"I personally feel that Kolo and Arsenal have reached a point now where sadly they must go separate ways, as his relationship with Gallas seems beyond repair."
- Billy Pearson, FootballFanCast columnist
With the arrival of Thomas Vermaelen, speculation rises about the futures of our current centre-backs. Wenger didn't buy him just to be a squad player, so obviously one of Willam Gallas or Kolo Toure are leaving the club. And in truth, the future of both are up in the air.
William Gallas was stripped of the captaincy mid-season, and seems to be headed to Juve or Milan. Kolo Toure put in a transfer request mid-season, and is wanted by Man City. Neither of them can stand each other, and it seems like a matter of WHO rather than IF one of them is leaving.
A lot of people are advocating selling Toure and keeping Gallas. Now, I realise that's an idea with merit - Gallas is the better defender, has more experience, and is French. Once he was stripped of the captaincy, he played pretty well. Kolo Toure, on the other hand, seems to be on the decline.
However, it'll be a mistake to sell Kolo Toure.
Toure IS Arsenal. He's the last member of the Invincibles. He's played a hell of a lot of games for us, and he'll play a hell of a lot more. Yes, he might run around like a headless chook, but he runs around like OUR headless chook. Gallas may be the better player, but he'll never encapsulate Arsenal the way Toure does.
Toure deserves pride of place in our team. It doesn't matter if he's not as good as Gallas. Inasmuch as Raul gets a spot in Real Madrid despite playing poorly of late, or how Shearer became manager of Newcastle despite knowing jack-all about managing, Toure deserves a place in the starting line-up.
Toure is an ornament to the club. When he retires, he's going to go down as a club legend. We'll pay him a retainer and trot him out at club functions, and he'll tell stories about how great the Wenger years were. He'll watch games at the Emirates until he's old and grey, and he'll present first-team shirts to Cesc Fabregas Jnr and Theo Walcott the Third. And when he's too old and decrepit to be of use to us any further, we'll euthanize him, gut and stuff him, and place him next to the bust of Arsene Wenger - that's the Arsenal way.
And that's the real reason I think Toure should stay instead of Gallas. I just can't see William Gallas volunteering to be a stuffed footballing icon in the club museum - he's just not Arsenal enough.
Showing posts with label Kolo Toure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kolo Toure. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
An FM08 review of 2014
2013/2014 was a milestone year for Arsenal. We were undefeated in the season in all competitions. We won the quadruple. We were unbeaten in 100 league games. We swept the domestic awards, with Ben Arfa winning the Player's Award, Benzema the Footballer of the Year Award, and Wilshire winning the Young Player's Award.
And Kolo Toure turned 32.
He's an old man now. He lost his first-team place this year to Mamadou Sakho. His pace is starting to go and he's made some terrible mistakes in defence. In the crunch games, I play Sakho and Richards because they're my two most reliable defenders. Kolo's still captain of the side, but he leads from the bench and Cesc Fabregas has become the de facto captain of the side. Kolo's got one more year left on his contract, and the sad thing is that I'm going to have to let him go.
Kolo Toure has been brilliant for Arsenal. He's captained us to 4 leagues, 4 Champions Leagues, and 3 or 4 domestic cups. He's tutored a whole heap of young defenders who've picked up on his loyalty and professionalism. He was a world-class defender in his time, and will always remain an Arsenal legend.
Anyway...
I've wasted so much time on Football Manager that it scares me (and yes, I have a problem). And over the years, I've thought a lot about the game. The most poignant thing about it is the speed with which a player ages. One minute, they're a promising 20 year old who's won a "Young Player of the Month" award. Seven hours later, they're a 31 year old veteran who's being moved on to Barcelona. It happens so quickly.
A life passes by in the blink of an eye. You've only got so much time to make an impression, and you've got to make it count. One day, you're a kid with the world at your feet. Then you get stuck into the world, and the next minute, you've reached the end of the line. You're 32, you're old, you've wasted your youth waiting for a future that never came.
In 2014, the World Cup will be held in Brazil.
In my FM08 game, I'm manager of Argentina. We've won the Copa America, we've won the Confederations Cup and we haven't lost a game in three years. I've found this great kid named Oscar Trejo who scores a goal a game. We're the raging favourites to win the World Cup.
