Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

First, the more important news that Fabrice Muamba is showing very positive signs of recovery.  A huge number of football fans, regardless of the club they support, have clearly been following every news bulletin with concern for Fabrice.  It sounds very good at the moment but he will still have some way to go.  Good luck Fabrice.

Back at Arsenal there was the usual update on squad fitness with few surprises. Squillaci returns to fitness as, more importantly, does Andre Santos.  The Brazilian played a reserve game last week with no problems and is available for selection.

Abou Diaby played most of a reserve game last night and scored a goal. Apparently he also hobbled around with an ankle problem for a while as well.  Business as usual then!  Actually the report I read didn’t suggest the ankle injury was serious.  But then this is Diaby, so we ought wish the poor guy some luck.  But he obviously wasn’t going to feature tonight anyway.

Francis Coquelin is a couple of weeks away from fitness and there is nothing new to say on Wilshere (April a possibility), Frimpong or Mertesacker (season over for both).

All of which suggests an unchanged line-up for the Everton game tonight.  The squad hasn’t played for a week, so there’s no need for rotation.  Everton away is tough, so I would expect any changes to be for the home game against Villa rather than this one.

So, still expecting to watch:

_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
_________ Song __________
____ Arteta ___ Rosicky ___
Walcott ____ RVP ____ AOC

Everton will be without Gibson and possibly Rodwell too.  But their main threat of Baines and Pienaar down the left will be there.  Good job we have Bacary Sagna back as he will have to play a big part tonight.  Their striker Jelavic seems to be quite useful too and will need tracking into box.  The Croatian forward got the winner against Spurs and we certainly don’t want to suffer the same fate.  If we can neutralise those threats we should pull off a win.

Finally, goal.com report that Robin Van Persie will be in the final year of his contract this summer.  Hands up at the back if you hadn’t picked up on that already!

Come on you Gunners!

These are the two big Arsenal stories spread across the media this morning.  Let’s start with the most important.  The Van Persie story is based on comments by Roberto Mancini, responding to media questions.  Mancini has a bit more class than Barcelona types so he says first that he thinks Van Persie will stay at Arsenal.  But, if he didn’t, then of course Manchester City would be interested.  Well who wouldn’t be?

I’m afraid that this type of story, which at the moment all seem driven by the media rather than any particular club, is going to be a regular feature until Robin Van Persie’s contract situation is resolved.  Whether any club will get quite as down and dirty as Barcelona did over Fabregas remains to be seen, but we’re going to have to put up with it for a while.

I think the chances of Van Persie staying are good as long as we stay in the Champions League.  That dictates everything now.  If we stay in, we have more to offer in both finance and prestige.  It also means that the promises to strengthen the squad this summer are more likely to be kept.  If we don’t, then Van Persie is bound to be tempted by big offers for what is likely to be his last major playing contract.

The other big story is that Arsenal are close to nailing down terms to bring Lukas Podolski to the club this summer.  Even the BBC, which generally likes to be fairly certain a story is genuine before publishing, is going with this one.  What we don’t know of course is whether this is also tied to whether we have Champions League football or not.

If the Podolski story is true it is encouraging for two reasons.  First, it means Arsenal are working to get deals sorted out early and avoid getting trapped into the same supermarket dash of last year.  Second, it confirms that Arsene Wenger’s approach has become more pragmatic.  Podolski would be another mature head alongside the developing talent of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny.

Don’t get me wrong, I really approve of what Arsene Wenger has achieved in bringing in young talent.  If you look at the players we’ve discovered and developed it’s a fantastic record.  But I do wonder whether some of those moments where Arsenal gave choked and blown games might have been different with a a more even blend of youth and experience.

Meanwhile, away from the frothy transfer talk, young Szczesny has been having a bit of a dig at Chelsea.  Unlike some clubs, well Chelsea, he says that Arsenal players know who is boss.  Everyone here is equal, apart from Arsene Wenger – who is most definitely in charge.

A bit unfair on Di Matteo I suppose, but that’s how it is at big school Roberto.  It’s a welcome change to see Arsenal able to put the psychological pressure on its rivals for the first time this season.  We’ve been on the receiving end for so long that for a nano-second or so you might feel sympathetic and disapproving.

Nah!  Go for it.  Let’s have a follow up story tomorrow about how aging stars should be wary of Stoke’s energetic and unrelenting style!  We’ve got to wait until Monday night until our game so some entertainment and dropped points at the Bridge would be just the job to keep the weekend interesting!

