Just Talk
Has anybody bothered to ask Cesc for his opinion lately? In the last couple of months, each time a strong speculation comes up he always chose to refute it by both declaring his commitment, but also great affection for the club. We know the elections in Barcelona are just around the corner so it’s very possible that it’s the propaganda machine at it again. Apparentlywe wrote a very nice letter to Barcelona asking them to desist from their very public attempts to both unsettle and sign the player. All I care for is the fact that until 2014, Cesc is an Arsenal player and unless the club decide to sell him which is highly unlikely, they will have to wait until he runs out his contract.
But then on the flip side, what if he decides to leave. How does that affect us? Does that mean we’ll slip out of the top four and finish miserably in 8th without him. He might be a talisman, but a team clearly doesn’t make a forest. Don’t get me wrong here as I’m not saying he is overhyped. The contributions of Cesc are made more meaningful with the presence of the other players in the team and his departure will only create a void which realistically can be filled by any of Diaby, a maturing Aaron Ramsey or a shiny £25m replacement from Europe. That is of course expecting that we get a minimum of £40m in transfer fee from whichever club he chooses to sign for.
I will be the first to admit that supporter apathy is growing over our failure to deliver on the big stage and the fact that the basis of judging our achievements is debatable. One section of the fans want silverware of any sort while another section are content with us being competitive and being right up there with the lot fighting it out for the title. Personally, I think as at this morning that £30m is burning a hole in Wenger’s pocket as he weighs up the options of what could have been if his bluff calling in the summer and lack of haste in January had paid off.
One man however who seems to be speaking my language is Maraoune Chamakh…by the way is he that good or what? He seems to have confirmed that he will be joining Arsenal in the Summer when his contract with Bordeaux expires. He said;
“My future? Well, I hold all the cards,” he said. “I have no reason to be under pressure but, every day passing by, I am a little less a Bordeaux player. My choice is to join a Premier League club and, if I could choose, I will go to Arsenal. Bordeaux have brought me so much. I will soon clearly state things so the club can prepare to find my replacement peacefully.”
I think I shall also leave speaking on this till he states things clearly so we can prepare to welcome him to the Emirates! I won’t bore you by telling you that we missed out on both Brazilian starlet Zezinho and Olympiques Lyonnais defensive midfielder Maxime Gonalons. You can read about that in the papers or somewhere else. Don’t ask me.
If you don’t know we lost to Chelsea on Sunday, then you must be living under a rock. It was a much improved performance by the Gunners but still showed that there exists a gulf in class between Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. A little more could have proved the difference and as always, Didier Drogba returned to haunt us. He’s scored something like 12 in 12 against us and after the goals went in, I remembered my comments on the blog earlier that day. If you missed it, let me refresh your memory.
I came across an interesting comment on a website and I’d like to share it with you;
“In training its obviously Arsenal v Arsenal. All the team are short, all a like therefore no tackling is done, no headers practiced just lots of fancy passing in the middle of the park with no one shooting at Almunia – probably one of many reasons why he is so shite. Shots to saves ratio before yesterdays game put him ranked 19th in the premiership. That statistic speaks volumes.”
I’ll leave it at that even though 13 year old Karun Singh thinks we don’t have much to worry about as shown in the comments below.
“Looking at the title race, Arsenal is the only team out of the three teams in contention, who have played both the other teams. In other words, there is a Chelsea – Manchester United clash coming up, where it is obvious that either team will drop points. Meanwhile, Arsenal now have just about three teams to be vary of in the next three months – Sunderland (who beat them earlier in the season), Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium (where the Gunners were knocked out of the FA Cup), and the big spenders, Manchester City (who will look to become the third side to complete a double over Arsenal this season).”
“For Chelsea, there are tricky fixtures against Manchester City, United, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Stoke City. Meanwhile, United might just drop points at Villa Park, or against Fulham, Liverpool, Chelsea, giant killers Sunderland, Manchester City or Rory Delap’s Stoke City. So Chelsea have 5 tricky fixtures, United have 7, while Arsenal have just 3. People might say that Chelsea ‘thrashed’ and ‘mauled’ the ‘helpless’ Arsenal side, but I urge you Arsenal supporters to look on the flip side: It is very likely that Arsenal don’t drop points, and their rivals’ do, out the North Londoners in the title race, hence relieving all the pressure, while the pressure has piled up on United and Chelsea. Thus, the Chelsea loss might just be a blessing in disguise. So there is still a lot for the Gunners to cheer about, they are not yet out of the title race.”
All this from a 13 year old? That kid should be on Analyse This!
Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit!
Another Bridge to Cross
Manuel Almunia will be in goal, and I reckon we’ll play with an unchanged back four. Midfield for me is a worry because as at this moment, we have had no news about the fitness of Diaby. If he plays, I’m sure his physical presence will do a lot for our cause in the middle of the park. In the absence of Diaby, we are left with Denilson who in my opinion hasn’t been in good form and I won’t be surprised if I see Aaron Ramsey start should Diaby fail to come through. Upfront, the boss may be tempted to start Bendtner and secretly I’m hoping he falls for the temptation as it would afford Arshavin the opportunity to play wide left where he is more comfortable and can provide those final balls needed. My mind says Walcott on the right but my head tells me it’s going to be Nasri.
