Poker face?

It never ceases to amaze me just how much criticism Arsene gets at times, imagine if he had actually had a really bad season, by that I mean a Tottenham style season, he would then deserve some stick, but just remember what he's done with limited resources and how the club has been transformed in recent years. So many clubs have spent so much more money on players and achieved so much less than us, this should always be remembered.

Anyways moving on, it appears that Arsene is keeping his eye on the market and there are a few 'possibilities' out there, so any doom mongers who have given up all hope of any more signings will probably have been heartened by this news and Arsene's cheeky little smile at the end of this interview. Our squad is actually pretty large, we can play two very decent sides and still have good internationals left over. I do agree that we do lack a balance in out midfield, Song is the only player there who can really get stuck in and defend, we need more balance to the squad in this regard I feel.

I am completely with Arsene on this one, in that I do not want to see us go out and pay stupid 'Man City' style money on players who are no better than we already have at the club. Some of us have pointed out how we would probably be very excited if we had just signed a young talented Brazilian central midfielder for 25 million, we would do well to remember that we already have a lot of talent at the club. Money does not a player make, one great recent example of this was the ratty one Mr David Bentley.

I particularly enjoyed reading what Walter Smith had to say about Arsene, it made very pleasant reading indeed and it comes from a highly respected and experienced manager:

"Arsene isn't somebody who came in and discarded everyone right away but still did very well. That's good management and I think you can look at him as one of the best we've had in Britain over the last 25 years or so."

Bye bye King Kolo

I still remember Kolo's debut season, the dates and the opposition don't immediately spring to mind, what stands out in my memory is the amazing enthusiasm that this young lad from the Ivory Coast showed every time he pulled on an Arsenal shirt. He started out as a bit part player, sometimes on the wing and sometimes at full back, he was initially rash, his raw enthusiasm sometimes getting the better of him as he scythed down members of the opposition in a rather reckless manner. However one thing that can be sure is that from those early moments Kolo gained a special place in our Arsenal hearts.

Kolo's enthusiasm was the reason he became a fantastic centre back for us, he worked prodigiously hard to make the best of his talents, those being his raw pace and athleticism, not forgetting his fairly decent right foot. He really came into his own when he partnered Sol Campbell in the 2003/4 season, personally I remember his outstanding performance in the Charity Shield that year, it set the tone for a brilliant season. Campbell was the big strong organiser, while Kolo mopped up the bits, it was a fantastic partnership and mix of abilities.

There have been many great moments since, the nearly Champions League final, the nearly League titles, an FA Cup and much much more than can be put down in words and numbers. He gave away the penalty that saw Liverpool knock us out of the Champions League at Anfield, Kolo was conned by the cheating Babel, how close King Kolo came to bringing the biggest Club trophy of all back home.

The Kolo Toure that we have seen in recent months has not been the Kolo Toure I wish to remember, he has been a shadow of his former self, injuries have certainly not helped, a falling out with William Gallas also played its part, he has looked overweight and unusually cumbersome, slow on the turn and indecisive, most definitely not the Kolo of old. He is now 28 and appears to be well down the pecking order of centre backs at the club, so who can blame him for wanting first team football and a decent pay packet as part of his last big contract.

As it now looks like you're on the verge of joining City I'd like to say a big thanks for the memories King Kolo, you have served the club with great commitment and unparalleled enthusiasm. I will always remember you as that young winger who flew into tackles as if there was no tomorrow, there was always a smile on your face, that's why you got away with yellow cards when the tackles merited reds, it was obvious to even the referee that you are a lovely genuine chap. Thanks and good luck King Kolo.

Good on yer Tel!

It never sounded particularly true that Theirry Henry would have helped out the gruesome 'Arry Redknapp by advising him to sign Patrick Vieira, and indeed so much is Tel's love for Arsenal that he has felt the need to come out and openly declare that he would never help Tottenham in any way. Very well done that man:

"I am Arsenal through and through. I'd never advise anyone to sign for Tottenham,"

"I can't have Arsenal fans thinking I am helping Tottenham in any way. The truth is I was talking to Spurs boss Harry Redknapp and he told me he was trying to sign Patrick from Inter Milan."

