Champions League: Udine-asy Or A Quick Exit

European football returns tonight, no doubt tomorrow’s papers will be covered in column inches about how we did or did not miss Cesc. And Nasri. And Wilshere. And van Persie. Big Al’s here with his preview of this tie…

Arsenal face an unusual test in this season’s Champions League qualifying round; as opposed to previous years we’ll be facing a team from a top European league. Also unprecedented is that many commentators expect us to lose this tie. Let’s see if it’s all wishful thinking on their part.

So who are Udinese?

Under any other circumstances Udinese would be an easy club to admire. They’ve achieved relative success in recent seasons at the expense of clubs with far more money and influence. They try to play with an attacking aggression and style that is often at odds with the rest of Serie A, where defensive tactics still prevail.

As the name tells you, they hail from the northeastern city of Udine, not far from the border with Slovenia and equidistant to the Adriatic and the Alps, which loom in the distance to the north and east. The home stadium is Stadio Friuli, which holds just over 40,000, standing and seating, with all but one stand open to the elements.

The club produced Dino Zoff in the 1960s, and back in the early 80s they brought Brazilian star Zico to Europe for a couple of seasons, but their modern era truly began with their acquisition by current owner Giampaolo Pozzo, who took the reins in 1986, Udinese languishing in Serie B on the back of a betting scandal. Almost straight away he set a template that the club continues to follow – smart scouting, mostly in South America, but also across Europe and Africa; the discovery of future stars, with lucrative sales sowing the next crop.

Here’s a quick run through some of the talents nurtured under Pozzo’s time in charge: Oliver Bierhoff, Nestor Sensini, Abel Balbo, Thomas Helveg, David Pizzaro, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan and most recently, Christián Zapata, Gökhan Inler and Alexis Sánchez.

What about this current team?

What’s immediately striking is their 3-5-2 formation, which hasn’t been seen in England since Scatman John was in the charts. They play with three central defenders, and a midfield adept at both defending in numbers and swarming forward in attack. Key to their style are the pacey wing-backs – Colombian Pablo Armero on the left and Chilean Mauricio Isla on the right.

The key central midfielder is Kwadwo Asamoah; a tough left-footer, strong in the tackle but blessed with some vision and a decent passing range. Asamoah started 37 games for Udinese last season, more than any other player. Alongside him is Giampiero Pinzi, the side’s joint top assister and a regular starter in midfield for much of the last 10 years.

The main man up front, and perhaps Udinese’s best player in any position, is 33-year-old Antonio di Natale. He has been top scorer in the league for the last two seasons. At only 5ft 7in you’d call him “compact”, but he’s creative, strong, agile, retains much of his pace, especially over 10 yards, and packs a wallop with his right boot.

In line with the Pozzo tradition, this current team has been recruited from all over. Moroccan centre-half, Mehdi Benatia was an ever-present last season and arrived at the club in 2010 from Ligue 2 Clermont. Pablo Armero also joined last summer, from Palmeiras in Brazil.

There are also some newcomers – Ivorian midfielder Thierry Doubai from Young Boys in Switzerland, and defenders, Danilo and Neuton have just arrived from the Brazilian league. Another new face is u21 winger and playmaker, Diego Fabbrini, formerly of Empoli and regarded as a bright prospect, but with big shoes to fill.

Indeed, these signings are charged with the difficult task of picking up the mantle from Zapata, Inler and Sánchez, three of Udinese’s most important performers last season, and all sold on in recent weeks.

And the last time the club qualified for the Champions League, in 2005, they could only muster a pre-Calciopoli 13^th place in Serie A the following season. Since fourth place was widely considered overachievement in the last campaign, Udinese might well slip down the table again for couple of years until the new players step up.

So, what to expect?

A tactically astute, technical team, with pace on the flanks and a deadly if ageing goal scorer. But it’s also a side that could well be weaker than last season in three different parts of the pitch. It’s not naive to suggest that if ever there were a time to play Udinese in the last 18 months, it is right now.

And what about us? 

Newcastle was a promising if unspectacular start. As a team we defended smartly, and individually our centre-backs coped with the various challenges posed by Ameobi, Ba and Obertan.

