Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

We made a bit of a meal of beating QPR but we did it.  Meanwhile Chelsea had a ‘mare against Villa so here we are, back in the Champions League zone at the midpoint of the season.  Now we’ve got to keep the door shut behind us and see what what happens ahead of us.  The United result against Blackburn shows that there are plenty of surprises to be had in this league.

Over the next three days there’s another complete set of Premier League games.  Here’s the six-point spread around Arsenal:

So, final day of the transfer window.  We know the deals done or nearly done.  But we still don’t have the midfield playmaker we surely need.

So what deals can Arsenal still do?

The media are still largely running with the same names this morning.  Yann M’Vila and Mario Hamsik are all over various football websites, whilst the Mirror still favors the idea of Arteta and/or Fellaini from Everton.

There are some passing references to Yossi Benayoun, but mainly in the context of him going back to Liverpool in a cash plus player deal for Raul Meireles.

Sky Sports are running with Juan Manuel Vargas, the Peruvian winger at Fiorentina.  But I would have thought we had wingers a plenty now.

So who will it be?  Is there any life left in the moves for Hazard or Cahill or are they really out now?  I think Arsenal still need one more big signing, or two solid, experienced ones to restore the credibility that stops the media bandwagon.

My dream result would be Hazard or Hamsik plus M’Vila or Fellaini.  But that’s probably being greedy with the time that’s left.  What we really, really do need is a creative midfielder.

Hours then not days, and long, nervous ones at that!

Stand-by for a barrage of rumours, plus all the usual guff from Keith’s granny’s neighbour who runs a cab company near the training ground/stadium/airport!

Today we should see some official announcements as the better quality rumours of yesterday are turned into solid stories.  We should see confirmation that Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos are now Arsenal players.

Both of these deals represent some rapid footwork on Arsenal’s part, in stark contrast to the rest of our dealings this summer.

Fenerbahce’s punishment for match-fixing was announced last week, creating the possibility that they would be open to deals on star players and that the players themselves would want a move.  Now Santos is an Arsenal player and Traore is being offloaded to QPR.  Nice work for a change.

Some quick work also allowed Arsenal to hijack Lille’s deal for Monaco’s Park Chu-Young and secure what looks like a very decent back-up striker to Robin Van Persie.

Of course, that still leaves the long drawn out saga of filling key vacancies in central defence and midfield.

So what are the quality rumours of today that will be the solid transfer deals of tomorrow?

Over the last twenty-four hours, Arsenal have been linked to loads of players as the media and players’ agents try to help spend the sizable transfer budget.

In the last twenty-four hours, Arsenal have been linked with:

Eden Hazard, Yossi Benayoun, Gary Cahill, Leighton Baines, Marouane Fellaini, Alex, Kaka, Eljero Elia, Park Chu-Young, Yann M’Vila, Mikel Arteta, Adam Johnson, Mateo Kovacic, Mario Goetze, Florent Malouda and Sol Campbell to name but a few.

Most intriguing perhaps are the three Chelsea players.  What’s going on here?  Presumably, someone has leaked some sort of contact with Chelsea but nobody really knows who it is about.  Or is Arsene about to play some kind of Chelsea Supermarket Sweep and have them all!

Or is it just simply made up stuff from journalists who haven’t got any copy and so they’ve trawled the list of out of favour players.  Of course there are plenty of out of favour players, just at Chelsea and Manchester City.  The combination of huge budgets and rapid turnover of managers has left quite a few decent players warming the bench at both clubs.

As far as a central defender goes, I still think there is a good chance that we will see a deal for Gary Cahill.  Despite the hostile rhetoric of the last few weeks the logic is there.  Bolton need cash to bring in a striker, they are massively in debt.  We have the cash and Cahill could leave on a free next year.

There is some talk that Spurs want him too, but nothing of substance and at the moment Arsenal could outbid them if we really want him.

Benayoun or Malouda?  I can’t see that Malouda has anything that Gervinho or Park don’t already bring.

Benayoun as Fabregas replacement?  Maybe. Not as good obviously, but the endless saga of Cesc’s departure has probably blown the chance of an equal replacement.  There is also an argument that spreading the budget over more than one replacement could give Arsenal a more balanced side.

We shall see, and soon now – less than two days to go.

Two bits of solid looking news so far.  The first is that Arsene Wenger has categorically denied the Bendtner for Arteta story.  I am relieved to hear that as, although we desperately need a creative midfielder, I think Arteta’s time has passed.

After the United game, Wenger was asked whether there was any truth in the story and he gave a one word answer – ‘No’.

The second bit of news is more weight to the Park Chu-Young story.  Most papers are running the story that a medical for the South Korean captain is imminent.  I think that Park looks like a good back up striker and would be a welcome addition.  But that still doesn’t deal with the real priorities.

