Arsenal's Summer so far builds up for the finale

Good morning,

So today (Friday) is my Sunday, working the weekend I’ve spent Thursday getting through things that needed to be done so this is my lazy Sunday of nothing to do. Except it’s Friday and there’s no-one else around, no decent TV, not really much to do. So I’ll write. I said in yesterday’s (Thursday) blog that I wouldn’t waste my time in talking about transfers but here I am with time to waste.

This will be posted on Saturday which leaves the whole of Saturday, Sunday and up to roughly 10:30pm Monday to get some business done. Realistically there won’t be any business done on Saturday and Sunday, clubs will be playing games at the weekend and so unlikely to be available to talk transfers.

This only leaves 12-13 hours on Monday to panic in getting players in for medicals, negotiating and signing on the dotted line. I suppose that the one plus side to this is there can be little poaching from other clubs of the desired player. We’ve seen Sp*rs lose out to Chelsea with Willian. Sp*rs had the medical all done and were waiting to agree the fee, agree terms and sign the player for £30m. Then Roman Abramovic steps in, calls in a favour and the player is having a medical at Chelsea. Now he’s a Chelsea player. Mourinho gave a humorous press conference by saying this is the risk with public deals. If you have the medical you need the player to sign straight away or some can/did hi-jack the deal. Doing things on deadline day at least doesn’t really give clubs chance to poach players from other clubs due to travel etc but should the player fail the medical then your left in a whole world of trouble.

Also there’s the issue of pricing. We know that Wenger has his own market valuation of players and isn’t really willing to go beyond that. It’s a fairly stubborn view point and quite an ignorant one at that. The market value is what it is and we’ve been able to take advantage of it by getting big fees for people like Adebyor, Van Persie, Nasri, Hleb etc. All were decent pieces of business if not a bit frustrating to see quality players leaving. So he’s willing to charge market value and beyond, but not willing to pay it. Does the price change the closer to the end of the window you become?

From a selling clubs point of view you would have to say that they have the advantage over Arsenal in the fact that they will be well aware that we have a pot of cash to spend and we’re desperate for players. This makes it really easy for them to bump up the price and get a bit extra for a player if they don’t need to sell them. If the selling club needs to sell them then it would be the opposite. The buying club can go in lower know that the selling club need funds/reduce wage bill. So really again the only difference is that there’s less likelihood of another club poaching the deal. With hours to go the agents of the players will be trying to get the best deal. They might make up some guff about other clubs being interested and this might inflate the price a bit or what the player gets. It’s a risky strategy but one that both can play as the club can turn around and say they have other targets.

Do Arsenal have any real targets? The list of players we’ve been linked with this summer has been monumental. I don’t think I can ever remember a time where the club has been linked with the top players of the top clubs in Europe. Rooney, Higuain, Saurez, Fabregas, Benzima, Ozil, Di Maria, Mata, Lewandowski, Dzeko have all been mentioned with Arsenal this summer along with hundreds more. (A list can be found containing 209 names on LadyArse dated 3rd August). A lot of them will be papers and media making up stuff to sell papers which obviously works. A small percentage have some substance behind it and then about 1% will be genuine interest from Arsenal.

We’ve seen that we made genuine bids for Suarez and Higuain. The Suarez saga was a shambles due to is agent giving us duff information about a clause in his contract. As soon as we realised that we weren’t going to get him for £40m+£1 our interest cooled. Higuain was quite public interest and seemed done and dusted until Napoli blew our offer out the water. With us unwilling to go higher Real Madrid did what anyone would have done and sold to the highest bidder. In both instances it looked as though we liked the players but weren’t really willing to plunge into big fees for the players, proving Wenger’s stubbornness over valuations.

We’ve also been heavily linked with Cabaye and Williams of Newcastle and Swansea but again seem unwilling to match the clubs valuation. If we had a full squad of top players and were looking to add one or two quality names to give us an edge then you can argue over a couple of million. But we’re desperate, right now we need to pay what’s being asked and suck it up. We’ve got the money waiting to be spent and if we don’t we’ll end up losing a huge chunk of it by having to pay tax on it.

Leaving things this late means there’s three options left for the club.

1) Buy no-one and risk the wrath of the fans and risk a whole season and 4 competitions on a wafer thins squad.

2) We have irons in the fire and are waiting for the right time to pull them out. Wenger said yesterday he remains active in the market and still has targets. Of course he has to say that otherwise there would be uproar.

3) Monday will be spent throwing bids at numerous targets and seeing what will stick.

I’m hoping it’s the second option. Of course I’d prefer it if this could have all been sorted before we started the season but the whole world is beating that drum at the moment. If that isn’t the case then option 3 is last resort, I can’t see us not signing anyone before the end of the window simply because of how stretched we are. We just have to hope that if that is their plan then we get lucky with some decent surprises.

One of the key things we needed just as much as any new faces was some improvement of our current players. There’s only been 4 games played so far and apart from the first game against Villa we can see some real improvement in a number of players. Ramsey is doing fantastic. I can’t praise him enough for the way he’s kicked of his season and long may it continue. Walcott is looking good and creating chances, he just needs to start bagging those goals we know he can deliver. Podolski got into his stride vs Fulham but has had a set back with injury. Giroud and Cazorla picked up with where they left off last season. Cazorla is an utter joy to watch and pulls all the strings going forward and it’s good to see Giroud getting his goal tally this season off to a good start. Wilshere has shown he’s got a point to prove and I hope he does. He looks fit and ready to play a few goals for him this season would be fantastic.

Although we had a disastrous start, we have more points than we did at this point last season. A win tomorrow will ensure that remains the case. I hope we see some new faces by the end of Monday seeing us through the closure of the window will be the guys from A Bergkamp Wonderland with a variety of guest so make sure you check it out along with their latest podcast featuring former Arsenal Midfielder Dave Hillier.

Until next time

Welcome to Hell, Spurs!

Can't wait for this game! shame I won't be able to watch it. Come Arsenal!

Arsenal make a signing at last...again

Good morning,

So the wait is over and Arsenal have made their second signing... Flamini on a free on a three year deal. Another free transfer. I’m glad we have him in our side again, he’s a strong workhorse in a position we need cover for. I was hoping for some money to change hands for someone a bit younger who could stay with the club for a while, as it is we will need to repeat the search again in a year or two. That’s not to say we still won’t sign anyone in that position yet but I won’t be putting any money on it.

Flamini says he’s fit and ready for the derby on Sunday. Whether or not he is used in that game will be up to Wenger and only he will know how match ready he is. There’s good news that Wilshere and Ramsey are fit for Sunday’s game but we will still be without Ox, Poloski and Arteta. Podolski could be out for up to 10 weeks, which is a massive blow. Our wafer thin squad just got shaved even thinner. I really hope that Arsene is sticking to his master plan and we see some decent signings within the next few days. Before Sunday would have been nice but that doesn’t look likely. It’s more likely to be a few last minute signings on Monday. Woopie!

Tony Adams was on Talk Sport today saying Arsenal don’t need to sign a forward. Tony you were a fantastic defender for us but please keep thoughts like that to yourself. Even with Flamini and Sanogo now in Arsenal shirts, I’d still like to sign a player in all quarters of the pitch: An attacker/attacking midfielder, another defensive midfielder, centre back and a goal keeper. It feels like Christmas, I’m waiting for Wenger to say “Wait and see what Santa brings you on Monday. If not, there’s always next year”.

Elsewhere yesterday was the Champions League draw which, if you watched it you will know that it was the worst television in a long time. The build up to the draw was pretty lame with presenters trying their best to prove they made entirely of wood. Then all the guest ball pickers couldn’t unscrew the balls, it was an epic ordeal for what should have been a load of numbers picked out a bag. A 10min job max.

Never the less, Arsenal came out as the first team of the event taking charge of group F. We were later joined in by Marseille, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli. A tough group by anyone’s standards but they’ve all got to be beaten if we want to win it. We can only play the game in front of us and while champions League football is always a bit special I can’t think about any games past Sunday at the moment.

