The Goon Blog

Evening,

its all started to pick up now the players and manager have returned from the pre-season tour of Austria – and the search for a defender seems to have taken a further step when yesterday, Arsenal offered £10.7 million for Werder Bremen defender and German international Per Mertesacker. There is no say on how the bid will be taken.. whether Bremen are open to a sale or against it. There is also interest from Milan in the player so any deal will have to be done pretty quickly.

He isn’t a bad player but I don’t quite see how he fits in with our defence – our strengths as a team expose his weaknesses, he isn’t fast or agile and I think there’s double decker buses with a smaller turning circle. But, he is an improvement on Johann Djourou (positive news on the injury front) and Laurent Koscielny – he is a hell of a tall dude who will certainly give us a bit extra when defending set pieces, and gives us a chance to become more of a threat at the other end too. The fact we are now actively in the market for players will encourage the fans who have been getting more and more disgruntled.. myself included. It looked as though there was a lack of ambition, a lack of willingness to spend the money available and with the cheats up at Middle Eastlands snapping up any player they see as half good in the weekly MATCH magazine nobody can compete. However, now their activity is coming to an end, the prices can deflate and proper (well, kind of) transfer prices can come back.

Interestingly, I have been told that we may well be seeking three players – with at least one arriving. It sounds silly but it is entirely possible, especially with Milan’s interest in Mertesacker. The back-up plan in the case of being snubbed by the big German is Everton’s Phil Jagielka…. there is still very much interest there on that front. The first bid was a disgrace at £6 million, but I doubt we would bid that much again if we were in a situation where we simply had to add to the defensive ranks. I have no idea who the third player may be.. be careful how you interpret what I say though, the may be a third player. It is by no means fact.

This is going to sound silly now, but the club have had two approaches for Thomas Rosicky this summer, and both clubs inquiring about him are tied up in these deals. Werder Bremen expressed an interest in doing business for Per Mertesacker, with a fee + Rosicky deal, and Everton also made an approach for him earlier on in the summer. Whatever the selling clubs want, I can’t see him being part of any deal, it would just cause more problems in another position.

There has been more stuff surrounding Cesc Fabregas circling around again, he apparently made these comments to a Spanish lifestyle magazine…

“I’m a Barca fan, I’m a club member, as is my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin… I have had the colours in my blood from a young age, I’m Catalan. “However, I’m the captain of Arsenal, I’m a ‘Gunner’, and I have become a player there and matured as a person. “He is a second father to me, the most important person in my life after my father. He has behaved really well with me and taken me in like a son. I am part of his family, he doesn’t want me to leave. And in my last conversation with him in London, it was one of the most difficult moments I have experienced. I ended up very upset.”

I’m fed up of this now. For what it is worth it looks like he is staying and I have no doubts at all that he loves Arsenal and is open to staying here. I think it might just be one of those situations like where you go on holiday, come back and are totally miserable because you didn’t want it to end. Most of his mates are Barca players, you can understand it. I just wish there was a little more clarity, and most definitely class on the Barca front. I maintain that they need some sort of punishment for the incessant tapping up.

Tomorrow Arsene Wenger will hold his pre-Emirates Cup press conference so all the news will be re-tweeted when it comes out here. Also there will be transfer updates on my Twitter too because I can’t be doing with writing a blog for every rumour or bit of info. There is a possibility we may see Johann Djourou play which is good news after he limped out of the game midweek. Hopefully his fitness record will gradually improve but it just shows how we can’t afford to rely on him, probably even as a third choice defender.

Its also looking likely that Cesc and Robin van Persie will be missing from the squad against Liverpool in the league opener.. more on that if it happens.

Til tomorrow

Pre-season friendlies must be the time where Arsenal TV Online receive the most of their subscriptions as that is the only place where the games are broadcast live. It is a shame that the commentators are so arrogant and the picture quality so shoddy… it is not exactly a ringing advert of competance and value is it? That said, the £3 for three pre-season friendlies is very good value.