Our midfield was disciplined and kept possession, while affording the opposition little time on the ball. Rosicky was perhaps our best performer here, diligently getting into space and maintaining the tempo. Song sat deep to shield the backline, contributing only to the early build up of attacks. At home he’s likely to be more adventurous.

Gervinho in particular was impressive going forward, injecting pace and directness into our attack, befuddling defenders all the while. What was missing was the final pass, but this is down to unfamiliarity, and can be remedied easily enough.  

Tonight we’ll be without Robin van Persie and possibly Wilshere, but both will most likely be ready for the crucial away leg, together with any signings made between now and then. At any rate our team will be packed with players offering years of experience in continental and full international competition.

In the end, just as the gravity of our predicament has been overstated, the quality of the opposition has also been slightly exaggerated. The group stage will be in sight if we replicate the weekend’s performance, finding only a little more composure in their area.

But the players cannot do it without us. As fans, noisy, positive support is all we can offer. I know that it’s always a visceral experience, but if you feel frustrated at any moment tonight please stop and think about how your reaction will play to others.

The eyes of the world will be on us tonight; it’s time to show them who we really are.

’til Tomorrow.

The negativity is doing nothing for the cause.

Everybody has an opinion, and that’s not a bad thing. But too often, the opinions are formed from second hand news, prejudice and pernicious self interest. One suspects that loyal fans have become increasingly disenfranchised with the arsenal scene this year. Not with Arsene Wenger, nor the squad, nor the exciting new additions, but with the media, the section of arsenal anti-support, and the constant negativity. Some will argue that moaning is a cultural thing. There are staunch gooners who do it. A friend around on Saturday groaned every time Gervinho got into a good position but didn’t make it count. But this is one of the more benign manifestations of negativity this summer.

Talk Sport seem to have a daily obsession with Arsenal. On the radio in pre season, the discussion was mainly about us, as if we are the only team in the premiership, and no other teams had negative talking points. Yet, we have the Sp*ds who have signed Brad Friedel, are clinging on to Modric, with the biggest delusions of grandeur about winning the premiership, yet nobody mentions anything about them. We have City, who with their £400 million Etihad sponsorship deal, announced the financial scam of the summer, in my view up there with Enron. A nice little earner that will mean £40 million gratis is injected into their company accounts every year, but this is strangely no longer newsworthy. We have Liverpool, who have paid over the odds for several players, who don’t appear to be top draw internationals, but just good players with a mixture of potential and experience. We have Manchester United, who have made, according to the general media, signings that have already won them the title. Really ? Could have fooled me. And then there is Chelsea, who looked remarkably pedestrian last year, have an ageing squad, and have just signed an 18 year old, and appointed a young manager, but can be otherwise excused from any criticism because he is new on the block.

So what is the media obsession with Arsenal ? We have a bigger twitter presence, have more article hits on the internet, and it appears from Talk Sport, more coverage on the radio. Is it that the plotline is just too full of rich pickings ? The trophy absence, the difference in style, the apparent refusal to go big in the transfer market. The deviation from accepted wisdom. The refusal of Wenger to do and see the obvious. The Cesc and Nasri situations. It is frankly, a bonanza for the media. The talking heads keep talking, as we are doing, but unfortunately the things that are being said are not all good. Paul Hayward talked about the demise of Wenger as a force on Sunday Supplement, siding with those who agree that we have invested too much in youth and not enough in experience. His comments will hopefully be disproved in the next two weeks, but in any case it’s an example that anywhere you turn there is criticism.

MikeSA made some excellent comments yesterday about the failure of the Arsenal PR machine. One can echo this wholeheartedly. Whoever is running the PR department should be given a single bullet at dawn. The press conference on Friday morning was a fiasco. Because of Twitter, everybody knew in advance of it’s 9am shedule.  We knew there may have been news about Cesc and Nasri, and were hopeful of other announcements. Instead, Wenger did an excellent job of stonewalling the press, much to the chagrin of the anti-support. The press conference was disappointing, not because of the comments, but that it did nothing to stem the tide of negativity towards our transfer dealings this summer. It was actually the pre match press conference, but the timing was unbelievably bad, coinciding with rumoured departures of both Nasri and Cesc. The result, some reported booing before the Newcastle game. AW may have a thick skin, but there are now rumours that this season will be his last, a job at PSG awaiting. The PR department may be being unfairly criticised  here, as it was the first, routine press conference. Still, somebody could have advised AW not to comment on any transfers by only accepting questions related to the game.

