Arsenal Till I Die

Newcastle 0 – 0 Arsenal

First game of the season, having to make the long trip up north away to Newcastle. After last seasons second-half capitulation, this by no means was going to be an easy three pointer.

With Samir Nasri, and Cesc’s imminent departures and Wilshere out injured we knew before the game that we would be short in the creative department. The game finished 0-0 with Song, Gervinho and Joey Barton the main talking points of the 90 minutes. For all those Arsenal fans who think that out lackluster style of play hasn’t changed since the end of last season, I couldn’t disagree more.

We surely have to see the glass half full and not half empty after this first game. The day before the game all the Arsenal players “officially” said their goodbye to their captain and best player, Cesc. This no doubt was going to have some kind of influence on the players’ state of mind. Nasri (who is still an Arsenal player) and Wilshere were missing out due to “injury”. You take those two players away from most teams and they will struggle to create chances. We had the memory of lat season, 4-0 up at half-time, only to be pegged back to 4-4. Psychologically this would influence the players, as professional as they may be, they are also human beings.

Newcastle didn’t even manage a shot on goal that I can recall in the entire 90 minutes. Match of the Day didn’t even show one attack. Now considering the frame of mind the player were in going into the game, to put in such a solid performance was very pleasing. I haven’t seen Arsenal so solid at the back in a long time. Considering how we ended last season and the way we have defended in pre-season I was bricking it on Saturday before the game.

I for one would much rather us have a solid back-line and use our attacking flair to sneak 1-0 or 2-1 victories as United and Chelsea seem to do so well. Had we been given the penalty we deserved from the Gervinho incident, and scored it we would have taken the three points.

I am fed up of being renowned for playing such attractive football, I want us to win titles as that is what makes us fans happy. You don’t see the fans out in the street parading the way we play football. It might have just been a one-off game but I really do hope that with Cesc now officially a Barça player we will set up in a more solid way and protect our back-line and defend more as a team.

This takes me onto my next point for today…

Cesc

The day has finally come and it is time to say bye to Cesc. I can vouch for all Arsenal fans when I say that we all knew one day or another he would move back home but until this weekend and today, it hadn’t properly sunk in. The feeling of losing our captain, our best player and what everyone says, a top guy, is painful, very painful. I know this is an over-exaggeration but it has felt a little like somebody close has passed away.

The first weekend of a Premiership season is normally my Christmas day. I am so excited after a whole summer of no football that the game we so love is back. For the first time in my life I felt like crying that the season was about to start without our talisman, hard to understand why he is bailing out on us at this stage of his career.

Cesc has gone and we will miss him dearly. His numbers are incredible. The number of chances he creates in a game is unbeatable. However, The Arsenal moves on. The number of chances Cesc has created over the years will now have to be spread out between Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Arshavin, Gervinho etc. We are in a similar scenario to when Henry left, the players took on more responsibility and the season post-Henry we did pretty well.

Having watched his press-conference today I can ow accept closure and a part of me wants to wish him well on his new adventure, although I now hate Barça too much for that. He was very honest with his declarations today. The real reason he is leaving Arsenal is to play for the team that he always dreamt of playing for as a kid, the team that didn’t believe in him like they did in Messi and Iniesta. It was pretty obvious that he wants to go back to prove some people wrong, those that were unsure about his dream to become an established player at Futbol Club Barcelona, which is the reason why he moved to Arsenal in the first place. With the success and the team Barça have you cannot blame him for wanting to go back now. My only “worry” for him is that he is basing his decision on a dream he had as a kid, and things change. I don’t think he will ever be loved as much at Barça as he was by us Gunners. I don’t think he will ever be as important for them as he was for us. He may realise this when he is back into his routine at Barça and he wouldn’t be the only ex-Arsenal that would want to be back in North London after thinking their future was better away from the club.

Who knows, we might just have to start a campaign to bring back Cesc. For the next three years every Arsenal player and manager should talk about what a good player Cesc is in every press-conference, how he suits the way Arsenal play football, how he has unfinished business as Arsenal captain not having won anything etc. etc. If we do this for three years non-stop we might get him back for a cut price.

Thank you Cesc for your wonderful memories, you will be dearly missed and never forgotten. I hope the door will always be open if you want to come back.

Life after Cesc

Tomorrow is the most important game of the season, not just for financial reasons but it could be disastrous to start the season not playing Champions League football after being in the competition for so many years on the trot.

