Deadline Day Withdrawal was Right Decision – AFC

While the majority of Barclays Premier League clubs scrabbled around on transfer deadline day, desperately trying to make team-disrupting signings, Arsenal remained relatively calm, as boss, Arsené Wenger, sat down for a quiet Friday night in.

Frustration may have been justified at this lack of final-day spending, yet Arsenal’s dominant display at Anfield on Sunday will hopefully have put certain fans’ grumblings of discontent to rest.

The only thing happening at the Emirates seemed to be the swinging of the exit door. Henry Lansbury had already sealed his move away from the club when the enigma that is Park Chu-Young departed for Celta Vigo on loan.

Nicklas Bendtner finally got his move away after years of underachieving in a red shirt, a reputation that has flown with him to Italy, as Alessio Tacchinardi – former defender at Juve – revealed:

“I will not say that Bendtner is a bad player, but he does not help improve Juventus either. He is not the player that helps them make the step up in quality,” said the despondent ex-international.

Two strikers out and none coming in may seem like a mindless move by Wenger but his confidence in his early-summer signings certainly paid off against Liverpool.

What was the most refreshing about that performance was not just the 2-0 victory and the clinical nature of our goals, but also the working dynamic of Arsenal’s new front three.

Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla both showcased their talents to silence a stunned Anfield kop, assisting each other in scenes of telepathic communication reminiscent of Pires and Henry.

Yet praise must also be given to Olivier Giroud, for if it weren’t for him, Podolski would not have opened the scoring. Unlike Bendtner, Park, or Marouane Chamakh, this striker knows how and where to make a run.

While Cazorla ran direct at Liverpool’s penalty area, Giroud occupied Reds defender, Daniel Agger, with a great turn of pace, first dragging the defender into the middle before pulling him back out wide.

Without Giroud’s run, Agger would have closed down Cazorla yards before the Spaniard found Podolski in space.

It is movement like this up the field that Arsenal have lacked in vital games. Luckily, we had RvP last season to win matches on his own but far too often Wenger’s boys find themselves camped in opposition halves with not enough movement to manipulate static defenders.

These new signings proved to fans betting on sports that they have what it takes to play as a unit and unpick tight defences. The boss may be tempted to delve into the transfer market this January but he will be happy with how his new forwards are progressing at the moment.

It seems Arsenal were right not to get caught up with desperate transfer dealings this summer and could benefit off the back of their withdrawal.

Post written by Alex Chang.

Liverpool walk alone as Gunners cruise to win – AFC

That’s more like it, what better way to get your first win of the season than winning comfortably at Anfield. This is definitely the tonic needed after the underwhelming feeling felt by gooners after Friday’s transfer deadline day. I’ll be the first to hold my hand up that I was not happy when no new reinforcements came in to strengthen the side especially a replacement for the loss of Alex Song to Barcelona. I still believe we missed an opportunity to snap up personnel at a reasonable price, when you see the likes of Clint Dempsey moving on for only £6m or Michael Essien going on loan to Madrid it does leave the feeling of missing out on good players when available.

With the deadline day inactivity fresh in the mind a trip to Anfield had the possibility of being the banana skin that would incense the arsenal fans even more and heap extra pressure on Arsene Wenger and the team. It was paramount that we came away from the game with at least a point and luckily for us Arsene’s men wanted more than a point and made sure they left clutching all three.

Now normally Liverpool away is a tough game, never mind the stats that we haven’t lost there for a while we have come away having to really earn our results in the past. They have never been easy games and we have had to ride our luck over the years to ensure we pull off the results. Yesterday I believe we came away with one of our most comfortable performances against Liverpool, don’t get me wrong it was not an easy game and they did cause us problems at times but in general we were in control of our destiny. I was waiting for the point in the game when Liverpool would step up the pressure and their ~~overated~~ world famous KOP would lift them as the twelfth man; im still waiting. Our fabulous away fans were in full voice throughout the game and it was only their voices I could hear singing throughout the game, of course this was aided by the team on the pitch as they provided the reasons to cheer.

Going into the game we were still without our no.1 Szczesny so Vito Manonne had a chance to build on his clean sheet in the last game, Mertesacker was signalled out as the weak link to be exploited by the pace and trickery of Luis Suarez by the Sky Sports team and our new signings were still looking for their first goals for the club.

