Yossi Benayoun admits that he would love more game time at the Emirates this season, but understands why Arsene Wenger has kept faith with midfield trio Alex Song, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey.
The Israeli international has not started a single Premier League game since arriving from Chelsea on loan despite being tipped on transfer deadline day as a canny bit of business.
Having spent much of last season sidelined at Stamford Bridge with injury, the midfielder would be well within his rights to be a little miffed at his current circumstances. However, demonstrating a level of maturity worthy of a man with nearly six years of experience in England the 31-year-old explained:
“[I am not frustrated] because the team is playing well. They say you don’t change a winning team and we are on a good run so it is very difficult to get into the team.
“The only thing I can do is to wait for any chance I get – it doesn’t matter if it is 15 minutes or I get to start. I have to prove myself any chance I get and I am sure I can do it.
“You come here and you know there is a lot of quality so you want to prove yourself.
“I think in the beginning I started against Dortmund away and played more but then I had a little injury and then the team won three games in a row. This is normal in football that you have to wait for a chance.
“Hopefully the team will keep doing well and maybe I will be more involved. Every player wants to play more, of course, but I know I have to be patient.”
Reacting to suggestions that he could move to the Gunners on a permanent basis at the end of the season, Benayoun made also made clear that his immediate focus was on his loan performances.
“I can only concentrate on the loan and we will see at the end of the season. Arsenal have the option to take me for the rest of my contract with Chelsea, another two years, but it’s too early to speak about this.”
I like little Yossi, strikes me as being a skillfull player with a bag of tricks but one who can also mix it and isn’t afraid to kick bigger men, as well as not being shy of putting in a good shift when he gets on the pitch. a certain Russian could do a lot worse than take a leaf out of his book.
Spot on. He maybe isn’t as naturally talented as the Russian, but you can see the effort he puts into every game. That is worth a great deal.
How many times do you see Arshavin get dispossessed, slump his shoulders and stare up at the sky in exasperation?
Would love to see him stay around – maybe on a 1 or 2 year contract.
Adds a level of maturity and experience to the overall team, and a valuable player from which our youth can learn from.
Completely unrelated but saw this joke and thought I’d share anyway…
Arsenal are to prise Samir Nasri away from Manchester City with the promise of Champions League football :0)
In a related post, I fuckin love Yossi. A model professional – it can only do the club good by having him around.
Plus, after banging in that goal against Sp*rs on the final day of the 05/06 season to prevent those dirty lilywhite cunts getting 4th spot, and putting us there instead, he’ll always have a special place on my heart.
*IN my heart
yossi is very good but age is not on his side. he seems like a good guy to have around the dressing room also. its a shame arsene didnt get him a few seasons ago then he would have made a much bigger impact. great well taken goal against the greeks tho. i like him
uhuhhu, he said rub off.
What’s age got to do with it? An older player to bring experience and younger players to do the running is fairly common in most teams. Look at Pirlo for AC Milan and now Juventus. ir Is this that myth that Wenger only ties older players down to short 1 year contracts? When players reach 32-33 he’ll start looking at 1 year contracts to make sure they are still hungry enough and able to carry on. Gallas is the most recent and he was offered a 2 year contract but wanted longer and more money. Bergkamp is the prime example… Read more »
Benayoun is the kind of player that will rub off on the lads. The fact that he has this much passion as a loanee just proves that there are good men out there and having had a run of complete douchebags (Nasri, Adebayor) its a refreshing change of pace
Does anyone else think he looks a bit like one of the vultures from The Jungle Book? Very likeable vultures, I feel I should point out.
I think Benny seems like a good guy to have around the place; he doesn’t really strike me as the type to be rubbing off on the boys. It takes all sorts to make a club, I suppose.
Good attitude from Yossi as well, that must be commended.
How much will Zenit pay for Arshavin on an unrelated note?
he’s got a good humble character. I have to say I quite like the guy.
I still don’t like the fact he’s on loan from Chelski, but fuck it. If he wants to play for us and put the effort in like he has been then I’m happy to have him around. He’s a bit like Rosicky if he could score.
