Good evening everyone.
It's been a long time since I've last written here. Unfortunately, the Internet connection in Thailand was so slow that even Twitter refused to work properly, hence my prolonged absence. Now I'm back and there is a fair bit of catching up to do. So I'll start with
Transfer activity
Surprisingly, we've done what was required with minimum fuss, namely: brought in a central defender, Gabriel Armando de Abreu, also known as Gabriel Paulista. As far as I know, the "Paulista" bit merely indicates Gabriel waslatter's up in Sao Paolo. It's not his surname and he made it clear he prefers to be called Gabriel. Much like Alexis Sanchez.
With name intricacies out of the way, the most important thing for now is that we've bought a quality centre-back from Villareal. For a meagre sum of around £12 million we've landed a 24-year-old centre-back at a time when every other PL club found it tough going (I have United in mind). We've also made sure Gabriel was granted a work permit, which is no small thing. The Brazilian has already made the bench and I expect him to be involved against Boro in mid-February.
Our other acquisition is not as flashy, simply because it's a youngster we are talking about: Krystian Bielik. He's joined Arsenal from Legia Warsaw and, as he's only 16, I'm not expecting him to make a sustained impact even next season. He's likely to be restricted to sub appearances for now, then we'll see what happens.
Meanwhile, Sanogo and Campbell have joined Podolski in the "out" transfer column, though both, just like the German, have left on loan. Sanogo will represent Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season. It's the perfect solution for all parties Arsene so craved for and it seems it'll work out. Sanogo has already opened his goalscoring account there with a goal against Southampton in the cup.
Campbell has left for Villareal as part of the Gabriel deal. Before that he has signed a new long-term contract, though. What this could mean we can only guess. The optimist in me hopes it's the sign of Arsene believing Campbell has a future at the Club. A small nagging voice adds we can be protecting our investment here by potentially increasing Campbell's transfer fee.
The actual football
We've played two games while I was away: Brighton in the Cup and Aston Villa in the Premier League. We've won 3-2 and 5-0 respectively, thus ensuring safe passage into the next round (we'll face Middlesbrough at the Emirates on the 15th February) and catching up with Southampton in the league. Now we are a mere point behind third-placed United and six off City.
The first game (Brighton) saw a much changed Arsenal side. Szczesny, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Rosicky, Ozil and Walcott all started, while Akpom made a substitute cameo. We went ahead ninety seconds into the game when a low cross from Chambers found Walcott in the box and the Englishman scored his first goal since returning.
Arsenal doubled the lead around the half hour mark when Rosicky's clever through ball found an unmarked Ozil and the German slotted the ball home. Brighton then scored a goal of their own, but we've quickly recovered when Rosicky (our live wire that evening) did this. Absolutely stunning stuff from the Czech.
From what I gather (I haven't seen the game) we could have been further ahead through first Akpom and then Sanchez, only for the former's tame effort to be blocked and the latter's to hit the bar. Brighton scored another fifteen minutes from time, but we've managed to cling on and get the win. Replays are evil, good thing we avoided one of them. Deservedly so, I should add.
The Villa game was marvellous in a sense that it was a comprehensive win, with all doubts over the results resolved long before the final whistle blew. The squad that faced the Villains sported two changes from our win against City: Theo for Oxlade and Ozil for Sanchez. Both were forced, but I'm pretty sure no one regretted them. Bar Villa fans, of course.
Frankly, it was a complete performance: from Ozil's mad flick to Bellerin's fierce stoppage time shot we've been brilliant throughout. Again, I was only able to watch the extended highlights and I highly recommend you do the same on the official site. This performance was a thing of beauty. I'm even considering watching the full game.
The contracts
Finally, a couple of words on the contract situation. This summer we have Bellerin, Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta, Diaby and Akpom to juggle, while Walcott's (and Giroud's?) deal(s) expire(s) next summer. For all I know we should let Flamini and Diaby go, offer a short-term deal to our captain and tie down everyone else for as long as humanly possible.