We always seem to flourish in the Champions League qualifiers and I am quietly confident about tomorrow. We are playing against Udinese and although I don’t know very much about them, I have read that they have lost a few players from last season, most notably Alexis Sanchez to our new friends.

What we really do need tomorrow to ensure the players put in a great performance is for the fans to get behind the team. It is clear that the players and the manager heard the criticism they received on Saturday against Newcastle and this no doubt affects them (as I said before, they are human beings). Let’s get behind our team, hope a lot of productive work is going on behind the scenes to bring in some decent players and finalise the sales of some of the players that are just making up the numbers at the moment. Against the odds, this could be a season to remember, and for the right reasons.

So, it looks like Nasri and Cesc are on their way out. We have three full weeks left before the summer transfer window comes to a close and have money to burn. Although the Arsenal board are not in favour of commenting on potential signings, we have been assured that lots of work is going on behind the scenes. This being the case I would like to go through each position and see who needs to be moved on and what aspects of the squad need improving…

Goalkeeper

Last season this was the position that needed strengthening. We made bids for Mark Schwarzer but failed to agree a fee with Fulham. Manuel Almunia started the season as number one and if you compare his position at the Club a year on it couldn’t be any different. We have been assured Almunia is talking to other clubs so he is definitely on his way out. That leaves us with three first team goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski  and Vito Mannone. I think Szczesny will be our number one this season. He has a very bright future but it is still very early to say he is world class. I really do hope he stays fit all season as I am not too keen on Fabianski as his back-up.

OUT: Manuel Almunia – 1million

Right-back 

Bacary Sagna is first choice and I think that replacing Emmanuel Eboue as his back up was necessary. Carl Jenkinson has been the chosen one. Young and “British” (as well as finish), from what I have seen in pre-season I have been impressed. Apart from that extra-ordinary own goal he has seemed solid at the back and comfortable on the ball going forward. Eboue also seems to be on his way out and although he seems to be an influential figure in the changing room and a cult-hero with some of the fans, on the pitch he is a liability. The home game against Liverpool last season sums up his time at Arsenal, very eager but no brains. He is the kind of player that could get sent-off for something stupid and leave us with our backs against the wall. Although it will be sad to see him go for the relationship he has with the fans, I think on the pitch Jenkinson will make us more solid when called-upon.

IN: Carl Jenkinson: 1million

OUT: Emmanuel Eboue: 3.5million

Left-back

We have moved on our first team left back last season to one of our main rivals. Sounds disastrous but in actual fact it is not. Kieran Gibbs has the quality to replace Gael Clichy, I have no doubt about it. My only issue with Gibbs is he is injury prone. Clichy was also injury prone before he replaced Ashley Cole as the first team left-back so if that is anything to go by Gibbs will be ok playing more regularly, although he is already apparently ruled out for the first game of the season. I don’t see Armand Traore as a good enough replacement. He has been a bit-part player at Arsenal for too long and considering Gibbs’s injury record it looks like Traore will be playing a decent chunk of games this season and we will not win the Premiership with Traore at left-back. I know Arsene Wenger won’t go out and buy a new left-back, he has already confirmed it. BUT in an ideal world, I would. Jose Enrique is in the same situation as Gael Clichy was with us, in his last year contract. I think he would be a very decent signing, we still have time to hijack the Liverpool deal. Solid at the back, quick, good on the ball and decent going forward. He would give Gibbs some decent competition.

IN: Jose Enrique: 5million

OUT: Gael Clichy: 7million, Armand Traore: 1.5million

Centre-back

The first word that comes to mind when I relate the word centre-back to Arsenal is vulnerable. I don’t think that signing one centre-back will solve all our problems. What I do think is that we need a leader at the back, a Tony Adams figure that can orgainse the team from the back. Thomas Vermaelen has the characteristics to do the job but considering he has only had one proper season in English football and has been out all of last season I think we need another player to be first team centre back with him. I think more than anything the main problem we have at the back is communication. Just think back to the final of the Carling Cup against Birmingham last season, a little bit more of communication at the back would have surely put an end to all this no trophy malarky in the past 6 years. You see John Terry and Rio Ferdinand playing for our rivals and they seem to be shouting at their team-mates all game, you don’t see that happening at the Arsenal. There has been talk regarding Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill and Scott Dann. We have been assured that we will be getting a new centre-back. If Arsene Wenger doesn’t sign a centre-back I think that these London Riots will be nothing compared to the reaction of Arsenal fans, we need a centre-back that badly. Who will it be? I have no idea and knowing Arsene Wenger it will probably end up being somebody on the last day of the transfer window and somebody who wasn’t even linked to the club. I hope it will be Gary Cahill. As back ups we have Laurent Koscielny, and Johan Djourou, who I rate both very highly but need to be playing with someone commanding. Sebastien Squillaci needs to be moved on. If we do sign a new left back we don’t have to depend on Vermaelen to fit in at left back so with four centre-backs we should be fine.

