Did we miss out on Ribery?

I have to ask this question, did we miss out on Franck Bilal Ribery? I ask this because recent injuries to Rosicky and Hleb have meant a lack of cohesion and player power for this Arsenal side.

Arsenal play with pace, passing and movement. Ribery fits the bill in all of these. Rosicky and Hleb for me are hugely important to this Arsenal side. They are such clever players and are at the heart of alot of Arsenal moves. They are full of movement and seem to have so much time on the ball when it's at their feet. When they are missing, it seems Arsenal lack creativity at times. Obviously we have Cesc who is just as important, but he can't do it alone. I think that Cesc, Rosicky and Hleb are the most influential players when our passing and movement are on form.

Ribery would have been a great signing for Arsenal. He has great close ball control and runs around players with ease, a bit like Hleb. He has a great deal of pace and is doing very well at Bayern Munich. I know he isn't the out and out winger who keeps out wide and delivers cross after cross that alot of Gooners want, but I think he is a like for like player for Hleb or Rosicky. He could very easily slot into the Arsenal side with the way that he plays the game.

In recent games the whole side have struggled, but if you ask me I'd say the two who seem to be struggling the most are the wide players. In this I mean the "Back up" players, Diaby and Walcott.

Diaby seems to hold on to the ball for too long, which slows up our play. I admit in his defence, he isn't a natural wide player. But it's so frustrating to see him hold it when a simple pass is all that's needed! Believe me, I rate Diaby and I hope long-term he will play in the middle but hopefully he will cut this out of his play and dribble when needed and pass when it needs to be passed.

I think Walcott seems to be struggling with confidence. He has great pace and that is what defenders hate. I'd love to see him running at defenders, taking them on but he seems inhibited at times. Long-term he sees himself as a striker, but he must learn the basics of the game first, and that's why he is played on the wing.

I believe that if Ribery had signed, we would have enough "wide" players in the squad to cope when either Rosicky or Hleb are unavailable. He is in my eye's an Arsenal type of player and could adapt to the Premiership easily. He also has good experience, having played for France in a World Cup Final. The way he plays football is exciting to watch, and that is what we've grown accustomed to at Arsenal. I honestly belived that we would sign him when we were linked with him in the past because of the way he plays. He is a very typical Wenger player.

Maybe we didn't sign him because he is a big star now in his own right, and Wenger doesn't sign stars, he makes them. Plus he would have cost a huge amount of money and thats not Wengers style either. But this is one player that I wish Wenger would have taken a chance on and signed. Think of Rosicky, Hleb and Ribery, that would have been awesome.

Keep it Goonerish.