The other point about the press conference is the change in culture. Before the internet, we would have probably read about it in the Saturday paper. Then came the internet with a report of the press conference on arsenal.com, with quotes and a download.  The next evolution was AVTO, with a live feed, followed by us adding comments on the blogs. Now, with Twitter, the exposure is magnified. Fans tweet advance news of when the press conference is taking place, during which there are instant tweets of live reaction and thoughts. The negativity is immediate, an outpouring of opinion reflecting the mismatch of expectations and actual events.  If we just read the paper on Saturday, the negativity would not be so concentrated.  So this media and instant news phenomenon needs to be addressed.

Fans are even getting angry about perceived news that may not be true.  A case in point, the Mata interest. There were rumours that this was a done deal. Gillium Balague said that we had not forwarded payment to Valencia by a July 31st deadline. Cue criticism. Then we heard that the release clause had been upped by Valencia from €23 million to €60 million. Cue more criticism. Wenger then received criticism for not explaining why the Mata deal was dead. He was accused of arrogance. Well, first of all, we don’t know anything about this situation. Mata’s wage demands could have been sky high. Valencia may indeed have been demanding a ludicrous fee. We just do not know. In light of this, we should just move on, but instead, waves of criticism go around about situations that may have valid reasons for why we acted in the way we did. We could even still be in for Mata. Wenger is notoriously quiet because he doesn’t want to alert other clubs of our interest. When we were in for Joel Campbell, there was a strong rumour of another premiership club who followed Richard Law on the plane to Costa Rica with a counter offer. Spu*ds have been rumoured to be on the tail of Mata. Keeping schtum will protect our interests.

We are up against mendacious and ruthless operators who want success. They are continually on the lookout for our best players. Nasri is one who has had his head turned. The Cesc situation is maybe different, as he wanted to go home. For those who believe the fault lays at the door of AW, please, get real. The figures put out recently on ACLF demonstrated that there is only one manager who has outperformed AW in terms of his achievements related to expenditure, and that is Alex Ferguson. Wenger was able to win trophies and compete with Manchester United up to 2005, but not since, which is no surprise, given the combined expenditure of £2 billion by Chelsea and Manchester City in the last 6 years. The effect of our best players going, and the finite pool of good players being snapped up by the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United is reflected in our lack of trophies.  The press don’t want to concentrate too much on this, as they don’t want to bite off the hand that feeds them. Instead, other reasons are conveniently attributed for our “failures” (final of the champions league, 1 semi final, 2 quarter finals, and in the premiership – , 2 3rd places, 4 4th places);  The lack of a centre back. The myopic stance of Wenger towards our defence. The lack of english players. If there was a sanctimonious view here towards the money, club owners would just up sticks and situate themselves in Spain or Italy.

Some arsenal fans are simply incapable of accepting that we are outspent by at least 5 clubs (at home and abroad) in the transfer market. They don’t want to be told any financial realities. They criticise the current squad, accusing them of underachievement and then in contradictory terms argue for a change in the model, which they see is just self preservation by the board. There is sympathy with the view that we need to invest in players. But please let it be with those players that are of AW’s choosing, and will not bankrupt the club, or disrupt the dressing room. Calling for Usmanov style investment will achieve what exactly ? We finished just 3 points behind City and Chelsea, despite their squads being worth at least twice ours in monetary terms. We already have the spine that we need. No gooner to my knowledge is criticising Szczesny, Vermaelen, Wilshere and VP. The accepted wisdom now is that we just need 2 or 3 players to make a challenge. A central defender, a midfielder, possibly two, and maybe another striker. There are two weeks of the window to go, and we have at least £60 million, even discounting any money from Nasri. There should be a smile on people’s faces come September. Let’s hope so.

Muppet

A sense of Injustice. Newcastle V Arsenal match report.

