The most important news I have come across today are statements of loyalty from both Cesc and Adebayor. Fabregas is in talks over a new deal at the club, which would take his pay from 60,000 to 90,000 a week. Bear in mind though, that the information comes from the Telegraph's "source at the club", so is more than likely completely made up. What is more cheering is Fabregas' interview with Radio Marca, in which he committed his future to the club, and stated his desire to win the league here. He said:
"I am staying at Arsenal. I have given my word to my coach, he asked me and I told him that he had my confidence 100 per cent and that is the end. He has asked for unity in the team and I am the first one who is going to stick by him so there is no problem. I want to win the league and I am one of those people who fights for what they want until they get it."
And isn't that just music to your ears. Barca and Real can piss off, they're not getting their hands on Cesc! Adeabyor has come out with similar sentiments in an interview with the Sun;
“I came to Arsenal with a mission to succeed, I have assured the gaffer Arsene Wenger I’ll stay because I believe in the team and I want to assure the fans my concentration is here.I have no reason to leave so I’ll stay to ensure that together we’ll win silverware."
It's great to have to players who are both so important to the team state their happiness and loyalty to the club, especially when other players have been more critical. It proves to the doubters that this Arsenal team will not fall apart, and that they will be back, even stronger, next season for another attempt at winning the title.Apparently, Richard Scudamore, current chief executive of the Premier League is at the top of our list for David Dein/Keith Edelman replacements. I don't know if there is any truth in the rumour, but it is an interesting one. One one hand, Scudamore knows football very well, and has been able to increase the profits of the Premiership hugely. On the other hand he does he does appear to be a conscience-free kinda guy, who wouldn't be averse to changing anything for extra cash (witness the 39th game proposal). I think he could potentially do a very good job at the club, but as long as the other directors kept a close eye on him to ensure he doesn't turn out a twat in the mould of Peter Kenyon. I don't know nearly enough about the financial side of football to say for sure what kind of impact he could have, but I would be cautiously optimistic if he was appointed, though slightly concerned he could turn the club into the kind of corporate sponsorship whore Man Utd have become, constantly going on tour around the USA, Far East and Middle East to raise the clubs profile instead of concentrating on footballing matters.
Finally, I have done a bit of work analysing the contribution of Emmanuel Eboue to the club this season. I, along with almost all of the fans, think he has been rubbish for pretty much the whole season, but Wenger has defended Eboue, claiming that he helps balance out the side's attacking instincts. Someone may well have done this before, but I decided to put Wenger's claims that Eboue helps the team to the test. Basically, I have worked out the average number of points the team won in games the Eboue was and wasn't involved in. I have counted him as involved if he has played over 45 minutes of a game. When Eboue was in the team, we got an average of 1.95 points per game, whilst we got 2.5 points per game without him. Obviously there are a huge number of other factors I could take into account, but, honestly, I can't be bothered. Despite this, the statistics do seem to show the negative effect Eboue has on the team. However, the situation isn't as clear as it seems, because Eboue tends to have played in some of our trickier games this season; featuring both home and away against Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd, and this is bound to skew the figures somewhat. So there you go, the figures I have come up with are inconclusive, though I suspect lean to the side that says "Eboue is completely useless!".
I may not be blogging much over the weekend, as I am away, but I'll try to find time. I'll be back Monday though, so never fear!
2 comments:
You do need to remember that eboue is quite a good right back and he is played out of position.
Overall i don't think he should be involved in the first team next season as we have better players.
Eboue is a decent right back, true, but he is not in the same league as Sagna, and Toure and Hoyte are both decent back-ups. I don't know if what Wenger has said about adding balance to the team is true, but he is not even nearly as good going forward as Walcott or Hleb.
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