There has been a development over the future of Manuel Almunia – it is believed that now Osasuna have dropped out of the race crawl to sign him, Galatasaray have expressed an interest in him. This is a club that could afford his wages and would be attracted by the low fee Arsenal will be willing to sell him for, if that is the case then expect the search for a goalkeeper (if the is one) to be extended and hurried up because things are starting to get rather too close to the start of the season for comfort. The thought of Fabianski in the starting eleven for Liverpool terrifies me, I’m sure in training he is fantastic and he has huge potential – but it gives us an instant handicap, we might as well start a goal down.

I don’t see Almunia being at the club for much longer, the club have to do something about the goalkeeping situation just to save fave and pay lip service. Arsene Wenger declared at the end of last season that the goalkeeping situation would have to be assessed and if necessary improved.. he was left out against Barnet and Sturm Graz, appeared to throw a bit of a strop and was, in my opinion, the target of those “the goalkeepers have to accept competition at this club” comment from Arsene.

However, I just sincerely hope that we go into the market and get a replacement, Chesney isn’t ready yet despite having all the hallmarks of a very good future number one, Mannone has been lightening in training and has potential too, but just hasn’t got the experience, Fabianski doesn’t have the experience and has mental failings. Anything other than a signing will be, (to use that word again…) neglect.

I’m told a fee of £1.5 million will be enough for Galatasaray to get their hands on Almunia, add that to the funds for a keeper already and go to Fulham with an increased bid for Schwarzer. That would do me.

John Cross – a very respectable journalist in my opinion – is running a story about Per Mertesacker being a target for us, which fits in with information that Ivan Gazidis has been in Germany (possibly Bremen) within the past week. Its hard to say whether negotiations will be ongoing because he is no longer in the country and is currently in the USA and expected to return to Blighty on Friday.

Last night the last game in Austria for this pre-season was played, we won 4-0 against FC Neusiedl who ATVO reckoned we could notch up a cricket score against – as it turned out they were a handy team and were by no means humiliated, giving a good account of themselves.

It took a while for us to break the deadlock with Theo Walcott finishing nicely, maybe giving him a little bit of a confidence boost and getting him in shape for the Emirates Cup games. Just a couple of minutes after, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas finished a nice move off, a wonderful ball from Gibbs, he wriggled about a bit (bit difficult for someone of his stature) and finished it into the bottom corner. Great finish and hopefully we will see some of him this season as he has so many wonderful physical attributes to become quite the player for us. A different type of player.

Marouane Chamakh managed to net his first goal for us with a coolly taken penalty after being felled in the area, its good to see him open his account for the club, un-officially at least. He is a player I really want to see more of, even if he does look like the Brylcreem boy.

Fans are starting to get disillusioned and it is understandable why, there’s that team from the Middle Eastlands splashing the cash out on all and sundry whilst theres us who have brought in a striker on a free (with undoubted quality, mind), and Laurent Koscielny who has only played one season of top flight football in his career. There are massive gaps in the squad at center back in particular and it seems we haven’t really pushed the boat out to try and sort that out… its not very inspirational to say the least. Then there is the reticence of the boss to cough up for Mark Schwarzer or Phil Jagielka and the frustration continued to grow, including my own.

There needs to be a signing, one to get excited about too – I’m not talking massive cash splashing but just a name everyone has heard of, a solid name.

If that happens everyone will feel a whole lot better.

Lets wait and see…

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Afternoon – I decided that yesterday would be my rest day, nothing going on and I’m a bit frustrated about what is going on around the club at the moment so didn’t want to say anything silly in the heat of the moment.

With the news that Sol Campbell is undergoing a medical at Newcastle today, I’d say that we need at least two more defenders but the chances of that are nil. I’d be happy with one quite frankly the way things are going at the minute.

It seems that the wage demands of Manuel Almunia are putting off Osasuna, even if they paid a very reduced transfer fee for him – leaving him in limbo and right now, more likely to be a part of the team next season. Osasuna were the only club interested in signing him, I think it says a lot. There has definitely been contact and I have that on very good authority, there has been some comment from Osasuna trying to pour water on the flames but there is a possibility that those comments were released after the initial negotiations, which were a failure.

