Wolves moved | Roddy and Tiote linked to Arsenal | Robin Van Title

by & filed under News Review.

Welcome to Friday, some of you will be in work, most of you won’t. I hope everyone had a marvelous evening yesterday. As you can imagine, news at the moment is at a bit of a premium. I think everyone slows down a but in the build up to Christmas, even the newsnow transfer story merchants!

Last night Spurs and Chelsea fought out a 1-1 draw which kind of sat perfectly for us. We’re within touching distance of the both of them and at the moment, that’s a good place to be because I’m still not sure which of those two will last the pace. It certainly drove home the importance of that last gasp Yossi goal the other night. What a relief those three points were!

Talking of Yossi, it’s great to read the additional praise he’s been receiving from the captain and the coach. Robin said…

“It was really good for Yossi scoring because he has been training unbelievably – trust me, he is absolutely unbelievable,”

I think the Israeli will have an important part to play over the next few months. He’s a hard worker and boasts superb technique on the ball that will no doubt unlock more defences as the season draws on. For me, he’s definitely a superior option off the bench compared to Rosicky and Arshavin. I’m surprised he’s given so little game time really. Before he joined I described him as Alex Hleb with end product, I still go with that, we just need to see a bit more product!

The captain also noted that we shouldn’t rule ourselves out of the title race.

“Anything can happen in this league. Results early on [show that]. Our result against Man United was a surprise, our result away at Chelsea was a big surprise, and Manchester City winning 6-1 away at United too. Anything is possible.

Personally I’d say that the chances of us sustaining a credible title challenge are slim with the squad we currently have. However, if Wenger spends some of those magic beans in January, well, there’s no telling where we could be! We still have 2 new signings in Sagna and Jack to return, then we also have the new signing of Santos to return. That’s three new signings we don’t need to pay for. If we could pick up a striker and a creative midfielder, we could have a really strong finish.

All ifs and buts I appreciate. I just think this January is a massive opportunity. For once, we’re not buying to pull ourselves out of a mess. We’re buying to kick on. I hope Arsene can see that.

In other fixture led news, the Wolves game has been postponed a day. Basically, the real reason is because I couldn’t go boxing day so I demanded the club move it. They’ve obliged, so sorry if that affected anyone’s plans!

In other news Rodallega is the latest name to be linked with the vacant number two striker role. He’s a tidy player. Big, awkward with an ok finish. He doesn’t really have the wow factor, but I guess he’d do as a back up. I’m not sure Wigan would entertain flogging him whilst they’re involved in a survival struggle.

Newcastle’s Tiote has also been linked with a move to us. I can’t remember who told me, but someone did say that his agent is desperate to land him a move to us. Apparently we’re his favourite club or something like that. He’s a good player, very strong and if we did need midfield cover, he’d be a nice option. Again, I’m not sure if Wenger will be in the market for that sort of midfielder with Coquelin and Frimpong waiting in the ranks!

Right, that’s all I have for you today, enjoy Christmas Eve Eve!

379 Responses to “Wolves moved | Roddy and Tiote linked to Arsenal | Robin Van Title”

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  13. BacaryisGod

    Pedro-haven’t had a chance to read all the comments, so this may have been said already, but the players coming back are only likely to be replaced on the injured list by players that are fit now.

    Here’s what I think will really happen:

    Goalkeepers: This will remain unchanged other than Almunia going back on loan when Fabianski returns to health. Mannone is not Arsenal quality-he’s a nervous wreck. I don’t expect to see him last another year at the club

    Defenders: Right now, we’re stretched too thin with 5 players out injured (Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos, Gibbs and Djourou). Luckily we have two players who can rotate at right-back in Koz and Coquelin and Vermaelen and Miquel who can do the job at left-back. As Arsene said, it depends on Gibbs return but even so, I can’t see how we would risk another 3 months on just having Gibbs there as the main option. Also, TV is so much better in the middle of defence. So the question becomes who the left back temporary replacement be. My guess is that we will do nothing at left-back and use Vermaelen,Miquel and Sagna on a rotational basis. There’s simply no-one available that jumps out as a good short-term option

    Midfield: No additions

    Forwards: Ignore Arsene’s denials. This one is in the bag with both Gervinho and Chamakh gone for a while. Arshavin won’t be let go in the window and I can’t see a big-name striker come in because our style of play means we only have the one true striker upfront. I have visions of an Henry/Anelka double swoop but I can’t see Chelsea selling/loaning Anelka to us after watching Benayoun help us challenge them for a Champions League spot. Thierry is a tricky one because I can’t see him in the RVP role in big games and I can’t see him doing the work of Gervinho on the left but he’s definitely a great stop-gap.

    In conclusion, and much to the dismay of most fans, I can see us adding only Henry in the window on a two month loan as a direct replacement for Gervinho in the hope that Arshavin and Benayoun can step up to the plate.

    As others have said though, this doesn’t account for more injuries hitting us upfront, and my own feeling is that it’s better to have an excess of options after Gervinho and Chamakh return than a shortage when they are gone, even if a couple of players aren’t too happy about it in the run-in.

  23. Pedro

    I think if the comments over the past few days have proved anything, it’s that the format here has to stay the same. If it’s a shit user experience, people won’t comment.

  25. Lurch LeRouge

    No sweat Pedro he’s not going anywhere

    It’s prob best to know what your eventual format is anyhow and the kind of stats you need a server to drive etc…

  57. kwik fit

    This is not Christmas ? What to fuck Incesc wants The Sweet |and Fox on the Grove? Its good but I need you to give me the credability
    incesc!.

  72. OPG

    Signing Henry on loan should only be a last resort, if they can’t get any other targets then I see no problem but the club should be long term first rather than short term especially if they can offload some more of the deadwood.

    We would all love to get some deals done quickly but some decisions shouldn’t be rushed. Also there shouldn’t be a last minute panic unless more injuries/setbacks happen in January although better off then than a month later when the window closes..

  73. stonroy

    If it comes on AFC that he’s considering this then it’s a done deal. I bet he’s already had the conversation with TH. Not sure if it’s the best deal for Arsenal, certainly the cheapest. I guess this means he wants to stick with Chamakh for fucks sake.

  74. Bade

    Good morning Grovers…..

    What a great night to have some wedding party in the Christmas eve eve

    We all went crazy with Santa’s hat and the booze floated all over the place

  75. Bade

    Pedro,

    I have to tell you the truth, Arsenal postponed the game due to me giving them an offer they can’t refuse :)

    I had the same problem with the boxing day, the marriage ceremony will take place in December 26th, right on kick off time!

  76. Bade

    TH14 back for a farewell show would be great great thing to have

    Not on the pitch as much as out of it, he’s an asset, a legend. Theo would be the most benefited player out of it

    And TH14 might even help us tie up Robin and Theo again

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