With Flamini and Diaby it's more or less clear: the former has fallen behind Coquelin in the pecking order (and deservedly so) and really seems to have given everything he can. I do realise it's harsh to say this, after all, Flamini's signing almost two years ago was mostly a positive thing: even this season he had decent spells. However, he's definitely less of an all-round performer than Coquelin and that has already cost us a couple of times and can cost us again.
Diaby is another story altogether: the Frenchman's career at Arsenal has been blighted by injures to such an extent that there's is a joke in circulation, which actually goes the other way around: "Abou Diaby, a professional hospital patient, whose career has been blighted by appearances for Arsenal". Sad, but true. I do not see how even Arsene will be able to continue to protect his compatriot, when the latter only featured twice in the last two seasons.
As for our youngsters, all should receive new long-term deals and there's good news on that front, with Coquelin's contract "being 99% complete" and Akpom also rumoured to have signed a new 4-and-a-half-year extension. The former has proved he can be very useful to the squad, so much so I'm not sure we need a top-tier DM anymore. Bottom line is, we'll hold out till summer alright. As for Akpom, it's hard for me to make a definite judgement on him, but he seems to be held in high esteem by Arsene and that is good enough for me. I even think Sanogo, Campbell and Poldi could all have gone on loan to clear room for Akpom.
Don't think I need to elaborate why we need to sign up Arteta, Walcott and Giroud, as all of them have been brilliant for Arsenal and continue to deliver still, but I definitely need to touch on Bellerin. The Spaniard has matured rapidly over the course of the season, starting with "a bit of a nightmare" away at Dortmund all the way to scoring a cracker of a goal last weekend. Not only is he brilliant at going forward (and has end product to his game in the final third), he's been able to successfully marry this ability to getting back into position in time. As such he has cemented his place in the squad ahead of a fully-fit Chambers and few would argue the Spaniard doesn't deserve this. So sign him up, Arsene.
Phew, that's it for today. Back tomorrow for the preview of the North London derby and normal service will resume from that point onwards.
Until later, have a good evening
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
It's been a long time since I've last written here. Unfortunately, the Internet connection in Thailand was so slow that even Twitter refused to work properly, hence my prolonged absence. Now I'm back and there is a fair bit of catching up to do. So I'll start with
Transfer activity
Surprisingly, we've done what was required with minimum fuss, namely: brought in a central defender, Gabriel Armando de Abreu, also known as Gabriel Paulista. As far as I know, the "Paulista" bit merely indicates Gabriel waslatter's up in Sao Paolo. It's not his surname and he made it clear he prefers to be called Gabriel. Much like Alexis Sanchez.
With name intricacies out of the way, the most important thing for now is that we've bought a quality centre-back from Villareal. For a meagre sum of around £12 million we've landed a 24-year-old centre-back at a time when every other PL club found it tough going (I have United in mind). We've also made sure Gabriel was granted a work permit, which is no small thing. The Brazilian has already made the bench and I expect him to be involved against Boro in mid-February.
Our other acquisition is not as flashy, simply because it's a youngster we are talking about: Krystian Bielik. He's joined Arsenal from Legia Warsaw and, as he's only 16, I'm not expecting him to make a sustained impact even next season. He's likely to be restricted to sub appearances for now, then we'll see what happens.
Meanwhile, Sanogo and Campbell have joined Podolski in the "out" transfer column, though both, just like the German, have left on loan. Sanogo will represent Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season. It's the perfect solution for all parties Arsene so craved for and it seems it'll work out. Sanogo has already opened his goalscoring account there with a goal against Southampton in the cup.
Campbell has left for Villareal as part of the Gabriel deal. Before that he has signed a new long-term contract, though. What this could mean we can only guess. The optimist in me hopes it's the sign of Arsene believing Campbell has a future at the Club. A small nagging voice adds we can be protecting our investment here by potentially increasing Campbell's transfer fee.