As well as the Champions League draw, Wednesday saw us drawn against West Brom in the League Cup. An away game at West Brom shouldn’t be beyond us but it depends how Arsene is going to play this competition. Year on year he has used more experienced squads. I think they will put out something close to full strength meaning for a premier league team, such as West Brom, we need to be putting out a decent team. Although at the moment, we don’t even have enough players to put out a second string team.

Considering our injuries, On Sunday I think we’ll have a midfield of Theo, Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky and Cazorla. I think Theo and Cazorla will be our wide players with Rosicky being the creator. If Ramsey can get forward and get a goal or two great but we need to ensure we stay solid at the back. We’ve shown in the past week how many chances we can create we need to make sure we limit the amount of chances we give them. I’d also be aware of any action in and around our penalty box as Sp*rs two wins have come from 1-0 penalty wins. I doubt that Gareth “King Diver” Bale will start but we still need to make sure we don’t give them any excuses.

That’s it from me for today, I’m not going to go into any transfer guff. It’s gone from tedious to flat out dull. I’m not going to waste my time on giving my opinion on players we’re linked with. They may sign, they may not. If they do I’ll get right behind them and support them like any other Arsenal player. We can only judge the window once it’s closed. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of judging, moaning, fist shaking and could of, would of, should of’s.

 Can’t wait.

Arsenal in good form, transfers waiting

Good morning,

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for a multitude of reasons. My shifts at work have made getting time to write awkward, let’s be honest there’s been nothing really new to write about and, bank holiday weekend I was a slightly hungover to the point where even finger movement on a keyboard would have made my head throb.

I’m here now though and it’s been a pleasant few days for an Arsenal fan. Since our defeat to Villa we’ve had 3 games, scoring 8 goals and conceding 1. When you consider our injuries and make-shift defence, that’s not too bad at all. Of course we shouldn’t have been in a situation where the squad was so thin blah blah blah. We’ve beat that drum to death, it’s about getting on with things and while the results are coming in people are content to do so.

Last night saw the club qualify for the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Fenerbahce making it 5-0 on aggregate. Two goals from Ramsey sealed it for us. Ramsey had another fantastic game getting goals is what we’ve needed from him, he had a blip in form last season and many people got on his back. He’s worked hard and returns to the form we knew he could deliver. Lesser men could have crumbled under the pressure he was getting from fans, media etc. It’s just brilliant that he’s been able to serve them all a big can of shut up juice with his performances.

It was a good team performance last night, a clean sheet is great for confidence building for the big game this weekend vs Sp*rs. Santi Cazorla is looking much better that he did in the Villa game, he’s got his match sharpness back and is an utter delight to watch on the ball. Szczesny also seems to have found some form and was called upon to make some decent saves last night. The only down point can be the injury to Podolski. After his two goals at Fulham he was building some confidence too. Wenger says he will be 3 weeks out but at this moment in time that’s more than we can afford with our squad already stretched to the limits. Ramsey also left the field early with a bit of a groin problem and I’m sure all fans will have everything crossed to make sure that was just a precaution for the weekend.

With Qualification to the Champions League secured, there are no more excuses left not to bring in any new faces. Media has jumped all over the fact that Mata’s dad was at the game last night fuelling speculation we could be in for the Chelsea man. I’m a big fan of his and would love to secure him at Arsenal. He’s not quite the DM that we need at the moment but a quality player and adding quality can never be a bad thing. There’s the usual chitter chatter about the 3 from Madrid, Rooney seems to be rearing up again with a large selection of defenders and goal keepers from all over Europe.

I’ve said before that I’m not getting too invested in transfers because a good 80% of names that we read will be made up to sell papers or get hits on a site. I also don’t think anything will happen until Bale moves from Sp*rs, once that’s all wrapped up, there will be £80m+ helping to move players around Europe. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of it happened on deadline day. Which as we all know isn’t ideal, missing the start of the season and all but it’s better than no signings. It will be made slightly more awkward by the fact that after the weekend players will be travelling for international duty.

This Weekends game is going to be a big one, a win will restore a lot of confidence in fans. Along with signings I think a lot of fans will forget about the turmoil of this summer. A loss and I think some of that frustration will resurface again. It’s the north London derby, the 3 points is the main thing but there’s much more to it than that as we all know. We need them to pipe down, like they do every season, this is apparently the year that they will leap frog us. Honestly they’ve made some good signings, but also lost the best player they’ve produced in decades. We’ve got some good form behind us where they haven’t managed a single league goal from open play yet, relying on two penalties.

This isn’t a game we can relax on, we need everyone to turn up with their A game. We’re still a little way off from proper build up for that game though. The next couple of days will all be about transfers then Friday the build up will begin. I don’t really enjoy these games, I’m too nervous and get to emotionally involved. I’m working when we play so I’ll say it might be a welcome distraction, but I’m sure I’ll find a way to watch it somehow.

Until then.

3 points well deserved

Good morning Gunners,

There’s no reason this morning to be glum form an Arsenal point of view. We secured 3 points in the bag with no injuries and no suspensions. It would’ve been nice to keep the clean sheet but the win was the main thing and we got it.

Not only that, it was a solid performance from everyone on the field. Szczensy had to make a superb double save early on to keep Arsenal in it. Jenkinson had to put up with a lot and did well. He got forward well and showed he’s still got a defensive brain about him. Yes he still needs to improve but that comes with time and games, something he’s getting. Ramsey had another great game, I thought he was should have been subbed after a booking and a last warning but managed to see out the game.

Obviously it’s fantastic for Giroud to get on the score sheet again. That’s 3 in 3 games for the French man, which is great to see and two from Podolski was brilliant. There’s been a bit of speculation about the German possibly moving this summer. His performance today showed he’s such a valuable part of our team. I can’t see him being sold now. Arsene will want to keep him, the fans will want him to stay, the balls in his court and he hasn’t expressed any desire to leave. After the game he said he got his chance from the boss and he is an Araenal player. You can spin that either way ao I'm raking it as a positive. 

Another person who for me had a great game was Walcott. He did everything but score. He had a few pops at goal; he created chances and was always driving forward and showed real intent to do some damage, he was just missing a goal. One of Podolski’s goals came for a Theo shot that was saved. If he can keep this up and build on it then he has a good season ahead of him.

Wednesday’s win was the first step to building a foundation of good performances and results. Today built on that and a win on Tuesday would cement those foundations, just in time for the Derby.  Koscielny should be back by then at the back but Artetea and Ox will still be missing. There’s no telling who else we could add by then I guess it’s just a case of shut up and wait.

Arsene has told us that there will be no signings before the Fenerbahce game on Tuesday but that there could possibly be some before the weekend game against Sp*rs. I hope so because if there isn’t that doesn’t leave a lot of time to bring people in for medicals and sign etc. It would also be good to go into that game with a bit more depth.

On that Subject Benzima’s agent has apparently ruled out a move to Arsenal and suggested his player may sign a contract extension instead. Is this an agent flexing his muscles or the cold hard truth? Experience would suggest the later although I’m not sure where that leaves us in terms of options for signing a striker but it’s a pretty poor place to be. This morning Di Maria is reported so be saying similare things. Elsewhere Cabaye didn’t feature for Newcastle in their game vs West Ham. PSG are also said to be interested so I’m not reading too much into that, especially when Newcastle are said to want £20m.

The Mirror is linking us with Mata from Chelsea, who I'd take in a heart beat. They say since the capture of Willian he has fallen down the pecking order. If that's true I think this is a player we should really go for. I think moves will start to happen when Bale moves to Real Madrid. It will be the move that kick starts the rest.

Lastly I’d just like to point out that since a couple of good performances have come out of the team, the Wenger bashing has considerably subdued. I guess there are too many good things to focus on at the moment. Should a poor result in our next two games rear its head, coupled with no/poor transfer activity, I’m sure we’ll see them return. Until then let’s enjoy the win.

Arsenal vs Fulham preview

Good morning,

The blog is coming to you a little later than usual today simply because I was absolutely shattered last night and didn’t have anything left in me to write. However it’s here now so hold off dialling 999.