Newcastle 0:0 Arsenal

This was a game of very little incident, except for two altercations, both involving Joey Barton. I suspect you’ve all seen the game, I probably don’t need to go over the 2nd and main incident again. Mid way through the 2nd half, probably seething with rage and seeking retaliation from an earlier stamp by Song, Barton decides that Gervinho is simulating when he goes down in the area. He grabs Gervinho angrily with both hands by the shirt and in the resulting melee receives a limp slap in the face, which causes him, this hard man who has done bird, to go down like Monica Lewinsky, and cry foul to the referee. Speechless. Not only that Gervinho is then sent off, but that a penalty decision is not given, given that it did look like a trip (however soft) and the case for it was a hell of a lot stronger than last year’s 2 risible penalty awards. And the other grating thing is that Gervinho was provoked into a reaction by Barton in the first place, which makes it in my book a ludicrous injustice. Barton should have walked as well.

Now, in the interests in balance. It has to be said that Song should have walked as well. He did stamp on Barton, presumably because of some earlier incident, which I did not see. Pardew said that this beahviour from Song was out of character. It probably was. Still, it was disappointing from a viewpoint of discipline. We lost momentum last year because of Diaby’s reaction to Barton, the same player. We can ill afford incidents like this, particularly in the current climate of negativity.

The Barton Gervinho incident of course overshadows the whole game. In reality, it was not a turning point, as both sides were defensively parsimonious, very parsimonious. On reflection, I was nervous at half time. We had dominated possession, but hadn’t really created any clear cut chances. In actual fact, I can’t recall any clear cut chances in the entire game. Gervinho was a threat  in the first half, making 4 or 5 incisive runs, alas with little end product. Either down to a lack of synchronizity with VP or just poor finishing. Still, Gervinho’s directness was encouraging. I thought Rosicky was composed, and sprayed the ball around well. At the back we looked composed, we defended set pieces well, and dare I say it, Szczesny, Koscienly and Vermaelen looked commanding.

The 2nd half was more of the same, save the 2 incidents involving Song and Barton, and then Barton and Gervinho. We lacked any real punch to create space and openings for clear cut chances. Our defence I thought was outstanding. The only worrying moment was in the last 10 minutes where a Newcastle player went through on goal but could not make contact. Frimpong came on in the last 5 minutes, presumably to scare the opposition. Djourou was brought on in the last 2 to shore up the back line. There was a breakaway chance led by him after that, where the ball was squared to the wrong arsenal player and it resulted in nothing.

All in all, it was a relief not to have lost. The away crowd, normally very supportive, at one point were singing ‘Spend the f*cking money’. I shudder to think of the reaction if we had lost, but we looked quite good defensively. Unusually for us, we lacked sharpness up front, and failed to carve out decent openings. Walcott when he came on, was half a yard off the pace, which will be down to just coming back from injury. We have to hope now that the FA will review Gervinho’s suspension and be kind to us, reducing it from 3 games to 1 game. A return of Wilshere would also be welcome. Anyway, let’s enjoy the positives. It was a clean sheet and the portents look good with the Szczesny, Vermaelen and Koscienly triumvirate. To give credit to Newcastle, they were defensively well organised, competitive and disciplined. They have a bit of bite, and some physical players. Like us, they needed more cohesion and firepower up front.

Transfer news ? It looks pretty bleak at the moment. Cesc is more a less a done deal as you know. Nasri didn’t travel with the squad, put down to a mystery ‘illness’. There is the quite bonkers rumour going around of a Tevez Nasri swap. There are 2 interesting rumours, amongst all others, that stand out for me. Sochaux midfielder Marvin Martin and Marseille winger Andre Ayew. The latter player, Ayew, is an exciting Ghanian winger who plays for Marseille, and has a €13.7 million release clause. Martin is a midfielder with a very impressive assists record and is vying for a place in the french national team  with Nasri. It could all be a load of guff, but I think patience is called for in the final 2 weeks of the transfer window. We have at least £60 million to spend, so we have the financial power to make any deals happen. We just have to hope that AW makes the right calls and can find adequate replacements for Nasri (if he does go) and Cesc.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscienly, Gibbs, Rosicky (Frimpong 85), Ramsey (Djourou 92), Song, Arshavin (Walcott 61), VP, Gervinho
Subs: Fabianski, Djourou, Jenkinson, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Frimpong, Chamakh

Newcastle: Krul, Colloccini, Simpson, R Taylor, S Taylor, Cabaye (Lovenkrands 81),  Gutierrez, Tiote, Ba (Obertan 46), Sh Ameobi (Best 73)
Subs: Forster, Willimson, Gosling, Lovenkrands, Best, Obertan, Sa Ameobi

Til tomorrow.