We have our last pre-season friendly in Austria tonight against a bunch of Goat herders (I joke… ), in all seriousness they are a pretty lowly team so there is quite a big chance we will see a few goals flying in. Everyone will be keeping an eye on who partners Thomas Vermaelen and who plays between the sticks, hopefully there will also be an interview after the game carried out in English. Don’t fob us off with no interview Arsene.

I’m looking forward to the Emirates Cup on Sunday, I’ll be there and be in the company of the writers from goonerholic.com and younggunsblog.com – that is just a couple of the people that will be there. It will be a great chance to meet other authors and watch a (hopefully) decent game of football, and of course retain the Emirates Cup.

A lot of people will be looking at who takes the field in both games, and in what formation, I wouldn’t expect any new faces between now and then though.

Right then, thats it for today.

You never know – we might sign somebody….

Just seven days until I see Arsenal for the first time this season at the Emirates from the comfort of an executive box – no I’m not being snobbish, there was just an invitation far too good to refuse.

By next Sunday evening we should have a very good idea of how we will line up next season and what players there will be to pick from for the all important season opener away at Anfield, a good start is imperative so hopefully we will have the players on the pitch to reflect the importance of a good start.

Somewhat worryingly, Cesc and Robin van Persie will not return to Arsenal until after next weekend. A) They will be undercooked. B) That means injuries. C) That is not good at all. You do have to wonder how Cesc is going to deal with so much football without a decent break – the last proper summer he had was 2007, since then he has had the Euros, Confederations Cup, and the World Cup in consecutive summers. Despite not playing much in the World Cup you can rest assure he worked hard in training, so the lack of games makes no real difference.

Johann Djourou has stated his intentions ahead of the new season, he wants to start and you can see why, being at the club since he was a teenager and getting a taster of the first team in 2008 he wants that back again:

“Now it is time to step up and start, I will always say that but now I am mature enough. We will have to see with the injury because when you have it for so long it is difficult to come straight back into things. I played 90 minutes against Strum Graz and it went well. I have to get other games under my belt and hopefully I will be ready.”

You are only as good as your last season though, and last season he hardly ever played so any real reliance on him could be very misplaced. When he has played in the past I have never felt that he is your solid kind of defender, he always looked likely to make a mistake and that sort of feeling can spread, especially if your team-mates harbor the same doubts. There are some interesting comments from Arsene Wenger though, and it fits in with eye-witness reports from people in Austria to what is going on in the training sessions..

“I think sometimes we are missing a bit of aggression. It is not that we are not good enough, because the team is good enough. We have top players at the back, top players all over the pitch. It is just that we have to be stronger as a unit.”

The suggestion of using a more aggressive defensive style fills me with joy. Get stuck in, but fairly. None of the ‘just let him know you are there’ stuff – a clean crisp tackle early on will make the opposition far more scared than a lunge with a more physical threat than footballing wise.  Then you know you are gonna get a game, usually one where you get trampled all over. It is said that Gael Clichy has been flying into tackles in training, especially one against Theo Walcott – giving him a bit of treatment that is to be expected in the league is no bad thing you have to say. There was said to be a slight injury worry over Jack Wilshere yesterday after a challenge from Johann Djourou but it should be alright, its good they are playing physically, train as you would come up against in a game.

In the next week I think we can expect all the hyperbole and rumours to really kick off, the season is approaching and in twenty two days time it will all be kicking off again, and we all know the boss is a meticulous planner – he wants his squad sorting out and there have been murmurings of all dealings being concluded in the first week of August so we will have to watch and see what unfolds.

