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Top 5 targets for 2009/10 #4, January 23rd to February 16th

From January 23rd to February 16th, Arsenal face Aston Villa (a), Man U, Chelsea (a), and Liverpool in the league which is bookended by two FA Cup matches and the first leg of the first  Champions League knock out round. There is no more crucial part of the season for me: January 23rd to February 16th could easily decide whether Arsenal are going to win some silverware or go home empty handed again.

There is some speculation that the reason Arsene has gotten rid of Adebayor and Toure (and possibly Eboue) is because they will be out seriving their countries at the African Cup of Nations during this crucial period.

That theory only really makes sense if the club buys someone who will be around during that crucial period. Because, what sense does it make to let someone go for the whole season, just because they won’t be there for a crucial month?

If the ACN plays into it at all it’s more likely as something that will make it easier to swallow these transfers than as the impetus behind them, sort of the “spoon full of sugar.” It’s more likely that Wenger has looked at the schedule and then evaluated each of these player’s desire to play for the club and then took a look at the offers and was all “HOLY CRAP! Arsenal will make how much???” and sold the players. So, I’m reluctant to say that the ACN plays into it too much.

Back to that crucial period, I think it will be entirely possible for Arsenal to get 8-10 points in the league over teams who are our rivals for top honors. The Villa away game was a tricky fixture last year but they have lost Barry and Laursen this year. I’m not saying we’ll roll over them, their manager knows how to score goals on Arsenal (park the bus and punt over the top), but just that they are weakened and this is in our favor.

Similarly, Man U have lost crucial players and not replaced them. Sure, Rooney can be the all action guy that Tevez was and Bobblekopfh is a languidly dangerous threat at all times but they have certainly lost their free kick threat in Ronaldo, and a player with pace and skill to break teams down on his own.

Chelsea? Well… They signed another Jerkoff to their stable and they have added a decent coach and they looked pretty good playing against American teams on psuedo-grass (the grass was layed over a pad and then over the turf).  So, again I’m not ruling them out, they are a tough team, however, for that fixture they will be missing Dogbag, Essien, and Mikel to the ACN. I don’t know too many teams that could cope with the loss of three of their best players and hope to win a ton of games.

Still, away at fortress Stamford? Who could dream of ever winning there?

And Liverpool, oh my, I don’t want to give away too much of the season preview that I have been brewing but Liverpool are in serious trouble. This morning’s reports are that Alonso handed in a transfer request which is basically a player’s last move in getting out of their contract — it usually costs them millions of dollars in loyalty payments. At the same time, Mascherano is basically saying that he hates it in England and wants to go to Barcelona. Those two players were absolutely crucial to the modicum of success that Liverpool achieved last year. I don’t see them both being replaced in the transfer market, one guy, sure, but both? So, again it’s not a cake walk, but at this moment, it’s not looking like the battle roayle that it could be.

Unfortunately, the FA Cup and Champions League matches I can’t really make a comment on because we don’t know who we are playing or even where we are playing them. They are “must win” matches though, I can say that!

So, there you have it, that’s why I think the late January to early February period is a crucial period for the club. The way things are shaping up, we have a pretty good opportunity to take points off rivals and place ourselves deeper into other tournaments. I’m sure Wenger’s already on it.

Transfers

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the official transfer of Kolo Toure yesterday. Kolo was one of my favorite players at Arsenal and the last of the guys who played with the invincibles. He was a crucial part of Arsenal’s run of clean sheets in the Champions League which saw us through to the final and for that magical run I will always be grateful.

He was a classy player who always did what was asked of him and who I think all Arsenal supporters loved. I will be terribly surprised if he has a negative word to say about Arsenal as he winds his career down at City. Good luck to him, except when we play each other, and here’s to him doling out many lumps to everyone but Arsenal.

Good luck King Kolo.

There’s a funny story circulating about Patrick Vieira returning to the club. Funny because it comes from Ian Wright (who heard from a source who heard from a source), because it involves breaking of one of Arsene’s supposed cardinal rules (never look back), and because, not to put too fine a point on it, he’s past it.

I had the distinct pleasure of getting to watch a ton of Serie A games last year because Fox Soccer Channel plays them before and after EPL games and what the hell else are you going to do at 5am while you’re writing your Arsenal blog? And I can say that definitively, Patrick Vieira is past his prime. Hell, he was past his prime when he went to Serie A in the first place, and now he’s kind of a disaster and hard to watch. I know that’s not the most popular thing to say, and I’m not saying I won’t welcome him back, but maybe what I’m saying is if he signs don’t expect too much.

What I think would be brilliant is to sign him as a sort of player-coach. Who better to turn Song into a world class DM than Patrick Vieira? Who better to bring Diaby along than the guy he’s supposed to be emulating? It’s brilliant in that regard. But on the pitch he could only be used in very limited quantities.

In some ways I’d rather he went to Spurs. I mean come on, he could be our mole! Who better to ruin them from the inside than Patrick Vieira?

Of course, I’m joking about that last bit. In all seriousness, I think all of us would love to have him back and no one will be disappointed to see him, as long as we keep our expectations in line with reality.

