Diaby's physique/Arsenal's Theo policy

Hello again Gooners!

Some people call this the 'interlull' and I'm inclined to agree. Life's just not the same without a bit of Premier League action. Internationals just don't do it for me. They used to, but those days have been and gone, perhaps never to return.

The most interesting thing about internationals now is watching Arsenal players in a different context. It was good to see Cazorla on the scoresheet for Spain, but it's been Diaby getting all the plaudits for another outstanding performance, this time for France, which he capped with a goal. It prompted Didier Deschamps to call him a 'complete' [insert word here]. Don't forget, Deschamps is pleased with Diaby, so it's not going to be a rude word! Okay, it was 'midfielder'. Quite a compliment. Nevertheless, he might be too exhausted for France's next game. A match winner one day and in the sickbay the next. Yes, we know all about that at Arsenal.

Diaby's physique is suddenly a much-discussed topic. Guy Roux said that Diaby 'is mounted on two matches with a spot of glue in the middle', which is another pretty graphic way of saying he is 'quite fragile'. Apart from that caveat, Guy appreciates Diaby's 'vision' and his ability to 'eliminate four or five players in a row'. I think something was lost in translation on that last part, as otherwise it would conjure up visions of Diaby twirling around like a Darlek shouting 'exterminate, eliminate!' Or something like that. And Diaby's nothing like a Darlek. Not in build. Not in viciousness. So Darlek he ain't.

Marcotti and Cascarino have been less glowing in their praise of Diaby, describing him as 'not bad'. They've had a lot of abuse from Arsenal fans for speaking their minds, but I don't see the problem with them calling it how they see it. That's what pundits are for, surely.

Stewart Robson, still in the Arsenal Player (TV) wilderness after criticising Theo Walcott (a bit too much by calling him an athlete with a pair of football boots, or something like that) agrees with Roux, Deschamps and Wenger about Diaby. I'm still in the Marcotti and Cas camp for now. The jury's out and I remain to be convinced that Diaby will offer much. Before his injury, he wasn't a world beater. He was 'not bad', in my opinion. He had something about him, a bit of flair, if you like, but he was too erratic for my liking. Not solid enough defensively and not devastating enough going forward. If you wanted to play keep ball in the middle of the field, then Diaby seemed to have a lot going for him. If you wanted to keep a clean sheet or score at the other end, I didn't really value Diaby's contribution very often.

Of course, the injury inflicted upon him was horrific. No wonder he was 'shaking on the bench because he was scared of getting injured again'. Only last year, Renand Longueve described Diaby as having 'the right leg of a 10-year-old'. The 'glue' in his middle must be under a lot of strain. It's bad enough being 'mounted on two matchsticks', but when one matchstick is bigger than the other you're likely to have a lot of problems.  

I'm not sure if it was because of the physical problems of having two different sized matchsticks, but since his injury, he's been mostly ineffectual for Arsenal, apart from against Liverpool, when he played out of his skin. Even 'Deckchair' Denilson did that occasionally. I think Diaby's got more to offer than Denilson though, so don't get me wrong on that. And with quality midfielders around him like Cazorla and Arteta, he's got a great chance to look a better player than he really is. A bit like Michael Carrick at Manchester United. It's the exceptional players around an average player that can elevate the ordinary. After all, it's a team game.

One player who can't get in any team right now is Andrey Arshavin. He won't play for Russia unless he's a first-team regular, and hands up who can imagine that happening at Arsenal?

Even Marouane Chamakh might be higher than Arshavin in Wenger's pecking order. Even Chamakh with malaria. No scrub that! It's not malaria, it's a virus.

Maybe it's the same thing that struck down Fabianski. It's strange the Pole can make it on the bench for his country, but against Liverpool it was Martinez on the bench and Mannone deputising for Szczeny. Please don't think I'm complaining about the team selection. Far from it. Mannone's a much safer than Fabianski in my opinion and Martinez is one for the future. Fabianski is one for the scrapheap, unfortunately. Our former number one, Almunia, let in a load of goals at Watford the other day, so it makes you wonder how good Wenger's judgement has been when it comes to bringing in keepers. Richard Wright looked a good keeper before he joined us, but then when to pieces. I have admit, I'd have signed Wright myself. And Pepe Reina. We could have had him for £20m, apparently, but look at him now. They're a temperament breed alright, but I've seen enough of Fabianski to last me a lifetime. I mean, I don't know who's more nervous when he plays, him or me! Anyway, I've not seen enough of Mannone and Martinez yet, but I've got high hopes for both of them. And James Shea. So maybe we're going to be alright in that department in the not-too-distant future.