Muppet.

Newcastle United Preview: Are We All Singing The Same Toon?

The return of Premier League action this afternoon, Arsenal travelling to St James Park for the opening encounter. Ordinarily this would be a time of great hopes, expectations raised,  batteries and belief recharged. Summer 2011 tried to quell the ardour for a new season, it still tries but more on that heroic failure later.

The match is the ideal start to the season. Newcastle was the scene of a crime almost as big as the defeat at Wembley. I still shudder at the thought of a four goal lead being surrendered in twenty second half minutes. With hindsight, it is easily identifiable as the day the title challenge died. Fitting that one could begin again with a win.

Yet this has somehow become the distraction, not the main course which is madness. The transfer window is still open and to those in the press, that is more interesting that matters on the pitch. Which is just wrong. Not that Arsenal, or Arsène, help Mata‘s or themselves.

What you make of yesterday’s press conference depends on your viewpoint. It was utterly bizarre in places, not quite Sardines and trawlers territory but seemingly not that far away.  The manager’s denial that Cesc and / or Nasri might leave this summer was a volte face of surprising proportions, especially given previous admissions that it was on the cards. And almost immediately, he contradicted himself by arguing that they might.

As a ploy designed to end a conversational topic, it failed miserably particularly as the English media are more inclined to believe their Spanish counterparts than Arsenal FC. And their Spanish counterparts tell us that Cesc will be unveiled on Monday. I am sure they told us that last summer as well but maybe my memory is playing tricks.

If Fabregas goes, I will be sad to lose a great player but we have been here before as the manager noted,

I will decide what is best for the club. We have enough quality to deal with any situation. We are all replaceable. All the centuries are full of replaceable people

As for Nasri, as gifted as he is, he will always been remembered as Fabregas’ Graham Rix, never able to achieve the levels of consistency of his peer and not quite as talented. Wenger has options at the club, albeit less experienced and when experience was required last season, it turned out to be over-rated. Those who should have led by example did quite the opposite as winter turned to spring.

Wenger will reportedly have a war chest of £58m which he has been told to spend. Or told is his to spend if he wants is actually the quote. Eighteen days remain in which to strike a deal, not replacing Cesc will be a fundamental error, one that I do not think he will make. Replacing is probably the wrong word, we need to become a team less reliant on one individual.

The past six years have seen Thierry Henry and Cesc carry the team on occasion, too much so in some circumstances. There is enough talent available for others to share this burden and allow the manager to use the funds to strengthen the squad overall.

So to this afternoon. The injury news was encouraging with Jack Wilshere the major absence. OK, Abou Diaby is missing but that is normally the case at varying points in a season so we can just take that as read he won’t be around for a while.

It leaves Wenger with some tantalising choices, key will be who takes the central role supporting the attack. Two immediate candidates spring to mind, Rosicky and Arshavin. Both are infuriatingly inconsistent but Arshavin last season was able to prompt and supply impressively. For that reason, I would put him as the midfield spearhead.

Wenger though has to decide if Theo Walcott is truly fit. If he is not then both Rosicky and Arshavin will start, Gervinho on the right flank with the Russian notionally on the opposite wing. The two interchanged well in recent friendlies which gives the manager significant options.

In defence, Laurent Koscielny would be the preferred partner for Thomas Vermaelen. As much as I rate Djourou, the Frenchman looks to have improved over the summer. To be honest, either of the younger players ought to be able to cope with Ba and Ameobi. Calm heads will be needed with Joey Barton revelling in last season’s success in winding Diaby up, a new target will be sought to quell the technical advantage Arsenal hold by a reduction in playing numbers.

