Stop holding us back!

Arsene Wenger is driving me mad. His policies on spending money are ridiculous and he is holding the club back as a result. Our rivals spend more than pittence on wages and player acquisitions and we don't. It's embarassing.

It would be bad enough anyway, but at the weekend we got smashed 8-2. As if you need anything more to shove you into gear to sign players after you've lost 2 of your best players. What he should have done was actually do some business before the last 2 days of the transfer window, but no he has to wait longer to save half a million probably on a transfer.

He's got about 80- 100 million pounds burning a hole in his pocket so what does he do? Pull out of signing Arteta and settle for a loan deal on Benayoun, someone who has barely played football in a year and doesn't get into Chelsea's team. Just spend the money you tight- fisted prick!

Why not spend £30- 35 million on Tevez today? Why not sign another centre back such as Cahill or Alex? Why not spend the money required for the transfer and wages of Arteta? It's too late to get picky on wages and transfer funds with a few hours left of the window. We're in DESPERATE need of players. Sign some!

Not only that, but it's not just us supporters that will be pissed off, it's our current players too. Robin Van Persie (Arsenal's best player) has 2 years left on his contract. Will he sign another one once we've finished outside the top four and won fuck all again at the end of the season? No.

How is that good for the club?

I think we need to get rid of this clown and get someone who is going to spend the money we have available and not on young players like Chamberlain who aren't going to be able to contribute highly to our season. The man has lost it and needs to be replaced.

Pride and Humiliation all in the same day

I come away from today's embarassing defeat proud to be an Arsenal fan as the Arsenal fans at the game today were absolutely amazing. They sung their hearts out and supported the team until the end, which is saying a lot when you bare in mind what the score was.

However, the team was a shambles defensively. It may sound bizarre after getting beaten 8-2, but we were acually good going forward. It was the most dangerous and creative we've been at Old Trafford in a fair few attempts. Not many teams score 2 at OT either, but...

At the back we were awful. Djourou and Jenkisnon had shockers, but I'm not going to criticise Jenkinson, he's very inexperienced and always tried very hard. Djourou however is just an idiot. He's nowhere near good enough for a top four team, it surprises me how good he looked for a portion of last season because now he looks about as useful as Wenger himself would be at centre half. He doesn't make the right decisions, he doesn't mark well, he's not dominant enough and he's not strong enough either.

Koscielny was poor too, he lacks aggression and dominance but he's a good player all the same and is a good asset to the squad at least. Traore needs to go. I can only imagine that no bugger wants him and that's why we've still got him. Otherwise we'd have been better keeping Eboue and getting shut of him.

On the plus side, at least the Spuds got battered at home! And Coquelin looked a hot prospect for the future, as do a lot of our players to be fair. We just need more players for the here and now. We didn't deserve to lose 8-2. Man Utd were ridiculously clinical and we were punished for it. We got them at a terrible time and they got us at an unbelievable great time. A justified scoreline would have been 4-2 to MU I think.

Arsene Wenger has got 3 or so days to sign at least 2 players, but 3 would be ideal. A centre back like Samba or Cahill, a centre midfielder like Diarra or Parker and a left or right back like Izaguirre from Celtic.

Arsenal 'till I die!

It's Good to be Back

It seems strange to feeling like this what with Arsenal losing at home to Liverpool just before I sat down to watch Everton v QPR in my Goodison seat.

I wasn't too gutted to be honest by Arsenal's defeat, I kind of expected it after we went down to 10 men, having gone into the game already missing a lot of first team players anyway. I was disappointed but not gutted.

I found out that poncey faced Uruguayan had put the dirty side of Merseyside 2-0 up at theatre of beautiful football just after my first bog trip at Goodsion Park in three months, but I was still buoyed about the Everton game.

I'd missed going to Everton games over the last 3 months, and the buzz you get when you're excited about one and enjoying a nice wet Saturday afternoon full of football. Yeah, that's what Saturday's all about for me (with the exception of Arsenal losing of course).

Yep, a nice Spag Bol and piece of chocolate cake at my Gran's, followed by a drive to the game where we park up and walk to the ground, working off some of that chocolate cake in the process. We then take our seats to watch the game. I sit back, relax and enjoy what is 9/10 at least a 'good' game of football in a usually a good atmosphere. Oh, and a good pouring of rain is the icing on the cake, good footy weather!

Yesterday it was newly promoted QPR who came to play Everton. It was a decent game played in the perfect football atmosphere- rain and plenty of noise from both sets of supporters. Everton had a few chances, QPR one or two and there was the odd contoversial incident as there always is at Everton.

Then, after about half an hour Tommy Smith curled a beautiful shot into the corner of the Park End net to open the scoring. I actually thought it had been disallowed at first due to Kevin Friend blowing his whistle to try to stop the QPR players going to celebrate with their fans (God forbid that in football).

QPR didn't really create much after that, it was all Everton who declined as the game went on. Overall, it was an enjoyable game that just missed the better result of Everton getting something from the game. It wasn't even spoilt by the angry spitter behind me who gave me a shower and a half as his temper got more and more out of control during a 20 minute spell in the second half.