It was nice to see Manonne put in an assured performance again, he did seem a bit uncomfortable with the physicality when the balls were looped in the air, but apart from that there were no complaints, he did everything that was required of him.

Mertesacker who is often dismissed due to his lack of pace took the opportunity to show football requires more than just pace. His 80 plus caps for Germany are testament to the fact he has faced all types of strikers and coped, for Jamie Redknapp and co to predict a torrid game for the German was naïve. Our big German played his heart out, used all his experience to put in a fabulous performance despite an early booking for a pull on Suarez. He even managed to pull out a goal saving tackle with his telescopic leg to deny Sterling; the Liverpool fans screamed for a penalty but all replays showed Mertesacker pulled off a great tackle.

In midfield we dominated the majority of the game, Abou Diaby was immense making the game look so easy for him at times, he made some great leggy runs reminiscent of Vieira in his Highbury days, an all round good performance which was a timely reminder to arsenal fans of what he can bring to the team when fit. Arteta was neat and tidy in distribution, tigerish in the tackle and seemed that little bit more determined in the game probably due to his Everton links; a great performance from the Spaniard protecting the defence. Now to Santi Cazorla our little pocket rocket, this guy is such a fabulous footballer whose stock is rising with each game he plays. Liverpool had no answer to his close control and vision, he really makes things happen when he’s on the ball and he provides the triple threat of being able to provide a key pass, able to shoot from distance with left or right foot and he has the skill to beat a man. The difficulty in defending against those three attributes led to the Spaniard laying on the opportunity in which Podolski scored to put us a goal up. It was important that our new signings made such a contribution to the team as Podolski showed his predatory skills to drill past Pepe Reina. Our German attacker did his bit in our win by playing an efficient game, he really helped out Keiran Gibbs on the defensive side and supported in attack. He was rewarded for his efforts with the first goal and also an assist when he played a slick one-two with Cazorla that ended with a howler from the keeper and the ball in the back of the net.

The game ended 2-0 as we racked up another clean sheet, what a difference from 12 months ago. The defence is really playing for each other and apart from a few dodgy balls across the pitch from Jenkinson they were very switched on. Up front the jury is still out on Olivier Giroud, he was often isolated up front and he tried hard to battle for the balls played up front, his work rate is not in question but what he needs to ensure is he takes the chances that come his way. Much like the game on the opening day against Sunderland he found himself with an opportunity to slot home, this time on his favoured left foot but he somehow managed to not hit the target with his effort.

I am very much behind our French striker and know he has goals in him but he needs that first goal for the club soon before it really affects his confidence. He doesn’t have the pace to speed away from the defender but he has the physical strength to work himself opportunities and his movement around the box is very good he just needs to score soon and banish any doubts about his finishing.

Overall I am very proud of our boys for their performance yesterday, we’ve scored our first goals and now we can go into our next game against Southampton with confidence up. This is providing our players come through the international break unscathed (light a candle in prayer for Abou Diaby who was called up for France).

One last point on the game, wasn’t it great to see Nuri Sahin struggle against our midfield yesterday? The Midfielder chose Liverpool ahead of us and to be honest showed nothing that we would have missed.

In general Liverpool struggled trying to play us at our own game, you don’t learn tippy tappy overnight, those Liverpool players are used to direct long ball football and it was amusing to see them try playing triangles but just give the ball straight back to us after the third touch. They may get it eventually but for now the pass masters showed them why they are known for this football.

Enjoy your day people

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Deadline Day!! Bendtner,Essien gos.ECL,CapOne Cup draws – AFC

Big big day today, arsenal fans across the country (and world) expect some transfer action today. Arsene Wenger has hinted, he has teased the press that transfers will be made, he has kept his cards so close to his chest that we have no indication of who may be coming through the emirates door before the window closes. In the past few days Wenger has stated that any players coming in will be top top class players, no average players but top top class players. I hope he sticks to his word as nothing will be more frustrating than seeing us sign a couple of players who are the best players around for their age and have potential to be the best. We really need players ready to be leading lights in the first team now not youth who will jump ship as soon as they reach the required level.

All I know is I along with many other fans of all clubs will be glued to some sort of media awaiting news of players coming in whether it’s watching sky sports news, refreshing various football websites or listening to radio updates. We all get hooked in by the fever of the deadline day deals; I wonder who will be spotted in their private helicopter hovering over the football ground of the team they are going to sign for this time?