"I was very surprised because Patrick is like me. He loves Arsenal."

"I just said that Patrick would be a brilliant signing. But I also made it clear I would be shocked if it happened."

Mind you, all that Tel says is not gold. He seems under some kind of bizarre illusion at the moment which makes him think that Barca's recent success has been based mainly on developing their own young players:

"Just look at Barcelona. We won the treble this year and proved you can succeed by developing your own players and blending them with one or two expensive signings."

A bit detached from reality to say the least Tel. Marquez, Abidal, Alves, Pique, Toure, Henry, Silvinho, Gudjohnsen, Eto'o, Puyol, say no more. True they have four youth team products in their first eleven in Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Valdes; but to ignore the fact that they have brought in a lot of expensive talent from elsewhere is rather disingenuous. After all when does a player become a product of one's youth system? If they are brought in at 11 years old, is that so different to coming in at 15? You see my point.

Zombies versus Gooners and more news

As I wait for kick off I felt the need to comment on John Terry's pathetic defense of his extensive silence, is there a single soul alive who believes that this despicable chav loves Chelsea as his thieving mother? If Terry loved Chelsea he would have spoken out immediately to refute the rumours, he did not, he was silent, his silence spoke volumes for me. This will undoubtedly mean that the Toure-City rumours will not go away. Fergie revealed in the Sunday papers that Adebayor tried to dump city for United having agreed terms with City, that'll further endear him with the City fans I feel.

Elsewhere poor old John Hartson is apparently improving following brain surgery for testicular cancer that has spread, best of luck John. The shoddy media coverage of the shady Usmanov and his underlings has been commented upon here recently, read Arseblogger's essential piece on the BBC's appalling conflicts of interest in this regard, the 'Holic also has some interesting things to say too. Overall it's pathetic what gets passed off as 'journalism' at times, the BBC should now much better than allowing this propaganda to be passed off as objective reporting.

The starting line up against Szombathelyi Haladas was Mannone, Eboue, Toure, Djourou, Traore, Wilshere, Denilson, Ramsey, Song, Eduardo, Bendtner. Obviously there was a fair bit of rust on show, the centre backs didn't look at their sharpest positionally, of note it was fantastic to see Eduardo back and raring to go. A neat move saw us concede early on but the linesman was generous, the goal disallowed. Traore, who looked excellent offensively, supplied a great cross which Bendtner headed firmly and low into the net, 1-0. Eduardo dispatched a second not long after the first, firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, the keeper had no chance, 2-0. Eduardo particularly shone, looking keen to get on the ball at all times and razor sharp in front of goal, one stinging left foot volley from an angle demonstrative of the natural finesse in front of goal that this man possesses. Song looked strong in central midfield.

The Hungarians certainly weren't afraid to try to injure our players, one lunge on Wilshere showed just how dangerous and unsporting this game was going to be. Eduardo then banged in a sensational free kick from about 25 yards after Bendtner had been hacked down in typically agricultural fashion, 3-0. Bendtner then got in on the act with a powerful low finish from outside the box, he does appear a lot stronger and more mature than in previous seasons, hopefully this can be his year, 4-0. Then half time came. Overall very impressive stuff from the strikers in the first forty five.

The second half saw Phil Senderos start in his new holding midfield role, Mascherano eat your heart out. Wilshere swapped flanks to allow Arshavin to play on the right side, Senderos partnered Ramsey in the middle, RVP came on to partner Eduardo. A completely new back four emerged which consisted of Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Silvestre with Szcezesny between the sticks.

