Diarra is a fool + Arsenal-Fulham preview

Yesterday it was made official that Lassana Diarra had left Arsenal for Portsmouth for a figure reported to be around £5.5 million. The reason for the Frenchman leaving was of course his need to play first-team football, something that he couldn’t find at Arsenal with Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini asserting themselves as the chosen pairing in the centre of the pitch.

Today Diarra spoke for the first time about his transfer and essentially admitted that the move to Portsmouth is nothing but a stop-gap in his career. It certainly makes for interesting reading.

“The people at Portsmouth know that I will not spend my life at the club. I was able to add a clause to my contract. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I already know that everything will go well. I don’t want any more battles.

“My choice could shock and surprise people, I know that. Some are already saying that in going to Portsmouth I am making a mistake regarding my chances with France but I don’t think so.

“I need to play and I really want to think about myself, about those who appreciate me. I read that Arsenal wanted to keep me but when you want to keep someone, you do that by playing them.”

Diarra; what a fool!Before I read these comments I was reasonably quick to defend Diarra for all the previous statements he had made in the past. As I read them, he wanted first-team football to show what he could do in order to impress Raymond Domenech and make it into the French starting team for Euro 2008. I thought that fair enough. But these latest comments just show up what a selfish, disloyal and most of all unintelligent person he appears to be.

Selfish because he only wants to think of himself, not caring about the club he represents. Disloyal because he signed a clause in his contract to allow him to leave to a bigger club at any moment should the opportunity present itself. Unintelligent, because despite already being at two big clubs in Chelsea and Arsenal he has not learned one thing about the challenges playing at a big club entails. To be so stupid as to want to play for a big club and then not expect to be challenged for a starting team position is just ridiculous. At first I thought Diarra was lacking in ambition, but now I realise he’s just a fool.

Yesterday I didn’t mind that he had left, today more than happy about it. I’ve always been proud of the way the majority of Arsenal players seem to have a brain to go with their exceptional footballing talents but it’s clear that Diarra is not part of that quota. A good player he may be, but a smart one he is not. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.

The other news in the build-up to the Fulham game is that while Tomas Rosicky will be available after recovering from illness, Arsene Wenger revealed that Arsenal have lost both Robin van Persie and Johan Djourou for at least a couple of weeks through respective thigh and groin problems.

“Compared to last week we have Robin van Persie who is out for a few weeks. I believe Tomas Rosicky will be OK to come back. But Johan Djourou is out as well. He has had an inflammation of his groin and in the next two weeks he will not be capable to play.”

It will be nice to have Rosicky back, but losing van Persie and Djourou for a few more weeks is very disappointing. I was really hoping that Djourou would step in for Kolo Toure at the back in the Ivorian’s absence but it looks like Arsenal will be relying on Philippe Senderos for a short while longer yet. To be frank, despite his decent performance against Birmingham I remain a little bit worried.

It’s been a while since van Persie had something to celebrateFour strikers for a reason 

Van Persie’s absence is also a major disappointment, but in my eyes a somewhat expected one. There are a lot of people who mix up the common head cold with the flu and it was clear that van Persie was suffering from the flu, which usually means one or two weeks of bed-rest and a severe lack of energy. If he had a thigh problem at the same time as he got the flu then it will have severely hampered his body’s ability to recover from the injury and I’d expect that’s why he will be out for two or three more weeks.

A couple of people have suggested in the comments that Wenger needs to dip into the transfer market and bring in a world-class striker to compensate for van Persie’s persistant habit of being injured. I disagree. The whole point of having four strikers in the squad is to cover for when the main forwards get injured. If you bring someone in you push the likes of Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo da Silva down the line and when van Persie returns from injury you have a massive selection problem.

Both the Dane and Brazilian-born Croatian deserve their opportunities to show what they can do alongside Emmanuel Adebayor in van Persie’s absence. All this talk about needing a new forward is rubbish. Adebayor has scored 13 goals in the league already this season, more than any other out-and-out striker in the Premiership. Eduardo has just hit some nice form and Bendtner will always provide something for the team if called upon.

The team for tomorrow’s match looks quite predictable. Manuel Almunia should take his usual place in goals behind a back four of Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Philippe Senderos and Gael Clichy. Mathieu Flamini and Cesc Fabregas will start in the middle of the pitched and should be flanked by Alexander Hleb on the right and Tomas Rosicky on the left. Up front I’m expecting Eduardo to partner Adebayor to form the last part of a 4-4-2 formation.

Fulham sit 19th and should be beaten by Arsenal tomorrow. A lot of supporters will be hoping for a bit of battering and I will be among them. While I feel that Wenger and his squad are right in the race for the Premiership it has been a while since they’ve put in a really great performance and I think tomorrow could be the game when things click back into gear. As such, I’ll go for a 3-1 win with Fabregas getting back to form and getting on the scoresheet.