Not too bad a weekend! Seven Arsenal goals on Saturday and then on Sunday Howard Webb pulled it back for United to see Chelsea dropping a couple of points despite having gone 3:1 up. To be honest, the first Man Utd goal was a genuine penalty, but the second one was a gift.

Pity about the Newcastle win though to hold us back in sixth. Still the battle for fourth has tightened up again to our advantage with the gap to Chelsea cut from five points to three.

Lessons from the weekend?

Front Three Works
The Walcott, RVP, AOC combo had given us back width and some fear factor. Yes I know it was only Blackburn, but we were getting seriously predictable and bogged down in the middle. Now we’re coming from more angles and we’re running into the box.

Arsene Wenger had been warning about the danger of burn out for Chamberlain and no-one wants a repeat of Jack Wilshere’s experience this season. But with Gervinho returning it should be possible to avoid that.

Welcome back Mikel
It’s hard to point out key moments during the game, but it just works better with him. There’s more composure and possession results in the ball moving forward more. Somehow we’re under less pressure. Can’t tell you exactly why. There just seem to be some players, like Gilberto Silva or John Collins and Mikel Arteta who know where they need to be to relieve pressure from team-mates.

Rosicky can share Ramsey’s load
Tomas Rosicky is having his best season in ages despite playing a support role. He may not be up to consecutive starts, but he can step right in when Ramsey needs a break.

So a better Monday morning despite the trudge through the snow to the station and the packed train. Have a good day now.

So, Thomas Eisfeld then?  Haven’t a clue to be honest.  I mean, we’d all learned up about Mario Gotze and it turns out we’re buying the other teenage attacking midfielder from Dortmund.  The one who isn’t tipped by all the big past stars of German football and isn’t called Super Mario.  Poor kid!

Not sure how much we’ll see of him this season.   He has played no first team games for Borussia Dortmund and Arsene Wenger has said that there will be a period of adaptation.  So I doubt that he will feature much before the autumn.  Which is a pity because the bad news of the day was confirmation that Jack Wilshere is unlikely to feature before next season as well.  So Gotze would have been just the job.

But the truth is that no ‘big name’ was likely to come in this January.  People can witter on all they like about Arsenal having plenty in the bank and that Arsenal have to buy, but you can only buy if people want to come.  What big star would commit to Arsenal in January when we are six points off a Champions League spot?  This may be unfamiliar territory for younger fans, but it’s where we are and we will only change it on the pitch with the player we have.

The news about Jack Wilshere is quite a blow as we could do with more midfield cover as the season goes on.  Arteta and Ramsey have both done a great job but Ramsey is looking a bit jaded and Arteta didn’t have the best of fitness records before joining Arsenal.  Rosicky is doing a great job at the moment bit you don’t see him starting many consecutive games.

Which brings us on to the team to face Bolton tonight.  Bolton are fourth from bottom but we haven’t let such things get in the way of an embarrassing slip-up before.  Laurent Koscielny is right to warn against any complacency.

Last night, Chelsea were kind enough to leave a couple of points in Swansea, so we need seize the opportunity.  Arteta, and Henry are apparently both good to start, but it is less likely for Sagna.  There are no additional injuries from the Villa game.

Our current league form is, of course, dire with three losses on the trot.  Bolton on the other hand have had a good month with victories over Everton and Liverpool and progress on the cup.  Losing at Old Trafford was their only problem in January.

So a strong team choice is order to ensure we get back to winning ways.  Only two real choices to makes I guess, Sagna v Coquelin/Djourou and Ox v Arshavin.  Bolton are not particularly pacey on the left so Djourou would be ok, but I would prefer Coquelin.  As for the other choice, Arsene Wenger has talked of a cautious development of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arshavin start with the younger player back on Saturday at Bolton.

So something like this:

______ Szczesny ______
Coq _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
________ Song _______
___ Arteta __ Ramsey __
Walcott _ RVP _ Arshavin

Apart from Thierry’s winner against Leeds United, January has been a thoroughly crap month. Let’s hope we can end it with a win against Villa tomorrow. I know the league is our main focus nut when you’re in a losing rut you just need any kind of win.

A big part of our problem has been injuries of course and the news there is good and bad. Arteta, Henry and Coquelin are likely to be available and Sagna could make the bench.

