I can understand letting Vieira go. He wasn't at his strongest last season (unlike the season before, which is surely a factor in not letting him go last summer for more), and in fact when Arsenal were at their strongest, right at the start of the season, Vieira wasn't even in the team. Injured or suspended, I can't remember, but Arsenal were detroying teams without him.
Keeping him would have been fine, but I can understand letting him go. It's a good amount of money, keep him a couple more years and you're going to see that price down to the £7 milion range at best. In Gilberto Silva, Hleb (haven't seen him yet but hear he's good), Fabregas and Flamini, Arsenal have got 4 good and varied central midfielders fighting over 2 places.
And Arsenal are no Chelsea, or even a Man Utd. They need to sell to buy players generally, and what other position could they sell in and actually get a lot of money, without leaving themselves short? The only one I can think of is left back. Sell Cole and bring Clichy in, but then you don't have the depth to cover that position that they do in central midfield. And Arsenal are going to need that sort of money if they want to compete with Chelsea, they're woefully short in some positions.
In other news, Shaun Wright-Phillips is almost certainly off to Chelsea, assuming he can agree terms and passes a medical.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4621425.stm
£21m, though I have to say it's a strange purcahse from Mourinho. Don't get me wrong, he's a wonderful player, but how on earth can you keep Cole, Duff, Robben and Wright-Phillips happy? He just can't stop buying midfielders it seems, this is the exact thing he did with central midfield (and is still doing).
I decided to work out who it would be best for Chelsea to play, based purely on goals and games last season (they're the only stats I have). And who
should be fourth in the pecking order of four wonderful talents.
Oh and I've thrown Lampard in there as good measure, just to compare a midfielder's goalscoring prowess.
First of all it has to be said Wright-Phillips is playing for Man City, a team who only scored 1.34 goals a game last year, compared to Chelsea's 1.83. Also, Lampard is Chelsea's penalty taker, unlike any of the others, and I'm unsure how many of his goals came from the spot. Luckily his figures don't matter as much.
Ok, first of all I just took their goals per game regardless of competition or substitute appearances, and came up with:
1. Lampard
3.05
2. Robben
3.22
3. Wright-Phillips
3.36
4. Duff
4.8
5. Cole
5.11
So, on the face of it it's probably the result most would expect, that Robben and Wright-Phillips should be the pairing, with Duff third and Cole left out of it. But if we look deeper...
Next I looked at how many times players only played as a sub. Without knowing how long they actually got on the pitch, this is pretty hard to be exact about. So I've done my best to be fair and for every sub appearance they make, I count it as half a game. So, for example, Lampard played 58 games last season, but 5 were substitute appearances. Therefore I take 2.5 from 58 to get 55.5. Hope that makes sense.
1. Robben
2.66
2. Lampard
2.92
3. Wright-Phillips
3.32
4. Cole
4.44
5. Duff
4.5
So now we see a shift. Well 2, but the fact that Robben moves ahead of Lampard doesn't mean much here. Cole though actually moves ahead of Duff when you take substitute appreances into account, or at least he does the way I'vw worked it out.
That's for all competitions though, how about just the League? Not really fair to compare players who had plenty of games in Europe to a player who had none. What if it's harder to score in that competition? Or easier? So, just the Premisership now, not counting subs (yet).
1. Robben
2.57
2. Lampard
2.92
3. Wright-Phillips
3.4
4. Cole
3.5
5. Duff
5
No change in positions from the last one, but Cole has absolutely shot ahead of Duff! While Duff only scores 1 goal every 5 games, Cole scores one every 3.5.
Once again, I'll now take substitute appearances into account, this time just for the League.
1. Robben
2.29
2. Lampard
2.92
3. Cole
2.937
4. Wright-Phillips
3.35
5. Duff
4.83
This is the biggest change yet. In the League, Cole actually scored more goals per game with subs included than Wright-Phillips! In fact, he's barely behind Lampard (probably ahead if I knew how many penalties Lampard took), and a mile ahead of Duff.
Does this mean anything though? It's just stats. Well it means something, but alone not much. It seems pretty clear that Robben and Wright-Phillips should be the two wingers, despite Cole's performance in the League. But...what of assists? They're great goalscorers and dribblers, but I think it obvious Duff and Cole are the better crossers. What about fighting for the team, getting back to defend? Everyone at Chelsea does it, I'm sure Wright-Phillips will too, but Cole is the one who's effort and dedication stood out last season, particularly the second half.
So while I may not be able to narrow it down to a definite top 2 (only Robben should definitely start), it's jumping out at me that it should be Cole in the top 3, not Duff as so many seem to think.
That was way too long.
EDIT: Incidentally, I just checked an Pires tops them all on every count (well, goal counts, his team play is never gonna match). Dude never gets enough recognition. And Ljungberg tops everyone too, except Robben's League figures.