Another department that gets debated a lot is the wing department. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may have had a great first half for England, but Roy Hodgson's annoyed with him for stepping off the gas once he knew he was getting subbed. At least, the Ox made an assist while on the pitch, while 'contract rebel' Theo Walcott did the same after replacing his Arsenal team-mate. All good for both players' confidence, although the Ox will get a dressing-down for switching off from the England boss. And Theo should get rebuked by Arsenal for not signing a new deal. Or maybe the unofficial policy is to leave Theo on the bench until he does sign a new deal. Not a bad policy, if true.

Or maybe we'll loan Theo out to get him off the wage bill. That would be as foolish as offering Arshavin on loan or on a free transfer. Oops. Oh yeah, we did that already. Thanks to the great meerkat in the sky, our little meerkat made in his image stayed at the Emirates. Now we have to hope that the great meerkat has a word in the lug-hole of the economist from Strasbourg University who picks the team.

One player who leaves on a month's loan with everyone's blessing is Chuks Aneke. He looks a decent prospect and has had spells with Stevenage and Preston, but now has a chance at Crewe. We all wish Chuks well.

Another loanee is Nicklas Bendtner, but it came as some surprise to hear he might return to play for Arsenal again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder it seems, and Bendtner is back in Wenger's good books: 'We believe in him and that is why we gave him to Juventus on loan'. And there I was thinking it was because Juve wouldn't pay enough up front to make the deal permanent. Having said that, I think 'Super Nick' could become an excellent centre forward one day. It would be nice if it's at Arsenal, but I doubt it will be, unfortunately.

The next player who could get offloaded is Francis Coquelin, if he's not in the team prompto. After just 3 games, he's impatient for his chance. He will take stock in 6 months, he says. Everton, QPR and Aston Villa have all been credited with an interest in a player I rate, but the question remains: is he better than Seb Larsson? I'm not so sure he is. So that could mean the exit door will beckon for ol' Coq-au-vin.

Coming in could be Bordeaux's Yoan Gouffran. He's 26 now and needs to start realising his potential. He's available for £3m in January and will be free if we can wait until the summer. Fulham, Villa and Everton are monitoring developments and my guess is we are too.

Montpellier defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa seems more likely to go to Newcastle in January, all of a sudden. Are we bothered? He turned us down because he wanted a dream move to AC Milan. That never happened, of course, due to the Italians only offering £4.75m for him. He'll be available on a free in the summer, if the Newcastle interest is not what the media would have us believe.

Then there's Anderlecht defender Cheikhou Kouyate. As well as ourselves, Newcastle and Man City are apparently interested. Some sources say we 'held talks' with him. He says he 'had a good feeling about contact from Wenger and Arsenal'. I could say that a séance. So no, I don't believe this story. At all. So there!

That's all for now folks!

Arsenal transfer rumours: Wanyama/Cazorla/Ayew/Sahin/Sakho/El Kaddouri

This time, "Hello again Gooners" has been turned into "Hello again tuners" and "Hello again pruners". If you fall into either of those latter two categories, then I suggest you're in the wrong place!

Perhaps some of our players are still in the wrong place, having witnessed our performances in the two most recent friendlies. We were less than impressive against Manchester City and Kitchee, especially defensively. I hope Arsene Wenger will address these problems, but he says we have three defenders waiting back in the UK. Those defenders are, of course, Per Metesacke, Laurent Koscielny and Bacari Sagna. Unfortunately, the latter is hardly raring to go due to his injuries. And we can only hope that Mertesacke and Koscielny get some playing time against Cologne in the last friendly before the season kicks off in earnest.

