I can understand if Wenger doesn’t buy a central midfielder in the summer, I really can. I think he should have bought one before now but things are rapidly changing at the club.
Firstly and I know we have covered this before but had Frimpong not suffered such an injury I am sure that Wenger had plans to use him to rest Song or as cover when injured. He was heavily involved in our pre season and he did himself proud. Many Arsenal fans were raving about how strong his is and wasn’t afraid to get ‘stuck in’. He’s been brought up in England too, having moved from Ghana at a young age – we need a few more ‘Jack tackles’ in our side.
Mind you, I am not sure if he has made his mind up yet which country he wants to represent, so far he has played for the respective age groups for England but suggested he wanted to play for Ghana. Now though, he’s changed his mind back to England. I guess we will have to watch this space on that, personally, I couldn’t care which country he plays for, Arsenal are all that interests me.
Then behind/alongside him we have Francis Coquelin, central midfielder, turned right back!! What?
Anyway, having signed a new long-term contact in the summer of 2010, Wenger shipped him out on loan to Lorient for this season where he has played in his proper position under Christian Gourcuff and our young Frenchman has been getting rave reviews.
Gourcuff has nothing but praise for him:-
I am very happy with Francis so far this season. I have to say that I am still very surprised by his progress and evolution.
He has improved a lot already in his use of the ball and in how he controls the game. When he arrived, he was making the wrong choices with the ball at times – now, he is more accurate and pertinent. Francis’s recent performances have been very good and he’s been a pleasant surprise for us this season. He is clever and a good lad to have in the squad but most importantly he is talented and it’s easy for a coach like me to have players like him in my team.
I really believe that his loan here will be great for Francis, for us and for Arsenal. If Arsène Wenger loaned him here at Lorient, it’s because he knew that Francis would be in the same set up as at Arsenal.
So, as much as we all want a Melo or the ‘next Essien’ I think we can want on, after all, not only would it ‘kill’ Denilson (phew) it would also kill the chance for Frimpong, Coquelin and of course Lansbury…..
I’d still much rather Wenger spent the money he has on two central defenders, Eden Hazard and swap Nikki B for a striker who can score goals more often. 😉
Last night Jack put in a good shift for England and Theo Walcott gift wrapped Darren Bent a goal which helped England to a 2- 1 victory over Denmark. Bit of a scary moment though when Jack made a tackle and got up holding his knee, he looked to have run it off at the time, lets hope it stays that way.
Rosicky nabbed himself a goal but couldn’t stop the Czech Republic losing 4-2 to Croatia, Russia lost 1-0 to Iran and France managed to beat ten-man Brazil 1-0.
Reading around it would appear no injuries to any of our players……
That’s it for today, have a good one…..
morning all….
Morning all.good read rico but i hope jacky boy builds on that and ignore the media.
morning kt, i thought he did a good job, what did they expect from him,, yes he is more affective with us but thats because he’s playing with better players and not a lump like Lumpard 😉
LG are reporting that song and nasri are back in training…
They are normally right so thats great news… Part of me thinks we should not risk song and JD for wolves but i know we need to win this one big time and look what happened to manure, wolves will be confident…
Morning Rico,
I totally agree. The setup at the moment with Song and Wilshere is working well. Even if you disregard the fabulous prospects coming through, to buy another central midfielder would mean having to drop one of Song or Jack, which would destroy all of the good work Wenger has done to get them to where they are today.
The trouble with Frimpong opting for Ghana would be that he wouldn’t be available to cover for Song during the African Cup of Nations.
morning james
when song is out we are very different, i’m not a denilson fan, never have been and i have always been in favour of wenger buying a defence/holding midfielder, a player who has just a couple of years in him at the top so when song is injured etc, he can fill the void without unsettling the team….
he hasn’t done so to date and with the named few coming through, I don’t think he’ll be buying in that position for a long time….
morning rupe, good point but by the time he is ready to play for his country i think the ACON will be played in the summer months so not so bad…
As for Wilshere’s performance last night…I thought he was composed when on the ball but was a little unsure of where he needed to be/ who to pick up when it came to his positioning/ pressing duties. This is because unfortunately Mr Capello played Jack out of position which left him uncomfortable and confused. I hope our little man is confident enough to shrug off the negative reviews of his performance which have come about by his talent being limited by a stupid coaching decision. I can see what Capello was trying to do – he rightly feels he has to play Wilsere because he has been by far and away the best english central midfielder in the prem this year, but at the same time he doesn’t want to drop Gerrard or Lampard so he needs to find a niche for Wilshere to fit in amongst these 2
Thanks for another positive post after a looooong week of media drooling over Newcastle’s Dowd/Diabic-enabled 4-goal comeback; we made look like look heroes when they should have spent the next three games trying to recuperate from the drubbing.Why do we love the HARD WAY?
