Tag Archives: football thoughts

‘Project Youth’ complimented by ‘Project Bargain’

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Good afternoon  gooners,

A wet Sunday afternoon here in West London and after what was an amazing night in the Olympics I have to say writing the blog about things that aren’t really happening at the moment (Robin’s contract, the delay of Cazorla, the potential arrival of Sahin) in the Arsenal world seems a little bit trivial. Team GB are showing what desire, passion and dedication can achieve, with some inspiring stuff from Jess Ennis and Mo Farah last night. Farah in particular, was made all the more sweet, what with him being a gooner ‘n all.

But I’m still going to talk about Arsenal and what’s going on at the mo, with the word on the online street that Robin’s been impressed with our signings and may be considering a U-turn on the contract situation. I’ve said before I think  this is media smokescreen like we had with Nasri last year, so I still don’t hold out more hope. Also, I would really question whether or not even a contract signing U-turn should be enough to let RvP keep the captaincy, but I think Wenger will forgive and forget if the unlikely happens and the captain signs on for four more years. Ideally, a marker needs to be laid down to potential contract rebels, but it’s not going to happen any time soon I don’t think.

One question I do want to ponder on today’s musings is this: With Santi Cazorla about to arrive, is ‘Project Youth’ finally dead?

Project Youth effectively started with a conscious decision from Arsenal Football Club to bring in younger, more technically gifted footballers in to the club at an early age, pay them high wages and see if championship winning sides could be built from the philosophy of a collective unity having played together for many years that would see them dominate the English Premier League against the backdrop of Chelsea’s and latterly Manchester City’s, billionaire owners. Season after season we saw younger players come in instead of more polished and mature signings. Wenger’s view was that by drilling a certain style into these players, by the time they reached their footballing peak they would: a) have a sense of loyalty and b) obligation to the club to stay despite the millions on offer elsewhere. So players like Fabregas, Clichy, Nasri, van Persie would look beyond the mega-money on offer and win trophies with the club.

Obviously we all know what has happened and we all know of ‘Project Youth’ as it has been referred to by so many bloggers over the last few years. But after year-after-year of bringing in players not over 23 into the first team, are we seeing a fundamental shift in Wenger’s unwavering philosophy? Perhaps the beginning of this was last summer, with the arrival of Mertesacker, Santos and Arteta - all of which are over 25 – and the  latterly with Podolski, Giroud and now Cazorla. All internationals, all reaching their peaks and all capable of really improving our chances of winning some silverware for the upcoming season. Is Wenger looking at his own time at Arsenal and starting to realise he is in the autumn of his time at Arsenal and will probably only be at the club for a few more years?

My view? ‘Project Youth’ has not been scrapped entirely, but is now being complimented by ‘Project Bargain’, which I deem as Arsene scouring the marketplace for players that are experienced enough but that are not going to bankrupt the club through massive fees. Mertesacker wanted a new experience, Arteta wanted Champions League football, Santos wanted a better league to test himself in, Podolski was a shining star in a struggling team, Giroud knew that a repeat of Montepellier’s success would be unlikely, and finally Cazorla is jumping ship from a rudderless vessel in Malaga. Wenger has effectively been the circling vulture looking for the very tasty and easily accessible meat. He’s scoured Europe for players he could pick up at a reduced price whose actual value is a lot higher than what Arsenal have paid. It’s an extremely clever tactic that, in the space of just under a year, has left Arsenal with a number of experienced internationals to compliment some technically gifted young players (Gnarby, Gibbs, Wilshire, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Frimpong, Afobe, Miyachi, etc) to come through without as much pressure as they could have had if these experienced signings had not arrived.

‘Project Youth’ has not been scrapped. We will not see Arsenal stop bringing in young players at higher wages than most of our competitors. But what we will now see is how successful it can be with a little bit more experience added to it.

Until tomorrow.

Rumour Mill – Daniel Sturridge

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Hey party people, oaf12 here,

This is my second time writing for Suburban Gooners with hopefully many more to come.

The topic I have chosen for today is the ever changing rumour mill that constantly surrounds our club. This time focussing on Daniel Strurridge.

I read recently on one of the ‘We purposely made up a story with an intersting title so that you click on us’ sites that Mr Daniel Andre (yes Andre) Sturridge was getting rather concerned about being played out of position and would be seeking a move in the summer. It also suggested that a move across London to the Emirates may be on the cards.

I like Sturridge as a player, and have done since his younger days at Money Citeh. I was generally gutted when, as his contract had expired, he moved to Chelski in July 2009. As young Daniel was (and still is) under 24, and with the clubs unable to agree a fee, a tribunal decided that the transfer value would start at £3.5m with various appearance based add-ons which (including £1m for the first full England cap) have now all been met. Meaning the total value of the deal was £6.5m, plus Citeh get 15% of the transfer fee should he ever leave the Russians. (source – good old wiki).

