i feel this stat says alot about him (tackling)

Tacklers-----------------Team-----------------Tackles-------Success rate
Reo-Coker---------------Aston Villa-----------63------------79%
Hamann------------------Man City-------------62 ------------79%
Clichy-----------------Arsenal---------------61------------90%
Malbranque--------------Tottenham------------59 -----------78%
Johnson------------------Portsmouth------------58------------74%

i genuinely feel we have a few underrated players here at arsenal and clichy just happens to be one of them. best left back in the league for me.

Great in going forward and even better in defense.
A genuine left footed left back.

Shame France has Evra and Abidal as LB... I hope he'll gain Evra's spot in the NT. What a LB, he's impressive; I think soon he'll get his first EPL goal.

ahhh the day clichy gets a goal will be a great moment for sure!!..........

We all saw how shaky can our defence be when Traore was struggling against an experienced opposition. Although I'm a great fan of Armand, he's not ready for a regular place.

I agree. Clichy has really taken his game to a new level this year. Very intelligent player that plays so within himself and to his maximum potential on a consistent basis.

He's become a better play than what Ash was in that role, even in Cole's prime IMO.

Great player.

Clichy is good, but working in the unit, Cole-Pires-Henry is world class, better than Clichy-Hleb-RVP etc.

To be fair to Traore, he had Eduardo playing ahead of him if I'm not mistaken which made his job ultra tough.

As far as Clichy goes, the lad is different class. I think he can go onto be better than Cashley. That tackles percentage stat in the first post is astonishing. To, theoretically, stop a winger 9 times out of 10 from even having the opportunity to cross the ball is incredible. I didnt realize it was that good.

Nice to see NRC has thrown in the most though from a Villa point of view and a 79% win rate isnt too shabby either!



Its actually physcailly impossible for you to comment on a player without mentioning him isnt it!?

What is the point of that? This is the Clichy thread.

What a pointless post!! As soon as someone mentions anyone but Pires you put in something negative!

Anyways on topic Clichy is true quality!! In some games you wont notice him but thats a sign of a good defender because he doesnt have to make last ditch tackles!! Sometimes he can get caught with the switched ball to the right flank but always has the pace to get back!! Better as his age than Cole was!!

Bit off topic but he was better at Traore's age than Traore is if ya get me!! Traore is a good player showing some good promise but Clichy was playing really well at traore's age and was looking like he could abttle with Cole for a first team place!!

To be fair, three years ago, when Clichy was 19, he had some bad games. On a few ocassions I felt he was chasing shadows, so I wouldn't say Traore is worse than Clichy at this stage in his Arsenal career.

Right now, I can confidently say Clichy is better than A. Cole. It's a bold statement, but I feel he's finally caught up to that standard. Last season, I believed he needed one or two more years to get to that level, but Clichy's performances since then has been a huge factor in Arsenal's recent successes. He's one of the most consistent players in the team, it's unbelieveable. There's not a single doubt in my mind that Clichy will emulate A. Cole's time at Arsenal, and then reach greater heights for the club.

agreed but the one area he could improve on is maybe if his delivery into the box was a little bit better when he gets into advanced postitions which was something cole was undoubtedly better at. he carries the ball better than most wingers out there and his pace and acceleration is just unbelievable. i think apart from fabregas he was probably our most consistent player last season as well.

yeah. In the time hes been at arsenal he has shown that he can cope with pressure, And not lose his head when the other team scores

The youngest player got the Premiership medal.

I'd personally opine that the Pires beard-ass-foot unit was far superior to Cole-Pires-Henry.

He really fell off the pace during the Newcastle game. Needs rest!

^what the hell is in you sig and av?

Colours.

Clichy relishing chance to put one over his former master

Ashley Cole will be centre stage tomorrow but his replacement won't mind, he tells David Hytner

Gaël Clichy counts it among his most treasured souvenirs. The bottle of Lanson sits on his mantelpiece and commemorates the day when he first hinted that he could fill the boots of Ashley Cole.

Arsenal travelled to Chelsea on February 21 2004 and, with Cole injured, Clichy made his fifth Premier League start. The left-back had been plucked from the French third division the previous summer but he produced a performance of real assurance. Arsenal won 2-1; Clichy collected the Man of the Match champagne.

With each glance at it, the 22-year-old is reminded how far he has come. Cole's departure for Chelsea last year not only created resentment among the Arsenal support - they will pour it forth at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow when he returns for the first time - but it also asked questions of Arsène Wenger and Clichy.