On your post, I don’t think Denilson is the only one whose place is under threat; I think Rosicky, Diaby and perhaps Eastmond may find playing time very rare IF the likes of Ramsey, Coquelin, Frimpong and Landsbury turn it on in the summer. Not only will we be able to allow Frimpong also go out on loan to a championship side for exposure and experience, we will have, for the first time in three years, enough cover in an area where barring Wilshere, we havent seen anyone play well except Song.
That takes the pressure off him, gives Song enough times to rest, improve other areas of his game and have an even greater influence on games as he knows he must now raise his game to inspire the young lads behind him and help them give their all just to get to play. The future already looks so bright in that area, I ‘m sure of more than one trophy if Cesc stays beyond next season.CYOG!
Couldn’t agree more James, square pegs in round holes doesn’t work, we arsenal fans know that only too well….
jack has been cautioned again for the cabby incident, hope thats the last brush with the law for him….
Rosicky scored his first goal in over a year!
I was in shock just writing that he’d scored kt, didn’t realise it was that long since he last got a goal… maybe now he knows where it is again…….
A starting MF 3 of Song, Fabregas & Wilshere is beginning to look real quality. ANd when they’re fit Ramsey, Frimpong rotating in will give us genuine strenght & depth. It will also hopefully mean we won’t see Denilson making a lot of appearances.
Frimpong wasn’t born in this country, he was born in Ghana and moved here about 8 or 9 years old.
morning simon, agree – we have so much talent waiting in the wings – not only frimpong but coquelin, lansbury, afobe, chuks, JET, bartley to name just a few… next season we should start to see them knocking on the door….
Thanks for that Dan, a slip up by me, but he’s grown up a ‘london boy’ – thats what we need in our side…
Off for a bit guys, back in a couple of hours….
England won 2:1 bt u stated 1:0
Ghana won 4:1. Cant wait 4 England vs Ghana
How crap was Nik B last night?
We don’t want Frompong playing in the ACN.
Good article, we are definitely top heavy in midfield.
Why do you want two more CB’s..?? At best we needed a loanee as cover, but buy two more, with Bartley and Miquel doing so well..?? I’m not too sure about that one.
Morning All
rico, what game were you watching last night, dont like to disagree but England won 2.1 after being a goal down, must be a missprint
Have to say I think Lampard showed himself to be a good captain.
I saw several moments where he was giving Jack and Theo encouragement.
He’s one of the few chelski players I think might be a decent human being.
Can’t agree with you on Denilson, I think there’s way too much lazy “analysis” of what he brings to the game.
Against Barca, his style will stem the tide a lot more than anyone else in the squad.
Likewise, if he had been available against Newcastle, his ball retention instead of Tommy’s gifts would have got us all 3 points imo.
Where is everyone?
Boo, what have i missed??
Sorry for the delay for those just come on…
Thanks guys, have changed it to 2-1, i was too busy thinking about Theo’s gift I forgot that Young scored another and the Danes scored one too 😉
MikeSA – many are divided over denilson, i’d sell him this afternoon, you’d keep him – i guess thats just the way it goes…
Tell you what annoyed me last night was when Theo battled for the ball and then crossed it, Townsend saying Theo never had the ball under control.
First off he controlled a crazy ball, got past a rake to the eye and played an unstoppable ball across goal. What does Townsend want?
i thought bendtner had a good game last night
They are all so anti us Will, sometimes i wonder why Theo bothers playing for England…..
hi mark, nik always plays a bit better for his country than he does his club….
I thought Nik B was atrocious as usual. Could not hit the goal from an inch away.
