Arsenal

27th August 2015: Familiar foes in Champions League

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. The draw for the group stages of the Champions League was made earlier today and we were pitted against Bayern Munich, Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb in Group F, which, looking at Manchester City’s group, I’m not going to complain about too much. Or at all in fact.

Typically, Chelsea and Man United were put in groups their under 9s would top, but ours looks pretty straight forward too, Bayern aside of course. I mean, not to sound complacent or cocky, but if we can’t at least secure second spot in this group then I’d give the entire squad a free transfer because they’d deserve it frankly.

But far from such a shocking scenario occurring, the early-season optimist in me sees no reason why we can’t actually top the group, handing Pep Guardiola’s Bayern a beating or two along the way. I mean, in our four recent meetings with the German champions, we’ve won one and drawn the other of two away games, while our two losses at home had mitigating circumstances.

When they beat us 3-1 at Emirates stadium in February 2013, our team was very different to the one we have now, and by different, I mean much worse. A year later, Wojciech Szczęsny was sent off early on, handing the visitors a numerical advantage for most of the match.

So I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion at all that Bayern will top the group, no matter how likely Owen Hargreaves thinks it is. Time will tell I guess and of course there’s also the possibility that finishing second can provide a more favourable draw in the next round so there’s always that to consider too.

The only side that truly worries me in Europe is Barcelona, with their three footballing freaks up front and an already perfectly balanced midfield now strengthened by this summer’s capture of Arda Turan. Other than the Catalans though, bring them on I say. Surely it has to be our year some season soon, so why not this?

Speaking of the current European champions, Theo Walcott has been talking to the official Arsenal magazine about his memories of facing Lionel Messi and co in the Champions League quarter finals in 2010, and recalled a pretty amusing anecdote about his visit to Camp Nou, saying:

That [home leg] was a great night and a great performance. I also remember something which happened before the return leg in Spain. I was doing the press conference at the Nou Camp the night before the game and I saw Lionel Messi at the top of the stairs. I was chatting to him, then the boss came up to me afterwards and joked, ‘Theo, why didn’t you push him down the stairs?!’. That has never left me, I thought it was brilliant, really funny from the boss. I think he scored four goals the next day as well. It’s things like that that are great memories, because people don’t see that side of it. That home game against Barcelona was definitely something special though.

Yeah, so, on second thoughts, I’m not sure Theo should find Messi scoring four against us funny but I think he was talking just about the stairs bit in fairness. But moving away from the draw in Monaco and onto a former Monaco manager, Arsene Wenger held his pre-match press conference today as we prepare to travel to Newcastle for Saturday’s Premier League clash.

I’ll talk more about team news in tomorrow’s blog, as well as the usual answers Arsene provided regarding transfers etc, but I do have his thoughts on our pairing with Spurs in the third round of the Capital One Cup. He said:

It’s an interesting draw and we have had some fierce competition with Tottenham over the years, even in the League Cup. It will be interesting but for us it’s an opportunity to go through and we will take the competition seriously.

Interesting. Anyway, I’m afraid it’s just a short post today because I have stuff to do. And by stuff I mean sleep. Early start in the morning, you know how it is.

Laters.

26th August 2015: Draws galore

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. The draw for the third round of the League Cup was made last night and we got Tottenham away. Nothing much to add really, other than Sky Sports will be showing it live and I’m looking forward to Jeff Reine-Adelaide taking the tournament by storm.

Incidentally, the draw for the group stages of the Champions League is made tomorrow afternoon and looking at this piece on the official site, I’ll take PSV Eindhoven, Olympique Lyonnais and Malmo please. More likely though, is that we’ll get PSG, Sevilla and Wolfsburg, giving our new signings Edinson Cavani, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Kevin de Bruyne the opportunity to return to their former stomping grounds.

In seriousness though, it feels a bit odd seeing the likes of Real Madrid, winners of the competition as recently as 2014, in Pot 2, whilst Pot 1 is populated by teams such as Benfica, Zenit and PSV, but then I guess it is called the Champions League for a reason, so having domestic title winners in the top pot makes sense.

The changes in regulation for how seeds are selected also provides potential for some really big games in the group stages, which perhaps the competition as a whole could do with given the mundane manner of many group stage fixtures in previous years.