Another great thing about going to Everton is the mickey taking side of it. For example 'Hairy Ears' was on top form, giving us a good view of his tremendously hairy ears at half time. Also, 'Mad Man' had a stormer, conveying his madness at every possible opportunity.

All that was missing was an Arsenal win, and a more animated performance from referee hater.

If I were the manager...

For anyone who does read my blog, I apologise for the recent 'blog silence' as I have written my last 2 or 3 articles on arsenalvision.co.uk. Which is a website I recommend by the way.

This article may well be a summary of the many going ons at the club we call 'The Arsenal' this past week. Or maybe not, let's see where I go (I don't plan these you know). First of all, the question: 'How do you replace Cesc Fabregas?' Well my answer is you don't. There is not one player on this planet that is better than Cesc Fabregas at what he does, i.e. an attacking, creative midfielder. We could spend millions on some quality player like Sneijder or Modric but we still wouldn't be as good as we were in that department of the pitch as we were when Cesc Fabregas was at Arsenal. Instead, we should improve other areas of the team, such as left back, centre defence, defensive midfield and up front. Plus we have potential replacements for Fabregas at the club and many creative players such as Ramsey, Wilshere, Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain and Tomas Rosicky.

Here's what I'd do, or try to do, if I was the manager of Arsenal:

1) Sign a left back. Gibbs is a very good player who is only going to get better but he is too injury prone and we need a quality, experienced left back in the squad. My first choice would be Leighton Baines, so I'd try to sign him or someone cheaper if Everton's demands are too high.

2) Sign a centre back. Phil Jagielka would be my first choice, but Chris Samba, Gary Cahill and Per Mertesacker are also players I would like to see at Arsenal, even Scott Dann maybe. Koscielny and Vermaelen are very good centre backs and a good enough partnership to win the league in my opinion but we need strength in depth as Squillaci and Djourou aren't good enough in my opinion. This is not to say I'd bring 'Jags' in as backup, as I'd love to see him start most games, along with one of the best CB's in the world- Thomas Vermaelen.

3) Sign a striker. Chamakh isn't good enough and Bendtner wants to go so we don't want to be too reliant on Van Persie. Even someone like Defoe would be a good signing IMO.

4) Sign a defensive midfielder. Marouane Fellaini from Everton would be my first choice but Scott Parker and Blaise Matuidi would be good singings too.

5) Get rid of Squillaci, Chamakh, Traore and maybe Bendtner.

6) If there's still enough money left I'd buy someone like Mata or Hazard perhaps to replace Nasri who looks to be going imminently. Again, maybe someone cheaper, but I don't think the wing positions are a priority as we already have Walcott, Arshavin, Miyaichi, Gervinho, Chamberlain and Rosicky who can play there.

This would freshen up the squad and make us title contenders I think but with the one we have now, we'll be battling for fourth.

Another article coming up soon...

Why I'm worried

I am seriously worried about Arsenal. Usually I'm full of optimism going into a new season, and usually I think we're going to win the league, or at least something. But at the moment I'm pondering the thought of whether I think we'll finish in the top four or not, nevermind which trophy I think we'll win.

We've got serious problems. We still suffer massively from injuries, which ain't a coincidence. I don't know exactly how but the club are doing something wrong with training methods or nutrition or just simply being over- cautious and ruling players out when they could actually play. Another problem is we can't defend, especially from set- pieces. We're pretty good defensively if the first choice back four are there, but if one of the CB's are out we fall apart, especially when Squillaci comes into the team. Linked to this is the fact that our defending from set pieces is such a clear weakness in our game that teams will feed on it and we will suffer from it all the more, especially against teams who are strong at set pieces like Stoke.

Another problem is how over- reliant on Van Persie we are. If he gets injured, like he may well have done tonight, we would be screwed because Chamakh is one of many players at the club who is just not good enough.

Which leads onto the next problem of how many players we have that aren't good enough: the affore-mentioned Chamakh, Eboue, Traore, Squillaci, Mannone, Djourou, Ramsey and Lansbury, and we don't really know how ready Jenkinson, Miyachi and Frimpong are to be able to step in for the likes of Sagna, Walcott and Song. These players, between them, are going to play are decent part in our season and the centre backs and Traore especially I think will hinder us.

When we get injuries, which we inevitably will these players will come into the team and they simply ain't good enough to be in a team competing for and winning trophies. Therefore we are over-reliant on Vermaelen, Van Persie, Fabregas and Song. (Two of which are injury-prone).

We also still need a left back to replace Clichy, with Gibbs being injury- prone (he's already got a 'muscular problem after tonight's game) and inexperienced, and Traore being nowhere near good enough to play for Arsenal.

Additionally (as if we need any more!) the futures of Fabregas and Nasri look uncertain, and this isn't helped by the bad mood currently around the club and the clear vulnerabilities shown in the Arsenal team during pre- season, which isn't exactly going to encourage Fabregas and Nasri to commit their near futures to the club is it?
And our final big problem is we have a manager who is unwilling to break a sweat in order to sort out these problems. He is too picky and reluctant to sign players and he is too persistant with the affore- metnioned 'not good enough' players. And he's too reluctant to spend money and altar his stupidly stubborn contract policies which have held the club back in the past as well as the present, as I mentioned in my last article about Gallas and Flamini, and now Nasri.

This is why I am worried.