Last night I wrote that Arsenal must sign new centre back and a creative midfielder as an absolute minimum.  Frankly, we need another left back as well, but time is short and the first two might just be enough to restore some confidence.

There is a report that the centre back won’t be Scott Dann because he is going to QPR.  I don’t mind that as i don’t think he’s the answer.  Although the day after we’ve conceded eight goals it’s tempting to say buy anyone!  There’s also a report that Arsenal have been in contact with Chelsea over Alex, but not a lot of evidence to back it up.

So the main prospect is still Gary Cahill.  Bolton are definitely ready to sell and apparently need some of the cash to bring in David N’Gog from Liverpool.  Let’s hope we hear something concrete on that today.

Which leaves the creative midfielder issue.  Nothing new on that at all today.  Just some reheating of Eden Hazard stuff.  The Belgium midfielder does seem the most likely.

Two and a half days to go.

What else could go wrong?  How about Sagna and Vermaelen out as well, that’s what.

So Arsenal started with: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Djourou, Koscielny, Traore, Coquelin, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Van Persie and Arshavin.

If you include our quest to sign Gary Cahill, that means that not one of the back four would be our first choice to start.  For twenty minutes the pretence was maintained, but the pressure was all one way. Bravely, or foolishly, Arsenal tried to play the way they always play; trying to move the ball forward and keeping a high line.  But the Manchester United players knew that it was for show and kept pumping in the attacks.

Jenkinson and Traore were getting outnumbered and outplayed.  Walcott and Arshavin don’t provide much cover at the best of times.  These were the very worst of times.  To be fair to Jenkinson, he never hid, never shrank from the task, but he still got beat again and again.

Arshavin, when he did tackle, seemed determined to get sent off.  He got a yellow for a tackle that could easily have got a red.  Later he made a similar tackle and Howard Webb had mercy on him, no other explanation for him staying on.  Coquelin – what a game to have to make your Premiership debut.  I thought he did OK in the circumstances, better than I hoped, but he couldn’t do much to stem the tide either.

The first goal when it came was soft.  Anderson, I think, chipped the ball over the retreating centre backs, they let it bounce, never recovered position and Danny Welbeck headed in.

Just for a moment there seemed to be a reprieve.  Evra pulled Walcott back in the area and we got a penalty.  Could Van Persie make it one-all?  No.  Terrible penalty and Manchester United started surging forward again.

The second goal required a better finish but came from a poor headed clearance from Traore directed straight into the middle.  Szczesny had no chance from Young’s shot.

The third was a clinical freekick from Wayne Rooney.  Szczesny did well to get his fingers to it, but couldn’t keep it out.  Then, in the dying moments of the first half, Rosicky (our best player today?) combined with Walcott and he nutmegged De Gea.  Three-One.  We weren’t out of sight but it was as close as we got to respectability.

The second half was all one-way traffic.  I wasn’t surprised when Oxlade-Chamberlain came on, but I thought he would replace Arshavin.  In fact it was Coquelin who trudged off.  Didn’t understand that at all.  Anyway, Man Utd got another five, you all know that and I can’t be arsed to describe them.  We got another consolation goal through the determination of Jenkinson and Van Persie but we are not consoled.

I guess we all knew it was going to be bad, but this was a humiliating rout.

Szczesny: didn’t deserve to concede eight, there were a couple where he might of made a better decision, but he made loads of saves too, so he shouldn’t be hard on himself.

Back Four: Dire. But not through lack of effort. Jenkinson played his heart out and will be distraught.  He got a second red in the end, to add to our troubles. Koscielny was probably the best. But as a unit they were hopelessly outclassed. Djourou conceded more freekicks than I could count.  After Jenkinson’s red, Walcott found himself at right back and conceded a penalty, so he was replaced by Lansbury. He knows how to tackle, but it was late in the game by then to be of any relevance.

DM: The pressure on Coquelin must have been immense, and I he didn’t deserve to be part of this humiliation on his debut.  When he was taken off, we didn’t really have a holding player. I guess the idea was we could get back into the game with more attacking pace, but the next goal was United’s.

AM: Ramsey and Rosicky didn’t do too badly when they got the chance.  In fact Rosicky seems a man transformed this season. He seems to have more energy and more purpose. He tackle, holds the ball passes. But he was on to  a loser today. OxLade-Chamberlain didn’t get a touch for ages.  He had one good run, but like Coquelin, this was the debut from hell.

Wings: Walcott worked hard, he earned a penalty and got a goal.  Arshavin was lucky to stay on. lost the balled and often left Traore facing two incoming red shirts. Yes he created the odd chance, but not enough.

