Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

First-half Team -

Szczesny
Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen (C), Gibbs
Song, Ramsey, Wilshere
Walcott, Chamakh, Gervinho (sub Miyaichi)

Good performance going forward, great dribbling and passing from Jack Wilshere.  Great debut from Gervinho getting two goals with cool finishes.  A bit shaky at the the back though, mainly when Gibbs was slow coming back from getting forward, leaving the defence out-numbered at the back.  Carl Jenkinson was a bit unfortunate to score an own goal.  Should probably just of hoofed it with his other foot, but ended up with trying to control it with the outside of his boot and looped it over Szczesny.

Second-half Team -

Mannone (sub Fabianski)
Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Gibbs (sub Henderson (sub Afobe))
Frimpong, Rosicky, Nasri
Vela, Van Persie (C), Arshavin

Gibbs is the only one to survive the changes with the other ten all swapped round.  Squillaci and Podolski got nose to nose over some tight marking and shirt pulling by the Arsenal player.  Good snap shot from Rosicky.  Some nice flips from Van Persie.  Some good hustling runs from Arshavin. Frimpong is good at breaking up attacks, even if his passing is a bit wayward.  Nasri was completely anonymous. Henderson was stretchered off near the end after twisting his knee.

No point in over-analysing a pre-season friendly, but the first half team definately put on the best display.

Well it was good to see a bit of football again, even if it was a very soft pre-season friendly.   It would be foolish to read too much into such a game, but what we got was encouraging.

Miyaichi and Jenkinson looked good.  The winger has pace and some tricks and the defender looked competent though we were not really tested defensively.  There were lots of nice passes and finishing from Ramsey, Walcott and Vela.

The biggest talking point though is over why Denilson was subbed just twenty minutes after getting on the pitch in the second half.  Some say he stormed off down the tunnel afterwards.  If so, I don’t why he’s getting quite so precious, he’s the one who said he didn’t want to be around anymore.  If he’s got something better to do then he should ….

Except the offers haven’t exactly been flooding in have they?  I suspect that problem is that he’s on a decent pay level and no-one who’s interested wants to match it.  Arsene Wenger tactfully talked about him having a little knock the day before and twenty minutes being a good result.  Hmmm, not often I’m more convinced by a Metro story than the manager but this time maybe.

Arsene Wenger has been busy upsetting Manchester City over their enormous naming rights deal.  £300million?  Three times the amount Manchester United get from their sponsorship.  A strictly commercial deal obviously.  Obviously.  Wenger is right on this blowing a big hole in the UEFA Fairness policy but I’m not sure it will make any difference.

Le Prof has also been slapping down Barcelona after Xavi’s comments about Cesc Fabregas ‘suffering’ were posted on their official website.  This just seem to be such a dumb move on Barcelona’s part.  Why piss off someone you want a deal from.  Unless of course you can’t afford the deal and just want to chip away bit-by-bit like a teenager.  That couldn’t be it could it?

Elsewhere it’s all a bit quiet.  No hard news yet on Bendtner or Almunia’s departure.   No news on a new defender.

Arsenal have annouced their 23 man squad for the games in Malaysia and China. So who’s going and who’s staying. And if they’re staying, does it actually mean they’re really going?

Goalkeepers -
On Tour: Szczesny, Mannone
On Hold: Almunia, Fabianski

According to the BBC, an Arsenal spokesman has hinted that transfer negotiations for Manuel Almunia could be in the offing with the club having more to say on Monday. Lukasz Fabianski is still recovering from the injury to his shoulder in February.

Defenders -
On Tour: Djourou, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Sagna, Squillaci, Traore, Vermaelen
On Hold: Eboue

Emmanuel Eboue apparently has a calf injury and the rumour mill has been pretty quiet for a while. There was some early talk of a move to QPR but nothing has materialised.

Midfielders -
On Tour: Arshavin, Denilson, Frimpong, Miyaichi, Nasri, Ramsey, Rosicky, Song, Wilshere
On Hold: Diaby, Eastmond, Emmanuel-Thomas, Fabregas, Lansbury

Diaby has an injury and, according to The Mirror this week, Arsenal are open to offers. Then again, other reports say Arsenal have turned down offers. Craig Eastmond broke an ankle back in April while on loan at Millwall. Not much on Jay Emmanual-Thomas. There have been rumours of him being a make weight sale or loan in a deal for Cahill, but nothing substantial. Fabregas, well of course he has an injury hasn’t he! The Sun today says that a season-long loan deal will send Lansbury back to Norwich for regular Premier League football.

