That article's just damage control in my opinion.

He wanted to stay, but leaves because of the "disrespect" of the club refusing to renegotiate his contract early. He also allowed himself to be hawked to clubs around Europe to turn up the pressure.

This whole dialogue through the press just annoys me from both club and player to be honest. It's about the money and Barcelona, throwing a flimsy veil of moral character over the top of it's a nonsense.

we miss those balls over the top

Do you miss the numerous stray balls and positional indiscipline?

Yep, that's the last paragraph. Which is basically at odds with the rest of the sound bites and the way the press are spinning it.

My guess is Song would have wanted to go to Barcelona, but probably thinks he's worth more than what he was getting at Arsenal and what he ended up with at Barca when Wenger cut him loose.

The only surprise is that we didn't put up a fight, given how long all our other transfer sagas go on for. I'm not against how we handled Song but if we're going to continue the rest of the season with Diaby/Ramsey playing most of the games then we've fucked up again.

Song's last season here reminds me of gilberto's last season as first choice. You can't argue with their end product but ultimately they were bad for the team.

Unfortuantely for us someone stepping up and performing like Flamini seems unlikely. I rate diaby but he obviously won't stay fit this season.

How was Bert bad for the team in 06/07? He practically carried Arsenal for half a season.

Not dynamic enough, didn't win enough duels, was never really a ball winner. Our midfield got bypassed easily.

But anyway it wasnt so much that he was bad by himself, just bad for the team. Flamini was perfect for us at the time and as soon as he came in, the midfield improved massivley. Actually a player like the Flamini of 07/08 is perfect for any team. I guess Arteta is sort of doing that for us now but Flamini was better.

If anything, with Gilberto in the team the midfield never got bypassed. He sat back covered for Eboue and Clichy. And praactically defended alone in midfield when Fasbregas sat his arse down up the field cccoss he couldn't handle the physicality.

I'd kill for a Gilberto in the team right now.

Oh, and Arteta is not doing what Flamini did. He's not a headless chicken forr starters. Artetaa is much much much more.

Yes, i remeber a lot of people were crazy about Gilberto that year. But i didn't like him and, apparently, neither did Wenger. It was a surprise when he didn't get the armband and was dropped from the first eleven. This was one of the brilliant moves Wenger made that summer. The other being the aquisition of Sagna when no one saw a need for a right back.

I was glad when he started playing Flamini and then got Diarra because he was making all the right moves for that DM position. If they hadnt both left that year we'd have probably won a trophy by now.

And Flamini was better than Arteta, but yes, Mikel is a very good player.

He got dropped because he was playing Copa America when the season started.

Doubt it.

Flamini better than tet? Fucking hell.

Yup. By quite a bit too.

Best midfield Wenger's ever had. Not my words.

Not right now tho. Right now i'd rather have Arteta. I'm talking about 07/08 Flamini.

He was always a money hungry rat. Reckon after he got his dream move and big pay day he stopped trying... or something. Anyway it was always pretty obvious he wouldnt reach those heights again. For purely footballing reasons he should have stayed but i guess he wasnt interested in that.

Flamini wasn't all that in 07/08 either. He was just a good player who worked well with Cesc.

Flamini wasn't even better than tet in his wildest dreams.

He had a very good 6 months mainly because of the players around him, carried him. When the shit hit the fan...

Some sweeping statements in here. Carry on.

Flamini has never been fit to wipe Arteta's arse, let alone clean his boots.

some the underrating of flamini - and for that matter, hlebs - contribution in 07/08 is amazing. they both turned out to be cunts, but they were both stellar that season, which was coincidentally the season we've looked closest to being title contenders. the only reason we didn't win something that year is injuries which forced us to play the likes of hoyte and eboue together on the right flank (shudders).

in saying that, i'd take arteta over 07/08 flamini every time.

I Am Arsenal Till I Die wrote:

He had a very good 6 months mainly because of the players around him, carried him. When the shit hit the fan...

Agreed, alot of people forgot that after January, he started to abandon his defensive responsibilites and bomb forward alot more, causing cesc (our second highest scorer at the time) to sit back and cover for him.

It was alright for a game or two, but he did it for the final half of the season to woo Milan and it cost us the league.

Interesting. You may be on to something there because due to the disappointment of how we fell away in the end, i have never really analysed that season but i remember an interview with i think Hleb or Rosicky where it was mentioned that Fab, Ros, Hleb and Flam had a side competition about who would score the most goals. Always wondered why Hleb even bothered though

At least Gazza had some sense

So much for Song embarrassing himself in Barcelona colours like many predicted.