Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Three weeks after the end of the summer and Arsenal have made one signing.  Judging by the reaction of some fans you would think that they’d also announced that it will be the only signing of the the summer.

Carl Jenkinson looks a decent buy to me, he’s there to keep Sagna on his toes and presumably to let Eboue depart for regular starts elsewhere.  Of course if he does turn out to be the only buy of the summer, that will be depressing, but there is plenty of time left yet.

Most pundits seem convinced that Arsenal have also tied up a deal to bring in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton.  Although he looks promising for the future, that doesn’t set the heart racing for next season – unless Arsene Wenger is planning to move Theo up front and centre straight away.

A few days ago there seemed to be a media consensus that Gervinho was definately on his way to the Emirates, but now they’re not so sure!  Happy to wait and see on that one as the real need is some better defenders and someone to back up Song when we’re clinging on to a result.

Over this weekend we’ve been linked with just about every conceivable English Central Defender plus Mamadou Sakho for good measure!

Apparently we’re in for Scott Dann and Roger Johnson from Birmingham City. I know we lost the Carling to them but really?

Alternatively we’re in for Christopher Samba, Phil Jagielka or Gary Cahill.  One of these is more likely and I think would be welcome.  I would hope for Cahill as the best option but if Manchester City are determined to have him as rumoured, there won’t be much Arsenal can do about it.  After that I would go for Samba over Jagielka.  I’m not sure that there is much between them on ability and Samba has more presence.

Most of the the Arsenal coverage though is about the apocalyptic exodus we apparently face.  I think that there will be a fair few on their way in this window but it’s far from crisis time.

Bendtner needs to leave for his own good and he won’t be overly missed.  If Clichy goes he will need replacing as I don’t think Gibbs is quite ready yet and seems a bit injury prone.  I had high hopes of Clichy, and his first season after Ashley Cole went promised a lot, but nothing much since and he seems to be in a rut now.  Leighton Baines has been mentioned by some and would be good.  But it’s hard to separate real stories from agent talk and page-filling at the moment.

So hold tight and don’t panic yet!

Birmingham played well with the strengths that they’ve got.  Arsenal, pretty much to a man, played poorly.  Wilshere, Nasri and Van Persie had better games than the rest, but none of the team distinguished themselves.

Maybe they were only prepared for Birmingham to stifle play and wait for the odd break.  They didn’t seem able to respond when Birmingham were much more positive than that.  I think that the inability to respond when the other team doesn’t stick to the script has dogged us all season.

We were out played in the middle of the pitch, unable to drive the ball forward often enough.  I don’t think that Rosicky has what it takes to be the main creative force in the centre.  The only bit I don’t get about the way Arsenal ran out yesterday was why Nasri wasn’t the one deputising for Fabregas in the centre.

Looking at the players on both sides I think that Birmingham were tiring more towards the end of the game and we could have shaded it in extra time.  But we all know what happened.

Birmingham were the better team and they won.  Arsenal should have been and didn’t.

They will be hurting today, particularly Szczesny and Koscielny, but they don’t have time to sit around feeling sorry for themselves.  This is the whole season now in the next nine days.  They have to pick themselves up and get on with the job.  Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice have to get eleven fully focused players on the pitch for the FA Cup replay who want to show they are good enough rather fearing the worst.

And every Arsenal fan in the ground needs to be urging them on as well.

C’mon Arsenal!

What can you say about that?   A big slice of luck at the beginning.  Horrendous confusion at the end.  In between we played some good stuff on patches but failed to take a real grip on the game.

We hit cross-bar, City hit the post.  Much more end to end than I expected.  Song and Wilshere worked hard in the midfield but we rarely got into a good rhythm.  City worked really hard to close us down.

Szcesny was lucky to stay on the pitch from just a few minutes in when Bowyer went down in the penalty area.  I’m not sure whether he actually made contact with Bowyer but I’m pretty certain it would have been given if the Assistant hadn’t wrongly stuck his flag up for offside.  Clichy was playing Bowyer onside by a couple of yards.

