Is Eduardo Da Silva too lightweight and small to make it in Premier League?
Those wind-up merchants over at our sister site Who Ate All The Pies have laid down their Arsenal predictions for the coming season and even without given the boy a chance, labelled Eduardo Da Silva as their Flop of the Season. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion (however wrong) but Pies reckons Du Du is too lightweight to handle the big bruiser Premier League defenders and not the 'fox-in-the-box' the Gunners are looking for.
They're right of course. Du Du is only 5ft 10" and does look a tad fragile. He's the archetypal Wenger player, small, compact, technically superior and light and fluffy as Angel Delight. But he will use his pace, guile and fleet of foot to survive the pell mell of the Premier League. It's the Arsenal way. But true footy fans will know it takes a good six months to adpat to the pace of the English game - remember Overmars and Pires when they first played? Both were useless - but Wenger has already highlighted his work and team ethic so I expect it won't take Du Du long to endear himself to the fans in that respect. Us English fans love a tryer.
But to call the Brazilian born, naturalised Croat a fox-in-the-box is wrong. OK, he scored a whopping 54 goals in all competitions for Dinamo Zagreb last season but we all know he won't be that prolific in the Premier League because the class of defender is far, far superior. Having watched footage of Da Silva in action for Zagreb, the quality of defending in the Croatian league wouldn't even hold-up in our Sunday league. It's school boy stuff.
No, Du Du has shown he's good at poaching a goal or two and is pretty decent at scraping off rebounds and reacting to deflections, but as he's shown in pre-season he like to drop back behind the front striker, link up play, drift wide to the left (just like Henry) and make late runs into the box. Again, it's the Arsenal way. Ex-Everton and West Ham player and now the manager of the Croatian national team, Slaven Bilic sums up the type of player we're getting with Da Silva:
“Eduardo scores great goals but that is not all he can do. He can open space for other players in the team. Last season he had the most assists in the Croatian League. Arsenal fans will be delighted with him, I am sure of it.”
I've been impressed with Du Du in pre-season and I reckon once he finds his feet he will shine in the Premier Legue. Who At All The Pies will be eating their words (and getting fat on Pies!) come the end of the season.
But what do you think? Will Eduardo become a hit at Arsenal or will he be the next Franny Jeffers? Leave your comments below.
Picture: Getty Images
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he will be a hit
Posted by: Anonymous | August 9, 2007 2:38 PM