Archive for January, 2008
January 17th, 2008
Lassana Diarra has joined Portsmouth for a fee in the region of £5.5m – a tidy profit on a player signed for under £2m just a few months ago. Nevertheless, I’m disappointed to see him leave.
He’s been mouthing off to the press about how Harry will play him, but in his time at Arsenal he did make thirteen appearances. Over the course of the season, that figure would have at least doubled. For my money, thirty Arsenal appearances and the chance of winning something is worth more than fifty Portsmouth appearances, and that’s with no disrespect intended to Pompey.
Still, what’s done is done, and I suppose we have to move on.
TeamTalk go with the headline ‘Sagna Unmoved By Diarra Departure’, then say almost nothing to back that up. Classic.
Arsene Wenger has been talking about how Fran Merida’s loan will bridge the gap between the Reserve Team and the Premier League.  When Arsene calls a seventeen year-old a “great” player, you know he’s something special.
Finally, if some eejit breaks The Gun Rack again today, just use the Stealth Guns. I’m working on a longer term solution as we speak.
January 16th, 2008
Lassana Diarra is reportedly closing in on a £5.5m switch to Portsmouth. Quite a few respectable sources have corroborated this one, and whilst Portsmouth have denied agreeing a deal, it might not be too far off. When asked about Diarra at the weekend, Arsene replied that he would inform the press when there was some news, without any of his usual statements about wanting to keep the player. Sadly, it seems that Diarra’s mind is made up.  More on this if and when he goes, but needless to say I think he’s making a terrible decision.
Nicklas Bendtner walks a fine line between confidence and complacency, and admits as much himself in this interview with The Times, coming out with the remarkable revelation that whilst at Birmingham, “There were games when I could have worked harder”. Fortunately he seems to realise that simply won’t be tolerated at Arsenal.
Arsene is chasing a couple of young stars. First there’s Vyacheslav Dmitriev, who will reportedly join at the end of the season from Torpedo Moscow. Then there’s Luke Freeman, the 15-year old Gillingham striker – his manager reveals negotiations are currently underway over the player’s transfer, and I’m sure something will be sorted soon.
Finally, The Independent links us with Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin. Frankly, I just can’t see it. He’s got Spurs written all over him. Poor lad.
January 15th, 2008
It’s long been known that Arsene Wenger is a man of principal. In the case of Nicolas Anelka, it was this desire to preserve the club’s ethics that prevented a returnfor the ‘prodigal son’:
“Most of the time he was not in a club with the quality that he had. He got disappointed. He has so much class. I considered him because he wanted to put things right. I thought ‘Is it right to get a player back who has left?’ We have kept a straight policy – if he has left, we accept it.”
You have to say that for the most part that policy that has been successful, allowing Wenger’s teams to constantly evolve, as well as permitting the likes of Cesc Fabregas to break through and replace former heroes.
Wenger’s gamble is that the likes of Adebayor, Eduardo, and Bendtner will provide a more significant long-term contribution to Arsenal Football Club than a returning Anelka. I can’t say I disagree.
Arsene’s comments came as part of the launch for ArsenalTV, which is available as part of the Setanta Sports package. I didn’t manage to catch the first night of programming, but I hear it was fairy entertaining. The best thing about the channel will be the ability to watch all the reserve and youth games, allowing the nerdiest of fans (eg. myself) to do a tad of talent-spotting.
Look at Arsene and Des here. I can imagine them as kind of old married couple, eating toast together in bed, with Arsene chuckling as he wipes the crumbs from Des’ ever-expanding moustache.
Anyone else? No? Thought not.
January 14th, 2008
Arsene has spoken about the contract negotiations with Mathieu Flamini, and stated that talks over a new deal are “ongoing”.
He describes himself as “hopeful” that something will be agreed. Now feel free to accuse me of reading something into nothing, but there seems to be to be a big difference between being “hopeful” and being “confident”.
My hunch is that Flamini could leave. The situation is reminiscent of the one that Edu found himself in during his time at the Emirates. The Brazilian never really felt like his first-team place was secure at Arsenal, so he found himself moving on (sadly, his ill fortune with injuries followed him to Spain).
At the moment, Flamini’s spot in the team is not in question. But when he looks around and sees the likes of Gilberto, Diaby, Diarra and Denilson all competing for his place in the side, he might be inclined to think of a hefty Bosman signing on fee and warmer climes.
That said, I hope he stays. I just don’t feel sure of it – and frankly, Arsene doesn’t sound any less doubtful.
January 13th, 2008
Expectation hangs heavy around this inexperienced Arsenal side. After an excellent first-half of the season, the fans expect entertainment, and (in games such as yesterday) the team themselves now seem to expect victory. Too much expectation, and not enough exertion, if Arsene is to be believed:
“Today we lost two points we should not have lost and I’m confident that the team will refocus, because they are really disappointed. We need sharply to refocus because that kind of focus we have shown today is not sufficient.”
Arsene also moved to praise the fans, although I’m not sure I would do the same. They raised their voices in the second half when they realised we were in danger of dropping points, but the vast majority were as quiet as they were in the New Year’s Day game with West Ham. On that occasion I put it down to their hangovers, but I can’t help but wonder if our good form has seen fans readjust their sights.
However well we’ve done, we’re not yet at a stage where we can expect to just roll teams over. Yesterday provided real evidence of that.
We started well enough, with Adebayor and Eduardo both having good chances, before a very soft penalty enabled the Togolese to score his thirteenth goal of the season. At half-time we were one nil up and, a good Manuel Almunia save aside, very comfortable.
Probably too comfortable. A poorly defended corner just after half-time yielded an equaliser for Birmingham, and suddenly we were pegged back to one-one.
From then on, Birmingham defended excellently, and we struggled to create a clear cut opportunity. William Gallas sliced at a good chance late on, but we never particularly looked like scoring.
We certainly missed Tomas Rosicky (flu), and even Emmanuel Eboue. In their place, Theo Walcott started on the flank, and the youngster was highly ineffective. I should add as a disclaimer that I believe there’s every chance he’ll turn into a top player, but he isn’t close to being one yet. If Arsene is tempted to spend in this transfer window, it has to be on a wide player.
Philippe Senderos had a strong second half and Flamini (slack marking on their goal aside) put in a typically combative performance. Interestingly, I heard yesterday that around a year ago Arsene attempted to exchange Flamini for Diarra – an offer which Mourinho laughed off as derisory. How things have changed since then.
I am, however, beginning to get worried about Hleb and Fabregas, who have simply not recaptured their pre-injury form. The last of Cesc’s eleven goals this season came over two months ago. If we’re to win something this season, he probably needs to find his shooting boots again pretty sharpish.
Anyhow, no need for too much doom and gloom. Results and performances like yesterday are inevitable. All the big teams have games where they just can’t quite forge a winner (even the darling of the press, Manchester United, occasionally struggle).
The important thing is that we bounce back, and beat Fulham next week.
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