The line-up I would expect is:

Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Ramsey, Song, Rosicky; Gervinho, van Persie, Walcott

It is easy to overlook RvPs importance. He is still on a Premier League roll, looking to score in his tenth consecutive away game. Keeping the Dutchman fit is imperative, the cancellation of this week’s friendly working in Arsenal’s favour for once.

Since winning at Elland Road in the FA Cup, Arsenal have won once on their travels. It would be nice to put that record right and silence some of the criticism this evening. Arsène wanted the supporters to appreciate the team and not pander to the media agenda. Differences of opinion need to be put to one side and the team supported, for ninety minutes.

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.

One Of Us Speaks: The Not A Season Preview Blog

Morning all, relatively normal service is being resumed with a troop of outstanding volunteers filling the internet-less breach. Over to the voice of reason, Big Al…

Trying to write a blog to kick off the new season during this week, of all weeks, has been like trying to juggle sand in a hurricane. So I gave up. Nobody knows how we’ll be lining up come the end of August. If we don’t know the personnel, we can only guess the system and style of play.

Still, it’s a brand new day. Congratulations if you managed to make it with your sanity intact. Let’s step outside and see what happened on the surface while we huddled in our bunkers. Don’t worry; it’s not as bad as you might think – the stadium’s still standing, the turf is still green and the ball’s still round.

There are some people for you to meet up there. And it would only be polite to introduce them properly.

Meet Gervinho a bearded Ivorian medallion man, with a hairline that goes all the way up. League and Cup double in 2011. Player of the year for his country, team of the year in France for 10-11. Those who know him do not doubt his ability for a second; Sven-Göran Eriksson charged nothing to sing his praises last week, and France-based journalists, Phillipe Auclair and Ben Lyttleton have waxed lyrical. When we bought Koscielny from Ligue 1 last season it was a bit of a surprise, but Gervinho has been tipped for the top for a couple of years now.

What will he bring to the team? Pace, especially over short distances, speed of thought, movement, no little strength and a shambolic but effective dribbling style, which should all help dismantle a few of those cowardly massed defences this season. He’s a winger who can finish, and dispatch the odd killer pass. We expect to see more of him this season than any of our other signings to date.

Next I give you Carl Jenkinson. A rangy full-back with doleful eyes. He must be the first Finnish player in history to speak with a flawless Eltham accent. In his not so distant youth days he was monitored by us and Manchester United, but suffered a handful of injuries, delaying his first-team debut for Charlton, which only came last season. After eight appearances Addicks fans were sure he could play at a higher level, despite taking a couple of games to find his feet. My Charlton supporting friends don’t like him now, but that’s got more to do with his single-mindedness in joining Arsenal than anything performance-related.

He’s got pace, strength, some of that inborn defensive nous, and can’t fight the urge to get forward – so why should we stop him? One of the best things about him is that he’s a Gooner. I don’t know why that should matter, but it does.

Last of the recruits for now is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – he’s still only 17, but at first glance he could be twice that; until he smiles, and a youthful joy and confidence shines through. His physique also belies his age; he’s an inch or two short of six foot and looks solid. If he were any shorter we’d call him “stocky”.

AOC was intermittently demolishing experienced teams last season. He made enough of an impact as a 17-year-old to be named in the League One Team of the Season by his peers. January was probably the first time a national audience got to see him play, in the FA Cup against Manchester United. It was a typical smash and grab win by ManU, who were total spectators until Southampton tired in the second half.

Re-watchingAOC’s performance that night; he made some powerful runs and clearly has a turn of pace, but perhaps most exciting were his close control, one-touch passing, and the ease with which he switched to a central role in the second half. To my mind, these are the qualities that marked him out as a potential Arsenal player.

It’s hard to tell how much he’ll play. Much of that depends on what happens to our latest Lord Jims, Cesc and Nasri, and how they could be replaced.

So instead let’s look at a couple of the squad players who get a sniff of first team football for the first time this campaign.

There’s Emmanuel Frimpong; a hyper-enthusiastic defensive-midfielder with a great line in slang. You won’t see many 19-year-olds more powerfully built that aren’tindulging in those special shakes. He’s athletic, unbelievably strong and knows when best to make a challenge. Expect cards though, because this boy does not hold back. This tenacity and power is matched with plenty of technique, as noted by Riquelme and Boca Junior’s coach. He has a good touch, and is adept at moving the ball on first-time. His distribution can occasionally let him down when he’s trying to force a pass, but he’ll surely have a strong understanding with Jack Wilshere, having played along side him for the best part of ten years.