Yesterday the Daily Star ran a story about us pursuing Per Mertesacker.. I can’t see it happening though, its likely, that if we see a signing it will be a player of Premiership experience. Despite what some people may say I maintain that Mark Schwarzer is only the matter of a fee between leaving Fulham and joining the club, and Phil Jagielka is a rather larger fee away from joining us – remember we offered £6 million to Everton for him – their valuation is more around the £14,15,16 million mark. We are very much interested in him but we won’t break the bank, the same goes for Schwarzer.

Meanwhile, whilst the story on Manuel Almunia yesterday has been questioned I will freely admit that every last word is true – the information comes via a very reliable source (I can’t give intricate details of course) and even if the talks between Osasuna and Arsenal break down people will still think I made it all up. I didn’t. Its the game us bloggers play and I am one of the ones who gets decent reliable information and am not afraid to stick my neck on the line. I’ll cop the flack, Ive realised that already.

Right, enjoy your Sunday

Til tomorrow.

Morning, happy Saturday to you all. For those of you who have to work.. commiserations.

Yesterday Arsenal were in talks with Spanish side Osasuna regarding the sale of Manuel Almunia. This news is hardly of great surprise considering that he has been left out of the first two pre-season friendlies and has been training with the rest of the squad perfectly well, so there is no fitness issue keeping him from playing. I believe that there is one major sticking point, Osasuna are the only team interested – the reported interest from Athletico Madrid a few weeks ago is dead at the moment – and Osasuna can’t afford his wages, the £50,000 a week he is currently on at the club.

The way round this might be a reduced transfer fee, reduced to the point where the fee is pretty negligible and the funds could well go in the direction of a bid for Mark Schwarzer whom, according to the Guardian, is going to be the subject of an increased offer from the club. I said yesterday that there might be one more chance to snare him and it has to be taken.

I’m saying this ’til I’m blue in the face I know, but we need another goalkeeper. I can’t stress that enough.

No top class keeper = no trophies

No top class keeper = mistakes = dropped points + low defensive confidence = not good times

The whole defensive system is a weak one to me and it looks as though at every level of football at the club there are massive deficiencies in the defending required to be successful. This is one sacrifice of playing football the way we do, there are going to be players committed and that means there is a much bigger risk of being caught on the counter – so why not alter the style a little?

Players like Arshavin, Nasri, van Persie etc. are all far stronger when we are not camped into the oppositions half, if the players sat back occasionally and then flew forward with pace and power there is a much bigger chance of creating something than having to find an inch perfect pass to get the ball to a player who is already pretty hemmed in the final 16 yards of the pitch. I think attacking-wise we are almost too pure and naive.

We have a goalkeeper who isn’t vocal and who’s confidence is more up and down than a yo-yo, this worries the defence – they don’t know if he is coming or going or probably, even what day of the week it is and when there is a situation like that bad things are going to happen, ie. conceding a shed-load of goals. It might have just been me but last season every single time we were defending it looked desperate, like the last minute of a cup final defending a 1-0 lead – there was no confidence, it was panicky and honestly the players looked a bit scared.

Bringing in a keeper like Mark Schwarzer, who is more vocal and his presence may just build confidence without having to do anything – the situation would automatically improve. The relationship between the main defender (Thomas Vermaelen) and him could develop quickly and given the youthful partner it looks like he may well start the season with, he will need all the support he can get.

I cannot recall another back five that look as shaky and weak as the one we currently have, none of the players can be named and you can say: “Yeah, he may not be the best player in the world but the chances of him making a costly error are small”, Sagna can drop clangers, Clichy can and when he does its almost always a fatal one, Vermaelen can make mistakes and Djourou and Koscielny hardly make you feel confident.

Neglect is a strong word but I am going to use it. Arsene Wenger has neglected the defence and goalkeeping situation for too long. He neglected it last summer, the summer before that and this summer so far. Yes, he has brought Koscielny and Vermaelen in the past two years but you can stick the very best players together, but if the coaching isn’t there they won’t click. Arsenal concentrate far too much on attacking and not on the basics, and the most important aspect; not conceding, especially silly goals.

