The Joe Kinnear Show / Arsenal To Land Higuain

Good morning.

Joe Kinnear was a theatrical, comedic goldmine yesterday on Talksport, saying that he’s “more intelligent” than Newcastle United supporters and showing a crushing inability to pronounce the names of Newcastle’s top players. Kinnear called Yohan Cabaye, “Yohan Kebab” and have you ever heard of Hatem Ben Affri? Kinnear went on to make a string of gaffes, calling Shola Ameobi, “Amanobi” and Jonas Gutierrez, “Gaultierez”. Thankfully, Kinnear didn’t have to talk about the likes of Gael Bigirimana and Romain Amalfitano.

When asked about supporter unrest, Kinnear told talkSPORT:

“Look at my record. These people ask what have I done. Where have these people been – on another planet? I’ve played in five Cup Finals and won the lot. I played more than 400 games for Tottenham Hotspur.”

“Already they’re jumping on the bandwagon and saying, ‘look out, Pards’. But I expect it, it’s water off a duck’s arse.”

Joe Kinnear made 258 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur as a player, although he did win five cup finals, but that’s if you count a shared Community Shield trophy as a title.

Not stopping there, Kinnear, who managed Newcastle in the 2008-09 season, spoke of how he signed Tim Krul. The Dutchman made his debut in 2006.

In his first spell at Newcastle, Kinnear called Charles N’Zogbia, “Charles Insomnia.” The Frenchman took great offence to this and moved to Wigan Athletic a few weeks later. If that trend continues, then Newcastle are in severe danger of having a depleted squad as players look to leave after having their names pronounced wrong by “football man” Joe Kinnear.

I can’t wait for the next episode of the Joe Kinnear sitcom.

Anyway, elsewhere in football there appears to be significant movement on the transfer front at Arsenal who are favourites to sign Gonzalo Higuain.

Until a week ago, Juventus had looked favourites to sign the Argentine international, but their £22 million offer was to be paid in five instalments. Arsenal have gazumped that by offering close to £30 million in one lump sum, which is a much more attractive offer and one that Juventus can’t match. As a result, Juventus have turned to Higuain’s compatriot, Carlos Tevez, leaving the road to Higuain wide open for Arsenal.

Signing a player like Higuain would be a massive show of intent and would hopefully convince players at Arsenal who aren’t starting on a regular basis, players such as Thomas Vermaelen and players entering the last year of their contract, like Bacary Sagna, that Arsenal is the place to be. I don’t think those two leaving would have a major impact on Arsenal, but I think it is very important to keep a squad together and those two are big components of the squad and two leaders.

Nothing has been confirmed yet and won’t be for a few weeks yet, but it appears that Arsenal are finally seizing the initiative in trying to challenge for titles once more.

That’s all from me today, lots to do!

See you tomorrow.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Newcastle United, Premiership Leave a comment

Arsenal Activate Fellaini Release Clause / Is He The Right Fit?

Good morning.

Well, I didn’t see that one coming. The Times broke the news yesterday that on Wednesday, the day that Roberto Martinez took charge of Everton, Arsenal launched a £22 million bid for Marouane Fellaini, activating the Belgian’s release clause.

With Arsenal’s transfer talk mainly consisting of strikers, I hadn’t considered the possibility of midfield options, other than Clement Grenier who’s under a close watch from the Gunners. So imagine my surprise when a reliable source revealed that Arsenal are on the cusp of signing a defensive midfielder. At first, as an Arsenal supporter myself, I was excited to read that Fellaini could be joining, but a little confused. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s an excellent player, but it wasn’t the signing I expected.

Then, I started to consider Arsenal’s squad. The possible incoming of Fellaini would mean that Abou Diaby is on his way out of the Emirates, a move which has been needed for about four seasons now. Emmanuel Frimpong will almost certainly leave this summer and that means there is a defensive midfield of Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and Francis Coquelin. Over a season, I wouldn’t want to rely on three players for that role and Arsene Wenger’s paucity of options for defensive midfield became most prominent on the last match of the season against Newcastle. Arteta was not fit enough to start against Newcastle and lasted just 25 minutes before being forced off by injury. He was played there as nobody else could do Arteta’s job.

