M’villa to Arsenal? Hope its true

If all the rumours are true then Arsenal have signed one of the best CDM in world football, Yann M’vila. He’s still only 21 and has a lot of improving to do but unlike some of the youngsters we’ve been signing in recent times, we don’t have to wait years before he can compete for a starting place. He’s already good enough to make our team. Some have tried to compare him with Alex Song, even though their as similar as a cow and a horse. M’vila is a lot more disciplined in his defensive role than Song and hardly gets into attacking positions in open play.
Here’s something M’vila said recently: “I never felt the need to dribble or do ball tricks, not even ball-juggling. I’ve always loved playing simply. Control, pass, mark.”
On the other hand, Song who is a very good player and a consistent figure in the Arsenal midfield. He tends to get foward a lot though and times he leaves the team vulnerable especially counterattack. M’vila will certainly bring a lot of steel into our team and defensive stability to our team which is something we’ve lacked for many seasons. Like I said though its only a rumour and we can only hope that the deal is in place and he’ll be an Arsenal player when the season starts.
Here are some stats on Song vs M’Vila (all stats per game): passes 64 vs 70, tackles 2.8 vs 3.1, interceptions 2 vs 2.5, fouls 0.8 vs 2.2, bookings 10 vs 2.

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Theo’s replacement

Much has been said about Theo Walcott’s season ending injury and the impact it will have on the team. Many have suggested playing Gervinho on the right and Benayoun on the left for the remainder of the season which I must admit looks a safe option. Yet we have one Mr Oxlade-Chamberlain who at only 18 is one of the most exciting prospect in England. I would rather have him play on the right for these remaining games which will aid in his development and give him much needed experience. Some have said he must be protected from Stoke players as they are extremely physical. For the Ox to improve as a player he will to play against such team. If we protect him against such teams then he’ll end up like the likes of Nasri who disappeared in such games and just couldn’t handle the physicallity of such games. We need the Ox to improve and become a world class player and unfortunately it won’t happen while sitting on the bench. He’s had two bad games recently and we must all remember he had been playing on the left side rather than his favourite right side and as an 18 year old it makes it even more difficult when your not playing in your natural position.

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Does Arsenal need a new midfield player?

For the most part of the season Arsenal just looked like they needed a central attacking midfielder who would be a genuine threat to the opposition with defence splitting passes (ala Cesc). Ramsey has played a lot of games this season in that advanced role but has not quite set the world alight. Rosicky has been phenomenal in recent weeks and that has coincided with the brilliant performances by the team. For me that just emphasized the need for a genuine attacking midfield player. I’m convinced Arsene didn’t bring in such a player in the summer because we already had one, Jack Wilshere. He played in that position for the great youth team that destroyed everyone they came across with Frimpong and Coquelin behind him. Unfortunately, Jack has been out for just about the entire season and we were robbed of the opportunity to see him play behind RvP. We saw Jack’s ability last season in a slightly deeper role where he was excellent with his passing, abundance of energy and his will to fight. His return will strengthen our team and increase the number chances we create per game. If we can keep RvP for next season then this trophy drought will certainly come to an end.

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Arsenal Clearout: Who should Wenger sell this summer?

A clearout is just as important to Arsenal as new signings considering EPL 25 man rule and the need to balance the books.
Defence: Almunia and Squilaci are the obvious ones who don’t need to be replaced. Djourou is another who will have to be sold as he’s just not making the grade and would rather have Bartley and Miguel battling it out for the 4th defender slot.
Midfield: Diaby is a good player but we can’t pay someone just to visit the physio everyweek, surely its time to cut our losses. Arshavin is another one who doesn’t really have a future with the gunners. We don’t need a squad player who looks disinterested more often than not and when you consider his age and his wages we are better off giving his spot to Ryo Miyaichi.
Forwards: Chamakh has looked out of sorts and is currently a waste of resources while Park has clearly been bought for commercial reasons so I don’t think AW will let him go. With Podolski coming in and Afobe recovering from injury we should have better options than we do right now.

