Your Says of the Day: Vermaelen past his best, Blind should stay

Oli Fisher
Thomas Vermaelen: Arsenal return mooted

Our readers debate Thomas Vermaelen’s potential return to Arsenal, who needs to stay and leave Man Utd and why Saido Berahino is right to reject West Brom’s contract offer.

If you have anything to add on these, or any subject, join the debate right here.

 

Arsenal fans divided on possible Vermaelen return

Rumours are picking up that Verm is set to leave Barcelona and wants to come back to Arsenal.

Not sure about this one. The stories go that Barca want £10m, which seems a bit steep to me, for a 30-year-old injury prone player.

At the same time, while I didn’t really follow what he was up to in Spain, he was definitely one of Belgium’s better players at the Euros and maybe with the way the market is right now, £10m is the equivalent of £5m a couple of years ago.

He’s not the top CB he once was and that we need now, but with Mert becoming less reliable and the jury still well out on Gabriel, might be worth a punt as back up.

End of the day, I really can’t see Wenger spending big on defence, if he spends anything at all and Verm coming home would be better than nothing.

Al_The_Gooner

 

He gave us some good moments, granted. Perhaps the one I always remember was the 94th minute winner against Newcastle at home, 2011/12 season.

But I think we have to move on and we also have to realise that the club is in a position now, financially and otherwise, to have ambitions that extend far beyond those of that period. If I didn’t think Vermaelen was good enough then, then he certainly isn’t good enough for us now.

He tried to be a good leader – I never believed it came to him as naturally as many thought – and to lead by example. And that’s fair. But we can and MUST do better.

As I said, there are many unknown names out there that would cost less AND do a better job – particularly in areas where we are deficient defensively like dealing with aerial threats and limiting space around the box for shooters.

PS: That Silvestre move was when it started to fall into place for me that Wenger wasn’t a horse worth backing anymore.

barber_

 

Blind is a key player

United should keep Depay and Blind, me being Dutch I know how they are playing and the first season is always tough, surely under a loser as LVG. Depay is a great talent, even CR7 named him in his top five from the biggest talents so far. The only problem with Depay is that his personal life is getting into the media too much, but his work rate is fantastic.

Just give him a chance to see what he could do when he’s starting many matches in a row. From Blind, no need to say anything, just look at last season, his vision and being smart in the match, Mourinho needs that in a player.

Loney_striker

 

Would be a shame to see Blind leave. He showed last year how adaptable he is. Very good LB and DM. Obviously not a Mourinho type CB but with Jones made of glass and Bailly yet to settle in, he could still be a very important squad player for us.

homerjay540

 

Can’t believe JM is actually considering getting rid of Blind. I would have got rid of Carrick and put Blind in his place in the squad.

If he is happy to get rid of players like Mata and Blind but keep Jones, Valencia and Ashley Young then I would be seriously worried.

I look at that potential 24 man squad including Pogba and I still cant see it being good enough to win the PL…

rs83

 

Sympathy for Berahino

Saido Berahino: Backed to make Roy Hodgsons squad

At the risk of upsetting a few fans I tell you why I have a bit of sympathy for Saido. Yes I was as annoyed as anyone at last summers events. On the face of it a spoilt kid insulting our club and acting in the manner he did, especially as our club has done a lot for him and his family.

However he is young and made a mistake, I’m sure all of us on here have said the wrong thing and thrown our toys out the pram in the heat of the moment. What we all wanted was Saido to score lots of goals.

Here is my problem he wasn’t given the chance! His first game back we played villa away, we won 1-0 and Saido scored, Great exactly what was needed, but then he was bombed out of the team.

He didn’t start a game from October to February having Lambert and Anichebe played ahead of him even Craig Gardner played up front instead of him! Why? We don’t really know as TP seemed to have a different excuse from week to week.

From his head not being right to not being fit. All the time stating in the media that he was working hard day in day out! None of his excuses made sense. In my opinion that TP wanted to sell in January and was playing poker with Jeremy Peace.

Once January was over and he was still at Albion, he was suddenly playing again. So he was rubbish and didn’t score any goals. Who the hell would in our team! We are so negative! The problem is that Saido and so many other great strikers are only a good as the service they get – which at albion is nothing.

Why would he sign a new contract at a club where he knows the managers style doesn’t suit him where he won’t improve because of the manager and where he won’t score goals. Yes he messed up he is only human. But moving forward if TP is in charge he has to leave!

lesbaggie

 

Jones not good enough for United

There’s been a few occasions where he’s run the ball out of the defence tricking his way past oncoming attackers. At times he looks really good but at times he looks like he’s never been on a football pitch before.

He’s just got to stay injury free and get a run in the team, then he can be judged. Everyone was writing Smalling off for similar reasons and he’s turning into a top quality CB so maybe Jones can do the same, who knows.

happyhurling

 

Unbelievably lucky to be at this club.

Fergie you are right he is not talented. I really dont know what people see in him.

Reason why he is always injured is because he is not built like a footballer. He always gets caught out and gets injured trying to cover for his mistakes. Have you ever seen him in a control?

A top defender is not one who gets stuck in, throwing his body all over the place. A top defender is someone who can read the game and doesn’t get into a situation where he needs to put in a last ditch tackle.

If Jones wasnt English i doubt he would be a professional footballer.

Anyway cant see him going. I think JM sees him as our JT

rs83

 

Chelsea need to give young players a chance

We are very bad with our young players, basically we don’t give them opportunity. Or we’d recruited wrong players when they were young and they turn out to be not good enough for Chelsea standard.

Last player from academy who became a regular – John Terry, reflecting how bad the situation is.

aindro