Good Enough Squad? Shava Thinks Otherwise…

In the wake of such a scinicillating start to the season,  inevitably making one recall the early days of the 2007/2008 season, it is tempting for some to believe that this squad is on a par with any other in Europe. Fans and even the press seem to have caught on this idea, judging by the fact that that our transfer mill, once flourishing in July when the likes of Subotic, Matuidi, Affelay, Bassong, De Rossi, Cattermole, Sakho, Hangeland and Vieira were all mooted as possible targets, has now mysteriously dried up after convincing wins over Everton, Portsmouth and Celtic. Even Chamakh, the most serious of our alleged targets, seems to have slipped off our radar. This thus begs the question, are we really ready?

“No. We still have to buy,” says Andrei Arshavin in his interview with the Sunday Times, “we shouldn’t set Everton as a benchmark, we should be looking at the top teams of Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona. We should buy first-class players, regardless of their age. We should buy the ones who should improve our game. The top teams have much bigger squads than ours and that is why we have to buy.” 

Arshavin refuses to suggest which positions should be strengthened, but does he have a point? Well for a start, he is largely incorrect in regards to the top teams having “much bigger squads than ours.” 29 players are currently on our books, in comparison to Chelsea’s 25, Barcelona’s 27, Real’s 27 (according to its website…) and Man United’s 35, so it’s safe to say it’s overall big enough. But what he probably does mean is that we lack quality strength in depth. If Song, our only acceptable defensive midfielder, can’t play, who can fill his shoes? Not Diaby, because his passing is far more profligate and sloppy than Song’s, and Denilson appears to be bullied far too often against class opposition. Barcelona, in turn, are comfortable with picking Yaya Toure, Busquets, Keita and even Gudjhonsen for the slot in defensive midfield. If Eboue does indeed leave, despite talk of a switch to Barcelona or Fiorentina quickly cooling, there will be no natural right back replacement for Sagna, leaving Gallas and Djorou to deputise there as they have infrequently done so in the past. If Song is playing in central midfield and either Vermaelen and Gallas are unavailable, we can count upon the bare bones of the ever reliable Senderos and “geriatric” Silvestre. 

I am in no way trying to play down what little we have achieved upon until now; in fact I believe it is all the more remarkable considering that six key players are out, and at the beginning of a season! Nor am I asking for Arsene Wenger to have three natural right backs and two possible deputies for the position, as do Chelsea. But it is no secret that the Lady Fortune of Injuries has never quite smiled at us and thus the greater the need to be prepared for a long and arduous seasons of many twists and turns. To be ideally prepared, I say we need a centre back and a defensive midfielder. But who? Have your say in the comments….

Celtic (A) Pre-Match Post

Good Morning!

I had the day off yesterday, but today I’m back at work so you can imagine how ecstatic I am about that. If you can’t, compare it to sticking your hands in a blender while having your face slapped with a dead fish – work and I equals true love. I’m hoping Arsenal can cheer me up tonight.

There’s no big news for today. Arsene is claiming that we will witness a European League in about 10 years. I honestly don’t really see that happening, but you never know – it is a crazy world.

Wenger also addressed last season’s defenseive problems, saying:

“I wouldn’t like to come out too much on the tactical aspect of the game,b ut we know that last year we conceded 37 goals and you cannot win the championship in England conceding 37 goals no matter how good you are going forward.

“That is something we have to address and correct compared to last year.”

The last part of that quote is particularly interesting – Wenger claims that this defensive issue is something Arsenal must address. Could defensive reinforcements be coming in? Who knows.

There’s no real news on our trio of doubt for the evening – Fabregas, Denilson, and Sagna. Personally, I think all of them will be fine. Even if they’re not, I still rate our chances very highly, and it would also be a chance for Le Boss to demonstrate the depth of our squad.

Time for the Team Prediction:

Forever Arsenal Team Prediction

Almunia

Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy

Song

Fabregas (c) – Diaby

Bendtner – RVP – Arshavin

 I don’t think Wenger should change the squad from last Saturday’s win too much. I believe the only change we’ll see is Diaby for Denilson, especially since the Brazilian is already a doubt. If that is the case, it will be a real chance for the lean Frenchman to prove himself. Diaby has immense amounts of skill, but he just doesn’t really seem like he knows how to use it. Hopefully that has changed. During the summer, he hired a personal trainer to keep him fit so maybe we’ll see a whole new Diaby. He wasn’t too bad in Pre-Season.

