Arsenal, Blackburn, Liverpool, Premier League
Gamst Pedersen can solve Arsenal’s midfield goal woes
Amidst all the constant talk of Thierry Henry’s future, one piece of news has slipped largely unnoticed: Franck Ribery’s move to Bayern Munich. Ribery, the skilful but resilient midfielder who was so impressive in Germany last summer, was, potentially, a major source of midfield goals for Arsenal. Yet the London club were unwilling or unable [...]
Amidst all the constant talk of Thierry Henry’s future, one piece of news has slipped largely unnoticed: Franck Ribery’s move to Bayern Munich. Ribery, the skilful but resilient midfielder who was so impressive in Germany last summer, was, potentially, a major source of midfield goals for Arsenal. Yet the London club were unwilling or unable to match Munich’s £17million bid. Their search for midfield goals continues.
Last season, Gilberto, with six goals from open play, was Arsenal’s top scorer from midfield. It was a stark contrast to previous seasons, when Freddy Ljungberg and Robert Pires invariably contributed double figures; Pires’ strike-rate in some campaigns was near to a goal every other game. Pires was not offered the contract he desired last summer; though in decline, he still managed 9 goals from midfield in ‘05/06. Ljungberg is only 30 and should be playing the best football of his career, but has lost pace and the knack of scoring crucial goals, and will be on his way from The Emirates this summer.
With Cesc Fabregas’ sterling progress not yet including scoring regularly - he managed a paltry four last season - the onus is on the new generation of wide men to fill the void left by Ljungberg and Pires. Yet Alexander Hleb is unconvincing in front of goal; Tomas Rosicky, though capable of spectacular strokes, rarely scores the types of strikes so typical of Ljungberg and Pires in their pomp; and Theo Walcott is yet to turn potential into consistent performance.
Ultimately, perhaps the biggest reason for Arsenal’s decline of the past two seasons is simply the absence of goals from the wide players. They have lost around 30 goals a season and, with Arsenal’s game reliant on forward support for the strikers, they have become much less penetrating. The incisive diagonal runs of Ljungberg and Pires, often fed by Dennis Bergkamp, were utterly invaluable facets of Arsenal’s spell of success, beginning with the exhilarating ‘01/02 campaign. The duo possessed a forward’s knack in front of goal; they were adroit at linking up with the strikers; and defences, so fearful of the players gliding in so score, were forced to devote the forwards more space.
Until this situation is resolved, it is hard to see how Arsenal’s fortunes can be significantly removed - unless Arsene Wenger is prepared to make a significant tactical change. The season-long presence of either Thierry Henry or Samuel Eto’o, along with Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor, does offer the tantalising prospect of Arsene Wenger altering his side’s style of play to a 4-3-3.
This formation would bear resemblance to the 4-1-4-1 formation utilised to great effect at Old Trafford and the Madjeski stadium before being hastily disbanded, and would certainly be an intriguing possibility. Adebayor would be ideally suited to being the central forward, while the rapidly improving van Persie, who contributed 13 goals in 17 starts last season, would relish playing in the right forward’s role, which he has been terrific for Holland in.
The position on the left would be occupied by either Henry or his replacement, with the vivacious, powerful Eto’o being the outstanding candidate. Eto’o is as close as you will find to a younger version of Henry and Arsenal must be prepared to pay big to sign him - even if they lose their skipper in the process.
Even if Wenger does opt for such tactical boldness, then it is undeniable they will require a more steady stream of goals from midfield. Rosicky will surely manage more than his four of his first season next campaign, while Fabregas should chip in with more regularity. Nonetheless a genuine goalscoring midfielder is essential if Arsenal are to progress.
At £3million, Yossi Benayoun could do a good job, but Blackburn’s creative Norwegian midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen may be the man for Arsenal. Though currently too inconsistent, he is still reasonably young - 25 - and has illustrated his flair and panache on many occasions, as when he struck both goals in Blackburn’s win at Manchester United. Equally, he is also a big threat in the air - something Arsenal palpably need - and would surely be very interested in a move. However, Wenger must move soon - for Liverpool are also believed to be interested.
Should Arsenal sign Gamst Pedersen? Share your views by leaving a comment below.
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yes please.
very good player would suit are style.
I think that is the worst ide so please before some else sees that delete it
I’m from Norway and I’ve seen Gamst in action since he was 19. Based on that I would say he is far from good enough to play for Arsenal. It’s easy to get the wrong impression when you only see the stuff he does well. The “cons” weigh far more than the”pro’s” in his case.
Let’s aim higher!