But even if we read too much into the pre-season friendlies, it wasn't all bad news. The website called Red London was particularly delighted that Johan Djourou was made skipper for the last match. The website pointed out that many Arsenal skippers head for the exit door shortly after claiming the armband. Personally, I want Djourou to stay. He's a good squad player with good technique, he's versatile and he has a good attitude. He still only 25 so hasn't reached his peak yet. I say we should keep him.

One player who everyone is raving about though is Thomas Eisfeld. I think some of the praises a little over the top, but you have to hand it to the kid: scoring two goals in two cameo appearances some achievement.

Other highlights include the performances of Chuks Aneke. I'm not sure he'll play in the Premier league next season, but I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the grade based on what I've seen.

Nico Yennaris also looked pretty solid and with Sagna likely to miss the start of the season, we need someone who can play right back. Craig Eastman played there and did okay, but I prefer him as a midfielder. Also I have a funny feeling the 21-year-old be loaned out again, whereas the 19-year-old Yennaris will probably stay put.

After the Kitchee game I felt relieved that Ignasi Miquel is heading to Brighton on loan. He made a horrendous mistakes against the Hong Kong side, and so need to build up some experience elsewhere. I still think he's a great prospect for the future though, so I'm not ready to take back everything I said!

Kyle Bartley didn't do too badly in the Far East, despite our defensive frailties so perhaps he will actually get some game time for Arsenal.

As we await new signings, some people are saying we already have a new left winger: Andre Santos. Arsene Wenger appears to be trying to do the same as what he did a few years ago with Emmanuel Eboue. Back then, Eboue was tried as a right winger in the pre-season. It made a lot of sense to me and it does again with Santos playing in front of Kieran Gibbs.

Gervinho showed what a real left winger can do that against Kitschee. He absolutely destroyed them. I'm not sure why in previous games Wenger tried Gervinho as a striker. Surely the boss realises that Gervinho lacks the killer touch in front of goal. Also, he risks alienating Theo Walcott, who wants to play as a striker. Instead, Wenger persists in trying Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh in Theo's rightful position. It's so frustrating to watch and, if Theo feels frustrated too, he may elect to run down his contract and leave for free next year. That would be a tragedy, in my opinion, especially if ended up back at Southampton, as one website suggested! Liverpool would appear a more likely destination, given Theo supported them as a kid. When I say "supported", I imagine he watched them on TV mostly, as Liverpool's a long trip from Southampton, but anyway I won't be surprised if he ends up at Anfield.

We're not really that well stocked in the winger department, as Ryo Miyaichi doesn't look quite ready to play first-team football for Arsenal yet, which is why we are still expecting Santi Cazorla's imminent arrival from Malaga. The Spanish club have to find some money from somewhere by the end of this month, so in theory we should be hours away from completing a deal.

If we need a winger we could even give Andrey Arshavin another chance to play wide, as Wenger said: "He could still have a future at the club." That's good news for me, as I'm a big fan of the meerkat! I'd hate to see him leave for Fulham with us just receiving £1 million of the transfer fee and having to cough up some of his wages. That would be an incredibly stupid transfer deal especially as Queens Park Rangers would pay is a lot more than Fulham, if their interest is genuine.

Three players will definitely be leaving it seems and those players are: Nicklas Bendtner, Sebastien Squillaci and Park Chu-Young. Wenger said enigmatically: "Bendtner, Squillaci and Park will be on their way to go somewhere." Once some money comes in for those players, it may make it easier for us to bring in some new ones. Lukas Podolski might end up taking one of their squad numbers rather than Robin van Persie's, who might need to change his name to Robin van 'Purse' if he gets £220,000 per week by joining Manchester United for £30 million. Apparently, Robin wants parity with Wayne Rooney. I can't see it happening myself, but I can see is doing a deal on transfer deadline day with Manchester City, as they have a lot of strikers they want to offload plus Kolo Toure. Before you say "No way can happen", think about what happened with Ashley Cole. We signed William Gallas in part-exchange, remember?

Other players we are even more unlikely to bring to the club include: Celtic's Kenya international Victor Wanyama of Celtic, who will cost between £7 million and £10 million, when he signs for either Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City, Liverpool, Newcastle or Arsenal; Brescia's Morocco international striker Omar El Kaddouri, who will cost €5 million and is more likely to go to Parma anyway;  Marseilles' Ghana international winger Andre Ayew, who has an €18 million release clause; and troubled France international defender Mamadou Sakho, who seems incredibly unlikely to leave Paris St Germain.