And speaking of draws, following ours with Liverpool on Monday night, Mesut Ozil has been speaking to Arsenal Player about his desire to add more goals to his game. Yet the German also pointed out that his signature skillset remains picking out a pass and ensuring he does the right thing for the team is paramount. He said:

I want to score more goals than in the last two seasons and that’s my aim for this season. What’s important firstly is that we are successful as a team. That’s most crucial for us and as I said, for me it’s not just goals and assists that mean everything, what’s more important is that we’re successful as a team. My aim is to help the team and I’ll do all I can to achieve that. In truth I’m more the sort of player who doesn’t really go for goal, I tend to look for my team-mates and think, ‘Can I play this pass?’. I think now and then I need to become a bit more selfish – then I’d definitely score more goals. But I’m a player who thinks for the team first and not for my own needs and that’s why I will carry on to play the way I always do. I think that’s one of my distinguishing characteristics.

Whilst it’s great to hear Mesut making noises about upping his goals output, I hope more of his colleagues are doing the same because Francis Coquelin aside, the other five members of any front six we choose should be regularly contributing to our tally. Particularly while our 70 goal-a-season, universe-class striker remains elusive in the transfer market.

One such player is Santi Cazorla and the perma-grinning, string-puller has also been talking to Arsenal Player about how he loves his role in the middle of the park as he gets lots of touches of the ball and that makes him as happy as Wayne Rooney at Wimpy. The Spaniard said:

I’m always ready to play in any position on the field. Luckily I’ve played in many different places, such as both wings, behind the striker or as a midfielder. Therefore, I am no stranger to this new position. As soon as the manager informed me about my role change, I told him I was ready for it. To be honest I’ve found myself very comfortable in this new position since the very first day. I’m a player who needs to touch the ball as much as possible and for any possible purpose on the pitch, from giving an assist to a short pass. The more I touch the ball, the more confident I get and that’s why I need to have contact with the ball. If I don’t touch it for a period of time I feel uneasy. Thanks to playing in this new position, I’m touching the ball a lot and that makes me happy. I’m loving my new position on the pitch.

And I’m loving you in your new position too Santi, most of the time anyway. I mean, I understand there are certain games where, as Arsene Wenger himself said recently, he prefers the more athletic, physical qualities of Aaron Ramsey alongside Coquelin, but for me, those games are the bigger ones where we may not dominate the ball as much and instead adopt a more counter-attacking style.

For the rest, and certainly at home, I much prefer the ball re-cycling and game-controlling qualities Cazorla offers from the middle. But I’ve said that before. More than once. So I’ll stop now.

See you on Thursday.

25th August 2015: Shambolic at the back, misfiring in attack

Posted on by TremendArse

So that’s three games in, five points dropped and we’re yet to register a goal at home this season. It could be worse I suppose, given our defensive ‘display’ in the first half against Liverpool last night, but Arsene Wenger solemnly summed up our faltering start to the season in his post match press conference when he said:

We have started very averagely, I must concede, because we have four points after two home games.

But statistics aside, what’s far more worrying than our déjà vu-inducing, early-season points deficit for me, is the fact we’re simply not playing very well, both individually and hence, collectively. As a team, we look a little weary which is ridiculous really, considering the campaign’s as young as it is.

We should be fresh and focused and firing on all cylinders after a perfect pre-season and the capture of Petr Cech, but instead, we seem completely devoid of any spark. Our passing, bar a spell at Selhurst Park, has been woeful by our standards so far this campaign.

And Alexis Sanchez just isn’t fit. I think it’s safe to suggest Arsene will privately be regretting his decision to reintroduce the Chilean back into the fold so soon after his delayed summer break following the Copa America.

The fact that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, arguably our best performer in the opening day defeat to West Ham, enjoyed such a stellar pre-season, culminating in him scoring a stunning winner in the Community Shield against Chelsea, has been dropped to make way for an off-the-pace Sanchez, makes the boss’ selections look even more misguided.

Anyway, for all our issues going forward, the clear worry when the teams were announced yesterday was the centre of our defence, where both Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker were absent through injury and illness respectively.

That meant a first competitive combination of Calum Chambers and Gabriel at the heart of our defence and the former endured an absolute nightmare first 45, repeatedly giving the ball away and being caught out of position time and again. One close up shot of the ex-Southampton man’s face by the Sky cameras perfectly captured his dismay as he struggled to put a foot right.