Will, i thought he was a bit better, but he still has a long way to go to get to being as good as he thinks he is…
I honestly believe he is one who could well leave in the summer, he’s not getting games and he wants to be playing but unless we suffer injuries up front i can’t see him being first choice. Apart from in the FA Cup run…
Hi Rico. Good post. Wenger has a tricky balancing act this summer. Most of the lads you mentioned will be 20 when next season begins. If Wenger thinks they are good enough then he has to bring them into the squad. So your comments yesterday of a bit of a summer ‘clear-out’ might be needed to give these lads the opportunity to get some playing time.
Diaby wants to play for barcelona or real madrid…. now that should please agag to hear that …
Hi kev, just got up then 😉 😉
The area that concerns me though is the defence, will Bartley or Miquel get a chance being so young? One mistake and they could go down the senderos route….
Diaby for Real Madrid, yeah a swap deal for Benzema
i’ll have you know madam, that i was up at 9am. Then i went back to bed…. no not reallylol
i’d like to see Bartley integrated into the senior squad next season. We have enough spots on the bench to have him there, and then you give him 10mins here and 15mins there to bring him along.
9am?? The day is nearly over then 😉
I’d take that swap deal kev, add denilson to it…
same with Miquel, neither can be thrown in at the deep end but i guess they will be used in the pre-season friendlies etc aswell…
Boo!! rico, how odd. I’ve just been reading Diabolique’s interview and thinking to myself, “Good riddance!!!”
We should be seeing some players go in the summer. It would be nice to sell some so we can buy some. 🙂 We certainly need reinforcements. 🙂
Hello, all.
Shortly after costing us the game on Saturday Diaby says he wants to play for Barca or Madrid. This guy must be one of the most deluded, moronic footballers out there.
It would be good if he went however (along with Denilson) as it would clear a space in midfield. We’ve needed another DM since Flamini left, I agree with the idea of an older player to play when Song is injured / needs a rest, with then youth players pushing for starts in the CC etc, but Wenger has never addressed this position in the transfer market and I doubt he ever will.
We are paper thin at CB and DM, as we have been for years.
Did you see your robin at 4am???? 9am is plenty early for me lol.
Denilson’s time is running out i suspect. Ramsey,Jack,Cesc,Song,Diaby[i suppose],Frimpong. Where can he fit in?
The media have it in for us. And more than a fair few sound absolutely gleeful when discussing Arsenal’s failings, whether perceived or real. No other team in the league seems to get such sustained negative coverage. 😉 Most days, I don’t care, but some news bytes are just ridiculous.
Afternoon rico and all,
I am not bothered about the youngsters coming in and making mistakes, as long as when they play they show commitment, thats how young players learn. i was watching Joe Hart last night and he has learnt nothing, any cross that came his way, he decides to punch instead of catching,not even good punches, disbeleif in his own ability, a safe pair of hands is essential to every quality goalkeeper, he’s been around a bit now and he still looks nervous. Our youngsters have got to come in with beleif that they can do the job they have been picked to do, with that they need to work hard and support their team mates, never leave it for sombody else, and above all never give up, if they have the talent Wenger would have seen it, its all down to them
Hi agag, i knew that would please you 🙂
Hi Jekyll – he’s stupid, plain stupid to come out with that, how many months is he in the sick bed for aswell ggrrrr
I did, indeed. Well, he was never a favorite to begin with, but after last Saturday, I realized, he’s more trouble than he’s worth. 😉 Runs like a headless chicken, doesn’t score, gets red carded… Sigh.
Dont have a go at Diaby, every player on the planet would like to play for Barca, and after the treatment he got on Saturday i’m not suprised. We have a fixed FA with bent officials, pundits media and everybody else who is not a Gooner against us, we get the rough end of the stick in every game, who can blame him for wanting to play in a country thats warm and the league is fixed for your team to win, and best part of Spain loves you.
Ha ha kev, it was dark 😉
Hi Steve, it’s not us though who will slate them its the bloomin media – any excuse to criticise and they love it..
I’m all for players who wear the shirt with pride, we have too many that just take their places for granted…
What made saturday even worse agag is that diaby was having a decent game, the tackle he received was bad but his reaction was just silly and cost us dear….
But he should keep that to himself Steve…..
Hi all.
Just a quick one, if anyone is looking for a good pub in the Wembley area. I got birthday drinks in the C2k club right next to the arsenal end. Open from 10am with huge screens with live PA’s from the away boys and Riders of the night.
