Bore Draw Highlights Lack of Creativity

Newcastle United 0 - 0 Arsenal

There wasn't much excitement or optimism before the start of todays game. We were happy to have the football season starting up again, but quite disheartened with the imminent departures of two of our best players, who have not been replaced yet, and the lack of a centreback signing.

The line up was alright and expected, although you may have expected Walcott to start over Arshavin.

Szczesny Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Gibbs Rosicky Song Ramsey Gervinho VanPersie Arshavin

We started the game alright, with new 10.5 million pound signing Gervinho making skillful, effective runs and looking dangerous. The defence was solid enough, with Vermaelen and Koscielny looking like a good partnership. Gibbs was also bright and was giving us a constant option on the left hand side, as well as being solid in the tackle.

We may have been solid defensively but there was very little creativity coming form the midfielder three of Ramsey, Rosicky and Song - something we may have to get used to in the coming season. In matches like todays we need someone of Cesc's calibre to find that key pass and unlock the defence.

There were only minimal chances in the first half. In the first minute we had a half chance after some neat footwork by Ramsey in the box, he layed it back to Rosicky who sliced it wide. Then in the 18th minute after a Gervinho run the ball ricocheted into Van Persie's path, but the dutchman's effort was blocked.

The familiar short passing around the centre circle was evident and the team looked clueless going forward at times. In the second half not much had changed, if anything the team looked worse than earlier. There was no urgency, or even effort to score and with the thoughts of last seasons match you always had the feeling we might regret it.

 Rosicky was very disappointing. He was meant to be the creative hub of the squad yet he kept giving up the ball, or giving our players dodgy passes. As an experienced player, you'd have thought he'd know the importance of keeping possession in key areas but he reminded me of Denilson by constantly passing sideways and backwards and still losing the ball.

The only real chance of note in the second half was a Van Persie freekick, which almost dipped in at the far post. Walcott entered the game in place of Arshavin, who picked up form last season in being seemingly inexistent for most of the game. Walcott had a chance but Tim Krul was more than capable of saving the shot.

Then came the main point of interest, all surrounding the one man Joey Barton. Alex song seemed to have stamped on Barton after a strong challenge. A few minutes later, Gervinho cut in form the left and went down - quite easily - from some contact in the box. A penalty was not given but Joey Barton, yes The Joey Barton dragged up the player off the floor and was strongly gripping his shirt. Gervinho responded with a tame slap on the "hardman's" head and, after a couple of seconds standing on his feet, Barton went down like he was shot. So much for English players being honest and not diving.

Subsequently Gervinho was sent off, yet Barton was only yellow carded. A complete joke. Barton showed how much of a twat he is and I hope that no Arsenal fans still want him at the club. For all his "qualities" on the pitch, he is still a classless thug, and not somebody we want representing our team.

The incident completely changed the game, and left us hanging on for the remainder of the match. Wenger ended up bringing on Djourou and Frimpong, a defender and holding midfielder respectively as the game stuttered out into a bore draw.

Positives -

The main problems our team was supposed to have in defence were unnoticed, but you can argue that we are yet to face a side of decent attacking quality. Gibbs showed why he was preffered to Traore and put in an excellent shift at left back. Similarly Szczesny showed why he was first choice with an excellent performance, coming for crosses, sweeping up after the defence and doing everything that was needed from him.

Negatives -

Last year we visited St James' Park on two occasions and came back with 4 goals both times. This year we only managed 4 shots on target and never looked like scoring. For that I don't blame Van Persie - who never got a chance to continue his record of scoring in every away game - or Gervinho, who was our best player before his red card.

Rosicky and Arshavin were very disappointing, especially as they are our most experienced players. Ramsey didn't convince me that he can be a Cesc replacement and play every game. Fabregas and Nasri need to be replaced before next week's fixture against Liverpool, who will want to bounce back after drawing with Sunderland, and we still need an extra defender. Hopefully this team - with maybe Wilshere returning after injury - will have enough to beat Udinese, but we cannot doubt the importance of that game.

Lessons -

We showed that the weaknesses everyone thought we have were not apparent, and i'm sure that Arsene will argue that we'd have gone on to win the game had Gervinho remained on the pitch.

However it was a disapointing performance, and showed exactly why fans are disapointd with the lack of movement in the transfer window. This squad is nowhere near complete, and you cannot expect it to even challenge for the title in our current state.

Squad Season Preview

After starting with the much maligned positions of defence and Goalkeeper yesterday, I shall now move on to the midfield and attack.


Midfield -

With the imminent exits of Fabregas and Nasri, the midfield obviously needs strengthening and the countless names of attacking midfielders we've been linked to shows that not many people are certain who to


In our 3 man central midfield we are anchored by Alex Song, who can be one of the most underrated players in the league. Last season he did have a slight dip in form towards the end of the season (who didn't) but I put that down to lack of competition. This season he has Frimpong, who is hungry for first team action, and the return of Coquelin will give him even more. We may be short in this position when Song leaves for the African Cup of Nations, but luckily there is a chance Cameroon may not qualify.


Also in midfield we have two of the brightest young British talents in Ramsey and Wilshere. Both are fantastic players and hopefully the pressure of being leading payer in the first team won't hamper their natural games. In back up we have Diaby, Rosicky and Lansbury which does mean we lack creativity from central positions. With the addition of one or more of the creative players we've been linked to I think our midfield will be more than comfortable.


Forwards - 

Our front 3 is probably our strongest position this year. We have great strength out wide with pacy, skillful players, hungry to make an impression in the first team. We might even be adding to ourdepth in this area with a Nasri replacement like Mata.


