Arsene Wenger has reportedly told Sky Sports News that the Andrei Arshavin deal will go through today, and a positive announcement will be made soon.
All day today there have been twists and turns in this saga as the close of the transfer window loomed, and even after 5pm when the window closed officially, there was still confusion as to whether the deal has in fact been completed successfully.
But now Wenger has confirmed that the deal is still on and an announcement will made. Hopefully this will conclude one of the most drawn out transfers for Arsene Wenger. It is thought that the deal was not so straightforward and quite complicated, therefore this has resulted in it being such a difficult deal.
If the deal is successful, Arhsavin could be in line for a debut against Tottenham Hotspur in Arsenal's next Premier League game.
Monday 2 February 2009
Wednesday 31 December 2008
A year of inconsistency
The year 2008 has been characterised by inconsistency for Arsenal. The hope must now be surely that 2009 is different, perhaps by an assured level of consistency.
From when the 2007-2008 season started right until February 2008, Arsenal were hugely consistent, well on course to win the league title again, but then came the game against Birmingham City, the game in which Arsenal were dominating, very much in control, then lost Eduardo to a serious injury, and then Gallas lost his composure, Arsenal ended the game by losing two points and with that the momentum in the title race.
In the summer, Flamini and Hleb left, and apart from some promising youngsters and Mikael Silvester, no one else joined the club, so Arsenal started the season a bit short in numbers.
The season itself has so far been a bit hot and cold, with Arsenal doing well against the "big" teams, but losing valuable ground against the "lesser" sides.
Then Gallas lost the captain's armband and Fabregas got the captaincy, and since then it's been quite consistent. Then Fabregas suffers a serious injury. This adds to the injuries to Walcott and Rosicky, that's 3 first team midfielders, arguably 3 of the club's best players missing until the last month of the season according to current estimates. One could argue that the team is surely very talented to have the capacity to be still in touch even though they have been playing while missing many big players, for significant periods.
So with 2009 about to start, and with that the second half of the season, Arsenal start 10 points adrift of top spot. Then have won the league before by recovering from a bigger margin, so it's not inconceivable, and with all those problems faced, Arsenal are still only 10 points behind, and realistically are still in the challenge for the title, that is a credit to the team.
From when the 2007-2008 season started right until February 2008, Arsenal were hugely consistent, well on course to win the league title again, but then came the game against Birmingham City, the game in which Arsenal were dominating, very much in control, then lost Eduardo to a serious injury, and then Gallas lost his composure, Arsenal ended the game by losing two points and with that the momentum in the title race.
In the summer, Flamini and Hleb left, and apart from some promising youngsters and Mikael Silvester, no one else joined the club, so Arsenal started the season a bit short in numbers.
The season itself has so far been a bit hot and cold, with Arsenal doing well against the "big" teams, but losing valuable ground against the "lesser" sides.
Then Gallas lost the captain's armband and Fabregas got the captaincy, and since then it's been quite consistent. Then Fabregas suffers a serious injury. This adds to the injuries to Walcott and Rosicky, that's 3 first team midfielders, arguably 3 of the club's best players missing until the last month of the season according to current estimates. One could argue that the team is surely very talented to have the capacity to be still in touch even though they have been playing while missing many big players, for significant periods.
So with 2009 about to start, and with that the second half of the season, Arsenal start 10 points adrift of top spot. Then have won the league before by recovering from a bigger margin, so it's not inconceivable, and with all those problems faced, Arsenal are still only 10 points behind, and realistically are still in the challenge for the title, that is a credit to the team.
Friday 21 November 2008
William Gallas is stripped of Arsenal captaincy
It has emerged that William Gallas has been stripped of the Arsenal Captaincy and also will not feature in the game at Manchester City on Saturday. It seems that Arsene Wenger has lost his patience with his wayward captain.
Gallas went public with criticisms of his fellow players and this now seems to have done the trick and now he has been relieved of the captaincy, an honour he always seems to struggle with. Arsenal's season has been erratic so far and the defence has been particularly poor, Gallas himself has not been great, he had a good game against Manchester United but then Arsenal lost against Aston Villa.
The Birmingham game last season was a turning point in Arsenal's season for the worse, and Gallas has not managed to redeem himself and his reputation ever since. It was widely anticipated that Gallas will not remain as captain for this season, but Wenger, being particularly loyal to his players gave Gallas another chance. But that may have proved to be a big mistake on Wenger's part, as was giving Gallas the captaincy in the first place.
