Yep he expected all before him to roll over and die. I’m glad the miserable sod has gone - 2 million quid profit to boot.

Couldn’t give a toss about Diarra. See ya !

nice article but as you don’t seem to know much about the way pompey play, i wonder if you’re qualified to even question his decision to come to us!

we currently play with 3 in central midfield which will probably now look like; muntari MLC, diarra MRC and the big papa in DMC…

we’ve got cover for all of them in richard hughes, pedro mendes, sean davis and mvuemba, tho i suspect one or two may want to depart as they’re fantastic players in their own right and probably won’t want to warm the bench too much longer..

Diarra did not impress pretty much everytime he appeared for Arsenal. We dropped precious points when he played. As far as i remember there was just one game in which he was above average and that’s against Blackburn in which everyone was outstanding.

Diarra will live to regret his decision. He reminds me of Nicolas “Le Sulk” Anelka and I won’t be surprised to see him being the next footballing nomad. Footballers still can be very successful being nomads but it depends how well you go about moving from club to club. Seedorf is a great example of a nomad who has been successful at almost every club he has been in. What separates the good from the great footballers is a mature head and Diarra does not have one.

I think his desire to give up so soon shows a significant weakness of character that could seriously effect his chances of establishing himself as the top flight player he obviously wants to be. Flamini has turned out to be a superb player, and his confidence, dedication and determination have really benefited him big time. He fights for everything as is evident from his fantastic contribution to ade’s second goal against fulham. That’s why he gets picked, because as well as the ability he has the attitude of a winner. Diarra is a completely idiot, and he will rue this decision.

Diarra was all ready to sign for Pompey orginally back in the Summer, having been on trial and attended a preseason friendly as a guest, before being swayed by Arsenal’s big club status at the last moment. I think he rushed at the chance to be at another leading club without considering his playing prospects, and that could be seen as just as big a mistake as leaving Arsenal too quickly.

If Diarra plays well (and there’s no question he’s going to be a starter) he’ll get noticed, and can move on for even more money in a couple of seasons.

Two things are obvious - Diarra obviously didn’t understand the selection procedure at either Chelsea or Arsenal, for why else did he not realise that you don’t just waltz into a first team because you alone beleive you’re ready. Secondly, and maybe more telling, when Diarra went up for grabs why didn’t Liverpool, Man Utd or any of the usual spanish suspects coming asniffing? Instead, the only interest came from Newcastle, Villa, Man City, Spurs and Portsmouth. Speaks volumes about the squad structures, selection procedures of the ‘big’ teams that Diarra hopes to play for one day. It also demonstrates that maybe his temperament and/or lack of maturity is not what a big team wants either. Maybe Diarra has failed to recognise that aswell?

He did not exactly dominate the midfield when he came in for the injured Hleb, Fabregas & Flamini against Middlesbro.
Along with Alex Song, he was the best player on the pitch in our Carling Cup game @ Home to Newcastle. Therefore i am sorry to see him go but question his temperament & tenacity.
Furthermore for all his ability to keep the ball his eye for releasing the ball the Arsenal way still left a lot to be desired.

Diarra is worried about his international prospects for the Euros thats why he left Chelsea. Maybe a loan to Portsmouth for the rest of the season would have been better. We don’t know if Flaminis staying and Pomp will have the players back from ANC duty next month.

I thought Diarra’s large head contained a lot of knowledge and foresight only to realise that it was full of a “now for france” idea. He doesn’t see what we can see that the probability of Wenger managing the French national team in future which he so much craves to play play for is over 80%. He says p’mouth is just a stepping stone to another big club but if those big clubs wanted a player of his calibre who does not want competition, why didnt they com for him?

[…] that is so often lacking with young foreign players at big clubs. Indeed, just this month we saw Lassana Diarra get tired of waiting for a first team chance at Arsenal within his first four months at the club […]