Forwards -
On Tour: Chamakh, Van Persie, Vela, Walcott
On Hold: Bendtner

The BBC story on Almunia above also puts Bendtner in the same boat: something happening on a transfer soon, more to be said next week.

Of course, not everyone who is going is necessarily staying!

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin, Robin Van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Eboue and Bacary Sagna are all set to leave this summer.

But, talking exclusively to The Daily Spar, he told fans that the club didn’t necessarily need the bring in new players.  “We have a great depth of talent in this squad.  I think Denilson’s statements about wanting to win trophies shows that he has the mental strength to lead.  He brings a special maturity and patience to the team that will make him a great captain.”

Wenger also hinted that Carlos Vela would get the starring role up front.  “His time at West Brom was a revelation.”

Or to put it another way, there isn’t anything of value in the Sunday papers.  The only ‘new’ theme being a story in the Mail on Sunday that Chelsea are interested in Theo Walcott.

Tune on tomorrow for shock news on Jack Wilshere’s departure to newly-rich FC Cluj, or if we’re lucky some real news!

Back from a busy period at work and what’s new in the Arsenal world? Not a lot really. No new injury worries and Arsene Wenger says no need to splash the cash this January.

Oh and the Carlos Vela fan club stopped by on Wednesday night! Looking at the old Google stats it seems half the traffic on Wednesday came from a Facebook page in Mexico. Thanks for popping in guys and good luck to Carlos who has become a bit of a forgotten man at Arsenal.

You do wonder whether a loan to a Premiership club would all concerned. A chance for Vela to play, a chance for Wenger to discover whether he’s got it or not. Plenty of clubs need a goal-scorer.

December will be quite a testing month. The games against Chelsea and Manchester United could prove decisive and although Belgrade at home should be straightforward we have left no margin of error.

Anyway back to Fulham. They have had a bit of crap time away to Arsenal in recent times. So all that can really go wrong for us is a slide back into complacency. Hopefully the two runs of two defeats has cured this now and we can show the same grit at home as we have on the road.

I don’t expect there will be many changes. We need to consolidate the form we’ve found and that means keeping players in. Sounds as if Wenger doesn’t see RVP starting though, so I’m expecting something like this:

____________ Fabianski ________
Sagna _ Squillaci _ Koscielny _ Clichy
________ Song ___ Denilson ____
___________ Rosicky __________
Nasri ______ Chamakh ___ Arshavin

with RVP getting some match-time too.

What do you think?

Robin Van Persie and Carlos Vela lead our Man or the Match poll so far, but eleven players including a sub have got support.

You can add your vote here.

Another Saturday lunchtime game.  Let’s hope it doesn’t screw up the whole weekend again.

For the second time we need to break a run of two defeats.  So far we have been very fortunate in that our opponents have been slipping up too.  But that won’t last. Arsenal players have to take control of their own destiny by going out and playing the football they are capable of.

So who should play against Aston Villa?

Fabianski in goal for me.  Wasn’t great in the last two, but that applies to most of the team and I still think that the priority for Arsenal is to give him a good run.  There may be a decent option in the January transfer window, but in the meantime a goalkeeper needs to play regularly to develop.

Back four?  Well Eboue is out but I think that Sagna would have been back in anyway.  There seems to be a doubt about Clichy, but yesterday it sounded like Wenger thought he would play.  In the middle I would play Squillaci and Djourou.  I think that Djourou did a good job covering for Koscielny and that Wenger might have kept in for the Braga game.  Certainly Koscielny didn’t look good midweek.  I would go for Johann.

Cesc is definitely out, so Nasri plays in the centre.  He is my player of the season so far and he was good there for France.  I think Song and Wilshere will be backing him up.  With Nasri in the middle, does that mean Walcott starts out on the right.  I think that it does, but he needs to be up for the fight if the going gets tough.  I thought that when he got the ball he did reasonably well midweek compared to most.  But whoever plays in the middle up-front has got to get in the box.  Walcott seems to be working harder at putting in the crosses but he will get discouraged if no-one is ever there!

Over on the left?  I think it comes down to who Wenger thinks is in the most determined mood out of Arshavin and Rosicky.  Hasn’t been much between them for me this season.  Go with the one who looks most up for it.

The man in the middle is a mystery – Van Persie, Chamakh or Bendtner?  (Sorry Carlos!)  If RVP is really fit, he should surely play or what’s the point?

But the overwhelming selection criteria should be – ‘Who is up for it?’ – ‘Who wants it most?’

So my best guess is -

__________ Fabianski _________
Sagna _ Squillaci _ Djourou _ Clichy
_______ Song ___ Wilshere _____
__________ Nasri ____________
Walcott __ Van Persie ___ Rosicky

But what do you think?

