Wenger on the search for new players, Squad improvements are key & AV News

The season countdown is ticking louder and louder, we are now approaching the final stages of preparation before the players walk out to 'you'll never walk alone'

Arsene Wenger has said that we need at least four center backs, so another will be brought in before the start of the season.

Wenger said:

"I wouldn't like to give you any names, There are plenty of names that we consider and we analyse. We look at the financial possibilities and the technical potential. But it is impossible for me to come out with a name.

"We are still on the search because at the moment we only have three centre backs and we have seen last season you needed five. I believe we need at least four because we have some other players who can fill in this position but overall we are still on the search."

Sol Campbell's ambitious move to high flying Newcastle United has meant that Arsene has little choice but to enter the transfer market and fill in that position. Ignoring my Sol sarcasm for a second, I can understand his decision to go to a club where more playing time is likely to be on the agenda rather than sitting on the bench at Arsenal, even if the level is obviously higher.

I was hoping that he would stay around, more because of his desire to win than actual playing ability but it is not to be. The only names that have been bouncing around the airwaves has been German duo Per Mertesacker and international team mate Serdar Tasci.

Mertesacker is a player of very good qualities but I have my doubts if his style would suit our system. There is no getting away from the fact that we play an offensive style, a system that means our back four play high up the pitch, allowing our offensive players to be situated in areas that suit their game and can hurt the opposition.

Mertesacker is a good defender, who wins plenty in the air. Great for teams who bombard us in the penalty box. Perfect player for us you would say. If that was the case then Philippe Senderos would have been a guaranteed success for us.

I am not saying that if the player did join, then he would be an automatic failure. I am just saying that I could understand if Arsene wasn't interested in the player. I know very little about Serdar Tasci. I have never seen him play and don't know what type of central defender he is.

Love him or loathe him, William Gallas was fantastic for pretty much all the games he played last season. Thomas Vermaelen being the new boy got plenty of the plaudits but in my eyes William Gallas was the more consistent performer in the games that he played.

I just cannot see us being able to find a player as good as Gallas was last season, no matter if the new player is a freebee or a £45million 'showing we mean business' type signing. I cannot see said player complimenting Vermaelen and our system as well as Gallas did. Having said all that, we conceded far too many goals last season even with the impressive combination at center back so perhaps the individual isn't so important. It is the team organisation and desire to win the ball back over the whole pitch that should be the priority for this coming season.

It looks as if Havard Nordtveit will not be the fourth choice defender as Wenger does not see him as being ready yet.

The goalkeeping situation has been the talk of the town during the summer months, according to the Daily Fail Mark Schwarzer has said that he wants to leave Fulham and join Arsenal. Surprisingly though, they forgot to include the quotes. They obviously wouldn't have just gone and made it up to sell papers so I take it they made a genuine mistake... again.

I am getting the feeling that our goalkeepers will remain the same come the start of the season. Like I have said many times during these summer months, I would like to see an experienced goalkeeper to come in to challenge Almunia for the number one shirt but I would also be happy with the Almunia of two seasons ago. The Almunia and Fabianski of last season would be a slight concern. I am sure that Arsene would bring in a goalkeeper if one is available and is better than what we already have. Judging by the world cup, top quality goalkeepers in the mould of Seaman, Schmeichel and even Lehmann do not seem to be growing on trees.

If an external glove wearer does not join our payroll then the players we have at the club need to pull their socks up and prove their doubters wrong. That is all they can do, improvement from within should be the target of the collective squad every time they take to the field in our special shirt that means so much to so many.

Arsene believes that the squad is ready to improve and compete against the big spending clubs in the Premier League.

Wenger said:

"I am very confident [we'll do better than last season], We know in England that the Premier League is the biggest league in the world and everybody invests a lot of money. We invest in our work, in our beliefs, in the quality of our behaviour and I am confident that will pay off. We finished third last year and we hope we can improve on that. But the race will be tough."

The benefits of having a younger squad is that the players will have scope to improve, more so than squads such as Chelsea who have many players passed their peak, still very able and contain plenty of quality but past their very best.

Another hope is to see any previous failings corrected and improved upon. Whilst the fans yearn for new signings, this is usually the most important step to take for a squad that is challenging but not quite having enough to win.

This was apparent when an Arsenal squad finished five points behind Manchester United in season 2002/2003, Arsene spent just over £1million on Jens Lehmann and then finished the next season unbeaten, 15 points above the team that were crowned champions nine months previous.

