Posts filed under '2004-2011'
July 24th, 2011
FC K̦ln 1 Р2 Arsenal (Gervinho 7, 15, Jenkinson (og) 45)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Arsenal defeated FC Köln in their latest friendly and will now embark on a training boot camp all the way until Wednesday, when they will return to prepare for the final stage of pre-season, headlined by the Emirates Cup and the return of one Thierry Henry.
I only caught the first-half in full, in which Arsene continued with his central midfield trio of Song, Ramsey and Wilshere. Wilshere was masterful: if Cesc really does go in the next week or so, we’re lucky that we have a player of such extraordinary talent already within the ranks.
Gervinho began his Arsenal career in style, scoring twice in the opening 15 minutes. Both goals were the result of great movement, darting inside from his starting position on the left. Although he was withdrawn after half an hour with a minor knock to the knee, it was a very impressive cameo. He demonstrated pace, intelligent movement, and smart finishing – qualities reminiscent of another winger Arsene signed from France: Robert Pires. Obviously Gervinho is a comparatively raw player, but the addition of smart shooting and incisive running to our berth of attackers can be no bad thing.
After our fast start, Köln started to come back in to the game, and were given a helping hand by a quite stonking own goal from Carl Jenkinson. His lobbed effort over Szczesny would’ve made any Lee Dixon highlight reel. Only time will if he can earn comparisons with Dixon for stopping goals going in our goal as well as spectacularly and accidentally scoring them. From what I’ve seen of Jenkinson he looks a good prospect: tall with a long stride and decent touch. Peversely, in some respects his technical limitations are what excite me about him: it may be he’s more interested in ‘defending’ for defending’s sake than anything fancy. Still, a huge step-up awaits him, and his signing has to be regarded as a bit of a punt. Hopefully a more accurate one than the one which looped over Szcesny and in to our own net.
A word on Marouane Chamakh, whose pre-season form continues to be worrying at best. He seems to be playing entirely bereft of confidence. The obvious thing to say is that he “needs a goal” but at the moment he shoots with so little conviction that the only way I can foresee that happening is by some sort of miraculous accident. Of he and Bendtner, I have more confidence in the Dane at the moment, so if he does depart I’d like to see us bring in another forward who can play through the middle.
From the highlights I’ve seen of the second half, Andrey Arshavin was the main threat, producing a series of impudent flicks and skipping runs inside from the left. Perhaps the arrival of Gervinho, as well as the possible departure of one or two other high profile creative players, will unleash the Arshavin we all know is lurking beneath the pot belly and half-hearted jogs.
The only real downside to the day was a potentially serious injury to young Conor Henderson. Henderson, a midfielder by trade, had replaced Kieran Gibbs at left-back.
The absence of Armand Traore from the squad leads me to wonder whether or not Arsene’s recent quotes about the necessity of finding a new defender referred to a left-back rather than a centre-half. Arsene said:
“Certainly, we will have to find one more defender. We [are] working on it.”
The recent bid for Phil Jagielka led everyone to assume he was referring to a centre-back, but Traore’s absence yesterday means he could equally have meant a full-back. The certainty with which Arsene says we will “have to” find this defender is the sort of tone he only adopts when referring to an obvious hole in the squad – not an area where he already has four experienced players plus youngsters Bartley and Miquel and the versatile Song.
Of course, there is the possibility that Traore was simply injured, and I’m reading something in to nothing.
And ideally, of course, we’d add a left-back and a centre-back. And a striker. Let’s see. Big week on the way.
July 22nd, 2011
Arsenal.com announced this evening that due to a “muscular injury” Cesc Fabregas did not travel with the rest of the squad to Germany. Ostensibly, it’s a hamstring problem. I’m not usually one for conspiracy theories, but I have to say that I’m more of the mind that the injured muscle in question is his heart – torn between Arsenal and Barcelona.
Of course, Arsenal and Arsene knew that the captain’s absence from yet another leg of our pre-season would provoke speculation. That’s why they slipped the official announcement out late on a Friday evening.
Even if Cesc is injured – and I have my doubts – he could certainly travel with the squad. Many of the players have spoken about how much the trip to the Far East helped bring the group together, and the five days or so in Germany will most likely have a similarly alchemic effect.  Surely, as captain, Fabregas ought to be part of that.
The answer lies in a line that Arsene actually said in relation to Manuel Almunia and Nicklas Bendtner, who’ve also stayed at home:
“As long as the situation is not settled, we have to focus on the coming season with the players we have. The players who are uncertain, it is difficult for them to focus on being completely committed.”
That’s it, in a nutshell. Cesc won’t be welcomed in to the preparations until Arsene is confident he will be part of the squad beyond August. He’s already planning for the worst-case scenario, and preparing for life without him.
