Two signings needed, now

It's been dragging on and the talk of who we'll sign before 1st September is almost exhaustible.

Since the beginning of the season it's showed that we're in need of a world class striker and also another Adam as Arteta hasn't got the legs anymore and Flamini is nothing but a cheerleader.

We have the money - it's time Wenger gets the negotiators to go all out for these signings. If we do that we're in a very good chance of challenging for the Premier League.

Apart from that, happy with the three points against Newcastle United. A shame about Chelsea and Liverpool…

Too busy celebrating / summer signings

I believe I had been somewhat caught up in the winning of the FA Cup and almost forgot to blog about that glorious moment.

Now a past yet very much fresh final and celebration, it's a win with a performance that I can't last remember that we had, so comfortable but so astute. Also the Theo as Alexis goals stand out by far - what superbly hit strikes.

Two back-to-back wins in the FA Cup. I'll take that any day.

Attending the parade the day after at the Emirates, you could see how much the players enjoyed it but they know that the real trophies they're after are the two big ones, the league and Champions League.

Now the question is progressing to fight for the Premier League title. Signings are key to progress and the position that almost seems filled with a world class player is Petr Cech. Chelsea would lose a key player in, not on the field but off the field also, as well as an outstanding goalkeeper.

We would gain a winner and a world class player - the demands will be raised and we can see our defending improve because of this. Defending clean sheets will become a habit, second nature rather than a necessity.

If we sign Cech, I'm confident that we'll be well on the way to challenging this coming season. We just need another DM and a ST and we'll be challenging n all fronts.

Do Arsenal 'really' need to buy four players this summer transfer window?

There's been much debate since Thierry Henry's comments on Sky Sports the other day, in how Arsenal should go out and buy 4 world class players in the GK, CB, DM and ST positions in the transfer window. This looks to be our whole spine, but looking at our team right now our spine seems fine the way we're playing, but is it really enough to challenge next season?

Let's look at those positions...

GK - Ospina's stats since capitalising on Szczesny's glaring errors such as those against Southampton has been remarkable and has seen to be one of the top keeper's in the league, more so than Courtois and De Gea - check it out for yourself:

Squawka results show Ospina comes out on top 3 out of 6

Iker Casillas and Petr Cech are names linked with us. Both great keepers in their time, but out of the two Cech has more left in him to offer. But a keeper coming in won't be no surprise as Szczesny will most likely want to go if he's not getting first team football.

CB - I rate our three centre backs, Koscielny, Gabriel and Mertesacker. Although we still need that one other to cover in case we have an injury crisis at the back. Perhaps the extra centre back will be Chambers next season, but Arsenal really should be aiming for established players who know the role, as I can't see Wenger teaching a youngster how to defend properly, unless Bould gets involved. Doubftful that we'll sign someone though as Jenkinson is to come back as well.

DM - Wenger will no doubt have to go out and buy a defensive midfielder - Arteta looks to be coming to an end and Flamini has passed it and makes the odd cameo. One of those two will probably move on at the end of the season.

Coquelin has been a real leader in the heart of midfield

Coquelin has been fantastic and can't fault him at all. I wouldn't want him to be replaced but have someone to compete help his game stay at this current level or improve further. The likes of Victor Wanyama, Morgan Schneiderlin, William Carvalho are names that have been mentioned time and time again - it would be nice to have someone who is physical. Lest we forget Abou Dia... Shh! Don't mutter his name otherwise he'll be back on the treatment table - whispers of his name will see him vanish, he's that fragile. Poor guy.

ST - Now Giroud undoubtedly has the looks, touch and at times a finish of a world class striker and no one is doubting that he's played his best the season since arriving at the club. But the reason fans and pundits still feel we need a 'world class' striker is because he can go missing in some games in front of goal and doesn't threaten to kill teams off. There's only Welbeck to challenge Giroud and he doesn't get much time down the middle. Sorry to say but forget Theo upfront, he doesn't have the presence. The only name thrown around at the moment is Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon and having scored 30 goals in 37 appearances this season shows what a talent this guy can be and he's only 23. I'd say snap him up before Chelsea does.

Lacazette has hit 30 goals in 2014/15 season

Realistically a DM and a ST will probably happen, just so that we have more fire power and more muscle in the middle of the park.

Which positions do you think we'll look to buy in?

Who Plays Centre-Back Tomorrow?

So we've seen a shot of our BFG, Mertesacker, training ahead of tomorrow's clash with the Blues at the Emirates. It was feared the BFG would be out for a little longer, but do we need to risk him against the league leaders?

Simply put... no.

As we all expect Chelsea to sit back and for the countless times of mentioning the West London outfit to 'park the bus' and camp out around their 18 yard area, they can catch us on the counter attack. This would be a perfect fit for Gabriel to come into the team who had an exceptional game against Reading, yes it was Reading, but in semi-finals and the FA Cup you need to be at your best.

The boss even mentioned Gabriel in his pre-match comments:

"He’s ready [to step up]. He came on in the FA Cup semi-final and I think if Per is not ready, Gabriel will start."


Gabriel will provide speed, anticipation and aggression to be able to sustain any counter attacking from Chelsea. Mertesacker has improved since Koscielny has returned on a consistent basis, but I and probably most Gooners would feel more comfortable with both Gabriel and Koscielny being able to press Chelsea high up the pitch with Coquelin in front, this will allow Arsenal to win the ball back quicker and right onto their defence.

It's Gabriel and Koscielny for me. Who do you think should pair at the back tomorrow?

