eboue burst onto the first team scene two seasons ago when he came in midseason to cover an injured lauren at right back. he impressed immediately, looking assured and confident on the ball, defending well and surprising everyone with the boldness of his forward running. he was an everpresent in the knockout stages of our champions league campaign that year, playing througout our run to the final. he made a memorable impact there, diving to win the free kick that led to arsenal's opening goal, and keeping the best player in the world at the time in his pocket. his performances that season convinced arsene wenger to dispense with the services of lauren the following season, and had some commentators asking if wenger had uncovered the best young right back in the world.
last season his fortunes dipped somewhat. play acting and other unneccessary forms of clowning about started to feature more frequently in his game and he also picked up a couple of niggling injuries. he did chip in with a few crosses and assists over the season (remember henry's header in the last minute against man U at the emirates?) but all in all he was inconsistent and took a step backwards from his breakthrough season.
this season, perhaps acknowledging eboue's inconsistency as well as anticipating the disruption that would be caused to the defence when eboue went off to the african nations cup, wenger gave eboue's right back spot to bacary sagna, and chose to deploy eboue as a right winger. among arsenal fans it is generally agreed that his contribution this season from this position has been relatively poor. he has yet to weigh in with any goals, has not matched his tally of assists from last season, and inexplicably continues to clown about on the pitch, feigning injury and otherwise monkeying about like an idiot.
so should he be dropped for walcott as many fans seem to want? or sold? should he be relegated to being sagna's depute at right back? the answer to all of these suggestions is absolutely not.
while it is true his antics are an embarrassment, his behaviour on the pitch is the whole team's responsibiliy, not just his own. his manager and teammates should be chastising him whenver he stops playing to start clowning around. and while he has not contributed goals or assists, he does play his part in productive and threatening team play down the right hand side, and he has made several shooting opportunities for himself throughout the season. if he works on his finishing over the summer, he is guaranteed to convert some of the chances he makes for himself.
eboue can definitely improve a lot in his game, but he is young, fit, and is an undeniably talented strong runner with a great ability to dink past and accelerate away from players. he is a natural on the right wing, he can cross like a dream and has an absolute cannon of a shot in his right foot. with a bit of moral leadership from his teammates and manager and some shooting practice over the summer, he'll become hugely valuable for us.
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