You cannot say that Jens Lehmann was the difference of twenty points. He was an astute signing and made a difference, a difference that many Gooners are calling for but I can bet my bottom dollar that most of the work was done on the training pitch and in the early hours of the night when Arsene was looking back at tapes, figuring out how each player as well as the collective squad needed to improve.

Don't get it twisted, I want to see quality additions.. erm added. But the mentality of the current squad would give us a bigger boost in my amateur opinion.

Away from Arsenal for a second, I have to mention the ridiculously hypercritical Sam Allardyce having the cheek to complain about dangerous tackles from the opposition and the referee not protecting his players.

Are you having a laugh? you pulling my plonker? you having a bubble bath?

This coming from the man who sets his players out to hurt Arsenal players, I don't care what anyone tells me. That is what this man does and he has the cheek to complain when the boot is on the other foot.

I know we have more class than most but if I was in charge I would employ a random dude for £100 a week, add him to my playing staff (he better be homegrown I guess) bring him on in the 89th minute at Ewood Park, his mission is not to get the ball down and create chances or win the ball back. It would be to do kick ups with any of the Blackburn players who decided to purposely attack our players. When he gets his inevitable red card, his next mission is to get in the face of fat Sam and let him know that he is there. Suspension? Never mind, we'll get on with it and next time Blackburn Rovers, Stoke City, Birmingham City may decide to play by the rules a little more.

Childish? yeah I know, but who cares. I am sick and tired of these people in our game making the rules up and these rules being applied differently against us.

Rant over, until the next wild lunge on a 'fancy dan Arsenal player who needs to get used to the rough stuff of the English game'

*Remember count to ten and breathe, count to ten and breathe*

On a much more light hearted and down right hilarious note our good old friends from down the lane got a spanking by Villarreal at Shite Hart Lane last night. It finished 4-1 but could have been double that apparently. I was coming back home late last night and I saw many Tottenham shirts around Euston station, I had a smirk to myself watching all their faces after finding out the result on Twitter.

I have been hoping that the Spuds get knocked out of the qualifiers but it might even be more enjoyable watching them get through to the group stages and take up the role of group punch bag.

On a technical note, I would like to apologise to anyone who has sent in any Your Vision articles or who have contacted the site in the last few weeks (it appears) I am not getting any mail through via the contact pages. I think Gmail have decided that everything from this site is spam and it is not even hiding in the spam folder.

Please can you send anything to arsenalvision[at]gmail.com obviously replacing [at] with @. Hopefully the new look site will be up before the start of the season, therefore this problem will be eradicated.

Back tomorrow.

Click to follow Arsenal Vision on Twitter
Click to follow Arsenal Vision on Facebook

Wilshere set for Ramsey role? Sol's off.. again

The pre season friendly is on at a convenient time for me today as I plan to watch the game then go straight to my usual Tuesday evening football at 8pm.

We should witness a team closer to the real deal this afternoon with the world cup travellers having had the time to be put through their paces. According to Young Guns a few of the younger members will be flying home as they nurse injuries.

Craig Eastmond, Armand Traore, Henri Lansbury and Conor Henderson will take no part in the last game of the Austrian tour. However Jack Wilshere continues to be part of Arsene's plans.

Wilshere has spoken about his last 12 months and how he became such a well known name.

Wilshere said:

"Yes, I think I have got used to it, The boss helped me a lot. Obviously I was frustrated not to play but it is probably the right thing, and then letting me go out on loan to get some experience. So I think I have handled it quite well, yes."

"I think things come more naturally, Obviously you are fitter because you've got match fitness. Things just come more naturally to you."

It was pretty much this time last year when Jack Wilshere really made a name for himself. Jack lit up the Emirates cup, showing balance, grace, no fear and confidence that was far beyond his years. Then came all the talk of playing for England and being a starter in the Arsenal team. Wilshere was now supposed to be ahead of Denilson in the team even though both players have totally different roles to the team.

Jack's hype spiraled out of control whilst his form had dipped along with injury. Wenger took him out the lime light and eventually lent him to Bolton, giving him the chance to play regular first team football at a good level. Good compared to the Arsenal reserves.

I am glad that Wilshere was able to take his chance and show everyone what he can do. Hopefully this time he is physically stronger than he was last year and the game time will give him the experience to make the difference in the Arsenal first team. With Aaron Ramsey missing for the early part of this season, I would like to see Wilshere take his place in the squad, being brought in from the bench with twenty minutes to go until he is given his chance to start.

One player who is looking increasingly likely not to play alongside Wilshere is Sol Campbell. Reports are coming out that he is set for a medical with Newcastle United, after being likely to sign for Celtic and then Sunderland.