At half-time, I wondered if leaving Chambers on would do more harm to his confidence than taking him off and tweeted that perhaps we should consider replacing him with Mathieu Debuchy, or move Nacho Monreal to the middle and bring on Gibbs at left back, because both of those players played centrally with success at stages last season. And afterwards Arsene revealed he’d considered a change at the break, but was pleased with the Englishman’s improved display in the second half:

He responded well. It was important for him. You sit there and you wonder how far he can go without losing competitive confidence. In the second half he did well. He’s a good footballer and he will come out of that stronger, with the belief that when he had difficult moments he can come out of it stronger.

Yet despite Liverpool being on top for most of the first half, we did manage to score a perfectly legitimate goal through Aaron Ramsey, only to see it ruled out by a flag for offside. Sanchez also placed a header over the bar when he seemed certain to score in the opening period, which admittedly, had begun with Philippe Coutinho rattling the woodwork for the visitors.

The second half was a very different affair, as we dominated the ball and Liverpool sat back to contain and counter. But for all our possession, we struggled to find the net despite creating chances. Most notably, Oxlade-Chamberlain produced a great cross from the right towards a well-positioned Theo Walcott in the middle, only to see Martin Skrtel stretch out a leg and divert the ball narrowly wide of his own net.

And I emphasise ‘well positioned’, because although Theo doesn’t offer anything in the way of hold-up play, he does have intelligent movement in the box, something the man he replaced last night, Olivier Giroud, sorely lacks the vast majority of the time. The Frenchman has many good attributes to his game and I’m a fan but generally speaking, he’s a step or two behind his team-mates in his thinking, and that means more often than not, he’s in the wrong place at the right time to capitalize on service.

That said, I’d have kept him on through the middle and replaced Sanchez with Walcott and brought on the Ox for Cazorla, who despite playing the pass of the game for Ramsey’s disallowed goal, struggled to find his form. In contrast, I thought Ramsey worked well in both directions from our right flank and could have moved in alongside Coquelin.

And it was telling I felt, that their left-back Joe Gomez had such a good night down that side because Ramsey rarely stayed out wide when attacking. The Ox would have kept Gomez far more occupied and neutered the fullback’s attacking forays.

But I suppose that’s hindsight for you and we now need to focus on what’s in front of us, which is St James’ Park and Newcastle at lunchtime on Saturday. Who we pick to start in the front six will be interesting as always, because I think we may just need a freshening up from last night’s lineup.

Yet I don’t think we as fans, or more importantly Arsene as manager, truly know what our first choice selection looks like, because we have various players who can play multiple roles in our formation. It’s all a bit confused but the manager will have to work out the right mix to get us going, and quick, or we’ll find ourselves out of this title race sooner than we were the last.

Till tomorrow.

24th August: Liverpool preview + Wenger on stationing Santi

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. As I touched on the other day, a win over Liverpool this evening is almost a must if we want to mount a serious title challenge this season, despite it being so early in the campaign.

After losing at home to West Ham on the opening day of the season, we have our first opportunity to get back to winning ways at Emirates Stadium, although if it keeps raining in London like it has these last few hours, both sets of players will need to be able to swim as well as they play football. It’s incessant.

Anyway, the weather should make for a slick surface and who doesn’t like a slick surface? Rain was always my favourite condition to play football in as a kid and it just feels like more goals are scored when it’s wet. In fact, someone should definitely look into the link between it p*ssing it down and the number of goals scored in a game…

But back to the actual fixture itself and promisingly, if form guides are your thing, we’ve won our last three meetings with Liverpool at Emirates Stadium, dating back to November 2013, when goals by Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey secured a two nil win in the Premier League.

We then beat them 2-1 in the FA Cup in February 2014, thanks to strikes by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski, before Steven Gerrard grabbed a consolation for the visitors from the penalty spot. And of course, the last time we entertained Brendan Rodgers’ men, we were three up by half time and ran out 4-1 winners.

So the omens are good but with Liverpool boasting a swathe of new players, I think they’re currently impossible to evaluate as a team. Christian Benteke will no doubt be hoping to inflict more damage on our defence than he managed whilst playing for Aston Villa in May’s FA Cup Final, and Roberto Firmino remains an unknown as a Premier League performer.

As far we’re concerned, I’d be surprised if Arsene Wenger makes any changes to the team that played well and beat Crystal Palace in our last game, particularly as Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck remain side-lined through injury.