I think Arsene is prepared to lose one of Cesc or Nasri, but not both. In fact, in some respects, the very fact he won’t stand for losing two at once is what means one has to go now. Because if both stay, the chances are they’ll both leave next summer anyway. We should at least stagger it.
And I think that as things stand, the man on his way out is Cesc. There are a variety of reasons, but the main one is the fact that Arsene feels the constant speculation over his future could both destabilise the squad and damage the player’s focus. In an interview in the Far East, Arsene said the time to let a player go is when he begins “disturb the efficiency of the company”. It seems that Arsene feels that Cesc’s situation may soon start to do that.
You already know I don’t agree. If I managed Arsenal, I’d point to the end date on Cesc’s contract, tell Barca where to go, and sell Nasri to the highest bidder. But despite several applications stating all of my Football Manager 2011 achievements, I don’t manage Arsenal. And it feels very much like today’s decision for Cesc to stay behind leaves him closer to the door marked ‘Exit’ than ever before.
According to some reports, a Barca delegation was in the country today to hold talks with Arsenal. They’re also negotiating the sales of midfielders Romeu and Jeffren to Chelsea and Bolton respectively, to add some more cash to a kitty that now contains a €12m downpayment from Roma for Bojan. Little by little, Barca are edging towards an offer above the £35m threshold. And by leaving Cesc at home, Arsenal have demonstrated their increasing willingness to accept.
–
Arsenal play Cologne in our next pre-season friendly, tomorrow at 2.30pm UKtime. You can watch it live on Arsenal Player.
July 21st, 2011
There are signs of life emanating from Arsenal’s transfer department. Since the signing of Gervinho, we’ve been ominously quiet, with the only the ill-fated bid for Costa Rican starlet Joel Campbell to keep us twits twittering.
Now, however, it seems we’re back on the market, with both the BBC and Sky reporting we’ve had a £10m bid for Phil Jagielka rejected.
Apparently Everton are mildly irritated that after having a £12m bid rejected last summer, we’ve returned with a smaller offer this time round. After our recent dealings with Barcelona, it’s hard not to sympathise with their frustrations.
I hope it’s merely an opening gambit in a more prolonged period of negotiation, because Jagielka would be fantastic signing. At 28 he is just arriving at his peak as a central defender, and that’s reflected in the fact that last season he emerged as first-choice for England.
Now, being an England international does bring with it a certain premium when it comes to price. But even without that, Arsene must know Jagielka is worth more than the £10m we’ve proposed. Everton are reportedly asking for something closer to £20m – his actual value lies somewhere in the middle. What’s certain is the he’s a more accomplished, assured, experienced performer than Gary Cahill – currently valued by Bolton at £17m.
I do think that signing a player like Jagielka would potentially transform our back-line. The value of domestic experience cannot be underestimated: the rigours of the Premier League hold no fear for him. This boy can play too, and wouldn’t look at all out of place in our starting XI.
Everton are strapped for cash, and would need to sell to bring in any new players this summer. Let’s hope we make them an offer they cant refuse.
Another skint club we may look to raid is Valencia. Reports from Spain suggest their playmaker Juan Mata is regarded as a potential replacement for either Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas, and their manager Unai “Dick” Emery has said:
“We want him to stay and Mata has also expressed his wish to remain at Valencia, but we know that if a big-money offer comes in from any club and it’s good for both the player and the club, it could lead to his exit.”
As for Cesc himself, any reports suggesting that Barca vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu were in the country to negotiate a deal have been proved false by the fact that Bartomeu is in fact in Barcelona negotiating another deal – the one for Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez.
Denilson has completed his loan move to Sao Paulo. I don’t know whether there’s any realistic chance of him remaining their permanently, but he’ll hope that being closer to home and playing more regularly will put him in with a chance of a call-up to the national side. I wish him all the best- you never know, he might even be back in an Arsenal shirt in twelve months time, a better player for the experience.
Despite the fact they remained at home to negotiate transfers almost a fortnight ago, there’s no news on the futures of either Nicklas Bendtner or Manuel Almunia.
Before the summer sale at Arsenal gets underway in earnest, Gunnerblog is having one of its own. All t-shirts in the Gunnerblog store will be available at discount prices until the season kicks off.
Lastly, some sad news: former Arsenal defender Ryan Garry has had to retire from football aged just 27. He was once thought of as a huge prospect, but injuries have dogged and ultimately ended his career. It looks as if his club Bouremouth will provide him with support as he embarks on a career as a coach.
July 20th, 2011
After a couple of days of intrigue in Central America, the summer news agenda returned firmly yesterday to its preferred topic: the possible departure of Cesc Fabregas.
