Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Steve Bould
Not official yet but apparently Steve Bould is the man who will take Pat Rice’s place beside Arsene Wenger next season. It’s hard to know how appointments like this will turn out. As fans we know less about the impact different coaching staff make. But Steve Bould is Arsenal through and through and was a class act as a player.

If he can add some discipline and awareness to our defence he will have a big impact. Instinctively this feels like a good decision. Some hoped for Tony Adams but I suspect that might not have been a happy working relationship. Until he makes it or decides not to make it as a manager I think that he could make a brooding number two.

So good luck to Steve and also Neil Banfield who steps up from Reserve Manager to join Boro Primovic as a first team coach. More preparations made early for next season. Encouraging stuff, but so much still hangs on the last game.

The New Kit
Another preparation for next year has also been announced. The new kit. Don’t like it. I mean it’s not terrible is it, just completely uninspired.

“Err, what shall we do this time. Dunno, could just stick some hoops on the sleeves and socks I suppose……three hours later…….yeah, that’ll do, some hoops. What’s a popular colour other than red or white?”

Do we have to have a new kit if that’s the best we can do?

Bye bye Blackburn.
Their chances were already slim and they needed a win. But Wigan wanted a win too and they got it. They’re safe now and Blackburn are down. Wigan and Martinez deserve it for the type of football they play in the Premier League on the budget they have.

Steve Keen has done his dignified best but Blackburn have neither survived or endeared. There are plenty of rumours about how little Blackburn’s owners really understood about the realities of the Premier League. No doubt they get it now.

So now it’s down to QPR and Bolton. Owen Coyle’s team need to win and hope that QPR fail to get a point. Given that QPR have to play Title-hunting Man City, whilst Bolton play Stoke, I’d say that Bolton have a decent chance. But still only a slim one. Hope they pull it off.

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?