Diarra isn't very smart. He just needed a little insight to see that he is naturally better than Flamini who is his main competition as Gilberto is past it now. Going off to Pompey could rob him of his place in Les Blues cos if Arsenal wins something big this term with Flamini in form, Diarra might find himself falling down in the pecking order.

Its a pity. Wrong move for him.

Diarra leaves . . . . are we supposed to be crying or sulking over what is, or over what could have been ?

dude has a negative attitude to issues and we say he should go, how does that make anyone fell bad ?

Flamini has been having a nice time even though I atimes feel he is stupid, case in point was how he allowed O Connor to zoom past him to score for Birmingham, but then didnt he know that he was Carling Cup material or does he feel playing for the French team in a few matches guarantees u a first team shirt in Arsenal ? Mumu !

even at Portsmouth does he realise the competition for places even amongst our own brothers ?

Stop talking crap Cougar, stick to what you know will ya?

experience over youth my foot, why is Bertie not benching Flamini despite being a WC winner and Captain of Brazil?

Why was Vieira sold off for Cesc to take his place even though Vieira was miles ahead of Cesc at the time?

Why was Lauren sold off to Pompey when we all knew Eboue was a MOFO at LB?

Why did he sell Overmars and bring in Pires? Was Overmars not way better than Pires at the time?

dude stick to analysing MU, your analogy/reasoning is flawed

There is no distinction like you are trying to make out, if not, Bertie would start games in the CC before Diarra, which he didn't!

Ade was played over RVP NOT because of any disciplinary issues, it was because he was the best COMPLIMENT to T14, RVP is VASTLY Better, even with his antics than Ade, but you can't have two prima donnas on the pitch at the same time.

go back to your 100m Ronaldo analysis and leave Arsenal to us will ya?

i know more than arsenal than u do even if u support then. vieira, overmars and lauren were all due to go when wenger sold them. please, lauren does not play in the lb position. that coming from an arsenal fan is the goof of the century. wenger played ashley cole ahead of clichy even though we all know there was nothing to choose between the two. why didn't fabregas start games ahead of vieira when he came to arsenal? look at u saying vieira was sold off. patrick vieira dumped arsenal for the lack of your continental success. go and read his autobiography and educate urself on club issues and stop printing hokum.

LB, RB, the fact is Eboue and Lauren play the same position. Any ninny would've recognised that as a typo

Vieira 'dumped' Arsenal because of 'lack of continental success' eh? I wonder how many 'continental titles' apart from being part of the most corrupt club in Europe he got in Italy

Football autobiographies are known to be full of shit, or should I now take the crap Cashley or Lampard wrote in the bio's as fact?

Get it in your head. . .Vieira was allowed to leave Arsenal because he knew at 29/30 he would NEVER get a 5 year deal like he would in Juve, so Wenger allowed him to guarantee his future paychecks by leaving. Period.

You're truly a novice if you think there was nothing to choose between Cashley and Clichy, Clichy was way way below Cashley, and was injured half of the time too! Before last season, NO ONE was sure just how much Clichy would perform so shut it. Cashley was the BEST LB in the Prem before he let money get to his head, so don't go making silly comparisons

Why didnt Cesc replace Vieira immediately? BECAUSE HE WAS 16 you PILLOCK!

Its like asking why Nani isn't starting ahead of CR, people claim he will be just as good if not better so why not start him now?

Ok, based on your reasoning, its always experienced first. . .why did Sagna INSTANTLY fit in at RB when EBOUE was around?