Josep Guardiola held his first press conference of pre-season, and the lurking hacks won’t have been disappointed with his comments:
“This year Arsenal has agreed to negotiate and we are working on [it]. Barcelona has made an offer [of £26m], Arsenal another [between £35-40m], and we have time until 31 August and we’ll try to reach an agreement. There is a sum of money in the strong box set aside for this signing but if it doesn’t work out it will be kept in the box for something else. We will fight to the end to try to get Cesc because we believe he will improve the team and the squad.”
Exciting, eh? Arsenal have agreed to negotiate a sale? Blimey, that’s big news.
Except, it isn’t. Even when the BBC printed this story almost a month ago, they were already telling us something we already knew.
Anyone remotely connected to the club knows that Arsenal will sell Cesc Fabregas – if Barcelona pay the asking price. From the noises in the press, we’re led to believe that the price we’re quoting is a few million pounds more than Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll. Fabregas is, statistically, the most creative footballer in Europe. £40m would be a snip.
The reason we’re prepared to accept what has to go down is a deflated fee is simply that nobody wants an end to this saga more than Arsenal. It is damaging and draining. Read these comments from Arsene Wenger on tour last week:
“We know that this story for Barcelona goes on for years now and we have to close that and for ourselves to focus on the season, hopefully with Cesc Fábregas.”
Arsene’s meaning is clear. First and foremost, we need resolution. Ideally that would include keeping Cesc. If it doesn’t, it’ll be a huge blow, but we’ll recover and move forward.
The Guardian suggest we’ve set a deadline of the end of the month. I would imagine that’s guesswork on their part, but it makes sense. In August, we face both Liverpool and Manchester United, as well as a crucial Champions League qualifier. We cannot afford to go through that period with doubts over Cesc’s future.
It’s time for Barcelona to put up or shut up. CUoCO. At the moment they’re like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, hanging around shops looking at dresses they simply can’t afford to buy. They’re waiting for Richard Gere to come in and save them. BUT THERE IS NO RICHARD GERE.
If Barca haven’t got the necessary funds to buy both Fabregas and their number one target, Alexis Sanchez, then they need to tell us. And Cesc. Professing how much they want the player, only to refuse to pay the painfully reasonable fee, is not helping his career.
If Barca do find £40m down the back of a sofa, perhaps Arsenal will spend some of that fee on Alex Chamberlain (repeat: Chamberlain, not Oxlade-Chamberlain). The Southampton winger has told his club he wishes to move to the Premier League, saying:
“I’ve heard Arsenal are in for me and to join a top-four club is what I hope for.
“When the bus comes along, you have to jump on it and make the most of your opportunities.
“It’s not every day you get a chance like that. I believe in my own ability and that I have what it takes to play in the Premier League.”
One man who won’t be boarding our bus any time soon is Joel Campbell. It sounds like he and his family have well and truly put Arsenal’s noses out of joint, and I have to say I can understand why we walked away from the deal.
I did find this poll on Costa Rican paper La Nacion rather amusing. Forgive the slightly dodgy google translation, but you get the point:
Right, that’s yer lot for today. As we speak, Xavi is holding a press conference. More Cescy fun on the way, no doubt.
July 19th, 2011
Arsenal have closed the door on their attempts to sign Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell, after neither the player or his father turned up to a scheduled meeting last night.
The paper La Nacion, which has had several exclusives about the story, leads with the headline ‘Joel Campbell stood Arsenal up‘.
The President of his club Saprissa, Juan Carlos Rojas, confirmed:
“It’s a disappointment for football, for Saprissa and for me that they have decided not to take up an offer from as serious and first-class people as Arsenal. I hope it works out for Joel.
I assume his father thinks that things will get better and that’s why he made this decision, but hey, there’s always a risk. It’s a shame that Costa Rican football could not have a player at Arsenal at this time.”
All parties were due to meet at 7pm at the Intercontinental Hotel for a final meeting before Richard Law departed for London. Humberto Campbell claimed he and his son were absent due to the medical tests that were being undertaken, but Arsenal were suitably unimpressed to pull out of the deal. Rojas confirmed:
“There is no other option; the doors are closed.”
Humberto Campbell seemed unmoved by the news:
“If the Arsenal option is closed there is no problem. When one door closes, many open.”
It’s quotes like that which will lead people to infer than another club has already been in his ear.
The news has to go down as another blow to Arsenal’s summer transfer plans, after we just missed out on Argentinian midfielder Ricky Alvarez despite sending Law out to try and do out a deal. It does, however, seem that in this case the player’s father made it more trouble than it was worth.
Sorry to start your day with some less than great news…
Next Posts
Previous Posts