The two City goals were exactly the sort of situations that gave been caused us problems.  In both cases we failed to win the first ball.  In the first case Djourou drifted off Zigic.  In the second, Koscielny, well I’m not sure whether he just doesn’t connect with the ball or whether he changes his mind and leaves it.  Whatever.  Two players who have looked assured in recent games have had a nightmare.

The equaliser was a classic Arsenal strike. A determined skillful run from Arshavin and a terrific finish from Van Persie. It came during a phase when you thought Arsenal were going to win it.  Nasri did really well, but Foster kept City in it.

The finish was gutting, but we didn’t impose our class well before that and paid the price.  A big nine days now.  C’mon Arsenal.

***** Man of the Match poll running here. *****

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***** First thoughts on the game here. *****

We know who won’t play – the midweek game against Stoke took out Walcott and Fabregas.  The Sun newspaper is trying to be different this morning with a ‘Cesc begs to play’ piece, but it doesn’t look a very strong story to me.  Arsene Wenger could be indulging in the old mind games I suppose, but I doubt it. I’m not expecting to see Cesc play on Sunday.

The news elsewhere in the squad is positive with Van Persie, Koscielny and Diaby all good to go.  Koscielny’s return means a first choice line-up for keeper and back four.

In front of them I think we will see Song and Wilshere.  I don’t think Diaby will come in for the Final.  More likely he will give one of these two a break in the FA Cup replay midweek.  The only way in for Diaby would be if Wenger gave the the lead attacking midfield role to Wilshere in Cesc’s absence.  That would be a lot of pressure on Wilshere in Arsenal’s first chance of a trophy since etc etc.

That brings us to the tougher decisions about who plays for Fabregas and Walcott.  Nasri has played both roles this season.  Rosicky is an option for both as well.  I don’t remember Wenger playing Arshavin in a central role except upfront when we had completely run out of fit strikers.

Personally I think that Nasri has to go into the middle as the direct Fabregas replacement.  Without him I think that there is a danger that we get bogged down in the middle of the pitch.  Rosicky is the alternative and him getting a goal at the weekend was encouraging.  But I don’t see him as the driving force in the middle of the pitch.

So if Nasri goes in the middle, who replaces Theo out wide?  The choice over who flanks Van Persie is effectively two from: Arshavin, Bendtner and Rosicky.  My guess is Arshavin and Bendtner.  The Russian has battled his way back to form and Bendtner needs time on the pitch so that we have an in form option when Van Persie doesn’t play.  Bendtner may not enjoy playing wide but it’s better than not playing in a Final.

I have assumed from the start that Robin Van Persie will play.  It’s trophy time and without Fabregas we can’t go without RVP.

So my guess is:

__________ Szczesny ___________
Sagna _ Djourou _ Koscielny _ Clichy
________ Song __ Wilshere ______
____________ Nasri ____________
_ Bendtner _ Van Persie _ Arshavin _

But what do you think?

Top Team
Wenger sent out what I think is our strongest side.

Walcott gives a sense of adventure that complements Nasri and Fabregas’s vision and footwork.  Playing Walcott allows the option if playing Nasri on the left.  Probably not the best place for him, but such is his ability that he is very effective there and it should give Arshavin pause for thought.

Chamakh has made a great start at Arsenal, but Van Persie (fit) is a class above. He doesn’t look completely on the money yet, he missed chances against Birmingham, but his vision, positioning and desire is there.

Djourou is a class act. Only his fragility stops him from playing more games. I hope that he can be paired with Vermaelen before too long.

First Half – Lucky Arsenal!
We were pacey and slick from the start, but we got a big slice of luck as well. The ESPN commentators claim that Van Persie dived for free-kick that yielded the first goal. They said there was no contact but you couldn’t tell that for sure in all the replays. Whatever contact there was though wasn’t major.

Birmingham didn’t defend the free-kick well. They let Fabregas into the wall without a fight and when he rolled behind it, all Bowyer could do was deflect RVP’s kick rather than close the gap. One-Nil.

Soon after, Van Persie made a complete mess of a defensive header. No contact with the head, definite contact with the arm. Did the referee see it? If he didn’t he was just about the only one.

City felt aggrieved and applied some pressure for a while, but Djourou and Koscielny coped with Jerome and Fabianski pulled off a couple of excellent saves.