So far this summer has disappointed, we have brought in Chamakh who might turn out to be a very good player, but the real issues that needed addressing haven’t been. There has to be progress in that area soon or we could be starting with Fabianski in goal, and Koscielny/Djourou next to Vermaelen.

We can’t afford that to happen, there’s just too much riding on this season .Cesc’s future, Arsene Wenger’s future – even our place in the top four, we can’t take it for granted anymore…

This blog has been tinged with what may come across as negativity today but I’m just trying to be realistic, don’t shoot me down for it – feel free to disagree and make yourself heard in the comments, I’ll welcome that. I’ll leave it there for today.

Adios.

Morning folks;

it seems that the deal that the club have on the table for Sol Campbell is likely to be accepted after he returns from his honeymoon. With the Sunderland talks completely dead and links with Celtic quieting somewhat it would come as no suprise to see him sign on for next season. He was obviously a major influence on the dressing room last term with his experience – both to advise the younger players and having won trophies – being seen as worthy of another year by the manager.

I’d welcome it. He still has quality and despite not being as nimble as in years gone by, he is a very good back-up center half and someone for the younger defenders to look up too, he might not play as often as he may like but when he does play he will be fresher and won’t have the added pressure of recovering for another game a matter of days later. That said I think we need an experienced, quality center-half brought in before the start of the season – I’m told we are still very much interested in Phil Jagielka and that Everton, somewhat cheekily, expressed an interest in including Thomas Rosicky in a deal for Jagielka – the suggestion was met with a blunt reply.

(NB – Campbell having a surprise medical with Newcastle) Update 27th Jul.

Keeping with the defensive theme, Pascal Cygan was interviewed on French radio station RMC last night and said he was very keen to return to the club in a coaching capacity – its a sign of just how good the spirit was between that great squad, he is the second player after Thierry to express a deep desire to come back to the club. It can only be a positive thing that a player of his experience is brought back into the set-up in some capacity because despite what fans used to say about him, he wasn’t all that bad. Slightly dodgy.. yes, but he gave everything every time he stepped out onto that Highbury turf.

Havard Nordveit is set to be offered a new contract by the club and his father has revealed that he is already involved in negotiations, saying:

”There are negotiations going on now, but it’ll take about a week before there’s any concrete”

He has impressed me so far in pre-season, the timing of his tackling, pace, long range passing and positioning all looking very good and this season might just present a chance for him to stake a claim for some kind of involvement with the first team – or a game in central defence in the next friendly.

It seems that Manuel Almunia is inching closer to the Emirates exit door, he has been left out of the last two pre-season friendly squads and the comments made by the Boss after the Sturm Graz game looked as though they may well have been said in his direction. At the moment he has no known suitors, Athletico Madrid were interested (reportedly) a few weeks ago but there is no club actively pursuing him. Maybe it is best for all concerned if he does move on and head for a new start – he isn’t the best goalkeeper but there are plenty worse out there, I just think he is not quite good enough for Arsenal, that goes for Fabianski too.

We are deep into pre-season now so hopefully sooner rather than later we will see some action on the transfer front, we can’t afford to go into the season still needing signings urgently – every point counts and we can’t afford to throw any away. Lets see what happens.

Laters.

So I’ve made a few notes, cross-checked a few things and I’m ready to start writing. In one way there is a lot to talk about today, various transfer rumours and a few bits of information that have been passed down to me, theres a feeling in my gut that this might be a very long post.

This blog isn’t really just about transfer speculation, there is other stuff I like to comment on too – but at this time of year it is kind of hard to ignore it. The same goes for information I receive, its published in confidence and though sometimes it may be wrong there are a number of occasions it has been shown to be right. Nothing and nobody can be right all the time.

Information came known to me yesterday that the bid Everton rejected for Phil Jagielka from Arsenal was as low as £6 million, as you can understand Everton laughed us off and were said to be insulted at the low valuation of the player whom they are asking over double that, £14 million, for. How do you react to that ?? Should we be encouraged that he is looking at bringing in a center-back or despair over the fact that he is looking to spend so little for a player he rates ?? Surely you bid what you think he is worth, in the current market £6 million would hardly buy you Titus Bramble, and no disrespect to the player, he is hardly Champions League material is he. Is is but a fairly solid center-back. However, late last night I was assured that we are still interested in him, strongly.

