The Goon Blog

The other day i started off my top six first team players to look out for this year, in today’s post i will finish up with the other three players i have earmarked to succeed. Unlike the last post, i will involve the younger players in the squad.

Manuel Almunia

He was given the number one jersey last year and he has not really made any glaring mistakes, unlike his previous spells in the starting line up. In fact, our current captain, he has been one of our most consistent performers over the past year and a half and has saved our bacon on many an occasion. In his 31 years he has only amassed 193 appearances in his entire career, suggesting he could continue playing into his very late 30’s and perhaps his early 40’s. Just to put this into perspective, Cesc at 21 has made 219 appearances (including sub appearances) to date. Al has a lot more to give and this year could well silence calls for a bigger name in goal. Almunia is one of the most improved Goalkeepers in the Premiership and there is no reason as to why we won’t stop improving. The captaincy definitely gives him more responsibility and he rises to it.

Jack Wilshere

What can i say about young Jack, he has impressed in nearly every outing to date and a few days ago signed his 7-8 year deal at the club. He is rated as the biggest young talent in England and the best in a long long time, having just turned 17 he has ever increasing pressure and expectation to deal with and this year will see the start of him dealing with it. It will be interesting and he should start breaking through into the first team along with a few other of the highly rated youngsters starting to flood out of the academy. Next year we could see Barazite, Simpson, Ramsey, Merida and Randall all alongside Wilshere in steaking a claim for consideration in the first team, lets wait and see how the young man deals with all this expectation and how much playing time he gets in what will probably be a key year in his development.

Now onto the number one player to look our for in 2009:

***Aaron Ramsey***

This year promises to be massive for the 18 year old, he has already got his first Arsenal goal and is never afraid to try his luck, even if there are team-mates in better positions. He has a long way to go but he has already been given the lofty comparisons to club captain Cesc, and so far he looks pretty much like meeting them. He is creative, quite strong and was picked up at a bargain £5 million pounds from under the noses of the Mancs. He should be getting more and more playing time this season and as we are still in three competitions he might start more games in the Premiership when the going gets really tough. Lets hope he shows Cardiff what they lost last summer when we meet them in a few weeks time in the FA Cup. I for one, am exited about this kids potential.

Now the Arshavin palaver is starting to get tedious, papers and news sources are all at it, with the players agent still saying one thing whilst his club says another. Yesterday was no different.

Sky Sports News claims that Zenit are only talking to Arsenal at the moment, this article claims no quotes what-so-ever saying they are just talking to us.  Therefore sadly i do find it very hard to believe, it seems they are guessing in the hope that they get it right. The article also features Lachters latest quotes:

“There is no news, no negotiations yet.

“I represent the player and I can assure you I would know if something had been discussed. It is the people of Zenit trying to initiate some kind of interest.

“They are trying to use the media to make the price of Arshavin £20million – I would not take it seriously.”

It seems that he is going around every news source under the sun and telling them all different things, this guy really is a first rate prat and is a disgrace to football agents, who are not the worlds most honest fellows. He is a mercenary, end of.

BBC Sport however, say that talks have stalled over his price. And guess who pops up again here, saying this:

“They want the money in one go. They did it that way when they got Danny for £24m and they want the same.

“Many clubs are afraid of how Zenit and other Russian clubs do business.”

Despite Zenit’s stance, Lachter says he is still confident Arshavin will be leaving the club in the January transfer window.

“That is what is going to happen,”

“There are 10, 15, 20 teams who are interested in him. The question is can they afford him?”

The oracle speaks again, i would really like it if he just shut up.

I think the more public this gets the less chance there is we are signing him, a defensive midfielder would probably make me just as happy, a decent one that is.

Right, i will leave it there i think.

Do you agree with the players i have picked out to keep an eye on?

Let me know in the comments.

Anyway, Til’ Tomorrow, take it easy.