The forward line should definitely not be touched. I would love to see Eduardo play, but I don’t think this is a game in which he should start. The threesome of Bendtner, RVP, and Arshavin worked brilliantly at Goodison Park, so tonight they could have the chance to prove themselves again. If Eduardo is on the bench again you can be sure to see him start in the game against Portsmouth this weekend.

As for subs, I’d like to see Eduardo, Vela, and Eboue. Eduardo for obvious reasons – he’s absolute class and I wouldn’t be surprised if he grabbed another goal coming off the bench. As for Vela, I rate the Mexican very highly. I think he’s one of the most talented youngsters out there and I really hope he gets more chances this season. With Adebayor gone, this could definitely be the case. The main reason I’d like to see Eboue come on – even if it’s just for 42 seconds – is so that he becomes cup-tied. That would make him less attractive to the “many” clubs interested in him.

I can’t wait to see Arshavin in action today. It’s his first Champions League game, so you can be sure that he will go out there with only one goal in mind – play to impress. Wenger also had some things to say about the little Russian:

“He can make the difference, Andrey is a very efficient player who can turn up at any moment and make a difference but again we do not focus on any individual.

“Our strength is our team play because this team has been educated 80-90 per cent together for four or five years and one target is to develop the team play and not focus too much on individuals.”

 Well, that’s it for the Pre-Match Post. If there are any updates on injuries, I’ll make sure to post them. Thanks for reading!

Stay classy, fellow Gooners.

Boring Monday + Injury Worries

Good day Gunners!

Unfortunately, it’s a typically boring Monday. I wasn’t able to put a post up yesterday because I was recovering from Saturday night’s celebration. Every Gooner had a reason and a right to celebrate. What a wonderful weekend it was. The resulting headache is a pain in the ass though.

Anyway, let’s talk Gooner News. There isn’t much going on today so I’ll make it quick.

Bordeaux striker Chamakh is keeping his good form up trying to get Arsene to complete a deal for him. He scored two goals in his side’s 3-2 victory over Socheaux. Both were headers resulting from corner kicks, demonstrating his areal ability. I don’t know if Wenger is going to chose to sign him, he’s obviously a good player but Arsene has a bunch of attackers to chose from. Backup is always nice though.

Under-18s captain Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has signed for Blackpool for a one month loan. Depending on how well that goes for him, the loan spell could be extended. JET is an extremely talented player and Forever Arsenal wishes him the best.

The press has had so little to talk about today that they have linked us with van der Vaart . The Dutch player was overlooked in Real Madrid’s squad number distribution, and thus it is highly likely that he will be sold before the transfer window closes. Van der Vaart said:

“I really want to come to England. There are a number of clubs with offers where I can go in Germany, Spain and Italy.
“I want to go to the Premier League and I know where I want to play.”

His desire to play in England and his friendship with RVP make the press think that he “obviously” wants to play at Arsenal. I doubt it’ll happen. We have too many attacking options. He’s a good player, but yeah…

That’s all the random stuff I could find for today, so let’s focus on tomorrow; the game against Celtic. It won’t be simple – the home fans will do everything to create an atmosphere terrifying for the Arsenal players. Le Boss seems to think we’ll do just fine.

“We don’t go into this game with fear. We go with respect for Celtic, but we know it is a very important game for us and we want to come home with a positive result.

“I always prepare my team first with determination and not with fear. We have played everywhere and have good experience in the Champions League.

If Arsenal play like they did on Saturday, we should have no problem. That might be difficult though, seeing as we have injury trouble again. Walcott was supposed to be back for tomorrow’s encounter, but his back complaints haven’t gone. Only one player from the injury list is back – Abou Diaby. Whether that is good or not could be proven by the Frenchman tomorrow – especially since Fabregas is a doubt for the game. Yes, our skipper seems to have picked up a slight hamstring injury. Hopefully it won’t develop into something more severe. Denilson is also a doubt as he picked up a groin problem at Goodison Park. Last but not least, Sagna experienced a slight knock in the Everton game and the man-with-the-spaghetti-hair could also miss the game. Hopefully Wenger is just giving false hopes to the Celtic fans. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Well that’s it for today, sorry if I bored you to death – Mondays can do that to people. I’m excited as hell for tomorrow’s game. Make sure you stop by and check out the Pre-Match Report I’ll put up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Stay classy, fellow Gooners!

