who have not had glory before, throw in a couple of established pros like Adebayor, Parker and VDV, with long term loyal people like King and you have the ingredients for a winning team that are hungry..Arsenal had it for years but with more homegrown like merson, adams, rocastle, etc etc..Fans tend to latch on to heroes without looking at their career through their own eyes, Modric will go if top 4 fails to happen and rightly so, that does not make him the judas he will no doubt be labelled it makes him right to want to win things his talent deserves, I see Van Persie in the same mould, he absolutely must win things to ever fullfill his footballing CV and apart from a nice start to his Arsenal career it is way short of what his talent deserves, JIN will no doubt be quick to agree that Norwich have done away with the old has beens who bought a boat on the broads and swanned about up here doing nothing and living in a lovely part of the country, Arsenal are getting the side together now with some good kids, and it is refelcted in the league, likewise Chelsea are nose diving on old has beens…fans do need to look at a man who wears the shirt and look at what they would do, would I go if I was Modric ? yes if the right club came along, chelsea are not it !..would I go if I was Van Persie ? yes if it was a club where silverware was likely and right now both have the pick of clubs..

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          • Berg10

            I think in the case of Van Persie a couple of new signings may swing it for him to stay, he’s publicly admitted he loves the club and his body language supports it but he does need success to commit long term. I’m not sure about Modric’s feelings for the club but as he asked for a transfer last term unless as you say you finish in the top four but even then if ManUre, Madrid or some other profile club make a bid I reckon he’ll go, so will Bale for that matter.
            Wenger’s not naive, over trusting maybe but he’s been hurt this season and I’m sure he’s aware that RVP must be retained at all costs so all these headlines where he’s not buying in January are fruitless for me, if he sees the opportunity he’ll go for it, why tell everybody else your plans. Duh!

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          • HonestBigsy

            agree, I also think this all hinges on Wengers term as manager, he is tired of taking 3 steps forward and 4 back, Van Persie staying or going will be the difference between AW signing a new contract or not..Bale can go, more of a liability than an assett where the funds being linked with him are concerned..If United come calling then we will lose Modric..and he is exactly what they need right now, because rooney at centre mid is laughable

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          • Berg10

            Maybe you’ll get berbatov in p/ex.lol.

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          • Notoverthehill

            ‘arry is a good man manager and has his own methods of working.  Otherwise he is a barrow boy and Levy makes sure ‘arry hands are not “in the till”!  January will make or break Tottenham Hotspur because of the upcoming criminal charges of lying and evading paying taxes to HM Inspector of Taxes.  Lewis as a tax exile will be chary of ‘arry and his c.v?

            Read Mr Wenger’s interview in full and he is a manager that comes once or twic in a lifetime.  Spurs had Bill Nicolson, Arsenal have had Herbert Chapman and now Mr Wenger.  3 steps forward and 4 back – never, ever.  Shocked to lose Fabregas and Nasri, yes, deflated at losing Wilshere and Diaby – yes.  When the going gets tough the tough get going and no gain without the pain!

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          • HonestBigsy

            yeah that’s fair ..I wasn’t suggesting the club were going 3 and 4 back, just Wengers mind and frustration levels.

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          • HonestBigsy

            you even beat us at once in a lifetime managers ! ha ha

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    • Brianpat02

      Well written bigsy and spot on,however i dont rate walcott he just dosent have a football brain to lead the line he lacks composure in front of goal,sure he will get the odd goal but overall he lacks composure.Im being patient with Gervinho as he is still adjusting and i do remember Henry was lacking in front of goal for a season or so.

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      • HonestBigsy

        that is a fair point regarding Walcott although at Arsenal he should get enough chances to be effective working 1 in 3..like Andy Cole infamously did and your point is still the reason I think Walcott is a grey area at international level where that needs to be more like 1 in 2 ,,which Johnson and Young both are capable of..

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  • Anonymous

    Yes please Mr. Wenger, TH for a couple of months would be a Godsend.  Theo has taken his number but perhaps he could be 14a.

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