In real life, I haven't got a fucking clue where I'll be in 2014.
And Kolo Toure turned 32.
He's an old man now. He lost his first-team place this year to Mamadou Sakho. His pace is starting to go and he's made some terrible mistakes in defence. In the crunch games, I play Sakho and Richards because they're my two most reliable defenders. Kolo's still captain of the side, but he leads from the bench and Cesc Fabregas has become the de facto captain of the side. Kolo's got one more year left on his contract, and the sad thing is that I'm going to have to let him go.
Kolo Toure has been brilliant for Arsenal. He's captained us to 4 leagues, 4 Champions Leagues, and 3 or 4 domestic cups. He's tutored a whole heap of young defenders who've picked up on his loyalty and professionalism. He was a world-class defender in his time, and will always remain an Arsenal legend.
Anyway...
I've wasted so much time on Football Manager that it scares me (and yes, I have a problem). And over the years, I've thought a lot about the game. The most poignant thing about it is the speed with which a player ages. One minute, they're a promising 20 year old who's won a "Young Player of the Month" award. Seven hours later, they're a 31 year old veteran who's being moved on to Barcelona. It happens so quickly.
A life passes by in the blink of an eye. You've only got so much time to make an impression, and you've got to make it count. One day, you're a kid with the world at your feet. Then you get stuck into the world, and the next minute, you've reached the end of the line. You're 32, you're old, you've wasted your youth waiting for a future that never came.
In 2014, the World Cup will be held in Brazil.
In my FM08 game, I'm manager of Argentina. We've won the Copa America, we've won the Confederations Cup and we haven't lost a game in three years. I've found this great kid named Oscar Trejo who scores a goal a game. We're the raging favourites to win the World Cup.
In real life, I haven't got a fucking clue where I'll be in 2014.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Kolo Toure Has Malaria
"He has malaria but is in good spirits."
- Arsenal spokesman, about Kolo Toure
The bad news is that Kolo Toure has malaria. The good news is that he's in good spirits. It's nice to know. I would've been worried if he was a bit down-hearted about having malaria. Now I glad I don't have to airmail him a packet of Tim Tams and a pot of hot tea to keep his spirits up.
It begs the question, though - how the fuck does a millionaire, elite sportsman get malaria during the off-season? Granted, he's in sub-Saharan Africa in the middle of summer, but still... why didn't the doctor give him shots before he left? Why isn't he sleeping underneath a mosquito net? I'm going to Europe in a month's time and I'm going to get vaccines for things that haven't existed since the '70s. What's Toure's excuse?
Fucking hell.
However it happened, he's going to miss the start of the Premier League season. Which means that, unless we've got ourselves a truly ugly centre-half over the next few weeks, our line-up's going to include the pairing of Gallas and Senderos.
It's not an auspicious start to the season.
In more cheerful news, our Theo slammed an 18-yard shot across the goalkeeper and into the back of the net off the far post to equalise in the 42nd minute. Against Szombathelyi Haladás. The pride of Szombathelyi were humbled by our precocious youngsters.
Woo hoo.
- Arsenal spokesman, about Kolo Toure
The bad news is that Kolo Toure has malaria. The good news is that he's in good spirits. It's nice to know. I would've been worried if he was a bit down-hearted about having malaria. Now I glad I don't have to airmail him a packet of Tim Tams and a pot of hot tea to keep his spirits up.
It begs the question, though - how the fuck does a millionaire, elite sportsman get malaria during the off-season? Granted, he's in sub-Saharan Africa in the middle of summer, but still... why didn't the doctor give him shots before he left? Why isn't he sleeping underneath a mosquito net? I'm going to Europe in a month's time and I'm going to get vaccines for things that haven't existed since the '70s. What's Toure's excuse?
Fucking hell.
However it happened, he's going to miss the start of the Premier League season. Which means that, unless we've got ourselves a truly ugly centre-half over the next few weeks, our line-up's going to include the pairing of Gallas and Senderos.
It's not an auspicious start to the season.
In more cheerful news, our Theo slammed an 18-yard shot across the goalkeeper and into the back of the net off the far post to equalise in the 42nd minute. Against Szombathelyi Haladás. The pride of Szombathelyi were humbled by our precocious youngsters.
Woo hoo.
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