I also remember thinking how (in my opinion) he had made the wrong move, I feel he was right to move from the blue side of Manchester as with all the money being pumped into the club his first team chances would have been slim at best, however the same could have been said about the blue side of London. This leads me to believe that money was a large decision maker, potentially even over football reasons, when deciding his destination.

Is Sturridge playing? Yes. Would he have been playing a lot earlier under le boss? Certainly, and the thought of Sturridge over the last fee years instead of Bendtner is an interesting one………

One of my Chelski friends asked me what I thought about the decision to send him on loan to Bolton. My answer was I was unhappy, as it meant they would get to see just how good he is, and with 8 goals in 12 games they certainly did.

So, do I think this is a likely transfer……..no, unfortunately not. My main reasons are the fact that although he isn’t playing down the centre (his preferred position I believe), he is playing. Plus Chelski still retain the ability to just throw money at a problem should it arise.

On the other hand, if we manage to hold on to fourth place and Chelsea miss out on Champions League who knows. It would certainly become more possible should we finally manage to get rid of some of our over paid (not even in the) squad players like Bendtner, Almunia and Denilson (aka the jogger). The issue when these players elect to go to one of the clubs that pay over the odds on wages is if it doesn’t work out the list of clubs willing, or even able, to match their salary is getting smaller by the day.

So my conclusion is, as with many of these rumours, as much as I would like it to happen……….I don’t think it will. I see the more likely outcome will see Sturridge offered a new contract giving him yet more oil money each week.

Thanks for your time Gooners, keep the faith, and lets hope we can at least finish above the Russians.

oaf out.

Villa preview – Would you swap a trophy for a CL place?

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Morning all,

Today is FA Cup day for Arsenal fans. I remember the days when these used to be magical. You’d wait for it for a long time and then you’d count down the days when it would happen. Nowadays it is seen more as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘have to have’. I’m not going to go into a long debate about how the importance of being in the Champions League has meant that the FA Cup has lost a lot of its impact, but if you ask any Arsenal fan whether they would take fourth place and a shot at the Champions League next year or fifth place and the FA Cup trophy in the cabinet, you might find the majority of gooners telling you they’ll take that better league position. I have to say I am also in that camp as well. Don’t get me wrong, I am desperate for us to win a trophy (not least to shut the media up), but I would put more hopes on us keeping our better, and best, players if we are in Champions League. It also means we are more likely to attract the top talent from around Europe. Some people have been talking about Eden Hazard or Mario Gotze signing for us recently; do you really think they will come on board if Champions League qualification is not in the offing?

So whilst the FA Cup provides a welcome distraction from our recent league woes, let’s not try to get too carried away with a cup run whilst the bread and butter for the club – the Champions League qualification spot – still remains quite a way away from us.

Anyway, enough of this mopeyness (is that even a word? [Shift+F7......'Add to Dictionary']….yes, it is a word), let’s talk about the game today, as we entertain the Midlanders Aston Villa. It’s fair to say that I have come to expect us to play Premier League teams at this stage in the competition (remember when we used to get teams like Farnborough and Oxford United?) so when our name was drawn out of the hat a few weeks back I was just happy that it came out on the ‘home’ side of the draw table. Aston Villa will by no means be an easy game today and they will see a cup run as a real opportunity to salvage what has been an average at best season for them. I listened to the game at White Hart Lane when McCleish basically bent over and asked ‘Arry’s team to “go gentle”, but I don’t think we’ll see the same negative anti-football tactics today. They know that they can’t just play for a draw and will be wanting to at least get a draw to try to win the tie on their own turf with their fans behind them.

The last team the two teams met we came away with a very narrow 2-1 victory with the little Israeli Yossi Benayoun nodding in what proved to be a very useful three points. Especially when you think how our form has been since 2012 started. It was the last away game we won and I hope that the team can remember that far back into December to dig out some confidence today, because a fourth defeat and out of the FA Cup would really have the media on Arsene’s back. Let’s also not forget the pathetic performance against Villa at home last season, where a punch-drunk Arsenal side, at the end of a disappointing season, fell to a Villa side that had only just managed to claw itself out of the relegation zone. So Villa will feel that they have the knowledge of how to beat Arsenal on our home turf and will be hopeful that they can get something out of the game.

Their team injury news isn’t as bad as ours when you look at the Physio Room injury table, but with the news that Agbonlohor is back it means defensively we’ll certainly have our work cut out for us. Heskey and Ireland will both face fitness tests but by the looks of things they will probably pay some part, so I think we’ll see a strong Villa side today.

Our problems are well documented, but with Vermaelen back and the rumours of Sagna perhaps even starting, I am filled with a little bit of hope that we can get something from the game today. Djourou was all kinds of awful against United and if Agbonlohor has a good game it will be by isolating himself against the cumbersome Swiss.

