The Goon Blog

19.20

“We have a basic squad and I believe in the squad I have, but if I can make an addition – two or three maximum – then we will do it.”

Arsenal aren’t like any other team. They are a team who suffer a ridiculous amount of injuries and after the past few seasons have been curtailed in some form by injuries to key members of the squad, its time to plan for these injuries because there is certainly no progress being made in stopping the injuries. Now, I’m not talking about stockpiling players or making tons of world class signings because it just isn’t going to happen, I’m talking about increasing the general level of the squad overall – clearing out the dead wood. Its the defence that needs the major surgery in my book, every player that is leaving needs to be replaced… and then we can concentrate on the signings that will take the team up a level.

With Gallas and Silvestre leaving, we are going to need a new partner for Thomas Vermaelen who must be of the highest quality. The replacement for Silvestre could be a younger defender, supplemented by Sol Campbell’s experience (sounds like a new deal is almost a certainty). That’s two signings already. Then of course, one of Fabianski or Almunia has got to go and a new number one brought in, again of the highest quality. That’s three signings and with the impending arrival of Marouane Chamakh that makes four new signings.

The ’signing to be announced’ or words to that effect by the boss, is going to be Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh – its the worst kept secret in football right now.

Starting to see what I mean? If we raise the overall quality of the squad the starting eleven will be stronger as a result – better players can step in when there are injuries and you can never underestimate the factor of having competition for your place, we don’t really have much of it and the place where its most blatantly obvious is between the goalposts.

With the money available, and there’s talk of at least a £30 million budget… maybe more, there is sufficient funds to add some proven quality to the squad; note. I’m not saying potential quality. Potential is all well and good but we have enough of that on the fringes of the squad and in the reserves at the moment, these players can be integrated as and when, but shouldn’t have pressure put on them because the manager hasn’t sufficiently improved the first team and got a decent sized squad.

Like I’ve said over the past few weeks, now isn’t the time to go into great detail with names etc. We have got a summer to do all that . I think I may be looking too far into Arsene’s comments, of course, its totally stupid to name how much you have to spend and where your gonna spend it, its the sort of thing the Tories would to if they got into government -thats a story for another day though.

Interestingly, the boss notes that there is practically no market in Europe due to the financial issues that clubs and countries alike are having after the recession, Wenger saying that only the very top band of clubs will have funds. I think one country’s clubs will be in the market to buy some quality players at cheap prices and that’s the German clubs. The Bundesliga is very much on the rise at the moment and the German economy is one that is relatively healthy compared to other countries – Bayern Munich spent big last year and they are in the Champions League final, they didn’t buy just anyone, they brought wisely and where they needed to improve. Just look at the impact Arjen Robben has had, 20 odd goals this season and he has started less than 30 games. Remarkable. That’s the sort of job I think the boss has to do this summer.

The anger surrounding the Andrey Arshavin comments has probably subsided after he spoke to the same Russian paper again re-affirming his commitment with the club and blaming the translation of what he has said for all the stories about he wanting to move to Barcelona (which he never actually said). Whilst he has to take some responsibility for what he said and how it has been interpreted, the club should not let players give interviews to foreign news sources unless its a special occasion or they have been given special permission. It would solve a whole host of problems. Andrey said:

“I respect the club and I am happy that I am a part of it, I am very grateful to the Arsenal fans, who love me. I am often translated wrongly. If I talk to the English press, there is no problem but when I say something in Russia, some special news agency takes it, translates it and sells these quotes.

“During the process of interpretation they translate my words as they see fit.  I find this unpleasant because people might think I said something that, in fact, I never said.”

Hopefully he and the club have learned their lesson. Anyone who has real big issues with him speaking out need to look back to when he was talking about women drivers etc. This was bound to happen sometime.

Oh and before I go…

Transfer rumour of the day: Kasper Schmeichel to join on a free after being released by Notts County. Verdict: Another Notts County to Arsenal story? Nahh.

Right, thats seems to be about it for today. Til tomorrow.