Andrei Arshavin’s agent should get a job for the Daily Star because he is doing a fine job of making up moves to Europe’s top teams for his client.

He has now reportedly said that Arshavin is on the move to us and its only a matter of days:

“Andrei is rated by Wenger who wanted him to sign [for Arsenal] last summer. This transfer would please everyone but we must wait a few days for confirmation.”

The source for these is this website, who are not the most rock solid of sources to say the least, but you never know whats happening in the world of Wenger!

Ive said before that Arshavin would be welcome at the club but i don’t think he would chance our fortunes, he would take a long time to adapt, he is approaching 28 years of age and would be very expensive. The figure floating around at the moment is less than the sum being floated earlier on in the year, it sounds like its been revised to £12 million, which would be worth it, he is after all a class player.

Inler has also firmly ruled himself out of any Arsenal move with his latest comments, i have to say, i do respect him for saying this as it shows some players genuinely care about the team they play for:

‘I have a three-year deal with Udinese. I am not interested in transfer issues. My manager deals with that. My target now is the success of Udinese. I am happy with the team and am not interested in Arsenal. I run out onto the field and play; I don`t care about the rest.’

Well that is pretty plain to see and should won’t dispell rumours of a switch to us, i really am getting fed up with the useless hacks that re-generate stories time and time again, they are lazy good for nothing scumbags who earn their money making up trollop any person could.

The Mirror (shock horror) have also made up an article claiming that we have hi-jacked Man Utd’s bid for Serbian winger Zoran Tosic. Its unfounded, its stirring and it is again, rubbish.

The Daily Star (name sound familiar?) are also on Wengers case claiming that he is getting annoyed at the amount of cash he is being given, they have dug out these comments from PH-W:

“We have got money, but I am not sure we are going to spend a lot of it. We’ve got to continue to run the business in a sensible way. It may sound boring, but we are not going to rush out and spend fortunes on people who won’t help us achieve anything better than where we are at the moment.”

Buying  a defensive midfielder would get us a hell of a lot further than we are now, this ‘businuess’ is also a football club that is supported by millions worldwide and is also the most expensive football club in the world to support. Just you remember that when you are sitting in your mansion sipping 80 year old malt whiskey Peter.

Our friends over at Young Guns have broke the news, first as always, that Wilshere is now a pro after he turned 17 yesterday.  His deal, thought to be 8 years in length has put him on a wage of at least £8,000 a week. Monsterous.

I asked you readers who are your top wanted transfers, the general consensus is that Arshavin is not good enough, i urge you to watch this video.

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IIRxxurh0xg]

He is undoubted quality but i doubt his adaptability and professionalism after his antics in the summer with Zenit.

Cana is also a favourite, i think he would be a superb addition and would give us that bite we need in the middle of the park, ive called for him to be signed before a few months ago and i really hope he ends up in the old red and white.

Id also like to shout out that Antonio Valencia could be a decent player on our left hand side, his name has not been put about at all and he would not be too expensive, Steve Bruce owe’s Wenger one after he advised Bruce to sign Palacios.

What do you think about Valencia, do you rate him? Let me know in the comments.

Thats your lot for today, keep reading as i will comment on every credible piece of transfer speculation right here.

Til tomorrow.

Adebayor will be key

Well, to the Riverside we go searching for another three points to keep us to within a sniff of the leaders. It is by far the most important game of the season so far and anything less than three points could inflict terminal damage that will well and truly end our title campaign before Christmas; and that really should not be happening to Arsenal Football Club.

The man to your left will be a matchwinner if there is one to be had, he showed he has composure against Wigan and we really, really need him to be on form against Boro’ who have been a thorn in our side for the past few seasons, ever since we tonked them 7-0 really. Are they still angry at us?!

Creativity will be a big part of the game; Boateng has moved on and he played a blinder against us last season and with him out the way there may be a bit more room for Cesc to operate in the middle of the park alongside Alex Song who has a point to prove.

