WE LOVE having a sophisticated readership, but that means some of the emails we receive are difficult.We’ve just had an email from reader Kyle Hartman in which small questions raise huge issues.
To reply to the questions posed requires the kind of speculation that I do not normally indulge in.
When I’m writing here I often hope that ANR readers will give me some credit for what I DON’T write.The number of Arsenal topics I DON’T write about is huge.
My focus is quite narrow.I do not always talk about what fans are talking about because many aspects of football bore me and annoy me. So I only talk about those aspects that I find interesting. I concentrate on the areas where I have something to say.
HERE IS KYLE’S LETTER :
First and foremost, love the site, keeps me updated when I am unable to watch matches.
Secondly, I am a long time reader and first time corresponder. I have begun my correspondence with ANR due to your collective intelligence and insight into the game. Therefore, I felt I should read the site for a while and get a grasp upon your opinions and standpoints upon certain issues. Cutting a long story short, this is my first contribution after quite a bit of analysis and comprehension. I wish to hear your thoughts on selling Pires? Selling Gilberto? Signing a right winger?
The first, dealing with the fact that Robert still has market value and has not been exactly instrumental in the side this season. Gilberto, well simply due to continual poor performance. And the right winger so that possibly Ljungberg could move inside and graft chances ( i.e. Madrid). Lastly, any particular youngster that you feel will have a large impact that has not been emphasized on your site (i.e. No Diaby, Cesc), possibly Lupoli? Smith? Bendtner?
Looking forward to your insightful response,
Kyle Hartman
I WOULD keep Robert Pires for another year because he is Thierry’s mate and he scores goals.Fabregas is Spain’s youngest player for 70 years. He is marvellous, but he needs a minder and Gilberto is nobody’s minder. As we say in Scotland, he couldn’t tackle a fish supper. So let’s hope he has a good World Cup !
Managing a squad in today’s transfer market is very, very difficult. Signing top players is very expensive and very tricky and involves complex financial negotiations.And you may be dealing with cunning people who disguise their true intentions. Every businessman who has ever gone to a hotel to make a deal will eventually have a moment of paranoid insight where he realises : “This is the fall-back deal. This is the dummy deal. The real deal is taking place elsewhere and I’ve been negotiating a deal that will only happen if the real deal falls through with somebody else.”
I think that’s what happened with Baptista.
I would look for a goal-scoring right winger in Holland.Freddie is only 28, but he is an old 28 who has had serious injuries.He used to score goals but now he doesn’t. He is gutsy, but is that enough? Do you keep him till Walcott comes through ? My view is that Freddie Ljungberg is now too old to play for Arsenal and Theo Walcott, who will be 17 this month, is too young.
As for the kids, I have not seen them. I see the kids as footballers who fall outside my brief here.If they play in the first team, I can see them and comment on them. I don’t see it as my job to say which teenager should be promoted to the Arsenal first team.
I cannot warble on about this or that wonderboy, who might do this or that in 2009 or 2015. Personally, I groan whenever I hear that Arsene has signed another wonderboy.For every Cesc Fabregas or Lionel Messi there are 199 wonderboys who never make it.