Not a lot going on ahead of the FA Cup clash with Wet Hams. There isn’t anything concrete but the papers have linked us with a few folks today, you know, for a change.
First off, there’s all the guys that Arsenal aren’t signing, which if I had a dime for all the guys that were linked to Arsenal who we didn’t sign, I’d have enough money to pay off Iceland’s bank debts.
Today’s first “player who Arsenal aren’t signing” is Andre-Pierre Gignac. Meh… I mentioned that I didn’t think he was good enough when he was first mooted and now it’s being reported that Arsenal are saying that he’s not up to Arsenal’s high standards. Of course, I famously was wrong about Andrei Arshavin so, like I always say, “what the hell do I know?” Wenger’s transfer record is pretty fabulous so if he does sign Gignac, I will be ecstatic, though that’s looking very unlikely today.
Another player who Arsenal aren’t signing is Marouane Chamakh, though the player seems intent on keeping his name in the papers with all kinds of foolish talk about Arsenal “pressuring” him to sign. Gingers for Limpar has an interesting piece about how all this negative talk reminds him of the failed Adebayor experiment. I agree with Gingers, and suspect that after the way Adebayor left and the way Flamini treated us Wenger will be very cautious about signing a player who is so openly courting tons of clubs. And make no mistake, that’s what this is. This player is keeping his name in the papers by talking about how much Arsenal want him in order to drive up his value, his signing on bonus, and his weekly salary. He all but admits as much when he mentions Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton, Sunderland, Sevilla, and Milan all in the same breath.
The only player that today’s papers are linking Arsenal to is Porto’s Hulk. Hulk’s an interesting player and again, while I don’t think he’s up to Arsenal’s standard, “what the hell do I know?” I do think that he’s not a realistic January signing, he’s got a £100m release clause in his contract and irregardless the “source inside the club” who says that he could go for £20m, I have to think that the huge release clause gives Porto too much power. Arsene never likes paying over the odds for a player and that release clause could put him in a pickle.
One player who’s not being linked but who I thought reminded me a bit of Ian Wright (because he’s a great finisher and he’s come from relative obscurity to being linked to big clubs) is Jermaine Beckford. I just watched the FA Cup match between Leeds and United and Beckford did a decent job playing as a center forward and even got the winning goal. He’s tall, he scores tons of goals, he’s English, he’s got bags of pace, he’s mature, and his finishing showed real class today. All of which means Arsene will never sign him!
Right, that’s pretty much it for today. Got to get down to Doyle’s for the Arsenal FA Cup match and right after I’ve got our Sunday kickaround so, I won’t be back to defend myself for several hours. Have at me!
Jermaine Beckford on transfer speculation (ok so it’s two years old but the reply is classic)
URL in case embedding fails: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWa5-_xiBVA
I think Chamakh is going to talk himself right out of an Arsenal shirt. Arsene’s been saying for a couple weeks now that not only weren’t we going to try and sign him this winter, but that he thought Chamakh wouldn’t leave this winter because Bordeaux are still in the CL and are top of their league right now. But these public statements by Chamakh, as you said Tim, are not going to be well received by AW.
Chamakh’s not going anywhere til the summer as Bordeaux’s top of the table in Ligue 1. What Arsenal would want to pay doesn’t even come close to making it worth it. As for what Chamakh’s saying or not saying, who can really trust the papers much over there?
Gignac – His goalscoring is way down from last year and his team’s in the bottom half of the table. Not sure if now’s the time, particularly in January, for Toulouse to maximize their value on him.
Huntelaar – Apparently Wenger has said he’s not for them, but you never know what sort of poker face Wenger is showing. There was that story about him being loaned to Arsenal, which would be cool.
Which leaves us with Dzeko. Is he a 23-yr old Ibrahimovic? Just given the state of the Italian league, and the noise out of AC Milan (apparently his favorite team), maybe we’d have a shot at him. If Wenger is going to pay 20MM for one player this January, I can’t see it being anyone but Dzeko. Wolfsburg’s mid table and out of the Champs League, so maybe they’ll be inclined to sell?
