AW On Transfers & West Ham Preview

Arsene summed it all up neatly:

I do not like it [the transfer window]. Every press conference is a bore about players who might come in than about the players who play and do something for the Club

Hear, hear dear boy. It was obviously a quiet news day yesterday when Sky Sports News fell hook, line and sinker for a jolly japester’s wheeze that Arshavin had been granted a Work Permit, denied later by Arsene at his press conference. Even so, his statement was rather more bullish about the deal:

Whether we are close or not has little meaning – it does not matter how close you are, what is important is that you agree. At the moment, we have no agreement with anybody for any transfer. But we have not applied for a work permit yet for anybody. Not for Arshavin or anybody else.

Which pretty much puts the mockers on this morning’s planned early headlines like “Ars-havin him” or some such pun. Any further dealings are being kept quiet in the usual Arsenal way, hinted at in the final sentence of the above quote but any hopes that were held of others coming in were, not extinguished, but certainly dampened:

We are always confident, we try our best but we respect our budget. If we can find an agreement, we will do it, if we cannot we will not overspend what we have planned to do.

Another brickbat with which he will be beaten next week by those who demand that we sign someone and ‘an extra £3m is not that much, so why not just give it to them‘, the latter part of which I won’t even dignify with an acerbic comment.

Wenger also re-affirmed his faith in the squad, for the umpteenth time this season:

Finishing outside the top four does not worry me at the moment because we have a very good opportunity to be in there. I am very positive and believe very strongly in my squad – why should we consider all of the negative aspects of the season? I do not want to prove everybody wrong, I want to prove that I am right to believe in my players and in my squad, that is all.

He didn’t quite have a ‘seagulls following the trawlers‘ moment but was on dubious ground when comparing it to burning buildings. He left himself open to a tough summer when he said:

I try to give my best and put my players in a condition where they believe in their strengths. We have a very young team who are doing well, but why should we always face a catastrophe? We have all the positive reasons to believe in our future. If at the last day of the season, we are not in there, then I will take all of your questions, and [accept] all of my responsibilities.

It is, of course, the only time that he should be judged; the final points will have been counted and the roads to Wembley and Rome ended. To some though, failure this season is going to require that he be tarred and feathered, dragged from Traitor’s Gate to the stadium where he will be hung, drawn and quartered. And that is just for failing to get the team to Wembley in the Carling Cup…

Onto West Ham. A positive result this afternoon is required against a team that has turned itself around from the time of the Arsenal win at Upton Park back in November. I am not sure that I am overly concerned by the performance either; three points is king and if that is as a result of the ball ricocheting into the West Ham net for the winner, via the referee’s arse, I’ll take that for the decisive goal. Villa enterain Wigan, United have their traditional three points against Everton whilst Liverpool and Chelsea meet – the points simply matter more.

The proximity of the Cardiff replay means that Arsene is going to shuffle things around. It is widely accepted that Toure will come in for Gallas in the heart of the defence but I doubt there will be any other changes there. It is tough on Toure for his form with Djourou has been no worse than Gallas’ with same defensive partner. I suppose JD could be rested with Song dropping back but that seems unlikely.

I suspect Arsene is going to put more emphasis on this result than Tuesday’s so midfield will most likely contain he usual culprits. If he is going to change it around, I would suggest resting Denilson (not for any other reason than I quite like the following notion) and moving Nasri into the centre with Vela on the left. It won’t happen so I suspect it will be Denilson and Diaby in the middle as the defensive requirements are not as crucial as in an away match. You need to protect your back four but expectations must be that West Ham will sit back.

The line-up will be something like:

Almunia; Sagna, Toure, Djourou, Clichy; Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri; van Persie, Adebayor

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it.

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