And the boss took time in his press conference on Friday to discuss his midfield options and explained the thinking behind playing Cazorla on the left of midfield on the opening day, with Ramsey stationed centrally:

It is tricky, because he (Cazorla) is an important player in the build-up of our game. He is naturally a guy who brings fluidity, and gets you out of tight situations. My thinking [putting him out wide] was more about physical power in the centre of the park, to win the ball back and be capable of winning challenges. Santi is a more technical player. And also to get him higher up, next to Ozil, to play through the lines, find those two, and combine in the final third. It worked sometimes, and sometimes not. The first goal in these games is vital. But anyway, against West Ham, I changed in the second half and brought Cazorla back to central midfield.

Whilst I completely understand the boss’ predicament and his reasoning for playing Ramsey centrally, especially seeing as though it worked pretty well against Chelsea in the Community Shield a few weeks ago, by my reckoning, we’re at our best with Cazorla in the middle, so hopefully he will be again tonight.

And Arsene also discussed our first two games of the season in a bit more detail, saying that we need to reproduce the type of performance we managed at Selhurst Park against Liverpool:

[We must] play at the level we played at Crystal Palace, with good pace. I think Liverpool will be a different game than West Ham. Against West Ham, we conceded a set-piece and after that another goal, just before half time. After that it was difficult. But if you look well, and you have to analyse the game well, against West Ham we didn’t give chances away. You play this game 20 times, you win it 19 because they had very, very, very few chances. Their goals came from our mistakes. That’s why we had to look at ourselves.

Hopefully that introspection will prove fruitful tonight and we won’t see Petr Cech coming for a ball and missing miserably, or Laurent Koscielny standing off an opponent who’s about to shoot at goal and simply hoping the effort’s not on target.

Because if we can remain solid in defence, I’d be very confident of Alexis Sanchez and co. doing the necessary at the other end of the pitch to grab us the win.

COME ON ARSENAL.

Til Tuesday.

23rd August 2015: Wenger should act like Frank Lucas

Posted on by TremendArse

Sunday salutations. So today wasn’t nearly as good as yesterday, both weather-wise and as far as our rivals dropping points is concerned.

It rained all morning, then, despite John Terry compounding last week’s embarrassing half-time removal by getting himself sent-off at the Hawthorns this afternoon, West Brom being awful at football meant they couldn’t capitalize on their numerical advantage for most of the second half and lost 3-2.

To make matters worse, over at Goodison park, Man City continued their perfect start to the new season by beating Everton 2-0. Even without Kevin de Bruyne, the best performer in the Bundesliga last term according to most observers, who’s strongly rumoured to be signing for City before the close of the transfer window, they’ll be difficult to keep up with, if the first three games are anything to go by. Their starting eleven is already pretty scary and they boast depth no other squad in England can come close to matching.

Unless of course we decide to sign a defensive midfielder like the highly-rated Krychowiak from Sevilla and a long-sought, deadly, world class striker. Then, I think, with everyone fit our squad would look almost as frightening as City’s, and more games would be won in the tunnel before kick-off through postural intimidation, like in the good, old Vieira era. One steely stare from Cavani would make opponents instantly sh*t themselves and the game would be mentally won before it had begun.

In seriousness though, we do need an upgrade at centre forward if we use, say, Sergio Aguero as the benchmark. Yet finding another player of similar striking pedigree, let alone one who is available for purchase, is clearly a very difficult task – something Arsene Wenger again highlighted at his pre-match press conference on Friday:

There’s a shortage in the world (of number nines). It confirms what I just said, that there’s a difference between financial power nowadays and the availability of top-class players. It is simple. For any deal, when you want to buy something you go to see the owner and if he doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t want to sell. You cannot buy. In our job it is exactly like that. When the players are not free you cannot buy them because it’s the club who decides, the person who owns the contract who decides. In Europe you have maybe 15 clubs with a huge financial resource.

We’ve all been over the usual candidates countless times, the likes of Cavani, Higuain, Benzema etc, but the alternative, if none of the ready-made ones are attainable, is to try to unearth the next top striker. Leading up to the winter window late last year, Paulo Dybala was linked with a move to Arsenal from Palermo and is tipped by many to be the next great Argentine striker.