Sadly its not this Sergio…

23.30

Transfer rumour of the day: Blackburn’s Stephen N’Zonzi to join. Verdict: Can’t see AW dealing with the Walrus

I write this after watching Inter Milan beat Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate to progress to the Champions League final and face Bayern Munich. I was delighted Barca went out, their play acting, arrogant fans and the way people always seem to support them is laughable. Oh, the way they are run is laughable too, actually.

Most Arsenal fans hate Jose Mourinho – I’m not too keen on him myself but you have to admire his success. His football isn’t pretty, but the trophies speak for themselves. Brace yourselves for the outcry in the Catalan press tomorrow, demanding Blatter give them an automatic place in the final because they are a club full of dickheads who think they can tap up every player they like and not get any punishment. Its not bitterness at them beating us, I admired the way they played and accepted it because we are miles off them, but the things they get away with disgust me.

One more note on Mourinho… If he is the next manager of United, Liverpool or returns to Chelsea at some point, we should be a little worried.

Back to Arsenal – you can tell its been a slow couple of days because I have hardly mentioned them yet.

In comments on the official site earlier, the boss was keen to make the point that he is in discussions with a couple of transfer targets this summer, he also said that he prefers deals to be done earlier in the summer to allow the team time to gel. Arsene said:

“I have definite transfer targets and I have been talking to people but I will not tell you to who, I believe the earlier you settle your team the better it is and the less anxiety you have.”

We know there will be arrivals in the summer, the question is: are they of the quality and in the positions pretty much everyone seems in agreement on? A goalkeeper, a defender and some extra quality to replace a bit of dead wood in and around the squad. Forgive me for being a pessimist but I believe comments just like this were made this time last season after we bombed to Man United at the Grove; are they just a big PR exercise to keep fans happy and keep a good atmosphere on the final matchday against Fulham? I guess only a few people know the answer to that and they are not going to say a word..

The boss has always been skeptical about buying players off the back of a tournament and his opinion has not changed on that:

“unless there is an exception there that nobody knew before. Also post-World Cup the prices are always artificial.

“Overall I feel it is very dangerous to buy on [the strength of] the tournament because sometimes there are players who are fresh and have not played the whole season. Everyone can have three weeks of glory as a football player. Ten years is a bit different.”

I guess that rules out any star performer at the World Cup then, hes moved to quash that one before its even started!!

The teams for the Emirates Cup have been announced and they take place on the opening weekend in August, we will face AC Milan and Celtic, Lyon will be there too. I will be heading down to the Grove for the games on the Sunday so give me a shout if you plan on going too.

The teams are a little underwhelming if I’m honest.. Where have the days of us facing Real Madrid and Inter Milan gone? We had a real prestigious tournament going but now we seem to be letting the Scottish teams in who – and no offence to any Scottish fans – just aren’t at the same level. It sounds arrogant I know, and its not meant to, but Real Madrid to Celtic who are some 8 points off the pace in the SPL?

AM Rumour round-up:

There seems to be a lot of chatter about Arsene making a bid for the AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper, apparently valued around the £8 million mark. Sergio ’sadly not Aguero’ Romero is a player I’ve not really heard much of but I’m hearing he is rather keen on securing a deal for him. Look, I don’t want any more experiments in goal and I think there are keepers with better reputations out there that could play for us for the next 8-9 years and do a bloody good job. Its the one area where I really do not want us to faff around.

Steven N’Zonzi and Phil Jones are linked in the Daily Mail – what foundation that article has I’m not sure, this line made me laugh though…

‘21-year-old N’Zonzi, who has earned comparisons with Patrick Vieira, fits the bill of a typical Wenger signing’

Tall? tick. Relative unknown? tick. French with African descent? tick… yep, ticks all the boxes for an “ARSENAL TRANSFER EXCLUSIVE”

Phil Jones on the other hand, is an option that I think we are looking in to.

As is the Serbian defender Neven Subotic (spelling?)

