Thursday Evening News Roundup

By: Homey | July 14th, 2011

Trip to China For those of you who were anxiously awaiting the “really super cool blog” I recently promised… well, this isn’t it. I’m hoping to roll that out sometime this weekend. So until then, you’re stuck with the typical drivel you’ve gotten used to since mommy and daddy left this blog just over a month ago.

Well, let’s jump right in to all the troubling things that have been coming out of Wenger’s mouth lately. First, many fans were hoping that Denilson’s apparent hissy fit after being subbed off against the Malaysia XI would spell the end of his tenure at Arsenal. However, le Boss has played this one down a bit, saying Denilson was suffering some sort of minor injury, and that he was uncertain to play at all in the first place. I guess we’ll keep an eye out for new developments on this one.

Wenger also said that his team is not weak defensively. I guess he was overjoyed at keeping the vaunted Malaysia XI attack off the scoreboard. He also said that our problem has been more with set pieces, which we’ll hope to correct. Actually, that’s pretty much spot on, although I would classify defending set pieces as part of the defense. Thus, if you’re awful in that area, it’s probably fair to say you’re weak defensively. But that’s just parsing words on my part, right? After all, we’ll be bringing back the height of Vermaelen this year, which will be like a brand new signing. Oh, and Wenger also stated again his desire to give Gibbs and Traore a shot at the left back spot. This may be our biggest area of worry heading into the season, but let’s hope that those of us on the pessimistic side are proven wrong.

The last bit of Wenger-speak is potentially most disturbing. He seems to be indicating a willingness to let Nasri leave for free next season if he’s not signed to an extension this year. Wenger said the following about that issue: “On one hand people say I don’t spend enough and when I spend people say I spend too much. It’s very difficult to find the right medium.” I’m not even sure where to start with this one. I hope we’re getting all worked up over nothing here, but nobody wants to see this happen. It seems almost as if, rather than spending money on the targets everyone wants, Wenger is going to use this situation to prove he can waste money with the best of them.
wengerwba
If you’ll indulge me a bit, here’s my six-step plan on how Wenger can “find the right medium” in terms of spending money. First, whatever the board and ownership tell you that you have to spend, spend it. Your job is to win, and theirs is to worry about the financials. So use everything in your power to do the job you have. Please don’t try to be a conscientious objector to the way things have gotten out of control in soccer today. Just keep up with the times and do what you have to do. Second, try to use your money on players who will really make an impact, rather than giving high salaries to mediocre players who have never had one elite season. Third, don’t ever assume our players will go through a season with no injuries or suspensions. A couple years ago, everyone and their dog could have said that Vermaelen and Gallas wouldn’t last as our only two solid options at CD. After that, it quickly dropped off to Silvestre, and then we were stuck. Fourth, don’t waste money trying to prove a point to us fans with players like Nasri. If he doesn’t want to sign, take your £20 million, and get someone else. Fifth, don’t tell us there’s money to spend, promise us changes, and then say there there’s nobody out there worth buying. (While reminding us we’re just this close to winning big things.) There are plenty of players out there worth buying. Your job is to get a few of them. And sixth, don’t fall in love with 19-year-olds with great potential and expect them to win you titles. Let the young guys earn their spots in the rotation, rather than gifting a spot to players like Gibbs and Traore. At least go out and buy Emilio Izaguirre or someone for about £5 million and see if Gibbs is still good enough to start.

There, happy medium achieved. Now, that’s no guarantee that the trophies will start piling up. But it will at least put our minds to ease that our manager is doing the best he can to win at the highest level. While I’m on that rant, let me ask you how many positions on the field we have where there’s both quality and genuine competition. As our team stands now, there is high quality at the forward/wing position, with three or four players who are competing for those two spots. We have three solid CD options competing for two spots. We have two (hopefully) solid goalies competing for one spot. And we (hopefully) have Ramsey pushing hard for one of the midfield spots. But that’s about it. We’re now being told that Jenkinson is going to push Sagna for the right back spot. Huh? Now I love Sagna. Very underrated player. Seldom gets hurt, etc. However, if I’m Sagna, I know that I could roll out of bed hungover every day and still keep my starting job. Ditto for Cesc, RvP, Song, Wilshere, Vermaelen, and Nasri. Now, of course some players are so elite that nobody could really ever question their starting role. I don’t think Messi and Ronaldo worry about their starting spots. However, if even they suffered a terrible dip in form, there would be great options there to plug in. But if Sagna ever had a terrible dip, there would be either Eboue or Jenkinson. Therefore, Sagna arguably has more job security than either Messi or Ronaldo. So while Man Utd spends mega-bucks on Smalling and Jones to challenge Ferdinand and Vidic, we spend £1 million to bring in Jenkinson from Charlton to challenge Sagna. Lovely. Now I know we can’t quite spend the silly money that Man Utd can, but at least give me something, Arsene. Something.