Today sees us face Fulham away from home. Everyone everywhere is saying this is a must win game. Isn’t every game we play a must win game? The thing is I know what they mean but they are. We had to go on a spectacular run last season to pip fourth by a point. Every game we play is a must win to get those points on the board, so we’re not playing catch up or relying on other results.

Laurent Koscielny is suspended after his red card against Villa. He would be out anyway having received a nasty gash on his head in Turkey. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee), Mikel Arteta (thigh), Thomas Vermaelen (back) and Ryo (rib) are all missing. In addition, the manager said he may rotate a little quite what players he has to rotate I have no idea. I think this will mean a start for Podolski who has been the subject of some transfer speculation.

Due to injuries and suspensions the defence can only be the four players we have fully fit. Jenkinson, Sagna at centre back with Per and Gibbs. Monreal is coming back but not ready for 90 mins yet. The midfield can be made up of any o the following; Theo, Rosicky, Cazorla, Poldolski, Wilshere, Ramsey. I expect Rosicky to be rested out of those 6 simply due to his injury form. I just think Arsene will try and be careful with him. Then of course we will have Giroud up front.

Even with the make shift back four we should be beating Fulham...We should have beat Villa...We beat Fenerbahce. I’m not too sure what I’m getting at here. Mainly the point that at the moment, us as fans and especially the team can’t afford to relax against teams we THINK we should be beating. We if we turn up like we did in Turkey then brilliant. People were slating Fenerbahce for being awful. Were they that bad? We just didn’t let them play. They still managed a few shots towards our goal even if none of them were on target. You can only play the team that’s in front of you and today it Fulham.

In other news the clock is literally ticking on our transfer business. It’s highly unlikely that any business is going to be done this weekend with all the teams playing meaning something should be done next week. Quite what will be done nobody truly knows. Today has now seen us linked with Benteke. Considering he’s currently the league’s top scorer I expect everyone will be linked to him. There are still the same names being branded around. Although it is surprising to see some Arsenal fans think Suarez is still a possibility. I think they need to wake up a little bit. That deal is as dead as the day is long.

I hope we see some signings before the Sp*rs game. I think that with Koscielny back in defence we should have enough for that game. Obviously we’d be missing Arteta so a holding midfielder would be a welcome sight. The main reason I want them in before is to add the depth. When we need to make changes it would be nice to bring on someone that can make an impact from the very first second as opposed to a youngster who is lacking experience and maybe trying too hard to prove a point.

However Arsene will do whatever he wants and my logic isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. Now i need to go and have a shower, some food and prepare for kick off! Come on you Gunners!

A Friday round up

Good morning,

Today is Friday of a bank holiday weekend. This is good for multiple reasons. I have this weekend off work, there’s football and the grand prix on and I’m going out for drinks on the Sunday with some guys from work. Apart from a guaranteed win for Arsenal, what more could I ask for?

In Arsenal news as always there’s nothing confirmed yet. Arsene’s press conference after the Fenerbahce game was encouraging to see that we should see some action soon. It looks likely however that the second signing of this summer will be another free transfer of Flammini.

We spoke about him on the podcast when we first learnt of him training with the squad. At 29 he’s not going to be the same player that left us for Milan in 2008. He’s had a rough time with injuries but his experience and work ethic is something we could do with, especially with our injuries piling up. My only concern is that Wenger sees that as a money saver and doesn’t by another midfielder. Flammini would be a good addition to the squad to bulk it up but we still need a replacement for Arteta.

There’s also news that we’re going back to Real Madrid for Benzima and Di Maria. A lot of people are expressing the opinion that Benzima is not world class. We need to move on from that now, It’s gotten to the point in the window we’re we need decent experienced players to keep the ship from sinking. I’m not saying I’m happy about it, it’s just where we are now. As most Arsenal writers will tell you, this season could have been a fantastic opportunity to steal a march further into the top four and/or challenge for a trophy. We haven’t done our business early enough or well enough and so now I feel it’s come to damage limitation.

We’re still being linked with Michu and Williams from Swansea. I’m not sure I can see them parting with two of their best players for little cash, even a decent amount would have it doubts as I expect they will be wanting a decent squad to push on in Europe. Then there’s a little tittle tattle about Kondogbia and Guaita. I’ve said many times now, I’m not getting too invested in any of these as there’s usually little truth to them, when they’ve signed then I’ll get excited.

There’s also some speculation growing around our own Lukas Podolski. He hasn’t started the first two games we had so far and when he made an appearance with 10mins to go against Fenerbarhce he looked disinterested and not really up for it. You could argue that when we’re 3-0 up away from home, play it safe and stick with what you’ve got. It just didn’t appear that way to me. He’s a fantastic character and a good player at the club and I’m not sure I’d like to see him go.

 From what I’ve read he doesn’t want to play another season on the wing leading up to a world cup year. My only issue with that is he hasn’t really delivered the goods playing as the lone striker. Last season he got 16 goals in all competitions, most coming from the wing and something we can’t throw away. Again we can only wait and see what happens. If he’s replaced by someone better then I can’t really grumble but that should be the only reason we part company. Is that going to be Di Maria?

In other news Sagna has been speaking about his new role at centre back.

"I enjoy playing at centre-half and will play in any position for my team. Maybe in the future I will play there.

"I am not the tallest, so I try to position myself as well as I can and to stay awake. I communicate all of the time and as long as we communicate it makes it easier.

"I enjoy centre-back because, first of all, you run less; but you have to stay focused mentally all the time and stay strong because it’s all about winning the game.

"I still need to improve if I am to play there again but it was great because we didn’t concede any goals (at Fenerbahce) and for defenders that is the most important thing.

"I might be playing centre-back at Fulham because we have injuries and Laurent (Koscielny) is suspended. I will do my best and try to win three points."

 (taken fromhttp://www.ashburtongrove.co.uk)

I’m glad we’ve kept hold of him in the situation we’re in. He experience has saved us from some sticky situations. He’s a great defender and that’s what we need. He sometimes lacks with his final ball up top but right now we need a defender and he’s doing a cracking job. I had previously said I wouldn’t be bothered if he’d gone this season and we got a replacement. I’m happy to eat my words on this one. Him player at centre back is also giving Jenkinson a bit more experience.

Right, that’s your lot for today. I’ll hopefully be back tomorrow. I’m looking forward to building on Wednesday’s result with a win against Fulham. The last thing to leave you with is to check out A BergkampWonderland podcast and the usual Arsecast.

Arsenal vs Fenerbahce. A great team performance

Good morning all,

I’m currently writing this while watching the build up to the game against Fenerbahce. I thought about leaving it until after the game but it doesn’t really matter. Win, Lose or draw nothing changes. Of course we want to win but it wouldn’t change the feelings about the situation the club is in at the moment or the situation it’s self. A loss would see the fan melt down go into overdrive, I’m not I could continue to write about it, It may be a 2 leg game and an away fixture but we should be winning these games and we still need our first win of the 2013/14 campaign.

The team to face Fenerbahce started as: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker (c), Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud. Subs: Fabianski, Monreal, Podolski, Sanogo, Frimpong, Gnabry, Jenkinson. I expected Podolski to start. He had a good pre-season and Cazorla, with the extra games with the confederations cup didn’t quite look match fit on Saturday. Other than that it looks like a strong starting 11 but am awfully weak bench. Monreal I can’t imagine being quite fit yet but desperate times and all. The rest is made up of youngsters.

A lot of the build up was around what we all expected to hear, Arsene and the lack of business. I’ve given up with keeping track with who we’re supposedly linked with who we’re supposed to have submitted an outrageously disgusting bid for. It’s all bollocks. The only way we’ll know for sure is when Arsene himself announces it, it’s on the club website or Sky has them at the Emirates holding up an Arsenal shirt with their name on the back.

The only thing we can do is wait. I know that’s easier said than done but it’s the truth. Nothing we say or do is going to make Arsene rush anything, we’re not in those meetings to hear which names are actually being discussed and at which prices. I wish I was, but I’m not. However much we want things to change, they won’t in the next 11 days and I don’t think they will unless we part company with Wenger and some members of the board, whenever that may be.

