Arsenal from the boardroom
Morning sports fans, it’s Tuesday, which is technically a Monday to me and my fellow countrymen, so it’s been a tough morning. Real tough.
I missed the Wenger interview on Theo yesterday. The 20 goal man has always harboured ambition to play through the middle, and this season, he’s occasionally made a good case for that. However, Wenger has poured cold water on that dream.
Morning sports fans, apologies for the late post, I’ve spent most of the bank holiday weekend undertaking body destruction therapy. It’s out the system now… so this week I’ll be mostly getting posts out pre 9am.
Unlucky for you though… there’s not much to talk about today. News is slow. Yesterday United bent over to Chelsea and ceded three points through a Juan Mata induced Phil Jones own goal. He’s a tasty player. In fact, we had the chance to buy both players. I’m pretty sure I was told Phil Jones or his agent were invited and attended the training ground but we dithered. Juan Mata, the interest was there… but I’m still unclear as to what happened. Though the reason was apparently not the fee… that accusation was put out the other day and aggressively denied. Someone mentioned to me that it was signing on fees… I’ve no idea, whatever it was, he was a major, major miss…
Anyway, facts be these… We need Chelsea to beat Spurs on Wednesday. If they don’t, it looks unlikely we’ll be showering ourselves in top 4 glory. I’ve no idea how this will work out. Chelsea will have seriously heavy legs going into the game, but they do have form on their side and Rafa prides himself on his ability to keep freshness in his squad through science based rotation. Spurs, well, they put in a lethargic performance against Southampton and they don’t have the chance to rotate. However, they have Gareth Bale. Who has been a machine.
I hate this intensity… it’s not fun.
Giroud has been chirpsing up in the press about being criticised.
“When you replace Van Persie, people are demanding of you,”
“Criticism has not always been deserved but I’m focusing on what I have to do.
“I have progressed every day in training. I’m enjoying every day and I want to keep going.
“England? This is what I aspired to, with its atmosphere and intensity. Every weekend I play in big games – that’s what makes the difference. It’s really part of their culture.”
Olivier, the criticism has been fair, what hasn’t been fair is that people miss that you’re not just about the goals. Double figure assists is exceptional in your first season, 17 goals ain’t bad either. However, only 11 of those have come in the league, which isn’t very impressive. Still, it’s his first season. He can build on that next year, though it’s doubtful he’ll be the lead man.
Does he know that? Well, I’ve put in some serious translation work and this is what he said about PSG…
‘PSG is very attractive, especially over the last one or two years. But I’m more into making sh*t happen in England. If I can develop myself fully to Arsenal, it’d be grand, get me?’
Talk in Italy puts Jovetic in our line of fire. The Fiorentina striker \ false 9 has been on our radar for a while. He’s excellent on the floor, unpredictable with good link up play. Is he ‘the’ target, or is he the Ben Arfa to the Samir Nasri deal? All I can say is there are at least two other top, top strikers under consideration. Arsenal game changers. So much so that I can’t see how we’d land them.
Still, Jovetic would work for me.
Cesc would as well. I can’t believe Barcelona are even entertaining the prospect of losing a player so talented. They really are brutalists. Still, good news is he apparently won’t consider any other club in the league. That’s tantalising. Where else could he go? I know he left under a cloud… but jeez, I’d forgive talent like that. An incredible player… and we’d have him in his prime.
Final chunk of new worthiness comes from the keeper battle. Fabianski is fit, Chezzer is apparently in form now. So there’s a selection headache.
‘Wojciech’s save was great, it shows the importance of the goalkeeper. We needed him once against QPR and he got there.
‘Remy took the shot very well and it needed a special save. Honestly, I thought it was in. It looks like Szczesny has got his confidence back.
‘I must give him credit because he has responded very well (from being dropped). When he came back into the team, he was sharper than when I left him out.’
I’m not sure you can declare a keeper on form from one save? He made a total hash of a shot in the game that was fired straight at him. I’d have Fabianski back between the sticks. All I’m praying for is that this late season form doesn’t push he manager into a keeper purchase u-turn. Both keepers lack ‘world class’… so we need to buy in quality. I’d love Adler… German number two’s have worked out well in the past. I’m not sure I’d fancy Caesar… I remember watching him when he was in form for Inter and he was quite unbelievable. I’m not sure he’s hit that form for QPR. I’m not sure it’s worth buying a keeper we have to hope can return to form. Reina is in the same category. We need now form. Not a confidence project.
Right, that’s my thoughts for your digestion. Enjoy…
This morning’s reveiw isn’t going to be about performance, because the result yesterday was about one thing. Keeping pace with Spurs and making sure the three points were bagged.
That’s what we did. Let’s get over what it looked like. We know how this team performs. Thankfully it has a solid base to work from, it’s not often in the last few years we’ve been able to rely on defensive resilience to see us through. Yesterday was another example of our improved defensive progress.
The game was pretty lethargic… but the start wasn’t. After 26 seconds Thomas Rosicky threaded a ball through to an unmarked Theo Walcott, he turned, looked up and slotted home in almost identical fashion to the goal he scored against United. Rob Green got a hand to the shot, but he couldn’t force it wider than the post.
After that, we had a few chances, Theo made a pain of himself, even though it was against aging not so mega stars of the past.
Our keeper earned his cash pulling off a series of superb saves. The most notable, Remey at the death, with a curling shot that Chezzer did superbly well to get down too and steer around the post.
There are areas in our squad that need a major rethink this summer. We don’t have the personnel to deliver on the style Arsenal want to play. The fact we might make top four well off the performance beat should be a positive. There’s a solid base in place, with the right additions we’ll be a far stronger proposition next year. I guess our biggest problem this summer is going to be shifting on some of our expensively assembled duds.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Let’s hope United can take three points today and put Chelsea into a spiral of negativity.