Now Wenger has recognised the need to act before Arsenal's season is jeopardised any further.
Gallas went public with criticisms of his fellow players and this now seems to have done the trick and now he has been relieved of the captaincy, an honour he always seems to struggle with. Arsenal's season has been erratic so far and the defence has been particularly poor, Gallas himself has not been great, he had a good game against Manchester United but then Arsenal lost against Aston Villa.
The Birmingham game last season was a turning point in Arsenal's season for the worse, and Gallas has not managed to redeem himself and his reputation ever since. It was widely anticipated that Gallas will not remain as captain for this season, but Wenger, being particularly loyal to his players gave Gallas another chance. But that may have proved to be a big mistake on Wenger's part, as was giving Gallas the captaincy in the first place.
Now Wenger has recognised the need to act before Arsenal's season is jeopardised any further.
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Arsenal can still challenge this year
After a great result against Manchester United, beating them when no one expected it, Arsenal then go on and lose against Aston Villa at home, again when no one expected it!
Especially coming off the back of a fantastic performance by the Kids against experienced premier league side Wigan, a game that was witnessed by the "First Team" themselves sat in the stands, it is very difficult to understand why these guys performed so badly against Villa.
You would have thought that seeing what the youngters did in the Carling Cup would inspire the seniors to kick-on, but it seems it didn't.
It seems the Arsenal side this year is suffering from the expectation level this year that they should be up there at the top, considering they so nearly won the title last year, this year they just can't get the consistency. To be honest, I dont think Wenger is doing that much wrong, when the same team go on and beat Manchester United the previous weak, how can you explain them losing to Villa?
You can talk about tactics, 4-5-1 and all that, but how many of us would have thought before the Manchester United game that this team is rightly balanced to beat them?
Against Villa, Wenger changed the team during the game to get a result, putting on Vela and Adebayor, at that time it was still 0-0, what happens?, Arsenal lose 0-2, so what else could he do?
Also, everytime a game is lost or the team underperform, everyone goes back to the Defensive Midfielder thing, Flamini and all that, but really, if the Arsenal team that has beaten Manchester United and FC Porto this season turned up for every game, would anyone be raising this argument?
Yes having a Flamini type would have helped, but think about it, all those players were present last season, did Arsenal win anything? No, exactly.
Anyway, there is still a lot left in this season. Last season Arsenal were miles ahead and still lost the title at the last lap, so to speak, so there is no reason not to believe that the reverse could not happen this year, Arsenal could catch up, and could still challenge this year and be champions.
But things have to improve, and the players need to learn the lessons and fast, but it's taking a while for it all to come together, and when it does, it could be amazing.
Especially coming off the back of a fantastic performance by the Kids against experienced premier league side Wigan, a game that was witnessed by the "First Team" themselves sat in the stands, it is very difficult to understand why these guys performed so badly against Villa.
You would have thought that seeing what the youngters did in the Carling Cup would inspire the seniors to kick-on, but it seems it didn't.
It seems the Arsenal side this year is suffering from the expectation level this year that they should be up there at the top, considering they so nearly won the title last year, this year they just can't get the consistency. To be honest, I dont think Wenger is doing that much wrong, when the same team go on and beat Manchester United the previous weak, how can you explain them losing to Villa?
You can talk about tactics, 4-5-1 and all that, but how many of us would have thought before the Manchester United game that this team is rightly balanced to beat them?
Against Villa, Wenger changed the team during the game to get a result, putting on Vela and Adebayor, at that time it was still 0-0, what happens?, Arsenal lose 0-2, so what else could he do?
Also, everytime a game is lost or the team underperform, everyone goes back to the Defensive Midfielder thing, Flamini and all that, but really, if the Arsenal team that has beaten Manchester United and FC Porto this season turned up for every game, would anyone be raising this argument?
Yes having a Flamini type would have helped, but think about it, all those players were present last season, did Arsenal win anything? No, exactly.
Anyway, there is still a lot left in this season. Last season Arsenal were miles ahead and still lost the title at the last lap, so to speak, so there is no reason not to believe that the reverse could not happen this year, Arsenal could catch up, and could still challenge this year and be champions.
But things have to improve, and the players need to learn the lessons and fast, but it's taking a while for it all to come together, and when it does, it could be amazing.
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