We dominated possession more in the second period, RVP eventually adding a fifth from the spot after the re-emergent Bendtner had been fouled when clean through on the keeper, 5-0. After that I lost a bit of interest and regained a bit of sanity, this is merely pre season, I should remember it's just about match fitness, my mouth is watering for the start of the competitive action though. The match finished with some excellent comedy, Gallas gave away a penalty when he hadn't even touched his man, the penalty taker slipped as he kicked and the ball trickled harmlessly wide at walking speed.

Overall a good workout. Several positives but several big questions remain. Our strikers look sharp and ready for action, we have a wealth of options in attacking midfield, we have numerous excellent full backs, young Szcezesny looks a capable young keeper, Alex Song is looking very very strong. However who is our best centre back pairing? Does even Arsene know? And who can cover for Song in the holding role? I am sure Arsene has a few ideas, I will wait with interest.

Sensationalism and excessive coverage

Every year I think to myself 'surely meaningless pre season friendlies can't get over hyped more than this in the future?' and each year I am amazed to see that the excessive hype increases by another notch or two. An example of this was Real Madrid's completely inane and meaningless game against Shamrock Rovers being screened live on TV, not only this but the media were commenting on the performances and match as if it were an important Champions League game of real meaning.

Some people need to get a life. Pre season main purpose is getting players fit, obviously these days making some money and hyping the brand is also part of the plan. Performances are very much of secondary importance, obviously if someone is playing like a drain then it can be a bit of concern, but we have all seen in recent years the massive dangers in reading too much into pre season results. In fact there appears very little correlation between pre season results and early competitive results. Personally I find the most interesting aspect of pre season to be trying to see what Arsene is planning for the coming season, for example which young players are getting the games and is he experimenting with any new formations or tactics?

Last year's pre season did show us that our defense was unable to defend the aerial ball properly, I remember Ajax causing us immense problems with some rather hopeful hoofs. So I'm not saying we should ignore pre season completely, but we should see it in perspective and not get too carried away with the scorelines against various lower division outfits. Our fixtures show a few interesting games ahead, but really I will only start caring about the results when we travel to Goodison park in early August. Wilshere's presence in the games so far is hopefully a sign that he will get a few more first team games this year, while young Aaron Ramsey may also get a few more opportunities in the year ahead.

Elsewhere Ashley Cole has opened his rather big mouth again, he's keen that City finish above Arsenal next season. Players like Ashley Cole show rather well the pitfalls of being a stupid chav and being motivated purely by money and the cult of celebrity. He is obviously not the brightest, bless, and is part of a rather pathetic sham marriage, add to that the fact that he demonstrates all the loyalty of a slippery snake called Judas, he really is not the most popular player even amongst footballing neutrals. Personally I'd rather be a poor man than a rich man like Ashley, perhaps he should concentrate his efforts on keeping Chelsea in the top flight next year and persuading the Chelsea-through-and-through John 'king chav' Terry to stay at the club he loves so much for a new multi-million pound contract.

Arseblogger has a good round up of other news, a lot of it seems to consist of tabloid misinformation as usual. The Mail sums up this hypocrisy with one story stating that Arsene must throw money around for the sake of it and another debunking a stupid transfer rumour regarding Nic Bendtner, has anyone heard of the Mail making up transfer rumour and selling it as news?

Nasri injured, lucky old Arsenal

The club have confirmed that Samir Nasri has broken his fibula whilst training at the Austrian training camp. Not good news. Apparently the injury was as a result of a Diaby challenge, I suppose at least it's a sign that Diaby can have an impact on occassions (bad joke I know). However having a bit of medical knowledge and making a few assumptions that are likely to be correct, it appears that this break is highly likely to be an undisplaced crack at the end of the fibula bone which is a very benign injury. He'll just have to rest up for a few weeks but should be able to start gentle activity by around the six week mark, sometimes they are managed by allowing weight bearing as soon as the pain allows. Personally I'd guess he'd be back playing in the reserves by around the eight to nine week mark. So it's bad news, but it's not that bad, after all we do have a wealth of talent in the attacking midfield department.