Whew. I got a bit carried away there, and I still have to cover all the little tidbits that have come through lately. In the interest of time, I’ll just quickly say that Dortmund officials have now said they’re not interested in Bendtner, Phil Jagielka has been linked with Arsenal again, and Barca players are completely unable to stop yapping about how Cesc should join them this season.

Vieira
Finally, I’m sure everyone knows by now that Patrick Vieira has retired to take on a role with Manchester City. Presumably, that would entail counting all their bags of money. Wenger and others have taken time to say some nice things about him. I suppose I could wax poetic about his glory years at Arsenal, and I could talk about all the trophies he won and how he captained the Invincibles back in the day. But I wasn’t a huge fan back in those days, and I don’t have many vivid memories. Plus it would probably just upset me to see him holding a trophy, knowing we haven’t won one since he departed in 2005. Oops, I probably shouldn’t have selected the photo that you see on the left. Oh well. Maybe we’ll do that again sometime soon.

Well I think that’s about all for now. I’m not really sure what our plans are for the epic battle with Hangzhou Greentown. As always, you can leave your comments about that below. I think it kicks off at 6:30am where I live (Central Standard Time, U.S.). I’m not sure I can convince my wife why I need to wake up that early on a Saturday to watch a preseason friendly on the computer against some team in China. But you never know. And again, I’m hoping for the “really super cool blog” to hit sometime this weekend as well. Until then, come on, Arsenal.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Pre-Season, Rants, Samir Nasri, Transfer News and Player Movement

« Shocker! Arsenal defeat Malaysia XI in pre-season | Home | Hangzhou Greentown Highlights, Plus Other News »

Homey_Mills

Programming update... Well, all of your bloggers missed the game, I think. I was up late and slept late, and I already knew that Darren and Brenton would miss it. And JG is in Peru. He probably saw it, but won't be able to comment or blog for another 10 days or so. At least that's what I'm told.
I don't know when the next blog will be up... I may throw in some highlights or something and get a little blog up. But I'm also waiting for someone so I can post my really super cool blog too. Anyway, just hang in there. We'll be better bloggers in the future. =)
FredJacob

highlights

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ar...
SJGgumby

Hah. They seem to be in late-season form already.
FredJacob

links for game

http://player.arsenal.com/sche...

or

http://atdhenet.tv/38036/watch...
FredJacob

wonder why we still running this 4-2-3-1 formation and Vela not even on the left wing
FredJacob

Arsenal's Starting XI v Hangzhou: Mannone, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci,
Traore, Rosicky, Frimpong, Nasri, Vela, van Persie, Arshavin.
FredJacob

http://player.arsenal.com/
TJ

they really brought the stars out for the 4 man autograph signing.
RyanJ

I know a lot of people are gonna get upset when I say this, but I feel like our manager is full of s%*t. When we experienced that epic implosion at the latter end of last season, the boss stated that he now realized that important changes needed to be made. He guaranteed the fans that this would be a busy summer of transfer activity in both directions. Like was said, he realized that we were just a few signings from a winning team in the league, for me 3-4 players, but over the summer things have magically changed. We have managed to sign what i believe is a great addition up front, but have done very little to improve in the area in which we trully need help. I thought Samba would have been magnificent, he's strong, fast, and puts his body on the line, but now that seems very unlikely. He is young and much cheaper than Cahill, though I wouldn't mind having him too. Over the last 3 seasons we have sold Kolo Toure, Ade, Hleb, Hyote, and Sanderos, and have brought in two players worth around 28 million, and a few free transfers. So my question is, where is the transfer money being reinvested if not in the transfer market? My club has become like a friend who always sells his stuff, gets a good bit of money, but is always broke. WTF. In the case of Nasri, if the player doesn't want to play for a club he should be let go, period. Arsenal is a world class club, 7th wealthiest of sports franchise in the world, we shouldn't be asking Nasri to stay if he deems Arsenal unworthy to have him. Sell him for the 20mil, reinvest the money in Hazard, Giovinco, or some other player of similar abilities. I love my Gunners and Wenger is making me upset. Sorry guys.
FredJacob

