Saturday 1 August 2009

Emirates Cup et al

Two fine Andrei Arshavin goals capped an exciting afternoon's activity at the Emirates, we also got a few hints as to how the boss is seeing things for the season ahead. Wilshere was the stand out player for me, jinking past defenders with ease and showing a maturity beyond his years. Djourou got the nod at centre back, as Thomas Vermaelen was nursing something minor, and looked solid enough. Ramsey and Merida also showed their promise, while it was good to see Gael Clichy fit once again.

The transfer rumours continue. The Vieira story rolls on, I'm sure we'll hear something definitive on this soonish, while stories of big Phil departing for Goodison are emerging with greater frequency. The Eboue story appears not to have reached a conclusion as yet, Arsene wouldn't comment if an offer had been recieved from Fiorentina, so who knows if this story has any more to run.

This little piece in the Guardian happened to catch my interest and I think a lot of it rings true. I am not close enough to any insider information but it is undeniable that there have been big big issues with our squad morale in the last couple of years, Gallas-Toure and Adebayor-Bendtner to name just two clashes of personality/opinion/fists. I hope Arsene has looked to nail these problems with these sales and it looks like our balance will have been done no harm in the process.

You simply need your players to get on with each other to win things, even if you have the best players, if they are at war with each other then you will struggle to bring home the silver. Arsene's post match press conference was interesting.

Arshavin is a star in the making, Wilshere is now ready to make an impact, Rosicky is fit (touch wood), offensively we are looking in excellent shape. Arsene acknowledged that it will be tough to find the balance with the number of attacking players we have, I agree with him here, this will be a big challenge and I think any late moves in the transfer market will look to address this imbalance. As Arsene closes 'if we can add one or two more players then we will do it', so I will be surprised if nothing happens in the next few days.

4 comments:

K man said...

Wilshere looks like he's going to be a star and if we needed reminding just how good Arshavin is then the 2 goals did that. Both expertly taken.

Still slightly concerned by our defence and Denilson just doesn't cut it for me as a midfield general. It really is Song or no one at the moment.

Let's see what today's game brings.

1979gooner said...

I hope I am proved wrong By Denilson too.

He's neat, tidy and effective. But is he really good enough at anything to ever be an Arsenal player who starts every match in a title winning side?

I am not convinced.

Ramsey shows more promise to me.

Si said...

I agree 1979, Ramsey is going to Cesc's partner in the middle, but probably not until next season.And that is also a worry... Rambo may be the long term replacement for Cesc once he shoots off to Barca.
The middle of the park, I believe is still a weak point. The forwards are ace, the wing/full backs are great, goalkeeper is good, central defence is also still a worry. One centre back a central midfielder in the next week would be great, and then my friends, we'll be off. V C C.

Stefan Vasilev said...

Wilshere it a class-act.

Ramsey may replace Fabregas but against more tough-tackling teams, the partnership between them won't work. Fabregas will need someone to protect him and to gather the heat away from him.