I don’t think Ramsey will be disheartened by Fellaini’s signing. The Welshman needs fierce competition for his place to develop and Fellaini offers that. He recently signed a long term contract and is showing very promising signs of becoming the player we all thought he would become. Coquelin however, might have his reservations. I like Coquelin, he’s tenacious, very quick and is a great tackler. He isn’t very patient though, and I could see him asking to leave Arsenal in the summer if Fellaini does join Arsenal.

The addition of Fellaini would add considerable power to Arsenal’s midfield and would represent a Yaya Toure-ish threat, in that he can burst forwards from deep, using his immense physical strength. The Belgian is also very aware in a defensive aspect.

In some quarters, Fellaini’s technical ability has brought to questioning. No, Fellaini isn’t as gifted as the rest of the Arsenal team, but he isn’t being bought because of how he passes. For me, Fellaini’s lack of passing range isn’t a problem as his other qualities outweigh that.

This isn’t a transfer I thought would ever come to light, I just assumed he would move to Manchester United and that would be it. It is going to be interesting to see how this develops over the next few days.

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Posted on June 7, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Everton, Premiership Leave a comment

Tomas Rosicky To Stay At Arsenal / Koscielny Makes Threat / Could Rooney Join Arsenal?

Good morning.

There’s a lot to talk about this morning. Players are agreeing transfers ahead of the window officially opening on July 1st and others are posturing over potential moves. To remedy the problem of having to type a ridiculously long page title, I’m splitting all of the news up into separate articles this morning. If you don’t want to read about Arsenal, then click here for news on Jesus Navas joining Manchester City.

Tomas Rosicky to stay at Arsenal

Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky, has revealed to a radio station in his home country that he is not leaving Arsenal this summer. This news quashes rumours that he was set for a move back to his old club, Sparta Prague and will see him stay at Arsenal for at least the remaining 12 months of his contract. Rosicky said:

“After the season I spoke with the coach and Arsenal want me to stay. Of course, you never know what can happen, but I should be staying. A return to Sparta Prague? No, not yet.”

“I have one year left on my contract and know nothing about me not staying. The coach has told me he counts on me.”

Injury sustained at Euro 2012 prevented Rosicky from playing for the first few months of the season as Arsenal struggled for form. Brief appearances in league matches and a goal scoring performance against Olympiakos in the Champions League suggested he was looking for fitness before Wenger put him back in for first team contention, but small injuries again deprived Arsenal of Rosicky, before he eventually won his place back in the first team and there he stayed.

Rosicky’s influence for Arsenal in the final months of the Premier League season was crucial and like the 2011/12 season, he was a huge factor in the Gunners finishing inside the top four for Champions League qualification. It says a lot about Rosicky’s qualities, that Wenger was forced to drop Lukas Podolski, shift Santi Cazorla to the left and play Rosicky behind the striker.

Unlike Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere and Cazorla, Rosicky is able to boast a faster range of passing which is vital to Arsenal’s style of passing and moving. Early in the season, Arsenal struggled for pace in their play and the reintroduction of Rosicky to the team amended that.

With his contract expiring in 12 months time, should Arsene Wenger look to renew his contract for another year after that? I certainly would. In spite of his age, Rosicky has a Benjamin Button quality of growing younger as he gets older. I swear, every season he seems to appear more youthful and develop a further yard of pace.

A good 2013/14 campaign and Rosicky will definitely be staying at Arsenal beyond next season.

Laurent Koscielny makes threat

Laurent Koscielny has threatened Arsenal by saying:

“I feel good at Arsenal, if we have ambition to fight against the other teams of course I want to stay here. It’s hard psychologically. We are constantly pressured because if Arsenal is not in the Champions League it would be a catastrophe.

