Eboue in today's NYTimes

Garrincha was a really good Brazilian defender.

 

Yeah, I thought he played on the wing.

 

Nice piece. I have to agree with Arseblogger though. His defensive lapses have dropped us points this year and I'd be happy to see Lauren come back. Manu is definitely our RB of the future but he's got a lot to learn still.

 

Agreed.

 

It's not even the 'defensive lapses'.

It's the fact that he has been playing for himself in the last 5-6 he has started. They aren't really 'lapses' per se, he is simply neglecting his defensive duty because he wants to get assists/goals and personally I can't stand for that.

His play acting does my head in too.

 

Ditto. He's enamored with the attack too much. I hate to use Ashley as an example, but Cole knew when to attack, and understood that his job was primarily to defend, not to assist.

 

Exactly. How many times did Cole come flying back to hammer ball and player in the United game on sunday? As painful as it was to see him play like that in Chelsea blue, it reminded me that we don't have that play from our fullbacks right now.

 

Clichy will be okay, it isn't really in his 'make-up' to be caught out often; I would suggest it is a lack of match fitness and general sharpness from being out for so long. What he needs for the moment is to do a little less perhaps; just get himself bedded back in to the team and the swing of things before he starts charging upfield again.

Eboue however has had similar problems since he joined us and from what I understand in his time at Beveran. With some hard work it can be (indeed it looked like he had overcome it when he first came into the team at teh start of the year) but that again is up to him.

 

I couldn't agree more. It's sort of a win lose situation, we were so on fire when he had those two assists for Henry that it didn't really seem to matter but now that mentality he has has been hurting us. The new year (Lauren's projected return) couldn't come any sooner.

 

You can look over my posts and anyone at The Globe will know I have been sayin it all along.

 

I have a different opinion. I think Eboue is a far better player than is given credit. First the positives: For one, he is arguably the most dangerous attacking right fullback in the world on the club level. His speed and forward bursts with the ball are basically unparalled. This season he has provided the most penetration in the final third for us period. When most everyone (sans Walcott, short of minutes) is trying to play predictable combinations through the middle including Henry, Ebuoe always looks to beat his mark and had *tremendous* success doing so before his injury. His crosses, much improved, found Henry for a couple goals and he was always causing problems on the right. Frankly, there are just a few players like this that come along and I don't think this quality can be ignored.

The bad: the histrionics and diving are annoying but there are so many players who go through this particularly in the premiership where such behaviour, rightfully so, is scrutinized. I'd have Maradona represent my club anyday of the week, and while such actions are embarassing, they are also part of the meta-game (another topic altogether which various footy governments are mostly responsible for- not the players) and thus in some sense sensible.

The second bad: He clearly has had a few lapses this year in which goals resulted. The Bolton goal (lack of pressure), and a similar Newcastle goal I think spring to mind. Probably another i'm missing. And the fact that he's often 'out of position' because of his runs forward, isn't really a problem at all, as long as he's creating chances in the final third. It's the responsiblity of another midfielder or, even more logically, the three remaining defenders to slide into the vacated space. This is a basic tenet of modern defending, and you wouldn't think interchangablility of position would be one of Arsenal's problems... should suit us perfectly. Also, in his defense who hasn't had lapses this season in the back... Gallas and Toure, irreplaceable behemoths in my opinion, have both been solely responsible for goals (Toure a lot lately, and Gallas early i think v. middlesborough and another.) Hoyte has been pretty awful. Though excellent today, he doesn't resemble anything close to Eboue going forward and the limited goal attempt total today mirrors that. Senderos, Djorou - have they been convincing???

While I've always been a huge fan of Lauren and think the squad need him back for personality and responsibility issues greatly, coming back from such a serious injury at his age could be tricky. Eboue had a fantastic debut last year and a great start to this season, only with a few terrible moments. With such upside the club needs patience and a committment to fixing his deficiencies. I can live with a few errors when I know i'm getting huge positives as well... unlike say with Song. Uh... Song... I think i'm gonna be sick.

 

Eboue runs down the pitch without considering his defensive duties; end of the day, that makes him a liability. It doesn't matter what he does in the oppositions half.

The longer Toure has to babysit these muppets, the worse he is getting.

 

The boy is learning and progressing constantly...I think it would be a huge mistake on Wenger's part to immediately replace Eboue with Lauren once he returns.

Now, if the opportunity arises for Lauren to get major minutes and he begins out-playing Eboue, then yes...start Lauren.

 

The Palatine Kid is correct. Eboue is going to be good, once he realizes he doesn't need to charge forward at every opportunity. When is Lauren returning?

 

It wasn't always that way. Ashley was prone to leaving his side of the pitch exposed after he broke forward and its only in the last 2-3 years he's emerged as a candidate for the best LB in the world. Before then he was a very good LB who was attack oriented.

I'm not one who thinks that Eboue is the best RB in the world. Far from it. However, he's a very very good attacking RB. He's got above average 1v1 skills, loads of pace, proper attacking instincts, a good shot on him and a very accurate cross(high or low). I rate him as the best or one of the best attacking RBs. At his age, I think that's not excusable, I think its phenomenal. He either will or will not become as good defensively as he is offensively. In the mean time, he's a very good player who may not due to your team composition be vital - but that shouldn't cause his talent to be overlooked.

 

Spot on.

 

Eboue has defensive lapses... hmm sounds kind of like Ashley Cole at that age?! So what did Wenger do... bench Ashley or sell Sylvinho as soon as some issue about his passport came up?

Not saying we should sell Lauren, but benching Eboue now would stunt the development of one of the world's great emerging fullbacks.

 

Yes all very true but I would like to win games now and Eboue and Lauren can both start many games when both are fit. The fact is however that Lauren can add backbone to the team and Eboue looks more like adding to Arsenal's rep for diving. If he keeps it up he is going to be the right back that cried wolf and he will not get a call he should have and it might come at a very bad time. Lauren if fit and playing like he did is a much better choice v. Bolton and the like.

I think the rest of the players on Sat. went out of their way to talk to the kid and I hope it stops.

 

Oh I would never just bench him, but having Lauren fit would give Eboue someone to learn from and would make him fight for his place (which can bring out the best in a player).

That said...I remember about a dozen goals Lauren conceeded in his career where he lost his man on crosses to the far post. He's not perfect, but he's got a lot to offer a younger guy like Manu.

 

We play with Freddie or Walcott on the wings, then we can have Lauren playing RB .. If we have Hleb or Rosicky on the wings, we need Eboue ..

 

Can't lauren maybe fill in in another position when he is fit? Not to mention its not worth it to severely stunt his growth when we arent playing for the title anymore. Hleb and eboue have a great understanding, and hleb is our best midfieler on the right, so he should be starting as many games as possible, and in conjunction with that eboue should be starting a long with him.

Eboue used to have some pretty amazing defensive skills before he developed this tendency to bomb forward, and stay forward every oppportunity he gets. I remember a big part of us getting to the CL final, was the fact that eboue and flamini were playing the defensive end of their game perfectly - to the point that all of real and juve's stars couldnt do much. Eboue even put ronaldinho in his back pocket during the cl final.