I really don’t think any genuine names have been thrown into the hat for potential arsenal signings, many have been mentioned without any solid proof to back it up. I personally have a feeling Clint Dempsey could be a potential signing, my reasoning for this is the silence, nothing has been mentioned from the American’s camp. This kind of silence could be because of the typical arsenal style of keeping everything hush-hush. Sorry guys that’s as far as my theory goes and it’s a pretty weak one. But never fear as I can guarantee you anything that does happen will be done TODAY.

With the incoming players not being so transparent we at least have some light shed on an outgoing player. It looks like Nicklas Bendtner has finally found a club that meets his 3 important criteria with news that Juventus are the most likely destination for the striker. After Dimitar Berbatov pulled a sly one on the club they turned their attentions to the big Dane to lead their line and he is known to have had a medical for the Italians and will probably have his move announced today. Good luck to him, he managed to get a move to a decent club (despite being Juventus pan B) after his agent’s phone refused to ring all summer.

Apart from the awesome excitement whipped up from today’s deadline day activity Arsenal were involved in some draws for a couple of tournament’s yesterday. In the domestic corner the draw was made for the third round of the capital one cup when we received a home tie against Coventry. A great draw and another brilliant chance for fans to obtain tickets at a discounted price to see some of the stars of the future grace the emirates pitch in first team duty. That game will happen in late September and I hope we can go on a good run in that competition with a nice balance of youth and experience.

In the slightly larger more important draw that happened yesterday the groups were decided for the champions’ league. Read into it as you may I think we received a reasonable draw considering some of the teams we possibly could have drawn. In our group we were paired with Schalke, Olympiacos and Olivier Giroud’s old club Montpellier. We will have to be on top of our game and the early season cobwebs totally blown away to ensure safe passage from the group.

There is slight relief that our group did not resemble that of Manchester City, truly a group of death. We’ve been in this competition long enough to not take any opponents lightly, no games are easy enough that we simply need to turn up. A good result in our first group game which is away to Montpellier would be a nice start.

Overnight The Mail and The Express have run with stories which link us with snapping up Chelsea’s Michael Essien on loan for the season. Now we are just being teased, I for one am not a fan of the football equivalent of ‘blue balls’. The awesomeness of such a signing would be off the scale, Essien would be the type of ready for now player that would fit the quality of player we need. How true the story is I don’t know, the logic behind Chelsea letting a player like Essien move to a rival is enough to confuse Spock. Understandably the Ghanaian hasn’t hit the heights recently of his days when Mourihno was still in charge but he would clearly be a quality addition to any team. The loan transfer of Yossi Benayoun last year was a different proposition; he clearly wasn’t part of AVB’s plans and needed Arsenal as much as Arsenal desperately needed him at this time last year. Don’t get too excited on this news yet Arsenal fans but take comfort in the fact that all will be resolved before we reach September 1^st.

Enjoy deadline day today people, it will come with many twists and turns. hopefully that hot presenter on sky sports news will work double shift today.

Please feel free to like the Gambeano Snitch Facebook page, share your thoughts and any rumours you hear. I think I hear Neymar’s helicopter flying above my head right now…

Henri Lansbury: frustrated gem gone, Walcott to follow? – AFC

Another day another departure, yesterday Arsenal announced the sale of midfielder Henri Lansbury to Championship side Nottingham Forest. The youngster signed a 4 year contract with the club in a deal believed to be in the region of £1m. I can’t help but feel we have a knack of selling players and not receiving anywhere near the kind of money these players are worth. Henri is a promising England midfielder an undoubted star player in the u-21 national team with proven experience at successful teams at championship level. He has helped 2 of the 3 championship clubs he has played at gain promotion to the premiership and even his spell at Scunthorpe lead to a play off place only missing out on playing in the play offs due to his loan not extending beyond last game of season.