Hi. I’m also from Norway and totally agree; Gamst-Pedersen is NOT good enough for Arsenal !! But don’t worry, we will create a bunch of goals next season….also from midfield…mark my words..
I don’t understand why everyone is jumping on the bandwagon about how certain players don’t do this and certain players don’t do that and how we need a replacement for Henry etc etc god its starting to bore me stiff! Ok here we go 1) Henry is irreplaceable 2) Cesc provided “X” amount of goals yes he only score 4 but “provided/setup” 3) Hleb can’t shoot for $h!t in a nutshell 4) Rosicky needs to shoot more and stay fit 5) the way we plan is to pass the ball into the net i.e the perfect goal hence why we ain’t been scoring as much as we’d all liked em to. Henry’s departure seems to have “unsettled” AFC according to the media who come out with any old crap just to get a story printed. Look what happened when Adams and co left/retired or when Paddy left they all jumped on the wagon and started. Same with Henry last season with Barca, Viera with Real the season before and so on. Truth be known that Arsene knows what he’s doing because otherwise he’d of been shown the door by now and not offered an extension to secure his services. Hillwood apparently turned down a 30 or 50 million transfer kitty, if this is to be true then wtf!!!!! yes we do need a couple of players but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth as the saying goes (never understood that sayin lol). Gamst prob would be a good signing but he does go missing at times in matches and comes up with the goods once in a blue moon Maybe sell Hleb and bring him in? Replacement for Freddie thats if he goes (be a shame to see him go)? I’ve read reports this morning of us going for Martins from Newcastle for 13mill or possibly him and Owen. Martins I don’t rate at all and Owen is injury prone, he has more injury complaints than my gran! Aim a tad higher please because it looks as if we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for players to bring in
we should get ricardo quaresma
Don’t give up your day job Tim!!!
Your points on Ljunberg and Pires are valid. Their goals have not been replaced. Ljunberg is 30 but that doesn’t necessarily mean he should be playing the best football of his career. The problem is with Henry Arsenal are too predictable. Give the ball to Henry and the rest is history, but without his presence you will see goals coming from other areas, i.e. Gilberto in the last campaign had his best scoring season due to the fact Henry was not scoring the goals Arsenal are used to.
You also mention that Arsenal will only progress if they have a genuine goalscoring midfielder, essential even!! Well when was the last time they had a genuine goalscoring midfielder? Would you include Pires in this, or even Ljunberg??? I believe not. Pires became a goal scoring midfielder while at Arsenal weighing in with an excellent ratio for a wide man. The fact is Arsenal have never had a genuine goalscoring midfielder so it really wouldn’t change much to the current stats of Arsenal, well maybe in the goals for column
And finally where did you get the Yossi Benayoun idea from?? Didn’t you say Arsenal needed a genuine goalscoring midfielder?? This surely is not the man you mention??? How many goals did Yossi get for West Ham in all competitions?? There is your answer.
As for Gamst Pedersen, I agree with the Norwegian, good but not good enough for Arsenal.
So to answer your question should Arsenal sign MGP only as a last resort. Remember Arsenal still have Reyes whether he wants out or not, he can fill the void along with a new striker left from Henry and Pires.
I welcome any retort.
without trying to sound like a smart arse.. I believe looking a gift horse in the mouth comes from how you tell a horses age / health or something (by checking its teeth) .. therefore if a horse is given to you (i.e a gift) then it would be both rude to openly inspect it, and secondly stupid to question its worth seeing as it was free! I may be wrong, but that’s how I’ve always understood it.
And before I go I liked the V.Persie stat above - intersting.. I would love to see Tevez, a proven (and settled in) prem. goalscorer, world class and young. All these aspects in addition to the renewed faith within, and around the club would surely be worth an extra few ‘million’ wouldnt it?? however what are the chances of us doing something like that eh?? oh well V.P’s 13 goals in 17 is better than both Tevez and Martins I believe?! I guess its not all so bad…
Arsenal till I die : )
Pedersen, Pedersen, I doubt really. Just try another name, not exactly Pedersen.
All those players u are talking about dont deserve to wear the arsenal jersey try to broadly especialy beyond the premiership.
In case you aren’t aware, Tevez had an atrocious scoring record at West Ham. He only scored in something like 5 of his 26 appearances. Don’t get me wrong he was great at his former club and all, but anybody who thinks Tevez is proved in the Premiership only bothered to pay attention to him in the final month or so of last season. The truth is he was always hard working, but couldn’t score shit. His scoring record was crap.
Not to say that he couldn’t become a top striker again at Arsenal, but it’s just not true that he had a good season last year. His record really was shit. People in general should stop just watching Match of the Day for the last few weeks of a season and then saying bold statements like a player is great or not. It’s not reflective.
