Fabregas cannot save Arsenal
Tue Nov 25 08:54AM
In the current spirit of alarmism, Early Doors would like to state in big, bold writing that ARSENAL DO NOT NEED A NEW CAPTAIN, THEY NEED A NEW SQUAD.
Cesc Fabregas leads the side for the first time tonight after William Gallas's sacking at the weekend, but ED boldly predicts it won't make a blind bit of difference to the club's predicament.
Gallas received universal condemnation for airing his dirty laundry in public on Friday, as though his ill-judged quotes were more of a problem than the fact that Arsenal's dressing room is in a state of civil war.
It is more than a PR conundrum. If you have dirty laundry, it really doesn't matter where you air it. The point is - somebody has taken a dump on your freshly-ironed linen.
Robin van Persie did not learn in the papers that Gallas has issues with him - there is a chance he already knew about it.
Some experts trotted out the stock line: "This kind of thing happens at every club." No, it doesn't. Clearly not every player is best mates with every other, and tempers flare from time to time.
But that is a long way from the festering feuds and cliques that have led Arsenal to remove all sharp objects from the dressing room lest Gallas gets all Joey Barton on a cheeky upstart.
If Gallas tells the world he is fed up of taking the blame for his good-for-nothing colleagues that is just a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
Wenger's side used to be famed for its unity - in fact he used his team's togetherness to bait Fergie.
Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and a pre-sulk Thierry Henry spent so much time lunching together in Hampstead brasseries that locals just assumed they were posh nannies.
If you have a solid core, the occasional 'difficult character' like Jens Lehmann or Van Persie cannot cause too much trouble.
But Arsenal have lost the experience and expertise of Vieira, Sol Campbell, Dennis Bergkamp and Gilberto, and replaced it with... well, nothing.
Gallas's unorthodox captaincy was not the problem. The fact that there were no better candidates in Wenger's squad was.
Manchester United pass the captain's armband around like a Frisbee. Gary Neville takes it on the rare occasions when he puts down his beard-trimmer and gets a run-out.
Otherwise Ryan Giggs takes over, with Rio Ferdinand stepping in when both elder statesmen are missing, which is often.
Does Ferdinand play any differently depending on whether he is captain or not? Of course he doesn't. He shouts, snarls and just occasionally organises the defence regardless of any adornment to his upper arm.
Whisper it, but United are proof that captaincy in football is not very important.
On one occasion last season Park Ji-Sung came off the bench to replace Giggs, who handed him the armband.
Ferdinand and Neville were off the pitch and the Korean looked around, desperately trying to remember who was next in the pecking order. Eventually, he shrugged and put the armband on himself, to cheers from the Old Trafford crowd. Nobody minded.
The point is, influential players are influential whether they are the captain or not. And Arsenal don't have any.
Fabregas is the best choice to take over from Gallas, as his playing skill demands respect. But it does not solve the underlying problem - namely, Arsenal have too many loose cannons and not enough leaders.
- - -
Having last week exploded the myth that healthy eating helps you win football matches, Early Doors pays tribute to Newcastle's Charles N'Zogbia who, The Sun claims, refused to join his team-mates on a pre-match walk on Saturday because he couldn't be bothered to get out of bed.
N'Zogbia reportedly said he was too tired to go for a stroll around South-West London at 11am, although he later claimed he had a leg strain which miraculously subsided to the point where he was able to come off the bench for 14 minutes against Chelsea.
"Charles is a strange one. No-one could believe it when he said he was too tired," said a club insider.
Early Doors asks what is stranger - wanting a few minutes' extra shut-eye, or thinking that couple of laps around Richmond Deer Park will have any bearing on your team's performance?
Even after Saturday's goalless draw at Stamford Bridge, Joe Kinnear's men have picked up just one point out of 10 in the capital this season.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Fergie has had few run-ins with chairmen of the board, but Frank Sinatra narrowly avoided a blast of the hairdryer treatment nearly 20 yeards ago: "You can't beat Sinatra. I was actually supposed to have dinner with him one night, but we lost to Charlton so I cancelled it and went home!" Early Doors wants to know: what was Frank Sinatra doing arranging to have dinner with Alex Ferguson in 1989?
