Anyone Still Doubting Thomas?
Jun 20th, 2009 by 'holic
So the deal is complete and Thomas Vermaelen is now officially an Arsenal player. I have to confess to not having watched more than about three Ajax games last season, and he did not live in the memory. However there was no question that we needed a central defender, and the capture of a Belgian international, improving but yet to reach his peak, could prove to be a very shrewd piece of business.
It has been interesting watching this story develop from the time when Steve Stammers reported our interest in the Mirror back in May. It was interesting following the rumours on the various Arsenal forums. It is probably fair to say that there was as much negative discussion as positive in the last month.
Primarily the critics concentrated on his size and the fact that he has been plying his trade in a sub-standard Dutch league. I guess if your glass is always half empty those are fair concerns.
I’m not overly concerned if he is six feet tall, or an inch shorter. Aerial ability has never been determined by height alone, as fans of Tim Cahill will point out.
I’m also wary of the argument that just because the Dutch game does not generate the same funding as the major European leagues that players signed from there will be somehow blessed with less ability than once they had. The quality remains high but the cream of the Dutch game is destined to be lured away by the greater riches on offer elsewhere.
I called a mate I have worked with in Amsterdam for his take. I trust his judgement having spent time at Arsenal with him. He tells me that Vermaelen is (or rather was!) the best defender in Holland. His strengths are his distribution, and yes, his aerial ability. The fact that he was captain of a side of the stature of Ajax at just 23 tells us a great deal about his leadership qualities. He is more comfortable on the left side of the central pairing, which suggests he could be arriving as a replacement for William Gallas. As viewers of YouTube will be aware he is also more than capable of popping up with a goal or two from crosses and set pieces.
The only cautionary note is that he feels Vermaelen is not yet the finished article. Like all young defenders he still learns lessons the hard way occasionally. I asked if he thought there were similarities in that respect with Senderos, given the potential for the Swiss stopper to return this summer. ‘Most definitely not’, was the response. ‘He is more consistent than Phil and is not likely to suffer the same bullying by big centre-forwards. Technically he is at a level above Senderos.’
That’s good enough for me, for now. We will get the opportunity to form our own opinions soon enough. Let’s just be pleased that the first activity of the summer has been concluded and a player in an area most of us would agree needed strengthening has arrived.
Another centre-half, a defensive midfielder, and a goalscoring winger for me now please, Arsene!
36 Responses to “Anyone Still Doubting Thomas?”
What’s the story with Barazite, Kerrea Gilbert and Gavin Hoyte? Are they coming back?
That Raul Albiol looks the dogs bollocks.
Great info, thanks ‘Holic!!
1st time ive read a pst from you and I gotta say I pleased. Ive read loads of negatives on Vermy but now after seeing this I wont have to worry.
Great post m8!
Keep it up..
Evening Holic. I agree with your wish list. I would love to see us go and get Marcos Senna from Villareal. I know he is in his 30s but I have no doubt we would get a couple of good seasons out of him and allow the likes of Denillson and Co to grow. Can’t see it happening though.
Thomas Vermaelen looks a good signing. From the little I have seen of him he looks and Arsenal type of player. I do not buy this Dutch Legue is weak stuff either. Granted it is not the best in the world but that does not stop them producing players of top quality year in year out. They must be doing something right.
Cheers for the opinions, there don’t seem to be many Arsenal fans who have watched him play (unsurprisingly) but he sounds promising.
Goalscoring winger? Arshavin, Walcott, Nasri. 3 players who should be expected to start most games for 2 positions. We don’t need any more. If Rosicky comes back to form and fitness that’s 4 Vela needs games, personally hope Jack gets involved a bit more next year, Traore appears to be a winger now and Fran Merida deserves a chance. Nice piece on Vermaelen, i hope he can head, agree that we need 1 more CB and a DCM.
Diarra would be better than Senna IMO. Diarra’s more of a defensive midfielder than Senna and has more years left in him, which means if someone like Denilson or Song shows the ability to be first choice (well, I wouldn’t be disappointed if Denilson started next season) he’ll still have some resale value.
Joe, Arshavin’s not exactly a winger (and neither are Rosicky and Nasri to be honest) and Rosicky’s got his injury problems (I’m hopeful he’ll be back to his best though). We’ve played Diaby, Eboue, Walcott and even Denilson on the wing too much this season. Walcott’s decent but not ready to be a regular starter on the wing if say Nasri and Rosicky both become injured in the long term. That said I don’t think Arsene will buy a new winger considering how he’ll probably be unwilling to sit on the bench behind Arshavin, Rosicky and Nasri.
Goalscoring winger? You can count how many wingers have Barcelona. We want to play similiar way, so i don’t think we need to invest in wingers.
What about Inler from udinese, is he totally off, i like him..
when manshytes signed vidic he was playing for spartak moscow in the russian league hardly one of the bests leagues in the world.
most fans including a lot of Arsenal fans are clueless they seem to be swayed by the tabloids or watching a player on youtube.