Of course there’s no way of knowing for certain if we were definitely interested, but I think it was the Palermo owner who revealed our interest in the player, which is as close to confirmation as you could ask for in these matters. And although Dybala’s since opted to remain in Italy and joined Juventus, his consideration as an addition does suggest Arsene has been searching for an Ajax Suarez or a Palermo Cavani.

With changes to work permit rules taking effect this summer, which I believe basically mean any player costing ten million pounds or more is automatically eligible to play in England, perhaps Arsene should act like Denzil Washington in American Gangster and go straight to the source.

Why not cut out the traditional launch pads for south Americans in Europe, like Porto and Palermo, and buy the most promising, available, young forward playing in undeniably the most prolific footballing continent when it comes to producing great strikers?

Don’t ask me which players exactly, because that’s not my job for one, and coverage of the Latin American leagues is still pretty limited in the UK. But I’d wager there’s at least a few soon-to-be world class strikers rising up the ranks at places like River Plate, Peñarol and São Paulo and if we don’t have scouts in place who can identify them, then we should get some, because it would be a whole lot easier than scouring a European market, where demand currently far exceeds supply.

By the way, if anyone from the club is reading, I’m ready and available to be stationed in Gremio to look out for the next Ronaldinho. Just saying.

See you next week.

22nd August 2015: Ozil remembers Liverpool lashing as Rodgers reveals masterplan

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. It’s been a great start to the weekend today and not just because the weather’s had a fleeting heating. No, the glorious Saturday sunshine in London was accompanied by dropped points by United in Manchester, and by Tottenham in Leicester.

With Man City and Chelsea both facing tricky away trips tomorrow afternoon and Arsenal hosting Liverpool on Monday night, we now have the increased possibility, however slight still, of emerging from round three of the Premier League as the only title contender to take maximum points. Come on Serge Gnabry…

But back to current members of the Arsenal first team squad and Mesut Ozil has been speaking to the official site about last season’s league fixture against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium, when his sumptous free kick, along with a rasping drive by Alexis Sanchez and a beautifully-taken opener by Hector Bellerin, saw us steamroller the visitors and effectively secure the three points before half-time. He said:

During the warm-up I kept focusing on that corner and took five shots after the other. The practise went well and that’s why I thought during the game that it had gone well in the warm-up so I would surprise the goalkeeper. That’s how I scored the goal, and I was really pleased with it. It was a nice feeling. When you assist goals or score them yourself, it does you good but what’s most important is that we have success as a team and that was the case against Liverpool last season. We were really convincing, the whole team was very focused and played really well. I remember that we delivered a really convincing display. In the first half we decided the game because we had a high level of concentration and wanted to utilise our potential. We want to do that again this time. We’re at home and we know exactly how we can beat Liverpool. That’s what we want to do on Monday.

So Mesut certainly sounds confident of repeating the beating we gave Brendan Rodgers’ men back in early April this year, and the Liverpool boss is equally bullish on his own side’s chances of victory. He said yesterday:

If you assess games against Arsenal we have always had dominance of the ball, especially at home. If you assess the last 10 games Arsenal have lost at home, it was about dangerous possession for the teams who won. They (the other teams) only averaged four shots on target with 43% possession. That tells you you don’t need to dominate the ball but you can dominate the space. That is important in the away games. Tactically we’ll arrive in a good mind about how we can win it. There are certain games you look at the approach to get you the result and that is something we have been working on this week.

Now unless he’s signed Frank Lampard over the summer – the only player in football who truly ‘dominates space’ through sheer stomach size – and the one over in New York is some kind of imposter, I’m not sure how he’s going to execute his plan, because the likes of the slender Philippe Coutinho couldn’t dominate a phone box, spatially speaking.

Anyway, it’ll be intriguing to watch the Liverpool boss pit his considerable wits against Arsene Wenger, especially now he’s taken the unusual step of divulging his tactical master plan prior to the match. Then again, his revelation could be a dastardly decoy. He might actually set his team up to go toe to toe with us possession-wise and unleash the deadly Danny Ings’ to wreak havoc in our penalty area. Who can really know until the action unfolds on Monday night?

Right, it’s too hot to continue typing, even as we near midnight in London. Plus my laptop is in danger of over-heating like Jose Mourinho when his medical staff do the job they’re paid to. So I’ll leave it there.

See you on Sunday.

21st August 2015: We have to beat Liverpool if we want to win the title

Posted on by TremendArse

So it’s Friday already and that means Arsene Wenger held his pre-match press conference today and as usual, he was asked about everything from the latest team news at Arsenal, to the freshest furore in the wider footballing world – West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium.