This makes it 7 departures without weakening the team. We can then bring in 2 top players to improve the team and start challenging for trophies.
Hopefully we’ll have a good tranfer window for a change

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Poll: Who will be Arsenal’s key player next season?

Wenger out? You must be joking

n recent months the “Wenger chant” has grown louder and louder especially after being dumped out of the FA Cup and getting thrashed by Milan. The question I would ask these anti-Wenger supporters is, who do you replace him with? 90% will say Pep, but do you really think he’s that much better than Wenger and would he want to come to Arsenal? Wenger has had virtually no resources while Pep has just about had an open cheque book and let’s face it how many managers would battle with a team like that? The player in the world and easily the best midfield in the world heck I could menage that team. Coming back to Arsenal, there’s just about no money for transfers, wage structure that rewards mediocre players and punish star players and a squad that’s mid-table at best.
Now, which manager can work with those resources and win trophies? The problem here is the board not the manager they are only interested in making profits for themselves and not at all interested in the teams performance. If the board is to prove me otherwise they should change the wage structure and give Wenger enough money to compete with the likes on United and Chelsea in the transfer market.

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Arsenal set to finally win a trophy

The FA cup was the one trophy we had a real chance of winning. Unfortunately, after a shambolic performance by the team, we are now doomed to another trophyless season.
Arsene Wenger has now come out and said finishing fourth is as good as winning a trophy. Where has this madness come from? Are we supposed to accept all this and support the team blindly? Unfortunately, I look at this shenanigans and can’t help but feel we are going the Liverpool route, holding to past glories with a mid table squad hoping for a miracle.
Arséne: “The first trophy is to finish in the top four,”. Well even if we win that so called trophy, Robin van Persie will almost certainly leave the club at the end of this season and won’t blame him one bit.

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What now for Arsenal?

For many seasons we have said Arsenal was one world class player away from becoming world beaters again. Unfortunately last summer things went the other way. We sold Clichy, Fàbregas and Nasri and didn’t replace them with equally world class players which meant we were starting the season with less quality than we had finished and yet all Arsenal supporters were still optimistic of trophies. Looking back at the beginning of the season I can’t help but feel I should have known we would struggle this season and my optimism was clouded by my love for the team. The only reason we are going to finish fourth is Chelsea has been worse and AVB is just about sacked. This state of affairs is not only sad for a team like Arsenal which is supposed to be fighting for trophies rather than 4th place with the likes of Newcastle. We’ve now reached a point were we need atleast 4 world class players just to become competitive again. Not even gonna talk about the Milan performance its just too upsetting right now.
Hopefully FA cup tie this weekend would be a more cheerful event.

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Silent Stan the fall of Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger has always said he had enough money for transfers. But now it seems as though he wasn’t completely honest. He has taken a lot of abuse in recent seasons for not spending on quality signings and sticking with bargain buys. He has now revealed that Arsenal must make atleast £15m profit per season. This clearly shows the board and owners are only interested in profits rather than performances on the field.
Wenger: “you should know that each season it is imperative Arsenal make a profit of between £15m and £20m. And I would add that the purpose of a coach is to always buy at a price he sees fit.”
Will Arsenal get back to the glory days? Only time will tell I guess

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Return of Sagna

Many of you who have watched a lot of Arsenal matches in recent years, will know just how important the full backs are to our attacking play. The reason we have found it difficult to score goals in recent months is that RvP finds himself outnumbered more often than not and the two wide players supporting are always stuck on the wings and not getting in the box to support him. When we play our regular fullbacks they tend to spend a lot of time in final third of the pitch which means the two wide players can go into more central areas, giving RvP more support. Unfortunately our makeshift fullbacks struggled with that aspect of the game and stayed back quite a lot. The return of will make our right side more effective going forward (oh, he can also defend a bit). Hopefully the Ox will get more playing time because I believe he and Sagna could make a lethal partnership.

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