Tuesday 25 August 2015

New blood required at Arsenal?

After watching Arsenal draw a blank at home yet again, it is no surprise to hear the crowd baying for new blood. 'Get your cheque book out, Wenger' is a common cry. Wenger's reply is usually along the lines of you can't buy the title, or the players we want are unavailable. You know the score.

Until the Liverpool game, I wasn't so sure Arsenal needed new players. After all, it nearly always takes time for them to bed in.

However, with Koscielny and Mertesacker out of action, Arsenal looked woeful at the back at times. Luckily, Cech produced a man of the match performance to keep Liverpool at bay, when it threatened to be a whitewash.

Chambers was particularly nervous in the first half, but improved in the second. Gary Neville reckons the young England defender needs games, which is why I think Arsenal may have to look for a new centre back. I would consider loaning out Chambers to get games elsewhere, in order to bring in a versatile experienced player who can play at centre back or as a holding midfielder.

Unfortunately, no one comes to mind. However, Arsenal do need someone who can step into Coquelin's shoes, should he get sidelined. Maybe Arteta or Flamini could do it in an emergency, but I'm not convinced that either can come back hitting the ground running. Both are favourites of mine, but age is a factor. How can either cover as much ground as Coquelin?

Meanwhile, upfront I'm convinced the goals will come wit the existing strike force. Providing Arsenal use the wide areas more effectively than they did against Liverpool, all will be well on that front. That will mean starting with a more natural wide man like the Ox or Theo. Once the crosses start raining in, we'll see the best of Giroud.

So my shopping list in short: a centre back and defensive midfielder, but preferably a two-in-one.

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Monday 17 August 2015

3 welcome points, but 3 worries for Arsenal

After the West Ham debacle, it was pleasing to see Arsenal grab the Eagles by the feathers and give them a good shaking.

However, it wasn't the easiest of victories, despite the much-maligned Giroud scoring a spectacular opener from Ozil's centre. Quite how the Frenchman swivelled to volley the ball in when the cross was behind him is beyond me. A sublime piece of skill, which should hopefully keep the detractors off his back for another week.

Giroud added on 'Match of The Day' that Wenger has told him to shoot with his first touch more often. What a good piece of advice that was, based on this evidence.

Talking of evidence, we have a bit more to suggest that Koscielny should try to press the ball when an opponent is shooting, rather than turning his back on him. Surely this can be ironed out in training, as this habit has cost Arsenal two goals so far this season. I can see he doesn't want to risk handballing it, or causing a wicked deflection, but standing still and turning your back to the ball surely is not the answer.

In the end, Arsenal had to rely on Alexis Sanchez winning a ball he had no right to win to covert a Bellerin cross via Delaney's wanton slash at the ball. An own goal will do nicely thank you.

Aside from Koscielny's worrying tendency to turn his back on a shot, another issue that needs addressing is Coquelin. He had a reasonable game, but he looked a dead cert to get sent off. He was extremely lucky not to be, as the ref had to let him off two 'iffy' challenges after he picked up a yellow card. Personally, I'd have taken him off at half-time.

This brings me on to the third worry: Wenger's indecisiveness. The manager shouldn't need Per Mertesacker to tell him when to sub a player. He did the right thing eventually, by putting on Arteta for Coquelin, but it should have happened much sooner.

Nevertheless, it was a well-deserved win and although Cazorla got man-of-the-match from Sky, I'd have given it to his compatriot, Monreal.


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Sunday 9 August 2015

Arsenal suffer setback, not catastrophe

The test of true champions is how you come back from disappointment. I'm sure the Arsenal players feel just as upset as the fans, after an extremely poor showing against West Ham in the season's opener, so they'll want to prove their 'bouncebackability' next weekend.

The last time the champions-to-be lost an opening league game was back in 1995, when Manchester United lost at home to Aston Villa; this prompted Alan Hansen to go into rant mode, saying famously: 'You'll win nothing with kids'. Alex Ferguson's team went on a 10-game unbeaten run thereafter, almost just to spite the pundit, who normally called it right.

Now Arsenal may hope some outspoken idiot in the media says: 'You'll win nothing with Cech'. Then the Gunners will be even more determined to ram the words down the throats of the critics.

Having said all of that, there is no escaping the fact that Cech let in two soft goal against the Hammers. If you come for a crossed ball, you have to get it. Cech was nowhere near the cross that was headed in for West Ham's first. For the second, Cech was beaten at his near post, which is always a cardinal sin, especially when it's from long-range.

Nevertheless, the rest of the team were largely disappointing too. The only outfield player to emerge with any credit was Oxlade-Chamberlain. He looked like a world-beater at times, but even he was dispossessed for West Ham's killer second goal.

The less said about the rest of the team, the better. I think Arsenal missed Bellerin, who was out injured; the young Spaniard offers a threat going forward and may have opened up West Ham more down the right, had he been fit.

Now it's up to Arsenal to regroup and make sure they take the full three points away at Crystal Palace, which promises to be a much tougher prospect than West Ham at home.

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Monday 3 August 2015

Arsenal Cech-mate Chelsea

Yes, it was only a friendly, but all augurs well for the season ahead for Arsenal after the 1-0 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield.

That's not to say that Arsenal looked invincible. Far from it. However, with Petr Cech in goal it was no big surprise that the Gunners kept a clean sheet.

Cech's quiet assurance was a welcome relief from some of the manic keeping that Arsenal fans have had to endure over the years, post-Lehmann.

No matter what was going on in front of him, Cech always appeared confident and unfussed. He seemed to enjoy every moment of the game against his ex-employees.

What made the victory all the more sweet for Arsenal fans was to win it without Alexis Sanchez, arguably their best player.

In the end, Arsenal were only marginally the better side but, with Cech in goal, that may be enough.

That's why I'm predicting a tight league championship ahead with Arsenal eventually emerging as winners by the narrowest of margins: a bit like yesterday.

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Saturday 1 August 2015

No unexpected items in bagging area

This is another way of saying, Arsenal are not about to 'bag' a striker. Obviously, there are always rumblings about Karim Benzema, but this has been ongoing for literally years so perhaps we need to disregard these rumours (if we haven't before).

I'm not sure it's such a bad thing either. Although some critics love to lampoon Olivier Giroud, I feel he is improving season on season and the best is yet to come from the big striker. I don't see him as a weak link at all and I sincerely believe he'll score at least 20 Premier League goals if he makes 38 starts. His goal ratio isn't too shabby, so I don't understand why he has so many critics.

The same has been the case when it comes to Theo Walcott, who has just put pen to paper on a new deal. Four more years of Theo is excellent news for Arsenal, as no defence can live with his pace. He's a lethal finisher too, although harsh critics will always count the chances he misses rather than the goals he scores.

The only time I worry about strikers is when they're not getting enough chances. If that's the case, I would be looking to strengthen the attack. Luckily, Giroud and Theo look hungry to score more next season. That's why Arsenal don't need Benzema.

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