Wenger said yesterday that Song requested to leave though.

He said that Song expressed a will to sign for Barcelona. Semantics perhaps, but not quite the same thing as saying that he didn't want to play for us.

Bumper Rex wrote:

Don't know if this has been reported.

'Arsenal decided to bank ­£15million for midfielder Song ­instead of giving him a pay rise.'
'Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal Song was willing to stay at the ­Emirates, but wanted a significant increase to his £55,000-a-week wages to bring him in line with the club’s top earners.'

Sounds like he, much as has been reported with Arteta, wanted to renegotiate his contract despite having 3 years left on his current one.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-news-gunners-agree-1267962

We wouldn't sell him for that, negotiations between Song and the club would have been preliminary right now.

I guess Song could have asked for a raise and the club turned it down, by pointing out he had 3 years left on his contract, quite quickly. If Song then was showing his displeasure with said decision vocally within the squad - would provide a plausible explanation of what we have heard rumored.

Bumper Rex wrote:

He would too often try a dangerous pass, a forward run or a dribble when the other two central midfielders were out of position. Diaby didn't do that, the nutmeg incident aside.

Thats exactly what we needed yesterday. Diaby was too safe, he was like a big tall Denilson who occasionally dribbled to nowhere.

Song had found a balance to his play. Diabys natural inclination is to attack but when he focuses on his defensive duties he is afraid to attack. He's just not good enough to be starting for us. And right now with the squad as it is he is pretty much an automatic starter.

Times have changed, we need to pay our players top dollar and I don't buy that Squillaci, Arshavin etc are eating up wages. I don't think the board will offer top wages to anyone even if we managed to clear all the deadwood out of our squad.

With that said Song has his positives and negatives. I'm not going to sit here and pretend he was absolutely awful for us but neither am I going to pretend he was Vieira. His greatest strength also became at times his greatest weakness, his lobbed ball over the top. The two games where that pissed me more than anything was QPR away and Norwich at home, two games where we weren't playing well and Song kept on lobbing balls into row x causing us to lose possession. There is a time and place to try everything and I'm sorry but if by the 5th try something isn't coming off you should know it's neither the time or the place to continue doing it.

It was in his head, every minute of the game he was at Anfield trying to relive that moment. When it did come off however I enjoyed it immensely but the only reason Song did that was because he looked around and saw that our midfield was seriously lacking creativity. I don't know if it was a joint project behind him and Wenger but it did it's job at times.

As for the rumors of his supposed bad attitude, none of that ever came out during the season but instead all we heard was that there was an unbelievable unity and harmony in the dressing room and the team was fighting for each other, Robin was the leader of men and Song was one of the more experienced players. Now that both have left we're hearing stories of RVP and Ramsey fighting after Man City and Song's clowning around and Steve Bould problems? Give me a break, that sort of thing happens in all dressing rooms and it seems to me that someone at the club has leaked this stuff to discredit Song and RVP and soften the blow of them leaving. Now it isn't that we lost a great player in Song, people are saying well if he was a bad influence in the dressing room get him out.

As for his defensive contribution, it will be missed. When Santos and Gibbs went walkabout last season, Song filled in and it was painfully evident against Sunderland that he wasn't there. Sunderland had acres of space to exploit in the first half and they did, Gervinho wasn't tracking back, Diaby was up-field along with Gibbs and Arteta couldn't get over there quickly enough. This caused our center halves to be dragged out of position trying to deal with a problem area where the LB should be. A maruading LB has always been our style of play, when Cashley played for us whenever he went forward Gilberto would fill in for him. We need a player to come in who has that sort of intelligence because if we let Gibbs go walk-about and no one covers, against a better team we will be slaughtered down that side.

Song kept getting "stupid" bookings because he was doing what Denilson failed to do, stop counter attacks before they happened. I know some people like blood and thunder defending, making a last ditch tackle and saving the day but I much prefer stopping problems before they occur and that's exactly what Song did. However when he was attacking and doing those stupid lob passes no one bar Arteta was making those tackles in midfield.

To sum up.