Didier Drogba as always will pose a major threat and my sincere hope is that our backline can hold their nerve enough to hold him off as I’m sure his clinical ability will prove crucial in any attacks Chelsea launch.
Finally The Mirror are reporting that we look set to offer Cesc Fabregas a £120,000 a-week deal that will make him the highest player in our history. Surely if that is true, it will be only to ward of possible interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid and to push up the sale price in the unlikely event that we decide to cash in on him…we’ll see!
Until then, I can only hope that we come through with the best possible result.
Till tommorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Smoke Screens
At about lunchtime the website ran a story about how we were very close to signing a player on Monday night. How annoying is that? That’s some info we really don’t need to know because it’ll leave us all wondering what would have happened had it gone through. As usual, the boss remained coy and refused to name either the player, or the position in question! Whilst some people reckon it’s simply a smoke screen to appease the fans, John Cross from the Mirror reckons the player in question was Loic Remy.
While we wait on the fitness of Abou Diaby, let’s not get carried away our sorrow in defeat and be consoled by the fact that we have qualified from the group stages of the Champions’ League for 10 consecutive seasons and that plus a top three finish is much harder than winning 5 League Cups…as much as that is Arsene Wenger’s opinion I have to admit that he does have a point. For me as long as we can challenge for the top and not fall like a pack of cards each time we face Didier Drogba, then I’m fine. But then that’s just me. There are millions out there who don’t share my opinion and would trade their January upfront for the Carling cup! That truely is disturbing!
I’ve got a wedding to attend and a belle to appease so I’ve got to cut this short here for now. An update later in the day may happen as I’ve just discovered Wordpress for Blackberry & UberTwitter.
Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit!
Another Bridge Too Far
Early on, we seemed to have the ascendancy and had Arshavin been less selfish or more clinical, we could have been two goals up in the first 20 minutes. His two early misses cost us a lead. Had he squared the ball with his first chance or found the corner with his second, Utd would have been on the back foot and we would have had the opportunity to play the way we want to. Fair enough a bit of skill…ok an extravagant dribble by Nani saw him waltz his way past two defenders and float the ball towards Almunia from an acute angel on the edge of the area. I’m not too sure whether it was a chip shot or a cross that went wrong but even if Almunia hadn’t tipped it into his goal, J.S Park was waiting to score at the other end…unless of course like Ryan Giggs, he could have missed an open goal.
For the other two, Man Utd showed why they are one of the best teams on the counter attack. Methinks if we were more clinical in the box we could have scored instead of ending up two men short at the back leaving us open to two great goals from Rooney and J.S Park. They could have had more had Nani been more Ronaldo than well Nani. Despite his trickery, I still see why many Utd fans still have issues with him. On that Arsene Wenger had this to say;
“I would say they had other players who gave us some problems, not only Wayne Rooney. We gave them too much room everywhere and afterwards Rooney takes advantage of it. We conceded two goals which were ‘corner for us, goal for them’ – two goals, the second and third. I believe it was much more with our positioning and the intelligence of our positioning that we were wrong.”
In summary, I think if we had all our strikers playing as strikers, we could have converted more of our chances and have come away with at worst a high scoring draw. The introduction of Bendtner and Walcott saw us inject a bit of physique and pace into the game but as was the case yesterday, it was a bit too late for the changes to do any real damage to a Utd team that was already coasting to victory. I wonder if the boss ever considered playing Gallas in attack. As we sought to consolidate on Vermaelen’s consolation goal, he got into some really good positions and had he had more time or practice, he might have just had an opportunity to pull one more back for us.
Now that might sound absurd but he sure does have the basic credentials of the striker we so desperately need at the moment. Firstly, he know how to get forward and has a keen eye for goal, he’s got pace, is physical enough can head the ball well. He also has a pretty decent shot. With Sol Campbell back in the squad, it’s a gamble that is worth trying but is as unlikely to happen as is Bolton winning the Champions’ league next season. The boss is content with Gallas and Vermaelen as his permanent centre backs and will want to keep that going for as long as possible. Even though it worked for Samba at Blackburn, I’m pretty sure the boss won’t be making that move as he seems to be confident enough that Bendtner and the rest can lead the line.
While I think we could still do with one or two more bodies at the moment, I’m realistic that that isn’t happening because the manager has already said we are not on any business before this evening when the window closes, and having missed out on Chris Smalling to Utd, Sol Campbell seems to be our only signing as both Chamakh and Villa whom the boss has openly spoken about are unavailable at the moment. This is beginning to get interesting because the boss claims we are able to spend up to £30m on a single player. Now while we can get Chamakh for nothing in the summer should he decide to join us, only David Villa’s wages would prove a stumbling block as I’m told he earns more that Ashley Cole. With that in mind, our potential summer signings could be the making or breaking of the Arsenal of the future.