We’ll hopefully be welcoming Henry and Arteta back to the squad and the Spaniard’s return is most welcome. I wrote a blog piece a week or so ago about how I underestimated his importance and so I can’t stress enough how pleasing it will be to see him step out onto the field today. He marshalls the midfield, dictates the play and is a central focus for the ball to be played through. When Song wins the ball in our half, the first person he looks for is Arteta and his presence means Ramsey can push forward and support Van Persie. The return to the squad of Henry as an impact sub is great, but Arteta’s role is what could be a big factor in the result today.

In terms of the team itself, I think we could pretty much pick it as the same team that lined up against United. The Ox’s stellar display should guarantee his inclusion in the first 11 today at the expense of the ineffective and downright ‘can’t be arsed’ness of Arshavin. Walcott knows he needs to do more but knowing and doing are two very different things. That being said I still see him starting so we’ll look to him to show his pace and get in behind the defence. The only question that will be raised is at right back. If Sagna is not ready then I’d be tempted to go with Yennaris again.

In terms of the result I think it will depend on what Arsenal team shows up. If we get the team that played the first half against United it will be a tough game. However, if we get the same team that played the second half then I think we stand a chance of getting the win and putting us into the hat for the next round (which we’ll know who we could play before kick off).

Whatever has happened in the past it is the past. Today is a new game and a new opportunity to deliver what the fans want – a win.

Until tomorrow.

The Arsenal enquiry continues

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Morning all,

So the wounds that inflicted us all so deeply on Sunday with the defeat to Swansea still remain raw and slightly pussy from being left to fester for over 24 hours. With much of the initial heat being spewed from the Twittersphere yesterday, today’s blogs from many of my colleagues will, I am hopeful, focus on an analysis of our current plight rather than spiky and anger-filled retorts amongst fans that all want the same thing – unrivalled and unmatched success for Arsenal football club.

The saddest thing for me is that Arsenal fans are now turning on each other. The in-fighting that has taken place amongst gooners across the globe has been worrying. As one of my work colleagues pointed out yesterday, this is the sort of thing we are used to seeing amongst Spurs fans. Looking for the results of our rivals and revelling in their dropping of points to Wolves is the sort of small-team mentality that we have belittled the Spuds for on so many occasions, yet now there are sections of fans that are jumping on any opportunity to get one over on the yiddos.

The problem is, the main reason people are taking to these small pleasures with such gusto is that our very own Arsenal team appear to be tripping up time-and-time again. I said in my preview on Sunday that there has been so many occasions when we have seen our rivals falter and we have not capitalised, that now I am almost at the stage where I actually don’t believe we will pick up points when other teams come a’cropper. It is demoralising and annoying and it inevitably affects us all.

Looking at the squad at the moment it is very hard to see how we are going to wrestle fourth spot from Chelski. I have long given up the hope that we will be celebrating St. Totteringham’s day this year, which means that we are in a straight fight with the Chavs to that last spot. Unfortunately, they look to be picking up the results where all we can muster is limp performances against opposition that we should be putting away, regardless of whether are at home or away. It is not a question of ability – that is something we know the squad possesses in abundance – more that of effort and application that many fans are questioning now. And for me that is a real issue. Effort should be the bear minimum that every single player putting an Arsenal shirt on should offer. On Sunday there wasn’t enough from some of the players. People might think I’m talking about Ramsey here, but all I saw from the Welshman was a day that went terrible from start to finish. I think the effort was there, but the rest wasn’t.

No, I’m aiming my displeasure at some of the players further up the pitch. What I saw from Walcott and Arshavin was two players that regardless of the performance of the individual or the team, they were happy to play in second gear. Both know that Wenger loves a bit of squad hierarchy and both know that right now they are at the top of the pile. Call it ‘Denilson’ syndrome if you like. They both know they will start against United and so that little bit of edge and fear for their position is not there. You can definitely see that with Andrei with the way he so easily relinquished his spot in the first 11 to Gervhino at the start of the season.

Walcott is slightly different. He knows he has a young player like Oxlade-Chamberlain waiting in the wings, but he also knows Wenger won’t break his hierarchy and that is why we don’t see the youngster. I think Wenger is protecting The Ox and we will not see too much of him (unless he really has to give him time) for the rest of this season, but he will become more of an impact player next season. Or at least that’s what my analysis of the situation is. So we find ourselves in a position where attacking wise we are effectively playing with one instead of three players and the burden continues to fall on Robin Van Persie. The arrival of Thierry Henry may have tugged at the heartstrings of many Arsenal fans, but any gooner that thought Thierry could be a saviour would be living in a dreamland. Thierry is a player that should compliment an already flourishing attack, not trying to patch up an inconsistent strike force that regularly flatters to deceive.