Everton (A) Pre-Match Post

Good morning fellow Gunners. Well at least it’s morning where I am. Over in cloudy London it’s already past 12 o’clock.  Either way, good day to you all. This is my first Pre-Match Post so it could be pretty shitty. Bear with me, if you can. Yes, that was meant to be a challenge in order to keep you reading. Clever tactics.

Before I start with the actual Pre-Match Post, there’s certain issues I should address such as a recent interview Arsene Wenger gave and our beloved skipper Cesc’s transfer situation.

Starting with Wenger: in a recent interview held with Martin Samuel, Le Boss revealed why he snubbed a move to Madrid among many other interesting things.
Le Boss said:

‘I felt if I left I would have in some way betrayed my beliefs,’ Wenger told Sportsmail as he launched Arsenal’s Great Ormond Street charity appeal.
‘It was that simple. It was nothing to do with Real Madrid, it was about Arsenal.”

Wenger also added that he believed in his young squad and that he was determined to finish the project he started with them by finally winning some silverware. Personally, I am not the “over-the-top” Arsene Wenger lover, but I do believe that he is one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen and I feel that Arsenal are extremely lucky to have him. Of course, his dealings in the transfer market can be frustrating, but overall the gaffer is a top man. Hopefully, he’ll prove all the doubters wrong this season. He himself believes that the squad can pull it off.

Now to Fabregas. Every transfer window it’s the same. Barcelona opens its big mouth claiming they will bring Cesc “back home.” Well he is home fellas, get used to it. In recent days, a transfer to Barca looked highly probable as the Catalans were willing to go through hell to bring Cesc to Camp Nou. Well, Fabregas Senior has pissed on the alarmingly fast-growing fire by coming out and claiming that our young skipper is going nowhere.
Mr. Cesc’s Dad said:

“Honestly, I think this signing by Barca will not be produced. Evidently, the football world is crazy and you never know, but today I think Cesc will stay at Arsenal. He is super committed to Arsenal and he is really eager to do things there.”

Even though things were starting to look worrisome, I was pretty sure Cesc wouldn’t leave. How many times does the poor guy have to come out and openly announce that he’s 100% commited to Arsenal? Just shows you the pandemonium stupid journalists can create.

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way let’s focus on tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, the day the new season officially begins. I can’t describe how excited I am. There’s nothing else on my mind and I think my girlfriend is starting to get ticked off. Whatever, I can’t help my boyish excitement. The mere thought of Arshavin and Eduardo creating havoc in the Everton defense makes my pants feel tighter. Weird, I know.

First off, team news. This might come as a shocking surprise to everyone, but about 93.7% of our squad is injured. The useless international friendlies saw Djourou get sidelined for a month and Bendtner pick up a slight knock. The full details on injuries can be found here. As it stands, the injury list consists of Rosicky, Nasri, Djourou, Fabianski, Walcott, and maybe Diaby – the last one being the most saddening one. Knowing Arsenal and its luck with injuries, that list is going to keep getting smaller and smaller.

Forever Arsenal Team Prediction

Almunia

Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen- Clichy

Song

Fabregas (c) – Denilson

van Persie – Eduardo – Arshavin

Arsene Wenger’s new-found tactic love will most probably see him deploy a 4-3-3. That’s great, in my opinion. As we could witness in Pre-Season, the team thrived under this formation.

It will be interesting to see how Gallas and Vermaelen do in their first real game together. Song will provide protection for Fabregas and Denilson so that the latter two can roam around the midfield freely spraying around passes. Technically, it will probably be more of Cesc’s spraying that we will enjoy. Hm. In the front, we have a sick threesome of forwards – this is getting weird – probably the best in the Premier League. Arshavin played out left against Argentina in this week’s friendly which proves that this is his newly acquired position. The little Russian truely shines in that area of the pitch and he’ll be nothing but trouble for the Toffee defense. Eduardo will be the fox-in-the-box he is by playing centrally and his support on the right would be none other than Robin van Persie. RVP plays out on the right a lot for Holland too, and just like Arshavin, he likes to cut into the center of the pitch to release a fierce shot with his stronger foot. As for subs, I wouldn’t mind seeing Bendtner, Walcott/Vela, and Ramsey, but this area in tactics highly depends on how the game is going.

There it is, my first Pre-Match Post. I hope I didn’t bore you too much. Feel free to comment and present what you think could be Arsenal’s starting 11 this Saturday.

Stay classy, fellow Gooners. I love you, too.

Please feel free to leave any critiques or suggestions. Just don’t rip my heart out, please.