Arsene has players watched for over 50 games by scouts like grimandi and the man also watches videos of the players as well covert trips to see potential signings.
what exactly do fans know about players yet most arsenal fans seem to think they know better then the manager.
some plum above said we need wingers doh! when was the alst time arsenal played with out and out wingers? the invincibles didnt have an out an out winger.
why dont you know it all fans leave the running of Arsenal fc to Arsene Wenger he really does know beter then any fan.
ARSENE KNOWS!!!
I for one am pleased that he is more a Gallas replacement than Touré as Kolo demonstrates and has always demonstrated that he is proud and motivated to play for The Arsenal.If Kolo goes it will be a huge loss,the best is yet to come from him.Since the malaria attacks it is sure that he has been off his best but remember his best,the precise six yard box tackles,the distribution,the fist in the air motivation.The mans not six foot tall but he’s a giant.
Sorry had to get that off my chest when I hear people saying to take Man City’s petrodollars there is more to a a football club than dollars and I think that Kolo has got that more.
Holic,been reading you for ages and really appreciate the lack of kneejerk reactions which comes with age.
cheers zach
We dont play £10m or above unless we know wer getting someone good.
Even reyes was really good for us, very underrated in his time, set up a lot more goals than he got credit for but his head wasn’t quite right, he wasnt a “winner”, and hes gone downhill as a result.
Still technically a quality player, could have been class.
there is one fact ppl seem to overlook is – MOST of the signings AW made they were coming from a supposingly WEAKER league.
take French League, are they the strongest in the world? don’t think so. Yet Pires, Sagna, Petit the likes all coming from there. And they did not look out of soft playing in a “stronger” league Premiership did they?
van Persie coming from the Dutch League as well. Adebayor, Clichy… the list go on and on.
no manager could get EVERY transfer deal right. but in terms of his record in the transfer market, Arsene Wenger has to be one of the best around, if not THE BEST.
I think Kerrea Gilbert should also be included in the side now. Gallas and Senderos can be sold. Buy Micah Richards or Steven Taylor and the defence will be a good one. Off to buy a DM now.
What we need now is raul Albiol, Edin Dzeko an dpossibly a defensive midfielder.
Is kerrea gilbert really any good? I only saw his appearance for arsenal in the PL years ago, and he looked good, but I hear he has a bad attitude and that’s why hes gone downhill.
Has he improved since he was with us?
Albiol wold be an amazing signing if wenger could pull it off. Think theyd charge too much for us though, and if we entered the running for him someone with more money would come in
Fabregas’ Dad – Arshavin is a winger IMO, hes brilliant when he gets to the byline. He *can cut inside and is pretty effective too but Ive never seen him play starting centrally personally
It really bugs me seeing the negativity coming from supposed Gooners about this transfer. He hasn’t even played for us yet! Every player has to play somewhere, the fact he started at KFC Germinal in Belgium and became captain at Ajax the biggest club in Holland by 23 is potential enough for me. I think its the fee that’s bugging a lot of people, which is a giant contradiction as these are the same people who demand huge transfer fees to be paid for progress.
See what happens i don’t think were going to be getting rid of as many players as everyone seems to think, though strangely its been very quiet in the Adebayor camp lately! If he can hit the next like two seasons ago, and Van Persie hit the net instead of the bar, i have no worries up front, with Eduardo hopefully fully fit and Bendtner showing some big signs of progress this season.
Also, looking at the midfield, Arshavin, Rosicky, Fabregas, Nasri, its not looking so “inexperienced” anymore even with a shadow midfield of Diaby, Denilson, Song, Ramsey, Vela, Wilshere, Walcott, Eboue.
The futures bright, people forget how much of the squad weplayed without last season!
STOP CRITICISING PLAYERS BEFORE YOUV’E EVEN SEEN THEM
Nice article by the way, this was not aimed at you guys,just sick of people jumping on the media bandwagon.
Now I’m pretty pleased to see some positive views on this bloke and in particular positive comments from someone who’s watched him rather than the normal band wagon shit! As for me I’ve seen him play a few times – thought he was ok but never been blown away by him ( or as wenger himself said – solid!) . Saying that he’s still pretty bloody young for a center back so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, as I remember Keown making plenty of cock ups at that and older!!!
if he’s replacing Sendaros I’ll be very happy indeed, but if he is here to replace Gallas – I’d be inclined to say we’ve ether gone side ways or backwards!!! But I’ll wait till I see him play a few games for us and see which boots he has to fill before I pass judgement……..
Goal scoring winger? That’s surely a joke…?
this might be our Vidic for all we know, let the man play a game before you start doubting him. This same thing was said about Arshavin even though nobody will admit it. They said he’s in the Russian, it’s to much money, he ain’t proved himself then he arrived at Arsenal and shut everybody up. Thomas might do that something. At the end of the day people are not be happy with anybody that comes in at first. All I’m saying is give the man a shot. He seems really good and he’s very excited to be playing for Arsenal.
LB
What’s the story with Barazite, Kerrea Gilbert and Gavin Hoyte? Are they coming back?
^^^Barazite had immense potential as the reserves second striker, but his stint as a right winger as Derby’s right winger has cast his future in doubt; he’ll end up a good player but it’s up to Wenger to know whether he’ll end up good enough for us and where. Joining a club that, at the start of the season was in termoil didn’t help.