The news that Jack Wilshere has suffered a set-back this week is depressing. He’s said to be gifted and I’m sure he is. It’s frustrating for us as fans, must be so much worse for him.

Of the potential returnees, I think it’s Arteta we’ve missed the most. We’ve definitely lacked composure and possession whilst he’s been out so if just one of them is ready I hope it’s him. If there’s any doubt about Coquelin, I wouldn’t be disappointed to see Yennaris at fullback. He’s looked alright and it’s his position.

Last time we played Villa we won with a late Benayoun header. Since then they’ve added Keane on loan. He may not be quite the player he was, but he’s still a big threat. I think it could be a tough game.

Will Oxlade-Chamberlain get a start? I think he might just, although Arsene Wenger was on bit of a mission to fix Arshavin’s confidence yesterday. But form is the thing and managers earn their corn by being ruthless when required. So it would be good to see AOC, even if he doesn’t have the stamina for ninety minutes yet.

Course, if he can’t do ninety minutes, Arsene Wenger won’t relish repeating THAT substitution! But if Henry is fit he can be spared that option.

Maybe he’ll start them both and leave Theo sitting on the bench pondering where to pitch his contract bid.

Predicting a team line-up is difficult when so many players are on the cusp of match fitness, but how about something like this -

______ Szczesny ______
Yen _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
_______ Song ________
__ Arteta ___ Ramsey __
Walcott __ RVP ___ AOC

Well that was a depressing end to the weekend!  It started so well too, with an excellent opener from Robin Van Persie after just a few minutes.  A well timed run to stay onside and a perfectly weighted pass slid in by Theo Walcott.  For a second it looked like RVP would run out of room, but he slipped it past Vorm to score.

We were on a roll.  What was that you said about Swansea’s home form?

Well, as they demonstrated next, their home reputation is well deserved and it shows why they’ve been clear of the drop-zone so far this season.  Once they got over the shock of our early goal they got their shape back and played some good fast attacking football down both sides.  Ignasi Miquel may be a good prospect as a central defender, but as a stand-in fullback he was soon struggling with Nathan Dyer.  On the other side, Djourou was coping slightly better with Sinclair but still not keeping him out.

Swansea were lucky with the penalty for the equaliser though.  Aaron Ramsey did make contact with Sinclair’s heal but only after Sinclair had crashed into his calf studs first.  It should have been a freekick to Arsenal and maybe a card for Sinclair, but that’s not how the referee saw it and so Swansea were back in the game with their tails up.

Szczesny went the right way for the penalty, but Dyer put it hard and low into the corner and scored.  Szczesny actually had a good game for a keeper conceding three.

But by then we weren’t having a good game elsewhere on the pitch and the combination of injury, sickness and the African Cup showed how shallow the squad is as Swansea completely dominated possession.

Djourou and Miquel are two players worth their place in the squad as alternate central defenders, but they are not proper fullbacks and against pacey traditional wingers it showed.  Walcott and Arshavin are not always that helpful to Sagna and Santos and the need for assistance was even greater yesterday.  Against Leeds and Swansea, Arshavin demonstrated that he has rediscovered energy, but sadly he hasn’t rediscovered form.

Benayoun ran himself ragged trying to fill midfield gaps but that has never really been his game and he wasn’t making much impact standing on for Arteta who was out with the same bug that hit Mertesacker and Rosicky earlier in the week.  Presumably Rosicky wasn’t feeling 100% as you would expect him to cover for Arteta – much better likeness than Benayoun who has a different sort of talent.  Whether Arteta’s presence would have changed the result, who knows.  There was only a goal in it.  But we were definitely missing him in the middle.

Swansea got the lead when Joe Allen dispossessed Ramsey and passed to Dyer.  Miquel was stranded well out of position and Dyer finished superbly.  After about an hour, Arsene Wenger replaced Arshavin and Benayoun with Henry and Rosicky.  For a while it looked to do the trick, more so because of Rosicky than Henry.  Straight away we were holding on to the ball longer and looking more organised.  Calm and order seemed to be restored and we got the equaliser.  Walcott surged forward and scored with a the sort of calm finish which, if he could do it consistently, would transform him into a top, top class player.

At that moment, any result was possible: win, loss or draw.  But we fell asleep at the restart and the ball was fed between Koscielny and Miquel to put Danny Graham one on one with Szczesny.  The game had been rescued and thrown again inside a minute.  After that we tried to pressurise, swapping Oxlade-Chamberlain for Mertesacker, but Swansea weren’t going to throw it away and held out to the end.