So the game started and I paused writing to watch it. The first half was nearly all Arsenal, we performed well, and just lacked that final killer ball or someone to take the ball forward and shoot. (not that we’ve all been wanting all summer for another striker/attacking midfielder to do that) Giroud looked isolated at times and when the ball was forward there were very few Arsenal players in the box attacking the ball. Maybe they were set up to play it safe being away from home but, we had all the chances and I don’t think Fenerbahce had a shot on target in the first half.

The only low point of the first half was Koscielny going off injured in the 33^rd minute after being kicked in the face. Replays showed it to look like an accident but also to be quite a deep cut. Jenkinson came on in his replacement which shifted Sagna to centre back. The only saving grace is that he’s had the practice there over pre-season. Szczesny had little to do in the first half which started to worry me as we all know a bored keep can make a keeper do silly things. However, there were none.

The second half saw us kick off where we left off, in the 51^st minute Gibbs put the ball in the net to make it 1-0 a great move started by Ramsey to Walcott who slid in Gibbs for the finish. Just what we needed. Walcott nearly made it 2-0 straight after but for some good keeping and a bit of confusion with him and Wilshere. It was an action packed couple of minutes as Fenerbahce took the ball to our end. Szczesny got caught coming out and getting clattered by Sow. leaving a huge red scrape down his neck but ok to continue.

 

Ramsey made it 2-0 in 64^th min with a hard low shot into the bottom left corner just what we need from him this season. Fenerbahce were getting closer with a few more chances but still none on target. On the 75^th min Arsenal were awarded a penalty for a foul on Walcott. Girous stepped up and made no mistake slotting home for 3-0 away from home. 82^nd min Podolski came on for Giroud. Szczesny was soon called into action to stop a low shot keeping his clean sheet for the game. Monreal replaced Walcott on 86 to get a little run out which, along with another great Szczesny save saw out the game.

A 3-0 away win takes some of the pressure off the players who aren’t at fault for the non-signing of players. It makes the home leg a lot easier as we have the chance to rest some players if needed for injuries etc. It also gives the players a bit of much needed confidence for the game against Fulham. Looks like getting behind the players works. Fancy that me being right...again. Arsenal, are you reading?

Tonight I enjoyed a good Arsenal performance and I’m not going to join in with any “this will support Wenger not spending” bollocks. He knows he needs to spend he’s just being stubborn about who and how much. He’s many things, an idiot isn’t one of them. I’m not going to harp on about that, it won’t change anything and what will be, will be. Enjoy the win; the team, the fans, we all deserve it.

The full match report can be found on the club website.

We're here now, what's next?

Good morning,

I’ve had some time away from Arsenal and football and it’s done me the world of good. I’m almost positive about things, almost. The only way I could do this was by helping my parents move house having no internet and no time to check twitter etc. I recommend it, almost like a cleansing.

However, I have returned and we’re still in the same position we’ve been in all summer. No new faces, a thread bare squad and plenty of cash burning a hole in the bank. The only difference is we had a humiliating defeat in our first game of the season. In a previous blog before the season started, I said that if we lost the first game of the season and we hadn’t signed players then I feared the reaction of the fans. My fears were brought into reality when the frustration and annoyance over spilt into all streams of the media.

There was no way it could have been stopped, I joined in by voicing my opinions on the blog a twitter but now we have to focus as a club and a fan base. We need to support the team of players that go on to the pitch tonight to play Fenerbahce. They haven’t had anything to do with the situation the club’s in, yes they must share some of the blame for Saturdays result but they can only play the games in front of them. Right now that’s a champions league qualifier and if we want to attract big names, they’re going to want to be playing in that competition.

Tonight’s game is a must win, all games in my opinion are a must win but there’s a lot resting on a good result. Another loss could see the fans go into complete melt down. Since Saturday, It would’ve been unrealistic to see a player signed before today’s game, not that it would make any difference. We’ve submitted a squad for the qualifiers and we can’t add to that. For tonight and the return leg we have to play with the players we have. The meltdown would be aimed full force, by most at Wenger.

His failure’s this summer are well documented and I’m not going to go over all of those again, we all know what they are and it’s not going to help by going over them every day. The fans many feelings and opinions are out there for Wenger and the board to hear, some supporters groups have written letters which will be read. I do have one thing that I still can’t find an answer to though.

We seem to have arrived at a point where most fans have called for time on Wenger’s reign at the club. A lot of it hasn’t been voiced well and has come across with tones of hatred and anger. This isn’t what you’ll get from me. I love Wenger and what he’s done for the club, he’ll go down as a legend at Arsenal and rightly so. I believe thought that the game has evolved beyond his principles and he’s not willing to go with it. His valuation of player’s prices and their wages, his power/influence held at the club is one which you won’t find anywhere else. That has led us to this situation which we find out selves in now. We’ve narrowly avoided full melt down in the past, but how many times can we let this happen. The question is though; do we give him the rest of the season? Or, do we cut our losses and replace now?

I’ve heard people calling for both and there are pro’s and con’s for each side.

Personally I would like to see him see out the end of his contract and leave with his pride, dignity and reputation with the club intact. Yes of course this will be a stain on that reputation but we can’t forget what he’s done over his career with us. Keeping him on would give us a whole season to look for the right person to replace him, they can come in towards the end of the season see how we operate, get an idea of the players, staff he needs to operate and get next season off to a flying start. Sounds like a win win. The only issue is what becomes of this season? In order for any new manager to attract new players we need to finish in the top four. To slip like Liverpool did could be catastrophic for the club and is certainly something I can see happening with the way things stand currently.

Of course bringing in a new manager wouldn’t guarantee that we would finish any higher than we would with Wenger. If we replaced Wenger today the new manager would have less than 2 weeks to get to know the team and bring in any new players. They will still be rushed signings but if it came down to price, there’s a good chance any new manager would pay what it takes with such little time left. Alternatively if we don’t think this season is going to bring any success under Wenger, why not cut our losses and give the new manager almost a free season. One season to get to know the team and get signings in ready for January and/or next summer.

This is something that will be the talk of many Arsenal fans as things progress through the season. Even if we pick things up and go on a bit of a run from today, people will still remember this summer and many others. There will be at some point the question raised by the club and the owner of Wenger’s contract situation, this will be jumped upon by the media and we will be going over this again. We need to remember what this man has done for the club and for the fans. Yes he’s made some mistakes but it doesn’t mean he deserves to be flogged.

As I’ve said, I hope he sees out this year and we can prepare for a life without him as our manager. I don’t think he ‘s the only change that needs to happen which gives us plenty of time to change some of the other staff as well.  He can leave with a golden handshake, a genuine or even honorary position on the board and I think most fans would be happy with that. It’s worth thinking about but for now, let’s focus on tonight and get behind our weakened team. If ever they’ve needed a 12th man at the Emirates, it’s now. We need to pick them up and give them that extra bit of strength and confidence to get over the line. For 90minutes we need to forget the clubs situation and get behind the team, leave behind our negativity and create a dominating force to drive them forward.

Of course if you’re lucky enough to be going, you do what you want. You’ve paid the money for the ticket with your hard earned cash and have the right to do what you want at the game. That’s just how I feel and what I’d do.

Come on Arsenal!

Arsenal fans are hurting

Good morning,

As expected, social media pretty much exploded over the past couple of days after a disastrous start to our campaign. There was anger and hatred in some of the things I’ve read. My alcohol fuelled blog yesterday probably didn’t make great reading either.

From my perspective it’s more a feeling of frustration and disappointment. Like when your parents were telling you off when you had been quite naughty they would say they weren’t angry but disappointed and you’ve let them down, broken their trust etc. This is what the club has done to the fans. We’ve been let down but who should bear the brunt of our frustrations?

Wenger is the easy option he’s the main man on the front line, he’s the one the fans always see and here at the press conferences giving us the same speech over and over about how hard they are working behind the scenes and how we are looking for super quality etc. Who wouldn’t be frustrated about hearing that same spiel every time and coming up empty handed? It’s obvious that he has a lot of strings to pull within the club and perhaps that’s also an issue, the manager has too much power and influence over decisions that should be made by others, such as the price paid for potential players.

