Booing Eboue is not going to turn him into a Robert Pires, he is not going to suddenly become a masterful winger who can turn the game in a moment of magic, all it will do is knock his already shattered confidence and make him worst

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I was quite distugusted this Saturday watching the West Ham game at the Grove, in fact I felt a bit embarrassed to be an Arsenal fan. I am not talking about the result or performance or the lack of creativety in the final third. What I am referring to is the shamefully behaviour of our fans in the booing of a player for doing little more than being injured. Yes I am talking about everyone?s favourite scapegoat again, Emanuel Eboue. Whilst the booing was not as loud or aggressive as the Wigan game I could still here a chorus of boos echoing behind me. I say behind me as I was in my pals seat instead of my usual season ticket spot, my friends having a seat in the front row bang on the half way line in what we supporters would call the East Stand but is really named the Blue Quadrant or something that sounds like an area from the Crystal Maze. Anyway a front ticket could not be turned down. I digress, but anyway…..

Eboue may not be one of the greatest players to have adorned the red and white shirt of the (not so) mighty (of late) Arsenal, however at the end of the day he is an Arsenal player. Now don?t get me wrong I am not one of the Arsene knows brigade and I am certainly not Eboue?s biggest fan, nor do I believe he is good enough to play for Arsenal, which I beleive is the opinion shared by most of if not all the Arsenal fans, however that is not his fault. And that is the point…..It is not his fault!

What exactly is Eboue supposed to do? Should he say when Arsene picks him, ?Sorry boss I am not good enough to play for Arsenal you should play someone else instead, I should be a sub right back so only pick me if Bacary is injured?. Clearly that is out of the question, he is a professional footballer if he is picked he plays. Other than stepping down from the team I can?t see what else Eboue is supposed to do. He is not blessed with the talents Cesc, RVP and the like so he is never going to set the world alight, he is a pretty average player so the best he is ever going to turn out is a good performance of an average player. We can?t therefore blame him for that, it is not his fault.

Booing Eboue is not going to turn him into a Robert Pires, he is not going to suddenly become a masterful winger who can turn the game in a moment of magic, all it will do is knock his already shattered confidence and make him worst. This will only have a determental effect on the team as whole and is in fact a really stupid thing to do given the our currentl position. I beleive Eboue is already giving his best, the problem is his best is not good enough for a team like Arsenal and that, I shall say again, is not his fault.

The thing that really got to me this Saturday was that Eboue, a side from a woeful shot that was closer to the corner flag than the goal, was actually having a decent game by his standards. He made some good runs and won some free kicks in dangerous positions around the box. He hardly gave the ball away at all, and when he did it was only because Adebayor failed to move his backside. He was probably too busy thinking what to buy next with his over inflated wages instead of making a run. To tell the truth I think the Gooners are pointing the scapegoat finger at the wrong Manu, as unlike Eboue we know Ade is capable of performing significantly better that he currently is. My opinion on why we are so devoid of chances despite the high levels of possession is the lack of movement from the front man. If the front man has a lot of movement this not only increases his chance of being free to take a pass but also creates space for others. If the front man stands still it is difficult for the midfield to pick a pass to him and it also means there is no space for anyone to run in from deep. Anyway I will not go into this now as this issue requires a completely separate article.

The thing annoyed me greatly during this particular match was that he was being booed when he was down injured. Now I appreciate he has a history of play acting but on this occcasion even Stevie Wonder could have seen the hefty wack he took. What made it worst was fans where still giving him stick when he limped back on the pitch, I actually heard one guy say ?Come on Eboue run?, despite it being abundantly clear he was hobbling and would be playing little further part in the game. This might I add was the same guy who shouted obsenities at Adebayor for not getting on the end of cross the Sagna had sliced into row Z, yes this guy was an idiot!!!