So what is the answer? The obvious one to many Arsenal fans is that we need an injection of new blood right now, but I just don’t see it happening. Wenger is looking at players like Joel Campbell to come good and return in the summer and if the rumours are true of Mathias Suarez joining on a pre-contract agreement in June, then it almost completely nails the door shut to a new signing. With Manchester United the visitors on Sunday, I am a little worried on two counts. Obviously on the full back side of our play (think what Nani could do up against the inexperienced Miquel?), which I might touch on during the week, but actually the sharp end of our team doesn’t fill me with much confidence either at the moment – over reliance on one player will do that to a fan sometimes…

Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be plenty more to talk about over the coming days. I was going to mention the potential departure of Squillaci to Monaco but I’ll wait until we hear something more concrete before I pass judgement on Seb.

Have a good day gooners.

Advice for Arsene’s presser

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Morning all, happy Friday,

If you live or work in London, you will be well aware of the marvellous work TFL do in making the start to a day really crap. I have fallen victim to the seemingly endless string of ‘minor’ and ‘severe’ delays we seem to get on a daily basis. ‘We are upgrading your tube. Bear with us whilst this happens’ we are constantly told, yet it always seems to stay the same. Cramped, manky looking and more expensive each year. No doubt Bob Crowe and his band of union tosspots have their part to play.

Anyway, now that’s off the old chest, down to some Arsenal related chat. Le Boss will have his usual presser today I think before the team depart for Swansea, so I’m sure we’ll get a ‘no news on left back or striker’ news today. When I left a job a few years ago, I decided to pre-empt the inevitable after work ‘chit-chat’ of “where are you going?”, “what’s the company like?” and “when do you start?” by writing my answers in big font on a document and printing off 30 times. It allowed me to get on with the drinking element of the leaving party and chat about other things that I wanted to talk about (namely football and the fixtures for the upcoming weekend). I think Arsene should advocate the same policy. At the beginning of each presser he. Should right the answers to the questions he doesn’t really have answers to and leave them on all of the chairs in the room. When asked a question from the list, he then need only to point at the A4 sheet of paper and tap it a few times.

Let’s face it, we’re almost halfway through the January transfer window and in all honesty, we don’t look like we’re close to signing anybody. Just because it’s posted on the website of Goal, doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact I’d be inclined to say whatever Goal post, think the opposite.

In fact, that we don’t look like signing anyone is necessarily a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, I think we do need a left back and a striker, and we probably could do with them coming in right now, but given some of the alternatives, wouldn’t you rather ‘stick’ than ‘twist’? Wayne Bridge or Miquel? I think the Spaniard has done enough to warrant another couple of cracks at the first team (albeit not in his natural position I know). He still doesn’t get forward as much as a natural left back, but from the defensive side he’s been ok. And lets face it, we’d all rather we had a good defensive left back that does the job at the back rather than an attacking left back that can’t defend for toffee. Wayne Bridge does neither.

The second reason why ‘no news is good news’ could be that some of the injured players are closer to a return than we think they are. Given our recent history of injuries taking longer than we want them to it would not surprise me that Wenger has given a mandate to the phyiso’s to ‘add 10%’ to the time they expect players out so that he doesn’t have to say “<Player X> has had a little setback”. Of course, all rules of this nature are null and void when it comes to About Diaby. Rule of thumb there is to expect him to never play football again, then when he comes on for 20 minutes and then limps off we can just see that as 20 minutes gained. A sad state of affairs indeed that a player is therefore earning £50k a week to essentially sit at home, albeit with some part of his body in plaster.

So, no doubt we’ll get more Arsenal stuff come through over the next few days, so more to talk about tomorrow.

Have a good friday all.

Kalou? No; Nasri? No; Gervhino? Yes!

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Howdy all,

Here’s an interesting conversation for us all to digest: given the fact that the Semi final of the Carling Cup is being played with Liverpool, Cardiff and Palace, should Wenger have considered playing a stronger team there and giving up the FA cup to the younger and fringe players?

I appreciate that hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the start of this blog is laced with so much it is starting to thicken into a fog around my very eyes, but watching Man City against Liverpool last night I couldn’t help but think: “We’d have done these scousers if we were playing them”. Man City were poor last night, of that there is no doubt. But the fact that Liverpool had all the chances they had and they STILL had to rely on a Steven Gerrard penalty says to me that they could have been there for the taking. Let’s face it, Liverpool this season have not been great, Palace are very threadbare at the moment and Cardiff, whilst a good Championship side, would still lose out to us if we played them in the final. I’d really fancy our chances if we were in it. But there is nothing you can do about the past, only the present and the future.

Again, maybe it’s just me playing a bit of devils advocate with myself, but when you see all of the teams this week in the cup, it does make you think how good it would have been to destroy last seasons demons by picking up the Carling Cup this time around.