Gilbert attitudes stinks and he will be release when his contract is up this summer. Adams could get away with drink driving etc. because he was big tone, future England captain – Gilbert is just an alright player with a shit attitude.
Hoyte has incredible pace and a new Arsenal academy kid’s technique. Whether that permits a top 4 in Europe (for that’s what we are, i guess) defender, it’s unluckly – considering he doesn’t understand the position for either CB or RB – but he could end up, again, a ‘good’ player as opposed to a ‘world class’ player. Much like his brother, who could one day end up essential to a premiership club once he grows up; but not essential to ‘the’ premiership winners or immense club.
If you want to look at exciting youngsters, it’s better to look at Merida (superior technique); Lansbury (Gerrard-esque determination); Wilshere (just special in many ways); E-Thomas (like Bendtner, his physical strength makes u18s too easy so his technical ability isn’t yet tested, but both have talent in spades); Frimpong (a young Essien, assuming he trains hard and learns every lesson) and Afobe (matched Owen’s records at England youngster levels but with Brady-Bould-Wenger stability treating him to the proper education Owen missed out on, a ruined footballing education that ruined Owen’s career.) These players may not make it but have the potential to be the best in the freaking world if they work for it.
I’m glad we’ve got Vermaelen. Everything I’ve read about him suggests he’s got what we need (I don’t take any notice of all the negative shit). The thing that pisses me off is all the speculation about who he’s going to replace.
Can I just point out that if we lose either Kolo or Gallas we haven’t strengthened at all. Keep both of them!
Then we’ve got 5 good centre-backs, including Djourou and Song. I’d even go so far as to keep Silvestre. Let’s have some competition for places – and decent cover for injuries and the ACoN.
Thanks ‘holic. I like the look of TV, the comments about putting his body on the line, the emphasis on his positional awareness. Character and intelligence will be far more important than a cm or two.
Read the clip from Stammers. The mention of Madrid/Clichy and TV’s ability to cover LB make me wonder if we might just go with Gibbs this year. He’s looking better and better with the U21s. Mixed feelings about that. Gael has always been one of my favourite players but Gibbs might just be a great one for us and the cash might just get us another CB or DM.
Samuel, don’t forget Coquelin. I expect we’ll see a lot of him in the first team squad next year.
I’m not taking this as gospel, but i just read a comment on Elitefootballtalk, by a bloke from belgium. He reckons Vermaelen is slow paced, finds it hard to deal with the long ball and likes to let it bounce before he controls it. If this is the case, I can see some Senderos style mistakes and quick strikers taking advantage on the counter. Hopefully, he was just a bitter *** up to his usual shenanigans and Thomas is more Tony than Swiss Tony.
The fact is that we never play wingers. For the past 11 years, Arsene only bought one winger and that was overmars. Eversince, he has been changing central players into wingers. This is because central players have more goal instinct because they always tend to cutin and shoot form the center. Wingers only cross balls and Arsenal do not play that way. The left back are the only wingers that cross the ball from time to time. This is why we do not buy wingers.
I like you ‘holic your always positive, i just wish more gooners like us were the same!
Anyway on Thomas i think he was signed just as much for his winning mentality as his ability. A good signing in my eyes and i cant wait to see him play. Peoples negitive comments remind me of when we was chasing Arshavin, people were saying “who the hell is he, hes far too expensive blah blah blah” but i honestly think hes doubled the £15m we payed for him in only 6months! People need to give the guy a break and stop judging people before he has even played a game for us.
DM only needed now, if we can hold onto the rest of the squad. Keep Gallas and Toure because if you look at Manures bench it’s as good as the first team, this is a good opportunity to get some depth in central defence. We have plenty of cover in left defence now, we was relying on young Gibbs too much last season with Cliche out we would have been screwed if Gibbs got injured too! now we have extra cover if this situation occurs and we need to build on this on every posistion because as you all know we seem to be cursed with injuries.
Good article. not sure we need anyone else wide with Walcott, Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky (allegedly) and Vela who can play there. agree we need another (big ugly) centre back and a Flamini clone in midfield though. if we get them, i think we can go very. very close in the league this season.
One of the few truly professional looking articles in Arsenal blogs!
Well done and I will be coming back here.
steven f..kin taylor. do u know anything about football
Samuel I agree 100% about the young plaeyrs that you named and I would like to add Ayling and Bartley to that, two very good central defenders and also Coquelin who we will see more of next season. As for a DM i’d like to see Cana or Melo, two very good DM that could do a job for us.
Great post Holic!
I agree with Armory – Someone like Cana or Melo would come in straight away and give whats needed in the middle.
It’ll be interesting what formation we play next season – looks to me Arsene will be doing the Barca one: for example Cesc and Nasri as Xavi and Iniesta with either a new signing playing Yaya’s role – then in attack we could see Theo, Andrey and Eduardo/RVP/Ade as our answer to Terence, Messi and Eto’o?…..
Slow day today Holic. Was going through your golden oldies. Heh. Does anyone doubt Tom Vermaelen NOW? Every club has come offered saying he was offered to them in the past and how they regret missing the bus.