QUOTE OF THE DAY 2: Blackburn's Martin Olsson reveals his calm and considered reaction to getting sent off against Tottenham: "I destroyed most things in the changing room. I was kicking everything I could lay my eyes on - doors, bins, cardboard boxes. I don't know what was broken and what wasn't. My team-mates supported me. They said: 'You are only 20, take it easy, we have had experiences like that.' Paul Ince said it was better that I showed my feelings rather than not doing anything at all."
FOREIGN VIEW: More Rene Higuita, who is making a comeback for Colombian provincial side Pereira aged 42. The eccentric keeper's new side lost 3-0 at America thanks in part to a superb blunder. In the last minute, Higuita rushed out of his penalty area towards the halfway line, tried to head the ball away, missed and allowed Paulo Cesar Arango to score into an empty net.
COMING UP: Full coverage of all tonight's Champions League action, including Arsenal v Dynamo Kiev and Villarreal v Man United. The whole farrago gets under way at 17:30 UK time with Zenit St Petersburg v Juventus.
Wilfred the whole 32p thang is my childish attempts to get Jay biting but looks like I'm gunner (
) have to come up with another strategy 
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:41AMjay8my; you're damn lucky that real stuck in defenders aren't playing anymore e.g. Nobby Stiles, Bit your legs Hunter (Leeds), Chopper Harris - the young one's don't know what real football's about. Maybe if they had really world class footballers then they could perform in all conditions even against lesser teams trying to tacle you to death. George Best did it even when GBH was allowed on the football pitch; so did did the French brill nutcase Cantonna. Maybe Wenger should get real men and start winning things first. No one remembers second best - winners take all!!!
From jonathangrosskopf on Tue Nov 25 10:41AM32p FBF? and Robbie Keane for £20m?
where is grant?
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:43AMBaa-baa-baa Bob and Dan
Baa-baa-baa Bob and Dan
Baa-baa-baa Bob and Dan
ohhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhh
From barbaraah_anne on Tue Nov 25 10:43AM100
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:44AM100
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:44AM100
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:44AMAgreed Bob over paid for Keane I thought that at the time so I think it even more now
but you never know he might start clicking soon how he did not score on Saturday I don't know really FRUSTRATING ARRRGGGHHHH!!!From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:45AMany fan of football will remember the beautiful game Wenger brought with him. Irrespective of whether we win anything under him ever again.
From tommihew on Tue Nov 25 10:46AMmy predications for tonight
Villarreal 0 - 0 Man Utd
Arsenal 1 - 0 Dinamo Kiev
Celtic 1 - 0 Aalborg
From iamevz on Tue Nov 25 10:48AMkgh-r, when i used to live in London in 70's i went many times to see Arsenal win 1-0. Their own fans used to sing "boring, boring Arsenal." Newcastle used to play attacking football most times loosing5-4 but their fans loved it all the same. When Zola played for Chelsea you could see he enjoyed attacking football too. Anyway the best world team of all time was Pele's Brazil!!
From jonathangrosskopf on Tue Nov 25 10:48AMFBF, Adebayor is worth more than keane (31p?).
jonathangrosskopf - you seem to have a real problem with arsenal. take it easy. they'll come good eventually as long as wenger stays there. how do you think ronaldo and berbatov would have fared against harris and hunter?
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:49AM104 - i disagree i think the best footballing team of all time was the 1965/66 Crewe squad they were a great team
From iamevz on Tue Nov 25 10:51AMbrilliant article... Someone needs to tell it as it is. Gallas is not the problem at Arsenal. It is wenger who keeps picking these micky-mouse captain. He should have picked Sol campbell when he picked Henry and then should have retained Gilberto when he turned to Gallas. He now should have picked Kolo Toure instead of Fabregas.
