Where would Cesc play? Let me show you..

Since Barcelona’s new manager Luis Enrique, refused to comment on Fabregas’ future, there has been debate whether Arsenal should sign their former captain. Like most of you (i’m sure) I want him back and the only problem that people were having was, where would you play Cesc?

Going back into this past season, most of us would agree that two main things were responsible for us not taking the Premier League Title, bad performances away to top rivals and INJURIES to key men. At one point, Wenger had to play a team without Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Chamberlain and even Wilshere. This made life a bit more difficult as arguably, Ramsey was our best player last season.

I asked myself, what if we had Fabregas in the squad, wouldn’t we have sustained a better title charge? the answer is yes! I would agree that we lacked pace in some games and having Giroud up front when you have no pace is useless, but for the shear ability of creating chances, scoring and running into spaces, Fabregas would have made a difference.

Arsenal fans make me laugh sometimes, one minute they say, “We don’t have strength in depth” and the next minute they say, “we already have a lot of players like him”, make your minds up! Fabregas, like Ozil, can play in different positions but are better as number 10’s. Fabregas on the other hand, will deliver in the big games unlike Ozil did with us last season (yes I know it was first season and things might change). 

My starting line up would be something like this:

Szczesney

Aurier (my choice of RB in the tranfer market) Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs

Wilshere Ramsey

Ozil Fabregas Cazorla

Mandzukic (my choice of striker in the transfer market)

 

That midfield would be inter-changeable and no one would be too restricted to their positions. In fact, one of my favorite matches of last season was the game against Napoli at home. The midfield was so dynamic and inter-changeable that Napoli didn’t know who to mark.

 

I would then inject the bench with pace and defensive steel, yes the team is not that defensive or pacey, but with these men on the ball, very few midfield would be able to contend with them. That would be one heck of a starting line up, capable of even winning the league. We will need also a defensive midfielder during the transfer window and maybe another pacey winger.

All in all, I think Fabregas is a no brainer and allowing him to go to our Premier League opponents would be as bad as selling him to them directly. I say, BRING CESC BACK HOME!

 

Arsenal v Manchester City Preview: All or NOTHING

So, it’s that time again where we play our second most hated rival in recent seasons. The relationship between the two clubs on the pitch has become worse by the season, from the infamous celebration of Adebayor at the City of Manchester stadium, to the sale of Samir Nasri. Not only has city promised a bigger pay cheque to our players but they have also promised trophies… The later can be judged at the end of Sunday’s fixture, if City lose, they are more or less out of the title race and would end the season TROPHY-LESS!

Uncomfortable territory

Samir and his friends come to the Emirates on the back of two straight draws against Stoke and Sunderland last week and will be hoping to get back to winning ways against the Gunners. City are further boosted by the return of players such as Tevez, Aguero and Nasri himself, who has been out with illness. They do know however that coming to the Emirates stadium will not reap an easy 3 points, considering their last game at the Emirates, in the Carling Cup, needed a late Aguero goal to qualify into the next round. That was after playing against a youthful Arsenal side that had players like Frimpong and Chamberlain who both impressed immensely. Last season, Manchester City was criticised for playing a defensive game at the Emirates last season of which they might employ something slightly similar tomorrow. I don’t see them going Gung ho against Arsenal at the Emirates, especially on current form. They have too much at stake on this game to do that against an Arsenal team that has won 7/8 of their last games. I see them taking advantage of counter attacks of which Arsenal are prone to conceding because of their attacking game. Manchester United usually employ such a stance which has a good success rate.

Considering our current form, with the exception of QPR where I felt they suffered from complacency, I can see Arsenal giving the Sky Blues a rough ride at the Emirates. We have players like Theo Walcott who are having the form of their lives, Rosicky, Song and you can always expect some magic from van Persie, even though he has gone through a small “drought” of goals. I would expect Oxlade-Chamberlain to start ahead of Ramsey, who has been abysmal of late when he starts. I think Ramsey is going through a rough patch and should be used as a substitute than a starter in our games. I hope Vermaelen has improved from his nightmare of a performance last week, we can not afford off days against teams of this quality.

