Arsenal's forward line is looking ready to explode in 2007
A quick post to primarily celebrate the comeback of a rested and fully fit Thierry Henry to the Arsenal line-up. The brave decision taken by Wenger to rest him during the month of December was not welcomed by Henry at the time, but given the 'before and after' comparison of his play all supporters can see that he looks a lot more healthy and physically confident now after suffering from visible burn-out for the first few months of the season.
Enjoy again Henry's thrilling goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup third round last Saturday that finished off a sterling attempt by the Anfield side to rescue a two goal half-time lead:
It's moments like this that highlight that Thierry is a different level of footballer. Fantastic goal from a fantastic player.
Overall I really enjoyed seeing the zip, movement and interchange between Henry and Robin van Persie in the match against Liverpool. This partnership is shaping up to be something truly special because van Persie is now really exploding as a player with exceptional technique and finishing ability. It is also noticeable to me just in the last month or two that van Persie now looks to have a stature and self-confidence on the pitch that wasn't quite there before and this can only be good for him and the team.
Add the physically intimidating and rapid Adebayor plus the quick-developing Theo Walcott to Arsenal's forward mix and the potential to create really exciting and compatible pairings is I reckon at its highest level since the days of Bergkamp, Kanu, Wiltord and Henry a few seasons back. I think the next year can really prove this - especially with the impressive young Danish international Niclas Bendtner returning to the squad in the summer.
Again hats off to Wenger for delivering van Persie and Adebayor to Arsenal for relatively low transfer fees, and having the patience to develop strikers for his team instead of buying them in ready-made. The one thing that Gunners have learnt from Wenger is that when it comes to his purchases of virtual unknowns the wait is usually well worth it!
posted by T at 1/08/2007 08:37:00 pm
EFT match of the season for 2008/2009: Barcelona construct a masterclass footballing performance to defeat the reigning Champions League holders and current English champions, Manchester United, by a scoreline of 2-0 in the 2009 Champions League final in Rome
EFT player of the season for 2008/2009: Chelsea central midfielder, Frank Lampard
EFT player of the month for May 2009: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for April 2009: Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for March 2009: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for February 2009: Phil Jagielka (Everton)
EFT player of the month for January 2009: Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd)
EFT player of the month for December 2008: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for November 2008: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for October 2008: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for September 2008: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for August 2008: Amr Zaki (Wigan Athletic)
EFT match of Euro 2008: Turkey's amazing comeback from two goals down to beat Czech Republic 3-2 as captain Nihat Kahveci's two goals in the last three minutes sensationally put his country through to the quarter finals at the expense of their beaten opponents
EFT player of Euro 2008: Spain (anchor) central midfielder, Marcos Senna
EFT match of the season for 2007/2008: Liverpool win titanic Champions League quarter-final second leg 4-2 against Arsenal that also saw two of the best football moments of the season - Fernando Torres' top corner strike and Theo Walcott's thrilling run across the whole of Anfield.