We’ve seen the club be linked with numerous players and seen them all pass us by to either stay with their current club or join someone else. Saturday’s results saw us pay the price for an unforgiveable summer. It’s not question that the 11 players that started had the quality to beat Villa. The problems came when we started to get injuries and players sent off. When your back four includes a striker in Podolski and a midfielder in Ramsey it makes a total mockery of what hasn’t happened for us in the transfer market.

The difficult thing is now, that any potential deals have now become even harder to nail down. We’re going to have to pay more because clubs will know we have some kind of injury crisis at the club. Not only that we’re now going from a club finishing on a good run, showing intent with statements about our spending power. To a club which has been stripped down to the bone of players and getting humiliated on the first day of the season. Who is going to want to come to us now? Yes there’s quite a good chance they’ll get first team football but other than that, what’s the incentive? Jumping on to a ship which has had huge holes blown in it and the enemies lining up more shots doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.

As I said yesterday and as many writers have also said, any players coming in now will only be seen as reactionary. There was little intent throughout the summer a few half hearted bids but no action. This will turn into another season of panic buys and having to settle for players not necessarily the ones we wanted. This can only be brought back to Wenger again. He is the one who is holding the power in terms of spending ability and his refusal to pay above his own valuations rather than market value has seen us fail with every bid we’ve made.

The people we have in that department have all been brought in by Wenger, if he doesn’t have the right people around him, scouts, negotiators or other people who can get big transfer deals done, that’s his fault. He decides who those people are. He fills the vacancies and he puts the responsibility in their hands. I think it’s clear that whole side of the club is out dated and no up to the standard required, able to operate at a very basic level, but incompetent above that.

Nobody can do anything about this because these are Wenger’s people. He is the one who decides.

But who’s fault is that? Why has the board relinquished so much power to one man? Why has no-one stood up and told Wenger to look after the football and they’ll look after the money? Not only that, Ivan Gazidis giving us the speech about our financial power has only set Arsene up to fail. They would have known who his targets were and how much he was willing to pay for them.  Giving him more cash isn’t going to make him up his valuation it will just mean he has more cash. It’s definitely given the board a “pass the buck” card with the media. When everyone is asking questions they can fall back on the fact that they gave him all this money and he didn’t spend it.

The problem is the money has always been there, we’ve never been short of money as Swiss ramble has pointed out. Allowing the club to arrive at this point is a collective failure of everyone at the top table, the manager, the board and the owners, who’s silence has been deafening. The BSM and AST have all written letter to the club/owner calling for a halt on any negotiations for a new deal for Wenger, something a fully agree on but the buck can’t stop with him. Simply changing the main man won’t be the solution, we need a better team of people to step up and share the work.

Expect the news to be Arsenal filled for the next few days, the negativity around the manager, the state of affairs, the transfers. All the names that will now be touted will be of lower quality than the ones at the start of the summer and with higher price tags. Yet again Higuain (£34m), Williams (£10m) and Cesar (£3m) look like bargains of the century. Until we get to winning ways again the negativity is going to continue and increase. What it will take to get us there, I don’t have the specifics, more, better players, you bet but naming them, no chance. It’d be easier to pick the lottery numbers.

There will be discussions brewing over the manager and if we should let him see out this season and wave good bye or some will want rid now and use this season to build. Both are risky and both could end up with the club finishing out of the top 4 and out of contention of any silverware. Perhaps that’s something I’ll touch on later in the week. All I’ll say is it’s the same as earlier, I still love Arsene for everything he’s done for Arsenal but I’m frustrated and disappointed at what has happened knowing it was easily avoidable.

Right, I’m done for the day, have a good one and let’s watch this space.

It can't get any worse, can it?

Good morning Gunners,

It’s not! It’s not a good morning at all, whichever way you look at it, it is not a good morning. I say this while I’m writing at 0032 after a considerable amount of alcohol but which, my thirst is still not satisfied. I still need to nurse a glass of bourbon in order to get myself through this ordeal.

We lost. That’s the sum of the truths. I didn’t get to see the game because it was a 1500 kick off and was due to be at a friend’s birthday bash. The bash it’s self was a good distraction from the dire result of our awful result. I refuse to refer to it or even look at it in any other way. I’ve blogged and spoke about it on our podcast about how essential it is that we kick off our season with a better start than last season. What do we go and do? We get off to a worse start.

The unbearably frustrating part of all of this is, is that it was avoidable! I hate putting the ! into writing but in this piece it is going to be used with vigour as I feel I need to shout the whole blog. The whole of the Arsenal fan base has been calling for some action in the transfer market and the club has done nothing. We’ve all pointed out how thin the squad looked and if we can see it then everyone at the club must see it. If they can’t they need the sack, that doesn’t excuse anyone. If there was anyone at the club that thought that the current squad was sufficient then they need to go because they have no fecking clue how the world of football operates.

Like I said I didn’t see the game. I here there were some shocking refereeing decisions blah blah blah. Why are we leaving it down to refereeing decisions? We got off to a flying start with a Giroud goal. I thought that was great, but the classic Arsenal fuck up reared its ugly head, bent us over and didn’t even leave a tip on the dresser. The frailness of the squad was exposed with injuries not only to Arteta, who was an integral cog to the Arsenal wheel but also to Gibbs, Ox and possibly Sagna. Now with Koscielny suspended, what the fuck are we supposed to do for our mid week champions league game with that many injuries? Never mind Fulham.

There are no excuses for Wenger on this one, yes he’s not to blame for the team’s performance on the day but he should have added other players that would strengthen the squad, let alone give it the back bone to have people in the right position. We should be beating Villa, every day, every week, every season. There’s no excuse, it’s an abject failure for everyone associated at the club and no-one should be able to produce an excuse.

There will be those that will say this is a wakeup call to the club. FUCK THAT! Why do we need a wakeup call? Why can’t we be ready at the start of the season to win these fricking easy games that our rivals will? I’ve always started every season thinking we can win the league or at least win a cup if luck goes our way. This season i have such little hope I think we will be lucky to finish in the top 4.

I’ve written about how these games are must wins, and we haven’t won it. We might make some signings before the end of the window but that won’t claw back any points. I can’t put into words how furious with this state of affairs. We’ve had the opportunity and we’ve pissed it away. Our frail squad has been exposed and now we’re going to suffer the consequences.

I’ve waited with baited breath for the start of the season, now like I feared, I can’t wait for it to feck off again. I’m glad I was drinking leading into the games because if I wasn’t I’m not sure how I’d have coped. The uphill struggle has already started and this must have been the last, maybe second to last, nail in Arsene’s coffin. I can’t see many people clambering to give him a contract extension after this summer and today’s result.

I’d still hate to see him sacked half way through the season, because that would but us amongst those clubs that hire and fire on a whim. But I’m not fair off it. The club needs a change of pace to bring it up to date. Arsene is no longer the only manager to pluck a youngster from the rough. But, he is the only manager being so stubborn not to pay market value for top quality players.

It’s a distant dream to think that the players we’ve even been mentioned with could have all won us the Villa game. Higuain, Rooney, Saurez, Fellaini, Williams, Cesar to name a few. Would have all, I guarantee, improved yesterday’s performance. I couldn’t care less who Arsene has in line for backups for the one’s we “can’t afford” I want Dick Law to tell Wenger to Feck Off and to go out and buy the best quality players we need at any cost because it’s what the club needs.

Good luck to the fella because now the whole world will know our injury crisis and up their prices. Good one Arsene, you’ve saved us a few quid there, not! Yes this has turned into a rant and a bit of a Wenger bashing, but you can only blame the ref so far until our own frailties come to light. It’s my own fault really for believing that we had the strength and depth to win yesterdays game, however I think Arsene believed the worst wouldn’t happen when he should have been preparing for it.

I’m not sure I can write much more to explain how dire this result is right now, partly due to inebriation, but also because even sober words would fail me. I was looking forward to doing a podcast in a month’s time, looking back at the debut and thinking “look how far we’ve come” now it will be “ look how far we have to go”.

That’s all I have for now because this could turn really ugly. My fury is taking over. I’m not sure there is any other way to end this, other than...

SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY!

