So let's just go through these:
- Clichy - Obviously better than what we have now, but even you must concede he made too many mistakes. Plus how do you keep a player when he his being offered twice as much money by the new boys on the block?
- Verm - no argument there.
- Gallas/Toure - Gallas is a player who is no longer top quality and divided the dressing room. Toure - again, how could we have kept him given the offer on the table from City.
- Eboue - Please, I know he's your best mate/top bloke/lover, but do you really think he's better than Sagna. No, he's not.
- Reyes - Are you delusional? He only ever did the business in fits and bursts and as soon as he arrived he was whinging about being homesick. How were we meant to keep him happy?
- Diarra - Never did the business for us, and is just a mercenary really. Good player, but he's never going to stay at a club for a prolonged period.
- Cesc - No argument, but was always going to Barca sooner or later.
- Arshavin - Probably no argument. His stats show how important he can be to the team, just wish he'd put a bit more effort in when he's having a bad game. You know within the first five minutes of a game whether he's going to have a good game or not. Frustrating too often for me.
- Bendtner - Like Eboue, I know you love him, but he's had his chance and never really grabbed it by both hands. You can argue about him being played out of position, which is a valid point, but first touch is woeful and thinks he's far better than he actually is.
- RVP - no argument.
Sagna is absolutely gash and yes Eboue is FAR better than him at right back, he's also a defensive midfielder for his country where he's FAR better than anything we've got.
Bendtner HAS done the business for us, whenever he gets starts he gets assists and goals, check his scoring record vs games, he's one of the best the club has had in years, we simply don't play him. Chamakh was also VERY good in the first half of the season, RVP got fit and Wenger simply threw him on the bench and ignored him, many players get that treatment at Arsenal.
Diarra has done the business everywhere he's been played, we didn't play him so he left, he's not a mecenary. Chelsea didn't play him, so he left, we didn't play him so he left, he went to Pompie and was absolute instrumental to winning the cup, they got offered 20mil, while 80mil in debt, he left.
We decided rather than play him, we'd stick with Song/Denilson instead, HUGE mistake.
Reyes, errm, you do realise he outscored/out assisted Nasri, Theo, Arshavin, any other winger we've had since. He's also been fantastic at Athletico since he went back to Spain pretty much. I didn't say he's the best winger in the world, he's MUCH better than what we have now and much better than Gervinho.
Gallas was also superb last season, better than anyone we had playing all last season, he also proved without a shadow of a doubt what a captain he is. Don't forget what ACTUALLY happened. Arsenal were playing like turd, Wenger was doing nothing, Gallas stepped up, talked out, Wenger dropped him, got thrashed, brought him back in while making other changes, and Arsenal improved significantly. Yeah, Gallas fell on his sword to help the team, the team was more important to him, and the performances, than looking bad...... thats the perfect example of a captain.
As for Toure, yes, we can turn down any offer, he was quality, but was being shifted out of the club which is why the offer came in. Wenger had been dropping him for 6 months before he left and it was known Toure was unhappy. Gallas improved the Spurs defence, Toure improved the City defence, Arsenals defence got worse, theres really nothing to argue about there.
As for Clichy making mistakes, no, no one can ever name these mistakes, when finally forced to, they come up with 2, or 3, less than almost any other defender out there. All players make some mistakes, Sagna makes significantly more that directly lead to goals, Clichy I can think of 2, one he made up for with a great tackle and the ref gave a ridiculous penalty.
Clichy has the lowest rate of conceding posession of all the top left backs in the league, makes more tackles, has the highest tackling success rate.