It was suggested that Campbell would sign on again for Arsenal but that does not appear to be the case today. I would really like Campbell to stay, not just for his playing experience but for his desire to win, it became infectious at the end of last season. If Campbell does sign on elsewhere then it would be extremely likely that Wenger will dip his hand into the piggy bank and bring in another central defender. Three first teamers and a youngster would be very thin. I'd be surprised if Arsene went into the season with the numbers we have in defence. Many are panicking about our defence and goalkeeping options but I would like to remind everyone that most of the transfer action happens at the end of the window, especially with Arsenal. We have roughly a month left of the transfer window so I suggest taking a chill pill and watch and enjoy the players we currently have in our squad.

Hopefully we should have plenty to talk about after the game this evening. Enjoy the game.

Back tomorrow.

On Facebook? Why not join the new Facebook group. Just click this link
Click to follow Arsenal Vision on Twitter

Arsene doesn't want James, Akinfeev wants Arsenal and I want it to stop

I intended to write a blog yesterday, I had plenty to say at the time, honest guv. I was stopped dead in my tracks by a super sized hangover, one that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It was actually my first hangover for years and I will make sure it is my last for years as well.

I had a really weird dream last night. Ashley Cole was at my house last night explaining to me that his departure from Arsenal was not his fault and that the story of him demanding more money was false. It was all Arsene's fault apparently. He was leaving my house to drive straight to Liverpool to sign for them. I was not allowed to write about it because no one knew about it. When he left I flipped open my laptop to write an exclusive but then my youngest daughter woke me up from my sleep. Drat, I'll get that big exclusive one day.

As you would expect, loads has been going on since I last wrote. There has been transfer speculation, rumour, gossip, hearsay and erm speculation. The usual stuff you would expect when the players are in another country working to gain fitness. The hacks have to fill their columns somehow haven't they?

Wouldn't it be nice to read articles in the newspaper with a bit of thought, research and depth? Something that wasn't club x is keeping tabs on player y. Just for once, please. You have certain websites likes The Swiss Ramble who are probably writing for the joy of it and are not earning what these idiots from the likes of the Daily Mail are earning yet produce fantastic, informative content.

Surely we are not so ridiculously stupid that we can only be fed 99% made up transfer 'speculation' to keep our attention. There has got to be a gap in the market for something a little more interesting.

While I am mentioning The Swiss Ramble, I thought I would throw a few others into the ring.

Arsenal Column
Zonal Marking

Two more sites that offer a little more than Denilson only passes sideways and Almunia is a clown.

I have gone way off track here, I think the constant transfer crap that drips out of mouths is starting to get the better of me. Whilst I am here let me get it out of the way.

David James apparently was turned down by Arsene Wenger so he now has to downgrade his train ticket to catch the Glasgow train. Celtic will accept him with open arms.

I would be a little perplexed if we bought David James. A great shot stopper, coming to the end of his career who has a habit of making errors from crosses. If I sit here long enough and think about this, maybe I can remember who that reminds me of. But as I don't have the time, I will leave it for now in the hope that it comes back to me whilst doing the dishes or something.

Every Arsenal fans favourite goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev has 'issued a come and get me plea' (I love that saying) to Arsene Wenger.

“Arsenal and Manchester United are two of the very best clubs in the world. If both of them are going to be ­looking for keepers this ­summer – or even the next summer – then of course I am interested.

“I have spoken with Arshavin about Arsenal and ­London life. He has only had good things to say about the club and the city. He said some very nice things about me going on to be the best goalkeeper in the world – and that he would like me to reach that goal at Arsenal with him.

Anyone think that he wants to come and join us? Well us or the Mancs for that matter. Apart from being the dogs in Football Manager, I know nothing about the Russian number one. I don't know how he would fair against the physical nature of the Premier League, I do not know what he is like on one on ones given the fact that we play quite a high line, I do not know what his distribution is like and obviously I do not know what price a financially rich club like CSKA Moscow would put above his head.

If all the variables are correct for Arsenal and the player is a good character then I am sure the club would be interested in doing business, the trouble is we as fans rarely get to know any of these details, so when player x isn't bought then dissatisfaction often rings around without actually knowing the facts, hence the reason why being an actual manager is much harder than doing it from the comfort of your own home.

Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekeleburg is another who is linked with joining the club. We will probably have to start again from the beginning and relink all the old keepers again soon because we are close to having links with every keeper in the world. Someone told me that Vince Bartram was seen in Tesco's near Ashburton Grove, he was in full Arsenal kit, including muddy boots so I suspect he had just completed his medical.