Start of season podcast

http://soundcloud.com/arsenal-vigilante/arsenal-vigilante-podcast

The first Vigilante Podcast

Good morning,

Today's blog isn't so much of a blog in the fact that it's a podcast. Recorded Wednesday night with guests Sean Cleaver @cleaverslips and Mike Lee @leachimeel .

you can download it here The Debut Podast or listen direct here

We had a great time recording this and we hope you enjoy listening to it. Any feedback welcome.

While your listening to things, don't forget to check out as always the A Bergkamp Wonderland podcast and the Arsecast is back to kick the season off too.

Have good day and bring on game day tomorrow!

Just 3 more sleeps.........and football is back

Today's post is a guest column, something I hope can be a regular thing on Arsenal Vigilante. follow him on twitter at @leahciMeeL. Enjoy!

Just 3 more sleeps.........and football is back

By Michael Lee*

Good morning all. This is my first blog on Arsenal. It's Wednesday evening and rather than watching England v Scotland I have sat down with two good friends and taken part in the first edition of the AFC Vigilante podcast. I had a lot of fun, and talking about the season ahead in a somewhat organised a calm manner has made me feel that the glass is full, and let me explain why......

British core:

Something we have been lacking for a lot of years and now we have six British lads of real quality who have committed their long term futures to the club and we finally, have something to build on, something that hopefully the club can keep together while others come and go. The improvement of Theo and Ramsey last year was a big part in us finishing in the top four and, I think this will be a big year for Jenkinson and Oxlade-Chamberlain. With Gervinho gone I expect to see the OX get more starts.

Deadwood is gone:

While the club have struggled for whatever reason to bring in players, getting them out has been pretty smooth sailing and we even recouped £8m for Gervinho. While our first team squad looks a little light now we can take heart from the fact we have kept all our important players from last season(which is a nice change) and surely having lazy content money grabbers who are happy to turn up and train and get their pay cheques is not good for competition. I expect the best of our youngsters to take up some of these places and a few experienced (if not exciting) signings to happen before the deadline.

Ambition:

I don’t see us signing Suarez, and to tell you the truth I don't really want us to either. After the initial buzz of possibly bringing in a world class striker, I think the baggage and price tag associated with this player just make me a too uncomfortable. However the fact that the club are trying to sign players of this calibre shows we are at least trying to step up. Let’s be patient and hopefully come September 2nd at 11pm we will be all smiles, or hugely depressed and drinking, alone, in a dark room while listening to Boyz 2 men - end of the road,(or insert worst thought imaginable here).

Spurs will F**K it up:

They always do, after 2-3 months of giving it the big one over social media, mid may arrives and they are eating humble pie, and raving on about 'our luck'. I always look forward to st Toteringhams day, even though it gets later in may in recent years.

Second Season lads will improve:

I believe Giroud is quality (even if not RVP quality) and didn't get the credit he deserved after his first year in England. Podolski was never fully fit and Cazorla is a Magician, one of the most gifted players I have seen in an Arsenal shirt. These 3 and Theo really shared the creative and goal scoring burden last year and I think this is a good thing for us. While we certainly have never been the 'one man team' people will have you believe, we certainly have always had one player with a certain goal scoring burden, well since the days of Henry, Pires, Ljungberg anyway.

The negative bit (has to be one):

I'm a big proponent of striking while the iron is hot and I genuinely feel that there hasn't been a better time to invest in this squad. With the new British core and the quality that we added last season I feel two players of real quality, the quality that can come into the first team and make a difference would really help us start to close the gap on the teams who finished above us. Then maybe a 2-3 good squad players of the right age and experience and all of a sudden it isn't looking so bad.

My Predictions:

I think with the right additions to the squad we can get third next year with an improved points total, and that should be the realistic target. I also strongly believe that next year we will end the trophy drought and pick up the FA cup. I think Mikel Arteta will release whatever that secret product is that keeps his Hair just looking oh so perfect and the commision which Arsenal take from this, will give us a £923 mil war chest to play with next summer. Then we win everything.....ever.

I wanted to keep it brief for my first post and just try to share some positivity and look forward to having something new to talk about after the weekend so until next time Keep Smiling, supporting this frustrating but great club and enjoy this weekend, because football is back! and that’s like.....better....I think.

*Michael is predominantly an Armchair Fan and Red Member who goes to Occasional Games, and felt guilty for Eclipsing Arsene Wenger as Arsenal's most succesful Manager on football Manager 2004 and has never purchased a football management simulator since.  

Hindsight's a bitch, we need to change

Good morning,

I’m afraid today’s post isn’t going to be too much of a positive one. I’m trying to remain positive about the forthcoming season but I’m struggling.

The way things stand I can see us nearing the end of this season, the same way we finished the last, Scraping top 4 by the skin of our teeth if we’re lucky. The teams around us have all strengthened, Chelsea, City, Sp*rs and even Everton have been active in the transfer market this summer. If anything, we have weakened ourselves. We’ve gotten rid of some dead wood but also some players that were filling the squad. They need replacing.

The lack of action in the market is baffling all fans. There are plenty of players out there that could improve our squad and it seems Wenger is unwilling to test them out. Instead we’re offering trials to 27 year olds and getting players on free’s. If at 27 you still need a trial to prove to us what you’ve got, then you don’t have enough. If we come to the end of the transfer window and we have signed 3/4 good players, Arsene could come out and say this was his plan all along. We would of course know this is BS considering our failed attempts so far for Rooney, Higuain and now apparently Suarez.

Trying to sign a player isn’t something you need to do one player at a time. We have £100m to play with so it’s not like we need to penny pinch. Start with some low offers, and work our way up to agreements with several players, when the preferred ones come to fruit, bin the rest off. The buck this window I’m afraid has to stop with Arsene. This is proven with what happened with Higuain.

Higuain is a player we had lined up, agreed personal terms with and were pretty close to agreeing a fee of roughly £23m, smashing our transfer record. This was before any offer for Suarez and in amongst a load of Rooney rumours. Then, Napoli came wading with a pocket full of cash from a £55m Cavanni deal. Napoli increase the offer to roughly £34m and capture Real Madrids attention and the deal is sealed. Who can blame them? The bid was considerably higher and they would have been stupid to turn it down. The question is why didn’t we go in with a higher bid?

With the benefit of hindsight it makes it slightly easier for us but Wenger and the club are paid a lot of money to do the business right. Looking back now, the Saurez deal looks dead in the water. JW Henry has told Ivan Gazidis that he will not be sold to Arsenal. Billionaires don’t like to look like fools so I can’t see him going back on that one. There are rumours about Rooney resurfacing but I’m not convinced we are his preferred destination. This leaves us with very few options. Even if we could get Suarez it would take something in the region of £50m+. Is that really any worse than £34m for Higuain? If you asked me to chose between them at those prices, it would be Higuain all day long, I’m sure I’m not alone in that either.

There’s been no reports (Bar Gustavo although there’s no telling how much truth is in that) of bids for any players in any other positions. We need a CF, CM, CB and GK, none of this should be a shock to anyone and Wenger, if by any chance you’re reading, that includes you. Even if we do get a last minute trolley dash and get 3-4 good players in the positions we need we’ll still be in a worse position than if they’d been bedded in early. Getting to know the team, settling families etc. Not only that, are we saying that the first two games aren’t important enough? In my last blog I spoke about dropped points. We can’t afford to drop 4 points in the first two winnable games while we try and bring players in.

It’s because of all this that I believe this is Wenger’s last season at the helm of Arsenal. This kind of behaviour just shows he’s lost touch with this side of football. He’s still got what it takes on the match day and he still has an unrivalled knowledge of the game. But, this isn’t the first window that has passed us by with little to no action. His comments about not valuing the players the same as the market does say it all. An Iphone 5 isn’t worth £600 but people will buy them because it’s desirable and people will pay it so sets the market price. No player is really worth millions but clubs will pay that and if we won’t there will always be a club that will. So if we’re not repaired to pay the market valuation or above, then we will always lose out on every target.

