Goalkeepers are no longer the problem, it’s strikers. 1 September, 2010

So the transfer window deadline came and went yesterday and we never brought anyone in. It means Manuel Almunia keeps his place with Fabianski and one of Mannone and Szczesny as back up with one of those two likely to go out on loan. Much like Manuel’s future, I was up in the air yesterday on a flight back from Los Angeles. I have to say I rather enjoyed being on a plane in an internet free and Sky Sports News free environment, my flight landed at 4.30pm so I skipped right to the ending of the story just in time to see that nothing happened. It turns out we never even made any final day bids so I didn’t waste a day sat in front of Twitter waiting for nothing.

As disappointed as you might be in the lack of signings there’s nothing we can do about it now. Sebastien Squillaci’s arrival pretty much sorted out our defensive issues so it was really just a goalkeeper we wanted; our options were Given or Schwarzer, Man City wouldn’t sell to us and Fulham wanted too much so nothing happened. I’d just like to say at this point that I have no insider information on any of that but that’s how I see it. We were willing to Spend £2m on Schwarzer which I guess is about right for a 37 year old with injury problems and a year left on his contract but that wasn’t enough for Fulham. In the end for whatever reasons it didn’t happen and we shouldn’t get too upset about it. He’s not all that much better than Almunia really if you think about it, I think we just wanted someone that wasn’t Almunia.

Now we just have to get behind our no.1. A couple of weeks ago I started to wonder whether Manuel is all that bad and I remembered how not that long ago he looked a decent ‘keeper. So now I’m hoping that with our support he can get back to that level. We don’t really have a choice now, it’s him or Fabianski and I think I’d rather have Almunia play with one arm tied behind his back than the Pole, I have absolutely no confidence in him. I do know that on his day Almunia can be a good ‘keeper, this season so far he’s shown that, apart from one missed cross at Anfield he’s had a solid start to the campaign and lets hope it continues. He is a bit accident-prone but so is every ‘keeper, we have to get behind him now because as I said it’s him or Fabianski.

So I’m not going to worry about the goalkeeper any more, I’m going to put those concerns on hold and see if Manuel makes the most of this opportunity. I would’ve felt a bit better with Schwarzer on the books as well but never mind. My concern now is our attack, the one position that’s looked fine for months! We’re now just one injury away from having no proper central striker again, with these injuries to RVP and Bendtner we’re relying on Chamakh now. Robin’s knock at Blackburn was initially going to see him out for just the international break but now it looks like a few weeks, and we know with Robin his injuries can go on and on. Also, this new Casualty List I’ve got there on the right has highlighted to me anyway how much Bendtner’s injury has gone on and on and on. Initially when I set it up I had him missing the Liverpool game and since then it’s been extended every week and now he’s looking at November! It’s a real shame for both Nicklas and Arsenal if that story in The Sun is true, before this latest article he was due back in a couple of weeks and now it’s another month. Apparently this is all to do with that car crash he had last season, I hope this is the last set back he has because we really need options up top.

We have Walcott and Eboue on the right, Arshavin and Vela on the left and Rosicky who can both either side. However it’s down the middle where we’re lacking now, Chamakh is the obvious choice but then who’s behind him? It’ll have to be one of those other names coming from the flanks into the middle into a less natural position. It’s not just whether Chamakh stays fit now but it’s also unhealthy not to have options in any given position. Touch wood, Marouane can stay fit otherwise I if Theo can keep this form he might find himself in the middle earlier than expected.

On the subject of Walcott he’s been talking about his improved start this season. He has said before he wanted to make an impression after missing the World Cup and so far he’s doing a good job of that, he says he doesn’t blame Capello – he just wants to improve his game. He’s been spending more time in the gym and says he wants to bulk up more which is good. He says he doesn’t want to lose pace but strength will help him beat defenders just as much as speed.

Also in that first link he talks about being a winger and is doing a lot of crossing work in training. I don’t think he is ready just yet to start as a central striker but it has been nice to see him getting into those positions at times during games. He has a bit of work to do before I consider him a back up to Chamakh but the progress he’s made already is fantastic. Keep it up Theo.

The only bit of transfer news we did have yesterday was that Armand Traore has gone on loan to Juventus which I expect has an option of permanent move and Nacer Barazite has been loaned to Vitesse Arnhem. Good luck to the both of them on their season abroad, we will have to wait and see if we’ll see them back at Arsenal again.

Today Premier League teams have to name their 25-man squad for the season. Ours isn’t out at the time of me writing this but I’m not expecting any surprises or anything, we’re comfortable with making all the requirements and we have plenty of players under 21 who don’t have to be named.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading.