No new goalkeeper for the Gunners

So the transfer window has closed, and we have not managed to sign a new goalkeeper. Although, the are still reports of transfer coming in, I don't think we would see any of the keepers we were linked to coming to the Emirates.

No Schawzer, no Lloris, no Stekenlenburg and no Buffon.
Just Almunia and Fabianski.

This is gonna be a long season!!!



Technorati Tags: transfer, window,, arsenal,, premiership

Van Persie crock. Again?

According to the Guardian here, Robin van Persie will be out for several weeks after hurting his ankle during the match against Blackburn. He set up the opening goal for Theo Walcott but left soon after.

After the match, Arsene has gone on to say that the injury is not serious but now the full extent of the damage is out.

Again, we have our main players out through injury. We have lost Samir Nasri and now Robin. How's is it that we are getting injuries like that. I don't RVP was tackle by anyone but in fact hurt his ankle trying to make a tackle on a Blackburn player. Seriously, something has to be done to our medical team. Surely our players can be built better than twigs can sustain more than a simple tap on the before they break and we lose their services for an entire month.

In full terms a months is a pretty serious injury. As a said in a previous post , Fernando Torres has a torn hamstring on July 11 and by August 15, he is already playing 20 minutes in a competitive match. Now I can tell from experience, a torn hamstring is surely more serious than a bruised ankle. I can understand if he has broken his ankle and will be out for the season but 1 month for an minor ankle injury, that's just crazy.

In other news, there is the usual end of season tranfer madness happening now and as usual, Arsene is right in the thick of things. The Schwarzer saga is still on-going. Reports also suggest Armand Traore is on the verge of joining Birmingham.

All will end tomorrow at 6pm GMT. Let's wait and see.


Technorati Tags: Robin, Van, Persie,, Arsenal,, Arsene,, The, Guardian

Where is our new goalkeeper?

The transfer window closes in just under 48 hours and yet there is no semblance of a new goalkeeper rolling through the gates of the Emirates. As the hours go by, I just wonder if Arsene Wenger will really sign the keeper he promised the fans, but more importantly, can we afford not having a new No. 1 goalkeeper for this campaign.

I really took Arsene's words to heart and believed that he would sign the goalkeeper to solve the goalkeeping situation we had. As the countdown draw nearer, my faith is starting to waver. Is it really that difficult searching for a good quality keeper? I don't  know the many intricacies of the transfer market, but I certainly do know of a certainty in the footballing world: Each and every player has a price tag and for the right price, he will be sold by the club. Whether the price represent good value, it can only be determine retrospectively. Just imagine if we buy Shay Given for £25 million and over the course of the season, he makes spectacular saves and ultimately win us the Premiership and Champions League. Is the exorbitant cost justified? Of course. If on the other hand, we pay £2million for Schwarzer and he performs worse than Fabianski, then we would have thrown £2million down the drain.

Therefore, please Arsene, look at the equation from the TOTAL VALUE, point of view rather than just financial considerations. Finish the building of your team and reap the true potential of this great Arsenal side. Because, to answer to the second question is, we cannot afford not to have a new keeper in place once the transfer window closes.

Almunia performance over the weekend deserves praise but he is as unreliable as they come. He can win us a match one day but cost us another on any other given day. So to have him continue as no 1 would be like having a ticking time bomb in each match.

Enough time and column inches has been spent on the subject of the Arsenal goalkeeping situation. It really time now for action. Arsene's action.

 .
Technorati Tags: Arsenal,goalkeeper,Almunia,Given,Arsene,transfer, window,premiership

Resilient Gunners claim victory of Blackburn

Arsenal 2 (Walcott, Arshavin) - Blackburn 1 (Mame) 

Arsenal didn't really play that well as nerves showed throughout the match. Passes were going astray and the players first touches poor, particularly by our Captain. He seems to be short of match sharpness but he did began to stamp his influence in the second half. On the other hand  the player who is full of confidence currently Walcott and he promptly delivered the first goal to us courtesy of a good finish following a defense splitting pass by RVP.  He also showed good movement and pace trouble the Blackburn defense throughout the game.


We really won this match purely on our strength and determination to hold off a Blackburn who turned up to play a rugby match rather than football. If you ever wanted a demonstration of how football was played back in the old days, spend more time watching Blackburn this season.  For the entire match, Big Sam's message to the team was just get the ball into the penalty box,be it from a goalkick almost 80yards away. There were not intention to play any midfield possession or develop any other passing movement. That is why, Mr Allardyce, your team will forever struggle to make it into the big time.