At the time we all saw it as the right decision and the fact I’m still not sure now shows how tough a decision it was for Wenger even then. But I guess that’s why AW earns the mega bucks he does – so he can make those decisions. I suppose if Robin had played and got injured like Santos did in a game many thought he shouldn’t play in, Wenger would have been chastised and who knows, we may not even be in the running for a top four spot…

Anyway, moving on to other things Arsenal related, and last night, whilst becoming slightly despondent at Everton’s inability to take their chances against the Spuds, I started to trawl through Twitter and came across two discussion threads that I quickly want to insert my opinion on.

The first was about Saloman Kalou on his way to Arsenal. I’ve read a couple of views on this, one of which stating that he’d left the Ivory Coast training camp to negotiate a move. The Guardian is reporting that Kalou has been unhappy for some time and a £3million move is on the cards. It is no secret that we bid for him under the Scolari reign and that Wenger thinks highly of Kalou, but will this actually happen? And where would he play? I’m assuming that we’d be looking at him fighting for one of the two attacking wide player positions currently occupied by Gervhino and Walcott, but would Kalou be an improvement on those two? He does occasionally weigh in with goals for Chelski but has never really made the first team. Why? I asked a Chelsea mate of mine about this recently and he told me that Kalou was an impact player only and when he started he would often drift in and out of games. To me it’s not more squad players we need. We have players like Benayoun that can be good squad players. What we need is first team additions that will really add some value to the club.

The second discussion was on Nasri. Tim Payton of the AST posed the question as to whether gooners would take back Nasri given his less than impressive form for Man City (when he gets off the bench). In many ways I am a bitter, petty man. And in this instance I can’t help but be pleased to see Nasri get off to a poor start. He may yet come good for City, but I hope his career slides the same way Alex Hleb’s did when he made eyes at Barcelona. Would I take Nasri back? No. But my main reason is not for petty reasons, it’s that I actually believe that Gervhino is better for us. He is direct, asks more questions of defenders and shooting boots aside, has slotted in well to Nasri’s old position. Nasri was a dribbler. Somebody who actually looks at the moment like he slows the play rather than speeds it up. When you watch him you can see how many times he takes it, will retain possession well but does a lot of turning and not as much direct running at defenders. I know he did do that at times last season, but at the moment he just doesn’t look like that player. If you give him the ball you need to have people behind him playing catch up because he will hold it, weave this way and that and then release it. That is not what we need.

I think we’re really going to miss Gervhino over the next few games. I’d also back up my argument by comparing Gervhino this season to Nasri in his first season. It took him three years before we started to see the talent that Wenger paid all that money for. Gervhino cost less and already looks to have made an impact. If he can hone his finishing skills (as the Arseblogger says – easily done with practice), he can be a really potent weapon in our three-pronged attack.

Thoughts from you gooners?

A quiet Sunday: No centre backs thanks

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Hi all,

Today’s blog will be as sparse as the number of brain cells in Gabby Agbonlohor’s head on account of the complete lack of any real Arsenal news. It really is a pain in the arse when Arsenal play on a Monday night. When you don’t have a game on a Saturday but its on a Sunday then you have a day with which to conjure up some thoughts, but when it’s a Monday you really have to search the depth of your own mind to think of something to say! I’m just glad I have Mr Ben Leeder to share the blogspace.

So what is on today’s news agenda? What menu of Arsenal do we have to choose from? Well, not a lot. There is a little bit more about Thierry Henry, with the legend telling us fans to expect more Dennis Bergkamp than Thierry Henry, saying himself:

“I am not 25 anymore, I am not going to take the ball from the middle of the park and dribble past five or six players”

I think that is very realistic if we’re honest. He doesn’t have the explosive pace any more and instead, as father time has caught up with his legs, he has had to adapt his game to ensure he remains competitive. Which is why our formation at the moment suits Thierry I think. With playing the three front men as we do, it means that Thierry and Robin can both be on the pitch and supporting one another. Thierry also has experience of playing on the left of a three from his time at Barcelona with Eto’o as the main man, so he will know when to get forward, he will drift inside from the left and he will also get into goal scoring positions. Let us not forget, the Thierry of old had two main assets – pace and finishing. When he was one-on-one bearing down on the keeper he would nearly always put the ball away. Just think of the times that Gervhino has been put through this season and unfortunately not been able to convert. If you put Titi in those same positions I would be astounded if he didn’t tuck them away.

So whilst we won’t be expecting the Thierry of old, I and Arsene Wenger himself, still expect him to be in amongst the goals. The boss thinks he needs two weeks before he is at 100% physical peek but I still think we’ll see him for ten or 20 minutes over the next few weeks. We have to be realistic and not expect miracles, but I still think we have to expect any player coming in with that experience to add something to the team. I don’t want to (nor do I think will this happen) have the situation that Liverpool have with Fowler coming back, who barely played, wasn’t the same player and perhaps his legend was tainted.