Probable line-up

SZCZESNY

SAGNA  KOSCIELNY  VERMAELEN  GIBBS

SONG  ARTETA  ROSICKY

WALCOTT  PERSIE  CHAMBERLAIN

WLYA Match Prediction

Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

I have no doubt this will be a very entertaining match to watch for the neutral, both teams seem to play the game the way it is supposed to be played. I hope Arsenal come out victors but I think because of both teams qualities it could be a draw. I do hope I’m wrong and we beat them, that would be absolutely splendid!

YOUR TEAM NEEDS YOU!

It has been one of the most frustrating seasons since Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal. It has been 3 consecutive defeats in a row in the league, Tottenham seem like title contenders, we don’t seem like we will be in the top four by the end of the season and our fans are singing, “You don’t know what you are doing”, to Arsene Wenger. Its true, we do not have much to be happy about at the moment and most of the complaints that the fans have about the club are valid. It is hard to be a fan/supporter in these times?! I beg to differ…

In times like these, real fans stand up!

This is the time we need to be singing with our hearts, “I will be a Gooner till I die”, because in these times of hardship, the team needs us. By, ‘the team’, I mean the 11 players on the pitch wearing red and white. What happened on Sunday might have been a genuine reaction but that is not the way we should behave when our team is on the battlefield. Give me any reason you like but my opinion will always be that it is WRONG to boo your team, when the game is still on. It is a negative influence on the team, affects the confidence of the player coming on and brings more doubts to any “Doubting Thomas'” in the team, especially the young players. We can voice our anger and frustrations in radio phone ins, blogs, petitions, letters to the club and club meetings all we want but let us keep it out of the stadium. Those people who read this blog often know I have my own issues with the club that I think are responsible for the clubs downfall but I just want us Gooners to be UNITED in these hard times.

It has been well publicised what is wrong with Arsenal and what people think needs to be changed, so I am just going to try to find some positives. Firstly, it finally Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has finally arrived at the Emirates. People, even Wenger was not that convinced if he was totally ready to step up into the premier League, boy did he prove people wrong. It somehow reminds me of Szcesney last season, he broke into the first team in the Premier League against Manchester United. Maybe this fixture is what Wenger uses to test his players if they are ready, not using the by now is going to be very difficult. Secondly, we had good performances from Koscielny, Rosicky and Yennaris. These players have all stepped up a gear this season, where they at the same level last year? NO! I think I will be in trouble with some Gooners for this but I think Rosicky deserves at least a years extension on his contract on this seasons performances. Rosicky performed better than Ramsey and I think Ramsey would benefit with some bench time because he is definitely not on form. Lastly, We have the likes of Sagna, Gibbs and Wilshere on their way back, you get the feeling that with these players back, we might just force ourselves back into the top for again.

Yes it is a sad time to be a Gooner but let us support or team through it all, win/lose, trophy/no trophy, Champions League/Europa League, Premier League/Championship we are Arsenal supporters, lets do just that when our boys need us the most.

Don’t ride the Van if you can’t chip in…

It’s official, Arsenal are going through a tough patch. Never mind not having any full-backs, Arsenal are finding it difficult to put more than two goals past the opposition. The last time we scored more than two goals was the 0-4 away win at Wigan on 3 December, a month ago. Gervinho has scored just 4 goals in 16 Premier League games, Ramsey 1 in 19 and Walcott 2 in 19. All these players are willing to chip in with an assist but are never brave enough to just shoot. It is definitely time for the attacking players to start chipping in with the goals…

Van Persie has scored 47% of Arsenal's goals this season....

 

Robin Van Persie is a great player but we can’t keep relying on him like we do, sometimes in a game you can see Gervinho through on goal and instead of testing the goalkeeper, he searches for Van Persie. I do admit that maybe Gervinho is aware that he is not the best finisher in the team but having a go will not hurt. As long as you hit the target, one of four things can happen, you miss, its caught, you score or it bounces off the goalkeeper of the post, which can be an opportunity for another team-mate to score.

We then have The Walcott who insists he should be a central striker, not with your current tally mate! In all honesty, unlike Gervinho, Walcott does have a go at times but not enough. If Theo really wants to be a striker he should prove it with the goals, a tally of 2 goals in 19 games is never good enough to convince the boss. The Emirates faithful are always shouting “SHOOT!” but sometimes you feel it falls on deaf ears.

Aaron Ramsey has some big boots to fill, he is now playing the same position that Fabregas was playing and  even though he covers every blade of grass running up and down the pitch, he needs to assist and score more. His shooting accuracy has to be one of the worst of these three  players, he always seems to hit it straight at the goalkeeper or over the bar. A tally of 1 in 19 is just not good enough for an advanced player playing in an attacking team like Arsenal. Ramsey should be doing at least four times that number at his position and making far more assists.

As I said in my last post, Oxlade-Chamberlain will probably be introduced slowly this year into the first team and he seems to be a more direct player, he has scored 2 goals in 5 games, if that’s not direct, I don’t know what is. You just get the feeling this team needs something to freshen it up offensively, maybe Henry will be one of the things we need.

Wenger won’t tell you, but this is the year of the OX!

Happy New year Gooners! This year has started very well for us, we ended the last with a win, went fourth, Van Persie scored a record number of goals by an Arsenal player in a Calender year, The Manchester Clubs both lost and King Henry is BACK. Not only that, I have a great feeling Wenger did not want to give Oxlade-Chamberlain, too many games in his first season. With Gervinho going to the Africa Cup of Nations, AOC is definitely going to get a few starts. We all know that he is more than capable after tearing Premier League teams like Bolton and Manchester City apart in the Carling Cup.

Year of the OX...

A lot of people argue that AOC is a lot better than Walcott was at that age, but I would go on and say that he probably is better compared to Walcott as it is. Yes, Theo has the experience but AOC is a more direct player and a better crosser of the ball. Thierry is back but there is a bit of a question mark on his fitness, especially after coming from holiday a week or two ago.

“He [Henry] has the quality and the talent for sure. I don’t know how he is physically to play 90 minutes, 60 minutes, 30 or whatever he needs but I think with his experience he can manage that no problem.” – Mikel Arteta

Wenger also came out saying that Henry is here to “help” which suggests he might come off the bench and start a few games. Henry also did not seem that comfortable on the wing when he went to Barcelona, so that suggests that AOC will definitely get more games as we can not depend on Arshavin, who is being linked to Russian teams.

AOC has been quite impressive and has scored two goals in just 5 starts and I am confident that given the chance he will give defences a torrid time. I can Understand why Wenger has been preserving him, he does not want to expose him to too many games at such a young age and also get him to learn the Arsenal way of playing football. Look at what happened to Fabregas and Wilshere, they played too many games at a young age and now Fabregas has constant injury problems and Wilshere is injured. Young players should be introduced slowly to playing many games at this level.

Whichever way, I can’t wait for 2012 to see AOC making all the right headlines, call me a dreamer but I’m sure if this team steps up a gear, we can even win the league! COME ON YOU GOONERS!

Why this Arsenal star is DEFINITELY on sale this January

the most famous sportsmen in Russia

There is an art in finding if a player has become surplus to requirements. First, he does not get much game time, he then vents his frustrations and nothing is done about the situation. I will stop speaking in cryptic terms, the man is Andrey Arshavin.

Andrey came with a bang to Arsenal, his first 6 months and second season, which was his first full one, he performed exceptionally well. We would all be concerned when our favourite Russian was not on the starting line up because that meant the team was weaker. I remember a friend of mine once asking me why Arsenal fans tolerate Arshavin’s inability to elude controversial statements, I simply said, “As long as he performs like he does on the pitch, I really do not care what he says in the media”. My feelings have since changed about Andrey, he does not seem to bother much about playing for Arsenal anymore, he just wants his pay cheque every week. With the Euro’s around the corner, I’m sure his national team coach will demand he gets regular football elsewhere. I expected him to start against Manchester City and he didn’t, only to come in at the last 3 minutes of the game. He is just not getting games anymore and when he does, he does not vindicate his inclusion in the starting line up.

