Marouane Chamakh has been in the headlines recently with the Moroccan being linked with a move away from Arsenal. The forward spoke to the media about Arsene Wenger’s 4-2-3-1 formation that permits the use of one lone striker. He explained that he’d love to be playing every week but the club is currently excelling with the tactic so he used “team before self” quotes:
“It would be better for me if we played with two strikers but that’s the system and the way of playing here, I respect that and it’s working very well.”
I have to commend Chamakh on the way he has handled this situation. Nicklas Bendtner was faced with something similar so he decided to climb the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, unveil a megaphone with a sound intensity louder than a Rock star’s electric guitar before screaming out loud that he wanted to leave the club.
While the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, Besktas and Sporting CP hovered around him like vultures, Steve Bruce offered him a chance to get many games under his belt and his cause was further helped with the exits of Danny Welbeck to his parent club and Asamoah Gyan to that Arab Money outfit.
Chamakh ended it all by saying that he’s happy at Arsenal and would like to stay at the club for a long time. The battle for the right to be called van Persie’s deputy is solely between Chamakh and Park Chu-Young but Arsene Wenger has the final say on the player that will take to the pitch.
Whether the player wears jersey number 10, 9 or 29, the gooners don’t really care as long as the balls are planted at the back of the opposition’s net.
Robin van Persie has also been in the news lately for more reasons than one but the latest news emanating from his camp is that the Dutch forward has acknowledged Arsene Wenger for his rich vein of form. Even if most of the credit will go to van Persie, Arsene Wenger has to be given a pat on the back for buying him in the first place and sticking to him throughout his prolonged injury periods.
Many managers are not that patient with some players and we’ve seen how many players careers have gone downhill due to constant injury woes. Van Persie also paid a little tribute to Theo Walcott in his role as Mr. Provider for quite an amount of goals he has scored in 2011. There was a point last season when Walcott had 10 assists or so and ALL of the them were converted by van Persie.
Walcott on the other hand has expressed his delight over the impact made by Gervinho and Jenkinson. Gervinho’s talent is unquestionable while Jenkinson has matured with each passing game.
Tony Adams is a legend that has been renowned for being Mr. Arsenal. He served the club with all his heart from 1982 to 2002 (20 years) and notched up an impressive 504 league appearances for the Gunners and went on to win a boatload of trophies in his time at the club.
As expected from any footballer that had been in the game that long, he opted for club management and he got his first start just a year after retiring as the manager of Wycombe Wanderers. Adams couldn’t prevent the club from being relegated so he parted ways with the club.
Following a few coaching roles in Holland, Tony Adams returned back to management but had to settle for the position of Number 2 in the Portsmouth football hierarchy beside Twitchy Ol’ Harry Redknapp. When Redknapp left for greener Tottenham pastures, Adam was advanced to the role of manager but he managed Portsmouth for only 10 league games before getting sacked in February 2009.
After finding out that the grass of a Football Manager is certainly not easy on the other side, Adams got another good break when an Uzbek outfit called FC Gabala approached him for his services. After just 16 months in charge, Adams has packed his bags again and has given the cause for the action, family:
“I came to Gabala with big ambitions, wanting to build a strong club and share experiences. It has been an interesting time and hoped that I could achieve something here.”
“However, due to family problems, I have to leave the club. It is hard to leave the management and players, but family is more important to me.”
I certainly hope that there’s nothing wrong with Adams’ family and I wish him all the best.
To wrap it all up, Kieran Gibbs will be out for a while after going under the knife to solve his hernia issues, Fiorentina is ready to sell Juan Manuel Vargas to Arsenal and many clubs have been put on alert in the wake of Owen Coyle’s comments that he’s resigned to selling Gary Cahill in the winter transfer window.
