Morning all,

Couple of snippets from the newspapers:

Luiz Gustavo has declined an offer to play for Arsenal in the Premier League and Champions League, he’s chosen to remain in Germany. So be it I guess. Wonder is Arsene Wenger has a plan to look elsewhere….. That’s any ones guess..

Luis Suarez rumbles on and on and on, in fact longer than a Duracell battery. The Telegraph suggest we are ready to up offer to just under £50 million as other reports suggest he’s set for ‘top talks’ with Brenda…..

Onto Tsgh post…

Since the ‘supermarket dash’ on 31st August 2011, both football fans and media alike have come to associate and expect Arsene Wenger and Arsenal to complete transfers on the final day of the transfer window.

Considering Podolski was signed and announced on the 30th of April last year and our final transfer last summer was completed on the 7th of August most fans were of the expectation that most of the promised big summer signings will be involved in the Far East tour this time round.

Being a doubting Thomas, I became very sceptical when Ivan Gazidis informed the listening audience earlier in the summer that we had not been able to complete any signings as a result of our targets being from clubs who had no managers in office yet. My suspicion was that this ‘smooth talker’ was expecting fans to fall for the ’spin’ that a chairman was unwilling to sell but a newly appointed manager would approve a marquee signing to be sold to us. I bet Ivan practiced that line in front of the mirror a few times and he even convinced himself with it as well.

Taking in consideration players who have moved this summer, my biggest worry is that Arsene allowed a player such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Dortmond without us showing any interest at all. Was it because Arsene has given up on the French market?

Surely not considering he inquired about Grenier and signed a freebie from Lique 2. Maybe Arsene rates Ligue 2 higher than Ligue 1 now.

Additionally, I would have thought Negredo would have been a very good business for the club but I guess the club hierarchy did not consider him marquee enough.

Even as things stand I strongly believe it’s never too late and I still believe there are better players available on the market who can make us stronger and help us challenge for trophies this season.

Analysing the list of players that the club submitted for the 25-man list A for our Champions League qualifier I was even more concerned to note that the list comprised 18 and 16 year olds. Don’t get me wrong I have strong believe in the potential of Zelalem and Serge but the key word is potential.

List A

Wojciech Szczęsny*, Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Tomáš Rosický, Mikel Arteta, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott*, Aaron Ramsey*, Nacho Monreal, Santi Cazorla, Łukasz Fabiański, Yaya Sanogo, Kieran Gibbs*, Ryo, Thomas Eisfeld, Serge Gnabry, Damian Martinez, Gedion Zelalem.

It’s now two days until the start of the season and we only have a 20 year old who has a chequered injury record, only 21 senior appearances and 11 goals to show for it as our signings. With the squad as it is, we lack experience in certain key positions, especially in the ‘Regista’ role currently occupied by Arteta. Unless we sign a British based ‘home ‘ player we will not be able to register any experienced signings we pull out of the hat in time in order to  face Aston Villa this weekend.

Sagna is believed to have picked up an injury last night.

Apart from Santi, who travelled to Ecuador with the Spain Squad the rest of our internationals stayed close to home in Europe and should all be available for a light session on Thursday evening.

Baring in mind our record in the premiership on the opening day of the season over the last three years has been three draws with only 1 goal scored, I was really expecting Arsene Wenger to have options available should injuries occur during this unnecessary international break in order to ensure we started the season on a positive note.

The consolidation is that over the last 2 decades or so we are unbeaten in the last 13 home opening day fixtures in the Premier League winning 9 of them. 4 of our last 5 home opening day fixtures have ended with just under 2.5 goals average scored.

The big and important question is how thin our squad is compared to our top 4 competitors? Comparing our competitors’ squad like for like, I am compelled to conclude we actually have a very solid squad.

Man U Man City Chelsea Arsenal
Goalkeepers De Gea Hart Cech Flappianski
Lindegaard Pantilimon Schwarzer Szcesny
Amos Wright Wright Martinez
Defenders Raphael Richards Ivanovic Sagna
Evra Kompany cole Mertesacker
Jones Zabaleta Luiz Vermaelen
Ferdinard Lescott Terry Monreal
Evans Kolarov Azpilicueta Gibbs
Smalling Clichy Bertrand Jenkinson
Vidic Nastasic ake
Butner Razak
fabio
Midfielders Anderson Milner Essien wilshere
giggs Nasri Ramires Rosicky
Carrick sinclair lampard Arteta
Nani Garcia Mata Cazorla
Young Navas Oscar Ox-Chamberlain
Cleverley Rodwell Mikel Frimpong
Valencia barry de Bruyne Diaby
Kagawa Silva Van Ginkel Miyaichi
Fernandinho Hazard Gnabry
Toure Zelalem
forwards Rooney Negredo Torres Poldolski
Hernandez Dzeko Moses Walcott
Welbeck Aguero Schurrle Sanogo
van Persie Jovetic Lukaku Giroud
Henriquez Guidetti Ba
Zaha

I am aware fans will expect re-enforcement throughout the core areas of the squad. In an ideal world most fans would have wanted an experienced goalkeeper in the form of Schwarzer or Cesar, a central defender in the form of Ashley Williams, a winger like Willian Borges, a defensive midfielder in the form of Capoue/Gustavo and a striker in the mould of Rooney or Suarez.

In my opinion we just need a right back, a defensive midfielder and a striker; any other additions will be a bonus.  Schwarzer would have been a bonus but Jose was faster. Schurrle, Medel or Capoue would have very much been in our price margin but Arsene showed no interest.

I will continue to believe Arsene and his scouts will pull off a Houdini-like magic trick in this last few days for all of us to gloat over.

As the saying goes the transfer window  is never  over until Jim White chats to Harry.

Have a good day and keep the faith.

Written by Ginge.