It sounds a very familiar situation to the one facing Mark Schwarzer, Fulham want a very steep £4 million for him when we offer £2 million; yes he isn’t worth that but the club don’t seem overly keen to break a sweat to try and fix what is a very weak, badly organised and error prone defence. Going back with a second offer does not suddenly make us Barcelona-like in our transfer conduct, it doesn’t make the club hypocrites all of a sudden, there is a whole load of difference between us going back with another offer than getting our players to unsettle the guy to screw Fulham over for a lower transfer fee as he has Champions League football flashed in his face. I’m not questioning the motives of the manager, or the board, but there has been very little ambition so far in this transfer window. I stress, so far.

I believe I have mentioned before that it may very well be Mark Schwarzer or bust in the goalkeeping situation, the club have been glancing around and looking at other keepers but there aren’t that many on the market right now, there was Eduardo (not Da Silva), who was considered quite strongly but we moved too slowly and he was already in deep negotiations with an Italian club.

Interestingly; Manuel Almunia was left out of yesterday’s squad despite being fit to play – proven by the fact that he has been in full training with the rest of the squad out in Austria. If you are one for clutching at straws it could be a signal he is on his way out of the club, he is said to be a bit peeved at the way the Schwarzer situation is dragging out and is after regular football, he wants assurances and I don’t think he got them.

I also think I should draw your attention to this tweet aimed at me, claiming Schwarzer is close to joining.

There was some kerfuffle over some comments made by Samir Handanovic’s agent yesterday along the lines of “Arsenal don’t want to spend any money on a goalkeeper” – its trouble stirring in my opinion, quite how he would know of our transfer plans I don’t know. That is unless he is a part time covert Ninja who went rooting around in Wenger’s desk draws – that would explain it.

I feel we really do need at least two more signings, three to be able to sit there comfortably on the first day of the season and believe we are in with a real chance. The news on both the options we are interested in above was positive so hopefully it is a sign that everything is getting into gear and the cheque-book is getting re-opened after its visit to France to pick up Laurent Koscielny. Of course, Sol Campbell is still due for those talks with the boss and if he returns that is possibly three players. We would be nigh-on sorted.

So, yesterday we had the second game of the pre-season and whilst as usual it was a glorified training game we learnt a few things. Samir Nasri looks very hungry and eager to prove a point after being omitted from the France World Cup squad, his first goal was a delightful quick footed finish from the edge of the area after the ball bounced back off Marouane Chamakh. His second was a delightful free-kick that nestled right in the corner after going over the wall and dipping beautifully.

Half time brought a raft of subs and on came J.E.T and Henri Lansbury – both impressed greatly and the latter got the third goal with a smart finish, started and finished in the reserves. Lansbury is a player with enormous potential but this pre-season he looks bulkier and a much more rounded player, he is fine going forward and ok sitting back too, his fate for next season remains unknown, as with J.E.T who has so much natural talent. Pace, power, acceleration, strength – he seems to be one of those hit and miss players, hopefully he becomes more consistent because he has amazing physical attributes. He also likes driving Mclaren Mercedes without a driving license !!

Jack Wilshere was very lively yesterday too, at one point he flew into a tackle just like you would expect a Bolton player too, he has obviously been taking tips. He does like to put himself around despite his size and whilst it is a good thing, he will pick up cards. His tacking needs to improve a bit.

One thing I just wanted to mention is the reception Arsenal fans are giving to newly-departed striker Eduardo. There hasn’t been a bad word said about him and it just goes to show how highly he was thought of, a top guy and a top player – its just a shame it happened to him. Like I have said before I wish him the best of luck and hope he returns to the form that got our attention in the first place, I’m sure he will fire and get goals.

Good luck Eddie.

til next time.