Looking Ahead to the January Transfer Window

Hey Homey;

love your map!!!

we know all about being "uninhabited"

I definitely think that M'Vila at the heart of midfield is more important than Hazard on a wing. off course both of them would be just great,but if I were to chose I'd go for M'Vila. I strongly believe that core of the team is in central midfield and strong core would see other troops rally around. M'Vila could definitely do that for Arsenal. 

I think the idea with Hazard would be to play him centrally though.  If he's just used on the wing, then I would agree with you.  On top of that, the wing is where we already have some decent options.

Do we really? Who can play on the left wing? Diminutive Russian lost his head, he is good player, but he struggles to cope with loss of pace and until he gets it he is nearly useless. Gervinho is more natural to right wing or striker role, though he can adapt, but compared to Hazard he would remain ineffective on left side. Miyaichi could develop here, but it's at least few years for hi to reach required level.

Playing Hazard centrally would be viable if we use him as ACM, but that's quite a different idea from my proposition to use M'Vila as box-to-box CM. Their game is very different and I believe M'Vila's style would benefit Arsenal greater as we lack players with bite and composure centrally. 

On top of that, ACM position were we are covered the most: Arteta, Benayun, Ramsey and even Arshavin, though he never was used there. 

Knowing Wenger being stingy when it comes to spending on players I don't think he would even spend on the midfield central position he will wait for Wilshere to recover from his injury and use Rosicky as his backup. I would think he may invest on a right back to cover for Sagna if his injury is worse than expected but of course he's not looking for a top player. Yes my respect for Wenger as Arsenal manager is very low since the last couple of years

Martin Angha is a possibly young player loan candidate. He'll be 18 in January, and has apparently really impressed for the Reserves this year as a center back. Could probably do a job for a lower division team and use the experience.

On Mannone, the club hasn't really talked about it, but I have heard from several sources that I trust that he's been hurt for the last month or so, so that could be a possible explanation. But I would have to think he'd be looking for a permanent move away at some point, as it's hard to see him getting above 3rd choice at Arsenal in the coming seasons, and he's impressed when given a shot. Have to think he'd be a decent first-choice keeper at most Championship clubs, or even some of the weaker Premiership clubs.

http://xkcd.com/850/

  I will add a score from 1-10 with 1 being atrocious and 10 being
excellent (reflecting where I think we are headed):
Goalkeeping
issues: To pretend we don’t have any is somewhat
myopic. Szcesny, while being among the top keepers in the EPL at age 20,
is still having problems with his positioning as was shown on Sunday at
WHL. He didn’t block off Van Der Vart’s angle sufficiently and was too
far off his line and too near his right hand post,allowing the ball to
slip past him. The second goal was a combined effort from our sleepy
defenders and Wojiech’s late dive and his positioning off centre and too
far to his left post. However, he is certainly up for the big ones as
he is making more brilliant saves than Almunia or Fabianski ever did in
their Arsenal careers. Given time, he’ll correct these errors so no
worry there.

Score: 7+ and improving

Defensive
improvements: The back four is now composed of 4
new faces! Gone are Vermaelen, Djourou, Koscielny, Sagna, and Miguel. We
have a neophyte taking over right back Jenkinson, a defensive
midfielder taking over CB along with our big German and in the left back
position, Gibbs  supported by another new recruit Santos!

We have Squillaci or Frimpong as backup for either CB and as far as I
can tell nobody else with any experience for the fullbacks. God help us
if one or two more get injured! We are still falling asleep on corners
but defending freekicks better. We seem to be abandoning the zonal
marking for man marking but need to smooth out those edges a great deal.
Perhaps a combination of both tactics might work better where we man
mark in the box and mark zonally outside of it? I wonder if Song can
communicate effectively with Mertesacker and if they can do so with
Gibbs and Jenkinson….this might be a language issue as well as a
positioning issue. What can AW and his coaches do with a kaleidoscope of
defensive players,ever changing and unpredictable….pray!

Score 5 and stable but likely to worsen

Midfield
tactics and player solutions: In my opinion this is
the area of greatest weakness and best potential improvement over the
short run.

