January Transfers Preview: More ‘outs’ than ‘ins’ 30 December, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Transfers.40 comments
Well in a couple of days managers will be able to get their chequebooks out to strengthen their squads for the season run in. Also, this provides an opportunity to get rid of some disappointing players and weakening veterans. The latter seems more likely in the case of our club.
Half way through the season and we’ve far exceeded any predictions, including my own. Top at Christmas is something we would’ve all have been dreaming of back in August but I for one never thought it’d happen. January gives teams chasing the title a chance to improve their squads and gain an advantage on our rivals. Wenger said recently he wouldn’t be bringing anyone in but I’m sure there’ll be one or two departures.
Outs:
Gilberto Silva is one player that could be on his way out of Arsenal this January. It would be really sad to see him go but to be honest, it’s now or in the summer. I was surprised when he wasn’t named captain at the beginning of the season but he’s lost his place to a re-born Mathieu Flamini. He rarely gets a game now, a few Carling Cup appearances have been his only run in the side. He hasn’t been in the squad for the recent games and you have to think that maybe we’ve seen the last of the Brazilian captain. When he has been given an opportunity, he hasn’t been terrific either; he doesn’t look as good as he did last year and this is probably a lot down to his lack of games.
He’s simply a squad player now, he wont earn his place back in the team, he’ll only be there if we have injury problems and he could get games in the league cup. He can’t be happy. He’s been linked with a move to Italy, Juventus have been named. We’ll just have to see what happens over the next month.
Lassana Diarra is another midfielder that hasn’t seen a lot of games this season. He was signed on the last day of the transfer window and I was really exited. However he personally thought he could come straight into our side and expects to be selected. We’re lucky enough to have a great collection of midfielders here and he’s got healthy competition.
However he’s not happy with that and has spoken out on a couple of occasions about how unhappy he is with the situation. To be fair, he has played a few games for us, yes, a lot of them have been in the Carling Cup but you’ve got to start somewhere and a young player like him can’t just expect to walk straight into our starting 11. I really like him, and he could be really good, but if he doesn’t sort his attitude and patience out then he can leave, we’ve got enough players in his position anyway, but I do hope he stays.
Jens Lehmann is pretty much a dead certainty to leave next month. He started the season as no.1 but after some really bad errors that cost us points he got ‘injured’ and Manuel Almunia hasn’t lost his place in the side since. Wenger got fed up with his mental attitude and sloppy errors and dropped him. Every corner of free kick you’d just hope that Jens doesn’t lash out at any player simply stood near him.
He’s had a fantastic few years with us and as much as some of you might not like him I’m sure you’d still wish him all the best in the future. Almunia’s doing really well so he won’t really be missed in goal, but certainly as a character. It looks like he’ll be heading home to Germany, I think Dortmund are interested. We’ll see where he ends up pretty soon but I’d be very surprised if he was still with us come February 1st.
Ins:
‘Ins’ you say? Bwhaha! You must be joking?!
It’s hardly the biggest surprise that Arsene’s said he won’t add to the squad next month. Mr. Wenger said the only chance of him bringing some one in would be if he was “offered the bargain of the century”. Oh well. There’s noises that Ronaldinho might want out of Barca, if we were offered him on the cheap that might happen…we could do with a left winger.
In all seriousness, we have got Johan Djourou coming back from Birmingham which’ll feel like a new addition. Arsene did say a while ago he might be tempted to buy a defender next month but now we’ve got Johan back he’s not going to.
So in conclusion, Lehmann will go, Gilberto might and we wont bring anyone in. I’ll write a West Ham preview tomorrow, until then.
Everton 1-4 Arsenal – 29/12/07 – (Premier League) 30 December, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Premiership.5 comments
Well what a strange game that was. On a day when Manchester United lost to West Ham we had the chance to re-claim our place at the top and go two points clear. We did revert back to 4-4-2 and Bendtner got that starting place everyone was hoping for. He was partnered with Eduardo and Adebayor was given a well deserved rest, as was Rosicky who had Diaby take his place on the left wing.
We started really badly. The first half was very poor. Everton were making the most of this and were playing good, confident football and just knocking it around us like we weren’t there. They were putting pressure on us and after 20 minutes they won a corner, packed the box and scored. The corner came in to the back post, came off Bendtner’s knee and Cahill put it in with his studs.
The home side deserved the early lead and we were getting very frustrated. We didn’t get any better as the half went on, Everton carried on pressuring us with their one-touch football and I was really worried. Half time came and if we carried on playing like this in the second 45 then we had no chance. No one was making any difference for us and something would have to be changed if we didn’t sort ourselves out.
However, we got an early goal in the second half to bring us right back in it. In the 47th minute Clichy picked up the ball deep on the left and played a great long ball, which fell absolutely perfectly into Eduardo’s stride. The Croatian/Brazilian shoed great skill and composure to take it down with his chest then lift it over Howard. 1-1 now and we were right back in it, did we deserve to be? Who cares?
We managed a second goal just ten minutes later and it was the same combination. Clichy had possession on the left once again and looked to pick out Eduardo. His was another good one which was helped on by the head of Bendtner. Eduardo made sure he got there first, skillfully passed the defender (sort of like Bergkamp did in that goal against Newcastle) and cool as you like slotted it in. These two goals are a fine example of what a top goal scorer this guy is. He’s probably the best finisher we have and cane handle himself better than anyone inside the box, it’s just everywhere else he needs to work on. He’s sort of like, give him the ball in the box and he’ll stick it in.
The fact that we’d taken the lead had clearly upset Everton because we probably didn’t deserve to, it’s just down to the vision of Clichy and the skill of Eduardo. However we were leading and the home side had work to do. We were still being frustrated and we weren’t playing amazingly. It was getting heated and cards were dished out all over the place. In the 73rd minutes Bendtner picked up a second yellow for a bad challenge on Johnson. He can have no complaints with it, it’s just a sign of his immaturity. He’ll learn from it.
Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas and Eduardo also got booked. Mathieu’s yellow means he’ll miss the Burnley match through suspension. Six minutes from time it was made 10 men each when Arteta stuck his elbow in Cesc’s face. Fabregas made a meal of it but if he hadn’t then maybe he wouldn’t have been off and they’d still have the man advantage? It’s just the way the game is today and ass much as I hate to see Fabregas rolling around like Eboue I understand why he did it.
Before that second red card though, we scored our third though Adebayor in the 78th minute, just a few minutes after he’d come on for Eduardo. We only had 10 men but it didn’t matter because it was entirely route one football. Almunia’s goal kick went long and was heading straight for his opposite number, but a mix up between Howard and Yobo allowed Adebayor to cheekily come in and nick the ball to simply tap it into the empty net. A hilarious goal and one that won us the game.
There was just time in the 94th minute for Tomas Rosicky to make it 4-1 to The Arsenal. Ade won the ball and took it out to the left, played a nice one-two with Diaby to cut inside the box then Abou played a short on to Rosicky. Tomas took a touch, waited for the defenders to make their move then shot into the bottom corner. It was quite a nice goal actually, a typical Arsenal move.
So we won 4-1, the score line is a bit flattering but in the end we deserved to win. The first half was shocking but we fought well to come back. Not the best performance but three points takes us back to the top for the New Year. Hurrah!
Thanks for reading.