And as he always does, the boss took time to answer every question put to him, no matter how irrelevant or far-removed from Monday night’s game with Liverpool – you now, the reason they were actually all there – in a typically thoughtful, insightful and balanced manner.

Sometimes I wonder why Arsene doesn’t just tell reporters to stick their questions up their to the subject but then I remember that’s what sets him apart from self-obsessed scoundrels like you find at bus stops in west London, who say they’re ‘unique’ because reporters have the temerity to ask them about their ghastly, public treatment of medical staff, and think a story which quite rightly dominated headlines for over a week, shouldn’t be a topic of conversation.

Anyway, Arsene spent some time discussing the importance of a strong home record for a title challenge and highlighted that although his side bounced back from an unexpected home defeat on the opening day of the season to secure three points at Crystal Palace, they must now get back to winning ways at Emirates Stadium:

If you want to have a successful season you want to be strong at home. Normally we are strong at home. This is an opportunity to show that. We missed our first game and we had to look at ourselves, and we responded very well. Now we need to come back to our usual strength that we have at home.

If we quantify ‘usual strength’ based on last season’s league table, that translates as 19 played, 12 won, five drawn and two lost – only the fourth best points tally behind champions Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs. So although that is a very respectable record in relation to most clubs, we were still three points worse at home than United, gained four fewer than City and finished eight behind Chelsea.

Our way record actually saw us fare better relative to the other members of the top four, finishing 3rd overall with a record reading played 19, won 10, drawn four and lost five, giving us a total of 34 – the same as City and four worse off than Chelsea. Remarkably, United finished seventh in the away league table last term, with Liverpool sixth, Crystal Palace miraculously fifth and our shadow dwellers Tottenham 4th. Amazing really.

But what all of the above does show is that although we may have had a ‘strong’ home record compared to 16 other clubs, it still needs to be fortified in comparison to United, City and Chelsea, and if last season is any kind of gauge, the margin for error is already very slim. Chelsea lost eight points at home over the whole of last season and we’ve already conceded three. That leaves leeway for just one more defeat and a draw so as silly as it sounds, with harder home tests to come, beating Liverpool is almost already a must if we want to be champions.

Luckily, as we prepare to host Liverpool, Arsene says his side should be confident mood after last weekend’s win and although he feels the game arrives too early in the campaign to be tagged a ‘title decider’, he did concede the match was ‘vital’:

Your confidence is linked with your last result and at Crystal Palace we responded well. You could see that we were a bit edgy at times but we responded in a very strong way. From that we should have enough confidence to go into the game positively against Liverpool. This is a very important game where the result will of course be vital. It’s not a result that will decide [our title chances] but in our heads we know it’s very important.

After a slow start cost us badly in the title race last term, losing two of our first three this term, or even five points out of the first nine, which would, in all likelihood, see us fall six points behind this City squad, would spell title trouble as far as I’m concerned, no matter how many games are left.

So If not a title decider, Monday’s game could easily prove to be a title eliminator. Let’s make sure its not boys…

See you on Saturday.

20th August 2015: ‘Wellington Silva is absolutely stunning’

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Not wishing to déjà vu you or anything, but only the briefest of posts today, because there’s very little going on.

Of course, we don’t play until Monday night, when we take on the most boring midfield in football history, as James Milner and Jordan Henderson bring their sleep-inducing, uncultured, club-footed ‘talents’ to Emirates stadium, to be side-stepped and passed around by Arsenal’s artisans.

But discussing Liverpool’s lynch-pins will keep, as there’s still a few days yet before the chuckle brothers come to town and also far more interesting issues to take a look at in the interim, like for instance, should I opt for just peanut butter on my toast, or go crazy and have peanut butter and margarine?

So much choice – a bit like deciding which Championship team to watch this year, after both clubs confirmed Wellington Silva’s season-long loan at Bolton today, taking Arsenal’s representation in the second-tier of English football to six.

And in what is the first instance ever, I can recall Arsene Wenger speaking about the Brazilian winger, he’s been telling the official site why he thinks Wellington’s signature will prove a successful snare for Neil Lennon and his club:

He’s a creative, tricky, quick player. He’s absolutely stunning to watch and I believe Bolton will be surprised by his quality. I believe he will do extremely well because he has gained a lot of experience in Spain, he has come back to England and I am confident he will have a big impact in the Championship.

