If there was one emotion not hugely expressed by the confirmations of Abou Diaby and Lukas Podolski, it was that of surprise. If you didn’t find this extraction inevitable you probably don’t follow Arsenal that very well.
Podolski left for Galatasaray after a season where he made almost zero impact (mostly down to lack of chances). While his left foot is killer and he was once a definite big-name in the game, it’s not so hard to see Arsène Wenger’s side of things. He took too many wages chasing too few appearances, and even when he played, there were times he didn’t look entirely convincing, right?
Couldn’t the same be said of Abou Diaby?
I know Diaby was said to have a lot of promise, but I’d be lying if I ever saw him and thought if he even had the potential to match Wenger’s patience. Sure there were those games against Liverpool and Manchester City where he was monstrous, but what about the anonymous cup final against Birmingham? The 4-4 at Newcastle where he got an unnecessary red? Getting himself sent off at the Bolton stadium, whatever it’s called?
I don’t have a thing against people who lie back and earn their £50Ks while not doing anything. Indeed, I don’t even think Diaby was that kind of footballer. I thought he was a committed player whose body couldn’t keep pace with his determination. The fact that he denied wages at the tail-end of his Arsenal career proves the honour in him.
Despite my sympathies toward the way his time at North panned out, I do feel he’s been overrated by us. I’m not saying he was a terrible player by any stretch, but to assume he was some uber prodigy is very ill-informed. For every stormer at Liverpool there was an anonymous showing in the Capital One Cup.
It’s the same with Podolski. There is no doubt he was mighty helpful at times we needed his left firecracker, but they were negated by times when he just didn’t turn up. Ultimately, synonymous to Diaby, even he couldn’t cut the mustard and paid the price.
What mildly irritates me is the hypocrisy greeting the departures’ of both these players. If you think Podolski is a social media fraud that’s alright. If you don’t have any sympathies for how his Arsenal career panned out that’s grand. But please, don’t use a different kind of gravy when it comes to Diaby’s departure.
Granted, he was injured, and granted, he could have been something special (although I seriously doubt it). But the moral of the story is that he, unlike the Rosickys and the Wilsheres, he couldn’t distinguish himself as an asset to the club, despite being given loads of chances. Don’t let Arsène Wenger’s faith pendulum your opinions.
It happened with Theo Walcott too. When Wenger’s title challenge fell apart after Walcott did his ACL, he proved a handy excuse of why he failed to win the league. All Arsenal fans jumped on the bandwagon and spared no expense blaming “sheer luck” in the form of Walcott’s untimely injury. Back then, no one hesitated bigging up Walcott’s absence because it suited Wenger’s story.
What about now? During most of the second half of the season, the apparent final key to Arsenal’s title challenge hardly got a start. And when it became clear Wenger didn’t rate him that highly, suddenly Theo’s “just a headless chicken”?
Sometimes I feel compelled to remind people that they are welcome to have an opinion of their own, instead of blindly adopting Wenger’s.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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