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Matt Jarvis Can Make Arsenal Forget About Nasri
The Molineux flyer won't think he is bigger than the club, can cross with either foot and raises his game against the big teams. What's not to like?
Fresh from being booed by the Emirates, er, faithful for a meaningless 1-1 draw with New York Red Bulls, Arsene Wenger has been linked with Wolves Winger Matt Jarvis as a possible replacement for the wantaway Samir Nasri. On first glance, this might send you Arsenal fans already foaming at the mouth into a full-on, RP McMurphy-esque breakdown. But before you drop your trousers and look to defecate on a picture of Wenger, hear me out, because I reckon Jarvis is exactly the sort of player Arsenal need to become a more robust, direct, outfit capable of winning the league.
He’s a genuine winger
Even with the signing of Gervinho, Arsenal lack width. His supporters will point to Theo Walcott yet, even if he does play wide right, he is no more a winger than I am a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party. Theo has his merits, and will surely move more central as his career progresses, but he couldn’t, as the adage goes, put a cross on a pools coupon. Jarvis is comfortable on either flank, has the ability to go outside on both sides, loves to cut in and shoot but sees his bread and butter as crossing the ball with either foot. His stats of 4 goals and 6 assists last season for Wolves do not, at first glance, appear brilliant. But as Mick McCarthy often played with no central striker, he was often slinging expert deliveries into a box emptier than Emmanuel Eboue’s cranium. Nasri, on the other hand, scored 10 in the league with only one assist, so much for being a playmaker.
He will be desperate to succeed
Jarvis started his career at Gillingham before moving to Wolves and has taken to the Premiership like Cesc Fabregas to a Barcelona shirt. His performances against some of the Premier League’s stronger teams led to an England call-up and first cap and Liverpool had been sniffing before paying over the odds for the more limited, if quicker, Stewart Downing. Nasri clearly thinks he is bigger than Arsenal, agitating to move North to either United or City and generally acting like Zammo who has been denied a ten bag by Mr Bronson. Jarvis is completely unflappable and would love being at Arsenal.
I bet 95% of Arsenal fans couldn’t give a monkeys’ about pretty football anymore. The tempo needs to be increased, the width needs to be stretched and the play needs to stop breaking down when it is funnelled infield
He could help change the culture
I don’t in anyway think that British players deserve to be bought ahead of their foreign counterparts, but I am steadfast in my belief that Arsenal could do with a few. I support Liverpool and, although the jury is out on Kenny’s predominantly British signings, he’s clearly gone down this route to avoid any bedding in time. The last thing Arsenal need is yet another 19/20/21 year old prodigy who takes time to settle. Gervinho will do well. Players from the Ivory Coast seem to mostly adapt well to the Premier League, yet if Jarvis came in and reproduced his Wolves form at the Emirates it may, just may, convince Arsene that there is another way.
He’s relatively cheap
Let’s say Arsenal flog Nasri and Fabregas and are sitting on £60m. Take between £7 and £10m of that for Jarvis and Arsene is left with £50m to spend. Ramsey and Wilshere are more than capable of filling the gaps left by the two mercenaries, freeing up the rest of the loot to buy a spine. Jagielka or Cahill for £18m, £10m on a keeper with international experience and then £22m for another striker and a midfield enforcer. It actually could be that simple.
He’s a genuine winger (2)
I bet 95% of Arsenal fans couldn’t give a monkeys’ about pretty football anymore. The tempo needs to be increased, the width needs to be stretched and the play needs to stop breaking down when it is funnelled infield. The pairing of Gervinho and RVP looks promising from the off, but they are a couple of roamers. Arsenal need someone who can switch sides and produce effective, inswinging crosses, especially away from home.
Arsenal: An Angry Open Letter To Samir Nasri, Why You’re Right To Join Manchester United
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COMMENTS
Right, lets get somethings right here. Now i'm a Wolves fan and even i would say you're overselling Jarvis. In no way is he anywhere close to being good enough for Arsenal, or any of the top 4 sides for that matter. Technically he is very poor, spectacularly demonstrated whenever he's given a chance to take a set piece. Whilst he can cross with either foot i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one to go into a dangerous area. Its very much a scatter gun approach with his deliveries. He is not comfortable on either side, he's right footed but is much more comfortable on the left. If he plays on the right he cant use his 'go to move' to beat players, if you play him on the left he's constantly crossing with his weaker foot. Either way the service is unreliable. As for cutting inside and shooting, it happens rarely, his shooting is terrible, see one on ones against Bolton and Albion last season for evidence. He's also not very direct, the only way he can ever beat is man is by bring everything to a complete stop, knocking the ball past his man and beating him under acceleration. He's not a one touch and deliver winger, not even close. He struggles with confidence and he looks scared going into any challenge. If i were picking the team at Wolves, he wouldn't even be one of my first choice wingers. Oh, one other thing, McCarthy hasn't ever picked a Wolves team without a central striker, cretin.
