Good morning and welcome to Friday, it’s been a short intense slog getting here, but sure enough, without a shadow of a doubt, we are here.
Savour it…
Finished savouring?
Good, wipe that savour dribble from your mouse mat and let’s crack into a can of cool refreshing Arsenal news.
News for Saturday is as expected. No Jack. No Theo.
Big deal I say. We’re a better team without them. Well, judging by our last few games at least.
Jokes aside. Our midfield has looked really solid; we have plenty of discipline and bite. No one is a major specialist, so I guess that helps things tick along. When you know you’ve got a Jack next to you, perhaps the easy thing to do is assume he’ll make things happen. When you’re all in the same boat, you can take a risk, but you’re all in the same boat.
Theo Walcott hasn’t really been a major loss. Moving Santi out wide has worked really well. Having someone who can use both feet popping up all over the front line must be a nightmare for defenders. This weekend, I’m not sure who he’ll opt for on the other side, but I guess it’s likely to be Gervinho after his performance against Reading. If he can do something similar against the sterner test of West Brom, we’ll be laughing.
The £70m warchest stories are popping up all over the place again. The Mirror says our spending spree this summer is dependent on Champions League football. For me, it shouldn’t be dependent on anything. We need to fight to get back to the top regardless of what happens. If Wenger has targets and they’re acceptable, we should be adding them regardless and we should be coming to agreements with our deadwood to shift them on.
As far as I can see, there’s no benefit in them going out on loan each season. Their new clubs aren’t paying all their wages… so why not just offer the players a deal. You can go for a free… or we’ll buy you out of your deal. Take the hit and promise the fans you’ll never overpay terrible players again. All contracts should be earned on amazing performances at a previous club… or they should be earned on amazing performances for Arsenal.
Chamberlain didn’t deserve a massive bump in his pay, nor did Ramsey. Give players aspirational pay then reward when they’re flying. Having something to play for makes you play better… look at Theo.
It’s simply the only way to do things in austere times…
David Seaman thinks austere is the surname of a famous American actor from way back when. Forget that though, he thinks Fabianski is the name of a keeper who could be Arsenal number one.
“I don’t know [if Szczesny will win back his No1 spot]. It’s quite interesting with Fabianski doing really well.
“He’s worked really hard since his injury and he looks totally different goalkeeper. But it’s great to have that competition.”
I love Seaman, I really do… but honestly, since he said he thought Almunia was a top quality keeper, I’ve struggled with his opinions. I ‘d be interested to know what Jens thought of our keeping options. That’s a man who nailed Almunia straight away. I do hope the rumours are true about him coming back in a training capacity next year. I also think if that’s true, he should be given a say in who we bring in next. We’ve not really performed over the last 15 years when it comes to picking out the best keepers on the market. There’s some interesting names being put around the web… Vorm, Adler, Valdes, Reina… all keepers who would vastly improve us. I just worry we’ll opt for cheap and hopeful again.
Finally, some interesting quotes from Steve Bould.
“Everybody has realised that clean sheets win games a lot of the time,”
“I’m hoping that the Tottenham defeat is the big turning point. We played really well on the day and I think we absolutely deserved more than we got.
“Two defensive errors and we got punished by good players and that’s what happens.”
“A big thing for us was getting the big result at Bayern.
“We’re only the second team to have won there this season so it’s given everybody a belief that we’re doing all right. It was an important game for us.”
Incredible stuff from Steve there. Clean sheets win games! It’s only a small, obvious statement… but jeez, it’s been a long time coming. You don’t have to sacrifice style to defend. Hopefully the Steve Bould effect can start shining through stronger over the next year.
Finally, if you like quizzes and you live in London, hell, maybe you live outside of London… there’s an Arsenal quiz being held at the Tollington Arms (Arsenal Media Pub) on April 18th @ 1745. All proceeds will be heading to the Bob Wilson Willow Foundation and Homeless FA. Loads of great people will be heading down and I’m sure the night will be a boozefest of epic proportions. Jump on the tickets people… they’re selling out blow up mobile phones a day before a home game at Chelsea.
BUY HERE à CLICK THE LINK http://www.wegottickets.
Finally… Spurs slogged out a 2-2 draw last night and lost Bale, Gallas and Lennon (so I was told). Good times, tired and depleted. I’m not sure what the news is on Bale is, but the ankle roll looked nasty.
Have a great Friday!