Wenger was mindful of Clichy's appalling luck with injury; he had just undergone a third operation on a foot problem, and the manager was under pressure to trawl the transfer market for fresh blood.

Yet Wenger welcomed back Clichy two months into the new season, placed his faith in him and he has since reaped a rich reward. Individual displays like the one against Chelsea at the start of his Arsenal career have become the norm. If there is the suspicion Cole is struggling for full fitness and Chelsea have not yet enjoyed the best of him, Clichy has gone from strength to strength. How he fares in relation to Cole will be one of many fascinating sub-plots of an afternoon that promises plenty of title pointers. It is one that Clichy will relish.

"When Ashley left, it was the best thing that could have happened for me," he said. "He left and the stage was there for me. It was also a massive confidence boost that the boss didn't buy another left-back. I just had to play a few games well to show everyone that I could play there and now, here I am. I will try to be even better than Ashley because it's my objective to be remembered as one of the great Arsenal left-backs.

"Ashley was a symbol of Arsenal, being a London boy and the only player [at that time] who really came through the academy, and that's why it will be difficult for the fans to accept him coming back. If they decide to boo him, I would understand that. I hope he will handle it because he's a good guy but I just want the fans to help the team to get the three points. It's going to be difficult and we will need them."

Clichy made 12 Premier League appearances in 2003-04, Arsenal's "Invincible" season and, at 18 years and 294 days when the trophy was handed over, he became and remains the youngest winner of the Premier League title. He has a second bottle of Lanson at home to mark the feat.

If Clichy has emerged from Cole's shadow, the team has not yet done so from its illustrious predecessor. Wenger has overhauled the squad; only three other "Invincibles" remain - Jens Lehmann, Kolo Touré and Gilberto - and the FA Cup in 2005 is a lone success.

"I cannot explain the emotion when we won the title but it was something really deep in your stomach and it's just unbelievable," he said. "My medal is pride of place and it motivates me. You strive to reach those heights again and I really want everyone in this team to experience that feeling. We have the quality and the desire and everything is possible this season."

Clichy has never lacked self-belief and this has served him well during his testing times, in particular, the 18-month injury nightmare that began when he broke a metatarsal in May 2005 and the difficulties of leaving home for a foreign country as an 18-year-old. Clichy left Cannes, the club that nurtured Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane, and moved into a flat in Enfield without friends or English.

"You have to make sacrifices if you want to reach the top level," he said. "For example, I don't touch alcohol during the season. But the biggest thing for me is that since 13, when I attended the south-west France football academy, I haven't really seen my family. I have a brother, Dimael, who is six years old and the two months I spent with him this summer was the longest I have ever had with him.

"It was difficult in Enfield when I was at home alone but when I got into training, I just forgot about everything. When I first saw Patrick [Vieira] and Dennis [Bergkamp], I couldn't stop smiling. They must have thought 'Who is this guy?' I couldn't believe where I was. It was also amazing to train with Thierry Henry."

Clichy was 12 when Vieira and Bergkamp were helping Wenger to his first Double in 1998 - he followed the campaign on L'équipe du dimanche, France's television highlight show, to become hooked on Arsenal. He enjoys telling the story of Wenger's visit to Cannes to sell Arsenal to him - "Arsène Wenger was there in this really nice restaurant, talking about Arsenal, wanting me to come" - and he has another about his debut for the club.

"It was at Celtic in pre-season," he said. "I got to the dressing-room and when I saw everyone's shirts with their names on, I thought 'Oh my God, there will be one here for me.' I saw it, had a little look at the back and when the boss wasn't looking, I took out my phone, took a picture of 'Clichy No22' and sent it to my mother. I couldn't stop myself."

Clichy was no prodigy and spent his formative years at the regional academy battling to catch the eye. He got a break when injuries to players ahead of him saw him start a tournament. He played well and Cannes spotted him. Then came the moment that shaped his outlook.

As Cannes' stadium was being redeveloped, he vaulted a wire fence but got his ring caught and all the flesh and ligaments were ripped off his finger. During the seven-hour operation to reattach them his heart stopped beating for 20 seconds. Doctors described his recovery as a miracle. "I just realised that the life can go quick and you have to enjoy today," he said. "I was a religious person anyway, my family are Christian, but when I needed God, I think he helped me."

