Ahead of today’s game against Everton, Arsene Wenger has produced some fairly surprising quotes, claiming that he sees no need to enter the transfer market this summer:
“Right now in the middle of the park we have Aleksandr Hleb, Tomas Rosicky, Alexandre Song, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson and Gilberto — what can you add?”
Well, firstly Abou Diaby and Mathieu Flamini, whom Arsene curiously overlooked/forgot. Secondly, some players who might score the odd goal from midfield rather than playing pretty triangles without any end result.
“In front we have Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, who is coming back from Birmingham, Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jeremie Aliadiere. What are you going to do with those?”
Sell Bendtner and Aliadiere, and bring in a poacher (not Angel) – interesting that Julio Baptista is nowhere near this list.
“My first priority is to ensure the next payment for our stadium is paid and after that achieving our dreams. My message to the fans is don’t panic. We will get better.”
It’s great that we have a manager who is prepared to make the neccessary sacrifices for the club to be financially operable. However, without wanting to “panic”, I can’t help but think that a squad that hasn’t challenged for the Premiership in two years isn’t going to improve without at least some significant additions.  What do you reckon?
Everton today, and I’m not confident. But then, I am having a really bad day.
Yesterday, 72% of you voted against keeping Julio Baptista. Well, Arsene has now had his say, and if you read between the lines it isn’t too great for the Brazilian. Firstly, he seems to be conceding his performances have not been up to scratch, and then suggesting that his future is linked with that of Jose Reyes. I’m pretty sure that’s not the way the transfer deal is structured, so I can only assume that Baptista’s only real chance of staying is in a straight swap for Reyes – Arsene will no way spend the £15m required to prize him from Madrid.
Perhaps part of Wenger’s thinking is that he knows he has Nicklas Bendtner still to come back. I haven’t been overly impressed with Bendtner this season – he seems lazy and a little slow, but sources at Birmingham have revealed that the Dane has been offered a new contract at Arsenal, so it’s clear Wenger rates him highly. Of the other loanees, he says Alex Song will come back (as expected), but that the futures of Kerrea Gilbert and Fabrice Muamba are less clear.
Finally, Arsene insisted that Gilberto would not be sold to Juventus. However, it was harldy a ringing endorsement of the Brazilian’s long-term future at the club:
“Let him go to the end of his contract and then we will see. But we might well extend because he is an important player for us.”
“Might well” extend? For me, it’s an absolute neccessity that we do.
Tomorrow we travel to Goodison Park, and the good news is that Kolo Toure and Aleksandr Hleb are back in contention. Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Eboue are still out with injuries, so it’s likely that Johan Djourou and Justin Hoyte will continue in the full-back positions. Baptista and Aliadiere will play upfront, with precautions being taken over Theo Walcott, who could make his last appearance of the season from the bench.
Spanish rag AS says Arsenal are willing to pay up to £15m to sign Julio Baptista before his loan deal expires on the 30th June. Yes, 20 millones de euros. Pricey.
It claims Jose Reyes’ deal is independent to Baptista’s, and the Spaniard may be offloaded to Sevilla in order to finance any deal for Baptista.
Well, it wasn’t pretty, and we were a little bit fortunate, but when you consider our luck with injuries etc this season, maybe we had something good coming. Even the goal was a fluke – Julio Baptista’s shot deflecting in off Abou Diaby for an early winner, and a goal for the Frenchman in his first Premiership start in a year.
We went on to have a decent first-half, with Jeremie Aliadiere missing a hatrick of excellent chances. His movement was outstanding, but if you don’t have the sharpness to finish it off, what’s it worth? Just one Premiership goal in his entire career speaks volumes.
A makeshift back four was having trouble dealing with John Carew, and in the second half Villa cranked up the pressure. Freddie Ljungberg cleared off the line and Carew missed several chances to punish our wavering high line. But in the end, we held on for a valuable three points which takes us above Liverpool and into third place.
I’m in a bit of a hurry this morning, but it’s probably worth commenting on a bit of controversy surrounding Julio Baptista last night: he didn’t have the best of games, and in the 65th minute was brought off for Mathieu Flamini, leaving us without a conventional striker on the field. As he trudged off the field, Baptista confronted Wenger, clearly furious at being brought off. Wenger then indicated towards his lower back, either suggesting that the Brazilian had a back problem, or perhaps hinting that he felt he’d been standing around with his hands on his hips too much.