Just before I go I urge those readers who use Facebook to join a couple of groups that I recently created. The first is simply the ‘Arsenal FC Blog Readers’ group and the second is the ‘Lassana Diarra is a Selfish, Disloyal and Unintelligent Fool’ group. If I was Arseblogger that last word would probably start with a ‘c’, but I’m just not that type of guy. Just make sure you’re logged in before you click on the links.

What do you think?

Have your say on Diarra’s attitude or the Fulham match by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. Great Blog. Diarra is just deluded. Let’s hope Portsmouth give him the platform he deserves. On the Bench again !!!!!

  2. Lassana is going 2regret this move,i thought he had more brain than mucus on his peanut head,l was looking foward to seeing him on the rb,with sagna the steel taking king kolo’s cb.

  3. Diarra dame fool,sniffs of,has he a brother as a agent like Anelka!!.Albeit,we need cover in midfield,if fabregas is injured,we have over the hill Da silva left as cover,Wenger,open your eyes!!.Were joint top,if there one thing Ferguson does,is continually freshen and stregthen the squad!!.Lets hope,Wenger knows still!!!
    Also,i won’t to start a debate,to bring in Samba style drums into the Arsenal crowd,to go withthe style of football and highten the atmosphere at Arsenal,would be cool!!.

  4. “I thought he had more brain than mucus on his peanut head.”

    Edu, that is by probably the funniest comment I have ever read on this blog. Keep ’em coming!!

  5. Tony – Cheers mate, appreciate the kind word. It would be ironic if he found himself back on the bench when the Africans return, but it’s unlikely. He’s going to cop some stick when Portsmouth return to the Emirates, that’s for sure.

  6. Diarra has lost it. I thought he had more grey matter in his peanut head but he has proven otherwise.

    He is the type of baby who will cry when he sees ice cream as he still clings to her mum’s breast.

    SF – I have been on holiday and with the current post election turmoil in Kenya things have been so slow here. We feel like refugees in our own country.

    WE NEED PEACE TO PREVAIL AS THIS BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OF OURS (KENYA )WILL START BLEEDING SOON

  7. Completely agreed about Diarra; it’s just a shame he didn’t take his lazy, useless mate Diaby with him.

    Not sure why you’re worried about Djourou’s absence. He was utter garbage against Spurs – mistiming aerial balls and hoofing it forwards aimlessly, and seems to have really gone backwards since going out on loan.

    Senderos was a lot better than “decent” against Birmingham (albeit they weren’t the greatest offensive threat), and although you can often rely on him to make at least one almighty cock-up per game, he’s the best option we’ve got right now.

  8. Yes this young man is bit deluded about his abilities obviously. Never even thought about the fact that he said this is a stepping stone to greener pastures while not being able to graze at the other 2 greener ones as much as he wanted to(great observation). A good player,poor attitude. I would’nt want him if i was a Portsmouth Fan. Y would u want a player that says b4 he is reading to leave before he even plays 1 match 4 u (stupid as hell). Arsene is a genius bcuz this attitude would have shown up in different areas, this dude would have wanted to captain the side soon and if he didnt get his way would have thrown himself on the ground! Make money ang get rid of poison at the same time!

    Oh, Diaby is a excellent player! y do we think that every player will be great just like that. They still need time. every youth does not mature at the rate of Fab! come on stop disrespecting our own players, PLEASE!

  9. Diarra was acting funny like an adolescent wanting to rule the world. But one thing for him is that successful people have a greater element of patience with their choices and actions everyday. Pompy alone would not guarantee him a place in Le Blues. First, Domenech is known for his dislike for arrongant players. And, secondly, no player i can remember leaving Arsenal without Wenger’s blessing or in a good way, has prospered else-where. Their hopes and ambitions have always evaporatyed soon after leaving. Even just Diarra’s personality problem, from the way he acted, can hardly meet his wishes other than frustrations as tailored to it throughout his career in football.

  10. Good Arsenal Day to every one and good blog.unlike all the negative views i have seen concerning the move by Diarra.To be fair enough Diarra is a good player (DESPITE HIS IMPATIENCT ATTITUDE) and it’s unfortunate that he should leave arsenal simply becoz he did not get in the first choice in the arsenal team.Well i believe it’s a good choice he has made because it’s very important in his career that he remains to his top form by playing regulary.It is frastrating to go to work and find that they is no work to do.I think it’s both good for ARSENAL and DIARRA.AS A TRUE ARSENAL FAN I WISH DIARRA ALL THE BEST AND BRAVO TO ARSEN VENGER. BENRRY

  11. vaaaannnnnnnnnnn persieeeeeeeeeeeeeee ………. i love u …………

    by : yhaz_mind

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