I think he picks French first, otherwise while becnh Kolo for Silverstre. Another example of his bad decision is Drop Gilbetor and Diarra for Flamini, he alienates both players and loses them only to lose Flamini at the end of the season.
Bad decision, let the truth be told.
From akula_a2002 on Tue Nov 25 10:53AMBob see 94 mate
As for Ronaldo and Berbatov they would not have got near them. I'm mean the game was played at about 2mph back then lol
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:54AMJohnny too funny
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:55AMjonathan, we had the best team ever debates on here before. ac milan of early 90's had it all. as did madrid in the 60's. ajax and bayern of 70's too were entirely different but just as successful.
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:55AMAC Milan of the early nineties were the best squad in history no argument FACT!
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:57AMkgh-r; they would have fallen over or run away! Dennis Law wouldn't, nor Jimmy Greaves or those super strikers from Liverpool under Shankley. Arsen Wenger and haidryer Sir Alex are of a previous generation. Football used to be an outlet where a youngster from a working class bakground ould make it big time. Boxing too; go and ask Mr Bitfrustrated! Now it's all big business and showtime! Let's see what happens to Ronaldo and Berbatov when they come up against some cynical Itlalian defending. Where's Anne Helm?
From jonathangrosskopf on Tue Nov 25 10:57AMi think berbatov's top speed is only 1mph!
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 10:57AMGreat decision for me. cesc will stay now and take this team to the heights we all know it can reach and Wenger needs to build this team around his new capatin and Clichy who needs to be Vice captain. If that means buy Spanish players to complement Cesc then do it.....Albiol, Alonso,Merodio, Villa. Personally if City want kolo then player swap with Micha and get Micha and Djourou working together for the future years to come....2 big center backs who can head the ball!!! Van-buyten in the Jan window for 2 year contract as he is 30 yrs old and by then Micha & Djourou will be both 22-23yrs with 5 years of experience in the premiership, European & International football.
From paul.newman72 on Tue Nov 25 10:58AMAgree with comments that Arsenal haven't found anybody to fill Flamini's role yet. However, we're still in 4 competitions. Fabregas is a great player or has everybody forgotten how he played for spain a couple of months ago.
The real problem is that Wenger can't seem to get key players to stick around for the best part of their career - the last being Henry. That's the difference between Arsenal and Utd or Liverpool.
Didn't enjoy Ed's Life of Brian "let's have a good stoning" article. But I guess they wanted a reaction from Gooner fans like myself.
From james_ssmith on Tue Nov 25 10:59AM113 hahahahaha and thats only if he's not sulking
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 10:59AM107. akula, spot-on. i'd be interested to know what other arsenal fans think of what you said but i think that wenger, for all his understanding of what makes perfect football on the pitch, cannot appreciate that a bit of graft is required too.
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 11:00AMGreatest striker of all time Van Basten? I think so...
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 11:01AMArsenal is going through a transitional period and as long as the nucleus of the team is kept together brighter days are ahead. The question of captain is one which have to be tested under the pressure that this season is already presenting. If Fabregas withstand the pressure and lead his team Arsene will be applauded as not only a discovered of young talent but also young leaders
From duncan.drewry on Tue Nov 25 11:02AMI don't know--Fabregas shined when he got to play a pseudo leadership role after Henri left. Maybe this is what he needed to regain his form? Also incents him to stay at the club instead of looking at big clubs in Spain
From at_mich on Tue Nov 25 11:03AMThis must be the most football discussed on this blog in the last few months. We can't alienate the freaks, we need some balance - sexpile, sexpile, sexpile!
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 11:03AMBobo noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo don't bait the ruiners
From fitbutfrustrated on Tue Nov 25 11:05AMwhere is jay? he gives out about fakes ruining the blog and then he misses a mornings' discussion re his beloved arsenal.
From kgh_r on Tue Nov 25 11:05AM
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