After the game Arsene gave a particularly cryptic response, even for him:
“I felt he had a bad back. We have checked that and he’s really badly injured.”
Hm. Something tells me we might not see too much of Baptista in an Arsenal shirt again, though I hope I’m reading something into nothing.
Finally, a word on Myles Palmer, who had plenty to say about two foul throws by Johan Djourou:
“The kid is a disgrace to Switzerland and he shames his African ancestors by taking two foul throws in a Premiership game.”
Granted, the foul throws were stupid and sloppy. But Djourou is a centre-back. Do you know how often a centre-back takes a throw in? The answer is never. Even if Djourou had taken his shorts down and shat on the penalty spot, the abuse above would still have been out of order. As if to compound his foolishness, Myles gets Arsene’s defensive lineup all wrong (the switch he suggests never occured), and delicately observes that the 38,000 who got to the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final were “mostly kids off the council estates”.
I don’t know you, Myles Palmer, but that won’t stop me from saying that you sound like an idiot.
Ahead of tonight’s game at Aston Villa, Arsene has been speaking about the possible need to bring in new faces this summer:
“Maybe we need one or two players — maximum. And only super, super-class because we have what is needed. The basis is inside the club.”
It is difficult to qualify just what makes a “super, super-class” player. However, if someone asked me to place money on who’ll be arriving at Arsenal this Summer, I’d be piling everything I owned on Franck Ribery – and if he does arrive, it’s because Arsene believes he can live up to that billing.
When you look at what our side lacks this season, you have to say that the sale of Jose Reyes has left us bereft of width. Aleksandr Hleb, Franck Ribery, and Freddie Ljungberg are all players who like to come inside from the flanks, either drifting into a central playmaking role, or making darting runs across the box. Manchester United’s success this season has been partially based on the form of their two wingers, Giggs and Ronaldo. Their ability to stretch the play has created room for Paul Scholes to pull the strings from the centre, and for Wayne Rooney to prosper upfront. For Scholes, see Fabregas. For Rooney, see Henry.
We need not play with two wingers – it’s never been Arsene’s way. Look at his great sides – they’ve always been slightly lop-sided. When Marc Overmars plied his trade on our left, Ray Parlour tucked in on the right. When Cole, Pires, and Henry created mayhem down the left flank, Freddie Ljungberg was floating inside onto Dennis Bergkamp’s passes. Ribery is comfortable on either flank, but like Overmars seems to be most effective coming from the left. In spite of being right-footed (and how), Ribery is capable of getting right to the byline and pulling the ball back across the box in a way that none of our current set of midfielders seem willing to do.
Another intriguing twist is that when Tomas Rosicky was signed, the word from those connected to the club was that we planned to play him on the right – sounds strange, I know, but give it a thought. Is it so ludicrous to suggest that either a) Arsene thought he could convince Reyes to stay, or b) he felt he could sign Ribery at that stage?
Freddie Ljungberg is hard-working but on the way out. Aleksandr Hleb is skillful yet inconsistent. To have Ribery and Rosicky on the flanks would be stronger than any combination we currently possess. The Frenchman would bring pace, skill, excitement, and a willingness to occasionally shoot (warning Arsenal fans: you have forgotten what that is. See here, here, and here).
It wouldn’t surprise me if talks are already underway. We won’t be the only club after Franck, but we are in a better position than most – Ribery has spoken of his desire to work with a French manager in England (well that narrows it down), and is good mates with Thierry Henry. Love him or loathe him, it’s at least worth considering getting used to the idea of seeing him in an Arsenal shirt. If you ask me, it’s something worth getting fairly excited about.
Aston Villa tonight, and after the disappointment of the PSV game, a win would really lift spirits. The main team news is that Gael Clichy and the villains of Cardiff are all suspended, but Rosicky, Flamini, and Hoyte are all fit again. Julio Baptista will lead the line, most likely supported by Jeremie Aliadiere.
Come on Arsenal.
Ahead of tonight’s game at Aston Villa, 