One deal that may have an element of truth about it is the story surrounding Real Madrid's 23-year-old Turkey international midfielder Nuri Sahin. Apparently, we could bring him in on the year's loan. Now that would be nice! Not necessarily for Podolsky though, who has a bit of "previous" with Sahin. All is forgiven now, apparently, so there are no real worries in that respect. I feel more worried that Sahin will end up playing for Tottenham, especially if he is offered in part exchange for Luka Modric, who seems destined for the Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, we hear Benik Afobe is off to Bolton Wanderers on a loan deal. Perhaps Ryo will join him. I don't think a spell in the Championship will hurt either player, it should toughen them up.

Until the next time, up the Gooners!

Carroll might but Biglia wouldn't suit Arsenal - plus more friendly firing squad victims!

Hello again Gooners. This is a time in the pre-season where I can't stand the anticipation and end up going to a reserve game. Borehamwood FC is my next port of call. 

I didn't make it to St Mary's Arsenal's double-header against Anderlecht and Southampton, but I managed to catch up with the matches on Arsenal Player. As much as I disagreed with Stewart Robson's comments about Theo Walcott, I really miss his tactical analysis. For some reason I'm always confusing Stewart Robson with Stewart Houston, who was our caretaker boss 1995 and 1996.

As a result of the confusion, I feel the time is right for some historical digression! It was a major surprise to me when George Graham brought Houston in as his assistant manager in 1990. I couldn't stop associating Houston with Manchester United and I'm assuming that's where George met Stewart. Of course, professionally they had a lot in common, having played exclusively in England despite their roots north of the border.

Although I was delighted when we bought Alan Ball for a record transfer fee in the early 70s, I didn't realise that we would have to sell George Graham to Manchester United. Arsenal must've thought it was good piece of business to sell "Stroller" for £120,000. We paid £75,000 to Chelsea and threw Tommy Baldwin in for good measure back in 1966, so it was a decent profit on a player who had given six year's worth of sterling service to the club.

Anyway, getting back to the point, ha ha! I didn't exactly welcome Houston with open arms when he came to Highbury. However, when appointed caretaker boss, he proved critics like me wrong by taking us to the European Cup Winners' cup final, where we were unlucky to lose to a last-minute goal from Nayim - cue jeering from Spurs fans who loved to sing: "Nayim from the halfway line".

Then, of course, I was grateful for the stability he offered the team during a turbulent time. Bruce Rioch kept him on when he became boss, and as the fellow Scot's time was short-lived Houston had to grab the managerial reins once more.

When Arsene Wenger was appointed Arsenal boss, Huston resigned and resurfaced at QPR as boss. Huston showed his loyalty to Rioch by appointing him as his assistant, but it didn't work out and he ended up getting sacked about a year later.

Then Houston had a spell at Spurs with George Graham, but he left that job after Graham was sacked in March 2001. There were rumours in 2008 at Houston was back as a Scout at Arsenal, and now thanks to my confusion many people may think he has a job as a summariser for Arsenal player. Maybe that's not such a bad idea!

Sorry about that. What a long digression!

Anyway, I missed Stewart Robson's astute comments while watching the Anderlecht and Southampton games on Arsenal Player. Stephen Hughes did a reasonable job, but my favourite summariser is Robson followed by Perry Groves. I'd love to hear Paul Merson's views or Ian Wright's, but that's never going to happen is it? We just don't pay enough money for talent, which could bring me nicely on to the transfer front. But like Arsenal, I'm not going to give in to temptation and I'm going to continue to talk about the pre-season friendlies!

So what did we learn from the Anderlecht game? I think we can see we have a good substitute goalkeeper in Damien Martinez. The 19-year-old Argentina youth international kept a clean sheet and showed a good pair of hands. Based on this performance, he should be Szczeny's new number two.

We also learnt that Arsenal Player can't spell: Ignasi Miquel is spelt with a "q", not a "g" as in 'San Miguel"! It's a shame that Miquel is off to Brighton as he's versatile and good enough to be in the first-team squad. He looked a bit rusty at the beginning, but improved as the game went on. Some of his short passes bordered on the criminal as he adjusted to the game, but the Spaniard reads the game so well that I think his future should be at Arsenal. If we sell the 19-year-old I will be absolutely gutted.