With Utd’s lingering debt, Chelsea’s possible transfer ban, the uncertainty over Liverpiool and the possibility of a bored Arab billionaire at City in the next few years should they fail to win a trophy, that £30m which we are reported to have does sound like it could push us right back in it. I’ve looked carefully and I don’t reckon Chelsea or Utd can get any stronger than they already are. Liverpool are well…inconsistent. Villa and Spurs are gradually improving but I reckon it’ll take them two or three more seasons to get themselves right in the mix of things if they continue to do things the way they do. City are on the rise and it is yet to be seen how much more exactly they need to do to become a top club. Arsenal on the other hand are just outside the elite but unlike the other teams, our weaknesses are not only glaring, but relatively easier to fix. In short words, we need a striker, another centre back and either a new goalkeeper or a promotion of Mannone or Scezeny to the starting eleven.
Speaking to the press after the game, the boss had this to say in summary about the match;
“It is difficult to take but easy to explain because we were poor offensively and defensively cohesion-wise. We delivered an off-the-mark performance completely and that is why we were well beaten today. We gave them always too much room, we were naive. I believe we have to stick together now, recover and produce a much better performance next Sunday [against Chelsea].”
As difficult as it is to say, I’ve pretty much called it a season for Arsenal, as far as the Premier league is concerned. I’m not writing off their chances yet again as many have done over the years but my thought is that we are nearly there. I know we’ve been singing this song for a number of years now but most of the time it has been sung mainly in hope. This time for me it’s clear that what we do need is an infusion and a shuffle of responsibilities and we just might challenge even stronger next year. With the way things are going, only a total collapse of our season will see us fall below third place which in itself is an improvement on the last 5 years and now comes with the bonus of automatic qualification for the group stages of the champions league.
We may have stagnated for a number of years, but finishing strongly in third means that we’ve done better than in previous years and in real terms, we’ve not only finished in a better position, but have demonstrated our ability to improve on our performance. I look forward to the summer where before, during and after the world cup, I expect Arsene to splash the cash like never seen before. I’ve never been an advocate of irresponsible spending like the chavs but the vibes I’m getting from the boss are ones that say “Ok! I know where the holes are and where we are light in bodies…I’m getting A,B and C in the summer.” We wait and see.
I close with news that Robin Van Persie may be back in the Arsenal colours as early as March. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit
Back To Earth Again
A potential 12-point run-in just befor the Champions’ League break sees us play Villa, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool. Most Gooners on this side of the pond reckon that a return of 8 points would be fair to keep ucs still in the mix. Otherwise it’s bye bye to dreams of a final push for the league. With 1 point already in the bag, where do you reckon the other 7 would come from? In my honest opinion, I’m thinking we should go for the win at home this Sunday against Manchester United and take that momentum into our away game with Chelsea and hope we can steal a point from them. The Liverpool game is definitely winnable as they look to be faltering really badly at the moment. Let’s hope they don’t pick up and go on a run in the next two weeks.
I could go on and on postulating about where we should or could be after this crucial run-in or how it would have all turned out if the two chances that hit the wood work went in off the post, but that would simply be complacent thinking because the best approach is to take the games as they come and plot our strategy based on our opposition, the stakes, and the available personnel speaking of which, it look like Thomas Vermaelen might have broken his leg. Speaking to the press after the game, the boss had this to say;
“Thomas Vermaelen we don’t know. There will be an x-ray. He is on crutches and it is a fibula injury. We have to check tomorrow morning if it is just a nerve or a broken bone. Eduardo has a hamstring strain, a small one. But, for Sunday [Manchester United at home], he will be out”
We haven’t had any updates on Silvestre so I’m assuming he’ll be fine for Sunday. If not, we might just be stuck with only two first team centre backs having just let Senderos go on loan to Everton till the end of the season. With the manager’s earlier revelation that Gallas had been playing on the edge for a while, we can only hope he stays fit. Otherwise we might just have another defensive crisis on our hands.
Nevertheless, I think having Sol Campbell at the back is a better short term solution than playing Senderos or Alex Song at centre back. His experience is simply priceles. This quickly brings to mind his subtle foul on Richard Dunne in the second half which ironically went without being penalised. With the Villa defender bursting free on a counter attack, Campbell raced in pursuit and as the closest defender, the only feasible option was to draw the foul. Instead of a reckless tackle from behind which could have earned him a red card, he somehow managed to pull him back and to the ground with the greatest of tact which surely must have led the referee to believe it was more of a tangle up, rather than a straight foul.
The boss also had his thoughts on the draw which to me was a fair result. He said;
“I believe we dropped two points because we had clear chances but on the other hand it was a difficult game. They stopped us from playing when we had the ball and they played a long-ball game and closed us down, so it was difficult. We didn’t always find our passing game. We know when we come here what we get and we were not disappointed. [The result] keeps our unbeaten run going. If you put all the games together I believe it maintains the positive vibes. Overall, you have to win any game at the moment. Compared to Chelsea who won today, we dropped two points. We want to win our next home game, it is as simple as that. We go from game to game because if you think too much ahead it is not too good.”
I completely agree with him on that approach and wait to see if we’ll buy anyone by Saturday…not likely in my book. We’ve got Bendtner back and we’ve re-signed Sol Campbell. Please don’t expect any miracles in the next few days.
Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit