What to do About Right-Back

As most Arsenal fans know: Bac is out of contract at the end of the season. There are reports that we are trying to tie him down with a new contract; but we all know how Wenger feels about players over 30, and how all players over 30 feel about 1 year contracts. He has recently had some injury problems and in an ideal world I would like Sagna to accept an extra year on his contract. Jenkinson can be brought in more and more and I would like to see him starting league matches by the end of next season. The exciting Hector Bellerin should be experienced enough to provide cover for Jenkinson by then and eventually compete for a starting position.

Sagna helping the youngsters

The problem is if the French fullback does not sign a new contract and Wenger has to start Jenkinson or buy somebody new. I don't believe that Jenkinson is good enough just yet, so who could Arsenal realistically buy?

Wenger:"I Am Confident We Will Make Signings"

This transfer window has been the most disenchanting in recent years. The summer started with hopes of great deals and superstars coming in, and slowly degraded to hopefully we actually sign somebody. I stumbled across this interview this morning. It was published today, but I can't seem to find where originally.

"You would be surprised how early we acted [to get players in]," Wenger said. "In our job sometimes, you can spend a lot of time, you don`t go on holiday, work on things, and it doesn`t come off.

This is part of the job. A question of patience, of continuing to be completely focused and sometimes nothing happens in five or six weeks. Then sometimes in 24 hours you can do two or three good deals, it`s not predictable.

Injuries are Getting Better

I'm a bit worried about our current injuries and lack of squad depth. Like every other Gooner I agree that we need to make a few signings. Our squad looked as thin as Kieran Gibbs' arm against Fenerbahce last night with quite a number of players out injured.

With these casualties available our group would look a lot better, nonetheless we still hunger for those signings.

My Brother Said He'll Get an Arsenal Tattoo if We Sign Benzema

There are reports claiming that Arsenal have put in a £39m bid for Karim Benzema. I think he's an excellent player, but I don't think he'll be moving to Arsenal. In a recent interview he said, “No, I’m not worried at all [about competition],” he told Marca. “Of course I’m staying. I’m happy at Real Madrid and I’m not going to leave.”

Arsenal were interested in signing the Frenchman in 2011, but he wanted to prove himself in Madrid. "I don't worry even if Real Madrid agree deals with other clubs for new forwards. This will only inspire me."
Benzema is an established player for The Galacticos and has appeared 48, 52 and 50 times in the last three seasons. His biggest competition to lead the line was Higuain, who recently sealed a move to Napoli. Ancelotti might bring somebody in (could be Suarez), but no player is going to leave in fear of limited game-time when he has been first choice for the last three seasons.

Real Madrid are third favourites to win the Champions League this season (5/1) and Arsenal are 10th favourites (25/1). Moving to Arsenal would lower his chances of winning silveware (which is apparently why most footballers play the beautiful game).

Loyalty is a Two-way Street

Arsenal fans, including myself, have been complaining about our ex-player's lack of loyalty to the club: Nasri, Hleb, Flamini, Song, Clichy, Van Persie, Adebayor, Toure and even Fabregas and (dare I say it) Henry to a certain extent. These players have left us over the last couple of seasons; it's disappointing and enraging. We feel that we would be a lot better off if only these players had stayed. We call them traitors, disrespectful, etc. when they see greener pastures and move on.

Arsenal have been releasing our under-performing players slowly, but surely over the last couple of weeks. Denilson, Djourou, Chu-Young, Arshavin, Bendtner, Squillaci, Santos, Gervinho, Mannone and Chamakh have either left or should be moving in the next few weeks.

Choosing Our Best Squad

I thought this Summer would be slightly different to years gone by, but it seems our chances of getting a few star players are dwindling. But I remain optimistic and hope Le Professeur makes a couple of good signings. In the scenario that nobody is bought and nobody important is sold I would like to propose an Arsenal squad when everybody is fit and healthy (although this is a fantasy world I won't include Diaby as he isn't fit in Fantasy World either).

What is The Ox's Best Position?

The hype around Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has slowly decreased over the past season. Arsenal first bought him from Southampton 2 years ago and after a couple of exciting performances, fans were insisting that he got more game time. The arrival of Podolski and inconsistent performances from The Ox has meant that he has been on the bench more than he would like. He started 12 times in the league last season (13 as a substitute), only completing the 90 minutes once.

He is still young and I’m glad Chamberlain doesn’t have the same pressure that Wilshere had a couple of seasons ago, but if we want him to develop he needs to play more. He’s been playing well for England and according to his dad he is more relaxed, “I can see that he is more relaxed playing for his country than he is playing for Arsenal.” Hopefully he can start relaxing when playing for Arsenal. He’s only 19, and still has a lot of time to fill his potential.

A Different Dilemma at Left-Back

Since the sale of Ashley Cole in 2006, Arsenal have not had a reliable left-back. Wenger put faith in the Englishman and many were hoping that he would be an Arsenal legend and possible future captain.



I'm quite annoyed that I couldn't find anything without Gervinho!

He departed for Chelsea on deadline day, leaving many fans annoyed. Clichy was a good enough replacement (I rated him quite highly), but his frailties soon shone through: his defensive ability wasn't great, often being caught out of position. The Frenchman’s attacking play didn't cover up for his lack of defensive qualities either; I remember numerous crosses that were kicked straight out or over everybody’s heads. Kieran Gibbs looked a good prospect when Clichy was injured and had his first international call-up at 20, big things were expected of him, but he had quite a few injuries and Gooners around the world cringed when Clichy and Gibbs were injured, resulting in the hapless Traore being deployed at left-back.

Who Should Replace Arteta Against Newcastle

Mikel Arteta has been one of the most important players for Arsenal this season. He has operated as the deepest-lying midfielder, linking the play between defence and attack. He has played 33 out of Arsenal's 37 Premier League matches, playing 2956 minutes (second highest, after Santi Cazorla, out of all Arsenal players). He played 90 minutes in every game that he has started except against Spurs (he was technically substituted after 90 minutes against Wigan).

As everybody knows, the match against Newcastle on Sunday is enormously important. Wenger was frustrated that Arteta was injured and said in a pre-match interview, "For the weekend, we have the uncertainty over Mikel Arteta, who had to come off just before the end of the Wigan game with a calf strain. Honestly, his chances of being available are minimal. I have to be realistic and prepare for another solution."

Match in Brief: Arsenal vs Norwich City

It was a very important and hard-fought victory by The Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.


Michael Turner opened the scoring in the 57th minute with a header from a Robert Snodgrass' free-kick after a number of first-half Arsenal chances. Mikel Arteta converted a suspect penalty late on to give Arsenal hope, and Olivier Giroud and second-half substitute Lukas Podolski finished the turnaround.

Talking Tactics: 4-2-2-2

 

You’re all probably as disappointed as I am. Yes, the ref made two bad decisions which gifted Chelsea two goals, we played well in the second half, Jack Wilshere is a great player, etc, etc.

Wenger was forced to put Santi Cazorla on the left wing because we don’t have any decent left wingers available. Chamberlain and Podolski were injured and ill respectively, Gervinho is at Afcon and Arshavin is totally out of form. Although after Santi played poorly on the left wing during the Swansea game, I was surprised that Wenger didn’t change it up. Cazorla is an integral part to Arsenal’s attacking play. He already has 6 assists in the Premier League and his creativity was evident when he played a near-perfect pass to Walcott for our solitary goal from the centre of the field, not from the left. I think Santi is a great player, but not a natural winger: he can’t influence the game enough.

Match in Brief

Van Persie and Walcott score to put Arsenal into the Champions League.

 

A very good all round performance by the boys. My man of the match goes to Gervino for providing most of our creativity.
Also an honourable mention for Szczesny for a good game and a great penalty save (I thought he would be blown for coming off his line before the ball was kicked but was extremely happy when he wasn't).

What is also very good is that Wenger now has 6 days to sign a player wanting to play in the Champions League. This is a big perk for players.

Arsenal have a tough match coming up- United away, but with the confidence going out of this match I can see us winning.

Regards