It's Good to be Back, How Times Have Changed, and Chelsea on Sunday

First thing's first - it's been a while since my last blog post, September 2011 to be exact. During that period of absence I have to admit it's been the most frustrating period in my lifetime as an Arsenal fan and I somewhat expected the same outcome every year, we'd pretend to challenge and then fall away, because of this I wouldn't expect us to win every game like in the past - we were no longer favourites. yes our football was still to a good standard, but it wasn't the counter-attacking team who played 'sexy' football.

Knowing that it is never easy supporting the Arsenal, as they never make it easy on and off the pitch, but the whilst at the same time during 2011-2014 Arsenal have promised so much and have yet failed. We've lost key players and never truly had a squad depth capable of coping with injuries to the first eleven.

During these years we've had to hold back spending and selling our best players every year to cover the loan from building our impressive stadium at Ashburton Grove. The signing of Mesut Özil signified that we could now and go out and make a marquee signing. The German gave such a lift to the fans, the players, the club as a whole, as it showed we could compete with the best in signing world class talent, and he is world class, no matter what Michael Owen says, and yes he is better than Raheem Sterling. We won a the FA Cup last season and with the help of Özil we got to Wembley, the game against Everton comes to mind.

To truly confirm that we had passed selling our best players and now able to relax the purse strings without any financial consequences, the signing of Chile's best player and one of Barcelona's top wide men, Alex Sanchez, proved that we had moved forward and that we can now afford to buy at least one top world class talent every summer.

As we've seen the team has grown strong with an array of attacking players from Giroud, Welbeck, Alexis, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, But what we have to special thanks to is Francis Coquelin being recalled from on loan at Charlton Athletic. He has been that solid dependable defensive midfield we've missed since the days of Gilberto.

We now see a squad just a few world class players from truly challenging for the title next season, and Sunday against Chelsea will be a true test of whether Wenger can finally challenege Chelsea with Mourinho in charge. With Wenger not having beaten a Chelsea side managed by Mourinho, this would be the best opportunity to do so. Chelsea aren't playing great football and only need to secure points here and there and Mourinho wouldn't want to lose this one and will most likely park the bus in front of their goal to nullify our attacking threat.

I expect us to have too much for Chelsea at home on this occasion with such a competitive squad looking to start the FA Cup final, this match will be a great audition in who to take into the big games. I think the team picks itself at the moment with Opsina, Bellerin, Gabriel (Mertesacker injured), Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Özil, Alexis, Giroud.

It's great feeling to be a Gooner again, and even if the other lot down Seven Sisters still don't think we can challenge for major titles, we shall see next season.

Gooner Till I Die.

A Very Different Arsenal

Arsenal has changed many times over recent years as we've sold on many players each year. But if the was one thing, our style remained the same in quick passing and holding onto the ball for a large period of time with so called 'tippy-tappy' football.

That style has change completely with the players capable of it, with the likes of Fabregas and Nasri gone, it's harder for us to keep a hold of the ball.

Okay we haven't had a full strength team out as of yet, but we can't hold onto the ball for more than 10 passes at best. Maybe this is due to a more direct play of football, but this brings pressure on us as we still aren't that solid at the back.

Mertesacker looks solid and class player who can get his foot in and his positioning is excellent as he seems to intercept the ball more often that not. However he'll only get better with Vermaelen next to him.

I have to mention Song was excellent last night against Olympiacos at the back, he was my man of the match, but wr miss him badly in the middle.

I've also noticed Arteta holds on the ball for too long and this slows down our attacks. It makes us less gung ho, which could benefit us.

Arsenal fans need to get used to the fact that we won't dominate and dictate the flow of the game from now on. So no mote groans when we let a pass go astray, no more moaning or booing.

Yes our clubs gone backwards, but what do you expect.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just Own Up to the Obvious

I haven't written or posted a piece on Our Arsenal for a while since our humiliating defeat to Manchester United (I don't need to remind you of the score) and also our deadline day excitement of several players joining the club.


Since that day we have endured an International break, which we though would help the dust settle and hopefully bring us back with a fighting spirit to try and get our performances raised and a chance to have at least a false hope of any challenge (which I don't believe we have any capability in the slightest).


The match against Swansea didn't fill us fans with any confidence. Arteta was somewhat of a presence in central midfield with some decent passing, but he's no Cesc Fabregas and we won't ever find a player with his ability to find a pass, although Arteta does have some ability to find a killer pass. The scoreline was a lucky one with a gifted goal, which was still a decent finish from Arshavin.


We've missed Gervinho's directness and this showed against Dortmund in the Champions league, but even though we could have won the game, a sublime finish made us draw the game 1-1. It was a hard scrappy draw. Germany is not an easy place to go, especially against the champions of Germany.


The defeat to Blackburn showed some of the old Arsenal back, but most in terms of bad defending. Why can we never sort this position out? Santos looked decent, Mertesacker looks slow. Gervinho and Arteta both got their debut goals for the Gunners. That was the only real spark. The two own goals from Song and Koscielny summed up our lack of defending.


You have to face it Arsenal fans, we're not the team we once were, I'm not even going as far as the 1998, 2002 and 2004 invincible teams. I only have to go as far as last year, because this team has changed and it'll take a few years to form any type of challenge. The teams dynamic has changed, it doesn't have the ability to play quick touch passing. We have to adopt a more direct play, which in this league you need to have. Wenger must not try to make a team made for the Champions League.


But van Persie is the only world class player we have left, so the fans have to wake up and notice we're just not a top 4 team anymore with the players at our disposal. In this case maybe it'll force our hand to play more as a team. It's still early days of the team gelling together. But keep your expectations realistic because we're no longer a force in English football.