Rounding up today with a bit of transfer commentary now. Whilst flicking through some of the football websites and Twitter yesterday and today, I see us linked with Demba Ba as a potential addition up top. I really can’t see this happening. If we are looking to bring in a player now he would not be the option, as he’s off to the ACN with Senegal, and if we wait until the summer I think our gaze will probably be further across Europe if I’m honest. The same goes with Podolski. He’s a good player, but I would have thought we’d be looking elsewhere in the summer so I’m not sure that he’ll be on our radar come June.

I also came across a couple of people advocating the signing of Chris Samba as well. Firstly, I think that ship sailed with the arrival of Mertesacker. I can’t see the boss going for any central defenders in this window, nor in the summer. We wanted a centre back in August and we got one – albeit at the last-minute. I also think Mertesacker is doing a good job at the moment and is settling into the team well. I think his position as the first back up central defender behind Kos and the Verminator is merited and when all players are fit (ha, if only!) he is a good squad player to have. I know Samba would give physical presence – more so than the BFG - and it would mean one more player in line for the first team ahead of Squillaci, but the heart of our defence is not where reinforcements are needed. It is the full backs and the attacking prowess that we need the cavalry for.

Anyway, that’s yer lot for today. Enjoy the afternoon and let’s hope we see some sort of mass sendings off and suspensions at Middle Eastlands this afternoon.

Has the legend arrived yet?

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Morning all,

So as we bear down on the weekend we are still without a certain legend being officially announced at the club. Yesterday, having got home and switched to Sky Sports News, I expected to see Thierry beaming in the wonderful red and white of Arsenal. I thought it would be something to perk me up after a hard days graft in the City. But alas I was wrong, greeted only by the two presenters telling me that unless the paperwork and insurance was completed and Arsenal had confirmed the signing by 12pm today, he would not be eligible to play on Monday night. One of the things that made Monday nights game so interesting was Thierry’s imminent arrival. Against a Championship side that is facing its own injury crisis (more on that in the preview on Sunday or Monday), I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give Titi a half or perhaps even sixty minutes if he starts against a lower league opposition to ‘ease’ him back into football. The Frenchman is no stranger to confidence, but think how good for him a goal on his second debut will be? And think how good it would be for us as fans to know he still has the strikers instinct?

Whether Henry signs in time or not, I think the important thing is that we get somebody in soon to freshen the place up.

The manager has already been talking of playing Chamakh from the start, and with the Moroccan so short of confidence he makes Eeyore the donkey look positively aggressive, I think the need to have someone who can come from the bench should we need it. I think it’s time we gave Robin a little winter break and therefore I hope Henry is there in time. As Park is one of the lost boys I don’t think he is the option, and with every game that passes the possibility of Arshavin recapturing some form appears to be going out the window faster than you can say “Gary Cahill’s over-inflated wage packet”. The boss has mentioned he’d field a strong side in the FA Cup, but with Leeds facing all of their injury worries, and us being at home, I hope this is one of those “I believe in everyone in my squad and that is why I have rotated” moments, rather than AW actually thinking of playing some of the senior squad. We had nothing to play for at Olympiakos and ended up losing Santos for a couple of months, so the thought of seeing a player like Koscienly or Arteta limp off after a crunching tackle from a Leeds player playing in his own personal cup final, does fill me with a little bit of dread. Without wanting to sound too Harry Redknapp like, we are down to the bare bones at the moment.

Onward towards transfers and Le Boss spoke of the fact he expected it to be a quiet transfer market and that a defender on loan would be the most likely incoming we could expect. Nothing new there really. A couple of days ago I read on Twitter (dangerous) that we had made a tentative enquiry for Kieran Richardson. To be honest, although I wasn’t overly enamoured with this, at least it wasn’t Wayne Bridge, so part of me was glad we were looking for other options. Wenger also spoke to the official site about how the European market is depressed and that

“Europe is depressed and there is not a lot of money available, only some clubs who have exceptional resources. Let’s say that clubs who are not linked with the economic environment at the moment can buy!”

Now, I don’t know about you, but last time I checked we made a serious profit through the sales of some of our best players in the summer and, whilst we don’t know the exact amount of money the club has to spend, the AST have estimated that it is around £50million. So I would wager that WE ARE actually one of the few bidding teams and we should take advantage of that. Of course, we know that if we bid for English players you have to add 25% to their value and that in the January window you probably also have to add another 25% to any value as well. But to be honest, we are at a critical stage in our season and whilst I don’t advocate going all ‘Andy Carroll’ on a player, we need to look at purchase options if they are available instead of loan options. Kieran Gibbs and Abou Diaby are turning into the players that are so injury prone you have to question how well they can be relied on. With that in mind, we only have one left back, so buying another one would not be the end of the world in my book.

Just rounding up today’s blog, it appears that Vermaelen’s booking against QPR has been transferred to Koscienly. Not really much impact for us, but what it does show you is yet again the level of incompetence we see on a weekly basis. It probably also explains why a referee has not seen a blatent handball inside the box in that game, because the booking Vermaelen got was in plain view of the referee and the ‘referee’s assistant’ was only a few yards away. And then people wonder why Wenger ‘moans’ about the state of officiating in games….

