Andre Santos has credited Arsenal for helping him hone his craft as a full-back (stop sniggering at the back) and revealed that his recent return to the Brazil international fold is thanks to an upturn in confidence following regular football on loan at Gremio.
The 30-year-old was shipped out of the Emirates in January following a poor run of form but has thrived since returning to his homeland claiming that the defensive discipline instilled in him by Arsene Wenger (we said stop sniggering at the back) has flourished under Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
Speaking positively about his time in the Premier League, Santos told FIFA.com:
“As well being one of the best in the world, the English league is also one of the most tactical and it took me a little while to get used to it.
“I think it helped me improve my positional awareness though. It was there that I learned I was a fullback and now I’m totally used to playing like that, as one man in a four-man defence, whose first priority is to defend properly and to get forward only when it’s necessary.
“That’s the way I’ve been playing for [Vanderlei] Luxemburgo at Gremio, and it’s even more that way with the Brazil team, which has always had a lot of talent in midfield and attack.”
A player who obviously took criticism to heart (there was definitely a sadness behind his eyes despite his rainbow smiles) Santos also underlined that with confidence returning he’s focused on earning a place in Brazil’s squad for the World Cup on home turf having missed out on the tournament three years ago.
“It just goes to show how important confidence is when it comes to performing well,” he continued.
“Obviously I’ve never forgotten how to play football, the kind of football I’ve always played.
“It’s not easy to get a place in the Brazil squad for a major finals. All I know is how hard I’ve been working and that I’m happy and motivated with Gremio. If I can keep it up, I’ll get my chance with A Seleção. And when it comes, I’ll approach it in a different way – you can be sure of that.”
Arseblog News is pleased that Santos is enjoying an upturn of form, after all he was never a bad egg; he just wasn’t fit for purpose at the Emirates. Obviously he’s still under contract for a couple more years and on a decent salary to boot so it’ll be interesting to see whether he accepts the uncertainty of loan football for another year (a risky decision given his World Cup ambitions) or if he pushes for a permanent switch in the summer.
I see arseblog still has his knickers in a twist about us fans having an opinion about Hfb.The way he is playing he couldn’t score in a brothel,Theo podolski or even gervinho can’t be any worse.
Its not just about goal scoring though, his hold up play up front is better then the other 3 options, and its really important to the current system.
Hold up,have you seen him lately.He has been piss poor.Sendros had him in his pocket,remember him.
Shame for Senderos he didn’t have Mertesacker his pocket when he was supposed to be marking him for the goal.
I know that blogs,Mert is clearly better than Sendros but Giroud ill say it again “Piss Poor”
I see you’ve been thumbsed down but you shouldn’t have been as you’re completely right. Giroud was pretty much anonymous against a 10-man Fulham. His contribution to the team was next to nothing, and he was comprehensively marked out of the game by a pretty mediocre CB. Is this the very best that Arsenal can get up front? We used to have Henry, Bergkamp, Wright, Smith, Eduardo, Van Persie and now we’re lumped with a bloke that has scored 3 goals in the last 12 games as our only option. I want him to do well for us, but we… Read more »
Alex you forgot to mention Kaba Diawarra and Christopher Wreh.Giroud is not fit to tie there laces.ps I’m joking or am I.
I think you’re missing the point though. No matter what you think about Giroud, the fact is that Walcott is playing worse than him and isn’t a striker, Podolski is injured and doesn’t seem to be able to run, and Gervinho is….Gervinho. I don’t think anyone is arguing that Giroud is the greatest striker to ever live (Blogs certainly isn’t if you read anything he ever writes on the subject), but what we are arguing is that at the moment, for all his faults, it would be better to have Giroud for the next 3 games than not have him… Read more »
Barca would have won last night if they had some one like Giroud.
Your kidding right? Someone should call the cops the way Bayern tore Barca a new one. Was beautiful to watch. The most perfect performance Ive seen by a team play this year. 90 freaking minutes of non-stop running.
Only wish tht whinny lil cunt Jordi Alba didnt get sent off.
Talk about peaking at the right moment. To think we actually beat them.
No he doesn’t. He simply dismissed people who actively celebrated Giroud’s ban as mouth breathing morons. He also acknowledged his flaws which I felt was a balanced view.
Only skim read this article but I’m pretty sure there’s no reason to have a go at Giroud on here.
I suspect he’s referring to today’s main blog. Which has a comments section which would be the relevant place to make a comment about it.
Where’s the comment section , never found it in the daily blogs ? Am I just blind?
‘arses’
I didn’t know it was there either until today Tee. Click on ‘arses’ above the blog title.
Now I look like a right JT. Oh the joys of ‘on screen keyboard’. One sentence per hour.
Thanks ArseBlog. Better sign myself up.
Best thing about this? Gervinho helps out by saying “Up here!”
You may have noticed this article is about Andre Santos…
Yeah, but Lee Chapman, what an immobile cunt.
Chapman, Giroud….what’s the difference?
Its obviously coz girouds name starts with a G. i mean what else?