Let’s be honest: Benayoun is a bit-part player who does not have much of a future at the club. It’s a shame that he didn’t join us a few years ago – Wenger could have turned him into a real star. Time is not on his side and he will not be remembered for a great deal at Ashburton Grove. The 64 thousand dollar question now is what will Wenger do this January? The fucking blindingly obvious thing to do is to spend some money and bring in a top striker and possibly a quality midfielder too. We are in… Read more »
Know what fatgooner, you’re right. The ref who sent off RvP against Barca was perfectly within his rights to do that, and it’s not as if you don’t see strikers sent off by the dozen every week for exactly the same thing…. How anyone was fooled by Wenger pretending this was a highly irregular decision, and worse getting annoyed by it – well, I guess we’re all wrong and you’re right.
Why don’t you send your CV to Ivan, you seem to have all the things covered that Wenger can’t see for himself?
You utter, utter, fucking idiot. Jesus.
And what happened towards the end of that game? After RvP was sent off? As I recall, we had a golden chance to knock out Barcelona – but didn’t. But why? Well maybe it was because the golden chance fell to a Danish donkey called Nicholas Bendtner – a man whom our glorious manager brought to the club and continued to play even after the world and his mother realised that he had all the footballing ability of Coco the Clown. As so he missed – and we were out. Had we won we could have gone all the way… Read more »
I am utter fucking idiot.
I’m an utter fucking idiot.
but nick bendtner is TGSTEL!
Dear Fatgooner,
You seem to think that ‘top-notch strikers’ are very very easy to come by with JUST 20 million pounds.
This proves everyone’s point.
Dear anon, You seem to think we can’t find a better striker than park or chamakh for 20 mil. Get a fucking clue mate. Any starting striker on any English side 7 through 15 in the table could be bought for less than 20 mil and would be an improvement over our two lame twats. I don’t know if this proves “everybody’s point” but it proves your a shit stirrer. Did you happen to see the CF on that shitty Basel side that beat united yesterday? A chap called Streller I believe, guess what? He looked ten times the striker… Read more »
Frog, you seem to be mistaking ‘top-notch’ for better than what we currently have. They are two very different things. Van Persie is top notch. Yakubu is fat. And yes, he has scored a few goals this season, and if he carries on, then good for him. But cast your mind back to last season, when Chamakh was filling in nicely for van Persie. That didn’t work out too well in the long term, did it? It seems that playing well in a few games doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be a hit. As for your knowledge that… Read more »
Of course, it’s so simple now…. It’s Wenger’s fault Bendtner didn’t score in th champions league. He obvious distracted him. It’s Wengers fault that Szcz and Kos ran into each other in the CC final. That was always the plan. It’s Wengers fault that Abramovich and, more recently, the Sheikh fill their squads with the top class strikers so other clubs can’t have them. It’s Wengers fault players are greedy and just want high wages. Wenger should buy every player he can, send the club into bankruptcy, retire, watch us fall down the leagues like Leeds, Portsmouth, Southampton just so… Read more »
@ ray- pendejo,
I did t say anything about a “top notch” striker, nor did I call anyone any names. As for buying Streller, basic world and European economics dictate the simple fact that a club as well off as the arsenal can buy any player from any shitty club in Switzerland for less than 20 mil. And yes I saw him play once, that was enough to show he was better than chamakh , who sucks.
So in summation, read the post before you comment you stupid cunt. Oooops.
I was simply stating that Anon was responding to a comment calling for a top-notch striker. Try taking your own advice and reading the thread before you post. Again, maybe try reading my comment and considering what I’ve said. If you watched Chamakh at the start of last season, for a couple of games, you would have said that he was a good enough player to back up RVP. He is the exact player that you are now suggesting is replaced by a guy you have seen in one game. That’s less games than Chamakh looked good for, and that… Read more »
Well Ray_Bandana, that fat striker has scored more EPL goals this season than Drogba, Torres, chamakh,Park, owen, Pavlychenko, Kalou, Carroll and Kuyt combined. Rather a fat striker who can score goals than slim ones that can’t.
Plus, it’s obvious you know nothing about Yakubu. You look up his stats. Until that serious injury at everton, with average midfielders, he scored way over 15 goals every season.
Show some respect where due man.
Rant over!
Fatgooner, if Wenger went out and did everything you think he should do in January you’d find something else to moan about.
Probably complain that Wenger went and spent AFC’s money
I really like Benayoun. He knows his place in the team obviously, and he really adds something to the team when he plays. I’d love to see him sign on a permanent basis. Just the type of person we need in the locker room, a great role model for our young guns.
Benayoun’s only problem is that he’s injury prone. Otherwise he’s a good upgrade on Rosicky I think.