Song is great but he can be replaced, question is of whether or not Wenger will replace him

Kid, have you listened to Alex Fynns podcast on Legrove? http://t.co/0O5UoimW Excellent insight on Darren Dein and how he doesnt give a fuck about Arsenals interest after his dad was back stabbed by the board. It's an hour long, the Arsenal bit starts at 19min.

Lagos wrote:

he and Diaby do dwell on the ball too long as a result slow down our play

Yep. They got this stupid habit of stopping the ball and looking for options, by the time the opposition already fall back in place. Jenkinson is starting to learn that shit as well.

Fantastic.Mr.Fox wrote:

Kid, have you listened to Alex Fynns podcast on Legrove? http://t.co/0O5UoimW Excellent insight on Darren Dein and how he doesnt give a fuck about Arsenals interest after his dad was back stabbed by the board. It's an hour long, the Arsenal bit starts at 19min.

I'll give it a listen Fox, thanks.

Always been ambivalent about him moving on. In his current incarnation, I'm just not convinced by what he adds to the team. If he wants to act like a bell-end on the training ground (as it sound like happened), he can fuck off and enjoy the subs bench at Barca. He'll do alright there, better than Hleb but don't expect miracles from him. Disappointing that we couldn't get another £10m out of the deal but it sounds like Wenger booted him out and for once, I agree with him.

With Song gone, I feel like the roles of the deeper 2 CMs need to be reevaluated, provided we stick with the triangle shape in midfield. I've noticed that quite a few want to see Mikel higher up the pitch - his passing is steady and often find their target, he does have good vision and a long pass, and his ability to keep possession is good enough to play high up against a fast-pressing side, but I think Wenger is rightly concerned about his ability to sprint back when we lose the ball. In addition, Arteta is genuinely clued up when it comes to blocking passing angles, and getting goalside of runners, so he helps Arsene's case to sit back deepest tactically as well.

And that's pretty much how him/Diaby played, but if we end up getting a defensive midfield player (which I feel is absolutely necessary in light of Song's departure), then I think I want a rangey ball-winner who will cover the ground, provided Mikel stays back. All signs point to M'Vila though, who doesn't really do that, so that would probably mean pushing Arteta forward a bit.

Or we could have 3 central midfielders who are intelligent, hardworking, release the ball quickly and do defend as a unit, and have wingers who can consistently create chances.

Clrnc wrote:

Yep. They got this stupid habit of stopping the ball and looking for options, by the time the opposition already fall back in place. Jenkinson is starting to learn that shit as well.

He's not just learning, he was the main culprit that I saw. Not a terrible player but I'm glad we've still got Sagna.

timBO! wrote:

Think it's undeniable that we missed RVp though, unfortunately.

Hard to think he wouldn't have eaten up one of those chances. Trouble I see there is that we've signed two decent strikers but each is individually a step down and I can't see them starting together at the moment.

Bumper Rex wrote:

Sounds like he, much as has been reported with Arteta, wanted to renegotiate his contract despite having 3 years left on his current one.

Sort of thing would drive me insane if I were Wenger.

Mello wrote:

Or we could have 3 central midfielders who are intelligent, hardworking, release the ball quickly and do defend as a unit, and have wingers who can consistently create chances.

The collective press works a lot better in leagues where attacking movements are coordinated and controlled, as both teams attack/defend as units. In England, the amount of tactical cohesion required to overcome physical deficiencies is just too great. Sahin-Arteta-Cazorla is a midfield asking to have the ball hoofed over them, or kicked, and that's because of the ping-pong like nature of the midfield in English football.

This team needs 1 proper enforcer.

No, it doesn't. Man U don't have an enforcer and they tend to do pretty well in this league.

United might not have a recognised tough guy at the moment but they have usually had one in midfield over the course of Ferguson's tenure.

They haven't really had one since Roy Keane. Fletcher perhaps, but he never had that kind of impact.

Most of the midfield 'enforcing' work is done as a team, plus they always have a sturdy defense.

Makoun has signed for Rennes, apparently. Wonder if it's connected to M'Vila's whereabouts.