Tickets are advance only and cost £7 let me know if anyones interested and we can have a Highbury house gathering!!!
Rico, there’s a free Jack Daniels for you on arrival!!!
Hi Rocastle – i’d love to join you but sadly have no chance 🙁
What day and date is your party 😉
Well Rico, that is a shame I must say. Looks like I’ll have to find someone else to drink that JD and coke. (cough)
But the date is ….the 27th of feb, when the arsenal team are playing at Wembley!!!!
Sorry should have made that clearer….hehe
I had a feeling it was the CC final date, just wanted to make sure – i will put a note on the daily posts about it…
I’m sure you will cope with the extra JD&C, but thank you anyway, I will raise a glass on the day 🙂
We have a situation at the moment, where the goverment have got involved with an inquirery into the running of the FA, apparently the premier league do not want to be a part of any of the other factions. Because the Premier league has loads more money coming in they want to be on their own and the leagues below have to run themselves. The goverment asked Lord Triesman, who used to run it all, to come up with a blueprint which is a plan, to get them all working together to better the sport, but Dave Richards the Chairman of the premier league wants nothing to do with it. Sounds a bit like i’m alright Jack. The goverment must be thinking that the guy and his henchmen are dictating the sport, well thats news we didnt know. Makes you think back to the world cup bid and what a farce that was, must have got up Camerons nose though, he wants it all fair, ha ha, he went with all the representatives Beckham Prince Andrew and the rest to a supposedly fair Vote, but not before they spoke to many on the board of voters to try and secure their votes, then got the hump when they never won, and thats the people thats going to make our FA fair HA HA
Cheers. There’s a few of us going then a few more will pile in from the stadium. Then a blOomin hot curry to end the day….
Sounds just the ticket, big birthday is it?? how many 0’s 😉
Where did you see that Steve??
It was in yesterdays paper, its an inquirery thats happening at the moment Tuesday was the first day, sounds to me that the Goverment are aware at whats happening with Premier League and must think theres a bit of dodgy dealing going on. one of the blogs have been doing a bit on referees performances and its been brought to the BBC’s attention and the BBC are showing it on their website. Looks like the shit is about to hit the fan
Hi SP, just read it, quite interesting.
Hey Rico, you not going to the final, how come?
The blog is from, Untold
I wonder if that is where the allegation of fixing came from which promted the story about Rosicky and Dowd??
Which website Steve, bet its good reading
Hi Kev,
who knows, if they sort the leagues out, we may just start winning trophys again
Live too far away kev, takes a whole day… i’ll be watching in the warm 😉
i think that’ll only happen Steve if foreign refs are brought in, mind you Pulis would not be happy!
Rico, i shall keep you company as i’m not going either. We can cheer them onto victory in our armchairs, allez les rouges
has anyone analysed every club that way or just afc?
Its a date kev 🙂
I cannot find the BBC story, but the Untold Arsenal articles are good….
As far as i know rico, just us. We are the only club who runs properly they all hate that, Spuds and W Ham fighting over a stadium we paid for, Man city in at no 6 of the top big earners, makes me wonder what the worlds coming to
You know what rico,
it gets right up my nose, where i’m living they have built a white water rapids for the olympics its cost the tax payer bundles and its just been anounced in our local paper that they are opening for the public to use it at £49.99 a go. just what i need is a white water rapids course at fifty quid a go, after we just paid for it to be built, and the goverment is getting involved with football, God help us all
bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/football/ Give that a try Rico.
The story for the enquirey is on the back page of yesterdays sun
Steve, it’s The Dome all over again.
I see where you are coming from Steve, it’s morally wrong on all accounts, no wonder wenger gets fed up with it all and the more one reads, no wonder we run the club the way we do..
that comes back with an error message kev…
The Dome all over again, spot on….
Blimey, i don’t know then. I’ve got it as one of my favourites… behind HH of course hehe.
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/
I just punched it in rico and got it, great peice try again
i have tried it steve, error message again 🙁
I’m after the BBC one Will…
Cheers Will. So much to read, i’ll have to go back a bit later.