Regardless, I’d love to see a beast in the middle upfront, letting Arshavin float all around him. We’ll see. C’mon you youngsters!
Vela and Merida aren’t playing well.
Ugh… I hate West Ham’s pitch, it’s so short and narrow. Terrible surface. Can they be relegated please?
Please stop letting Merida send in our corner kicks. He can’t seem to get it above waist-level. Why didn’t Arsene just throw the Carling Cup side out there today? Caught at the back as we’ve been prone to do in the past. We’ve not looked bad, though.
Sylvestre at his finest. Thanks for that. Now do we have enough on the pitch to get that goal back?
I’d switch Vela w/ Eduardo in the 2nd half.
Merida has got to show us something.
Don’t think West Ham can keep this up for 45 minutes more, 3 goals in the 80s coming up.
how about chamak pass
I’m glad Merida hasn’t put pen to paper on a new contract. On this performance he isn’t fit to play for the U18s.
b Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:49 am
@Tiki, i don’t think it’s fair to judge him (or any of the front 5) on this. When you put 4 youth players who haven’t played much and an out-of-form striker together on the pitch you can’t really expect them to show their best.
Thanks for the link and comments.
You could use “crass”.
This game is annoying me. Am glad it’s the other half of GfL that took the ticket.
Ah, Diaby and Nasri…
Diaby’s been on the pitch for all of 15 seconds before the Vieira comparison hits
Would’ve liked to see Diaby come in for Eddy or Vela and have him up front. Even though Jack had a bad game, I thought that he needed more chances. Up until minute 70, we’d been dicking it in and around the box. C’mon.
ArseChicago Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:58 am
Or not. Eddyyyyyyyyy get your groove back.
lol i hope that guy remembers what happened to Terry…
Gosh, this is a tad better, what what?
Eduardo 2-1.
Ramsey the magnificent.
The only players who were poor on this day were merida and Sylvestre. Everyone else put in good shifts.
Tiki Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:17 am
@ctpa, Nelson Vivas was/is better than Sylvester.
man what a huge cunt is diamanti
Ramsey man of the match, yes? Great performance boys. Let’s rest up and get 6 pts this week.
“b” – every one of your comments above has proven absolutely spot on (!)
1st off Happy New Year to everybody! King Ramsey did a fine job! He was all over the pitch and contributed in all aspects of the Arsenal game. Great job for Eduardo who despite being muscled by Matthew Upson and giving away a few inches He won the mid air battle to get a header and to direct it in the top corner was sooo brilliant! It was a dog fight for that goal!
Nice to see Wenger got my halftime text to switch Vela w/ Eduardo
Vela then assists on both goals, sweet 
I’m pleased w/ this performance. Ramsey shows that he has clearly developed into a PLAYER who can step in for Fabregas and keep our ship afloat.
What is Diaby eating or drinking because I want some of that. He changed the tenor of the game w/ his central ball control. That allowed Song to come forward (which was not the case when Merida/Wilshere were on) to a much more devastating effect. Suddenly WHU were on the back foot and growing weary by the minute.
Yan Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:08 pm
@ctpa, Both goals were: SONG->VELA-> X, GOAL! Hehe. Ramsey MOTM.
Stoke Away in the 4th round. Man, give us a home match FFS!
Oh great, now I have to go to bloody Stoke. No one want my ticket, I suppose?
2:24AM in my end gotta hit the sack! It’s good to be a GOONAH!
Every Premier side gets a team from the boonies and we get an EPL side?
Save of the 3rd rd is the Tranmere GK on Blake’s point blank header.
Now, I think AW has this wonder kid in sight for the transfer window
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EOU5JMnfgY&feature=related
Hulk reminds me a little too much of Julio Baptista. (And not just the Hulk = the Beast nickname comparison.) In the games I’ve watched, he just doesn’t have a smooth first touch, and we need that for our “hold up” center forward.
ctpa Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:38 pm
@esm, Agree.
If Coyle goes to Bolton then we can’t loan Wilshere to Burnley.
What a game yesterday? Fabulous. Didn’t Diaby and Nasri change the game completely?