Wenger is trying to see if both Cesc and Nasri goes, so he can know who exactly to be, you want to make impulsive buys and have a big ass squad like Man City
Come on man stick to being a fan and not a manager
brenton

I agree with the sentiment and feel your frustration. But Samba is not fast nor is he very young. In fact, I'm a little confused as to why we're going after him. But another central defender? Yah, we need one.
Homey_Mills

Yeah, I think I'm pretty much with you, RyanJ. I'm willing to give Wenger another 1.5 months before I go off, but yeah. It's frustrating. I think that comes out pretty clearly in my blogs.
Darren_V

Thankfully, the transfer window isn't even halfway yet, so plenty can change on that front, and perhaps 3, 4 players will come in.As for Samba. Since when is he fast and I was not aware that 27 is still considered young in the footballing world. I am happy about this however since I am the same age, so I thank you.
As for the players sold, using Hleb, Hoyte and Sendoros is hardly a strong way of presenting your case as they, you know, kinda suck. Arsenal have also had more then 2 players come in the past 3 seasons. I count Koscielny, Chamakh, Vermaelen, Arshavin in the past 2.5 years alone. And in three previous summer transfer windows Arsenal brought in Vela(from his loan), Ramsey, and Nasri. Arsene has been buying players, just simply replacing each time, not adding to the squad.I understand the frustration, and share it to a large degree. This season is likely to be the make it or break it year for Arsene at Arsenal, as the frustration levels cannot go much higher.
RyanJ

Thanks for the correction on the transfers Darren. I was saying based on the fact that we sold Hleb, Hyote, (Senderos was a free transfer so discount him) and some high profile players, we should have funds available to do some real business. If we do the math, we should have in excess of 50-60mil for transfers, if we take into consideration the business done over the past 3 years, but we have yet to see any of that money reinvested in the transfer market. I know its not our managers practice to purchase expensive players, but at what point is 7-10mil too expensive for a good player? In the world of defenders, Samba is young. Defenders and goal keepers age differently, some of the best defenders in the world are over 27 and even 30 and have proven to be the best in their roles, i.e. Puyol, Rio Ferdinand, Maldini (close to 40 when he retired), Vidic, Maicon, Lucio, Makelele, and countless more. Experience plays a big role in the development of a defender. A defender doesn't necessarily have to be fast, but his sense of positioning, strength, intelligence is what sets him apart. I have watched Samba this season in some games for Blackburn, and think under the influence of our manager is can become a world class defender. Like you said, we still have some time before the transfer window closes, so lets keep our fingers crossed and hope our manager remembers the end of our 2010-2011 season and make the necessary moves to ensure we never experience anything like that again.
FredJacob

Since you like Samba so much, i suggest to start to black Blackburn
Homey_Mills

I just read that we agreed with Sao Paulo to loan them Denilson for the upcoming season. Hope it's true.
Chris

Let's hope he doesn't forget his passport this time
Darren_V

That Carlos Vela, not Denilson
Homey_Mills

OK, if you want to get all technical.
Darren_V

You just wish you remembered it before you liked the comment :)
Chris

For me, the two of them just blur into one (Vela and Denlison, that is not Homey and Darren)
FredJacob

yep

http://goonertalk.com/2011/07/...
Christopher Mcindoe

1. £20m actually seems tame for a player of Nasri's quality (even if he is entering the final year of his contract). That's the reported fee L'pool have paid for Downing, and I know who I'd rather have in my midfield. I still believe SN is playing the Rooney card and will re-sign for us, though is just biding his time and holding out for more money (which would be virtually guaranteed should Cesc leave).
2. Sol Campbell has been released from Newcastle. If we can't get Tony Adams, couldn't we bring Sol in as a defensive coach to sort out these set-piece calamaties ?
3. And whilst I'm willing to see Gibbs given the chance at LB, please, not Traore
Klasstrick

i'm a relatively new ansenal fan - was there any particularly bad experience with traore? i watched the malasyan game with him for the first time, he seemed like a good dribbler.
Darren_V

