Ambitions

Evening everyone.
The North London derby is looming large and, truth be told, never have I fancied our chances slimmer.
Tottenham present the polar opposite to Arsenal right now. We haven't lost any leaders this pre-season and seem content to pile the pressure on those left. Tottenham is about to lose Bale and they have known that for a long time now. In order to avoid the fans dissatisfaction and a gaping hole in the team that's, let's be brutally honest, played good football last season, Tottenham strengthened significantly. Sure, they will get a wad of cash for Bale all in one payment, but nobody can accuse them of not bringing players in and seating on their asses, waiting for this wonderful money.
They have searched far and wide for players they wanted and when they did find those, went an extra mile to secure the deal. I haven't heard of one Tottenham deal, that fell through this summer. You can understand, when Wenger says it's a risk to have so many new faces, but it's much better, than having none. Even the Bale transfer seemed to have served it's cause. Tottenham may have received a bit less money, that they wanted, but it nonetheless is a huge pile. It's a goddamn transfer record for a player, whose abilities are nowhere near the transfer fee paid for him. Just look at the (now) second- and third highest fees ever paid. Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinadine Zidane top the chart. These are great players, there's no denial that, and I can believe they are worth every eurocent paid for them, but is Bale all that special? No. Plain and simple. His abilities are way below those of Ronaldo and Zidane.

A signing, a wonderful, shiny, free...wait, what?!

Good evening everyone.
Wenger's grand scheme of signings has kicked off today with the acquisition of Mathieu Flamini, who rejoins the Club after a 5-year absence. The former Gunner was released by Milan this summer, when his contract expired and has been training at London Colney ever since. The Frenchman joins Arsenal on a free transfer and, according to Daily Mail, was tied to a three-year deal worth £40 thousand per week.
Now, everything considered, I don't think it's a bad signing. Flamini is 29, and though you can't say, his best years are ahead, this is definitely a boost for the current squad. Mathieu is experienced, versatile and seems to be in good shape. His versatility doesn't mean we can stop buying players now and use the Frenchman in every position we want, should an injury occur in that particular area of the pitch. It does, however, come in handy. I don't remember much of him during his first spell at the Emirates (mostly because I didn't have an opportunity to watch as many games as I can now), but I do recall his wonderful run as an improvised left-back position in the Champions League, back in 2006. It was then, when our sterling defence went on an 10-game run, which saw us keep our goal at lock and key, until those Barcelona jerks beat us in the final. Scumbags. But I'm getting side-tracked here.
Point is, Flamini was a part of that brilliant defensive unit, playing a huge role in us getting to the finals. So he mostly brings about pleasant memories and I can't help but think, he's a really nice addition to the current mix. He will, of course, be in contention for the Spurs game. Fingers crossed, he's in as good a shape, as Wenger thinks he is.

Fenerbahce review: the countdown begins

Good day to you.
So, Arsenal qualified for the Champions League group stages, following yesterday's win over Fenerbahce.
Arsene Wenger made a few changes to the side, that secured three points on Saturday, with Whilshere returning to the starting line-up, replacing Rosicky and Gibbs being benched in favour for Monreal. There were also a few surprises to the choices, the manager made. Koscielny, though fully fit, remained on the bench for the whole 90 minutes, with Sagna deputising once again at centre-back. The other interesting decision was to start both Podolski and Walcott. Their playstyles are similar and, knowing that, Wenger opted several times already to play Cazorla ahead of the German. Maybe it has more to do with Rosicky's fitness, than the manager's views on our tactics. Either way, Cazorla was moved into the under-the-striker position, with Podolski starting out wide.
The first half was rather uneventful and the goal we scored basically came out of the blue. Podolski's pass, combined with Walcott's effort, saw Ramsey send the ball home from close range to make it 1-0. We should have gone further ahead in the dying seconds of the first half, only for Giroud to spurn a wonderful chance, missing from close range.

Fenerbahce preview: keep it together

Evening everyone.
Some bits and pieces to go on to today.
The manager has held a usual pre-match press conference today and it turned out to be enlightening in more ways than one.
First off, he reiterated his desire to field as strong as squad as possible. So no rest for our leaders just yet. The manager cold have taken the easy way out and play a bunch of kids, following our emphatic away win, which gives us an advantage, but he opted against it. Don't know the reasoning behind this decision and I won't pretend I know the manager`s thoughts, so I'll give you my views on the matter.
The first thing, that comes to mind, is that the manager wants to keep our winning streak going and in order to accomplish that, he needs the players, that started this streak in the first place. Resting legs, especially before a derby is great, but the youngsters may not have that winning attitude of our senior players, thus being more prone to putting us in a difficult position.

Fulham review: much better

Evening everyone.

As you are no doubt aware by now, Arsenal have concluded their week in style, by beating Fulham 3-1. The team picked up exactly where they left off against Fenerbahce and it was good to see. Even more so, knowing, how limited our options are, but the players we do have can deliver three times inside seven days. First things first, though.

The manager made two changes from the squad, that beat Turkish side on Wednesday: Jenkinson for suspended Koscielny and Podolski for Whilshere. Zelalem was a new face on the bench.

Sagna's shift to central defence saw Jenkinson start on the right, while Rosicky was paired with Ramsey in midfield, allowing Cazorla to play under the striker. Cazorla's place, in its turn, was taken up by Podolski.

We got off to a lively start at Craven Cottage, with Rosicky feeding Walcott with a lofted pass, but Stockdale blocked the Englishman's effort with his feet. The pressure was building up and, four minutes later, the goal came.