There is no shame in being unable to break into the Arsenal midfield past players like Arteta, Diaby, and Cazorla; when you are young you have to be exceptionally talented to force players of that experience to the bench. The problem with players in Henri’s case is that their value is lowered because of this, an insane philosophy as there are players with half of Henri’s talent at smaller clubs being sold for ridiculous fees. Not being ready to dislodge players in Arsenal midfield does not mean you are a bad player sometimes timing is all wrong. Football can for a lot of the time be about luck, the injury to a first team player and being at the right place at the right time to get a chance to shine and stake a claim for a place. It happens; some players sink some players swim and a player like Lansbury although he was developing well in his loan moves he never seemed to be around at arsenal to take any chances. The Carling cup games hardly ever graced his appearance as he would be on loan somewhere, the times when our whole midfield would be crocked and again Lansbury would be elsewhere. One of the most memorable moments for Lansbury was scoring against spurs in the Carling cup, we won the game 4-1 and Henri was on everyone’s lips. Problem was other clubs noticed this and pressed forward with loan offers for the youngster, he duly obliged in order to gain more experience and improve. Maybe that year was the year to stay at arsenal and wait for any opportunity that arose. He didn’t stay and I suppose out of sight out of mind in Wenger’s case.

You look at players like Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin; they are not better or worse than Lansbury but were clearly more established as first team players. Their opportunities came because they hung around and a chance came for them to take. Their specialist position is different from Lansbury being defensive midfield but despite a couple of loan moves for Coquelin initially he decided to stay at the club and wait for a chance to shine. His versatility granted him a chance in another position but he still grabbed his opportunity with both hands and put him firmly in Wenger’s plans. Once he proved he had what it took to perform in the first eleven the chances were bound to come in his preferred position. Frimpong despite the setback of a long term injury bided his time and took his opportunity when Alex Song was suspended for a few games; he impressed in his performance against Liverpool last season (despite getting himself sent off in that game) and made his claim for a place in the arsenal midfield.

I wish Henri good luck in his career at Forest and hope he graces the premiership again to show what he is really capable of. Despite his weird obsession of doing the dougie he showed his focus and drive at the many clubs he played for.

In other news it is claimed contract extension talks has broken down between Theo Walcott’s people and the club. Though according to BBC sport Theo wants to stay at the club and is willing to continue negotiations. This situation frustrates me as the closer we move towards the closing of the transfer window the more power moves to Walcott’s agent in negotiations.

It will not be ideal to have the player in his final year of his contract and the window shut. With the transfer window being this close to closing we would most likely miss out on a decent fee If we decided to cut our losses and sell. If we foolishly think we can tie Walcott to a contract once that window shuts we are very mistaken. He will have the opportunity to pick and choose his club and walk out the door on a free at the end of the season or move to a club for peanuts at the next transfer window.

As we learnt with Robin Van Persie we cannot afford to let these negotiations drag on, Walcott keeps making noises as if he wants to stay at the club but yet no contract is signed.

The Walcott situation also frustrates me due to the money and patience invested in the winger over the years, he is a player who on his day can terrify and destroy defences for fun but in between those good games are many where he has looked like a little boy lost in a game of men. Arsenal fans have backed him and believed in him; fending off all the accusations from outside the club (and inside when you consider Stewart Robson) of having no football brain. We have persevered with him whilst he has frustrated many a time and I feel he owes it to the club and the fans to commit.

I believe there is still more to come from him and despite seeming to be around for an eternity already he is still learning and improving. I still see the potential to reach the levels of Thierry Henry as he develops his game and physical strength I just won’t be able to stomach him moving on and another club reaping the benefits of our hard work.

I just hope Theo can look deep inside and realise what the club has done for him and return the favour by offering his services for years to come.

Enjoy your day people

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Another goalless draw,Tiote no go,Song speaks out – AFC

Second game into the season and the second goalless draw; it’s not exactly the ideal start to the season. The Robin Van Persie sized monkey on our back refuses to go away and until the goals start to roll in we will have to fend off the scathing assessments of our attacking options. I suppose it doesn’t help when Robin himself is already off the mark in his Man United career, the comparisons will be made and last seasons goals will be mentioned at every opportunity.

Arsenal in fairness have not played badly in the two games so far, Santi Cazorla has taken to the team like a duck to water, the defence has not conceded a goal and that’s without first choice Laurent Koscielny playing a game yet. Neutrals watching the game yesterday will be cursing knowing they will never be able to get that hour and a half of their lives back. It’s very rare to get an exciting 0-0 draw and yesterday’s game certainly followed type by not exactly exciting the masses. As an arsenal fan I can’t find the game boring as my focus is solely on seeing the gunners succeed, I kick every ball, head every header and the heart beats faster when we attack or defend.

