From Brickfields Gunners
Could Hérold Goulon be Arsenal’s answer for the problematic ‘central spine ‘ in our defensive midfield and center back /positions?
Who ? You may well ask. Although Goulon has played before in the English league ,the Frenchman has been mostly plying of his trade in the lower leagues for most of his career. Injuries , as well as having had other personal problems has stunted his progress in football.
But this may all be set to change , as the football world stood still in stunned amazement and awe as he scored a jaw dropping stunning,tremendous and astounding freekick from his own half , for his present Malaysian club Pahang, in an FA Cup semi final game on Saturday night. He had also scored earlier from a header in the first half, but this time obviously from within the confines of the opponents’ penalty box !
It is believed that this goal will earn him a good shot at the FIFA Goal of the Season., or the FIFA Puskás Award . If he wins it, he will be the second player from the Malaysian League to achieve it , following in the footsteps of Penang’s Mohd Faiz Subri, who won it in 2016.
The criteria to winning the award is as following (from Wiki )…
- It should be a beautiful goal (subjective — the spread of goals should include long-range shots, team goals, overhead kicks, individual plays, etc.).
- It should be awarded “without distinction of championship, gender or nationality”.[1]
- It should not be the result of luck, mistakes, deflection by another player or the player in a offside position.
- It should support fair play, i.e. the player should not have behaved badly in the game or have been charged with doping, for example.
Hérold Goulon attended the famous Clairefontaine academy that produced such luminaries such as , former Arsenal French greats , Nicolas Analeka , Abou Diaby ,William Gallas , Thierry Henry ; as well as Hatem Ben Arfa , Louis Saha , Kylian Mbappe and Blaise Matuidi . He has represented the French U-21 team.
Allardyce, as the regular readers of this blog will know, is the only England International manager to have achieved a 100% record win . So he must have seen something very special in the young Goulon that the other top managers of that time including SAF and AW missed. Alas, Allardyce was soon sacked by the new owners, Venky’s who knew chicken shit about football.
So, because of these events , Hérold Goulon was to fall off the radar, but with last weekend’s performance, and his astounding goal, the internet is abuzz with this player . Weather he is the answer to our well known central defensive frailties, only time will tell. But you have all been suitably informed of his second coming to the EPL .
Here is the player’s career record.
| Years | Team | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–2008 | Middlesbrough | 0 | 0 |
| 2008–2010 | Le Mans | 37 | 0 |
| 2010–2012 | Blackburn Rovers | 4 | 0 |
| 2011–2012 | Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 6 | 0 |
| 2013–2014 | Zawisza Bydgoszcz | 24 | 2 |
| 2015–2016 | Omonia | 20 | 2 |
| 2016 | Viitorul Constanța | 4 | 0 |
| 2017 | Doxa Katokopias | 15 | 1 |
| 2017–2018 | Pafos | 26 | 2 |
| 2018 | Ermis Aradippou | 9 | 0 |
| 2019– | Pahang FA | 14 | 4 |
I think it is useful to have a number of players who can put the ball on target (the goal) from (almost) anywhere they commonly should be found on the field. Obviously, it is the most difficult for the goalkeeper to put a ball on the opposition’s goal. I thought Jenkinson had a strong enough foot. Xhaka can do this. Others would be nice.
I don’t know that Goulon is a likely candidate to join the EPL. But I think it would be nice if his shot is considered Puskas or similar.
Coupon on the Arsenal radar this summer? He can’t be. Or is he?
@ Gord – 24/06/2019 at 6:11 pm – After watching that clip , I got to thinking that if a defender could score from that distance , Arsenal ought to buy him pronto.
Not only would he be able to add value to our goal scoring, he would also need not ‘adventure’ too far forwards , and get caught in the event of a breakaway . Which is a well known problem for us.
Every freekick in our own half will soon have the opposition quaking in their boots, and causing panic in their midst. And we would have an added potent offensive threat.
Similar to what used to happen to us ,and others when Stoke City’s Rory Delap took throw ins . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD3c07AE3ZQ .
And we don’t have to hire a specialist ball boy to hold the drying towel !
@ SAA -24/06/2019 at 8:50 pm – I have submitted my claim with the supporting evidence . Let those drunken ‘wise’ ones at the Toppled Bollard public house , decide on its merits !
And speaking of alcoholics and their perception …
Son : “Daddy what is an alcoholic ?”
Father : ” Do you see those 4 trees,son ? An alcoholic would see 8 trees .”
Son : ” Um, Dad , there are only 2 trees ….!”
I thought we Brits invented satire, but this has gone right over my head. What have I missed here?