I would think he would just replace Arshavin. An injuryed Tomas and injured Yossi would still be a better choice….
I’ll cough then. When the Arteta deal was in it’s off stage and then we seemed to immediately sign Benny on loan, I thought noooooooo…..!!
Now some of that was the Arteta deal being off and us then taking an injury prone player on in midfield in isolation, so I did calm down a bit later on I might add.
But anyway, I have to say I’ve taken a shine to him and compared to some of the whinging, underperforming, self-interested toolbags we’ve had to endure over the recent past, he’ll do for me right now.
It’s difficult to find someone who works as hard has Yossi does when he plays. He’s everywhere, constantly. I can only imagine how annoying it would be to play against someone who isn’t content just walking up the pitch after a poor pass or a missed shot.
His work ethic, dedication to the club, positive attitude, and experience makes him an intelligent buy from Chelsea, in my opinion. I hope he sticks around.
I’ll admit, amidst the despair of losing cesc and Nasri (I’m talking about how I felt during the window) I was pretty underwhelmed by the signing of yossi..
But he has that drive and winning mentality that we’ve been lacking. He’s nt afraid to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in when he has to and we need that.
Little arsh
Fkn iPhone, I forget where I was going with that, agh well
Happy we’ve got him
I really liked him when he was at liverpool. As some have said before, he should have joined earlier and i can’t see him becoming a starter for the club anymore. But i have to say, if we have the option to make his loan permanent this deal was a really really good piece of business. He’s really seems to be the perfect squad player. He never moans, he’s well liked by the other players, happy to share his experience with the youngsters, and when he’s called to action he gives 100 %. Indeed a refreshing exception from the average… Read more »
If he puts that effort in as a loanee he might be worth a year contract for his efforts and experiance
I hate it how when comments get too many negative votes I can’t see them on my iPhone. I would like to know why FATGOONER gets slammed so hard, but then I realize it’s his post and it must look something like “Wenger sucks yakety
I hate it how when comments get too many negative votes I can’t see them on my iPhone. I would like to know why FATGOONER gets slammed so hard, but then I realize it’s his post and it must look something like “Wenger sucks yaketyyaketyyack, Wenger blows yaketyyaketyyack, I know better than the guy who’s won more silverware at this club than anyone else yaketyyaketyyack” and then I feel better knowing I’m not missing much. Seriously mate, why have you got such a hard on for Wenger? Why so much animosity towards one of our greatest managers? You think he’s… Read more »
He was just very pessimistic. The first post that got 40 thumbs down was about how Arsene will just fuck up again this January and saying how Benayoun is shit / not good enough for Arsenal so he will never be signed. The first post getting 40 thumbs down I don’t really get. Then the second post was just pure pessimism, characterized by the whimsical demands of demanding, wishful, over-expecting fans. The bulk of that post was “We almost won at Barca, but we threw it away” and then “Why hasn’t Arsene spent 20 mil on a top-notch striker? Stupid.”… Read more »
Ok anon, let’s try it like this then since you seem to be the all knowing gooner of this blog. Hypothetically, let say we take the 29 mil you and fatg keep talking about, then seek chamakh for 3 mil and arshavin for 10 mil to AhnZi machachachachachalacha. That would make 33 million pounds. That would buy us ALMOST any striker we wanted. You can not argue the fact that we need proper cover for rvp. So stop being such a twat, and quit arguing everything the guy said just for the sake of trolling. I will take back everything… Read more »
*20 mil
I think there’s quite a chance fatgooner and anon are the same person
Frog has a point i might say. But i do not have enough info on why Chamakh loan to Bordeaux was blocked last time around as i also remember Wenger wanted to offload him.
I hope there is a stop-gap signing atleast in January for the striker position. Dont really know what his plan on Park but i believe Wenger doesn’t really have much faith in that guy.