That is high praise indeed from the boss and also, music to my ears – a sort of semi-confirmation of my eye for a talent. That said, I also thought Arturo Lupoli and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie were destined for great things at one time, so…

But I’ll admit it freely, I rate Wellington very, very highly. He’s from the same generation of Brazilian players as Philippe Coutinho and Neymar and played at youth level with that illustrious duo. That of course doesn’t mean he’s as good as them but Silva was selected in higher age groups for his national side because he was so highly rated as a teen.

I think his work permit woe, lasting four years as it did, really set him back, denying him the chance to work with a manager known for his development of young promise into top-level performers and prevented him from realising his precocious potential much earlier.

And such is the nature of top level football, sometimes you can miss your chance through injury or as in this case, administrative barriers, and never be afforded another one, no matter how naturally-gifted you are.

So despite the delay in his arrival to these shores, I’m still backing our boy from Brazil to make his mark on the Championship, before returning to Arsenal next summer, rejecting serious interest from top clubs all around Europe to declare his undying love for the cannon and carry our club to every cup in sight. No pressure Silva son.

But first he has to prove himself at Bolton and their official club site caught up with Sky Sports’ Guillem Balague for his expert take on what Wellington can offer the Trotters, following four years in Spain at various clubs. Here’s what he told them:

Last season Almeria were a team that didn’t really create much going forward and they were on the backfoot for a lot of games. As a result they ended up playing long balls forward often and that was something Wellington struggled with. When he did get the ball in at his feet he was able to create opportunities. He’s useful in one on one situations and is a fast and explosive player. There are less and less of this type of player in the market, because nowadays players have to be more tactically aware and ultimately take fewer risks. He is someone who can improve and will want to impress. He can make the difference and be more effective in the shorter spaces, rather than over a long distance. He’s someone who will think in his own way when he has the ball and is someone to be excited about.

So that’s me, Arsene and Guillem bigging up the wizardry of Wellington now. What greater trio of talent-tipsters could you ask for? Time for our samba starlet to show he can be a bona fide samba star. Over to you Wellz…

Til Friday.

19th August 2015: Ramsey says reponsibility breeds confidence

Posted on by TremendArse

Thanks for dropping by. It’s a little quiet in terms of Arsenal news out there, what with our next fixture not until Monday night and the transfer market being as inert as Wayne Rooney’s influence on the Man United attack these days.

Luckily however, Aaron Ramsey has been speaking with the official site about giving 100 percent in training and in games, and also how  a sense of responsibility on the pitch boosts his confidence. He said:

It’s pretty much like flicking a switch in my head. I give everything when I’m on the pitch or on the training pitch. When I’m at the training ground and working in the gym or whatever, I always give everything that I’ve got. As soon as you feel as though you have a responsibility in the team, you’re confident, you want to be out there expressing yourself and I’m in that place. In this team I feel comfortable enough to feel as though I can play my best football. I’m really happy on the pitch at the moment.

Which is great to hear from the Welshman, especially considering he’s not likely to be playing in his favoured central midfield position anytime soon, with Santi Cazorla in such fine form.

And despite enjoying a superb breakthrough campaign with Arsenal a couple of seasons ago in a more central position, I actually really like what he offers playing from the right hand side, particularly away from home.

Despite having the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck even, when he returns from injury, vying for a place in the team, Ramsey would probably be my preferred pick on the right – certainly for the biggest games at least.

Mainly because I like the defensive cover he provides our fullback through his outstanding stamina levels, as well as his goal threat and ever-improving understanding with Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez from an attacking point of view.

Anyway, Ramsey also revealed he’s not one who eats, sleeps and breathes football 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and instead uses his down time, especially after a defeat, to clear his head by spending time with family and indulging his love of golf:

You’re disappointed with the result but there’s nothing you can do with that now so it’s important to put that to the back of your mind, learn from what went wrong there and focus on the next game. You have to prove what you can do and that you can get back to winning ways. I’m not one of those people who goes home and has to put football on the TV straight away or has to watch Sky Sports News. It’s important to take your mind off football otherwise you become too obsessed and you look into things too much. You could have problems when you do that, when you then go onto the pitch and play, so it’s important to take your mind off it. When you’re there and playing it’s important to focus 100 per cent on what you’re doing. I play golf to take my mind off [football]. I have a family who are very important in my life as well and they help me to take my mind away from it. When you are playing football you have to give everything and focus 100 per cent on trying to do your best but it’s important to have the right balance.