So we’ve dropped points, giving Chelsea a whole game’s cushion ahead of us.  Hard yards ahead.  We have shown that we can compete at the top, but with some key absentees we’re very vulnerable.  Get well soon Arteta, Sagna, Wilshere and Santos!  Hurry home Gervinho.

Has this been the longest international break ever or does it just feel that way? Seems like months, but the end is in sight.

Some have kept themselves going with transfer talk. In fact, these days some seem more interested in the transfer talk than in football itself, but each to their own I guess. Some interesting names and some familiar names have been kicked about it the street, but this is thin fare with the window still nearly three months off.

Some old favourites have talked Arsenal and football. Dennis Bergkamp has quickened our with hearts with teasing talk of a second coming – prompting much work time wasted on YouTube nostalgia. Always had a soft spot for Edu too myself, as a key back-up player amongst the Invincibles.

But enough of occupying of minds with such substitutes, the real thing beckons.

The official Arsenal site has a summary of who played how long and scored, but what we really care about is injuries. The only confirmed casualty appears to be Tomas Rosicky with a groin strain. Yossi Benayoun didn’t play in the last Isreal game, but I have seen any report that this was through injury.

So that means that the current sick list is: Sagna, Vermaelen, Diaby, Wilshere and Rosicky. The Arsenal app still lists Koscielny and Djourou as unfit, but I believe that’s out of date as Arsene Wenger has said both are available. Sagna, Vermaelen and Wilshere are still big misses, but this list is shorter than it has been in a while.

I presume that we will see Koscielny back alongside Mertesacker and that Jenkinson will be providing most of the cover for Sagna.

There’s been much discussion of the old ‘back to 4-4-2 debate’ to idle away the break, but I would be surprised if Arsene Wenger goes for it.

So the big issue will be the usual perm two from Arshavin, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott. More on this tomorrow I suspect as we ease our way towards Sunday lunchtime’s game against Sunderland.

The career of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continues to develop very nicely as the teenager scored all of England Under-21′s three goals against Iceland last night.

I don’t suppose Iceland have the deepest footballing reserves but the skill and confidence displayed are welcome all the same.  It will be interesting to see if he plays in the Norway game too and how well he does.  Norway should be tougher opposition; like England they have won their opening games.

Three thoughts about Arsenal come out of this success.  The first is just an observation that many Arsenal fans were up in arms when Chamberlain’s signing was announced this summer.  ‘Not another untested teenager costing millions’ and ‘what on earth does Arsene Wenger think he’s playing at’ is a cleansed summary of most fans’ reaction.

I was slightly nervous, but not that bothered – as long as there were some defensive signings too.  Which there were.

Now of course, everyone’s a Chamberlain fan and shouting about why oh why is he not playing every game when he could be single-handedly turning Arsenal’s season round?

Which brings us to the more important issues of how often should he play and where?  His career is clearly developing fast and he is genuinely competing for a place on merit, not just as an opportunity to hone his skills.

He is just where Jack Wilshere was this time last year – only the pressure all round at Arsenal is much greater than it was a year ago because of our terrible start to the season.

I would like to see him get more starts, but let’s not forget where Jack Wilshere is one year on.  He’s on the sofa with an injury that’s keeping him at for a minimum of half the season.  He picked it up at the tail end of last season and played on through the summer.  And we all wanted him to do it, and he wanted to do it, along with all England fans.  Some wanted him to do even more.

So let’s see more of him, but maybe we shouldn’t get on Wenger’s case every time he doesn’t feature.

But when he does play, whose place is under threat?  Arsene Wenger has talked about him being able to play right across midfield, though he generally seems to play out wide.

If he still has an obvious weakness it is a lack of tracking back to cover when we don’t have the ball.  But sadly he’s not alone on that score.  The most obvious role for him at the moment is where Theo Walcott plays.  But I wonder whether he could also rotate in for Ramsey sometimes.  I wouldn’t think you’d swap him for Arteta unless forced, as he surely needs to play alongside someone with more experience.

According to Arsene Wenger he could even play on the left.  So maybe he’s a welcome spur to Arshavin as well.  All-in-all, the speed of his development is great news for Arsenal.  Let’s just remember he’s still a teenager and look after him.

