i don't know about you but the weather in gidi lately has been great for me. its been largely Overcast with that "its about to rain" breeze blowing. Feels a bit un-African to be honest. The only hiccup about it is it makes getting up from sleep that extra bit harder. It feels like i have to tender a Transfer request to my bed to get off it.
Speaking of transfers, one key departure from our ranks at the weekend was the mercurial Ivorian Gervinho. it slipped under the radar, no thanks to a combination of all the Suarez drama and Drogba/Emirates cup shenanigans. In a reported £7million deal Gervinho leaves us after only 2 years. He is one who splits opinions among fans, some refer to him as never being of Arsenal quality, others think he was not allowed enough time to impress. For me he would go down as a player who came to us at the wrong time. We are now simply a club whom, perhaps as a result of our lack of trophies display almost zero patience for any signings. Its perform NOW or get heckled out, simple. Gervinho, endowed with distinct talents, may have probably better suited us in the 07/08 , 08/09 seasons. The team, comprising Cesc in the squad alongside Nasri and Arshavin in his pomp, needed a quick dribbling, direct winger who can take on defenders, beat them and look to play the give and go. Also then we the fans weren't as petulant as we are now, maybe because the free flowing Arsenal game was still very much on at that time and as hypnotizing as it was, it ensured errors were never over-examined as they are now. Times have changed drastically though,the departures of high profile players, and further trophy disappointments have turned us into an acidic bunch.Quick to label players as not good enough prematurely.
Whilst not holding fort for Gervinho as some kind of Messi equivalent whom we have just sold, i liked him because on his day he truly was a weapon. His dibbling runs, when they click, are not only mesmerizing but hard to defend against. His finishing for us was erratic but his hard work and application were commendable. The biggest test of my fondness of him however came after that now infamous miss against Bradford, where he contrived to miss an open goal from 4 yards. That may yet have been the act that signaled the end of his arsenal career, because it truly was a horrendous miss. Not to blame him specifically though for what was a collectively bad day at the office for Arsenal.
In the wake of his departure, all the talk is centered around his replacement. who will be introduced as the goalscoring wide-man we hoped Gervinho would be? The Brazilian Bernard is rumoured to be on our radar but in another breath, we have been told we may replace him from within. Alex oxlade chamberlain is the man who will likely assume this role. Alex is a good kid, well grounded and disciplined but to be fair,he has endured a difficult spell in Arsenal in his second season. Its hard to tell if its a confidence problem or something else. The guy has been ordinary lately. He began last year in the starting lineup, playing against Sunderland, Stoke, Liverpool. However by September ,Gervinho had taken his place scoring important goals. Judging from his emirates cup form,Alex still appears to be in that same funk of last season that led to him registering only 4 goals in all competitions. But this is where good man Management comes in, and it'll be up to the boss to get the once bullish,fearless OX back to the form he showed in his1st season.
So as we say goodbye to the ''forehead'', its worth remembering the words of Eden Hazard where he said Gervinho was the best player he'd ever played with so far in his career. Not a ringing endorsement you might say, but Italian defenders should be well warned. All the best to Gervinho in AS Roma, i'll miss the dribbling runs,but the misses? no thanks
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