I have been following some of his statements of late and statements made by Arsene Wenger and I have realised that these two are in a some-what broken marriage. Complaining about his lack of playing time, Arshavin recently said:

“It’s true that Wenger has a unique philosophy. Sometimes you know that you will be replaced at 70 minutes, regardless of how well you play. Sometimes you sit on the bench and know for sure you will enter the game at 65 minutes.”

“I still want to play for 90 minutes, but now I am glued to the bench. I wouldn’t like to play for a Russian club other than Zenit (St Petersburg), and there were no contacts with Anzhi Makhachkala.”

“Right now I don’t think about changing clubs. If I will be benched for a very long time, then such an issue might be relevant,” 

My impression is that Andrey, who is one of the most famous sportsmen in Russia, has the impression that because he is “Andrey Arshavin”, captain of the Russian team, he deserves to play no matter his performances on the pitch. In reality, his performances of late have hardly been on par with Gervinho and Walcott. Even though Gervinho needs to work on his finishing, he causes more distress to the Full-Backs than Arshavin at the moment. On his personal website he recently claimed that his performance against Fulham was not good because he did not have enough playing time…. RUBBISH!! In the same game, Chamakh and Diaby played some decent football but have hardly played much this season. Better yet, against Manchester City Frimpong, Coquelin and Oxlade-Chamberlain played exceptionally well, even though they hardly have a sniff at first team football. It all goes down to desire and motivation, if you do no have them, then you will never force your way into the Arsenal staring XI. Wenger did seem to support him (publicly) on his claim of game time, but in the same statement, he lambasted the “hunger” of Chamakh and Diaby:

“I believe it is difficult for a player when he doesn’t play regularly to be absolutely exceptional,”

“I don’t think he (Arshavin) had a bad game but I think he suffered a little bit from the fact we were not as sharp as we might have been.

“Your confidence is not at the top as well when you don’t play for one month. You need to play regularly.

“He will come back. He works hard in training and has a good attitude so we just have to keep him tight.”

 “Diaby and Chamakh were fresh and hungry. Hopefully in the coming weeks they will show that.”

If Wenger really wanted to boost his confidence, I don’t think playing him in the last 3 minutes is the best way to do it. To me, it looks like both party’s are ready to part ways, the only tricky thing will be, who to sell him to, considering this statement he recently said:

“I met a man in Miami who said there is no difference where you live — it is important how much money is on your credit card.

“I think this is correct — if you have enough money, you can provide for your family anywhere in the world.”

I can’t see Manchester City breaking bank for you at the moment mate, maybe Anzhi? The fact is, I would be very surprised if Arshavin is still an Arsenal player in February if he keeps performing like this, all I can say is ” Watch out for the OX!”

Chamberlain: I hope I did well

Marvel...

Arsenal’s hero from last night Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, was really happy with his performance and was hoping he had done enough to prove his worth to Arsene Wenger. The former Southampton Winger had struggled to make the Gunners bench in the last few games and seemed to have given Arsene Wenger food for thought about his place in the team. Talking to Arsenal’s official website, he said about the game…

“I thought its a massive game for us, even though you can say it was lesser opposition we still had to bounce back from a disappointing result on the weekend,” 

“some people may think, ‘Here we go again..’, you know, we knew we had what it takes to win the game, maybe it was a bit sloppy at the back or not switched on but we knew we had to keep going,”

“I just received the ball, it opened up for me and I just tried my luck and luckily enough, im delighted it went in,”

“I havent been on the bench as much as I would like due to some quality signings, I had forgotten what it felt like to be here, before the game I walked on to the pitch this evening and realised how massive this club is and how big a stage it is and straight away I got excited about the game, I got my chance and I hope I did well.”

“I think it is a really good squad, you know, I think we need to keep plugging away and it will go right for us, there is a lot of quality, quality signings and the boys that are here are quality players, we just need to gel together and kick on. I think we can do well in the League, in this competition and the F.A Cup”

“we will study and discuss the possibility of going on loan”

As Arsenal’s wingers start to mount, the future of some fringe players at the club starts to fade. Besides the obvious exit of Fabregas and Nasri, another Gunner is also going to be considering his options, Carlos Vela.