EFT player of the season for 2007/2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for May 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for April 2008: Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
EFT player of the month for March 2008: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for February 2008: David James (Portsmouth)
EFT player of the month for January 2008: Ronaldo (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for December 2007: Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers)
EFT player of the month for November 2007: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for October 2007: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
EFT player of the month for September 2007: Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for August 2007: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for May 2007: Carlos Tevez (West Ham Utd)
EFT player of the month for April 2007: Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for March 2007: Carlos Tevez (West Ham Utd)
EFT player of the month for February 2007: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for January 2007: Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for December 2006: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd)
EFT player of the month for November 2006: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for October 2006: Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton Wanderers)
EFT player of the month for September 2006: Andrew Johnson (Everton)
EFT player of the month for August 2006: Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth)
EFT match of World Cup 2006: Italy win a thrilling 'end-to-end' World Cup semi-final 2-0 against Germany courtesy of two late extra time goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero 
EFT player of World Cup 2006: Italy captain and centre-back, Fabio Cannavaro
EFT match of the season for 2005-2006: Liverpool win the FA Cup final 3-1 on penalties against West Ham after a Steven Gerrard-led fighback saw the Anfield side recover from 2-0 and 3-2 down to level the match in normal time
EFT player of the month for May 2006: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for April 2006: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for March 2006: Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)
EFT player of the month for February 2006: Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Middlesbrough)
EFT player of the month for January 2006: Jason Roberts (Wigan Athletic)
EFT player of the month for December 2005: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
EFT player of the month for November 2005: Robin van Persie (Arsenal)
EFT player of the month for October 2005: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
EFT player of the month for September 2005: Danny Murphy (Charlton Athletic)
EFT player of the month for August 2005: Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd)
EFT match of the season for 2004-2005: Liverpool win Champions League final 3-2 on penalties against AC Milan after sensationally recovering from 3-0 down to level the match in normal time
18 Comments:
Agree with the majority of the post, the forward line certainly has the potential but it still needs to be realised. We are Arsenal after all!!! Losing 5 away games in the manner of which we have done this season is just not good enough for Arsenal and the standards set, sp banging on about potential means nothing if we do not qualify for Champions League. Also describing £10 million for Adebayor as a relatively low transfer fee is a bit much.
1/08/2007 10:08 pm
Where did you get 10 million from?
On January 13, 2006, Adebayor signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, which is rumoured to be around £7 million.
1/08/2007 10:45 pm
10 mill?
On January 13, 2006, Adebayor signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, which is rumoured to be around £7 million.
1/08/2007 10:47 pm
Think we should wait and see if we can pass the Hansen test this Saturday (winning up North against hard tackling teams)and see what type of performance we put in against Blackburn on Sat, before we get too excited. I agree Van Persie and Ade are coming on well and I've always had faith Thierry would come back as good or even better than before his break but there are still doubts about how clinical and effective our frontline is in certain situations such as the one we will face on Sat. Actually more significant is that Tommy has scored in a domestic game. We need our midfield to contribute goals...
1/08/2007 11:10 pm
ok, point taken... so is £7 million what you guys regard as relatively low?
Relative to what...And don't miss my point, Adebayor is worth at least £7 million, you just can't call his transfer fee 'relatively low'
1/08/2007 11:13 pm
its relatively low compared to 10 million
1/09/2007 12:20 am
or compared to rooney or drogba
1/09/2007 12:21 am
Hey! To Henry addicts,he wasn't the only one who performed well in that match. When will players like Flamini, Hleb and Senderos get applause from fans instead Henry all the times?
I haven't seen much from Henry during that game apart from his heroic run that killed the game off. In my opinion, his partnership with RVP didn't help our overhaul performance.
I don't know what would have happenened if we did concede first on what had looked like a clear penalty for Liverpool?
RVP and Henry never kept the ball up front and we suffered as the result; I thought we looked at a time like we put a bus in our goal all the time.
It wasn't really wenger ball,to be honest.
1/09/2007 12:22 am
"ok, point taken... so is £7 million what you guys regard as relatively low?
Relative to what...And don't miss my point, Adebayor is worth at least £7 million, you just can't call his transfer fee 'relatively low'"
Yes you can - FOOL. Heskey cost Wigan £6.5.
1/09/2007 2:34 am
ha ha ha more Arsenal drivel, God you lot talk wet. Who cares, Adebayor, van purse, enry, you lot were rubbish as the pool played you up but they cant score and switched off so enry was quiet for 80 minues then got a sniff that he didnt get all game, otherwise you would be out the cup so dont get all glory. And wait til you get something and then crow on about how fabulous your players are, 5 away defeats and more to come. If you think playing at Sheffield United and losing is a good team thats a chuckle. Chumps. you been crowing all seasons and now you want to crow even though you have nothing, talk about desperation.
