Arsenals Defender Crisis

Konscielny is banned for the Blackpool game, leaving the only player who is fit to replace him being Nordveit not the most ideal of replacements though. So Wenger needs to buy a defender quick the problem is that he can't.

“Let’s not be fooled,” he said. “We are short at the back, and we need to add. If we manage to do that, then we are better equipped. We have more experience now, the average age of our players is 23, 24, when they are real men; the league is more open. It is time for us. I believe we have managed quite well to stay in the top four in recent times while we built the new stadium. Now it is time to deliver.”


Wenger did manage to buy Laurent Koscielny, but only after protracted negotiations, as Lorient knew how urgently Arsenal needed him.


“It was unbelievably difficult to get him,” Wenger said. “Many team do not want to sell,”

“Germany is in a very strong financial situation. In France the clubs are well managed and do not need to sell. In Italy there are fewer players now who could strengthen Arsenal than before. And in England the transfer market is flat. For years we had no money but now we have money we cannot buy players.”


Hopefully he does because we need one soon!

In Arsene We Trust

A Point Deserved.

After yesterdays match against Liverpool it seemed that everyone was pretty happy with a draw and to come out of the match on a high.


Obviously there will be high atmosphere after that 90 minute flop by Reina that can't cover the fact that we were against 10 men and with Agger seeing stars for about 20 minutes. However as it was have written about the problem of our goalkeepers for the past two posts it was that man Almunia who let us down. The one rule of goalkeeping is to never be beaten at your front post if Ngog had slid that to the far post and scoed it would have been a good goal but especially how he got fingers to it shows that he has reason to be blamed. He also flopped 3 crosses...


But we have to stop going on about Almunia, we can see his confidence his low and the only way we can help him is to get behind him and support him. Or Wenger could just make it easier for us by buying Schwarzer or Given.

Onto the player ratings

Almunia: 4- Beat at his near post and missed many crosses needs to improve if we have a chance of winning the title.

Sagna: 6- Very good defensively but can't put a cross in the box, we have height now in Chamakh so he needs to provide decent crosses.

Clichy: 6- Possibly the opposite of Sagna. Good at going forward but sometimes lost the courage to really put in challenges

Konscielny/Vermaelan: 8- Both very good and a good debut from Konscielny before getting a second yellow card for a handball that was clearly an accident.

Diaby: 6- Was good at keeping the ball but he is not a defensive midfielder, should have been there to clear up the Wilshere mistake.

Wilshere: 7- Played well but lost the ball which caused us the goal (as well as the bad goalkeeping from Almunia.).

Nasri: 8.5- Was our best player by far showed us the skill and creativity that the others lacked. MoM

Eboue: 5- Was pretty much invisible on the football field. Nothing more to say about him.

Arshavin: 6- Was to lazy for me and didn't look in great form. Some good touches and passes though.

Chamakh: 7- Got into the right positions but there was no one to feed him with the correct passes. An alright debut however he got into the right position for the cross which then lead to a goal. So overall good.

Rosicky/Walcott: 7.5: Both really improved the team when they came on and lead to chances that could have created goals. Good cross from Rosicky in the end.

Van Persie: Didn't have enough time to change anything.

Wenger's guess game

Wenger is usually unpredicatble with his choice for the first match of the season but this year-thanks to the injuries it should be more clear.

The injury list has risen to 5 with Bendtner, Song, Denilson and Djourou all joining Ramsey. And iwth the depatures of Campbell, Gallas and Silvestre it is obvious that Konscielny  and Vermaelan will start at centre back and Sagna and Clichy will have the left and right backs covered.

There is more choice in the midfield with Fabregas on the bench Nasri seems poised to step up to that role tommorow with Diaby looking clear to start in either the defensive or central midfield role. If central then Frimpong will probably start and if defensive there is an array of choice with Wilshere, Eboue and Rosicky all capable of playing there.

We have some real power and pace up front with Chamakh set to fill that central role- a debut that should be very good- and Walcott and Arshavin on either side of him. Great stats for Arshavin here as he has scored 5 goals in 6 shots against Liverpool (lets hope he keeps it up) and Walcott needs to prove to everyone that he is worth starting.

The only position I can't be sure about is the man between the sticks. There has been so much talk over this in the summer. I think one of them needs to prove that they're worthy to be in the Arsenal team they may not need to as Joe Hart has been chosen as Man City's Number 1 and that definetly means that Shay Given will be wanting to leave. Oh and many thanks to Man City for making sure Spurs weren't top of the table by the afternoon.

In Arsene We Trust

New Season, New Blog

Friday 13 August 2010 


Arsenal's summer as been up and down, with all the talk about our captain going to Barcelona and with our excellent pre-season it was hard to see what it would be like on our first game. Anyway onto the Squad. 
Goalkeepers 
The goalkeeping options this year seems to be the worst of these past few years. With no experience or great good goalkeeper we seem to be stuck. Almunia started well last year but that slowly faded as he became mistake prone and lost confidence. When this happens with any club they always look towards there second choice- Fabianski. In him we have a keeper in which we know that if a cross comes in from a dead-ball situation he is definitely going to miss it. How many times did we get nervous every-time the defense conceded a corner. To sum it up our best goalie was probably our third choice, Mannone, He had a brilliant game against Fulham but was shaky in his other appearances.

Result: Arsenal need to buy an experienced keeper who'll play as Mannone and Szczesny improve. Newest rumours being that Schwazer wants to come but Hughes will not let him. Lets see how things end up... 
Onto the defense
With the depature of Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell and conceding 41 goals last season Arsenal defintely needed to invest in this part of the squad. Laurent Konscielny has come from Lorient and Djourou is back. But with Nordveit may not being ready Arsenal will have to spend some more. Our full back options are fine with Sagna and Eboue at right back and Clichy, Gibbs and Traore at left back. 

Result: Arsenal just need one more defender and Phillip Mexes is available for just 9m snap him up Arsene! Also rumours that Bosnian Defender Emir Spahic is on the Arsenal radar. 
Top Midfield 
Arsenal's midfield are the most creative midfield in the premiership. No suprise that there were no new arrivals. This year the reserves have stepped up and Frimpong, Eastmond and Wilshere have all come in to the first Team squad.

Result: If the midfield play like last season then there should be no problems however they need to be careful when other teams are on the break 
Chamakh on the Attack 
With the introduction of the 6ft 2 Moroccan Arsenal have height upfront and with the over 100 goals we scored last season we shouldn't have a problem with Arshavin, Vela, Walcott, JET, Van Persie a,d Bendtner. Unfortuanately Eduardo has left after not being able to get back to his form after that injury (many thanks Taylor). 

Result: Chamakh will be a key figure in our attack and i wonder howhes going to play with Van Persie 
Overall 
We should do well this season with more options in defense and attack we should be ready to step up. To end my first post I will inform you with the great news that Aaron Ramsey will be back in November. Hopefully he won't end up like Eduardo. 
In Arsene We Trust