Diarra did not get games based on the FORM of Flamini, No experience, NOTHING! If it were a matter of 'experience', Diarra had more caps with the French team than Flamini, so why didn't he start first?

stop depending on complete sports gist and get accurate info mate, you don't know enough about Arsenal to be talking here.

oh lard,
pillock, ninny, get it in your head, shut it -----must u resort to these kind of cheap insults to drive your points home?  nothing irritates me more than a nigerian acting like a wannabe gangstar. i would have ignored your prattle if all these insults come natural to u. the fact that you are forcing yourself to use such demeaning words makes u sound like a poof. your rants should be compared to pasuma trying to feature in an eminem song. i have lost the appetite to carry on with this debate. wannabes don't have a say around me. get a life.

the real Jackal don dey come out small small

pillock , ninny . . .prattle

Ok Cougar, no more insults. You got me exasperated so I needed to switch into 'Jackal Mode'

PS I don't know any 'gangstas' that use pillock and ninny as insults, that would be patently 'ungangstaristic' to me

Alright Mr Original, can you rebut any of the points I listed up there?

PS you're lukcy I didn't unleash my O'sha slangs, they would be unprintable

thank you. . . the debate continues,
ashley cole has nothing on gael clichy when he was at arsenal. ashley is english so it is expected to hear the tabloids go gung-ho over him. afterall, terry gets all the credits at chelsea at the expense of carvalho and makelele. terry's inadequacies was exposed during the world cup when he had no such cover. moving on, what i am saying here is if arsene has to choose between 2 players who are neck on neck in technical ability, he will choose the one that has experience @ arsenal over the other. every manager will stick to the formation that has worked well for them. why exactly was arsenal playing 4-5-1? afterall, wenger has walcott, bendtner and eduardo on the bench.

sagna/eboue's case barely holds water. sagna plays better than eboue at the right back. experience cannot count when its obvious one player is far better than the other. experience counts when there's no daylight between the two. giggs and nani is another example. giggs performance at the start of the season should have condemned him to the bench but ferguson prefers his experience to what nani will offer at any point in time.

Ok, let me track back. . .of course any coach in the world will prefer experience if technical ability is the same.

Cole had nothing on Clichy? You are mistaken my friend, Clichy till now does not have the penetrative goal scoring ability or on the line tenacity of Cashley, he is a much improved player with possibly higher physical stamina and speed, but his footballing brain is not yet at Cole's level, even now.

But that has NOTHING to do with Diarra's issue, he was as good as Denilson/Diaby in talent, I would even say more talented than Flamini, but Flamini's form was BLISTERING, keeping a world cup winning national captain and 11 goal scorer out of the team.

Diarra was foolish if anything, to believe getting into the arsenal XI would be a cakewalk, not with the Calibre of players on our books.

Arsenal sticking to 4-5-1 lies more in the strength of the team at the moment, rather than whether 'it worked well' or not, all our trophy wins in the past decade have come from a 4-4-2 position, so if anything has won us titles, it is that. The 4-5-1 issue was borne out of necessity - that was the best formation playable given the physical/mental readiness of the squad. Note that once Dudu started scoring again, 4-4-2 has returned.

What experience does Flamini have over Diarra in ? Diarra had played as part of a Premiership, FA, CC winning side, even the French team, when Flamini had no caps, what experience was that?

Even Sagna. . .had only a bench place for the France squad, Eboue had played as part of a defence that didn't concede in the CL all the way till the finals, how does that show Sagna is better except on current form?

good question @ sagna. i saw arsenal's pre-season games and i knew sagna was going to be an instant hit. sagna's fitness is unquestionable plus he doesn't engage in theatrics like eboue. sagna supports the attack and rarely "gets caught". as a matter of fact, he is the only arsenal player that will walk into man utd's starting eleven. arsene wenger will play flamini-cesc combo because of the partnership the duo has formed in the last 18 months. it will be folly for any manager to break that trend. besides, most of diarra's supposed experience was as a right back when chelsea was in crisis last season. diarra knows this as much as i do and he decides to leave. there is no way diarra is going to ever disrupt what wenger has carefully built in the last 3 seasons.

my only worry was why diarra didn't see this coming before joining arsenal. the only reason flamini is keeping gilberto on the bench is gilberto's age and tired legs. anderson would also have given schole's a run for his money if scholes didn't get injured. the way the game is being played these days requires loads of running. players cover around 5km-6km hopping around the pitch so the demand favours young players. one of the reasons why arsenal players play with the same stamina from the blast of the whistle till the final whistle. the number of late goals scored is a pointer to that.  i think diarra feels its no contest hence he decided to move on. gabriel heinze also wanted a move when it was obvious evra was getting more games. where? liverpool. a team that has over 55 squad members. u begin to ask yourself if these players have any common sense.