Unlike his countryman Hernandez at Manchester United, Vela has failed to stamp his authority on the Arsenal starting XI and even this season he seems to be going on loan again. His agent, Eduardo Hernandez, was talking to Foot Mercato when he mentioned that his client is not guaranteed to stay at the Emirates this season. There have been reports linking Vela to an array of Spanish clubs but nothing materialised, now he has been liked to french Ligue 1 Club  Lorient. His agent was quick to dismiss those rumours…

 “We received no call from Lorient. I am in daily contact with Arsenal and nobody told me of such interest. As for the future of Carlos at Arsenal, it is true that we will discuss and study the possibility of going on loan.” Vela’s Agent

Vela showed glimpses of his capabilities during the Emirates Cup but you get the feeling that Ryo Miyaichi’s Permit approval and the arrival of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain might have decreased his chances of getting game time at Arsenal. You also get the feeling that if he does go on loan, he needs a major season or else he might end up on the Transfer Market this time next year. He seems like a nice lad and you just hope he lives up to all the hype he had when he played in the Carling Cup a few seasons ago.

Arsenal have the strength, but not in depth

As the preseason ends and we get closer to the real business, it becomes obvious that Arsenal need a few new faces to sustain a good title challenge. Yesterday Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined the club from Southampton but to a few grumbles from the Arsenal faithful. The boy is a massive prospect and many say he is probably going to be a better player than Walcott who joined us from the same club a few seasons ago. The grumbles were more of, do we need another rough diamond or we need experienced players now? It was made worse by the fact that on the same day, Romelu Lukaku signed for Chelsea. Romelu might be of the same age but he is a top quality talent and a type of player the club needs in terms of experience at the top-level, goal scoring ability and physical build.

Another offensive player....

Arsenal played Benfica over the weekend and in the first half barely gave Benfica a sniff at goal, second half, the dynamics changed and we could have easily conceded 6 goals in that half were it not for Fabianski’s brilliance on goal. What changed? it was the change in players! Players like Squilacci, Jenkinson, Traore and Miquel came on to replace Vermaelen, Sagna, Gibbs and Djourou. The gulf in quality was enormous and considering most of the players that started that match are now injured, you wonder what team is going to walk on to the pitch against Newcastle on the weekend.

When I watched the Community Shield on Sunday, I realised just how weak our team is defensively compared to our competitors. Ferguson changed his defensive line-up at half-time from the usual line up of Evra, Ferdinand and Vidic, who did not play well, and brought in Jones, Rafael and Cleverly. All of a sudden Manchester United started to defend really well and managed to overturn a 0-2 deficit to a 3-2 win. I was thinking to myself, besides the obvious starting line up (who are not that brilliant anyway), who else can come on and make such a performance? Squilacci? Miquel? Jenkinson? the answer is, at the moment, none of them. This shows how desperately we need Defenders really quickly. THAT is our weakness… What happened to the days we used to sing ONE NIL TO THE ARSENAL? They are well and truly gone, our only defensive recruitment has been Carl Jenkinson who doesn’t look like he is going to make any better challenge to Sagna than Eboue did. Jenkinson hardly played every game for Charlton in League 1 last season and now he is expected to play against the Barcelona’s, Chelsea’s and Stoke’s? Maybe in a couple of seasons but not now.

Arsenal have bought more attacking players than defensive players and you hope that the rumours of Joel Campbell from Costa Rica are not true, how many strikers and offensive players does a team need? We need defenders and maybe the purchase of Mertesacker and Cahill might help appease the concerns of most fans and the plight of the team. Gazidis said yesterday:

“Arsene recognises we need to have additions and addition or additions in our defence. He will take steps to do that.
“We are working extremely hard on this but it’s not a supermarket where you go in and pick good players off the shelf. I’m sorry but it’s much much more complex than that.”

I hope it is sooner rather than later or else we will end up in a really catastrophic position….