“It is hard to not win titles year after year. We are competitors, professionals, we want to win. I want to add to my list of achievements. If Arsenal cannot allow me that, I’ll seek a move elsewhere.”

For the record, that is definitely not a threat, but a statement of intent that more Arsenal players need to be making. If any player at a big club is content with challenging for fourth place, then the ambitions of both the club and the player need to be reviewed. Koscielny’s statement is very healthy in that he recognises a problem and wants to do something about it. If he cannot add to his list of achievements in the next few season, then I suspect he will leave and I understand that. Koscielny is a professional football player and wants to win things. Perfectly healthy.

What is important here, is that the club back this statement and share Koscielny’s feelings. The muttering around the better Arsenal blogs suggests that Arsenal are about to make very large waves in the transfer market, which brings us on nicely to our next topic of discussion…

Could Wayne Rooney join Arsenal?

I make it a general rule that I trust the news of a football blog such as Le Grove or Gunnerblog, over the musings of the written media. Why is that? Blogs such as Le Grove, Gunnerblog and us, publish free-to-air content. Believe me, there isn’t much money to be earned in running a football blog, it’s mostly done for pleasure. Football blogs have nothing to gain by manufacturing idle transfer gossip, other than website hits and you can tell which blogs those are from a mile away.

So, when these trusted blogs talk seriously about Wayne Rooney joining Arsenal, there has to be something in it. We could be wrong, as transfers break down regularly for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean the interest was never there to begin with. The bottom line here, is that Arsenal are interested in signing Wayne Rooney and his representatives are more than willing to listen. At the moment, all parties are posturing, as is common with a proposed “big news” transfer.

The interest here, is very real, Arsene Wenger confirmed that much himself. We know Wayne Rooney wants to leave Manchester United, David Moyes will let him go (I assume) and there will be plenty of admirers wanting Rooney at their club. Arsenal need a forward, have oodles of money to spend and Rooney is a willing listener.

Do I think it will happen? No. I believe the interest is there, but when it comes to it, I think Arsenal will look at the alternatives, see that there are better players available for a lower price and move elsewhere. Gonzalo Higuain seems more likely to me.

That’s all on this one!

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Posted on June 5, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Arsenal Lead Transfer Race For A Thousand Players

Good morning.

According to Twitter this morning, Arsenal have lodged a bid for David Villa. The Barcelona striker would prefer a move to Arsenal, so he could be with his fellow Spaniards Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal. Guillem Balague is quoted as saying on Talksport, that Villa has three offers: Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and an unidentified club in Spain, who I’d personally guess at being Atletico Madrid.

Neymar’s arrival at Barcelona means that Villa is not going to get many playing minutes next season and he will definitely move on. To who? Of those three clubs, Arsenal would be his most likely destination. At 31, is Villa a good signing? Absolutely; Villa comes complete with goal scoring pedigree of a high level, has a winner’s mentality and would bring a wealth of experience to any forward line. Of the three clubs mentioned however, it’s Tottenham who need Villa most. For me, they need three strikers this summer, not two. If I were Andre Villas Boas, I’d even get rid of Jermaine Defoe.

If I refresh the Twitter feed on my phone, (the Twitter app for iPhone is much better than the actual website) using the “Arsenal” search term, then I get a load more transfer stories come up. This time, Victor Wanyama crops up amongst all of the names. For the one millionth time of saying, “Victor Wanyama is not good enough for a top six in England.” Seriously, Wanyama is Everton or Newcastle quality, that Manchester United, Manchester City or Arsenal quality. That rumour can go to hell, I’m 95% confident that Arsene Wenger won’t pursue Wanyama.