AOC, Ramsey, Frimpong, Arteta, Benayoun and Arshavin are all talented
and skillful players. None have the mastery of Cesc or the
inventiveness of Nasri but they can certainly hold their own when in
form. Should we be playing 4 midfielders in a W formation like we
currently are with the DF midfielder being between the back 4 and the
midfield  or are there better results to be had with a 3 man midfield
and a 3 man strike force?  Watching Coquelin on Sunday, it was obvious
that he can bring a great deal of fluidity, pace and transition from
defense to attack but he is inexperienced, young and needs the mature
heads around him, as does Frimpong. If we play 4 in the midfield, Ramsey
and Arteta will have to step up their game and prevent opponents from
attacking down the wings like the Spuds did with some success. I find
that we need to see more of Santos, Frimpong, Coquelin and AOC and less
of Benayoun, Arshavin and Ramsey.

Score 6 but definitely worsening

Ideal
formations both tactically and strategically: Over
the remainder of October we face very different opponents and will need
to establish a fluid tactical approach. We have 3 EPL games against
Sunderland and Stoke which require us to defend bravely and aggressively
while playing a physically grueling game against hackers and cloggers
and then we play Chelsea, a team who may be aging but who have very
powerful and skilled players. We also face Marseille, a team that is in
top form and filled with skilled players. We will need to play a more
continental style and formation 4-3-3 perhaps?

The CC game against Bolton will give us the opportunity to have Ryo,
Park, AOC, Coquelin, Aneke, Benayoun, Miguel and Fabianski strut their
stuff and to learn how well these players can perform together from the
start. Strategically speaking Wenger will have only two goals to achieve
in October; Take as many points as we can with what we have and avoid
more injuries. This will also be the time for him to experiment with
players across the front 2 or 3 and maybe even give Walcott a chance to
play behind RVP or Chamakh.

Score 6 and stable but likely to worsen

Striker
enhancements and refinements: Here is where we can
experiment the most as we potentially have 7 fit and healthy
strikers/attacking midfielders among Gervinho, RVP, Chamakh, Walcott,
AOC, Ryo, and Park. Our paucity of goals scored continues and while we
are, as always, obtaining multiple opportunities to score, we show the
same profligate. over-complicated and parsimonious approach to finishing
we have displayed since 2006. Gervinho’s poor shooting displayed on
Sunday is simply another example of what Chamakh,Walcott and on occasion
RVP have repeatedly been guilty of. Arsene has to begin experimenting
with AOC, Ryo and Park sooner than later. AOC has played four games and
scored 2 goals….he needs to be exposed to far more EPL and CL games and
to learn from experienced strikers like RVP,Chamakh and Gervinho can
show him. Ryo’s pace rivals Walcott’s and if we play 3 up front,
combining them on the wings would offer speed, pace and a terrifically
fast counterattack that slower teams like Chelsea,Stoke and Bolton would
be hard pressed to handle. Park needs to be introduced into the team at
some time as does Santos more often. The latter showed that he can be
an offensive threat as well but we need to know whether he can defend
better than Gibbs. Chamakh, while highly criticized, is gradually
building his confidence and my belief is that he’ll pick it up a notch
the more he plays. Overall, our future success will depend on Walcott,
Arshavin, Chamakh and Gervinho punching above their collective weights
in October…an unlikely but possible mission. We also need to find a
ruthlessness and more attacking options in front of our opponents’ goal
that are more direct and effective.

Score 6+ and improving

Psychological
and moral strengthening: Here is the crux of the
issue. Jens Lehman, in his latest Arsenal interview said AW can and will
be able to manage his charges even in the worst circumstances but the
lack of an experienced and strong team leader as well as a very fragile
confidence and morale among the younger players could be the straw that
breaks the camel’s back.

Many Gooners feel hard done by with bad officiating, ill luck,
excessive injuries to key players and poor, inconsistent  performances
like Sunday in games we could and should have won. These, as someone
also said, are all distractions from the principle issue which is that
any great team with a strong spine would shrug off these inconveniences
and come back harder and stronger. As the old adage goes, when the going
gets tough the tough get going. We are neither tough nor are we hard.
This attitude of never surrender and never panic is the thing we
desperately need to improve on at AFC. Szcesny, Song, Frimpong,
Coquelin,  AOC and RVP all have this do or die approach to their game.
Winning a few games, even if we tie or lose another will do us a world
of good. Winning makes winners and knowing that we can beat the best
will, in the long run, ensure that we do.