That may be true about Sagna now, but there is no way in truth that AW would've known of that as a certainty.

On the issue of Flamini, you are dead wrong, before the start of this season, Flamini hardly had games in the side, if anything 'formed' it was during the Amsterdam and Emirates cups, not before so it is still a relatively new development.

bottom line? AW reckons with form above all else.

@ debosky,
what about the matches u have battered teams into submission? the glory months of aug-oct especially sept when u won all the games u played and created so many because of flamster/cesc combo. it took ferguson 2 matches to unearth the anderson-hargo combo in united's midfield. managers can only rely on what has worked well for them.

my point is, a few short months previous to then in May, Flamini couldn't even get on the bench, All I meant is that your 18month theory doesn't hold water, similarly for Sagna's instant integration cannot be based on anything except form. Sometimes based on the manager's experience and how he wants his team to play, he will change the dynamic and see how well it works.

Cesc-Flamini was a gamble, given Gilberto's sterling form last season, and it paid off

@ debosky,
flamini took his chance and he is reaping the benefits. gilberto going to the copa america helped flamster a lot. flamster saw this as an opportunity knowing the gentle brazilian is breathing down on his neck. same goes for almunia. he got injured against everton the other night and the moment he saw lehmann warming up for him, he got up and was healed mysteriously. the competition is good for the team but people like diarra(a newbie) will always feel short-changed as he is yet to enjoy his good spell with arsenal. my take is, we cannot blame diarra for wanting to leave arsenal. he wants regular team action.

Diarra's attitude shows that he is not willing to fight for his place. he wants things to be handed to him.

How can you trust such a person in a team?

when the chips are down he will quit.

do we want quitters?

no way.

We can't totally blame Diarra for wanting the first team so badly
As at last season, it was so obvious that Flamini wanted to go to Juve
Gilberto was going to the Copa America
That offer is something any player will take

I think he didn't just expect Flamini to stay and hit this kind of form
and he was told that he could have about two months to hold on the shirt
no player from a top four team will leave his club to come and be a third-string sub
I wish him well though it's really going to be hard for him to break into the Pompey team

@ Cougar
Its allright to be ambitious, but hey why not bide your time a bit?
6 months is certainly too short a time, no matter what 'silly promises' you got(i dont believe that story)
We might be seeing another Nic anelka in the making becos he has already told Pompey fans that if another big club comes calling, he will be off. What does that tell u about Monsieur Diarra?

eldee,

THANK YOU !!!!!

HNIC,
it's very possible wenger promised diarra certain things over a certain period of time.
it's also possible wenger hasn't lived up to them.
shot ! it's even possible they both agreed he'd live by january if those promises don't materialize !
what do we know ? the press

Diarra is a prat , like HNIC said, here is what he has said to the Pompey faithful;

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2242830,00.html



this coming from a professional footballer . And he thinks a Good Coach will look at his behaviour and want to sign him Thank God Nic Anelka has learnt his lesson (So much so that he is giving advice ).

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2242806,00.html

and whoever said Viera dumped Arsenal  really is a plonker, so i guess Ruud dumped United right

GOONER 89

loyika,

i guess that makes wenger an idiot cos diarra didn't say too differently when he left chelsea.
and the wise wengay bought him.

y'all should let players be !

@ wormedup,
good job! arsenal fans are too harsh when it comes to players leaving their clubs. if a player wants out because he is not getting enough action then play him often or let him go n seek a greener pasture. why slate him? alan smith left for newcastle and united fans all wished him well. he was sent off and he still got a standing ovation from 76,000 die-hard united fans. i cannot see gooners doing that to vieira, pires, henry or ljunberg. all they do is boo their ex-players.