Anyhoo, have a good day and a happy Friday all.

Moneychester Citeh preview – big one peeps

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Howdy y’all,

Later on today we see our boys line up against the football mercenaries of Man City. They have made a most meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the English Premier league elite through a combination of money, money and a little bit more money being thrown at the team. At the beginning of the Sheikh Mansour reign it was about trying to get the biggest names and pay them more money than they could probably ever spend, doubling wages of players like Robinho and Adebayor. They have continued to pay the astronomical wages, but for the first time since their football lottery win they have put together a team that is capable of steamrollering all that lay before them. And at times this season they have, scoring a massive 49 goals so far. If they were to continue throughout the season in the same scoring form, then they could come close to beating the record for the most goals scored in a season  – 128 by Aston Villa in 1930 – 31. Certainly from a ratio point of view they would, as that Villa team played 42 matches – four more than today’s premier league team does.

With the introduction of a bottomless pit of cash, we’ve also seen the problem that it brings in that City have added an arrogance to themselves as a football club that immediately turns neutrals off them. It started with Gary Cook and his various exploits and has continued with other situations cropping up now and again. Mancini at times has also demonstrated his arrogance as well. Just look at the way in which the Nasri situation was dealt with. Whilst in the States on a tour, Mancini talked about getting the deal wrapped up quickly and having the player join the club soon in July. Nasri was an Arsenal player, no deal had been done (officially – we all know Man City had played the ‘double your money’ card to his agent) for his transfer and the way in which Moneychester Citeh used their financial power to talk so publicly about it enraged Arsene Wenger, Arsenal as a club and the fans. This arrogance has also continued this week with firstly Joleon Lescott starting to talk up a possible bid for RvP and also Mancini telling reporters that he thought it was a three-horse race for the title – Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham. Clearly designed to be a two fingers up to Arsenal by naming our closest rivals as more likely to scupper their march to victory. Now the fact remains that many gooners (myself included) don’t believe that we can win the league. We made it too hard for ourselves at the beginning of the season and gave us a mountain that only now are we starting to see the summit of. However, nobody likes to be told that their baby is ugly and nobody likes anybody else being dismissive of their football team, so Mancini’s words grate on us Arsenal fans like a piece of cheddar in a cheese toastie. I know Wenger doesn’t do the old ‘stick oppositions words on a board in the dressing room before a game’ bit, but still, I hope the players have seen this and I hope they go out there today with a little bit of impetus to give Mancini a two finger salute right back at the Italian.

So tactically, what can we expect to see from them tomorrow? Well I expect Mancini will go with an attacking line up against us at home, playing Silva, Aguero, Balottelli and also Yaya Toure as his attacking options. Samir Nasri was poor against us in the Carling Cup and didn’t get on against Chelski last week, but he could also be in line for a start I think. At home, with the backing of the home support, he will want to get one over his old team and so might do a little bit more running than he would normally so if I was in Mancini’s shoes I’d certainly consider him. At the back they have identical problems to us with both Kolarov and Richards out injured (according to physioroom.com – although if his training ground bust up with Mario is anything to go by he might play) and Gael Clichy suspended, leaving Zabaleta as their main first team full back, so it will be interesting to see how they line up.

Tactically as well, it will be interesting to see how much Mancini wants to have a go at us. We’re obviously not the best defensively – although we’ve sured up the team more in recent weeks – but offensively we have pace and the red-hot Robin Van Persie at the sharp end of our team. If Mancini really goes for Arsenal it could leave a bit more space for Arsenal to hit City on the counter-attack, so I think Mancini will be wary of that.

As for us, well there will be no real surprises and I’m sure you can all pick the team yourselves but for my own consistency of blogging I’ll list it below anyway as I see it:

Szczesny

 Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen

Arteta, Ramsey, Song,

Walcott, Van Persie, Gervinho

With Santos now out until March the Verminator will continue to play at left back. The central defender wall that we have will be essential in getting something against City. We’re going to be under the kosh at times and they will want to banish the demons of last week’s defeat to Chelski, so will be up for it.

I have to be honest and say that whilst my heart says we’ll get something from the game, my head says our good run of form in the Premier League might come to an end today. Sorry to be drab guys but I say what I feel and I think we’ll lose this 2-1 today. I’m hoping that I’m wrong. I’m hoping that I can apologise to you all tomorrow for my lack of faith, but our away form – particularly against the teams at the top of the league – has been poor. City do give chances away and I think we will have opportunities to score, but when you can boast over £100million of attacking talent just for your front three or four, then you’re always going to create chances and you’re always going to be a threat.

I’ll keep my hopes for this one, and let’s hope we can all be celebrating (particularly those coming down the M6 come 7pm tonight) come the end of this evening.