For all our their aerial threat, our defense managed to deal with it pretty decently and Almunia gave a commanding performance in spite of the Route 1 football played by the home team.  Even their goal, came after what was their only ground attack as Diouf got the better of Koscielny to cross and Clichy allowed Mame Diouf to sneak and score. Other than that, the back four played brilliantly, especially Bacary Sagna, who made at least 3 timely intervention which could have led to big problems for us.

My favourite moment of the match, though must be when little Jack Wilshere harrased and tackle Christopher Samba, winning possesion for Arsenal in the midfield. This little battle really show the tenacity of this year's team to battle it out with the bully boys, something which were severely lacking towards the latter part of last season .

Although Walcott might get the accolades for Man of the Match in most reviews, the person for is Bacary Sagna. He played his heart out and had a very big hand in the second goal as his determination to win the ball over Givet allowed him to cross and ultimately lead to Arshavin winner.

So Bac, take a bow today, you deserve it.


Technorati Tags: Arsenal,, Blackburn,Walcott,Cesc,Sagna,Allardyce,Premiership

Blackburn v Arsenal Preview

So, tomorrow we go north for the visit to Big Sam's Blackburn. Well we can expect more of the same old tactics employed by all of Big Sam's teams we have come across, Bolton, Newcastle and now Blackburn.

We have always gotten the better of Blackburn since the Walrus became their manager except for the unfortunate encounter last season where truly saw what potential Fabianski was. A real potential for disaster that is. In truth, last season we were missing 3 quarters of the first team but the defeat really left me a truly frustrated man. There are better team i would love Arsenal to beat than Spurs and Big Sam's teams.

For tomorrow, I am hoping to see the real Arsenal having a blast at Ewood Park. We don't have any serious injuries that we cannot manage and have several players such as Denilson, Koscielny and Cesc back for full first team duty.

Koscielny who will be partnering TV4 in central defense for this match talk about how he relishes the physical side of the Premiership. In this article here, he said:

"I work hard and never give up. On man marking, I don't let the striker breathe.


"I love one-on-one challenges because they are a physical, technical and mental challenge. It is a big battle - part bluff, part judgement.

Kos impressed in the first game against Liverpool, but locking horns with El Hadji Diouf, Jason Roberts and the like will be a different cattle of fish altogether. He will literally be cutting his teeth in this match and let's hope he comes out alright.

The goalkeeping situation is still unchanged, which means Almunia will be in goal. It's really not the ideal situation but he has proven a safer pair of hands than Fabianski. At least he doesn't stumble over his defender's legs.

All in all, it is an important match to our title aspirations as winning against these mid and lower table teams can actually win us the title. If you recall, you were unbeaten against the lower placed teams and lead the table at some point last season. Our failure to be win the title last season did not come from the defeat to Chelsea or Man United but in the points conceded to teams like Burnley, Sunderland, Wigan and Blackburn.


Technorati Tags: Arsenal,Blackburn,Koscielny,Premiership,EPL,BOL,Almunia,Fabianski

Gunners paired with Shakhtar,Partizan and Braga for Champions League

	It seems like deja vu for this year's Champion League draw as we were again put in Group H, as in last year. We will be facing two teams from Eastern Europe, namely the champions of Ukraine, Shakhtar Donestsk and FK Partizan from Belgrade, Serbia. FC Braga, who defeated Sevilla in play-off yesterday, round up the group.

Technorati Tags: champions+league,arsenal,, uefa

Should we revert back to the 4-4-2

Looking at our current squad, I can't help but wonder if it is time to revert back to 4-4-2 formation.

Arsene has staunchly maintained the 4-4-2 in his teams until the last couple of years when he replaced it with the now popular 4-5-1. It worked at that time when we had the bloody Togo striker to hold up the ball.

I believe we should have reverted to the 442 last season but we got such a great result pushing Bendtner out wide that Arsene just continued with the system. It  also worked very well in the early part of last season until we lost RVP to injury. And we know how he doesn't like to change systems mid-season.

RVP is am excellent point man but he can also play the Bergkamp role. Chamakh on the other hand is wasted if put on the wings, as we saw from the Blackpool encounter. To accommodate these two , the 4-4-2 is the only logical answer. With it, we can maintain the predatory and aerial abilities of Chamakh while benefiting from RVP's intelligence in creating space and finding the open man. Together with Cesc, we would then have 2 play-makers with the ability to open up defenses.

This way, it would also reduce the burden of Cesc to do everything himself defending, distributing and scoring. For all Cesc's passing abilities, he is also a very good defense minded midfielder. His intelligence in his position and anticipation to cut out the opposition pass can help prevent the defense from bring under pressure.