@cougar
u got it all wrong there, did u miss the report where henry said he'll still come to emirates and watch games when he's free
when he said he'll like to work in arsenal after his career ends. . .
T14 is an arsenal legend and he is respected at that,
theboard got criticised for selling viera by these same arsenal fans. . .
pires is one of the main figures in arsenal opus
the ones that get the heat from the crowd are the traitors like ljunberg and cashley cole that went to london teams when we needed them the most.
besides diarra is not even worth a standing ovation, alan smith left man utd by first paying respect to the fans
not by releasing autobiographies to diss the rest of the players

@ eldee

Very well said.
Kanu,Lauren and Campbell were not booed when Pompey came to the Emirates this season.In fact, a section of the crowd kept singing Tony Adam's praises, it became so embarassing,
You can't compare that to Ljungberg or Cashley,
I tell u that when TH14 returns to the Emirates again, he will be given a standing ovation.
Smith's case is far different when compared with Diarra's.
C.Ronaldo said to the whole world (after the world cup fiasco between England and Portugal where he got Rooney sent off)that it was only at the Emirates stadium that he didn't get booed.How about that?

AW bought Diarra for 2million pounds and sold him for 5million. All inside six months. This is wall street class.

@ hnic,
thats a blatant lie. the only reason he didn't get booed at the emirates was by the time he played at the emirates, he has converted his haters into admirers. even then, he still got booed but not as much as what he got when the premiership began in august 2006. ronaldo didnt play at the emirates until january 2007 so forget that theory. don't kind yourselves to believe henry will not be booed if he comes to the emirates. arsenal fans are sometimes irrational with their actions and it makes one sick. why will any arsenal fan boo edgar davids? is that not abnormal? especially when the game was a dennis bergkamp's testimonial game.
@ sirwebs,
its a disgrace to arsene wenger. he has turned arsenal into a selling club. big clubs buy players not sell to make profits. arsenal and west ham are now on the same level. when a manager goes into the transfer market to make profits rather than buy quality players to strengthen his squad then he is on a self-destruct mission.

@ Cougar
Which is the lie?
[b]Fact-[/b]Ronaldo said so
[b]Fact-[/b]He wasn't booed at the Emirates
So, where is the lie?
Who cares whether he has won over anyone by the time he played at Arsenal?
Wait till Henry return to the emirates and see d standing ovation he will receive.(Arsenal's all time highest scorer)
I would boo Edgar if he played at Onikan stadium, as a gooner.
He played for the spuds, even if it was for a short time,
I am sure u know the intense rivalry between Arsenal and Spurs,
Adebayor may not be a favourite with everyone, but he has won over a lot of gooners, Why? because he always scores against the spuds.

Cougar
why did they boo davids?The same reason man utd fans booed stevie G(in a friendly game.Cant remember wat the game marked but ronaldo scored a free kick and diouf scored a cheeky spot kick)
even the comentator described their action as "disgusting".

Cougar
why did they boo davids?The same reason man utd fans booed stevie G(in a friendly game.Cant remember wat the game marked but ronaldo scored a free kick and diouf scored a cheeky spot kick)
even the comentator described their action as "disgusting".

@ ritchboy,
man utd fans will not single out stevie g and boo him. that is a white elephant lie.

Cougar
OMG! Are u a manchester united fan at all? Man utd played a fr

Why should they boo Davids? simple he is an ex-Spurs player.
That was the first match being played in Ashburton Grove and some rival player is involved
It is totally acceptable for us to to boo any player that has ever worn our rival's shirt
Except they come and play for us like Diarra and Campbell

Remember the england squad was not booed at emirates after they missed Euro08 qualification
majority of the prem clubs even booed thier own players that have at any time played in the england team e.gbentley

@ritchboy
that match ur talking about is the man utd vs uefa XI