Rosicky is back & Midfield Options

I didn't watch the 2-2 draw with Barnet on Saturday, mainly because there was plenty of meaningful sport being provided at Turnberry and Lords, so I will not comment on the game. I am also not going to dwell further on Adebayor.

However, the news that Rosicky has taken part in a competitive game is excellent, as for long parts of last season it looked a distinct possibility that Rosicky's knee problems were a terminal issue for his career.

Rosicky is a top drawer player and I was genuinely delighted when we signed him before the action got underway in the 2006 World Cup. He brings back a level of experience to the midfield that we simply do not otherwise have in those positions. He is also a player who, when fit, would be pushing as an automatic first choice in the starting XI, probably either wide right or left in midfield.

So, how would a first choice 4 across the middle of the park look if I was picking the team (imagine that)? Probably something like Arshavin left, Cesc and Song in the middle and Rosicky right. That formation gives Wenger his trio of small ball players in Cesc, Arshavin and Rosicky, which is apparently what he wants to achieve with his team. Plus I would stick Song into the mix to add some bite.

Nasri, Denilson and Theo are the ones from last season's starting XI who would miss out on the above basis, but I suspect Wenger will continue his policy of regular rotation so that they are playing a lot of game to keep everyone relatively fresh on their toes and to give a air of healthy competition for places.

Denilson started 49 games for Arsenal last year, more than any other player (Sagna and Nasri being the other two to start more than 40) and although he had a dip in form in the second half of the season, overall last year his contribution was quite good. His game is still developing, but he has a good engine, likes to pass, can sometimes tackle and generally maintains a quiet efficiency.

Yes, he sometimes gets his positioning wrong and can get turned too easily in midfield, finding himself chasing the opposing midfielder rather than taking the ball in the first place, but when you consider that he only turned 20 in February of this year, I think we have to recognise that this is a player who could, in fact should, develop over the next couple of seasons into an absolutely top drawer player. Yet most Arsenal fans don't rate Denilson and want Wenger to go out and sign a name midfielder - Alonso would be a popular bet, as would Melo.

Cesc, in contrast to Denilson, had an explosive start to his career and was an instant hit. At 22 years old has done more than many other 'good pros' will do in their entire careers. But a healthy debate can be had on how much more their is to come from Cesc. The contributors on this blog were almost unanimous in their verdicts last season that Cesc consistently underperformed, to the extent that Denilson and Song outshone him for large parts of the season. I also have little doubt that it was Cesc's indifferent form that persuaded Wenger to push Cesc forwards in the crunch games towards the end of last season, rather than any tactical re-formulation of our strategy. And by and large, Cesc in the Gerrard role behind a striker was a disaster. He is simply too slow. Yet most Arsenal fans put Cesc on a pedestal.

In my opinion, Wenger's main job at the moment is not to find someone new, big and strong to play alongside Cesc. Instead, he needs to get Cesc really ticking as a footballer again. He needs to rediscover that yard of pace, that desire to win the ball, to beat a man and to score the goals. I suspect that having Nasri, Arshavin and Rosicky breathing down his neck and saying "I could play centre midfield better than you" will have the desired result, but it might not. And if Wenger is not convinced that Cesc is playing well enough, then he should be rested from automatic selection.

The signing of Vermaelen should release Song into midfield, but the fact that the only physical midfield player we have is Song looks a weakness on paper, but is it really? I mean, if Song is good enough, which I think he is, then why do we need to go and sign someone else?

Plus, if the lessons of the last 11 Wenger summers are to be remembered again, then he will not go out and buy the player that everyone else thinks he should. The evidence of last season shows Wenger's faith in Denilson and Nasri. The amount of midfielders at the club suggests that we are not short of numbers (and I have not mentioned Abou Diaby yet).

So I would be amazed if Wenger went out and bought someone else during August.