You're right, he would be a great asset to Arsenal but your fans would never accept him as he's not a big enough name. He won't be leaving Wolves any time soon. You need to spend £20million on some foreign star to placate the (un)faithful at the Emirates. No hard working English kid with a a bit of talent and a lot of determination would ever be enough.
Midfield Enforcer - Frimpong Check Winger cum Forward - Miyachi (if no permit) Afboe or even Lansbury . Centre Back - Bartley (English height 6'3 ) Jury still out honestly . See if as u suggested we buy so many players Arsene's youth project will be absolutely useless . And there have been nice proven prospects coming out of the youth system . Wilshere, Gibbs(Jury still out), Ramsay (can't say our academy product but still). Alll of the above are British . Even Carl Jenkinson has 2 visas so can play for both England and Finland . So I think its about time to give to rest the theory that only French guys get a chance under Arsene !!!
Hello, Wolfie here in peace. Nice article and bang on about Jarvis he is a great player. However if Sunderland get 20m for Henderson who is nowhere near as good then Jarvis must be worth the same if not more 25m?? Now that may sound silly money but Wolves dont need to sell. English can only get better I'm sure if Arsenal threw Bendtner and Vela into the deal and add 10m that would be something Wolves would take should both players want to return to the midlands. They have no future at Arsenal and would do well for us, whereas Jarvis could go onto great things if Arsenal pay up, Theo and Jarvo on the wings is something many teams in the world would not cope with the shear pace within those two players. All the best, we haven't beat you yet so it maybe comming! Up The Wolves!
I love your article and support most of it. However, I am part of that 5% that appreciate pretty football. I beg to differ with that which you implied: that pretty football cannot be combined with the attributes that Jarvis may bring to Arsenal.
jarvis would be a great signing for arsenal,rvp would score about thirty goals a season with more balls in the box ,but there is a snag the price i dont think wolves would let him go for less than 15 mil i would also say i think jarvis is quicker than downing good luck this year
You imply that Jarvis is better than Downing which is correct. How much did Villa sell Downing for?? You then seem to think that Wolves would sell Jarvis for between £7M - £10M. I think you might have to double this going by todays prices, Downing, Young, Henderson???
This is a waste of an article because he won't move, just like Doyle didn't move to Arsenal earlier in the window. P.s. while your estimate of Jarvis is fair at 7-10 million. I suspect our chairman would slap a 20 million valuation to stop potential buyers if things spiced up
I think even when Jarvis has a bad game, he's still a far better player than Henry and Bergkamp combined.. I'd settle for 25 million plus nasri (In case Doyle, Fletcher and maybe Blake were injured) Long live Bully
I doubt very much if Arsenal are genuinely interest in Matt, from a technical point of view he can improve and would no doubt do so in a verey skillful Arsenal team, but I do not really see him as the kind of player you would go for. As for the folks who doubt his first touch etc, well Bully's first touch was shocking and his second touch ended up in the back of the net.
The fact of the matter is that Jarvis is nowhere near as technically good as Nasri, and while the marketing effort put forward by Sabotage is appreciated, what Arsenal doesn't need as a replacement is an overrated second tier English player.
Stevowowlves, better than Bergkamp and Henry combined???????, really??????. i know we like to "big up" are own players but really???, when you make statements like that no one can and will take you seriously at all. i have no idea how good Jarvis is, i hope he is a good player and he's worth buying but please think before you type.
Matt Jarvis ? No thanks. But I'll take that other option you mentioned: "drop your trousers and look to defecate on a picture of Wenger". "In Arsene we rust."
Joey Barton is certain to be our next signing. After all, you can't get any cheaper than free, can you ? "In Arsene we rust."
Matt F***ing jarvis No No NO is this the type of player The Mighty Arsenal are looking at now is it, Shocking!! We say Cahill and Samba Wenger says Jageilka WTF !!! We say Jaun Mata now its matt Jarvis WTF !! Benzema to Doyle this is BULLS**T We wont even get Barton what excuses next? Wengers clearly lost the plot and were Rusting fast !!
Matt Jarvis is the new Juan Mata. "I belieeeve this is the case." ( guess who ? ) "In Arsene we rust."
Matt Jarvis could fill the space on the bench that will be left by Bendtner.Wenger should pls sell Fabregas,Nasri,Squillaci,Almunia,Eboue.Diaby.And bring in Rodallega,Mata,Samba,Muslera & Aly Cissokho.
SABOTAGE
