A miracle took place in north London on Saturday.
During Arsenal’ shome match with Reading, a game which they won 4-1, Gervinho put in a Man of the Match performance by contributing a goal and two assists.
There were reports from the Emirates that fans were so shocked that some collapsed and had to be treated at the ground.
All joking aside I have to say, as an Arsenal fan, it was good to see Gervinho put in a performance that he has on so many occasions teased us with. Despite this performance, however, I am still unforgiving of his miss against Blackburn in the F.A Cup and his awful showing against Bradford in the League Cup.
But when a player is subject to so much of the fans ire and criticism it is nice to see them go out and find a bit of form which is the best way to silence critics and get fans back on your side.
Gervinho still has a bit to do before everybody’s convinced he can be a consistent source of goals but more performances likes this, even against Reading, and the one against Swansea two weeks ago will not hurt his case.
I have always thought, optimistically perhaps, that deep down in that massive forehead of Gervinho’s that might be a good footballing brain that can operate at a high level. I’m not so sure there is but the these are encouraging signs at least and, you never know, the Ivorian could be key to Arsenal’s late season top four push.
Jerry van Wav
Definitely a case of “more by luck than judgment”! After two seasons of “headless chicken” impersonations he's finally had a good game against a fairly poor team.He doesn't have a “footballing brain” in his head and simply isn't good enough to play for Arsenal.Compare his ability to Llungberg,Pires,Overmars and Parlour.Players that helped Arsenal win trophies playing in a similar role.Even,dare i say it,Nasri added far more in his short tenure than Gervinho.If we are able to offload another underachieving Ivorian International over to Turkey, for a reasonable fee, then “get rid”….PLEASE!!!
I don't agree with your harsh, unwarranted and biased assessment of Gerv. Yes, he had a dip in a form after the AFCON last time around but the rest is down to Arsene and his poor man-management skills!
Is it a coincidence that we have a collection of players that came with excellent reputations from pervious clubs but failed to deliver for us? (Arshavin, Gervinho, Chamakh, Podolski, Merts, Giroud, Squilachi, yes evn him – he had pedigree and was france international!). You may argue that some of the mentioned players will thrive at AFC but I beg to differ. They will not be given an opportunity to thrive according to their strengths but will be asked to play “the AFC way – whichever that is!” You can't take a Ferrari that has just won a Formula 1 race and load it with 4 tonnes of bricks to take them to a site you are developing. It is quite simply not meant to do that kind of work! Good mangers are adaptive to their strengths, challenges faced and situations faced. They are not routine (sorry, for blind AFC supporters, you call it “sticking to principles”. ) Let us not be carried away by the results aginst Reading (a relegation doomed club that is in the midst of changing managers, tactics and even players loyalties). The game that Arsene want AFC to play will work against inferior opponents who will be suicidal enough to play an open expansive game. The minute we come across a group of “dedicated professionals who will play to their strengths (sorry again, for AFC dreamers, these are called teams who pack the bus”, our efficiency goes out of the window and we end up blaming everbody and anybody except our poor selves.
I don't accept that we have great players in certain matches (Arshavin Vs Liverpool, Diaby vs Liverpool, Gerv vs Reading etc) but poor in other matches. It is simply a question of the boss getting his tactics and applications wrong, and yes even the selection of players, subtitutions and their timings as well. We either need to show AW the door or get a strong Assistant and Board who will tell him as it is, give him targets to achieve, assess his performances and hold him accountable for failure to deliver! Nobody is above reproach and our biggest weakness is being a single-person club. If the big man says, the season is a success, everybody just nods their heads and syas “Amen”.