Score 4- and could get better or worse

Philosophical
and operational changes to strengthen the Club: We
will need to review our compensation rules soon. We will need to
consider strengthening in January. We will need to start communicating
more positive PR to the media and the fans. We will need to counter the
negativism and  dismay that haunt the Emirates and that will come with
better performances. We will desperately need to review our injury
situation and take drastic steps to curb this epidemic. If that means
paying some specialists to figure out what needs to be done to
strengthen our players then so be it. We need to push for immediate
adoption of the video and goal-line technology every sport worldwide now
uses except Football. This will mean battling the dinosaurs in the FA,
FIFA and EUFA but it is far past due. Perhaps a coalition of EPL,
LaLiga, Seria A and Ligue 1 teams could form a group that would pressure
these ostriches to remove their heads from their arses and finally
institute the needed changes? We need to review the ticketing process
and prices so that fans don’t feel cheated by rising costs and poor
results.

Score 5 and stable

Managerial
insights and skills required to redeem AFC: AW
knows that he has to redevelop a team culture of working for each other
to win. He must prioritize his players’ tasks, emphasizing the need for
his defenders to DEFEND first and attack later. He might want to
reconsider playing a high defensive line and keeping more defenders back
rather than sending them into the opponent’s box when we have a set
piece or free kick against them. Wenger needs to really experiment with
playing his new lads in different positions like Coquelin as a right
back or Walcott in RVP’s place with Robin behind him or Arshavin in a
pure attacking central midfielder role, or AOC alongside Ryo on the
wings etc. He should be considering using Szcesny to help the defenders
more by playing keep ball between themselves when under pressure. It
works for Barcelona. Our greatest strengths need to be reinforced, such
as excellent, accurate passing, better ball control and improved vision
for distribution of the ball particularly where Ramsey and Arshavin are
concerned.

Score 5+ and stable

Injury
management and avoidance techniques: I dealt with
this above a bit but here are the specifics. If other teams can avoid
injuries to their key players all season long, why can’t we? What are
the factors that seem to haunt AFC more than any other club (other than
the Spuds) over the last few seasons. Is it the fact that our team is
generally younger than their EPL opponents? Is it poor training methods
and conditioning that is misdirected or overdone? Is it our tendency to
ruish players back too soon from inury? Is it our tippy-tappy style of
play that seems to encourage injuries? Is it a perception among our
opponents that physical harassment of Arsenal gets results when fair
play won’t? These questions need to be addressed if we are to survive
and prosper over the next 8 months or so.

Score 4- and getting worse

Media and PR
management changes needed to improve our image: The
incessant media and fan attacks AFC have suffered through since 2006
have diminished our image considerably. We were at one time seen as a
foreign Club with a French manager and few English players. We are now
seen as a beautiful Football club and advocates of total Football that
is ¨pretty¨ but ultimately ineffective. The latest version of our club
is one that is in ¨crisis¨ and has a manager ¨under fire¨ , and who has
¨lost the plot¨ or worse still, has lost confidence and is in despair.
It is high time Gazidis,Wenger and the Board began a concerted and
ongoing PR and media campaign against such false and unfair character
assassinations in the media and by our supporters. We need to see
Arsenal fighting back against the yellow tabloid biased excrement that
these pundits and ¨journalists¨ pass off as sports news and the
scurrilous gloomy-doomer vitriol that our so-called fans spread on the
net. We are too passive, too genteel and far too tolerant of aggressive,
ignorant critics who take every opportunity to diss the Club, the
manager and the players. We are going through a bad patch but that is
all it is….a campaign of positive and assertive, confidence-building PR
sorties would do all of us a great deal of good.

Score 3- but likely to improve significantly

Financial
planning and long term goal setting: At least in
this respect, we are very well prepared. However we need to hear what
long-term goals the Board,Wenger and Gazidis are envisioning and what
resources they can offer the manager in the future. I don’t mean that
they should reveal their transfer plans or targets for the January
window but the fans and the public want to know where we are headed and
the more the Club can reveal about that, the better. A detailed
explanation about how we are going to handle the EUFA Fairplay rules and
regulations and how our rich owners plan to financially and
managerially support us would be a start.