—

Just a little sidenote, I now think Andrey Arshavin is going to stay, but he needs to knuckle down and genuinely work hard next season.

Its gonna be quiet until the summer now, we only gave two games left.. one against Blackburn next Monday then at home to Fulham the Sunday after…

Back with an update sometime tomorrow/today.

15.50

There’s sod all else to talk about, the game at the weekend was something of a non-event whilst there wasn’t really anything meriting extra coverage in todays blog so I might as well just comment on the stories doing the rounds today.

Rumour of the day: Arsenal will listen to offers from Tomas Rosicky. Verdict: Load of old bollocks

Cesc Fabregas and the secret deal! Arsenal paid captain £3m to stave off Barcelona interest - Daily Mail

Comment: Its unfounded but wouldn’t surprise me, everyone at the club does hold the fear that when Barcelona come calling, and they will, that Cesc’s head will be turned and he will want to move. At the moment that doesn’t worry me at all but with the financial situation being a healthy one now, there is no reason that our very, very best players cant have wages that are up there with the very best teams in the world. It would give us a lot more strength in the transfer market.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger reveals the news every fan wants to hear – I’m ready to splash the cash this summer – Daily Mail

Comment: The quotes in the article come from comments made a week or so ago that were published in a Dutch magazine. Nothing new here, just a pointless story from some sections of the media who treat fans as if they are a bunch of retards.

Mutual frustration for Benzema & Huntelaar alerts EPL suitors - sport.co.uk

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and AC Milan forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are both frustrated at their respective lack of first team football, and their concerns will alert a host of Premier League suitors including Manchester United, Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Manchester City and Liverpool FC. In January the highly-rated duo were both linked with Premier League champions Manchester United, while West Ham United and Everton were other clubs mentioned in respect to the Holland international.

I think it is more speculation other than anything else, there’s no source or anything suggesting they are going to have any dealings with the club. No point in chasing it up.

The PFA awards are a sham… Wayne Rooney was named as player of the year which was a foregone conclusion since about September time, but the young player of the year award went to 24 year old James Milner who is probably about half-way through his professional career – how the hell is that young? Are you saying James Milner is better than the 22 year old Cesc Fabregas? You know, people bang on about some sort of English conspiracy and it really does make you wonder sometimes….

The rest of the stuff that has been kicking about is just being re-run after the post match comments from the Citeh match, its gonna be quiet for a while until the World Cup kicks off. Whether I do something for that I havent decided yet…

til tomorrow.

00:00

Arsenal 0-0 Man City Al Arabi

Thoughts over 24 hours on….

…… ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

So there you go, there’s my thoughts on the game.

Of course, I joke. All I got to see of the game is the Match of the Day highlights (well you can call them highlights I guess…) and quite frankly it was rather boring and a waste of time. After being within touching distance of the top of the table so many times this season you do feel that finally, the league table is starting to become more honest in showing just how good we are… a good team but lacking the extra quality to make them winners. Its the managers job to find that extra quality and there will be movement this summer I am sure. The questions are though, is there enough movement and does it address problems that need urgent attention.

The manager needs to assess himself too, has he done what we all know he can do this season? Its all the kind of stuff we don’t really need to go into deeply now as there are still two games to go until the season is finished – up to Blackburn and at home to Fulham, where the fans will be wanting a decent send-off after a season where their hearts may have had some severe strain put on them.

On a personal note, I’d quite like the season to be over now. Its like an episode of a really great drama, its just starting to drag on for too long, getting tedious and not really doing anyone any favours.

The game had an end of season atmosphere from what Ive heard, the ex-gooners on display doing their level best to turn their cheers into boos. Im glad Kolo went in the summer, I think he has lost ‘it’ in all honestly and as great as he was for a few seasons, being one of the very best may I add, his decline was sudden and out of him and Gallas I’d choose Gallas every single time. Its a shame he went to Man Citeh but it was a deal which has benefited the club in a big financial sense because there is no way on this planet he is worth even £10 million let alone the £16 that we received. Patrick Vieira foolishly lashed out at a brilliant Alex Song but wasn’t punished.. ever since he left he has said a few annoying things and I hope if we come up against him again he will handle himself better. It was disappointing. All I’ve seen is clips though so feel free to add your own opinions in the comments.