I know how Arsene does not like to change his formations but I think if we can use both these formations inter-changebly depending on the personnel available and opposition, it could be our ace his season.

I would love to meet Real Madrid in the Champions League

So, the Mourinho show has started again and the Spanish League haven't had its first match. No, he has to first fire his salvo's across the British Channel to target the Gunners, Liverpool and England. Here's what he said on Sky Sports:

Arsenal too, year after year it looks likely – but no.

Always the same type of comment, ‘it’s a young team, we’ll be next season’. I remember we (Chelsea) played them in the Carling Cup semi-final with a team of young boys.

But the team of young boys is no longer the team of young boys. In this moment they are a team that are 25, 26, 27 years old.

(Cesc) Fabregas, (Theo) Walcott, (Gael) Clichy, (Alex) Song, (Bacary) Sagna. They are not a team of kids anymore, they are the team at the age to win things.

But I don’t think they will do it, I think it will be again Man United and Chelsea, and of course Man City because they have a great squad.

No doubt he is a great manager but I seriously hate this guy. He has made enemies whenever he goes and his attitude to football is deplorable. A win at all cost mentality may attracted some to his camp but the collateral damage ha causes along the way is unforgivable. Remember Andreas Frisk?

I have no doubt that Jose Mourinho will probably be a success in Madrid. If going by his modus operandi, Real Madrid will probably not win anything this season, but win the League in his second season and by the third season, Mourinho will leave or be sack. He would have made some many enemies by his third year that the knives will be out for him. That is why he can never be a great manager like Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex.

Both these managers have stuck to their jobs (and not get the boot) and continue to build great teams in their time. Sir Alex has gone through at least 4 different builds for Manchester United, while our Arsene has successfully made 2 magnificient teams and the third will be the crowning glory of his time here at Arsenal.

Mourinho has never gone on to build another team after his first success. He left Porto after the Champions League, got the sack at Chelsea and again left Inter after his success. Some might say he has been extremely smart to maintain his aura of invincibility, but to me personally, he is only a footballing mercenary who runs when the going gets tough.

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An old Renault for a new one

So, come this evening Squillaci will be our 2 second defensive signing this season. According to the UK dailies,  he is all but a Gunner bar him passing his medical. The price has been agreed upon and he should be in time to at least be on the bench for the game against Blackburn.

Wenger has made good his promise to bolster the defense and this purchase shows that the gaffer has recognized the need for an experienced head in the centre. Where Gallas used to be the most experienced defender, we now have Squillaci. It is like trading the old Renault for a new and better version. That is how I see the signing. Like for like, French for French. Time will tell, but I do see Squillaci as a more level headed person and less disruptive to the locker room.

Other news has it that we are also looking at Juan and Michael Ciani to add to our defensive signings. I really don't see it happening at this late stage of the transfer window. I have yet to witness Arsene make a signing in a week since the first reported rumors started. Also he did say that he is adding one or one plus one in the remaining transfer window. We already have our one and I am really hoping the "plus one" is a goalkeeper.

Apparently the signing of the Aussie has stalled and we are looking at the Ajax goalkeeper again. Whatever it is, you have less than a week so please get it done, Arsene.

Elsewhere, our young guns Lansbury and JET are moving to Swansea on long this season. Both of them impressed me in pre-season especially JET who is a mountain of a man and should give us an added dimension to our play when he comes back next season.

My grouse with Diaby

I know I am a spoilsport to talk about this while we are still basking in the euphoria of the Blackpool result, but I guess got to get this off my chest. About Diaby.

I know some of you who come to his defense, and go on about how he has improved last year. I have to admit that he did have a few games which he played alright but the others he was simply deplorable.

Every time I see his name on in the starting line-up, i sighed. It's not that he is the worse player that we but his style of play really annoys me.

He can really play in any position that Arsene has put him into. As a defensive midfielder, he doesn't have t strength to win 50-50 balls. When he does win them back, he inevitably gives it away. He is also slow in getting back to defense, a key are for this role. I can't remember clearly which defeat(Man U at home, i think) last season but the sight of him strolling back to the penalty area when the opposition striker was in full speed really just sickens me.

As a central midfielder, he just doesn't do anything useful at all. Of course, he has his dribbling skills and able to twist and turn to get away from his markers but what does he do next! He looks up , left, right,left, right and by then his marker would already be back in position. This really infuriates me. Don't know if anyone noticed but he is extremely slow in distributing the ball.

One of the reasons why we have not been able to utilize our fast breaks is because of Diaby who takes his bloody own sweet time to make a decision who to pass to...By then, as I said, the opposition has already gotten back in position. Please don't take my word for it and see for yourself. Look at how long he takes to make the forward pass.