Efficient Arsenal: Dortmund review

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Good morrow to you all,

This morning gooners across the land are waking up in the knowledge that we are through to the knockout stages of the. Champions League after overcoming the yellow Germans of the Ruhr at home 2-1. But unlike some past seasons, where we have secured victory with a game to go, fielded under strength teams in the final game and finished second to be drawn against tough opponents like Barcelona last year, we go into the final game knowing that the result is completely meaningless. Top spot is ours and hopefully an easier draw to boot.

The evening itself had me wondering whether there was to be bad omens in the air as I made my way to the stadium. With a person under a train at Euston, the Victoria line was closed, then re-opened with massive delays. With one of the main routes to Arsenal blocked off, fans flocked to the Piccadilly line, of which I was hoping to get on from the Central line. Alas, Holborn station was closed due to overcrowding, so my journey eventually ended up with a trip on the DLR to Shadwell followed by an overground train to Highbury and Islington. Thankfully I left with enough time to see the game kick off, but my pre-match beverages were sacrificed to the gods of the Underground in return.

The match itself started in a way that had many around me fearing for a long night. Dortmund, a team in form of that there is no doubt, looked composed on the ball, hurried in the tackle and tenacious in their pressing game. They hunted in packs and put Arsenal under a lot of pressure and it showed, with Arsenal not really testing the Dortmund goalkeeper until a few minutes before the first half ended. Theo Walcott almost latched on to a Robin Van Persie flick and the Keeper Roman Weidenfeller was out quickly and sharply to flick the ball away for a throw in. a couple of yards closer to Theo and we probably would have seen a penalty and a sending off – such was the fine margin.

Moments later Theo did some good work on the right hand side and put in a very good ball only for Weidenfeller to palm the ball away from Van Persie who was looking like he might touch into an empty net.

At the other end, we were helped by the injuries to Bender and Gotze in the first half, which I think took the Germans back a bit and didn’t help their creative end. They created a couple of half chances in the first half but Scz was barely troubled if truth be known. Much like the first game in Germany, Dortmund seem to do everything right up until the final third, which let them down at times.

The second half started a little shakily from an Arsenal perspective. Within a couple of minutes of the restart Dortmund had fashioned a couple of chances: the both from the industrious Shinji Kagawa who didn’t manage to latch on to a cross-field ball and the second as he got in behind Koscienly but in truth Sczcseny was not really troubled as the ball was hit straight at him.

Then came the difference between the two sides. On 49 minutes Alex Song – man of the match for me – hustled his way down by our corner of the ground and showed quick feet to outwit two, then three Dortmund defenders, then put in a sumptuous cross onto the head of a backpedaling Van Persie. It was a goal from a player high on form, high on confidence and about as close to the complete forward as we’re going to get. Thierry relied on pace and trickery, RvP has trickery, pace (albeit not as much as Thierry) but also scores with his head. I commented last night that the matchday programme must be starting to run out of superlatives to put on the front cover of the programmes, such is his dominance and importance in this team.

The rest of the half was slightly nerve-racking, but only because we are Arsenal. Had we been watching the game as a neutral, we’d have commented how Dortmund didn’t really create many chances at all. However, we waited until the 86th minute for the game to be sewn up, as an Arteta corner was flicked on at the near post from the ever imposing Vermaelen for Van Persie to tap into an empty net from inside the six yard box.

Arsenal being Arsenal, we had to concede, but it was too little too late from Dortmund who now sit unfairly bottom of the group on four points.

I must say something about the Dortmund fans – who last night really showed their true glorious colours. They were in full voice throughout, jumping up and down and were by far the most vocal and spectacular of all of the teams I have seen visit the Emirates. I hope they go through. It’s almost an impossibility as they need to win by four goals and hope we pick up a draw away to Olympiacos; but they were well worth seeing yesterday. Dortmund played the pressing game as well as I’ve seen – on a par with Barcelona, but they just don’t have the firepower. Let’s hope they do something at home against Marseilles.

As for us, well I am starting to see something I haven’t seen for some time: ruthless efficiency. By the time we had taken the lead yesterday it would have been tough to say we were by far the better team in the contest. We were put under quite a bit of pressure through Dortmund’s pressing game but the whole team performed well as a unit and showed the kind of ruthless efficiency you expect from the best teams in the competition – domestically and abroad. We defended really well and special props must go to Santos who had possibly his best game of the season so far. But the man who sat in front of the back four will deservedly get the plaudits this morning. Alex Song was brilliant. He was strong, won countless balls and made timely interception after timely interception. He also got his second assist in a week and it will come as no surprise that against both Liverpool and United he wasn’t present – on both occasions we missed him badly.

This Arsenal team is starting to show me things I haven’t seen in an Arsenal team for quite some time. If we can keep this momentum going until the New Year, who knows where it will take us?

Have a great day all.

Follow me on Twitter @ SuburbanGoonerChris