Arshavin is older, but looks a lot fitter this year and hopefully could realise the form he had when he first arrived. Back then he was touted as our second or third best player, and was on the verge of being declared world class. If he can get anywhere near to his best the loss of Cesc and Nasri will be swallowed a lot easier.


In addition to Walcott, in the new first team additions of Gervinho, Miyaichi and Chamberlain, Wenger has addressed a problem we have faced in recent years; lack of pace. Walcott has always had blistering speed, but with 4 lightning quick winger we can scare a lot of opponents and stretch teams more easily. Gervinho has been great in pre season and has briliant movement and finishing. I think he will get a lot of goals for us and at 10.5 million pounds he could go down as a bargain.


At the figurehead of the front 3 we have our supposedly new captain and best player in Robin Van Persie. Van Persie has amazing quality and technique, and whilst playing in a position he is not comfortable in he has excelled over recent years. If he picks up where he was at the end of last year he will be a great bet for top scorer, although he can't be trusted to play a whole season because of his injury record.


His back up does worry me though. Chamakh started well last season but was awful in pre season and his confidence is at rock bottom. I don't think we can trust him to play as Van Persie's back up when he inevitably get injured. I'd also have Bendtner ahead of him, but he looks to be on his way. Vela isn't ready and could be going out on loan, whilst the new signing Joel Campbell is very raw and will be tired after a summer of continuous tournaments. We are definitely short in this position, and hopefully some of the Cesc/Samir/Bendtner/Eboue transfer money will be reinvested in this area.


Overall our squad is short in a number of positions, and is probably not ready to start the season just yet. We can hope that the eleven that we put out today can beat Newcastle today, but they will not have enough to win the title. We are in a worse position than we were last year with the exits, and last year we finished 4th - albeit we should have finished a lot higher.


At the very least we need 3 (or 4) new signings; A  defender, a midfielder (or 2) and a striker. Right now we have the quality to make the top four, and possibly win a cup, but unless we get those reinforcements then we can't expect to win the league. The Udinese game is vital and is worth 25 million pounds to our future revenue, so that may be delaying some of our money being spent, but we need to do our business soon and get the right players to improve our team.

Squad Season Preview - Part 1

Going into the new season, it's clear our squad is short at the moment and is very likely to get worse before late Saturday afternoon. However, before we start the season I will be going over the personnel we do have in the squad, and if together they are capable of making a serious title bid. I'll start with the 'keepers.


Goalkeeper -

I can comfortably say that I will not be too worried about our goalkeeping position this season. That is something that I have not been able to say since Lehmann's departure, and even when he was our number one sometimes I was sceptical.


Sure I would love to bring in Reina, who wouldn't? But In Wojciech Szczesny we have our number one for the next decade or two, and although he will make the odd mistake, his confidence is admirable and he is the best option we have.


The big Pole is 6ft 5in and commands his area like a proper goalkeeper, and some of the saves he made last season were incredible. In his PL debut he was our best player at Old Trafford, in his CL debut he helped us beat the best team ever. Szczesny is the present number one, and the future number one of Arsenal football club.


Even Szczesny's understudy doesn't scare me when he plays - something rare for an Arsenal goalkeeper. Fabianski was unlucky to lose his place last year due to a freak injury and will be wanting to win it back as soon as possible.


In some instances he is even better than Szczesny, and against Wolves he literally won us the game. Something that barely of the any other big teams could do at Molineux. Mannone and Almunia still scare the living daylight out of me though, so in any injury crisis (something that happens frequently at the club) we can be expecting the worst.




Defenders -

Hopefully the defence will be improved as soon as possible, because currently it is not good enough to win the Premier League. You could even put up a credible argument that it is weaker than it was last season, which does not put us in good stead.


At left back we waved goodbye to Gael Clichy and welcomed back the injury prone, defensively dodgy Armand Traore to compete with the injury prone, defensively dodgy Kieran Gibbs. Unless one of the progresses quickly, and without too many mistakes we will struggle against quality right wingers, although since we've had Clichy playing there for the last few years hopefully it can't get too much worse. (Spiteful I know)


At centre back we have the Fantastic Four in Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou and the tremendous Squillaci. In back up we have Ignasi Miquel, who is very promising but young and not ready for too much important first team football in an Arsenal shirt. Here is a quick summary.


Vermaelen's absence probably cost us the title last summer, and if he stays fit we will have much better organisation. Djourou looked good at times with Koscielny, but makes too many errors and has giant lapses in concentration, hopefully he can improve on this though. Koscielny can be excellent at times, but is still learning and that is clear for all to see. He makes irrational decisions and cost us a lot of penalties last year. As for Squillaci....he was a good player but his errors last year seemed to have sapped all his confidence and, together with age, he is the shell of what he used to be and will never be good enough for us. 


I am confident we will reinforce the centre of defence in the very near future and hopefully that signing will have the qualities that some of our others (most except Vermaelen) lack; Defensive organisation, Leadership, Good in the air, Winning mentality.


At right back we have Mr Consistent, Bacary Sagna who is the best right back in the league, and one of the best in the world. His deputies are Eboue and Jenkinson, but with Eboue facing a likely exit Jenkinson will make the step up into the first team. The young Englishman seemed very bright in pre-season - despite the hilarious own goal - and will end up being a bargain signing at only 1 million.


I'll do the midfield and strikers later, partly as this is getting too long but also because there may be significant changes to the team.