My favourite rumours are the ones linking Arsenal with Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus in a £30 million swoop for the pair of them. You heard it here first, Arsenal are set to sign two of Germany’s premium talents for a pittance. Borussia Dortmund, who just finished as runners-up in the Champions League, are that hard up, that they have to sell two of their best players for a combined total of £30 million. The Mario Goetze situation where he left for Bayern Munich is different. If Jupp Heynckes wanted Goetze, then I’m confident he would have stayed with Dortmund. That changes however, when Pep Guardiola identifies Goetze as his top target and as Klopp said, “it is no secret that Mario is Guardiola’s favourite player.” For a young star, to be singled out personally by Guardiola, who managed Leo Messi so well, must mean a lot.

In the situation of Robert Lewandowski, it is unfortunate and a lesson for Dortmund in the art of contracts, but is now an inevitability that Lewandowski will leave this summer. Aside from those two, Dortmund don’t want or need to sell their best players. Especially not for £15 million each.

The most intriguing transfer rumour of all however, is Fabregas’ mooted return to the Premier League. Manchester United want him, that much has been clear for two weeks now, but would have to pay a very large sum to sign the Spaniard. His buy-out clause according to Twitter, ranges from £70 million to £135 million. Adriano, a Brazilian utility player for Barcelona, just renewed his contract with a £90 million buy-out clause. Fabregas, who is such a huge talent, is more likely to have a release clause nearing the £135 million mark.

If Barcelona want to sell Fabregas, which they are allegedly keen to do, then Manchester United will still need to offer a hefty chunk of money, as any sale that Barcelona make on Fabregas, sees them give a staggering 50% to Arsenal. On top of that, if Barcelona do negotiate so well that Manchester United bid, for example, £70 million, then Arsenal have a buy-back option before those negotiations begin, but at the laughable price of £20 million.

Arsenal have completely mugged Barcelona in the negotiations that took place over Fabregas. Imagine Cesc has a season where he scores 35 goals from midfield and assist another 20. Then imagine that Real Madrid or Monaco offer a whopping £90 million, which Barcelona accept. It would then mean that Arsenal would have to be consulted over his transfer and could land a £90 million player for as little as £20 million.

Would Arsenal actually sign Fabregas? Of course. Arsene Wenger loves him, he said as much when he was co-commentating for France v Spain the other month, “Cesc would always get in my side.” If he was offered the chance to sign him, then Wenger would fork out the money for Fabregas like a flash. Basically, the sooner Manchester United, or any other club, bids for Cesc Fabregas, the quicker he becomes an Arsenal player.

That’s all I have today! See you later.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Jovetic To Arsenal / Kolo Toure To Liverpool / Tony Pulis Leaves Stoke

GOOD MORNING!

Do you wanna know why I typed that in caps lock? Because Tony Pulis has “mutually walked away from Stoke City after chairman Peter Coates sacked him for a sh*t run of results.” There’s nothing “mutual” about Pulis’ departure, he’s been sacked. Why? Because Stoke City have stagnated badly. Pulis has one way of playing football and it’s not a sustainable method.

If a new manager were to arrive at Stoke, could he get them playing passing football? Of course he could. For those who think not, look at the quick transition that Owen Coyle made at Bolton Wanderers when he first arrived to replace Gary Megson, who played an awful brand of football. Bolton were a team of cloggers and “experienced pros” but a different style of management brought the best out of them and under Coyle, they started to play good football. With a whole summer under a new manager, if that’s sorted quickly, then Stoke will be fine next season. They’ll be stronger without Pulis and I don’t see them being relegated.

Stevan Jovetic to Arsenal

Italian journalist, Tancredi Palmeri, yesterday broke the news that Arsenal had launched an official bid of £24.5 million for Fiorentina player and Montenegro international, Stevan Jovetic. There were then reports that Jovetic’s agents were in London to discuss a potential move. It’s also said that Jovetic hasn’t decided between Arsenal and Juventus yet, but an early, bold move by Arsenal has set the race for signature and caught the Serie A winners cold.