IN: Gary Cahill: 15million

OUT: Sebastien Squillaci: 1million

Centre-midfield

Our captain, Cesc Fabregas has his heart somewhere else. Although he has been the hub of our team for the last few years, if he has his mind somewhere else, we should cash in and invest it on improving the squad. I truly believe that his replacement should be Scott Parker. Experienced Premiership player, technically good and has very good leadership and communication skills (exactly what we need). He is not the type of player Arsene Wenger would buy as he is in his 30’s and will have very little sell-on value (West Ham are asking for 8 million). I think that for 8 million he would be a bargain for what we need. Apart from Parker we would have Jack Wilshere (I would play him as the most advanced player in our middle 3 to replace Cesc’s position) and Alex Song as the holding midfielder. As replacements we have Aaron Ramsey, Abou Diaby (when he is not injured), Tomas Rosicky and Emmanuel Frimpong (who I think has a really bright future, from what I have seen in pre-season this guy will make the Stoke players look like boys).

IN: Scott Parker: 8million

OUT: Cesc Fabregas: 40million

Wingers

Just like the situation with Cesc Fabregas, if Samir Nasri is not willing to sign a new contract and commit to the club we have to show him the door, especially if one of our main rivals are willing to pay 22 million on a player in his last year contract. Obviously he would need to be replaced and the player we have been linked with to replace him is Juan Mata. He would be a great addition to the squad. If we do sell Nasri it goes without doubt that we would need to invest that money in getting a player to replace him. Regarding other wingers, we have brought in Gervinho, who looks to be replacing Nicklas Bendtner who is on his way out. I am pretty happy with that swap. Obviously we still have Theo Walcott and if he can continue to progress from last year and stay injury free I am expecting a big season from him. We have recently purchased Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ryo Miyaichi, two players with lightening pace and a very bright future. I would like to see them as back-up wingers this year and get some experience. Although they are not ready yet to be playing week-in week-out I think they are more than capable of being impact players for the time being. I would also send Carlos Vela out on loan, I still don’t think he is ready to be an Arsenal first team player but he needs games. With the amount of wingers we have I would also be reluctant to let Andrei Arshavin move on. He hasn’t really fulfilled what all Arsenal fans expected when we signed him and is a very hot and cold player, and most recently a lot more cold rather than hot.

IN: Juan Mata: 22million, Gervinho: 10.5million, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 12million

OUT: Samir Nasri: 22million, Nicklas Bendtner: 8million, Andrei Arshavin: 7million, Carlos Vela (loan)

Striker

At the moment (considering Bendtner and Vela are on their way out) we only have two proper strikers, Robin Van Persie and Mouran Chamakh. RVP is brilliant and was amazing for the second half of last season. He will probably be our captain this year and will score a lot of goals. As with other players, his only problem is injuries. Chamakh started last season really well but ever since then hasn’t looked great. I think we need a quality striker who is going to guarantee us 20 plus goals a season and provide RVP with good competition and cover when injured or he needs to be rested. It is no co-incidence that Arsenal’s number 9 shirt is not taken. I would invest the money from Cesc in signing a top notch striker, preferences would be either Samuel Eto’o or Karim Benzema.

IN: Karim Benzama: 35million

OUT: Jay Emmanuel-Thomas: 2million

That makes it 108.5 million in expenses and 93 million coming in which means we are only 15.5 million short. Considering we have a budget of 40 million for this summer we are within our limits. Now these are just my thoughts and I am looking at things in an ideal world. The reality is the season starts on Saturday and I don’t think we will have signed any new players before then but it is looking likely that Cesc’s and Nasri’s future might be sorted out pretty soon which will give us some time before the 31st of August to find replacements.

In reality I think we will get rid of Eboue, Bendtner, Almunia, Nasri, Cesc and Vela (loan) and we will buy a centre back and somebody like Juan Mata to replace Nasri but I really cannot see any more faces apart from these two coming in.