Elsewhere, captain Mikel Arteta, speaking to the Arsenal Weekly Podcast, says he feels the current Arsenal squad is the best in terms of strength and depth for quite a while and has been galvanised by sharing ‘difficult moments’. He said:

This is the best group of players in terms of numbers and quality that we have had for many, many years. The unity we have is really good as a group. The cohesion we have around the club and with the fans is probably the closest it has been because we had periods when we had difficult times and things weren’t breaking down between anyone. When you go through difficult moments together, that really helps to get where you want to get to afterwards. We haven’t broken in difficult moments and that is very important. I am really confident in this group – if we maintain it and start adding little things in the next few years then we have a very strong team and club.

I have to say I’m not too sure about the ‘in the next few years’ bit. I mean, I think we’re almost there now in terms of really challenging for the top honours, providing we address the need, ironically, of a better option than Mikel as cover for Francis Coquelin, and also do our best to sign any ‘world class’ forward we have even the slightest chance of securing this summer.

Back on Thursday.

18th August 2015: Wellington Trotts to Wanderers as Zelalem Geds to Glasgow

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. There is just under two weeks remaining of this summer’s transfer window and while no new arrivals seem imminent, two more of our young guns appear to be on their way out of the club on season-long loan deals.

After Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden, Jon Toral and Emi Martinez all the left the club to join Championship sides on loan recently, Wellington Silva has been snapped in Bolton Wanderers gear – strongly suggesting he’s signed on loan with the Championship club.

Because if he hasn’t, the 22-year-old Brazilian, who finally secured a work permit to ply his trade in England after four years on loan in Spain with various clubs obtaining dual nationality, has some explaining to do.

Perhaps he became a Trotters’ fan in his youth, laughing out loud to Only Fools and Horses, or maybe Bolton have a big following in Brazil. But most likely I’m guessing, is the club haven’t had time to draft the ‘player has joined club on loan – we wish him the best’ article yet.

I have to say I can’t wait to finally see the former Fluminense winger in action on these shores, which will come as no surprise and also quite an understatement for regular readers of this blog. It’s been a long, arduous journey past the red-tapes-worths seeing as though we clearly don’t have whatever contacts Chelsea used last week, to reportedly gain a work permit for young Brazilian beast, Kenedy.

Now 22, Wellington has it all to prove to Arsene Wenger if he’s to return to the club and compete for a first team place but if he can reproduce some of the sublime skill he showcased in his younger years before his move to Arsenal, and in glimpses in Spain on loan, in a far more physically demanding league like the Championship, then we’ll undoubtedly have another special talent on our hands.

But it’s a big ‘if’, because his time in Spain wasn’t exactly spectacular, despite a fine season appearance-wise, with Almeria last season. He’s also said to have played no part in pre-season for either the first team or our academy, as he’s been working on a specially designed fitness regime at London Colney to prepare him for English football.

I’m a little disappointed he’s not been deemed worthy of a punt by a Premier League side but that said, he’ll surely be afforded more minutes a league lower and at his age, playing must be paramount in his thoughts. A fifth reason to watch more Championship games then, and Silva will no doubt learn a lot from legends of the game like Emile Heskey and Alan Hutton.

Elsewhere, Gedion Zelalem has been linked with a move to Scotland with Glasgow Rangers. As with Wellington, Arsenal are yet to confirm any deal and the reports I’ve read suggest Zelalem has traveled north to hold talks.

I have to say a move to the second-tier of Scottish football seems a bit bizarre to me considering how highly rated the midfielder is at the club but the Guardian have reported that Wenger feels the teenager will benefit from playing in front of a big crowd at Ibrox. Never underestimate the benefits a big crowd can have on ball-control…

Anyway, he’ll also have to bulk up to make an impact up north based on what I’ve seen of him and I just hope the Scottish club have players of a similar technical calibre to Zelalem to make use of his superb pass and move qualities, as well as the runners to receive his pin-point through balls.

I’m afraid that’s where I’ll leave it for today. Pretty short I grant you but there’s plenty of post-match player interviews over on Arsenal.com to catch up with if you’ve haven’t already taken a peek.

Back tomorrow.