Forwards: Van Persie will be seeing that soft penalty kick for a long time. It was the chance to equalise and it was given up easily. Yes he scored, but by then United were six-one up. Chamakh was sent on at seven-two. Just to share the pain I guess.

It was painful to watch.  I’m not sure when we were last beaten so comprehensively, though I’m sure some statto will tell us *.  On the telly Merson was laying into Wenger, saying we should have set out to play differently.  More defensively.  Looking at the bench I don’t think we had many real options anyway. We could have played Lansbury from the start I suppose, but it would still have been a desperately inexperienced set-up.

This game was lost before today.  We need that other central defender.  Traore isn’t great cover for Gibbs.  Not sure Gibbs is that great anyway.  Rosicky is trying the rise to the challenge of senior attacking midfielder with more passion and skill than any of us would expect.  But it was never going to be enough at Old Trafford.

For me, the people who represented Arsenal best today were the away fans.  They kept singing and chanting long after the club deserved it.  Collectively, they were my Man of the Match.

Never has an international break been more welcome for the club.  But the real key is the next three days.  Let’s seal the deal with Cahill and get the most creative midfielder we can lay our hands on.  In and ideal world, another left back too.  But today, it doesn’t look like an ideal world.

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* 5th November 1960. West Ham 6:0 Arsenal, so worst result for nearly 51 years!

Some fans have very short memories as they rush to claim that Arsenal have blown their chance to get Gary Cahill with a ‘derisory’ opening bid.

Errr, does the name Fabregas ring any bells? Opening bid of £23million? Is he still at Arsenal?

Comments yesterday from Bolton manager Owen Coyle made it clear that Gary Cahill can go.  Coyle has been preparing the Bolton fans for the news, pointing out that Cahill deserves Champions League football.

But more important for Bolton is the fact that he has less than a year on his contract and they are massively in debt.  Obviously they want to push up the price as high as they can.  But the problem they have is that no other big club seems to he interested. Chelsea, City and United are either done for this window or looking for other positions

I think that the chances of Gary Cahill being an Arsenal player by Wednesday are very good and it looks as if the Korean Park Chu-Young will be the new back-up striker to Robin Van Persie.

Again, there’s been some negative comment on that one and some of it very distasteful.  But as a back-up striker he looks pretty good to me.

So that could be two of the three players that Arsene Wenger wants.  But what does worry me is the third slot that Arsene Wenger needs to fill – a creative midfielder to replace Cesc.  Of the plausible names being bandied about at the moment, only Eden Hazard is in the same class.

I have long admired Wesley Snjeider and Bastian Schweinsteiger and would be over the moon to see either with the cannon on his chest, but I’m having trouble believing that either of those rumours are true.

Fingers crossed!  Not that everything isn’t crossed already as we head to Old Trafford with a slightly scratch-built team and a bench more used to running out at the Underhill.

C’mon Arsenal!

Usually Arsene Wenger says very little about transfer plans.  But this hasn’t been a usual summer and now he has said exactly what he wants: a striker, a midfielder and a defender.

The defender that he’s been pressing for over the last 48 hours is obviously Gary Cahill. Equally obvious, despite the hostile comments of Coyle and Gartside, is Bolton’s need to sell.

Like Nasri, Cahill is a valuable asset a in the last year of his contract.  Whilst Arsenal could have taken the risk of Nasri leaving on a free, it made more sense to take the money.  The same applies to Bolton only more so.

Although Phil Gartside showed a complete lack of class in retweeting that abusive comment, he’s probably hoping to drum up some rival bids. The problem he has is that other wealthy clubs have already bought central defenders.  So Arsenal have probably done no harm by starting with a relatively low bid.

Rumour has it that the alternate to Cahill is Raul Albiol who is apparently surplus to requirements at Real Madrid.  I don’t know how solid that rumour is and you always wonder about a player that is being offloaded.  But he’s experienced and we certainly need someone.

Some French media sources claim that for all the public denials, the move for Lille’s Eden Hazard is definitely on if a price can be agreed.  But that price could be £35million.  Well if he’s the right player, we’ve got the money.

I’ve no idea who the striker will be.  It’s clear though from Wenger’s comments that he is expecting Bendtner to leave.  We he a striker, he said, to cover us when Gervinho and Chamakh are both away at the African Cup of Nations.

After all the waiting, the last few days of the transfer window could be exciting.  Let’s hope there is actually enough time to get the deals done.

Meanwhile there’s the small matter of taking on Manchester United tomorrow!  Choosing the squad will be easy, step forward anyone who isn’t suspended and is actually fit enough to step forward.

The obvious hole is holding midfielder, with both Song and Frimpong unavailable.  The two options are probably Djourou or Vermaelen.  Johann Djourou used to play as a defensive midfielder and Thomas Vermaelen clearly has the mobility to cover there too.  That’s assuming Vermaelen has got over the knock he took on Wednesday.