In a perfect world, this side of the game would be handled by someone else. Wenger should say I need X, Y, Z player or a player with X, Y, Z qualities. That person should then go and get it and let them worry about the finances and report to the board not Wenger. As things stand I can’t see that changing, Wenger has a lot of power and influence at the club and won’t want to see that slip away. I’ve always said I don’t want us to be like other clubs with the hiring and firing of managers, but he’s got one year left let’s let him play that out and leave with dignity and hopefully on top. That gives us a whole year to look for a replacement and gives Wenger enough time for another adventure.

Before someone castrates me for being anti Wenger or anti Arsenal, think about what I’m saying. Wenger is probably one of the best managers we’ve had and one of the best in the world at this time. However to deny he gas flaws is ridiculous. Transfers are his flaw and its holding us back. He’s been fantastic with the finances throughout our stadium transition but we’re through that now and we need to change with the times.

Throughout the coming season I will be giving Wenger, the team and the club my 100% support. That doesn’t mean I have to be blind towards the issues and want better for my club. I won’t be holding up any banner for him to leave at games and I won’t be booing or singing any petitions. I’ve voiced my opinions and that’s all I can do. I just want us to compete and at this moment in time where we don’t have any games to compete in all we have is the transfer window, in this game we’re currently getting thrashed 8-2.

Apologies for the rant/moan but it needed to come out. If anyone wants to comment on it please feel free to contact me on twitter. Like I said this is my opinion, I’m not saying I’m right.

 Unitl next time.

Strangely positive about the season ahead

Good morning Gunners,

So we’ve stumbled into the week where the first premier league game will be played. Five days from now I’ll be waking up ready to face Villa, I’m already excited but by then I’m sure I’ll be like a kid at Christmas but with a bag full of nerves over my shoulder.

I’m not going to talk about transfers today because there’s nothing new and nothing concrete to look at. There’s too many maybe’s and too many ill formed rumours.

Let’s put what’s happened this summer (or rather what hasn’t happened) aside, we should be confident about the start to the season. Villa is a team we should be beating, coming off our excellent run from last season and a decent pre-season. We have a fully fit first team, a team which has gained a year’s worth of experience playing together, with some individuals showing real signs of improvement.

In fact we’ve got Villa (H), Fulham (A) and Fenerbache (H&A). The squad we have at the moment should be able to get victories at all of those fixtures. My worry comes for our third game against Sp*rs, they have improved their squad and could prove a threat in something which is always a close game. If they lose Bale I think we may have a better chance simply because they will have to change their whole team set up, but I don’t want to write about them much more than necessary.

Last season we dropped 4 points in our first two games against Sunderland and Stoke both 0-0. It’s been a bit of an Arsenal thing to drop points at games we should have won. Along with those two we dropped 16 points to the likes of Norwich, Fulham, Villa, Swansea, Southampton and Everton. Now the later of those teams should be providing us with a test but I still think we should be picking up 6 points from both games as opposed to the 2 points we got last season. All in all that’s 20 points we dropped from teams that (apart from Liverpool) finished outside the final top 5. Those 20 points would have won us the league.

Now that’s a lot of ifs and buts, but it’s worth putting into perspective. Our squad at this moment in time should be beating those teams. We should be looking for that extra quality to take the points from those around and above us. The thing we’re still desperate for is a deeper squad. Since clearing out our dead wood we don’t have much depth to play in four competitions. That still worries me with our injury record and players burning out. However I’m sure the manager has it all in hand (plastic smile, forced to remain positive).

There were many people who were saying that they wanted us to lose against Man City in our last pre-season game. I think those people need to take a long hard look at themselves. If you’re an Arsenal fan, you should never want Arsenal to lose. I can see where they’re coming from in that it could force the club to spend but I’m not sure it would have. We saw Wenger blame the Emirates cup failure on fatigue. What’s to say he wouldn’t have done the same? The club are well aware of how the fans are feeling and are probably well aware of what needs to be done. Unfortunately it seems they aren’t on the same page as Wenger on where the guidelines are for spending and targets. Let’s hope they align soon (this glass is definitely half full).

I say I’m excited about the start of the season because I am. I’m not saying that I couldn’t be more excited should be sign some big names but as I said yesterday I’m not holding m breath on that anymore. I’m sitting here with the same feelings before every season, we can win the league or the cups, probably not Champions League but the domestic titles are in reach. Anything can happen and we have to remain optimistic. Dwelling on what could have been before we’ve even started isn’t going to do us any good. If we get to the end of the season and we’ve had a stinker, heads will roll people can say “I told you so” but until then let’s give the team all our support so they can go out there and give their all for us. 

Has the Saurez deal fallen through? all hope has gone.

Greetings all,

It’s been a couple of days since my last post simply due to a few shift changes at work. There’s not been too much to write about until today anyway. No-one new has come in and we’ve only had confirmation of some of our fringe players leaving, which we were all hoping for anyway.

Yesterday saw us beat Man City 3-1. I didn’t get to see the game due to work but was following it on twitter and saw the goals. From what I can gather Ramsey, Walcott and Koscielny had good games with Podolski playing the loan striker and looking like he was lacking in pace. You can catch the full match report on the club website if you want to get a bit more information on what happened.

After just seeing the goals it was evident that we shouldn’t expect to breeze past City in this way when we play them in the league. While we may have been taking it seriously you could see from their defence there were some lazy mistakes made which I’m almost positive won’t happen in the league. Both team started with nearly full strength teams. Cazrola and Giroud were missing from Arsenal, with Fernaninho and Negredo starting for City. Both teams made several substitutions and a lot of our youngsters got another run out including Perez who is on trial with us. Most comments seemed to echo he could be a replacement for Arteta.

After the game Arsene spoke again about signing players with encouraging signs that he sees the same issues we do. When asked about the strikers in the squad he said:

“I think what is important is the strength of the squad. Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.”

That’s a good sign that he does realise that we need to strengthen the squad especially with some of the departures. Yes they weren’t starting any games but if we had an injury at least they were someone we can call upon. At this moment in time, a few injuries in a couple of positions and we might not even have a name that we can place in to cover.

Before I heard those words I had actually resigned myself to expecting no signings. It’s almost as if I was going through the stages of grief. First there was refusal to accept what was happening, then there was anger and finally I settled on fuck it, this is it. To b e honest what Wenger said in that post game press conference was just words. There’s still been no action and because of that guess I’m still resigned to expecting to definitely starting the season with no further additions and almost certainly closing the transfer window in the same manor. I’m not happy about it but I think it’s a real possibility.

At the same time I’ve gone quite pessimistic on the Saurez saga too. I’d love his talent at the club. I’m still not a huge fan of the person but his skills could make a real difference to our team. Brendan Rogers and the owners have stated he’s not for sale, the same thing was said about Torres before he left but this has been slightly different. This situation has become a bit of a mess involving the PFA and rows over clauses in contracts that we’ve now found don’t exist. Because of the non-existence of this clause I think that may have cooled our interest. Like Higuain, we were prepared to pay a certain amount and the final selling fee was nearly £10m above that. Currently our bid for Saurez is £40m+£1 and the reported fee needed to pry him away is £51m. See the similarities?

Liverpoool have expressed their concerns over selling him to a rival for fourth, the length he has left on his contract and I'm getting the feeling that he's pissed them off quite a bit to the point where thy're just being stubborn and not going to let him go because they don't want to. He's kicked up quite a fuss and they've stood their ground. not sure really what he's got left in his locker. Not only that, if we have something in the region of £70m-£100m to spend on new players, spending half of it on one player doesn't leave us a lot to strengthen our thin squad.

A player I rate quite highly and if we had gone for at the opening of the window I think we might have got is Edin Dzeko of City. Since Pellegrini has taken charge he has reassured Dzeko that he is an integral part of his plans for the season which seems to have settled him. I’m not sure if we could pry him away from them but a bid couldn’t hurt to test the waters. Also there’s Willian, playing for Russian big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala. According to some papers he has been transfer listed to reduce their wage bill. Other than those two I’m fresh out of ideas.

I’m not holding my breath for any of these or any other signing. I’m not saying we don’t need them, I’ve just lost all confidence that we have the ability to do it for the type of players needed. On a slightly different note, Chamakh has confirmed his signing to Crystal Palace on a 6 month loan. Good luck to him hope he gets the chance to show that he’s got something left so we can off load him permanently. Also I’ll be praying to every known God, the old and the new, that he scores against Sp*rs.

