Reasons Which Made Denilson Great.. Ahh.. Lets Forget!

 

Here's hoping el capitan bids adieu to the two-most dis-satisfied Gunners

Another season bites the dust and so does our hope of lifting silverware, finally. From ‘vying-for-all-4-cups‘ to ‘4th-in-the-league‘, its been a long, ardous journey. One thing we must refrain from doing is start from where it all began, and then one-by-one curse every single player in our coffer, rip the very belief in le boss, and eventually resign in as sore losers. No, we aren’t that.

Just saying that we’re a club with all the class in the world ain’t good enough. We must prove it by imbibing those values in what we do. Now I’m not dope right now, nor I’ve lost all sanity. I’m just referring to the supposed want of one of our players to leave the club asap. And in the process, ridicule all those around it. Yes, the name is Denílson Pereira Neves.

The guy who couldn’t beat the ref when it came to running for the crest, has been found cribbing about how The Arsenal let him down, and failed to add to his non-existent trophy cabinet. Unlike other blogs, I’d like to re-count his good days with the Gunners, as I believe that’s how sending-offs are supposed to be done. With one my favorite friends leaving town today, I know what bidding adieu means. Maybe Denilson doesn’t, but then, who cares?

I came across this compilation over Facebook a few days back. Feel free to reach out (read: abuse!) the guy who came up with it! Here goes..

• He passes sideways – That’s his job, as he needs to allow players like Cesc & Wilshere to go forward and do their Job.
• He had the highest passes attempted and completed in ‘08/09, way ahead of other players like Cesc/RVP.
• Does not track back – Denilson is always the deepest of our midfielders. He never crosses the halfway line. As a matter of fact, he never was a DM, but a more creative player. He can easily go on and attack, but sacrifices his natural game for the team by sitting back and allowing players like Wilshere to go ahead (fact acknowledged by Arsene himself). Surely Wenger knows more than most others.
• No energy/effort – Denilson has the dubious distinction of being 11’th most fouled / 7’th most fouled player in ‘08/09 and ‘09/10. Also the most fouled Arsenal player in ‘09/10. Wins plenty of free-kicks and is ready to stick his foot in. Thus retains possession.
• Does not tackle/intercept well – Denilson won the highest interceptions in ‘08/09 in the league. Most of his tackles were safe and didn’t result in a free-kick; sign of an intelligent player. Won 45 tackles – 7’th highest in the league.
• No Assists/Goals – Denilson despite being defensive midfielder had 3 goals in ‘08/09 (aged 20) and 7 goals in ‘09/10. He had 7 assists in ‘08/09, more than Cesc, although Cesc was our main attacking midfielder (in 4-4-2). Completed all 72 of 72 passes attempted against West Ham.
• Is disinterested/does not run enough – Denilson covered the most distance in the Arsenal team in ’08-09 (stats by Opta). He ran almost 10 kms against Wigan (away), played the best. Still he was criticised in that game.
• Is not influential in big games – Surprisingly his performances have come up in big games. His best games have been against Chelsea (‘08/09), Liverpool, United (away), Barca (home/away ‘09/10), City (‘10/11), Spurs (‘10/11), etc.
• We often lose when Denilson plays – In ‘08/09, in our unbeaten run of 21+ games, Denilson played in 21 of them. He was subbed off only once at Anfield, on the 65th minute. When he was on the pitch, we conceded 13 goals in 2045 minutes (1 goal in 157 mins); when he was off it, we conceded 6 goals in 115 (1 goal in 19 mins).
• Wenger does not trust him – Wenger kept Denilson at Arsenal, in fact Denilson started the most games in ‘08/09. Wenger acknowledged that Denilson is a highly ‘UNDERRATED‘ player and said it’s because of him that creative players can attack.
• He is not ‘Arsenal material’ – Overall, Denilson has managed on an average 59 accurate passes a game in ’08-09, Flamini made 47 whilst Song just 38. Number of interceptions made by him was 146 for the full season, 57 for Flamini and just 51 for Song.
• Has been ‘piss poor’ in ‘10/11 – Played superbly against Spurs (all 3 Goals were not his fault). Against Wigan again he was great, ran his socks off. Helped the team so much defensively. Won the highest interceptions in the entire side. Against Manchester City, it was because of him that Song could score as Denilson stayed back allowing him to go forward and was very influential in that game.

So its upto you all to decide – Should we remember for his rants against The Arsenal? Or the aforementioned?

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