The key to this decision is most likely to be which one of them is needed alongside Koscielny at the back.  My guess is that having the strongest back four will take priority and so Djourou will cover for Song.  Does completing that strongest back four mean Jenkinson or Traore?  I think it was significant that Wenger started with Jenkinson for the must win game against Udinese, with Traore coming on later.  Plus there is talk of Traore spending the season on loan at QPR.

With no Gervinho I guess Arshavin will start.

So I’m guessing:

________ Szczesny _______
Jenkinson _ Kos _ Verm _ Sagna
_________ Djourou _______
_____Rosicky _ Ramsey ____
Walcott _ Van Persie _ Arshavin

What do you think?

The transfer gossip is disappointingly thin this Friday morning.  So I thought I’d try and help it along by pointing out that Arsenal’s goalscoring drought and fabled defensive frailties could be dramatically solved today by a double swoop for Premiership bad boys Craig Bellamy and Joey Barton.

Although no official approach has been made for either so far, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been made aware of their availability.

It’s a move that would please many former Arsenal stars, who have issued a plea to embattled boss Wenger that it is time to ‘win ugly’.

‘With just six days to go, there is a need to move quickly’, advised former Arsenal boss Fred Bleeding-Obvious.  Whilst club officials are firmly denying any interest at the moment, Wenger is notorious for playing his cards close to his chest.

But then, who would believe a story made up of no more than a collection of sentences like that, so maybe I won’t bother.  Or maybe I haven’t got the point of this footy blogging thing yet.

Out there in the world of serious sport journalism where hardworking professionals get serious money to sell newspapers bring us the truth, it is reported that Arsenal have offered Bolton half of what they have previously been reported as offering for Gary Cahill.

Another story seriously contemplates the idea that Arsenal would accept an offer from Wolfsburg for Rosicky, allowing a third attacking midfielder to leave in two weeks.  Then there’s the report that Arsenal are about to swoop for an unknown, 16 year old from France!

Actually you know, there’s something about that last one….

Stay happy folks, it’s a Friday after all!

There’s a lot of chatter out there today but not a lot of hard news. Take your pick from the Dann, Cahill, Jagielka and Mertesacker exclusives, but they’re all reheated leftovers really.

There’s a new element to the Nasri story with Laurent Blanc confidently saying that he will be moving very soon. If Manchester City are really offering £20million or more Arsenal should take it.

Poor old Ian Wright has had to stop reading his Twitter messages because Arsenal fans have been giving a hard time. Sadly he will still be writing his Sun column. Well I say writing, I suspect he just has to dictate it to some junior hack who sits there encouraging him to say something more controversial. Still nice work if you can get it.

My own criticism of Ian Wright’s columns is that the are usually dull statements of the obvious. Apparently, if it all goes wrong for Arsenal and they crash out of the CL and top four then Arsene Wenger will be under great pressure. No shit Sherlock.

Nicklas Bendtner says he’s definitely leaving, still, he just can’t confirm which of the many clubs who are after him will win out. Andrey Arshavin on the other hand says he’s going nowhere despite all the Russians after him.

Quite a lot has been written about Arsene Wenger’s return to pace, with Miyaichi and Chamberlain joining Walcott. Whilst we have definitely lacked some pace recently, I’m not sure how much of the two teenagers we’re going to see on a regular basis. I’m assuming that two out of Arshavin, Gervinho and Walcott will be the usual starters.

That’s about it really. Hopefully there will be a defensive signing soon to add to the new found pace out wide.

So, I’m back in the reach of modern communications and what has changed?  Distressingly little it would seem!  Arsenal have let another lead slip, as you were on Fabregas and Nasri, the media say were interested in a bloke called Cahill and we’re about to sign a teenage winger.

Nothing wrong with signing young Oxlade-Chamberlain, if this is true, the kid clearly has potential.  But with five days days, count them, to our evening kick-off at St James Park there is still no firm sign of the defensive reinforcements we all crave.  As well as the Cahill mention, some journos are reheating the Per Mertesacker story, variously claiming that he has issued a ‘come and get me plea to Arsenal’.  Reading his actual words bring you down to earth, but it does seem clear that both he and his club are open to the idea of a move.

I’ve said before that he isn’t the most impressive central defender who ever pulled on his country’s shirt, but aside from Vermaelen he’s better than what we’ve got.  Better than yesterday’s favourite, Scott Dann, as well.

I see that Barcelona have broken into another piggy bank and offered a little more loose change for our captain.  Still nowhere near what he is worth.  Seems to be a battle of nerves now.  Can Barcelona even afford £40million?