Jovetic, should he sign for Arsenal, has the qualities that dictate he could play across the entire front line. Supremely gifted, Jovetic is that extra yard of quality that Arsenal have missed this season in matches against the big teams. He possesses a Suarez-like ability to dribble through crowds of players, but his goal record has been highlighted as a weakness. Personally, I wouldn’t pay much attention to it. I looked at his stats yesterday and I think, without time to look right now, that Jovetic scored 14 goals in 31 appearances last season for Fiorentina. The guy is only 23, still in the development stages of his career and in a better team, Jovetic will prosper.

What Jovetic isn’t, is a specialist striker. As I say, he could play across the entire front line and even behind another striker. Life the specialist defensive midfielder, the specialist striker is a dying breed; you have to be so much more than a lump of meat who scores goals. What that means for Arsenal, is that with only Jovetic, Olivier Giroud and the incoming Yaya Sanogo, there is room for one more striker of a quality calibre at Arsenal. With Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott both tried in roles as striker at various stages last season, it could mean that one or the other could be seen primarily as a striking option. If that were to happen though, then a right or left-winger would need to be signed.

What is a certainty, that even with Jovetic coming, if it is indeed true, that Arsenal will still need more forward options, whether it be on the flanks or through the middle. Arsenal are from done with their transfer activity.

Kolo Toure to Liverpool

Ben Smith of BBC Sport reports that Kolo Toure will move to Liverpool once his Manchester City contract expires in June. Once dubbed the “African Cannavaro” by Italian press, Toure only made 18 appearances for Manchester City in all competitions and was left out of their Champions League squad.

The rumours are that Brendan Rodgers wants two central defenders after the retirement of Jamie Carragher and the departure or Martin Skrtel imminent. Kyriakos Papadopoulos is Liverpool’s priority signing, but an asking price of £20 million for the Greek international could prove to be too much, even for a club which spunked £35 million on Andy Carroll. Alternatively, Liverpool could turn their attention to Swansea City captain, Ashley Williams and rumours are that Winston Reid is being measured up by two other Premier League clubs, with Arsenal being one of them.

That’s all from me today, see you tomorrow.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Italy, Liverpool, Premiership, Serie A Leave a comment

Arsenal’s Platform To Build On / Tottenham Worries

The contrasting situations between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the end of 90 minutes on Sunday, spoke volumes for the importance of Champions League football.

On the one hand, Arsenal celebrated as if they had lifted a trophy, for which they have been criticised for. “Fourth is not a trophy, this just shows how far Arsenal have slipped.” Granted, Arsenal have slipped, but to hammer them for celebrating a win with their fans, a win which saw them finish above their rivals no less, is a genuine cause for celebration. Robin van Persie lead similar celebrations to the travelling Arsenal support at Stamford Bridge last year, a match which Arsenal had won 5-3. This result brought an end to Arsenal’s woeful start to the season and was massive for morale. Rightly so, Arsenal celebrated with fans as if they had won a trophy.

But, Everton didn’t dance around when they finished above Liverpool in the league? No, but that’s because the rewards weren’t so big financially. What finishing fourth has done for Arsenal, with their new sponsorship deals, has given them financial parity in the transfer market with every other football club. Arsene Wenger is sculpting together a new side after the destruction of his old one, which was dubbed, “Project Youth.” People quickly forget how long that team took to build and underestimate the damage its break-up had on Arsenal. In creating a new squad, Wenger can’t be questioned for spending money over the past two seasons.

A lot of the signings that Wenger had made however, are replacements for those who have left, or players for squad depth. Very few have been investments in the calibre of a Cesc Fabregas or a Robin van Persie. Now, with the money available and rumours growing from strong sources regarding Arsenal transfers, there was a feeling of optimism yesterday amongst the Arsenal support. For me at least, the celebrations weren’t just for finishing in front of Tottenham and finishing fourth, but at the prospect of kicking on now.