A big performance here will fill the team with confindence that could fire us through the festive period and potentially close the gap on the frontrunners, we have the skill to do so; Van Persie will be very important, we need some of his set pieces to start nestling in the net because goals like that are key. They can decide titles or Champions League places.

At the time of writing it is still unclear whether Sagna will play or not, Eboue will step in if neccessary with the other defenders being Gallas, Bodybutter and Clichy. Hopefully they can keep the trap shut because another clean sheet could win us this game, an early goal conceded and we will drop points in my opinion, this side does not have the steel and flair it did last season when going in front against Arsenal was pretty much a death sentence!

A lack of height in the Boro’ defence could be expolited by Adebayor but you have to ask yourself; who will be able to deliver those crosses too him?

Denilson – Gets too central when out wide

Cesc – CM

Eboue – Well.. its Eboue.

Diaby could be starting on the left and Denilson on the right; that means one thing, we will be ploughing up the middle of the pitch where Boro’ will load the field and we will be left clueless and confussled with all those young brains out there getting a little overheated. This is what worries me.

Thats why we have to look at Van Persie or Adebayor, maybe even Cesc for a moment of magic, a blistering free kick, a stunning volley or a lovely pass to put Adebayor through on goal to *holds hands together* score.

Arsene Wenger seemed to think we need to gamble to win games like this;

“When you lose more games you can less afford the draw and you are always in the position where you have to gamble with half an hour or 20 minutes to go.

I wish he would suprise everyone and give Wilshere a start on the left, he would scare the living shite out the defender because of his naivety, he will run at them time and time again, whilst also being a strong boy for his age.

He has also said the squad should believe in themselves and not listen to the negative press around,

“If there is a doubt, there is a doubt. Everybody can doubt your ability but what is important is that you believe in your ability and show it on the football pitch.

“I believe that with such a young team, the minimum you can do is to be behind them, be proud of them and help them. To always ask them if they are good enough, personally I don’t think that helps the team. It is the first question that I have been asked since the first of July to the first of May.

“I don’t know why we are always in that negative culture. In every single press conference it is exactly the same. We have not to be affected by the scepticism around the team, we want to show that kind of strength.

“We believe in ourselves.”

Wenger; three years without a trophy usually means questions are asked, a team with five losses after 16 games challenging for the title means questions are asked. Just come out and say we need to do better!

The ‘zee teem is yooung’ excuse does not wash anymore!

On the transfer front, Wenger is being his usual coy self. I think he will but and he is playing a game, he commented,

“I won’t answer that question [about the transfer window],” said Wenger.

“If I say yes and I don’t do it people will ask why I haven’t done it. If I say no and we lose one game people will say I am crazy because I didn’t want to buy. In England every problem is sorted out by buying a player when you lose a football game.

“We have a team where most of the players are 20 or 21. Instead of saying that they have a fantastic future, OK maybe we haven’t had the consistency until now, but we are not disastrous. We have 29 points and are in the position to come back.

“Instead of saying let’s believe in these players, everybody says you have to buy five or six players.

“It is difficult to get any rationality into the analysis that we face at the moment. We are qualified in the Champions League but I am speaking as if we are absolutely nobody.

“If you look in the last 10 years Arsenal have qualified every time but I still have to answer the same question every year.”

Sorry for the long quote. Anyway, if he says he is going to buy prices will go up, clubs will see we are desperate and will knock up their prices from 7 mil to 11 mil. If he stays quiet the other clubs will not have a clue if Wenger wants one of their players.

He had better buy now or i will look a right chump!

Right; thats your lot. A good morning read for your early birds, for you not so early birds, unlucky you may have missed it!

Gooner14 will be blogging next so over and out til Monday i believe, have a great weekend, hope you find lots of un-cunty streams and drink plenty of the amber nectar.

Til next time! – leave me all your thoughts on how you think we will fare!

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