Traore played a fair amount 2 seasons ago for Arsenal. He was decent going forward, but his positional awareness defensively was shocking. People complained about Clichy being the weak link on the back line, but they haven't seen anything as abysmal as is likely to happen with Gibbs and Traore manning the LB position.
brenton

He was quite poor last season. Enough that I'm scared that Gibbs will get hurt (which he will) and we'll lose games because of Traore.
Chris

Maybe I just have an issue with his, err, defending ?
Homey_Mills

Agreed on Nasri vs. Downing. I think if we wanted to sell, it would be a little higher than 20m.
Regarding Gibbs, I don't understand our policy. Why should anyone be gifted a starting spot after doing absolutely nothing to earn it? I hope the Enrique rumors are true. He's apparently wanting to come to Arsenal, and they're willing to sell him. So we'll see.
Chicago Gunner

I miss Martin.
Homey_Mills

You want me to cry? I mean, you really wanna see a grown man cry?
Perry S.

I want to be positive today, lord knows I don't have this feeling often. I feel like Arsenal, despite what many are saying, are still only 2 players away from competing on all fronts this season. We said that last summer and I still stand by it because the fact of the matter is we didn't purchase the three positions we desired last summer, and again just fell short due to depth/fatigue/injury.

This summer, however, with the signing of Gervinho, I feel like we purchased 1 of the 3 players vital to a successful campaign. All we need is one or two sturdy defenders and I just get this feeling we are going to surprise the critics (again...remember we weren't supposed to see a top 4 finish last season). I honestly will take 1 great defender over 2 good defenders :} Also, I am in the party who feels we need to do everything we can to keep Nasri and give him the vital playmaking role. Everday I wake up hoping we've given him the extra 10k to make him happy (yes he's asking for 110, but I think he will sign up for 100 as long we purchase another solid player or two).

Here's to Arsenal 2011/2012...come on you gunners.
Alexinho

Not sure if anyone's discussed this already but I can't believe this hasn't shown up on the headlines I've perused...credit to Chris on the homepage for digging it up. This was Jack Wilshere in a press conference ahead of Wednesday's match:

“Loyalty is a big part of football and it shows if you are a real man or not,” the midfielder said, from his position on the stage. “There have been a few players who have shown Arsenal great loyalty and, hopefully, we will get a few more like that. Then we will see if we can get a trophy or not.”

Give this boy an armband!!
Homey_Mills

Yes, it's easy to praise him for those statements, and I'm happy to read that he feels that way. But if I remove my emotions from it, I have to understand it's a business. And loyalty cuts both ways. I mean, sometimes Wenger gets criticized for being too loyal to the likes of Diaby, Almunia, etc. The rest of us want him to just dump those guys because they're not good enough. Yet when one of our top guys thinks of going elsewhere, we want them to be loyal to us. We kinda want to have our cake and eat it too.
Now of course I don't want a bunch of crazies like Tevez who constantly are unhappy with their situation. But if a top player considers going elsewhere for either more money or more trophies, then it falls back on the club to step up and do something about it. You know?
brenton

Yah, I posted that in one of our comments sections. The problem is he was responding to a question about Cesc and Nasri, and as much as I love a straight-talking take-no-guff kind of guy, it's not so tactful when we're still trying to convince two of our best players to stay.
Alexinho

Armand Traore, back again...we can never seem to finally shake the guy...
Lonik Paerz

Wenger is taking a huge risk if he thinks we don't need a dominant CH, i'm
hoping his latest comments were either tongue in cheek or he doesn't want to
show his true intentions. Cahill would be a perfect fit for us, he has all the
qualities that we require. If we have money to spend to strengthen the team,
Wenger has to act & give us hope that we can compete with our rivals. We are
not asking him to outbid Chelsea, City, United or Liverpool, just move on the
deadwood & sign players who are hungry to play for a big club and achieve
success. I know we have till Aug 31st to conclude any deals, so i'm gonna be
patient, but if we come to the end of that period & have not done the
business in the transfer window. I will be one unhappy Gooner.
Homey_Mills