Emmanuel will offer backup for Alex Song, and may face some competition from another young’un, Francis Coquelin who got good grades at Lorient last season and has been in Colombia for the u20 World Cup.

This week we got the news that Ryo Miyaichi has earned a work permit. He’s as quick as a bullet train and nimble as Totoro’sCatbus (as I betray my lack of Japanese references). This time last year he was drawing admiring glances from bashful female classmates at high school. Since then he’s broken his leg, signed for Arsenal and helped turn around Feyenoord’s season cutting in from the left-flank.

In less than 24 hours a convoy of coaches will be rolling up the M1. Nobody will know quite who will be turning out in red and white in Newcastle, but that’s not ours to worry about. For the first few weeks we could be fielding a young team, and it’s up to us to give these lads the boost they’ll need, both on and off the pitch. Anything less is a waste of effort.

Never underestimate the role that you can play.

’til Tomorrow (and yes, there will be a post tomorrow)

Ox Arrives Before The Carthorse & Other Gossip

Arsène proved true to his word and signed someone this week, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (or just plain Chamberlain as his shirt will display – another missed opportunity by the commercial department) joining for an undisclosed fee from Southampton. Except no-one can print that the fee is not known since that will look like reporters do not know what they are talking about. Instead, speculation puts the fee at anywhere between £6.5m and £12m down, rising to between £12m and £15m.

Good luck to him in his Arsenal career, let us hope that the great potential is realised. Having lost out to Sir Alex Ferguson over Phil Jones and Chris Smalling in recent seasons, Wenger will have enjoyed this signing a little more knowing that the United manager was waiting for it to all fall through.

Despite being a player of promise, Chamberlain was not the player that many were hoping for this week. His capture it appears, has made some very unhappy because he is not a monster centre back, Wenger apparently taking a leaf out of Nero’s book and fiddling whilst London burns, tinkering with the midfield and attacking options instead of the defence. The concept on working on several deals at once has escaped their imagination. Still, when complaints are made about the attendance figures to the extent that the club will no longer announce them, what do you expect?

Talking at the AISA AGM last night, Ivan Gazidis alluded to that point,

Arsene recognises we need to have additions and addition or additions in our defence. He recognises there has been an issue there. And he will take steps to do that…Our challenge is a little bit different. We’ve got a young squad and so we’re actually looking the other way round. We need a little bit more know-how and experience to supplement some of the young players that we have.

It is a slap in the face to the manager’s critics. Their theory is that he is unaware of the problems faced last season, gleefully pointing out that the goals conceded was the highest total since Herbert Chapman was in nappies.

The suggestion that the manager and coaching staff are not doing anything to work on this problem is ludicrous. Criticism of the pre-season friendlies is valid yet in denial to a certain extent. The first choice defence did not concede a goal during The Emirates tournament nor in Lisbon. Equalisers and winners came only when wholesale tinkering had happened.

That is not to say the problems have been eradicated or that we should not buy a centre back. They have not and we should, no-one denies this, not even the club. Impatience is the core of this, a lack of understanding or knowledge about football and its business. Gazaidis observed,

it’s not a supermarket where you go in and pick good players off the shelf. That’s not the way it works. I’m sorry but it’s much much more complex than that.

The theory that Arsenal just slam a suitcase of used fivers to seal a deal has gained too much traction. If football transfers were that simple, Nasri and Fabregas would have left Arsenal by now. That they have not indicates the problems in striking a deal for whatever reason but principally when a club does not want to sell.

Wenger has a policy of wanting to improve the squad yet falls foul of the soundbite. “Why haven’t Gazza or Jagz joined yet? You lazy ****’s are wrecking my club” – how far down the shopping list should the manager go? Does he buy simply for the sake of it, irrespective of whether the player improves the squad in all of the required areas? Or are we at a point where some improvement will do?