The actual football
We've played two games while I was away: Brighton in the Cup and Aston Villa in the Premier League. We've won 3-2 and 5-0 respectively, thus ensuring safe passage into the next round (we'll face Middlesbrough at the Emirates on the 15th February) and catching up with Southampton in the league. Now we are a mere point behind third-placed United and six off City.
The first game (Brighton) saw a much changed Arsenal side. Szczesny, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Rosicky, Ozil and Walcott all started, while Akpom made a substitute cameo. We went ahead ninety seconds into the game when a low cross from Chambers found Walcott in the box and the Englishman scored his first goal since returning.
Arsenal doubled the lead around the half hour mark when Rosicky's clever through ball found an unmarked Ozil and the German slotted the ball home. Brighton then scored a goal of their own, but we've quickly recovered when Rosicky (our live wire that evening) did this. Absolutely stunning stuff from the Czech.
From what I gather (I haven't seen the game) we could have been further ahead through first Akpom and then Sanchez, only for the former's tame effort to be blocked and the latter's to hit the bar. Brighton scored another fifteen minutes from time, but we've managed to cling on and get the win. Replays are evil, good thing we avoided one of them. Deservedly so, I should add.
The Villa game was marvellous in a sense that it was a comprehensive win, with all doubts over the results resolved long before the final whistle blew. The squad that faced the Villains sported two changes from our win against City: Theo for Oxlade and Ozil for Sanchez. Both were forced, but I'm pretty sure no one regretted them. Bar Villa fans, of course.
Frankly, it was a complete performance: from Ozil's mad flick to Bellerin's fierce stoppage time shot we've been brilliant throughout. Again, I was only able to watch the extended highlights and I highly recommend you do the same on the official site. This performance was a thing of beauty. I'm even considering watching the full game.
The contracts
Finally, a couple of words on the contract situation. This summer we have Bellerin, Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta, Diaby and Akpom to juggle, while Walcott's (and Giroud's?) deal(s) expire(s) next summer. For all I know we should let Flamini and Diaby go, offer a short-term deal to our captain and tie down everyone else for as long as humanly possible.
With Flamini and Diaby it's more or less clear: the former has fallen behind Coquelin in the pecking order (and deservedly so) and really seems to have given everything he can. I do realise it's harsh to say this, after all, Flamini's signing almost two years ago was mostly a positive thing: even this season he had decent spells. However, he's definitely less of an all-round performer than Coquelin and that has already cost us a couple of times and can cost us again.
Diaby is another story altogether: the Frenchman's career at Arsenal has been blighted by injures to such an extent that there's is a joke in circulation, which actually goes the other way around: "Abou Diaby, a professional hospital patient, whose career has been blighted by appearances for Arsenal". Sad, but true. I do not see how even Arsene will be able to continue to protect his compatriot, when the latter only featured twice in the last two seasons.
As for our youngsters, all should receive new long-term deals and there's good news on that front, with Coquelin's contract "being 99% complete" and Akpom also rumoured to have signed a new 4-and-a-half-year extension. The former has proved he can be very useful to the squad, so much so I'm not sure we need a top-tier DM anymore. Bottom line is, we'll hold out till summer alright. As for Akpom, it's hard for me to make a definite judgement on him, but he seems to be held in high esteem by Arsene and that is good enough for me. I even think Sanogo, Campbell and Poldi could all have gone on loan to clear room for Akpom.
Don't think I need to elaborate why we need to sign up Arteta, Walcott and Giroud, as all of them have been brilliant for Arsenal and continue to deliver still, but I definitely need to touch on Bellerin. The Spaniard has matured rapidly over the course of the season, starting with "a bit of a nightmare" away at Dortmund all the way to scoring a cracker of a goal last weekend. Not only is he brilliant at going forward (and has end product to his game in the final third), he's been able to successfully marry this ability to getting back into position in time. As such he has cemented his place in the squad ahead of a fully-fit Chambers and few would argue the Spaniard doesn't deserve this. So sign him up, Arsene.
Phew, that's it for today. Back tomorrow for the preview of the North London derby and normal service will resume from that point onwards.
Until later, have a good evening
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)