In his post-match interview, Theo Walcott spoke of the need to be celebrating titles, not fourth place finishes and he’s absolutely right. Now is the time for Arsenal to kick on and there is a genuine optimism that they will.

As Arsenal’s players were celebrating and dancing in front of their away support in Newcastle, Tottenham players had their heads down in gutting disappointment. They’ve been at their maximum this year and have been able to boast one of the Premier League’s star performers in Gareth Bale, who has rescued Tottenham countless times in the dying minutes over the past few months. Tottenham have also been able to boat the league’s most consistent centre-back in Jan Vertonghen and were 7 points clear of Arsenal with ten matches to go in March. One month later, Arsenal had recovered and taken over fourth spot.

The possible permutations of not qualifying for the Champions League, are very dangerous for Tottenham. Financially, they cannot compete with any of the top four, nor are they a bigger club and thus can’t attract the same level of players. If Tottenham were to bid for a really big player, they then have to persuade him to join a club that isn’t competing in Europe’s top competition. Clubs interested in signing Gareth Bale will lay siege to Daniel Levy’s office for the next few months, which is a huge worry.

Like Arsenal, finishing fourth was the grounds for building on and strengthening their position. That Tottenham didn’t succeed will make a for a large degree of uncertainty over the summer. Bids will come in for Gareth Bale and if Real Madrid start asking, then the Welshman’s head will be turned very quickly. As Gary Neville said yesterday, it’s important that both teams come flying out of the blocks in the summer transfer window, but maybe more important for Tottenham, who now have to endure an assault on their club for Gareth Bale and potentially, Jan Vertonghen, who is allegedly attracting interest from Barcelona.

That’s all I have for today, see you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 20, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership, Tottenham Hotspur Leave a comment

In Form Arsenal Shape Up For Next Season

Good morning.

Since the turn of the new year, Arsenal have been much improved from the team that started this season. In actual truth, Arsenal started well, looking a very compact side with a neat balance between attack and defence, particularly impressing critics in a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield. A bit of Arsenal’s attacking verve had taken a knock as they focused a little more on the defensive aspect of their play, but it was a welcome change.

Having sold key components of the old Arsenal side, in Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie, Arsene Wenger has been forced to conjure up a different side capable of competing for trophies. Like-for-like, the new replacements may not be as good, but since January 1st, the likes of Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski have worked out how to become more effective. Cazorla for example, has been very good all season, but has been a lot more consistent in the second half of this season.

What I’m trying to say, is that Arsenal look much more of a team now, although far from a finished article. Of the 18 Premier League matches Arsenal have played in 2013, they have won 11, drew 4 and lost 3. It could be better, but according to Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s points tally for the second half of the year is similar to Manchester United’s.

How Arsenal finish this campaign, will have a massive impact on how they perform in the next season. Champions League qualification is a must and if that’s achieved, Arsenal will be in the luxurious position of having a lot of money to spend on their top targets. With much luck, the world class talents that take a side that extra mile in a game will be at the Emirates Stadium and this Arsenal side can continue to grow. Finish in 5th and qualify for only the Europa League however, and targets such as Steven Jovetic won’t be so keen to join when other teams will be able to guarantee him Champions League football.

There is still a job to be done – one game left – in which Arsenal must win against Newcastle United to secure Champions League football for another season. Arsenal have been holding off Tottenham Hotspur for a month now and it’s all down to this last game. Win and Arsenal are in the Champions League. Lose and Tottenham beat Sunderland at White Hart Lane, then it will be Spurs playing in the Champions League.

Despite getting the much-needed results, Arsenal haven’t been “sparkling” throughout their unbeaten run. Arsenal have had to dig very deep for three points against Norwich City, Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, QPR and Wigan Athletic respectively.

Yes, I included Wigan in that mix, a team who were seemingly swept aside 4-1 just last night, but the score doesn’t reflect the trouble Arsenal encountered on their route to those three points.