I’m sick to death of this! A diamond formation is not the way forward for the national team. Can we please drop this.
While we’re off topic, why don’t we just stick Chuba Akpom up top while Giroud’s away..
G i don’t know how do you think poldi, walcott would feel about that?
Step aside poldi, lionel messi is here…..oh wait, wait it’s chuba apkom.
Wait…..is Ramsey still shit…am I too late?
I like turtles!
I would hate to see the full back he was before he joined us then!
Yep whoever scouted him must have regularly pissed.
been
I duno, he looked good on youtube, but thats in the turkish league. Obviously his tackling leaves a lot to be desired, which kind of begs the question why did Wenger try to convert him into a full back when hes more of a left side winger/midfielder. He is technically gifted so he can be used to dribble pass people in situations where passing is not enough, ie bus parking opponents. hes gona be 30 soon, so im not sure how much more persistance we should make with him really when we have 2 great left backs and winger options.
I like his tackling. It’s not especially good but definitely entertaining. He tackles like he’s trying to gently poke a sleeping bear with his foot, and is then going to run away when it wakes up.
Why are we talking about the HFB? This is Santos, who albeit didn’t fit in too well with us, had some moments to remember.
He was the guy who got us level against West Brom on the final day of last season.
We can only wish him luck for the future. I hope he makes the Brazil squad.
Here Here! And anyone who helps us reach 5 goals against Chelsea is OK by me
Even Van Persie?
Ouch!
I love you gays!
Great to see Santos doing well in Brazil. He can succeed in the South American environment but not the Premier league. Best of luck to him. But please if we need a left back sometime in the next two seasons please Arsenal please do not bring Santos back.
I don’t see that happening anytime soon, it’s basically the best covered position in the squad. One is probably (or at least for me) our best player of the season (however sad that seems) and the other plays in the Spain national football team, and that says a lot.
Yes left back is probably the only position in the team that we have two quality players. What if one goes down with a season ending injury in September? We really need three players in each position or some very capable utility players.
I love Gibbs but he’s your best player of the season? He’s had a good one for sure but has also missed a sizable chunk of it due to injury. Surely that honor has to go to Santi.
If only the kid didnt have such a useless right foot, he would be unstoppable. Not bothered to talk about crossing the ball cause theres usually no one in the box.
I’m still raging the expanded stadium story was an april fools.
He may not have been a great left-back, but I don’t see why Wenger didn’t try and use Santos as a utility player, like Alaba used to do for Bayern. Defensive midfield, or even on the left wing as a substitute when we’re shutting down shop after a healthy lead, that sort of thing. He’s an excellent passer of the ball, his technique and link-up play are also quite good, and he can do a decent job defensiely, if not good enough for a full-time defender.
defensively*
Why don’t we talk about Giroud’s Childhood?
A player cannot exceed his inherent ability/potential i.e. there is no point lambasting players who are doing as well as they can (if they are not up to standard then that is the clubs fault for buying them). I like Santos, but prob not good enough so he was moved on. No big deal. I think Giroud has done well thus far- he is what he is. He would have been a useful asset to some of our past teams which had no decent options up front in terms of a physical presence (the fabled plan B). Now it is… Read more »
Miss you GAYS!
Santos: a better player than he was given credit for. The problem was that he is not a full back. Would have been ok playing on the left of the three in midfield. But fitness a disgrace. Giroud: sums up Arsenal right now – not rubbish, but not great either. A decent second striker. Shame he’s the only out-and-out striker at the club – but Arsene Knows Best. PS: Bayern Munich – on a wage bill of 140 million a year (less than ours) – have just qualified for the Champions’ League final and pissed their domestic league. All while… Read more »
The solution is simple, we must transfer to the Bundesliga.
A few points:
Bayern’s wage bill was £166m three years ago. I’m sure it can only have gone up since then.
Arsenal’s is rumoured to be around £143m (less than Bayerns)
Arsenal play in the Premier League. They could probably win the Bundesliga.
Arsenal have played Bayern twice this season. Won 1, Lost 1.
We need a new manager because we aren’t the best club in the world (even though we don’t have the most money). get real…
No! It’s gone DOWN! See Swiss Ramble.
I think you need to consider your life choices buddy.
Maybe strike up some kind of working partnership with Adrian Durham? You two would make a sweet, sausage fingered, unbearable couple.
It’s obvious. Under Wenger, Arsenal over perform EVERY season.
If we can find someone to make us over-perform even more then great. But I doubt it. If we get someone else we’ll only get worse.
I have a feeling that we won’t be seeing the last of Andre’……A possible DM maybe?
yes, ramsey is still shite.
Wow, these comments are really random for a Cudley Maverick article, so I feel compelled to throw my two cents into the ring. Santos made some strong contributions last season in seeing Arsenal finsih 3rd but he did nothing positive this term and was rightly shipped off. With Monreal and Gibbs, he has zero chance to even get on the bench nowadays. Giroud has been poor recently but I believe he will be better next year. Trying to sign a top striker in the summer should still be a priority, but I’d rather have Giroud in the squad next season… Read more »
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