And finally, flush with all this cash, the boss is cautioning Arsenal supporters against the notion that “buying means sucess.” Yeah yeah yeah… what else is he going to say?  ”Now that I have £40m to spend, we are targeting players left and right, anyone want to make an offer???”  No, he’s being cautious.

There are reports that Rosicky picked up a knock against Barnet, which would explain his absence since, and the speculation is that he’ll miss the Emirates Cup this weekend. The boss said Rosicky will play this weekend. Add in the absence of Nasri due to injury and it’s starting to look like an already thin midfield is even thinner — at a time when Wenger has said we need to get off to a good start.

I’m not suggesting a panic buy, but a guy like Alonso would only add to the team. Wenger’s aware of that and has stated that they will add if they see the right deal come up. Personally, I’d rather we spent now than waited until January to re-enforce this team, there’s quality out there, go and get it. According to the link abover Wenger is looking at “several possibilities” so it seems he’s well aware of the issue.

Anyway, that’s it for today. I suppose we’ll do this again tomorrow…

Barnet v. Arsenal Preview: it’s just a friendly but it’ll have to do

Whelp, here we are, the brink of another season and the Arsenal find themselves facing a familiar opponent to kick off the pre-season friendlies; Barnet. After that, Arsenal will string together a series of matches 3-4 days apart as Arsene Wenger puts his team through their paces and prods the players to see where they fit best. All the while bringing along a smattering of youth players to test their mettle against these, let’s face it, lesser teams.

But first up, Barnet, those pesky bees. Well, they haven’t been all that pesky to be honest, more of like a cute little bumblebee bumbling along from clover to clover. But they are a gracious host and as evidenced by their web site, they love having Arsenal come out and play, even if they do lose pretty much every time.

Leading up to the match, nearly every Arsenal player has been interviewed (Arshavin, via Gunnerblog) over the last few days and they are all really excited for the season and ready to kick this year off better than last (Almunia, via the dot com). That’s perfect, I think they lost focus at the start of last year and overlooked teams like Fulham so, making sure that they are all on the same page and up for the task from the onset is absolutely crucial if Arsene is going to see this youth project of his pay off. A good win tomorrow will send a very clear message that Arsenal are focused on the season.

The club announced the squad today, and I’m excited for the opportunity to see Thomas Vermaelen in his first action for the club. There’s been a lot of speculation that he’s going to be Arsenal’s midfield hard man and given Arsene’s track record in transforming players I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all. Still, if he just plays at center back then that too will be just fine: top quality depth at that position was lacking at the end of last season with injuries forcing Wenger to use Silvestre in crucial matches and that proving fatal to Arsenal’s season. So, even if he’s just cover for Gallas and Toure and he’s half the quality that Wenger usually spots, then he will be a welcome addition indeed.

The other player that everyone is talking about is Thomas Rosicky. Our little Mozart has been out for what seems like a dog’s year but he’s supposedly ready to go. Cesc gave an emotional interview in which he described Rosicky as a great footballer, a great friend, and a man with nearly unparalleled perseverance. I say “nearly” because I think Eduardo would give him a run for his money in that category. I am absolutely stoked to see Rosicky back in action, his width on the right, crosses, and ability to get by defenders was missed last year. Welcome back, Thomas, here’s to you being 100%.

Also included is Andrei Arshavin and I’ll be expecting a cool dozen goals from him; William Gallas, and I’ll be expecting an on-camera chat up of the players from him; Manuel Almunia, and I’ll be expecting him to have a union jack tee-shirt on under his kit; Johan Djourou, and I’m expecting him to be tall; Jack Wilshere, who I’m expecting to be fast and stuff; and Nacer Barazite, who has scored in the last two of these friendlies so, I’m expecting that Arsene Wenger will switch him to holding midfielder or something equally bizzare.

On a serious note, the squad is a bit odd, with no less than 6 youngsters named in the squad who the dot com says, or I have seen, play the holding midfield role: Randall, Cruise, Eastmond, Coquelin, Emmanuel-Thomas, and Frimpong. Admittedly, I don’t read the blogs about the youth teams because that seems just a little bit too obsessive. So, I have to go by what the dot com says. I do know that Wenger has spoken highly of Coquelin and Frimpong, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of those two start next to Wilshere in the center of the pitch.

One cool thing about these pre-season matches is that I get to approach all these youngsters with “fresh eyes” having only seen a handful of them in Carling Cup matches so, it’s exciting for me to see the likes of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Jay Simpson on the list.

That’s about it, the only other thing to mention here is that you can only watch the match on ArsenalTV, which, if you get for the rest of the month is only £4. I’m no shill for ArsenalTV but £4! That’s a pint! And for that you get to watch every one of this month’s pre-season matches, plus other incredibly cool videos, like Henry’s goal against Real Madrid, or Tony Adams’ goal against Everton, plus interviews, and old matches… Come on, it’s four quid well spent to get you excited for the season.

DO IT.