Then on game everybody’s favourite schoolgirl… bunchies the lot… Emmanuel Adebayor.

The loud cheers for Vieira turned to boo’s and that stupid grin was back. The first chance Robin van Persie, captain on the day, got to make an impression on him he didn’t disappoint… running across the pitch to scythe him down, a tackle for which he was booked. The crowd seemed to love it, the stupid grin was still on Ade’s face though. Robin has a streak like that in him, he can produce moments of petulance and you feel that will never leave his game and I don’t mind that. He has grown up from the player who did stupid things and made completely the wrong decisions but he has a bit of spike and thats good to see.

There was also a coming together between Alex Song and Craig Bellamy… Song was just too strong for the little git and Bellamy didn’t seem to like it. Big ol Alex just strolled up to him and bared down on him, he looks a real imposing guy actually – I wouldn’t mess. Again good to see from two players we really have missed.

Its sad that another season is ending this way, I guess for the first time in five or six years we thought we could avoid this end of season nothing-ness. The atmosphere seems worse than a pre-season kickaround and the players have eyes on South Africa in a few weeks time – Those that are going anyway. It might be the last time we see a couple of these players though, especially the defensive side of things. Sol Campbell deserves a new deal and I really think he will get one, rumour seems to suggest so. Silvestre will go back to France after his farewell tour goes on its last awayday jaunt to Blackburn for one last time, then he comes back to the Grove to say toodle-pip to the fans who, to their credit, have not really ever got on his back.

There isn’t much more to say really, I will return tomorrow nonetheless with my thoughts on the PFA award winners – And you could say I’m not chuffed at all.

Anyway, til then

11.30

Morning everyone. Its a really nice day, shame I have to spend most of it inside at work…

After yesterdays team news it looks like there isn’t going to be a major difference to the team that delivered that utter shambles last Sunday at Wigan; Lucasz Fabianski will probably continue in goal (cringeee!), Sagna will stay on at right back with a central partnership of Sol and Silvestre (as he continues his farewell tour), with Gael Clichy completing the left side of the defence. No difference so far then..

The midfield three could have a slightly different look to it, it would be good to see the boss accept that Nasri and Rosicky can’t always play together and either plays on or the other anchored of course by the returning Alex Song who is going to have to have a very good first game back. As poor as Citeh have been at times, going forward they are a massive threat.. multiply that threat by x4 because we have a defence that’s unorganised and contains two players whom aren’t fit to play Sunday League football. Denilson isn’t fit to play so Craig Eastmond may well get to feature in this game. We really don’t have too many options though so maybe Nasri and Rosicky will have to play in the midfield three to make up the numbers – hopefully Diaby has dropped off the end of the planet after his performance last week. He can’t start..surely..

Up front I expect to see Robin van Persie start, there is a chance he could play just behind Nicklas Bendtner (as he doesn’t deserve to be shunted out to the wing) with Theo Walcott on the right. That means we don’t have a big threat from both sides of the attacking three but its not like we have a habit of slinging in the ball for a striker to get his head on it.

Lets get this straight. Manchester City are a bunch of money throwing Arabs, but they are a very good football team with some exceptional players in the form of their lives; Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy (yes, him) and a few other players I can’t remember the names of (being really in-depth here), but theres truth in the phrase ‘the table tells no lies’ and a win would put them only potentially three points behind us, we need to win now, guarantee the third spot and try to stunt the development of a team that is undoubtedly on the rise.

I want to see passion, motivation, drive and urgency – the players need to look at the table and realise this season isn’t as over as they thought it was, we won’t win the title but we could suffer major damage to our seasons perceived improvements if we slip into a dogfight for fourth which isn’t out of the equation just yet.