Well as I wrote before, if that date comes and we haven't done anything of significance, then I'll write the "mother of all rants."
Colombian Gunner

Falcao renewed contract with Porto...
Who (any position) do you seriously think will sign this summer with Arsenal?
Benjamin Dockter

I did hear from my friend's sister's cousin's step-brother that Arsenal will be hiring a new janitor at London Colney. We're gonna win the league!!
Perry S.

I'm fairly confident we will see a LB or CB signed this summer.
Darren_V

Gervinho!
brenton

"If you’ll indulge me a bit, here’s my six-step plan..."

I did indulge you. A rational approach. I plan on hiring you as our director of football.
Chicago Gunner

forgive me, but isn't step #2 naively oversimplified?
Homey_Mills

I'm nothing if not a naive simpleton.
brenton

Are you suggesting that Homey is not qualified to be director of football for Arsenal?
brenton

Of course, you'd have to move to Vancouver, and my Sunday pick-up team might not appreciate being told they may be moved elsewhere, but the offer is there.

Oh, you thought I meant for Arsenal?
Gunnerson

I don't see whats so wrong with Wenger's take on Nasri. If its between letting Nasri go for just over 20 million, money we neither need nor will spend, or keeping him for the year... which gives us 1) more time for Wenger to convince Nasri of a contract, 2) Nasri for a year, and 3) less of this "Arsenal exodus to the Man City money land"... hell, I would go with the latter. All this talk of disloyalty and chasing money is shit and I still believe he will be excellent this coming season whether at Arsenal or somewhere else. If he is not, remember there is the winter transfer window.
J___V

I'm happy to take the hit on nasri if it means we're strong this season. We want to win the big trophies and just about everyone wants them now. It's a gamble but one I personally would've taken but didn't believe it would be allowed to happen.
Homey_Mills

Well I think you hit upon the big point in all of this. If we sold Nasri for 20 million, would we actually use that money for someone like Mata (or Baines or Vertonghen, etc)?
To me, I don't think we should defend Wenger for holding on to Nasri, when it's Wenger who we all know may never spend the 20 million. You know? But it simply makes no sense to do what we're potentially doing. You either sign Nasri now, or get what you can for him and spend the money on someone else.
I guess we could give ourselves until January, but I wonder what his price would be with just a few months left in the season. Plus, if we wanted to spend the money at that time, we'd run into cup-tied replacements and such.
Alexinho

I agree I don't see why so many people are up-in-arms about Nasri staying. At the beginning of the summer everyone knew it would be a disaster if he left, with the prospect of Fabregas leaving still looming. A few tabloid reports later and fans are calling for his head for 20 million pounds.

I, for one, am sick of fundraising tactics. I know I'm not the only one. Let's keep him on the field in an Arsenal shirt and kick some ass.
Alexinho

(I agree...w/ Rico)
Rico

There are pro's and con's to the Nasri situation. Here's a few pros I thought of:

1. We have an elite player.
2. Nasri has played with the squad before so its not like a new start.
3. He may still sign a new contract, we might win with him on our side.
4. We'd be in big trouble if Cesc leaves and we sold Nasri.
5. Would we invest the 20 million into a new start?
6. Rather have Nasri with us than against us.
7. Allows the players to see who is the boss.
8. Nasri owes his career to the club.

as you can see, am biased to keeping him.
Homey_Mills

It just seems like we almost have to praise Wenger for holding on to Nasri and then losing him for nothing, when it's Wenger who has created this problem to start with. Namely, the fact that he seldom uses money from transfer sales to invest in new players. I'm still waiting to see what we'll do with the Adebayor money. So he fails to do the ambitious thing, which is buy new players when old ones leave. Then we're forced to praise him for at least holding ones in the last year of their contracts. Huh? Is it too much to ask to sell Nasri AND buy a Mata or someone else to replace him? I mean, we're only asking to break even here. That's a MUCH better outcome than losing Nasri for nothing next year, and then having no money to buy a replacement.