I got it 🙂
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9379989.stm
It’s interesting that Clattenburg comes out top and even more interesting that he gets heavily critisised by red nose i think, and he seems to get relegated to the Championship sometimes….
maybe he won’t play by ‘the rules’….
Be interesting how referees will react to this peice, definitly watch their decisions now, look forward to unbiased decisions can only be a plus
I read a blog from Untold before one of our games and Clattenburg hadnt been to kind to us previously, and he reffed it well, quite supprising what happens when you know your being recorded
Good point Steve, they will all be on their toes this weekend and rightly so…
Its really good that a blog has highlighted this and evidenced it in such a way and it’s got the airtime on TV it deserves…
We all know it goes on, now its out there for all to see….
I wonder if Webb was due to ref the Mancs this weekend?? Bet he’s not now 😉
We have always been on the end of bad decisions it can only help us, but Red nose might have to brown nose
evening ppl
another cracker rico
denilson days are numbered..
song/jack have become indispensible…key players and first choice for the role
rambo and diaby as backup..even though diaby could also talk his way out..but it wouldnt be a massive loss
with lans, frimp, coq weve got more than enough..
i would argue that the lads i mentioned last are already better than denilson..
hes a one trick pony, but AW likes all round players, players who can adapt to any role
denilson cant..hes being edged down the pecking order season after season…times up me ol mucka
😆 Steve, his brown nose is long overdue too….
Hi jj, thanks 😉
Well, all i can say is Wenger’s project youth is about to come a booming through, next season is going to be exciting….
So could this season be exciting, very exciting, i have a feeling 🙂
i read that article today in the paper…
one of the former heads of the fa has told the government its all a fiddle..or something like that..
not so much the football but the way football is run
rico
ive had that feeling all year.. 😉
i thought we wouldnt be ready until 2012 but it looks like we are getting there sooner
if we dont win the league this year we’ll come second at least
and next year we’ll be ready..the team is coming together nicely..
weve got 16 players out on loan..
the team is massive..wenger will have a busy summer but it wont be any of the key players like it is usually..
the first team has developed into a geniune title contender..
the squad players are set for a shake up this time..
which i dont think anyone would mind
I think this season the league is ours to lose jj, crazy as that sounds but we can beat the mancs at home and i think they will get beat by city, the dippers and the chavs…. all we need to do is pull our socks up, no more newcastle repeats and pray for no more injuries….
and, we have TV back soon….
jj, you think Cesc will stay again??
I do, Torres has made sure of that…..
we go through phases rico
we have the odd game like newcastle 2-3 times a season
then we go on 6-7 game winning streaks
if we can go on one of those 6-7 game winning streaks we’ll be a good few points clear of everyon come april..
gotta win the cc too..the momentum will carry us over the line..
cesc aint going
the barca president said the cesc deal is dead
they dont wanna pay more than 30mil for him..
now torres has gone for 50 they’ll have to at least triple their bid…and torres banged in a request as well
and if we win the league they will be no reason for cesc to leave..
if only we didn’t though jj, we’d be well clear by now but then i guess other clubs would say the same…
agree re cesc, the chavs did us a favor by paying so much, same with the dippers and carroll…
a club would have to beak all transfer records to get cesc, and that isn’t going to happen…
Thanks Chavs 🙂
mind you, re barcs, i don’t trust what they say one little bit – see Pep has signed just a one year extension to his deal…. he can’t be assured of what is going on there….
to be fair to cesc though, i think he just wants to go home one day, he won’t go anywhere else……
off to get some dinner, back in a bit….
if cesc loved barca that much he wouldnt have left in the first place..
he wants trophys..barca are winning them, its also handy all his mates play there as well but i reckon cesc is more of an arsenal boy than a barca one..
trophies will keep him..
Don’t forget Arron Ramsey. If he come back to us as good as he was showing before his leg break he will be straight back in the team.