Finally let me direct you to the weekly podcast on A Bergkamp Wonderland. This week’s guests are: @GoonerGimli, @The_GFP, @SheWore, @LordHillwood, @fkhanage and @timpayton. Always a great listen. While you're checking out their twitter pages give the Vigilante a follow @AFCVigilante

Arsenal need signings to save the world

Good morning all,

Apologies this is coming to you later than usual, I’ve started shift work and forgot to write it yesterday before I went to work and I was too shattered to write it when I got in.

The Saurez saga seems to be hotting up with every day that goes by although, he’s no closer to being an Arsenal player than anyone ever has. He has come out publicly saying he wants to leave but was very careful as not to say where he wants to go. This has created outrage amongst the Liverpool fans who say they’ve stuck by him through his troubles and he’s thrown it in their face. I think about feeling sorry for them for a brief moment but that thought is whipped away. It’s happened to us with RVP and the way the club labelled us as classless make me fell nothing for them at all.

He doesn’t want to be at the club, the fans now don’t want him at the club, I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t a premier league club so interested in him he would have gone by now. I’m not sure that Liverpool really has any option other than to offload him, there’s talk of this even going to legal proceedings. I really hope it doesn’t go that far, it’s a bit unnecessary and a waste of everyone’s time. I was unsure if Arsenal would up their bid much more, there seems to be firm belief from Arsenal that the current bit of £40m+£1 should be enough. The Daily Star says we’re about to bid £51m but all they’ve done is look at Torres going for £50m and think Liverpool will want more than that, Great reporting.

However, the PFA, who Saurez turned to for help, having an exploration of the contract, confirmed there’s no clause which says he has to be allowed to leave if a club offers more than £40m. Sooo, egg on face. It’s clear Suarez and his camp have misunderstood, in turn we’ve been led to believe this clause was sufficient to do the deal, and Liverpool’s insistence that it wasn’t appears to be spot on. Looks like The Daily Star could be right but not for the reasons they’ve given.

Just as he split Arsenal fans at the beginning with his skills and character, he is further splitting fans up with when we should make the final push. Do we get him now (listen Arsenal NOW) so that he can play in our champions league qualifiers, also he would have more time to bed into the squad before his 6 game ban expires for the domestic games. Or, do we wait until last minute, saving ourselves a few weeks worth of wages we would have paid and maybe a few million in the final fee. We should be able to qualify without him for the champions league without him, if we can’t then his addition to the squad would be a drop in the ocean to what we would need. I do feel however that having time to integrate him into the squad and lay the law down to him about how things are going to work with us, will be a good idea.

Another thing that could help is bringing in such a high profile player for such a high fee can serve as a message of intent to other potential signings. It could show them that we mean business and we’re willing to push to the top. Not making this signing however, proves the exact opposite.

There’s still nothing in the way of other names that we can take seriously being linked with the club. We still need signings in other positions, for me we need a winger, a solid DM/CM, a centre back and a back up keeper. If we don’t get Saurez and the deal falls through close to the end of the window, we will be so far up a certain creak without a paddle, canoe, map, compass, clothes and with a nasty water infection. All the clubs around us have improved their squads and we haven’t. If that’s the way it stays come the end of the window and the season has started, my melt down will be visible from space, as will every other fan. It could end the world, I hope Arsene has thought of that.

Just as I said yesterday, this situation frustrates, angers, worries me to the hilt but until the end of the window comes I have to believe that there will be action. It’s just unfathomable to think there won’t. If Arsene does end the window by saying that the team was strong enough and signings weren’t needed, I’m confident this would be his last season. The majority of fans just won’t be able to deal with the fact we’ve let the best off-season position we’ve been in for years pass us by.

Not to act on this to me, has all the signs of madness, clinical madness. The more I think about it the more worried I become, so I’m going to leave it there before I call in sick for work and spend the next four weeks hiding under my duvet, waiting for someone to come and tell me “it’s ok we’ve signed...”.

Make sure that either tonight or tomorrow you check out a BergkampWonderland for their podcast, a great bunch of guys giving their thoughts on what’s happened over the past week. That’s it, I’ve had breakfast, I’m not going to crawl under the duvet (close to it) and I’m going to start the day. Have a good one. 

I believe signing will happen, I have to.

Good morning all,

For the past several weeks all anyone from any club can ever talk about is transfers. It’s a hugely controversial subject prompting differences of opinion on a huge scale. It’s not surprising considering for roughly 10 months of the year we have the games to keep us occupied. What else are we supposed to do with ourselves in those two months? We still need our fix of football and so we nibble at every little piece of football related information, hoping it will give us the news that our team now has the potential to smash all other teams out the water and secure some silverware.

The media jump on it the second the season ends, before anyone can even do any business they will report that a deal is done for “X” player by “Y” club. Every one of us wants to read those words for a star player and their club. This season it’s happened a lot with Arsenal. Rooney, Higuain, Jovetic, Saurez, Williams, Cesar, Fellaini, Fabregas, the list goes on and on with the number of big names Arsenal have been linked with. They all have the same thing in common, no one of them have signed for Arsenal.

Anyone who has followed Arsenal knows that having your name linked with the club does nothing but confirm you play football.  There are very few names that the press will link with Arsenal that then go on to sign for the club. There are a few, although they’re not usually massive names from European football. In fact barely any of our signing have been because Arsene had that ability to pick out a gem in the rough and make him a super star. We’ve never broken the bank for a player but also recently we haven’t unearthed any gems.

The Suarez thing only really came to light thanks to Liverpool’s leaking of our £40m+£1 bid. There was the Hoguain deal that collapsed because we weren’t willing to pay as much as Napoli. Quite why, I have no idea. Perhaps Higuain was always the second choice and Saurez was the first choice. We weren’t prepared to pay that much for second choice when first choice hadn’t been denied to us at that point. Other than those two, there’s been no mention of any bids for any other player, we stated that £10m for Williams was too much, but I don’t think we’ve really made a bid yet. Not a confirmed one at least.

Arsesne and the board will have gotten together after the season and spoke about a list of names they desired to play in our red and white. I’m quite sure there will have been more names on the piece of paper than Saurez and Higuain. Considering the amount we’ve shifted out the club it’s left our first team squad looking very thin. Thankfully, this season it’s been fringe players and not big names. Most of which really needed to be on their way but they still need replacing with better ones.

The clubs position wouldn’t have been helped by them talking about how much they can spend and what wages they can pay. Apart from gaining a bit of cash from the fans in merchandise, memberships and season tickets, it’s going to cost the club in transfers. Clubs will up their price knowing we have the capital to pay what they ask, if we don’t want to they’ll simply hang on to the player. Win win for them, a boat load of money or keeping what should be a great player.

This means we’re going to have to put up or shut up with our bids for players. Arsene has said that they are working hard in private, as they usually do and I don’t doubt it but It’s still nail biting stuff this side of the board room. Especially when City, Chelsea and even Sp*rs have added reinforcements and improved their squads we are going to NEED to do the same if we are going to even keep up, never mind improve on last season. I can’t say I’m not worried about us adding to our squad in time because I am but this is Arsenal, anything can happen. I’m just hanging on to this thought that they must be doing something, keeping it top secret. They have to be, it’s all that’s keeping me sane at the moment.

Who are targets are I have no idea, who those back ups are again I have no idea. It’s worth remembering however, that every player has a price and value to their club. There will be those with players they feel are an integral part to their squad but when the right price comes in then they have to react. It’s happened already for other clubs and it’s happened to us in the past, the club just need to make sure that they are prepared to go to those big numbers in terms of bids.

Arteta has spoken about transfers, again, he says he expects to see new faces. There have been many players in the squad saying the squad needs improving which are all encouraging signs. We just need to see those pictures of “X” player holding and Arsenal shirt outside the ground, after he’s signed and it’s been posted on the clubs official account. Like I said I have to believe it will happen as it’s the only thing keeping me going, that and if we don’t the consequences aren’t worth thinking about.

Until next time.