Second Half – Class and Control
In the second half it was nearly all Arsenal. We dominated the midfield, particularly Nasri and Fabregas. It was complete control. They moved the ball quickly and players moved well to provide passing opportunities.

The second and third goals were both created by fast interchanges between Nasri and Fabregas. Nasri finished the second one with calm and skill. The third was slightly comical in that it hit three City players before going in, but that just shows how much pressure they were under.

All in all a good professional performance against a team that usually sees home games out. We’re still in the hunt, though Man Utd are still grinding out results without playing that well.

Lee Bowyer
Lee Bowyer is a nasty little thug. He stamped on Bacary Sagna’s thigh and the referee missed it. Hopefully the FA will review it and give him the punishment he deserves.

PLAYER RATINGS

Fabianski – 8
Two top-class saves and excellent distribution. Beginning to look like he’s in charge as well.
Sagna – 7
Another consistent and competent performance. Didn’t let Bowyer bully him.
Clichy – 7
One of his good games. Beginning to find some form?
Djourou – 8
I think he’s a star. Wish he was more sturdy, but when he plays he’s classy and strong.
Koscielny – 7
Competent, played a good calm percentage game.
Song – 8
Disciplined and industrious.
Wilshere – 7
Worked hard but missed a sitter.
Fabregas – 9
Bossed the game with Nasri. It’s taken a while. Has it been fear for his hamstring or getting his head around not being at Barcelona? Whatever. He looks the business now.
Nasri – 9
My player of the season so far. Great vision and quick feet.
Walcott – 6
Couldn’t really get in to this one as well as he did against Chelsea, but his presence keeps up forward momentum.
Van Persie – 6
I want to rate him higher for the reasons above, but he isn’t quite there yet and missed two or three chances. More to come I hope.

What did you think?

Manchester City
We beat them at home – let’s do the double on Wednesday. C’mon Arsenal!

Man of the Match Poll still running here.

So far it’s midfield stars Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas who lead our Man of the Match poll.

You can add your vote here.

Looks like were back to my favoured line-up! Nasri displacing Arshavin and Walcott on the right.

________ Fabianski ________
Sagna _ Djourou Koscielny _ Clichy
________ Song _ Wilshere ______
__________ Fabregas ________
Walcott ___ Van Persie ___ Nasri

Slightly surprising with Man City coming up, but I think it’s our strongest team.

So, who plays against Birmingham tonight. After the eight changes made for the Wigan game, who can be sure?

Presumably the rotation continues, but does it go all the way back to the team against Chelsea with the Manchester City game a few days away?

Sagna and Koscielny started the last two so let’s assume that they are due a rest. Fabregas is available again after serving his suspension.

The injury to Diaby obviously screwed up the plan to rest Wilshere and Wenger had commented about the number of games he has already played. Will he be left out today to give him a break before the City game?

My guess is that tonight it will be half way back to first choice eleven. Something like this:

___________ Fabianski ________
Eboue _ Squillaci _ Djourou _ Clichy
________ Song _ Denilson ______
__________ Fabregas ________
Walcott ___ Chamakh ___ Arshavin

What do you think?

Arsenal have been dogged by two big problems recently. A terrible record against our title rivals and a strange complacency that has stopped us going on a real run of wins.

On Monday night we showed emphatically that we can beat the first problem. The team was truly magnificent. For the first time on ages we looked like genuine contenders. There was the odd slip up, the goal conceded and maybe Clichy dwelling on the ball once, but overall they played out of their skins. Djourou and Song were immense.

Now we must tackle the other big one – complacency. We have had this habit recently of slipping up against a weaker club straight after a big win. We need to bury that one as well against Wigan tonight and Birmingham on Saturday. I think that the team has as much to prove in these next two away games as they did on Monday. Win these and we can start to dream. Drop points and it’s same old same old.

So who should play? Fitness permitting, who would change a thing after Monday? That was exactly the starting line up I wanted to see. But only the Arsenal staff know who needs to sit the next one out. I expect there could be a couple of rotations. After the enforced break we are now into a relentless period of games.

C’mon Arsenal.