10 game winning streak and the title is ours.
hope you are right jj…
Dave, no-one can forget Rambo 🙂
Will, then i’m praying for a ten game winning streak….
rambo is the death of denilsons arsenal career.. 😉
we can do it will…
it would have been 7 but for the newcastle shambles..we had to be halted somewhere, but at least we didnt lose…
back to business against wolves and with the manc derby, someones dropping points 😉
😆 re rambo jj and yes, back to us, back to wolves and back to winning ways, thats all we need to do….
then its… the stains!!!!! grrrrrrr
We owe them, big time
I think that Ref list is telling and something has to be done.
im not bothered what happens with barca to be honest..
its a win win..
nobody expects us to beat them..if we do we will be the most feared team in europe..
if we dont we can concentrate on the league and maybe pick up the fa cup too..
domestic treble aint nothing to be sniffed at 😉
Does anyone know my only worry about the Champs League?
whats to worry about will
barca are the greatest team on the planet..
weve got nothing to lose…
And if Tottenham go further than us and on their very first try?
jj, i would rather we sent the second string out to face them – i want the PL, CC and FA Cup 😉
Will, AC Milan will destroy them over two legs…
spurs are shit they had a purple patch milan will anihilate them..
can anyone see spurs dodgy defence stop pato, robinho and ibra??
Hey Rico, i thought you’d turned in….lol
Yep i make you right Rico, lets win something and stop dreaming about the Champs Lge.
hi JJ.
Is that right, is Nasri back in training? Or is it just a rumour.
Personally i don’t give a fig about the Spuds, they’re full of you know what. They’ve got a new stadium to worry about. Maybe North Korea is an option???
ha ha kev, not just yet…. strong rumour is nasri is back training which is great news but hope we don’t rush him back..
he’s a bit of an ox though and one of a few who make a speedy recovery..
i don’t give a flying one about the spuds either but then why worry about them, they won’t even win the CC this season so no DVD’s for them 😉
Correctomundo Rico. Vermaelen is on his way back, Ramsey will be back on-side in a few weeks, it’s all falling into place.
But as you wrote, Wolves is a big game, the boys had a bit of luck with the Chavs & Mancs slipping up, so as Will wrote 10 wins, nah lets make that 13 wins
just nicely kev, all we need to do now is find lady luck on the injury front…
and i think that JD not suffering big time may just mean we have started to find her.
i heard a rumour kev that both tv and nasri were back in training…dunno..
arsenal like to suprise us
wouldnt be suprised if tv makes an appearance v wolves 🙂
and then jd and nasri back for barca 😉
Oh yeah, Lady Luck, it’s about time she smiled on us after, what must be, 3 or 4 years of solid bloody injuries.
kev
u seen anymore off ‘nicky’??
would love a chat with that guy..
gps kev
lady luck and gps.. 😉
Ha ha Jonno, now that would be fantastico. Even Frimpong is runnuing again, i’m sure i read, so it’s Happy Days mate
No mate, but i’ll keep an eye out for him and let you know. Someone on the phone, please excuse me
nicky, i’m not going to ask…. 😉
i’m offski for the day, until tomorrow all….
nighty night
night rico
Morning Rico…….
What about Eastmond?
he has to pick England for Arsenal sake, as it will mean not going to ACN every 2 years, it will also mean he will count as English, with all these new rules about home grown which have come in. I bet there will soon be a rule stating a need to have atleast 5 English players on the pitch soon.
When I saw Frimpong and Wilshire playing in the pre season tournament, i thought this will be heir year tomove up; unfortunately for Frimpong he was injured in training. Unlucky. Hopefully he resume his career at the end of the season; I thought he may even be better than Song; more energy and speed.
I think next year may see the rise of the central defenders at the pre season. Bartley, Miguel and Harjovic will get their chance to prove their worth. Hopefully the grab their chance to impress. That would save us 20 million.
I am moree excited for youngsters to move up than buying for the sake of buying. MC crazy buying spree just does not go well with the system. They buy and pay over the top. Definitely not sustainable especially with the happenings in the Middle East. If something happen in the UAE; MC will be gone before one can say Mancini.
so diaby cost us the game last week?
well he must have must have won us the game up at bolton in 07/08 when he got sent off then?
we were 1-0 down at the time and went 2 down soon after.
was under the cosh and only a fine stop from almunia stopped it being 3.
we came back to win 3-2 in the pissing down of rain in the kind of northern outpost that the media like to trot out shit about we can,t handle.
we were awarded a penalty that was as opposed to a penalty [the 2nd 1 saturday that was,nt]
we win lose and draw as a team
scapegoating a player is bollocks
morning all, you are bright and early kev 😉
sorry to those stuck in moderation over night ….
new post up