1/09/2007 3:59 am
last anonymous is an a pillock. nuff sed. The fact that liverpool dominated most of the game and we still done them 3-1 goes to show what this team is about, We may ave lost silly games this season but we can play any team off the park anyday so shut your mouth twat b*llocks. You obviuosly havent got anything better to do with your life than posting on other teams websites at 3 in the morning! get a life! come on you gunners!!! P.s agree with most of the post, just hope that we can get something this season with the team we got its a surprise we're not in the title race.
1/09/2007 1:12 pm
GunnerPete says......Good intelligent article 'T'. Pity morons like anon 3.59 have to come on to spill their bile. Lets get one thing clear anon....you cannot be a scouser because I knwo a lot of them and they all know their football, and always show other great teams respect. In fact the opposite to your rant.
One of my closest Pool mate said to me that he was glad we had so many injuries for half this season because when they all come back AFc will be devastating. That my friend is sensible & knowledgable.
My hope for the second half of the season is that Arsene (God) sells players who are not now our class to West Ham or Spurs and with the fees buy Bale, Barnes & Casson...three wonderful talents all from these Isles.
1/09/2007 1:17 pm
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1/09/2007 1:57 pm
Anon@1.57pm & 3.59, this is supposed to be elite football talk, not vitriolic football talk.
Gunners fans, I have seen bits and pieces of Bendtner who looks a real powerhouse striker and know he is really highly rated at Birmingham. Even heard that AC Milan were sniffing after him. Given this, why on earth has Wenger persisting with Aliadiare this season and not perhaps recalled Bendtner to be Arsenal's fourth striker?
1/09/2007 2:09 pm
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Abdul, you may have your answer from last night's six goal performance at Anfield- Wenger has a lot of faith in Aliadiere and for really the first time we saw an excellent performance by him.
Baptista was showing his Sevilla finishing yesterday (especially his hat-trick finish)- and I should have added him into my post when considering Arsenal's forward mix! Baptista looked good in the deep striker position and if he is now truly getting to grips with English football he definitely is going to be a good asset for the team. I really liked his interview after the match too- seems a good and humble guy.
Anon 1.57 and 3.49- we welcome all commentators to EFT but in return we ask that you don't use insults or make unpleasant comments. Go elsewhere if you want to do that.
1/10/2007 3:05 pm
Many moons ago I was a visitor to this site and I had posted comments before. Then I crashed my hard disk and it took awhile before I managed to track down the site and bookmarked it in my new computer. What I'm writing has nothing really to do with analysing how Arsenal play but, yes, I'm all smiles these days after witnessing what explosive football our young guns played against Liverpool. 6-3! Still unbelievable and I'm still pinching myself.
I write now because I am simply appalled at the differences when it comes to contributions before my hard disk crashed and now. Language, guys. Goodness gracious. EliteFootballTalk was never like this. T, thank you for pointing out the trading of insults and unpleasant comments. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. If I truly want to such gutter comments, there are PLENTY of sites "out there" for that.
Seriously guys. I hate to say it but this is awful.
Castanet.
1/12/2007 7:03 am
Well said Castanet (and by the way good to have you on the site again).
This site has been up and running for almost two years and while difference of opinion is definitely welcome we have had our fair share of commentators who are not interested in buying into the culture of our site. Fortunately there is also a good number of commentators who respect what we are trying to be about and engage in discussion in a like manner.
In the interest of free discussion we try to keep all comments on the site. But we also are firm in agreeing that a line has to be drawn somewhere. To remove a commment is truly the last resort but we must not hesitate to do so if we feel that it has not place on EFT.
1/12/2007 8:30 pm
I guess it's a difficult call, T. By providing the freedom of opinion and response, you're opening the site to all sorts of people and not all of them share the high standards you encourage and uphold and to which I support. And as for that line that you might have to draw, I guess it is important that people know where this line is. I have not read the other articles since Jan 12 and so I'm not sure if the gutter opinions have or haven't stopped. I hope they have; otherwise it might be the right time for you to put a complete stop to it before it gets uncontrollable and too late. And that would be a real shame.
Thanks for your support for my comments.
Castanet.
1/17/2007 7:27 pm
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