Lukas Podolski had put Arsenal head in the 11th minute with the easiest header of his career. For the first half an hour of the match, Arsenal were on fire, surging forward in numbers and zipping the ball around the pitch at dizzying speeds. Laurent Koscielny was culpable of missing a fantastic chance from a corner and soon enough, Wigan promptly found their feet and started to come back into a match that looked dead to them. Shaun Maloney, with time running out in the first half, ran at the Arsenal defence and as Mikel Arteta came to close him down, Maloney pushed the Spaniard, but Arteta’s strength was too great for the tiny Scottish international and he fell over. Mike Dean awarded a Wigan free-kick for Maloney’s push on Arteta and predictably, Maloney netted from the set-piece.

Wigan then started the second half desperate for a second goal to defend, knowing they would tire physically. They nearly got that second goal when Arouna Kone and Maloney combined inside the Arsenal penalty area to produce a good stop from Wojciech Szczesny, who spread himself to deny what would have been a well-worked goal.

Wigan’s period of pressure started to wane and soon enough, Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead, having been set-up with a cross from Santi Cazorla. The tiny Spaniard then played Podolski through to lob over Joel Robles and claimed his fourth assist of the evening when he sent Aaron Ramsey clear, who made a lung-busting run with the ball to finish past Robles for Arsenal’s fourth and a consequential ending of match and relegation for Wigan.

A period of nerves highlights how much further Arsenal have to go before they’re a fully functional team again, but coming through this challenge successfully and seeing off Tottenham will provide a great boost for their belief. Fourth place isn’t ideally what Wenger wants to be competing for and if his team continues to grow and sustain this form, there is no reason the current team can’t compete for honours next season, but they must finish this season in the Champions League places.

See you tomorrow!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership, Wigan Athletic Leave a comment

Arsenal’s New Puma Kit-Deal / Wayne Rooney To Arsenal?

Good morning!

After two full days of emerging news on the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes moving to Manchester United and more stuff on Ferguson, I thought it’d be refreshing to change tune for this morning. Don’t get me wrong, Ferguson is well-loved here at JFG Towers, but there’s only so often I can type, “Sir Alex Ferguson” before I begin responding to his name.

Before Ferguson selfishly hogged the headlines, The Daily Mirror broke a huge story on Arsenal, just moments before the Ferguson news, revealing that Arsenal had negotiated a £170 million kit-deal with Puma. Swiss Ramble, who is astonishingly accurate with finances, said that Arsenal’s deal, with add-ons, will be £34 million a year; the biggest kit deal in the world. Well, the biggest until Manchester United renew their deal with Nike, but that isn’t the point; this is a massive step forward for Arsenal.

Previously, it could be argued that Arsenal’s poor commercial deals were holding them back from competing at Europe’s highest level. Well, now that they’re pulling out deals superior to the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, there’s no excuse for Arsene Wenger not popping the Bayern Munich starting XI in his shopping trolley. Obviously, that’s a joke, but they can now compete for the best players and already the names have started to trickle into the news.

Wayne Rooney?

Yeah, that one stunned me at first, but Pedro from Le Grove posted this on his Twitter account:

Rooney to Arsenal is a very interesting prospect, although one I consider highly unlikely. Arsenal could afford to pay the high premium, but for the money they would actually spend on Rooney, you could get a better, younger, more talented player for about £10 million less. Rooney is a leading English international, so will command a higher fee whereas Stevan Jovetic isn’t going to cost quite as much and is a better talent in my opinion.

Still, the point here is that Arsenal’s ambition is growing and if that ambition actually converts into players arriving at the Emirates, then next season looks to be fantastic already for Arsenal.

Right, that’s all from me today! See you tomorrow.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Alex Song Back To Arsenal / Why Song Should Stay At Barcelona

Good morning and say hello to Friday!

There isn’t much floating about in the news this morning. Everything at this stage of the season tends to rotate around speculation of which teams can pick up points where to avoid relegation. Suddenly, football supporters talk equations and psychology with each other in the stands.