I’m quite happy that we have come away from the Britannia without a defeat, the ground hasn’t been the best to us over the years and on reflection Arsenal came off the pitch disappointed not to have all three points. We were hardly tested as much as we have been in the past against Stoke, we pretty much kept their attack under control and apart from the offside goal scored by Jonathon Walters the defence stood up to the task. Getting this tie out of the way so early in the season is a good thing I feel when stoke visit emirates that will be 3 points on the board, the away tie is always the banana skin with added pressure due to the bad feeling between the clubs.

The Stoke fans were at their putrid best yesterday, mocking Wenger at every opportunity and showing even more class by booing Aaron Ramsey when he came on as substitute in the second half. Nothing from that club surprises me from the manager to the players to the fans they really are something else and sooner or later their one dimensional football will be found out, let’s hope they are propping up the table this year. I’m quite glad Shawcross has decided against playing for Wales, he still thinks he has a chance with England; he should take a ticket and wait in the queue next to Jermaine Pennant and Joey Barton. Aaron Ramsey doesn’t need the extra burden it would have brought and the right outcome has come about.

Back to the game and Arsene gave his thoughts on the performance in his post match interview, he said:

“We showed we are very strong spirit-wise and we were dominant in the challenges. We were prepared, highly-focused, defensively very strong overall. Offensively we still have some work to do because we miss a bit of accuracy in final third, in our movement and in our passing. We are used to finding each other blind in the final third and there is still something missing. But I still think we should have won the game 1-0.”

It’s a pretty fair and accurate assessment really, we are still finding our feet up front due to new personnel but I can see goals will come soon. Olivier Giroud worked hard up front and did some good things when holding up the ball and bringing others into play, Podolski was more withdrawn playing in the left attacking role, he certainly played his part supporting Gibbs in defence but also showed flashes of danger in the final third.

There was one chance in the final minutes that fell to Olivier Giroud after a quick counter attack, with the stoke defense stretched Aaron Ramsey was steaming through the middle hoping to collect a pass into the middle however the Frenchman spotted Begovic off his line and attempted a lob from about 40 yards. In fairness it was a good shot and skimmed the roof of the net, if that went in we would be talking goal of the season contender. Giroud saw how close the chance was and seemed quite impressed with his effort unfortunately the cameras panned straight to Arsene who was screaming in frustration at a wasted opportunity to square the ball for a better placed player. Poor Giroud was not even aware of the bollocking he was due in the dressing room after the game. The important thing from that chance is it showed Giroud’s confidence to even attempt and nearly execute such a chance, his performance was ok and after a week or two of fine tuning in attack and we will score for fun.

Since I last blogged we have lost out in our pursuit of Nuri Sahin, a shame maybe but after hearing the kind of money Liverpool were prepared to pay for him for one season it is clear they haven’t learned from the open chequebook wasting of money Kenny Dalgleish brought to the club. Wenger has been quite open that he still intends to add to the squad before the window closes. I feel we really need to add reinforcements to midfield with Song gone. One player not coming in to replace him is Chek Tiote after Wenger ruled out any truth to that rumour. After being asked about the player in yesterdays press conference the manager said:

“Tiote is a good player but he is not on his way to Arsenal”

A shame as he was a player that had some good battles with song in the middle of the park for the past couple seasons and has impressed for Newcastle.

Alex Song has been speaking to the press over in Spain and claims that he wanted to sign a new contract to stay at Arsenal for the past year. He explained that the club kept putting off talks using the excuse that he had enough time and did not need to rush negotiations.

Song said:

“I was ready to commit my future to the club. All I wanted were talks about a new contract but each time we were due to sit down, the club postponed it. I was fobbed off. I wanted a new five-year contract at Arsenal. In the end I got one… at Barcelona”

Not the kind of thing we want to hear when we are trying to move on. It certainly turns the heat back onto Ivan Gazidis and his team as to why something like this could happen (if Song is telling the whole truth). As I’ve stated in the past the departure of Song is not a disaster and he can be replaced, the important factor is a player coming in as cover; Arteta and Diaby have been doing a good job covering but I would still prefer an experienced specialist defensive midfielder coming in. I won’t dwell too much on the contract situation with Song but it will be a problem with me if it become a regular occurrence.

Special mention to Vito Mannone who came into the side yesterday after Szczesny didn’t recover from a rib injury in time. Fans up and down the country were hardly filled with great confidence when that news broke however the Italian did all that was asked of him and came out of the game with a clean sheet. Fair play.

Enjoy your day people

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