Score 8+ and definitely improving

Solutions to
apparent and obvious officiating bias: Despite our
critics saying we are whiners and delusional about supposed officiating
bias we seem to suffer in almost every game, the reality is that every
team in the EPL pays the price of bad officiating. Untold Arsenal have
tracked EPL games and officials, with an emphasis on our own, since last
season and a number of media types have commented, quite accurately,
that Arsenal and other Clubs have been significantly disadvantaged by
bad officiating. One article even claimed that Arsenal could have
finished 2nd last season had the incorrect calls gone our
way. Here are some obvious and needed solutions I see being overdue;

*Institute video replays and goal-line technology as soon as
possible,

*Increase the number of EPL officials from 16 to 25 immediately,

*Institute an FA referee review committee to investigate accusations
of bias and consistently poor performances,

*Consider using foreign referees in the EPL, particularly for key
games and derbies.

* Undertake an exhaustive, government-sponsored investigation of
English Football to identify potential criminal and match-fixing
activities.

Personally I don’t hold to the conspiracy theories and organized
anti-Arsenal punishment some of our more imaginative fans claim.
However, we can’t assume that corruption and organized crime, which is
present in European Football, has not invaded England’s green shores.

why. the. fuck. is. that. so. long?

I dont see it happening to be honest and i think it started with Wenger's ineptitude for the past six years and has been endorsed
with ridiculous appointments like the pathetic Gazidis and Dick Law and
perpetual failure of owners to invest in the team.Kroenke's takeover has just
been the latest disaster to have happened. However, the origin of all this was
the rigid stubbornness of Wenger and his quite laughable project to prove that
he could win with inexperienced players. His refusal to build on our 2004 team
was criminal and subsequent inferior purchases who are still here and can't be
shifted is down to him alone. All managers make mistakes, but others like
Ferguson move people out as soon as it becomes evident that they are not good
enough. Wenger's ego has cost us when bad players' transfer fees and subsequent
extensions eat up our available funds. However, even with this dross, he has
singularly failed to address basic shortcomings- how to defend, give 100%
commitment, not treat supposed inferior teams lightly, playing people out of
position, not varying tactics, bad substitutions etc. This sort of performance
should have got him sacked, but the Board were happy charging extortionate
prices and reaping in Champions League money. So our expectations changed- from
the best team in Europe in 2004(when we should have won the treble) to trying
for fourth place. I now believe that as City have changed the landscape of
football, it's convenient for people to say it's all the Board's fault, but this
does not excuse the awful mismanagement of our club, chiefly by Wenger, since
2004. He had built a fantastic legacy in his first eight years here- it's
unthinkable a man with his ego would simply have allowed the Board to push him
around since then. It's down to him mainly, e.g. Fabregas and Kroenke confirming
the former's sale was his decision alone.

I wrote many of the same things all summer, and I was roundly criticized.  Now I have a few more people agreeing with me, although not under the circumstances I wanted.

America's lack of geographic understanding fascinates me. Then again, I could barely name ten states on a map, so I can't really make any fun of you.

Our collective looking forward to the January window stinks, coupled with Gazidis saying that Arsenal not reaching the CL next season with only seven games into the season, stinks a bit of desperation. Can't blame us though, we're in a mess.

Would love to have any of the guys you mentioned, but since all of those guys are key players to their clubs, none look to be leaving midway through the season.

Geography is much more interesting as a study than most people understand.  Every bit as informative as history, but easier to understand for visually-oriented learners.  If I ever have a collection of anything, it will be of maps--have you ever seen a good, old map, and how these places that are called one thing now were called something else one, two hundred years ago?  I could just examine those things for several minutes.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming--

While you certainly made your point ,one player you missed while writing this blog .....the one i was interested in was Lansbury ....... what about him ?

He's on a season-long loan at West Ham.  I didn't mention the guys out on season-long loans, such as Denilson, Bendtner, Vela, etc.