Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Much coverage overnight in The Sun and elsewhere of Christopher Samba’s comments. These are widely interpreted as a plea to move and the club he mentions is Arsenal.

On the other hand, Sky quote Samba playing all this down and saying that he has never mentioned another club.

We have to bring in a dependable central defender and although Cahill is probably the better ball player, that isn’t what we’re missing. What we need is strength, determination and good judgement about where the danger is – someone else can move the ball forward.

I would be happy to see Samba join. To be honest I’d be happy to see any decent defender join after last season!

Another big transfer story, pushed hardest in the Mirror, is that Valencia’s Juan Mata is in serious talks with Arsenal. The Mirror says that his entourage of family and advisers are in London now to talk terms. He looks a great player and well worth it, regardless of whether Nasri or Fabregas are to depart.

Various media tell us that Anderlecht’s Lucas Biglia is also a possible buy and that Real Madrid would love us to take Benzema off their hands. I reckon these two stories are still firmly in the ‘dubious’ column, but Biglia is the sort of player we might need if both Song and Frimpong get called up for the African Cup of Nations competition in the New Year. Plus I think that Song could do with a bit more competition than the youthful Frimpong. Alex Song is a great player but his devotion to the defensive midfield task is prone to wander.

Not sure where Benzema would fit unless you were going to turn RVP into a more deep-lying type forward. Rather see a new left back myself.

It looks like Gervinho could get an early run in the team with news that Walcott’s ankle is playing up again. Arsenal are being a bit vague about how long recovery might take and don’t have a great track record on predicting the return of injured players anyway.

Definitely out for months is Conor Henderson, who like Frimpong last summer, has damaged his cruciate ligaments. Not sure how many first team appearances he would have got this season but he’s clearly been getting close so this will be a big disappointment.

It’s been goodbye to JET who became a Tractor Boy this week. He has clearly not impressed the Arsenal coaching staff with his attitude even if he has the ability. This could be a crucial season for him. If he impresses at Ipswich he might get into a Premiership club and, no doubt, provide a ‘sell-on’ windfall for Arsenal. A season of anonymity will herald a decade of Championship football.

There we are, a round up of rumours and scraps – these are the dog days of the football year. Doesn’t quite feel close enough to the new season to quicken the pulse, need some exciting and genuine transfer news.

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.

Barcelona are apparently now setting Arsenal a deadline – they want the Fabregas deal done before they go on tour on Tuesday!

Well show us the b****ing money then. Fabregas on worth £40million and I suspect Arsenal would cut their losses at something showing a bit of daylight over £35million.

Arsenal need to move on, without getting ripped off, which is probably why Cesc isn’t in Germany. I suspect his injury will clear up once a decision is taken either way.

Meanwhile Arsene Wenger is keen to reassure us that the hunt is on for another defender. He doesn’t say whether it’s a central defender or left back he’s looking for, but then he’s already been more specific than he usually is.

There are some Arsenal bloggers out there who are writing pieces demanding that Wenger tells us what is going on or calling him a liar. I don’t know whether they’re just very naive people or feel that blogging is all about writing antagonistic pieces to get more hits.

Either way, they are barking if they think that any manager is going to reveal their hand completely when lining up multi-million pound transactions. Arsene Wenger is far from perfect but he’s also far better than most. But with many Arsenal fan bloggers he can’t win at the moment. They have a go if he doesn’t make bids and they have a go if he does.

I’ve said many times that we need another central defender, a more experienced left back and, preferably some cover and competition for Song. But I suspect Wenger’s biggest headache is avoiding the loss of Fabregas and Nasri at the same time.

On the Jagielka story, I’m slightly surprised that he’s the target given his age and fitness issues, but you don’t know to what extent Wenger is playing off Everton, Bolton, Blackburn or anyone else.

Anyway, another meagre ration of pre-season football today with pitch time for Henderson, Gervinho and Afobe.