Gooner Talk’s Player of the Month: Alex Song (November 08)
Important contributions and some solid performances for Arsenal have earned Cameroonian midfielder Alex Song GoonerTalk.com’s Player of the Month award for November.
How Alex Won The Award
The 21-year-old defensive midfielder started the month with a loss at Premier League newcomers Stoke City. After Ricardo Fuller’s first half goal, French tactician Arsene Wenger introduced Dutch maestro Robin van Persie looking to add some power and class to the Gunners attack. It didn’t happen, and after conceding goal number two, van Persie kicked out at ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen and got his marching orders.
A poor start for Alex, and Arsenal’s inconsistent form didn’t help him. Fenerbahce travelled to the Emirates next and after putting ten men behind the ball for the majority of the match, Luis Aragones’ side forged a 0-0 draw out of a drab game – Robin van Persie came frustratingly close for Arsenal after hitting the upright in the first half.
Samir Nasri proved to be the star of the show as the Gunners triumphed 2-1 over a tough Manchester United team. The Frenchman bagged an astonishing brace after some pin-point Arsenal pass and move work brought a deserved three points home. Alex once again impressed, and protected Arsenal’s backline astutely.
The win against United coupled with drab defeats at Villa and Man City pretty much summed up Arsenal’s season so far. However, after a 1-0 win at the hands of Kyiv, Alex’s season was set to get started – big time.
West London minnows Chelsea hosted the might of Arsenal and it proved to be a tricky but fairly comfortable evening for Alex. After conceding a own-goal close to half time, Robin van Persie came out in the second half and immediately made an impact. His first chance was arguably offside, but Robin smashed it into the top corner of the rippling net and made it 1-1. Then, just 4 minutes later, the Dutchman struck again, this time with a turn and shot, a superb way to win the game and grab all three points.
An improved month for Alex, and there’s surely more to come from the tough-tackling midfield star, Gooner Talk look forward to following Alex’s progress throughout the season.
Is this a joke?
defensively he Is very good but his touch on the ball has been awful
He breaks up opposition attacks but has also been breaking up arsenal attacks
it just shows how inconsistent the team has been this month that i cant really think of anyone who deserves this award
It was difficult to choose an all-round best player. So Song gets this kind of ‘most improved’ award. 😉
April Fools Day not in December natch.
Song’s had a shocking month. How this award goes to anyone but the cap’n (maybe Djorou or Vela) i’ll never know.
song has been consistently poor i think. he doesnt have the footballing brain to play this defensive role and is often found the wrong side of the ball!!
Alex Song is not good enough for Arsenal and never will be. Wengers faith in people like this is the main reason we are struggling this year.
You my friend are a fool of the top order.
Solid proof that your readers don’t watch Arsenal play football, Gooner Chris.
Sorry Gooner Chris you have got this well wrong!!!!! Yes its hard to pick a player but rather you picked Simpson or Vela then Song who has done little apart from a decent performance yesterday
He’s done pretty well mate. Obviously his passing needs to be looked at, but his strength on the ball and protection of the back four is gradually improving, and we’ve seen that in the last few games.
Not sure what my final verdict on song is, i need to watch him a bit more to see what he’s about. That is assuming he gets a run of games, however i know he’s not as bad as some people make out and i thought he had a great 2nd half yesyerday a lot of his work would have gone un noticed to your average fan, but his breaking up of chelseas play in the 2nd half couldn’t really have been better and he protected his back four pretty well.
The fact that you chose Song the best player of the month.. it tells everything about our recent matches and the form of all the others. I mean I see that you wanted to write about Van Persie at first, but he would not have been the best choice either. Well, I think your article is not very well written and what you write usually has little to do with Alex, but hell, thumbs up for Alex Song! (though I feel he’s just running after the ball always, like a ballboy)
Song played really well yesterday, particularly compared with what he used to be like. He is definitely improving but whether he is ready to help us to trophies is another matter… even more so with regards to Denilson…
Potential does not win things, but if Alex can keep the level of performance he put in yesterday then maybe we’ll start doing better. It seems as though he’s not going anywhere so let’s just hope he keeps improving, along with the whole team and give them our support.
gonner chris..i support your choice. SONG has been called to play in all positions and he did well except for right back. I can’t see anyone else in the team who came close to him. VELA..maybe but he’s only been good in the carling cup. If wenger can give him a few games next to bafregas I think he can be a better player
Did you write this for a bet?
I usually agree with what you say Gooner Chris but I don’t think Song will ever be good enough (hopefully i’m wrong)but every time I see his name in the starting line up I just ask myself ‘why?’ We always have one or two players who you always feel can cost us like Senderos, Eboue etc. and for me Song is just one of those players
Sorry, you’re off the mark completely. Song has been the main contributing factor to Arsenal loosing all attacking fluidity this month. The only thing he’s proven this month is that he should be a backup for the central defence – against Chelsea, Kiev and Villa he was immobility in person.
I agree though that its been hard to find an Arsenal player worthy of a November Player of the month. But choosing Song is off, Did you see Clichy berating him against Chelsea?
One thing I like though, is the support you give Song. As fans we should be behind all our players – even when they’ve been as abysmal as Song this month.
i think lots of people have been hughely unfair to Alex. I think that whenever he is called upon he does a very decent job and he was very good yesterday..he has always impressed me and i think he should be there fulltime instead of denny..
noway he did nothing i can not remember one good thing from him.i was focused on him during the game againt cheski and belive me he runs like my father 45 years old.he did apsolutely nothink.have u forgot what he did against spuds.
I am assuming this is a joke. Given nothing in the article can be seen about Song that kind of sums it up so I just hope u are joking. Otherwise it means are fans just dont watch Arsenal anymore which would be very dissapointing
song? are you having a laugh?
while i’ll be the first to admit that this month’s been a shocker (even gael has had a few ‘slip-ups’) i think the award should go to denilson. unfairly maligned in the press (and fan forums alike). in most games over the past month he has stood up and out shone our “captain fabtastic”.
credit where it’s due
Good choice here. Nobody really stands out too much, and he has been fairly consistent.
Can’t believe you picked Song of all players. He’s not as bad as some have suggested but how do you pick him as the player of the month when he has hardly been involved heavily in any of the matches? I would have gone for one of Clichy, Nasri, Denilson, Fab or Almunia.
Where in the article have you actually discussed how Song has played?????
You just lost all credibility with that shocking choice. I hope you are joking, but sadly you are not. The only award Alex Song deserves is Goat of the Month. In fact, I would rather have Pascal Cygan as my holding midfielder. At least that inept Frenchman would occasionally go to ground and could complete at least one pass.
November Goat of the Month: Alex Song
December Goat of the Month: Gooner Chris
Reading a lot of these comments is annoying. Alex Song has so much potential to be a great DM in the future, but like Flamini and others at 20, is just not ready. Anyone know the name Gilberto when he was 20? No? There is a reason for that, its rare 20 year olds have yet learnt the consistancy in many respects (positioning, passing, ball control, tackling, pressuring etc.) that is essential for a DM. At ACM or as a playmaker, positioning and such isn’t vital to your game, in fact I’m not sure it is as noticable and easy to judge any other position for such a thing (unless a striker can never stay off side/a defender always lets a player onside to skin him) and its something that is learnt through experience.
Song is a good tackler and he is inventive in his passing, albeit inconsistant at doing so. He could become a cracking player for Arsenal as he learns from his mistakes and grows up a bit. But he shouldn’t be treated as anything more than back up at the moment and his performances back me up I feel in this assessment.