Arsenal: He's Under the Radar, But Armand Traore Could Add a New Dimension

Does anyone remember the Arsenal-Newcastle Carling Cup game last season?  The one where Bendtner scored that thumping header?  Or the Arsenal-Everton game – the last home game of the season?  The one where Bendtner scored that thumping header? 

In the 2007 season Arsenal supporters were introduced to another incredibly exciting youth prospect.  Signed from Monaco a year earlier, aged 15, to virtually no fanfare whatsoever, Armand Traore managed to put together a string of electric performances in the Carling Cup that had some of us thinking that somehow Messrs Brady and Wenger had cracked the genetic code for the position of left-back.  First, Ashley Cole, then Gael Clichy, now this??  Three incredibly fast, agile and skilful left full backs, educated the Arsenal way. Attacking full backs in the most literal sense, with an intuitive reading of Arsenal’s forward play, dangerously effective on the overlap, and as a result, occasionally caught napping when the other team was in possession. 

But as we saw with Cole and Clichy, the defensive element seems to be the one that comes with experience in the repertoire of an Arsenal full-back.  In my opinion Traore was the player of that particular cup run and many had already decided we had ample cover at left back after the departure of Cashley Cole. 

Not so. We had ample talent at left back, but Armand was 16 days into his 17^th year on his Arsenal debut, and had not played enough professional football to know exactly how to play the position week in, week out.

The trouble with Arsenal fans is that we are spoiled in some ways.  Having watched Ashley Cole’s performances for years, thinking things would never be the same again after losing Ashley, and then slowly coming to the realisation that Gael Clichy was actually going to be much much better, the glimpse we got of Traore that year had us salivating in expectation for the following season. 

As it did with Denilson, incidentally… to the point that I’ve actually read on some sites that people think Denilson had regressed this year, that he didn’t look like he could cut it, etc. etc.

For crying out loud... a 20-year-old old centre-midfielder who’s not getting into the Arsenal squad ahead of Cesc Fabregas, Matthieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva is NOT below standard. He’s 20.  Fabregas is a one-off guys, you’re not meant to even be playing that position at this standard at that age, let alone bossing it!  But that’s another article (it is now…).

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