The new ones: A goal scoring left back or a striking defender? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx

Arsenal brought in some new players in August. The word was out very soon by those who pretend to know a bit about football: all we had bought was utterly rubbish. So we continue to look at how bad they are.

Let us look at the new left back, now sadly injured, Andre Santos. When he came over from Fenerbahce at the last day of the transfer window I must confess I didn’t know that much about him. But he played for the Brazilian national team and that is not a bad reference. He played very well form them in the year before the WC took place when they won the Confederations Cup. He missed the world cup after being late on the players bus as the story goes and as a result Brazil went out the world cup I think.

Yet just as in Fenerbahce he also took the spot of that famous left back Roberto Carlos and made it his own.

He won the title and cup with Fenerbahce and also won a few cups and silverware in Brazil before that. But afterwards it was discovered that Fenerbahce won their title not just on the pitch but also seemed to have had a few things done under the table.  Santos left the Turkish club and came to the Arsenal.

His first real game was one to forget as quickly as possible. The Blackburn defeat was painful to watch. And the AAA thought they had a new victim or scapegoat to aim their frustrations at. If you only read some of them and did not see the games you would have thought that we had bought not just a lousy left back but also an overweight left back. With each comment he got fatter and fatter. Maybe people should realise that not all players are slim of their own nature. And some people are more robustly built than others.  Yes Santos is rather robust but what is the problem with that as long as he is fit and can run?

The word was out soon that he could not really defend. And his first game at Blackburn was not the best way of letting us know that he could defend. Too fat and not a defender was the final verdict. He was put on the bench for the Bolton game.

But in the next game he started against Olympiacos he showed a bit of his Turkish background and scored a good goal to help us win the game. And his defending improved a lot. And after that he was put on the bench for the Tottenham defeat. And he also started on the bench against Sunderland but then Gibbs got injured and he got another chance of showing who he really is. Keeping a clean sheet at Marseille to help us win. And helping us to a 3-1 win against Stoke.

The came the Chelsea game in which his first half was not that great. But he came out the second half as a completely different player. He scored a good goal, his second in just a few starts, and got the better of each player Chelsea threw at him. Only a not given foul on Santos handed Chelsea another goal.

Since then he just looked better and better. Keeping our unbeaten run in CL and PL going with only 3 goals against us in the last 6 games.

His defending is not bad at all. He sometimes loses out to his man the first time in a game but he has the ability to grow in the game. It is as if he is inviting his opponent to have a go at him, let him win the first duel so the striker thinks he can trick him again but then Santos is ready and prepared and doesn’t let him go again.

Santos is a very confident player. If you see him on the pitch he sometimes does things that make your heart skip a beat. With his Brazilian flair and technical ability he sometimes overdoes the trickery a bit but so far no major catastrophe has happened after Santos has played a trick pass to one of his team mates. And when such a trick comes of it sure does feels great. It can look arrogant at times but it is just a matter of Brazilian confidence and mentality I think. Why bother for a simple pass when you can trick the ball to a teammate?

What also feels great is the fact that Santos knows where the other goal is. Scoring 2 goals in just a handful of games is great return for a left back. We finally have a goal scoring left back in our team again. Something we had been missing since Cole followed the money route. I liked Clichy a lot but for the moment I do feel very happy with Santos and the way he plays.

Santos may not be a long life Gooner like Mertesacker but he did say it was his dream to play in one of the big leagues in Europe and with his chance at Arsenal his dream became a reality. So I do think that he is a player that is really happy to put on the Arsenal shirt each time. And if you look at him he is really enjoying himself on the football pitch. Playing in a team that plays the beautiful game like Arsenal does. Would he enjoy himself playing for Stoke? I don’t think so. Another typical Brazilian attitude I think.

13 games played and 13 goals conceded so far. Again 7 of those goals came in 2 matches. Which means 6 goals conceded in the other 11 games. And the most important thing is that since a month we only conceded one goal at the most in a game.

So another player that has lived in a hotel for the first weeks and is now only starting to settle down for live in London. And the longer he has settled down the better he is starting to look. And after his settling down he has not let his team down in his games and I think we can now see that he not only can attack and score goals but also when it comes to defending he is more than capable of turning in a nice shift. And putting his leg in the way when it is needed and it was needed in that first minute at Wigan.

We got a left back that can defend, score and play the beautiful game. Not a bad thing to have I think.

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