"A lot. I miss his happiness, even on the pitch" - Abou Diaby responds when asked if he misses Emmanuel Eboue. Waaaaah, I miss him too. I assume he'd already discussed the tiger outfit, frog warm up and so forth...
I didn't think we should have sold him last year. There are plenty of deadwood to go before him except that it seems no one wanted to pay for them either.
I know many fans disagreed at the time, but I was behind Wenger when he preferred to play Eboue instead of Walcott on the right. Walcott provided ~89 minutes of anonimity with the slightest chance of brilliance, while Eboue provided 90+ minutes of hard-work rate, decent crosses, and got fouls in dangerous areas (yes and the occasional stupid red card/penalty on our end ). We already had an excellent RB in Sagna so no complaints in him being played out of position. He was scapegoated for a lot of stuff unjustly IMO.
This is it He would have provided excellent cover for right back and to close out a game when taking Walcott off. The irony is, the disgraceful booing Arsenal fans got what they wished and he he left. In fact, he was one of the few players that actually got bought up. We're still left with Denilson, Bendtner, Aluminium.....He was a good player for us....
Eboue was symptomatic of some of the dross Wenger has brought to this club over the years. I'm glad he's gone and definitely no loss at all, shame Denilsonn, Diaby, Squillaci and Djourou can't follow him but not many other clubs would pay to get them.
you really have no clue do you. eboue was never a world class player, but he worked his socks off every game no matter what, in unfamiliar positions, substitute, etc. before sagna came he was excellent at getting forward from RB and that was his best season. when he lost his spot, he was great as back up, but wenger forced him to play RM, where he was decent but never as good as he could have been. he would have been great this season when our full backs were out, cos he could play LB as well. now, Denilson and Squillaci are totally different cases to Diaby and Djourou: denilson was kind of rubbish at everything despite his "potential", but his major flaw was that he was neither good at attacking or defending. he couldn't play the last through ball, but neither was he willing to track back when the other team countered. he wasn't and isn't good enough for arsenal. squillaci was very good when we got him (great season the year before) but sadly never adapted to the PL and his career has been ruined by his move here. Diaby and Djourou are different: Diaby is a very talented attacking midfielder, who Wenger used alongside Song to accomodate Fabregas. but diaby, despite his side, is terrible at defending or tracking back. his best games came when fab. was injured and he was behind the striker, and given a run of games he was and still is a very decent player. certainly good back up, as he offers height as well as pace, power and an eye for goal. djourou is also a very good defender, considering he's 4th choice. he was terrible at RB, but thats not his position. he rarely has bad games at CB: remember last year when people thought he was amazing and better than Koscielny? so in conclusion, eboue, diaby and djourou are v good players as back up who can come in and do a decent job. all very good buys by wenger. denilson had potential but never fulfilled it, while squillaci just couldn't adapt to the PL. in final conclusion, u r wrong
I was gutted to see Eboue go. He was a really good utility player, always willing to work hard in whatever position he was asked to play in. The abuse he got was totally out of order, but scapegoating our players is nothing new unfortunately. Eboue wanted to leave Arsenal, it wasn't that Wenger wanted to get rid of him.
Maybe not directly, but if I recall he had made it clear to him that he shouldn't expect to get much game time the following season. (unless that was made up by tabloids)
I liked Eboue but he was not good enough. Many of your comments on our players that are or were not good enough, point to the fact that they worked hard. So what? It takes talent and work ethic to succeed at the top. Some Wolves players work hard, but I dont want any of them.
I'd naturally be suspicious of any tabloid 'quote' of Wenger's, but that was pretty much Eboue's role at Arsenal anyway; as a sub and squad player. It wouldn't be out of place for Wenger to speak to him about how he saw his role. He played in that role for a number of seasons, so I don't think it was a factor in him wanting to leave. I thought Eboue did really well as a RB after Lauren went and if it wasn't for Sagna and our 4-3-3 system with Walcott at RWF he would probably secured a role on the right of MF. He was a bit unlucky at Arsenal, other players were ahead of him so he became a squad player, which he did well. He got unnecessarily slated for a lack of from and playing an unfamiliar role on the left ( see the familiarities ? ) Some of the abuse was absolutely shameful. The day he got booed off wasn't only disgusting for him, the look on Fabregas' face, looking at the crowd and shaking his head always makes me wonder if he fell out of love for the fans a bit that day.
Yes booing of Eboue was shameful. Don't think you can compare his situation to Ramsey though. I assume you meant him? Ramsey has been poor no matter where he has played - centre or wide. As for Fabregas - I seriously doubt he ever loved Arsenal.
Apart from you recognising that booing Eboue was shameful. I can't really agree with anything else in your post.
I think most here know my feelings on Eboue! I loved him and think every squad needs somebody like him. Of course people are right to say he's not top quality but he's certainly not as bad as most made out. He was a very reliable player, always in my mind a 6-7 out of 10 which is nothing to be sniffed at when I consider that some of our current squad fluctuate between 0 and 10 week in, week out! Added to which 'boue would play wherever he was asked to and do a solid job there and my word we were crying out for someone like him this season. Most of all though I miss him for the laughs. He was the sort of character who lifted the squad with his work ethic and good nature. Every team needs leaders and battlers but they also need Eboue. Watching Eboue stop a pitch invader who'd evaded all our stewards and three quarters of both teams merely by raising his hand is one of my favourite memories as an Arsenal fan. He HAS the power!
Also... as a seperate topic (reminded me because of Drude's comment), can anyone remember what game it was where we started Diaby up front in Europe (Villareal maybe?). He was fecking EPIC in that game.
He is a good full back, but i always believed that his character and antics were detrimental for Arsenal dressing room. He represented many things that were wrong with Arsenal, and I believe it was the real reason why Wenger got rid of him. This is the only logical explanation for his sudden departure. Eboue did not complain about the lack of playing time, he was a very decent back up for Sagna, so why not keeping him? the problem is - it is always good to have a clown in a squad full of older, mature players, but it is not good if most of them are still young and learning. I remember when he conceded a penalty against Liverpool in extra time - and my first thought was - "Enough is enough, Arsene. You must sell him, if onlyas a lesson to others - to show them that sloppy play is not tolerated any more". The Arsenal players enjoyed a very cosy, safe atmosphere where the manager defends everyone, where everyone enjoys the socialist equaility in terms of salary (with the only difference that the size of it is very capitalist) and on top of that they had a clown. (And actually it got into their heads - Denilson, Bendtner thought they were "winners" and "world class" , Vela was just coasting, enjoying his time...) That was too much in my opinion.
Ah man come on! We've had established players who've fecked up over the years who don't get harrangued but we pick on Eboue because of his japering?! Vermaelen (who I love to bits) has made numerous c*ck-ups this season but is always first choice on the team and seemingly impervious to blame. I'd rather have a hard working clown than an erratic, boring player with talent. It's the manager job to focus players and if he can't get them concentrating for 90 minutes then he needs to come under scrutiny. Arsene has dealt with far more awkward characters in his time with us and sorted them out (early angry RVP springs to mind) so I'm sure he can handle Eboue. For me he left because Arsene knew he'd be in the market to get someone like Oxocube and he was told he wasn't going to get enough games. An error by the club. Obviously this is partly my own opinion and partly guess-work!
Yes Vermaelen makes mistakes, but who would you rather trust when the going gets tough - Vermaelen or Eboue ? And it is tough for Arsenal most of the time these days.
