Which player is that has been injured over a long period of time is the most important to the club in your opinion? Which one will lift the team the most or which one is the best on the field? - Ljungberg - Pires - Van Bronkhorst (don't remember how to spell it)
Pires won the Player of the Year award for good reason and, in my opinion, will make the most impact. Freddie is already back and is right where he left off. Gio, has never made much of an impact and probably wont start now. I expect him to become the next Arsenal utility man.
Pires is definitely the best player of the three to come back. Fred is back and doing the business already, but Pires is a creeator to complement Fred's prowess as a finisher. Kygunner, I think you're being a bit harsh on Gio, I and quite a few of my mates thought Gio was starting to play well in the centre of midfield before he got injured. Admittedly, if he hadn't been injured we probably wouldn't have got Gilbert, so maybe it's a blessing in disguise. I do agree that the best Gio can hope for now is as cover for Cole at left back and Worthington Cup run outs.
I saw Ljungberg twice recently and he was very impressive. I have never been able to see Pires really though except for the loss to Juventus last year and he didn't do much then. This is the first year I've had access to a little bit of Premiership so I can't wait to see him.
Im not sure how what I said can be construed as harsh. "Starting to play well" would admit to having little impact. Now I believe he began to look better and was moving forward but he was no Pires or Fred. Now looking at what Silva has been able to do in the short time versus Gio, I believe my statements are warranted.
Gilbert is the exception to the rule though. There aren't many players that settle that well, pretty much from his first game in the Charity Shield too. Gio was starting to show his ability before he got injured, but I agree he isn't as good as Pires, Ljungberg or Silva. If we have to have a quality player such as him as cover in the squad you won't hear me complaining!
No complaints mate. Just speaking of how Fred and Pires are a more quality addition than Gio. I do wonder , being we are stacked at midfield, who sits and who transfers. I love Wiltord at the right wing. ( I say this just to incite you, HAHA) Do we move Sylvain to a starters role at forward or is it now Kanu and when does Bergie come back? We have plenty of bait for the squad rotation arguement.
This is going to be pretty predictable stuff. I think that Bergkamp and Henry are our best forwards, so they should play. Pires and Ljungberg are our best wide midfielders, so they should play. Wiltord and Kanu will sit on the bench, but with the team in four competitions and the inevtiable injuries and suspensions I'm sure that they will get some playing time. Obviously a lot of people on this board rate Wiltord and to a lesser extent Kanu a lot more than I do, but to me they are useful squad players rather than definite starters. They can do a job in the Worthington Cup and against any smaller teams we may draw in the FA Cup. Hopefully we will qualify early for the second round of the Champions League and will need the backup players to play out the last game or two, giving them all a few games and resting the first teamers. This could be important when the likes of Liverpool will need to be playing their first team in the Champions League while ours are resting and are fresh for the weekend Premiership action.
http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=114443&cpid=215&title=JEFFERS+HITS+TREBLE+HEIGHTS"/> I'm not sure if this belongs here, but Franny hit a hat trick against Macedonia in euro u-21 qualifying.
Bob plays a full 90 in a specially arranged match against QPR and scores in a comfortable win... http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/1015/20021015afcpires.html