I can go on and on about this guy but writing about him just makes me go mad thinking back to his play.

Till tomorrow then, apparently there are good news on the transfer front

Same old Defensive Story

Yesterday's game really didn't tell us anything we didn't know from the preseason games or even from last year. Our attacking is exquisite but defensive frailties still remain. Enough has been said about the lacking of personal in quality and numbers but personally I feel that there is something fundamental wrong with the tactics.

No matter who we play in defense, we always seem to be caught on the counter attack. Last year, against Man U and Chelsea especially,  we were succintly exposed to quick fast break after losing the ball. Up till yesterday, we have still  to correct this mess whenever we lose ball in midfield, which we tend to do when we have Diaby in midfield(more about him in tomorrow's post).  If not for the lack of pace or support among Blackpool's front line, we would have been caught several times yesterday.

I am no master tactician but anybody can see that there is a big  gap between the central defenders and the attacking block of players when we attack. Our  players usually congregate around the borders of the penalty box with the midfielders  getting sucked in as well. This leaves the 30-35 yard area totally empty. This is the domain of the defensive midfielder and when Song is playing he tends to patrol this area well although he does get out of position as well. When we play Denilson and Diaby, both who have the tendency to give the ball away or being muscled off the ball, then we have a problem. Given their lack of pace and reluctance to hustle back, we oftten find ourselves under pressure.Not suprisingly the best player as an alternate to Song is  Emmanuel Frimpong during the matches that he played in preseason.It's just too bad that we have lost him for the next 9 months at least.

The other issue I have with the defensive formation is that  somehow we don't seem to pressure the opposition that much anymore. We often do that in the early part of the decade and during the era of the "Invincibles" with Ljungberg, Vieira, Gilberto all pressuring the opposition from the from. Nowadays,  we seem to invite the opposition to have a run at us before making our stand. In a pre-season interview, Frank McLintock said  that Arsenal and Barcelona have similar tactics but when the Barca players lose the ball, they try to win it back within 6 seconds. We don't and that is why we are under defensive pressure a lot. If you analyze last season, these the two defensive inefficiencies cause us more than 50%  of the goals we conceded.

So far, nothing in the team suggest that these issues have been addressed, so we may really need to score a lot more goals to counter the one that we will inevitably let in.

Easy for the Gunners

So, it was a easy stroll in the park for our home debut this season. Before the game, I was a bit apprehensive about this tie as I thought Blackpool would employed the same strong-armed tactics and playing defensive as countless others have done when visting the Emirates. However, credit must go to Ian Holloway as he set up this team to have a real go at the Gunners. Although they did concede a goal in the 12 minute, but they were in it and gave a scare when Taylor Flecther missed a golden opportunity to equalise from a free header(bad marking by Clichy). However, when Ian Evatt received a red card for a professional foul on Chamakh, it was over as a contest.

Having given credit to Blackpool, I must say that the team played exceptionally well. Not much can be said about the defense and the goalkeeper(cause Almunia and gang were basically pedestrians for most of the match), but our offensive play were simply brilliant. The seem to be much more pace and simplicity to out attacking formation. The first goal was classic Arsenal: starting with Arshavin to Chamakh to Rosicky back to Arshavin then to Walcott for the finish - 5 passes and it's a goal. This was the hallmark of the "Invincibles" and has been missing from our attacking play.

Two players particularly stood out in this game, Rosicky and Walcott. The latter managed a hattrick and this may be his best game ever in an Arsenal shirt. His movement was quick and intelligent combined with absolutely clinical finishing.

My man of the match today definitely has to be Tomas. He was at the heart of everything good that Arsenal did today. He has shown how influential he can be in the past 2 games so I really do hope he can continue his good form this season.

We also got a good look at how good Chamakh is as an aerial threat with a beautifully headed goal. It is not something we often see from an Arsenal striker and more should come his way.

And to our captain, welcome back.

Weekend Preview

Arsenal v Blackpool Preview

If this game is gonna end up like the Hull game 2 years ago, I swear I will give up being an Arsenal fan. I can still remember feeling sick after that game.

This season's our team has not shown that they have learned anything from that game or even the games at the end of last season ( Birmingham, Wigan, Blackburn) which is why I am so worried going into this weekend at the Emirates.

The reinforcements that were supposed to take place as at today, not happened yet so I don't think we will be seeing any new faces on the field today. Almunia will probably start  again in goal, and judging by his performance last weekend, it really give me the chills.

We have Kos, Nasri, and Frimpong out definitely and waiting news on Song and Denilson. I hope the boss plays Cesc and RVP cause he has gone on record to say that he will ease them back in after their prolonged absense due to the WC.

