TV is one player we cannot afford to be unhappy with his football - but it appears that he is fed up with his current role. It seems as though the injury to Merts may actually address this issue, but what's going to happen when Mertesacker is fit again? Do we switch Kos to full back? This is going to lead to one of three (Mertesacker, TV, or Kos) being a back up - I cant see any of them accepting that. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/7513269/Vermaelen-not-enjoying-role So which is the best pairing?
Verm needs to man up and take one for the team. It's a team game and he knows the situation we're in. Of course it's not ideal to be played out of position but many players have done this for the benefit of their team (E'to with Inter Milan during the 09/10 season comes to mind). Gibbs has recovered from injury (thank God) and hopefully Santos will come back soon. The best pairing would be of course TV and Kos, Mert is still not ready so Wenger has got himself into a bit of a conundrum now.
When mertesacker returns, providing both santos and gibbs are fit wenger is just going to have to choose between kos and vermalen, or who knows maybe kos and vermalen will strike up a brilliant partnership meaning that mertesacker will have a spell on the bench. There is no doubt that TV is a better defender than kos, although kos is rapidly improving and can offer the team things that vermalen can't such as blinding pace for a centre back and when on the ball and coming forward he can pass the ball extremely well and start attacks. But they are very similar in terms of size and stature and mertesacker's reading of the game is very good and he obviously has the height advantage, but it is good that we finally have competition for places at centre back and hopefully gibbs can stay fit this time.
Seems a very very peculiar statement to make right at the point that Gibbs is back & Merts is injured. Clearly Vermaelen & Kos will now play at CB for the next few games. The only issue is what happens if Gibbs gets injured again? Presumably Djourou comes in at CB & Vermaelen goes back to LB. Perhaps he's trying to stop that from happening. Might be that he's been inaccurately quoted and actually just wanted to say he doesn't like playing LB but he's prepared to do it to help the team?
Yep, team game for me, play where your employers tell you to until player power completely ruins the game....
Player power has already ruined the game... contracts mean nothing. I think Bonstar might be right - he is trying to ensure he doesnt get moved to LB again now that Merts is injured. It may be he feels he cant talk to Wenger about it, so is just putting it out there.
Am I the only one who thinks that this story reeks of BS ? - I wouldn't be surprised to see a rebuttal of this story by the player or manager.
Why do you think that? I usually look for direct quotes - if there are none then it's likely bullshit, but this article is riddled with direct quotations. That's a very dangerous thing to do as a journo.
I agree, it is an unwise thing for a journo to do, but it didn't stop Marca from making up quotes about RVP wanting to join Madrid. I just think it reads as very un Arsenal like for one of our players to come out so publicly with their unhappiness. Wenger is renowned for having a good relationship with his players and I would have thought that Vermaelen would have spoken to him about it instead of the People newspaper. Bonstar might be right. He may have said that he's not as happy playing LB as he is CB and the People have selected their comments to omit some where he may have put it into context i.e. He'd rather play CB, but is willing to play LB to help the team. I might be wrong, but my Spidey senses are tingling and I smell BS.
If it is made up or taken out of context, I would hope that TV would offer a rebuttal, otherwise it doesn't look very good.
PNE I rate Santos. He joined overweight in my view, but after a few games was starting to trim down and look more athletic. He still has a tendency to play dangerous passes across the back four, but I can see the potential in him.
I actually think all he was saying was he wants to reach his best, and he sees him doing that at CB obviously his position so playing in it will improve it, he says he does his job and is happy to help the team etc
I can't see this being true. If it is then Vermaelen is a foolish person indeed. It's not like Wenger wanted to play him at LB, it was vital for the team. I prefer Verm and Kos as our CBs, especially in Europe where they play the ball on the ground. Mertz is getting better in the league, where i would use him in more. Either way, players should understand its a squad game!
Likewise. He doesn't strike me as a stupid person so I see this as, at worst, just throw away comments lost in translation. ie "Yes I'm not at my best when playing at LB, I prefer playing as a CB where I think I perform better. Yes it's a moo that Kompany is now captain of Belguim". He's not wrong though, he's nowhere near as good at LB than he is as a CB. I for one miss him there. What I can't say is that I've ever seen anything less than a 100% commited performance from him. I'll start to worry if I see him sulking about anddripping about the pitch.
Likewise but they're very different players (imo a good thing). It's blinking frustrating that he's gone and got himself injured right when he's starting to string some performances together though ala Santos. Boo urns. Still, a back four of Gibbs, TV, Koscielny and Sagna is nothing to turn your nose up at. Long may they remain healthy...
Was the fact that Vermaelen doesn't like playing in a position he's not meant to be playing in some kind of secret?
Just looking at the piece from SkySports.It would appear they are taking "quotes" from the People newspaper.It's interesting to see how it is edited to show the more contentious "quotes" Vermaelen has susposedly made
