Don't expect goals from Hleb

Frozen
By Boris Mellor
June 27 2005

Arsene Wenger has not bought Hleb for his goalscoring ability. Indeed if he has there will be a lot of disappointed fans. For he has only scored 13 goals in his time at Stuttgart. Between July 2000 — June 2005 he had 137 Appearances with 13 Goals.

The key to Hleb is that he will give the midfield more physical strength, he is prepared to tackle wingers and full backs alike.

Wenger does not want to give up on 4-4-2, but with more and more teams playing 4-5-1 his midfield have been found wanting. A lot of people have blamed this on Vieira's form, but I think they are wrong. Arsenal's midfield has been increasingly constricted by the use of three tough tacklers on the opposing side. When teams play 4-4-2 against us we slaughter them. But teams are used to outnumbering us in that area now.

It was Tony Adams who pointed out that when we play both Pires and Ljunberg together our midfiled is under pressure, and team's like Bolton give us a hard time. If Arsene is not to revert to 4-5-1, and he still says he doesn't want to, that Man U in the final was a one off, then he must have at least one flank midfielder who will get stuck in.

He obviously believes Hleb is that player. At a maximum of £10 million Arsene has not bought him as a developing prospect. Like Gilberto he will go straight into the team.

The days of Ljunberg and Pires on the field at the same time will become a thing of the past. Wenger will keep 4-4-2, but the personnel will change. Hopefully we will be able to switch the game around far more effectively and give teams a few surprises.
And its possible there is more to come, in the way of signings, yet