I can’t help that worry we won’t see much of an improvement though, I suppose it could be a blessing I’m unable to watch this game.

I have time on my hands tomorrow so I’ll try to write a more detailed blog then.

Til tomorrow.

17.45

Nearly a week has passed since that dark, dark day last Sunday, and Wednesday, and the Wednesday before that. Can you blame me for fearing this run will continue tomorrow afternoon? The same players will be on that pitch, give or take, my faith in the side has been well and truly shook to the very foundations and believe me, as the most ardent Arsene Wenger admirer, I had to ask myself if the end was nigh for him. Some will accuse me of not being a true supporter – others will say its what a true supporter does – Whatever people think I really couldn’t give a toss.

The goalkeeping situation has not changed. Manuel Almunia will remain dropped and Lucasz Fabianski will once again between the sticks to give away more goals try and make an impression on the boss. To many, his welcome at the club has been royally outstayed. Despite Wenger saying that Wojech Szczesny will be our future number one (and he looks it on first impressions), he still has faith in Fabianski which is more than slightly worrying.

I’m fed up of having a crap goalkeeper. Buy a new one or I won’t buy a membership next season. We lose games because of our ‘keepers and it needs sorting.

Its difficult to not turn this blog into a rant and its been five days since that game against Wigan.

We should have a couple of players available today that weren’t last weekend, Alex Song and Eduardo are back in the squad after knee and toe injuries and whilst I doubt both will start, they will at least bring more options to the manager who needs to improve his decision making after questionable substitutions last weekend. It will be great to have Alex Song back so hopefully Abou Diaby will be dropped from the squad after his disgusting effort last weekend, its asking for too much though, mediocrity is being rewarded at the moment and its not right.

In another boost, Robin van Persie is set to start and that means two of our players will have points to prove against Citeh, and in particular, Emmanuel Adebayor – I’ll come onto that later. We all know what Robin brings to the team and his desperate last minute appearance last week by the manager was never, ever going to come off, why he wasn’t brought on earlier I don’t know so at least we will have firepower up front. Where Nicklas Bendtner will play I don’t know – at least its a good selection dilemma to have, something that can’t be said for other areas of the pitch at the moment.

Tomorrow we will need players with motivation and desire, and excuse me if I don’t believe certain players will be able to find that within themselves – after all, if they can’t be motivated by a chance to A) beat our North London rivals and B) to get back into the title race after being beaten by them, what could possibly give them motivation for tomorrow? That’s unless they are just bottlers, which is a possibility. I’m not going to mention the names but ask me at the end of the season – its more than likely I’ll tell you then.

Homecoming of Adebayor:

I find the mangers call for the fans to respect Emmanuel Adebayor deeply patronising. This is a guy who stamped on van Persie’s face, ran the entire length of the middleEastlands pitch to taunt our fans and slapped Alex Song, add to that a nasty tackle on Cesc Fabregas as well.

That’s before we even come onto his final season for the club…

“I believe Arsenal has done extremely well for Adebayor so you don’t expect that. But I take a distance from opinions by people who were not directly involved themselves in order to make an assessment.”

That is out of order, Arsene. Are the fans not directly involved? The fans who sang Ade’s name loud and proud when the home support had started to get on his case? I find that comment disrespectful and so patronising it beggars belief. You might say you are stubborn but that comment is certainly stupid.

We need to win this game, we are being caught quickly and cannot afford to drop more points, a win guarantees Champions League football next season I think so lets sort that, and then finish as high up the table as we possibly can. I’m almost looking forward to the season finishing, its quite sad really.

Til tomorrow

Ive been away this week so thats the reason behind me not writing daily, but I feel better for it.

The past couple of weeks have been poor to say the least, the Barca defeat, then the Sp*rs and Wigan horror shows – it really does make everything seem rather crap for a period of time.

Ive had some time out this week and tomorrow I will be back with a preview of the Man City game, there might not be a trophy up for grabs but right now its the biggest game we have faced all season

mc