P.S. There are a lot of people saying Martins isn’t really a ‘big’ enough striker. He scored 17 or so goals for a pretty shit Newcastle last year. He’s only 23 and wouldn’t cost a great deal. He has the attributes of a great goal scorer and would obviously link well with Ade and van Persie. What’s the problem, that he isn’t as famous as Eto’o? That’s just shit and isn’t helpful.
If people want a young striker proven in the Premiership to score goals who would suit Arsenal you can consider this: 1) Pay whatever it is, £13 million or so for a PROVEN striker - Martins or 2) Pay over £20 million (possible considerably more) for Tevez who is actually UNPROVEN in the Premiership, but he’s more famous so…
It’s a very easy decision. Wenger would certainly make the right one in this situation if he will buy either of those two. Martins all the way.
yes get him hes what we need. also if eto is willing to come then thats another player we need. also if eto is not possible we shouled get martins i think he can get better give him a chance but if eto is willing make him top priority. Also i was vey looking forword to seeing teves coming but inter took him and he liked that idea we shouled of been quicker.
get gamst and either eto or martins then i think we might do ok next season.
Oh Ryan come on mate that’s a little harsh.. Tvez was played out of position for most of the season, that combined with the slow start the EVERY quality player seems to have in the Prem.. look at Drogba the last few seasons, Shevchenko this season, Thierry Henry’s first season (also played out of pos), Bergkamps slow start, I’m sure the list could go on if I had the time to research it. However the point is this, he has overcome the difficulties in adapting to the pace of the Prem, so much so that he scored 7 goals in his last 10 games, pretty much single handedly keeping up a pretty shite team that were all but relegated in feb.. all this for a 23 yr old in his first season.. I dont think Tevez is as bad as you make out… but relax, we wont be signing him anyway..
i think we ought to buy Drenthe’ myself and play him as a left winger. He’s young enough for wenger to mould into a truly outstanding player and he can play on the wing already (did anyone see the matches he played for the dutch u21 team that won the european cup?) everyone was talking about babel but drenthe’ was truly brilliant). Has eveybody forgot that walcott will be fit this season and will be able to play freely and develop without fear of his shoulder popping out now that’s been sorted so he can play as a winger or a striker and believe me he will blossom. i think we need a top class striker winger & cb and not much else to be fair. we need a goal hanger/poacher to bury 1 or4 of the 30+ chances we create in every game
ps. would prefer to see n’zogbia come in rather than mg pederson
Well, talking about Gamst is right but i so much believe Ricardo quaresma is much better and enough of average player, am not talking about big nmae but am talking about hard worker,
again, hunterlaan can do a perfect job in front of goal, while Adebayor waits till Vanpersie get tired.
let not forget Requelme that wil go for a reasonable price and will be a good goal getter from midfield,
please felow let talk about REQUELME, will he be a good get for Arsenal?
I admit Gamst Pedersen is not yet consistently at an ‘Arsenal level’ but he is hugely promising, has three years of Premiership experience and is young enough to progress significantly.
dodgy_e - I certainly would classify Pires and Ljungberg in their primes as ‘goal-scoring midfielders’ - how can you not, given they consistentl outscored Arsenal’s second striker? Benayoun was mentioned as a player who could chip in with goals - however, I agree he could not score 15 in a season. Certainly, forcing Reyes to return would in no way be satisfactory.
Regarding Riquelme, he would be an intriguing signing, although he occupies the ‘Fabregas’ role and may not get the space he desires in England. But, nonetheless, for his Bergkamp-esque creativity and proven record in Europe, he would surely be worth signing at a reasonable fee.
I love the arrogance of the “big club” fans.
MGP wouldjump at the chance to join Arsenal would he?
A shame most of the respondents dont rate him then..
There is an irony here?
Barcelona whisk your best player away because of the instability(supposed) at the club with the departure of Dein and doubts surrounding Wenger playing a huge part in this defection to a “Bigger Club”.
Now apparently Dein is waiting in the wings for a chance to return?
a bitter twist of fate if true…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=K2Y3VVDWPPEGRQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/sport/2007/07/01/sfndei101.xml
pedersen is known for rising to the occasion playing for a better team than blackburn , he is a teamworker , if arsenal want someone to score goals from the mid you can hardly find anyone with a better ratio in todays football.that is fact. useing will ofc mean you loose other qualitiys in mid , jhe is good teamplayer/worker with a good foot and head for shooting/passes and crossings,lacks explosivness dribbling skills