If you don’t get the video, you can tune in here, I will be liveblogging the match, and kickoff is at… 7am (PST).

Finally, I’m not doing a gods damn transfer roundup this morning, I’m burnt out on all that shit. I will say this, Carlos Vela’s reported injury is not as bad as, erm, reported which is good. With Adebayor leaving for bluer pastures, we’ll need him healthy.

See you tomorrow, first thing in the AM, here’s to Rosicky scoring 100 goals!

Up the Arse!

Usmanov – Melo + Blaise = Bananas Transfer

HA HA! I love the smell of butt-hurt in the morning.

In yesterday’s column I said that we should be prepared for the full court press of Usmanov and his cronies calling us “spendthrift Arsenal” and reminding the world of their philosophy that “only a big money backer can get Arsenal fans a trophy.”And sure enough, there are stories all over the web about Wenger £60m Hit and my personal favorite Usmanov Bemused by Arsenal Rejection.

Let’s make some things clear. First, this is an inflated market — with Real Madrid, AC Milan, and United tossing cash around like water, player valuations aren’t in line with what they should be. Should Arsenal pay over the odds for players? We don’t have a good track record when it comes to doing that, so I would be reluctant to splash big cash in this off season.

Second, if other clubs hear that Arsenal got a £75m injection of cash, then suddenly guys like Blaise Matuidi go from £2.5m to £10m. And guys like Melo start demanding bigger salaries in addition to their hyper inflated transfer fees. Basically, we’re wasting money in order to appease a few vocal fans.

Third, it’s typically distasteful of Usamanov to tell everyone beforehand that it’s a £100m rights issue, intended to pay down debt, that would free up some money every year for player purchases when in reality it was a £75m rights issue, that would all be blown on inflated player transfers, and not actually provide any further financial stability.

And then! The fat f*cking cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae, his thinly veiled threat which even goes back again on their position.

Based on financial information that only they have, the board have informed us that they are confident they have adequate financial resources to support the manager to strengthen the squad, to weather the property downturn, to renegotiate the Highbury Square loan on good terms and to deal with the continuing difficult economic conditions

I mean come on, if Wenger was supposed to get £60m in transfer money, that would only leave £15m to support all those other items. Which would be impossible. Besides which, it’s not a secret that Arsenal already have over £100m in cash reserves. It’s not like they’re exactly hiding this information, when they make it publicly available at the end of every year.

Really this is just PR bullshiat intended to get a few fans riled up and judging from the comments I see all around the web it’s worked.

Chillax and listen to the words of Ivan Gazidis, he’s a smart guy:

Simply spending money in the transfer market does not make a team or guarantee success. The focus is still on developing young talent.

As I have pointed out before Arsenal spend as much money as Spurs every year, though entirely in player salaries. This is our current model, we buy selectively, bring players along, and pay them well. Other clubs, like Spuds, don’t bring anyone along, and spend madly in the transfer market in the hopes of signing a pot of gold. Has it worked for them?

Well, they did get that 5-1 win over Arsenal a few years ago and a Carling Cup trophy. Huzzah…

Funny enough, even though we’re supposedly broke as a biatch we’re still being linked with all kinds of players. First, the Melo situation seems to have taken another turn and talks with Juve have apparently broken off.  I have to wonder if Fiorentina isn’t playing both Arsenal and Juve against each other in the press here. There sure does seem to be some smoke and maybe Arsenal did make a bid, but I’m not sure we’re still on the player’s trail.

Especially since all the world seems to think we’ve leveled a £2.5m bid for Blaise Matuidi. Going so far as to report that a meeting between Arsene and Blaise took place today.

I’m not sure if Wenger’s going to be buying this guy or Lorik Cana but remember all the stuff I said about Lorik Cana yesterday? You can erase all that because Blaise is a young African Francophone. You tell me which player Arsene Wenger is more likely to buy?

There’s also some weird report that Arsenal are supposedly on the trail of Sebastien Bassong. I don’t think there’s much to this story. First off, Arsenal would have to clear out some of our central defenders to make room for him and while I do think that Senderos is probably on his way out, Arsene has been adamant about keeping this group together. So, unless we lose both Gallas and Toure in addition to Senderos, I’d be surprised to see another central defender come in. Second, it’s the player claiming that Arsenal are after him based on a conversation that took place in January. Yeah…

I’m not linking to the two bullshiat stories that have Cesc going to either Barca or Real Madrid, because they are bullshiat.

I will, however, end this with some good news! I always admit when I’m wrong. In fact, I love being wrong because basically I’m a pessimist and tend toward the negative interpretation of events so when I’m wrong, that usually means something really kick ass has just happened. And something kick ass, has, in fact, just happened!

Last year, I predicted that Thomas Rosicky would never play for Arsenal again and just today Rosicky has shot down my pessimism saying that he’s in the best shape of his life and ready to push Nasri and Walcott for a spot on the wings. I’m excited for him. Hell, I’m excited for the fans, I mean can you imagine the roar of the crowd as Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky and Cesc bear down on a club like Sunderland?

I can and I think it’s going to be a good year.