Clichy admitted he could not speak to Vieira and Bergkamp upon joining Arsenal, in a £200,000 deal. But he integrated and now, despite ambitions to play for France, he considers himself an adopted Londoner and he cannot hide his passion for English football. "I love London, I love the English people because they are really open-minded and I love the football," he said. "I would like to play here for the rest of my career and stay in England forever.

"I sometimes wonder what it must be like to play for England, it would be such a massive thing because this country is just mad about its football. I've found myself watching more and more England games and I'm more aware now of the rivalries when we play Chelsea or Tottenham or West Ham."

Clichy could not sleep the night before he played Chelsea for the first time in the Premier League; the nervous excitement overran his body and mind. He will not have that problem tonight. Cool and collected, Gaël Clichy has arrived.

Source: Guardian

This is like the tenth piece I've read on Clichy where they've mentioned the heart thing. It's awesome and everything when you hear the story the first time but these journalists really need to do some more research.

nice article .. his performance against chelsea also exceptional .. waiting for a goal from him

He did great today. He kept Joe Cole out of it, which was vital.

Gael Clichy names his All-time XI on the most recent Arsenal Vodcast. Definitely chack it out if you haven't already.

Post his team.

Here's a link to DL the vodcast if you don't have iTunes: http://sharebee.com/83d17b9b

GK: Bernard Lama (Retired PSG player, played for France)
RB: Cafu (Currently playing for AC Milan, Brazilian)
CB: John Terry (Chelsea, England)
CB: Paolo Maldini (AC Milan, Italy)
LB: Roberto Carlos (Fenerbahce, Brazil)
RM: Robert Pires (Villarreal, played for France)
CM: Valdo Finho (Retired PSG, played for Brazil)
CM: Patrick Vieira (Inter, France)
LM: Zinedine Zidane (Former Real Madrid, France)
CF: Thierry Henry (Barcelona, France)
CF: Romario (Former Valencia, Brazil)

only reason why hes not better than evra imo is clichy is less likey to score than evra

Clichy sure hit those long balls towards Eduardo. 3rd time it's resulted in a goal. Go Clichy + Eduardo!

Clichy + Eduardo > A. Cole + Pires

*Pires7 walks in*

You know the deal...

I really think Clichy and Eduardo can make one hell of a pair. Defiantly a Plan B if we can't score.

Clichy for player of the month

Well, it was a joke at his expense, but there's some truth in it if Eduardo keeps scoring and Clichy keeps setting him up. Third time it's worked, if it continues I don't see why their partnership can't be better than A. Cole's and Pires'.

yer gael has set up lots of goals and chances on the left behind rosicky, and his passing and dribbling into the middle has improved setting up the likes of cesc and of course eduardo. He will become one of the league's greatest left backs if he continues playing like he is playing. go gunners!

I don't understand how he can't be considered world class. With performances like today's, he's amazing. Plus on top of that, he always consistant with his defensive performances, and usually gives the attack a good pass or two. Now, he is improving with his crossing. Fantastic cross today.

Allez Clichy!

^^^u kno??the lad has been superb! and the stats prove it

Agreed. I remember last season his crosses barely stayed inbounds let alone accurate and effective now they look very good. He claimed the team would be focused and he was totally right. Even if he's 3rd choice you cant keep him out of the French NT.

Clichy is world class. End of.

He's so underrated its disgusting. He still seems to be improving too, imagine him after 2 years of injury free footy

Godly Pires rated him as one of the very very talented young guns alongside with Robin and Aliadiere (), I read somewhere from the magazine. IMO, he's the most consistent Gunners this season. He's the best left back in Premier League. Pfft.

World Class without a doubt

Dare I say he's been our best and most consistent player all season? What does a player have to do to get some credit? It's almost baffling. Although he has been 'several classes' below the REAL best left back in this league

lol Gael is the best left back in this league and has been all season.

There I said it.

Nice Harry!!!

EDIT:- Clichy = sigged.

Clichy > Evra.

All night and day.

I posted the other day that Evra was still better somewhere and I totally take it back. He's more of an all around player than Evra and because of his ridiculous pace and positional awareness he's always where he needs to be. If he isn't where he needs to be he'll get there in no time at all cause he's a freak of nature. He's a good crosser?? After his constantly disappointing crosses last year I didn't think I'd ever be saying that. Mark my words: He'll score this season.

Clichy was driven for a goal against Brummie City. Took like 13 shots that game.

Its gonna be great when Clichy scores. Did he go on any of his Maradona-esque runs today btw?

i think so ye...the guy is immense

When he socres, I'm going to go insane. Especially if it from one of his Maradona runs.