I am saying we need Cesc and RVP, possibly also Rosicky because although they are one year older, the team itself has not aged mentally at all. They were completed lost after Liverpool scored last weekend. They were not leadership and everybody just zombied around, chasing after red shirts and losing the ball when we got it back. If would have been different if someone were there to authoritatively command the plays as was shown by Rosicky when he came on. I was not too impressed with him last season so I am hoping for our Czech midfield general to show what he is capable off. Also, we  would definitely need our little Russian to gain back his form which he admitted is "very bad".

I think a good result this weekend would raise everybody's morale (i know mine definitely need some boosting) and for Arsene to prove that this season will be better that last.

Gallas to Spurs

Well, just gotten the news that our ex-captain has done a "reverse Sol Campbell" and cross over to the Whites of Tottenham. I thinking that this is a fair move for him as he is already 33 and approaching the twilight of his career, so a last fling in a top class side should be good. I am sure he has good reason to turn down our offer of a 2 contract (albeit at lower wages) for a one year contract with the Spurs, but hey, it's his decision.

He has contribute to the Arsenal cause and although he sort of loss us the title with one act of petulance as a skipper, he has also given his all when he was donning Arsenal colours.

Here's to you Monsieur Gallas, all the best and see you on the 21st of November.

In other transfer news, Jay Simpson has gone to Hull and Armand Traore is close to move to Benfica. The two talented youngsters promised much but as so many before them failed to make the jump into the senior side. Traore especially, was given his chance last season when Clichy and Gibbs were injured but as we all saw, he was sorely lacking in his defensive abilities.

On a more worrying note, there is still no news on any additions to the squad. Our bid for Scharwer has again been turned down. Seriously, we need a keeper and we need it fast. If not this Aussie, then maybe the Irishman in the blue half of Manchester. I know it is going to be even more difficult for City to sell to a rival club but at least we don't have to deal with Mark Hughes.

Injuries Injuries Injuries

August 20, 2010


Is it me or is it just crazy to injure yourself so bad IN TRAINING that you will be out for 9 months. Well that's what our Emmanuel Frimpong did, broke his cruciate knee ligaments and will be out for some time.

Seriously, I was really looking to Frimpong to become our alternative should Song be injured(which he is at the moment). He has had a fantastic pre-season and would have gone on to get a couple of first team appearance. Now this will definitely set him back.

Again if i remember correctly, Samir Nasri was also injured during pre-season training last season and was out for a couple of months as well.

There seem to be no end to our injuries whether it is from game day (which I can understand) or in training( which totally makes no sense) but it can't be just down to pure bad luck. Our players also do seem to take a longer recovery that most. For example, everybody saw Torres was down injured during World Cup Final and yet he was back over the weekend playing 20 minutes towards the end. He was running ok and looking sharp.

Whereas, Cesc played bugger all during the World Cup, not injured, and yet Arsene is talking about taking time putting him back on the field. Come on, he has been back for close to the weeks, he is ready and I have a strong feeling we are gonna need him on Saturday.

Someone must seriously be looking into the training methods and and the medical team. I am not slacking Colin Levin but I don't think we have had that many injuries when his brother was in charge.

Squillaci In?

August 19, 2010


According to the the Guardian and Daily Mail, we are poised to sign Sebastian Squillaci and Kwando Asamoah by this weekend.

The signing of the 30 year old defender is definitely a must. We have been crying out for a central defender since the opening of the transfer market and it is finally happening. The fact that Squillaci did not play for Sevilla in the Champions League playoff is a good indication that the transfer should be completed soon. I have seen Squillaci play over the last couple of years and he seems to be a decent defender although he might need to be a lot more physical when dealing with the likes of Drogba, Davies et al. Given Wenger preference for French players, I was sure he would sign Philip Mexes but Squillaci is up there as well. Just hope he can settle in as quickly as TV5 and Kos cause we really need reinforcement at the back.

However, I am scratching my head of the potential signing of Kwando Asamoah. He is 21 and although probably had a decent World Cup, I don't seem him any better that our young Gunners, Frimpong, Eastmond, Ramsey, Wilshere. So what's the point of signing him anyway. He can't displace Song plus he is over 21 and would take a place in our 25 place line-up. I would rather Wenger focus his attention on signing Squillaci and please please, complete the Schwarzer before the weekend.

Also, there is talk that we are having one last go at Phil Jagielka for about £18million. Again I don't think this is gonna happened as Everton don't really need the money and are not inclined to sell. Not having Jagielka would seriously hamper their season. I like to happened but again as in any market, there has to be a seller but a buyer can buy.