When I was a learner driver I can remember coming up to junctions and waiting nervously when there was no traffic to be seen.  I knew I could go, but my nerves said you always give way at junctions.  “Don’t wait for trouble”, my instructor would say, “if the road is clear, go!”

Arsenal looked like learner drivers last night.  They are a more skillful team than Braga but they didn’t believe it and didn’t play like it.  Instead of being motivated by the embarrassment of the Tottenham game they were paralyzed by it.

They waited eighty-five minutes for trouble and eventually it found them.  They were so uncertain about their task that they looked lost.  The ball was moved backwards and forwards along the half-way line until it was lost.  Braga had no real ambition in the first half, but I think that in the end we were boring them so much that they decided to attack to break the sheer tedium of it all.

There were some promising moments, we are still a talented side, but it was all held back by this problem of attitude and fragile confidence.

To top it all we lost two players with injury.  The referee tried to liven up proceedings by being generally crap.  I haven’t seen a TV angle yet that explains why Arsenal didn’t get a penalty when Vela went down.  Eboue got booked when a Braga player took a dive right in front of the fifth (or is it the sixth) official.

It may be that if we had been luckier with the referee we might have won 1:0, but it would still have been a worrying performance.  Arsenal have talent.  Every one of those players is worth a premiership start.  What they don’t have is grit.  Their attitude is as fragile as hell and no-one on the pitch wants to lead.

When Fabregas came off, the armband passed to Nasri.  Now I know that passing on the armband when the captain comes off is not a well thought out thing in any team, and Nasri is my favourite player so far this season, but it typifies the problem.  The captain should not necessarily be the most skillful player on the pitch – they should be the leader.  Fabregas and Nasri are often the best players on the pitch.  But they are not leaders.

I could write about not using Walcott‘s pace enough or single out Bendtner for never being in the box when Walcott did deliver the ball onto the six yard line, but to be honest they were all lacklustre.  Didn’t bother setting up a man of the match poll because there wasn’t one.

George Graham was once asked after a crunch game, “how did you decide who to make captain today.”  Adams must have been out.  He replied, “I didn’t really know so I just gave the armband to the first player to pick up a ball and leave the dressing room.”  Maybe, since the injured Fabregas can’t get offended, Wenger should try the same approach for the Villa game.

A lot of Arsenal bloggers are predicting big changes for the game against Newcastle.  I not so sure.  The are bound to be changes, but how big will they be if we are really serious about all competitions this season?

I would keep Fabianski in.  That may be tough on Szczesny but the team comes first and every first-team game that Fabianski gets will build him up.  How fit is Koscielny?  I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes back at the weekend rather than on Wednesday.  No point in rushing people back from injury if you don’t need to.  I think the fullbacks will be changed.

My guess is that Bendtner and Walcott will start, to see ig they are up to ninety minute fitness now.  That leaves three midfielders and one forward position.

What is Vela for?  I’ve been wondering for a while and will be even more confused if he doesn’t appear against Newcastle!  So that leaves three from: Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Denilson and Rosicky. Could Lansbury be in the mix as well – he did well at Tottenham.  Diaby is still out I think.  I think that Wenger will want some experience in there to give direction.

If we really are taking the Carling seriously, I expect:

_________ Fabianski ____________
Eboue __ Squillaci __ Djourou __ Gibbs
___________ Denilson __________
_______ Fabregas __ Lansbury _____
Walcott _____ Bendtner _______ Vela

What do you think?

Absolutely unbelievable. Three nil down to West Brom. Thank goodness Nasri still had a bit of pride left. Rosicky and Wilshere tried once they got on the pitch. But even so, three – two flattered Arsenal.

Hard to know where to start and what to say. As Wenger said they were all poor and we got what we deserved.

We’ve done this before of course. Usually to a team we expect to beat just after we’ve whipped a team we expected to be tough. Complacency can affect everyone. What the team doesn’t seem to have is the ability to step back up a gear when a game turns out not to be a cruise.

Wenger says we shouldn’t single out anyone. But it’s hard not to. Maybe we could just ask: if we have four first team keepers and Manuel Almunia is the first choice, just how bad are the others?

If our second choice right-back was the best choice for third forward today, how much is Carlos Vela paid? Does Diaby care?

Bit of a random rant this I know, but this hurts. Chelsea offered the chance to close the gap this afternoon and we chucked it away.

Managers frequently say one game at a time. Today’s starting line-up looked more like it was picked with Belgrade and Chelsea in mind. Let’s hope that bit at least comes off.