At the moment, lets pray Robin Van Priceless will be alright all season long. (wishful thinking eh?) 🙂
i had a dream,a wierd dream.i started imagining a team full of same players imagine a team full of RVP….swoon* a team full of arteta…would never lose possession i guess a team full of walcott would be crazy…it’d be like a 100 metre sprint where all walcotts would be having a race. team full of TV5..the opponents are fucked no matter what..we’d have assasins all over the pitch a team full of benayoun would be funny….there’d be no formation…i can imagine them all running their heart out to win the game long dream but what i can understand is it… Read more »
I must admit wasnt thrilled when Benny signed ur that probably showed my ignorance as I think the bloke is quality and clearly wants to try hard and play for the arsenal. As for the striker situation far gooner has a point surely? We need a real quality striker surely that’s obvious to even the wenger can do no wrong brigade. Park may be great but arsene doesn’t seem sure or he would play him, so how can we judge the player, Chamkh has Been given chance after chance and for whatever reason just can’t seem to get his game… Read more »
We need a striker pure and simple and if people cannot see wenger was forced into panic buying over what was his worst and biggest failure of the summer as he completely lost his marblles but has made a reasonable comeback and that has been greatlty helped by vanpersies form and hindered buy witshires injury but lets not a mistake here and think we are great when we are clearly not .For me it is complete and utter madness not to be looking for a proven worldclass striker now . Or has everyone else been brain washed into thinking a… Read more »
tl; dr
What a long long long long waste of my time!
Fatgooner, you are a drooling moron and here’s just *one* little example of why. RvP in his first 2 seasons scored 10 in 41 appearances and 11 in 38 The World’s Greatest Ever Striker, currently setting the world alight in 1978’s Sunderland, scored 9 in 40 appearances and 15 in 50. It could be that you are the only person in the universe to be able to see accurately into the future, or perhaps back in the day you were slagging off RvP (or more likely Wenger for buying him and criminally keeping faith with him) like the stupid twat… Read more »
“Essentially you take a glass-half-empty view of things, and then pour the contents of the glass down the toilet, before blaming Wenger for the glass now being empty”, that actually made me laugh but I like the english language too much to put “lol”.
And the one Sam Nelson is a cunt.
I don’t think anyone (including Wenger) would be delighted if RVP went down with an injury, but understand this: Last summer Manchester City spent 63 million pounds and they are out of the most significant tournament in club football. Manchester United spent something like 35 million and are out of that same competition and they will probably not win any silverware this season, if their last trashing at the hands of man City is any indication. Chelsea spend a butt-load of money and they sit only two points higher than we do in the Premiership. Liverpool outspent us and they… Read more »
final point = nail on head Hack: So Arsene, you gonna buy in January? Wenger (looks aghast): Are you seriously that stupid? It’s fucking OBVIOUS we’re desperate for a quality striker! What would happen if RvP got injured you twat? Hack: Hasn’t that outburst just added £10m to the initial asking price? Wenger (taps nose): No, my son. I read this on the comments bit of a blog, see? And, stung by the critique of a certain fat moron, decided that I MUST ACT (we move to a basement in north london, most likely edmonton. It is dingy and a… Read more »
HAHAHAHAHAH!!! “YAY!”
Heh. Nice one
Oh dear, oh dear! I seem to have stirred up a bit of a hornets’ nest, haven’t I? It’s amazing how, when presented with a few cogent arguments, so many people feel that they can do nothing else but resort to infantile personal abuse. But don’t worry: I won’t. I’ll just stick to the facts – perhaps if I continue to do that some of you will come around to my way of thinking. My friend Mr Sammy Nelson seems to be particularly upset with me; maybe it’s because I demolished his Wengeresque silly argument about poor referees costing Arsenal… Read more »
Very nice rebuttle fat. Itseems mr Sam Nelson has gone to the beach today because I can’t seem to think of any other place he may have gotten all that Sand iinto his vagina. It’s funny how some people can get away with such awfull name calling!!
He called you a TWAT not once but twice. What a bad bad boy he is. That’s a flagrant violation of the rules!!!!
Thanks for your support, Frog. Actually, being called a twat doesn’t really bother me, especially when the person insulting me is clearly one of fairly low intelligence. The REAL insult is calling me a Spurs fan – now that’s really nasty! I loathe absolutely everything about that sad little club in N17 and like nothing more than seeing them get stuffed – especially by us! I find it so strange that so many Gooners have been taken in be Wenger. For a manager who has won nothing for six years the level of support for him is incredible. The horrible… Read more »
I agree. I support wenger because I feel he is the best man for the club at the moment and what he’s done for us in the past has earned him the rite to leave on his own accord. With that said , I find some of his moves lately ridiculous. Such as playing our only fit fullback in a game that meant nothing, not shipping out arshavin over then summer, persisting with playing chamakh when even a blind man can see he sucks and sticking with shitty players like almunia and Denilson for so long. The thing is, I… Read more »