The way things are, we’re ready to fear the worst.  News that Wojciech Szczesny has pulled out of the Polish squad for the international break sounded like another big blow.

Szczesny has been one of the few dependable rocks in the squad.  So how badly injured is he?  The Arsenal website is fairly low key on the story, describing the problem as a mild back strain.

They say:  “Wojciech’s withdrawal due to this mild injury is precautionary and the Polish keeper will stay in England and work at London Colney during the international break.”

Of course, official pronouncements on injuries are now greeted with a big dose of scepticism after various predictions regarding returns to fitness have been well wide of the mark.

The Independent opened their piece by talking about the ‘injury curse that has blighted Arsenal’.  But at the end of the article they point out that Arsenal expect him to be playing in the next game, against Sunderland, and that Poland are only playing two friendlies.

Sounds to me like the international break has come at the right time for Szczesny.  He can spend a fortnight on the massage table knowing that he hasn’t let anyone at Arsenal or in Poland down.

Maybe Arsenal fans can just go back to worrying about Vermaelen, Wilshere, Sagna, the increasingly mythical Diaby …….

Actually there seems to be some better news on Vermaelen, that the reported setback has been overblown. Hmm we’ll see.  Maybe I’ll balance my optimism over Szczesny with not getting excited yet over Vermaelen.

No hanging around on Sagna’s treatment it seems, the he has apparently had surgery on his ankle already to ‘stabilise the fracture’.  Now he can just sit back and watch Arsenal like the rest of us, through the gaps in the fingers over his eyes.

Yeah, that hurts. Though to be honest, it is what I feared. There were times in the game when I thought it was going to be worse than 2:1 as well.

We had our best spell for the period after half-time when we got the equaliser and penned Spurs back in their own half. If only we had scored. If only….

But Spurs rode the pressure, re-grouped and came back at Arsenal. Then Lady Luck piled in with another good kicking in the nads, as Bacary Sagna fell badly from a tackle and went off. Jenkinson was straight away getting skinned alive by Bale and Assou-Ekotto. Benayoun was bought on, not really to attack but do provide a bit a resistance ahead of Jenkinson.

The fight back was over really, despite the rather desperate tactic near the end of dropping Coquelin into the defence to release Mertesacker as a sort of route one centre-forward. Well at least we were trying something different, but it didn’t succeed in unsettling Spurs.

They could have scored more and so could we. But they looked more likely. Van Der Vaart’s goal could have been ruled out for hand-ball and he could have got a second yellow for celebrating with the crowd. But we’d have been gutted if either decision had been given against one of our players, so no hiding place there.

Walcott and Gervinho seemed to play a lot more centrally. Was that a deliberate strategy or just where they found the gaps? Hard to tell on one game. Robin Van Persie worked very hard and is clearly our most skillful player. But he needs to receive the ball in more dangerous areas than he did yesterday afternoon.

Ramsey and Arteta seemed tired. On Friday I said that we would need everyone on top of their game. Aaron and Mikel were not yesterday, but they shouldn’t shoulder anymore blame than the rest. A game too far perhaps, but we have needed them. And without Wilshere they will have to play plenty of games. Rosicky didn’t even make the bench. Jack Wilshere’s absence is, maybe, a warning against over-playing Chamberlain. He is the media darling though, and they are in full cry today over why Wenger can’t appreciate the talent that everyone else can.

Coquelin was the pick of the Arsenal players for me, and for you too judging by our Man of the match poll which he leads ahead of Szczesny and Song. He doesn’t have the same physical menace as Frimpong but he is more clever and is more consistent through the game. That said, he still doesn’t deliver for the whole ninety minutes. But he has jumped up the pecking order and I think we’re going to see more of him.

The fact that the MotM poll is led by a holding midfielder, central defender and keeper tells you what you need to know really – we were beaten and it could have been worse.

We’re definitely going to see a lot more of Jenkinson. Sagna, we are told, has a fracture and will be out for three months. This is a big blow. Sagna has his off games of course, but mostly he just quietly gets on with being our most consistent defender. Jenkinson has shown potential, but now we’re going to need more, without being able to pick and choose the opponents that he learns his trade against.

Just something else to pick away at what the team lacks most present – confidence. I’m getting a bit bored with Arsene’s handbrake line, it’s not the only problem we have, but confidence is a big problem and casting anxious glances at the right flank isn’t going to help.

Anyway, enough analysis, the office beckons. Everyone’s going to be a Spurs fan today.