With speculation, we could be here all day, so I’ll avoid looking at who could be relegated from the Premier League. QPR and Reading are just about gone; ten points away from safety is too much of a gap to bridge now.

It’s all about that last spot and I’m putting money on Stoke to fill 18th place.

Anyway, as I said, I’m not getting involved in that speculation (for now).

Alex Song unhappy at Barcelona

It isn’t like we saw this coming, is it? In his last season at Arsenal, in the 2011/12 season, Song was a key player for all the wrong reasons.

As a specialised defensive midfielder, Song’s job was to track runners, sniff out danger and initiate play from deep. Nothing more than that, just the job you would ask of a defensive midfielder. Mikel Arteta, signed from Everton and paired with Song, soon found that he had to be careful when making runs forward from deep, as Song liked to do that as well, often without communicating that fact.

I vividly recall Arsenal playing QPR away last season and for Samba Diakite’s goal, which ultimately proved to be the winner. In this moment of play, QPR countered and Diakite made a run deep from QPR’s midfield and strolled into the Arsenal penalty area to score the winning goal. In the hundred acre space that was afforded to Diakite, where was Song?

Very often last season, Song shirked his defensive responsibilities. There can be no denying however, Song’s importance to Arsenal in the final third last season. Eleven assists, including two world class chipped passes to Robin van Persie for stunning goals against Everton and Liverpool, just highlighted his attacking worth to the team.

At times, Song’s propensity to try the spectacular pass in the final third came at a detriment to the team’s collective cause. Against AC Milan at the Emirates Stadium last season, Arsenal needed a goal in the last few minutes to force extra-time. On one of the final attacks in the match, Song was in lots of space in midfield, bringing the ball forward. To his right, was the option of passing to Park Chu-Young, which would have stretched play and kept the momentum going. Ahead of him, was Robin van Persie, who was slightly to the left of the area. As he had done earlier in the season against Everton and Liverpool, Song tried a chipped pass over AC Milan’s defence, but this was read and thus cleared by Milan.

On the touch line, Arsene Wenger was going apoplectic, gesticulating to Park Chu-Young and asking why Song hasn’t made the pass. The groans inside the stadium suggested that had been once too often from Song. Coming back to the QPR match at Loftus Road and Song tried said chipped pass about four times when the simple pass would have been a better option.

Alex Song is a very good football player in terms of ability and skill. In terms if anticipating play and positional awareness however, Song comes up short and this has been exposed since his move to Barcelona.

Reports circulating after Rigobert Song (Alex’s uncle) said Alex Song is unhappy at Barcelona have fuelled talks of a return to Arsenal. This wouldn’t happen for a number of reasons, one being that if Francis Coquelin is given a prolonged run in the team, then he’ll develop into an incredible player. Second, third and fourth reasons being that Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere play in this area. There’s no need for Song at Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger said in his press conference yesterday, that Alex Song should give it a go at Barcelona for at least another season.

Song could do with two more seasons learning and perfecting his game with Barcelona. If Song improves his anticipation of play, then he will improve to a great degree. There’s also a great need for Song to extinguish his ambitions of joining attacking play before he can be a great defensive midfielder.

That’s all from me today. Have a good Friday!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, La Liga, Premiership, Spain Leave a comment

Alex Song Back To Arsenal / Why Song Should Stay At Barcelona

Good morning and say hello to Friday!

It’s all about that last spot and I’m putting money on Stoke to fill 18th place.

Anyway, as I said, I’m not getting involved in that speculation (for now).

Alex Song unhappy at Barcelona

It isn’t like we saw this coming, is it? In his last season at Arsenal, in the 2011/12 season, Song was a key player for all the wrong reasons.

Arsene Wenger said in his press conference yesterday, that Alex Song should give it a go at Barcelona for at least another season.

That’s all from me today. Have a good Friday!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, La Liga, Premiership, Spain Leave a comment

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