As much as Ivan may rail against agents and their associates, he and Wenger are as much to blame for the current undercurrent of discontent. Platitudes they may have been but telling all and sundry that we could expect a busy summer was a PR gaffe, raising expectations unnecessarily. Completing their summer business before the end of this week might go some way towards quelling the pre-season nerves.

Elsewhere, Samir Nasri is apparently leaving if Manchester City pay up whilst Nicklas Bendtner is taking a gap year without telling his mummy and daddy where he is going. But it won’t be Stoke. Or will it…?

’til Tomorrow.

Dein Dashing Blade Leaps To Arsene’s Defence

Ordinarily the complaints would begin that international week is disrupting the season. Treading the turbulent path of Arsenal’s pre-season, this is probably a welcome distraction. Either that or this week has the potential to drive everyone to distraction. Fifa’s decision to schedule internationals before the seasons around Europe have begun has never been a popular one, even Fabio Capello questioned the timing recently

The media are looking to whip up a storm over Jack Wilshere, even if none exists. Thanks to Sir Alex Ferguson and his policy of dubious injuries to key players for matches such as this in decades passed, those called up now have to get their sick notes from the England medical staff. Despite the sensationalism, Wilshere is expected to be sent home from the England squad this morning. Only another eight to go…

It is going to be one of the few things which brings a smile to Arsène’s face this week. The rest of the press coverage is likely to focus on his two wantaway stars and a host of injured stars needing replacing. We should not underestimate the intellect of Daily Heil reporters, they worked out all by themselves that Arsenal are interested in Gary Cahill. Or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain‘s interminable transfer saga, one that is beginning to rival Cesc to Barcelona, albeit without the intensity.

Wenger is being cast as a beleagured soul in the back pages, isolated, embattled and possibly embittered at the perception of him, even amongst Arsenal supporters. David Dein offered his support in a 5Live interview,

Arsène Wenger will admit he has had the most difficult couple of years of his career, for two reasons.

One is the fact the game is getting more competitive, we have seen more money coming in so the competition out there is more intense. Secondly, he has had to contend with the fact he hasn’t achieved what he would have hoped to achieve, albeit he has done remarkably well in the quality and style of play.

Dein’s words present Wenger’s detractors with a problem. I am not going to cover old ground once more regarding his return to the club, it is not going to happen so is a pointless debate. However, it is apparent that Dein would not sack Wenger nor would he have been able to change the philosophy of self-sustanence of the financial front.

His attempts to introduce a benefactor to Arsenal failed. It is not hard to see why he jumped from the KSE ship to Red & White, Kroenke’s defence of his bank balance as ingrained as his silence. Were the American interested in investing in the club rather than the former owners’ pockets we would have seen the resultant PR by now. Usmanov is even less palateable which shows how bad Dein’s judgement was in this respect.

Would he have been more successful in getting Wenger to spend? I am unconvinced that the money was there for much of the time. Could he get him to spend now? Perhaps but is impossible for anyone to successfully argue that he would as there is no definitive proof.

Wenger is frequently criticised for his stubborness, and the voices of dissent against the manager are growing. Until the football starts, all that is left of Arsenal in competitive action is the distress of last season’s collapse. At this moment in time, silence is only going to come from the signing of a player who is perceived to strengthen the squad. Only once the season is under way will you know definitively if the squad has been improved. Even then, the results may not be immediate and the patience that will be required is not much in evidence at the moment.

Dein is convinced that will happen,

Arsène is very focused and very determined. I see him regularly, I see a man who still has as much fire in the belly today as when he started. He wants to win. I believe in his ability and I know for a fact he is trying very hard to improve the squad this year and I hope he does it.

As much as Junior is a right royal pain in the Arsenal, Senior is a very good PR man for Wenger. No promises just the hint of jam tomorrow. I wonder if this summer has been the prelude to what will come next time around without silverware? It is deemed unacceptable in the Premier League era for any sustained time without trophies, no matter how minor. Brian Glanville’s encapsulates this with his assertion that this is the Greed Is Good League.

Dein finished with a salutory warning,

People have got to remember what he has achieved. It is easy in life to get rid of people. Then what? How do you follow Arsène Wenger? That is going to be the trick for the board and it is not going to be an easy exercise.

’til Tomorrow.