Kieran Gibbs was captain for the first game and did okay. Carl Jenkinson set up Henri Lansbury's goal, and, quite predictably, Marouane Chamakh was the Arsenal player who contributed the least, despite going close to scoring with one shot. He really seems destined for a move elsewhere. Fiorentina have been mentioned in despatches, but they're not prepared to pay £44,000 a week in wages. So the question remains, who will buy him? Or loan him? Perhaps we can loan him to Newcastle who are hoping to bring back Andy Carroll to St James's Park. I would prefer it if we offered him to Liverpool plus £18 million to bring Carroll to the Emirates Stadium. Carroll is much better on the ground than people give them credit for and, of course, he's a real handful in the air. However, his alleged off-the-field activities will prevent Arsenal making a move for him. It's never going to happen, it's wishful thinking on my part. Some fans might say we should let Theo Walcott join Liverpool with Andy Carroll joining us in part-exchange. I'd hate to see Theo leave but, with just one year left on his current deal, we might have to bite the bullet.

Back to the friendly again! So who's going to be in the first-team squad next season of that starting 11 against Anderlecht? Let's call the casualties of my cull: "friendly firing squad victims" shall we?

Obviously, Jenkinson and Gibbs will be included in the squad, so they won't be "friendly-fired". To that I would add Craig Eastmond probably. If it were up to me, Miquel and Martinez would be shoe-ins. I'd have Nico Yennaris on standby for first-team duty, as he never lets the team down, but I'm not too sure about the rest. They still have the rest of the pre-season to prove me wrong, and although Lansbury scored a good goal I'm not quite sure he will make it at Arsenal. I wouldn't be surprised if he returns to West Ham before the season starts.

Daniel Boateng proved he's a solid centre back, but I don't think he will make the step up at Arsenal. Sanchez Watt, for all his pace, will probably be loaned out again and Thomas Eisfeld needs at least another year before he can be considered as a member of the first-team squad.

All in all, we were very lucky to beat Anderlecht. The Belgian champions were much sharper and that was not surprising given their season kicks off quite soon in comparison to ours. Lucas Biglia, and Arsenal transfer target, was good on the ball but perhaps slows up play too much to be a viable proposition in the Premier League. The slower pace of European football suits Biglia better and that's the reason I hope we don't sign him.

Looking at the second game against Southampton, we actually played much better as a unit. I'd love to know the name of the guy working for Sky Sports who claimed that Gervinho was the best player on the pitch. Although Gervinho scored, he did little else.

The match went to spot kicks with Kyle Ebecilio missing the crucial one that resulted in a defeat. The Dutch youngster should hold his head up high as he contributed much to the cause. I'd have him on the fringes of the first team this season, personally, as I think his attitude is admirable as is his technical ability and versatility.

Kyle Bartley also impressed, and I think we all know he should get some first-team outings in this forthcoming season. I'm assuming Francis Coquelin will also get quite a few runouts, but apart from that only skipper Johan Djourou, Vito Mannone and Andre Santos are likely to be in the squad.

Mannone had a poor game, in my opinion, but I would still keep him in and around the squad as I feel he is a better option than Lukasz Fabianski.

Jernade Meade did okay at left back, but I don't see him getting much playing time for Arsenal's first-team. The same goes for Chuks Aneke, who got crocked in the 29th minute. He was replaced by Martin Angha, who looks a bit too raw for now. But his fellow substitute, Kristoffer Olsson, was determined to impress after a shaky start and even had the audacity to take a penalty in the shootout. I was very impressed with Olsson's attitude and, although I don't see him making an impact this season, I don't think it will be that long before we see him in an Arsenal first-team shirt.

I just want to add that it's very difficult to judge young players and also very harsh. Their ages mean they always have a chance to prove critics wrong, usually through hard work, dedication and belief. The mere fact that they have played for Arsenal will always reflect well on their CV's, so even if they go on to play for other teams they should always be proud that they have played for arguably the best club in the world. So to all youngsters who don't make it at the club, I wish you all the very best for the future.