Yes I know I am ridiculing these transfer 'links' (apart from the Bartram one of course) but it doesn't stop me from admitting that I would love a new number one at Arsenal but not a dip your hand in the bowl and select random keeper, one that is better than we already have and one that will help stabilise our defence.

Which leads me nicely onto my next topic. Johan Djourou calls for more aggression from his defence this year.

Djourou said:

"It is true that 41 goals is too much when you are playing for the top places, I think sometimes we are missing a bit of aggression. It is not that we are not good enough, because the team is good enough. We have top players at the back, top players all over the pitch. It is just that we have to be stronger as a unit."

Ironically enough, I feel that is the side of the game that Djourou needs to improve upon. A very cultured player who made the step back into defence from holding midfield during his time at Arsenal. Good in the air, on the ball and distributes well but unlike the likes of Gallas we haven't seen that aggression to get to the ball first at times. That desire to not let the opposition past him.

Aggression is important but for me, defensive organisation is the area where our defence need to improve upon the most. Individually they are all very good players as Djourou said but at times like season they looked like four separate players doing whatever they wanted. Communication, organisation and practice will hopefully see better numbers at the end of next season.

Djourou's potential partner Laurent Koscielny has brought to the table a list of his strengths that will hopefully improve our defence for next season.

Koscielny said:

"I like physical challenges and I'm a player that can anticipate situations, I feel that I read the game well and one of my strengths is challenging for the ball in the air.

"However, being at Arsenal, I know that I will have to work harder on all of those points to reach a higher level."

Liking the physical challenge and winning headers is a great start Laurent, let us hope he can reach his best quickly. We must all remember not to judge him too much on what he has done in 'practice' games thus far. Last season in pre season I can clearly remember Vermaelen being questioned for being too slow, losing headers to Paul Furlong etc then at Everton we witnessed the Verminator. I am not comparing the two players, that would be unfair but lets give the guy a chance before popping him into the blue recycling bin outside your front door.

***** This section of the article was intercepted by the BFZ filter. Words found: Balding young men.. [deleted] ****

Back tomorrow.

On Facebook? Why not join the new Facebook group. Just click this link
Click to follow Arsenal Vision on Twitter

A day of transfer news, Keepers & Why Cesc talk is dangerous (Video)

Today is mostly a transfer speculation type of day, nothing concrete happening as the team and manager are working hard out in Austria in order to reach peak fitness. As the wheels of the transfer window have already slowly started to turn we will read and hear more and more news about player x moving to club y.

Arsene Wenger has been slowly working on the squad since the end of last season. Chamakh has replaced the departed Eduardo, whilst Koscielny has so far replaced William Gallas or Mikel Silvestre depending on his ranking from the manager. The rumour doing the rounds at the moment is that Sol Campbell will come back from his honey moon and resign with Arsenal. We shall see how much truth is in that but I certainly would welcome Campbell back at the club. Even if he does not manage to rack up a high number of games, his presence and experience in training and the dressing room will be very important. From the outside we witnessed how much of a positive effect Sol Campbell was and that can only help the likes of Johan Djourou, Tomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny not to mention whichever youngsters will be taking the step up to the first team squad.

It will be interesting to see if another center back comes into the club. Four main center backs seems to be the required amount for most clubs in the Premier League but most clubs have a normal injury record. The question is how do you prepare your squads when injuries have been such a problem for us in the last couple of years. It would be madness to buy an extra two players for every position just incase we suffer in that area. We were never short of right backs last season but if Wenger went and bought another one or two right backs as cover then what would happen to those players? At the same time we have to be aware that injuries in certain areas derailed our season last year and we finished the season with an outrageous amount of players being unavailable.

The good news is that we have a good handful of youngsters who are getting closer and hopefully some are already ready for the first team which in turn makes our squad bigger for the new season. Jack Wilshere, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Kieran Gibbs and Craig Eastmond are ready to get games from the bench or selected games whilst the likes of Havard Nordtveit could be vital with his versatility. A natural center half who played as a defensive midfielder last season has impressed at right back thus far during the pre season.

It remains to be seen how these players will do against tougher opposition, especially the defensive players. Wenger will be looking at those players in training and in pre season before making his decision to go after the next player on his watch list.

Much has been made of Manuel Almunia missing the first two pre season games and I wouldn't necessarily look too much into that. We all know what Manuel Almunia can do and what he cannot do. Arsene could well be using this time to see what his younger goalkeepers can do and how they work alongside the defenders. This is not to say that Almunia will start the season at Arsenal, there is a chance that he may be let go to find another club after a stop start, inconsistent last season.

That said I would not feel 100% comfortable with Lukasz Fabianski in between the sticks as our number 1 goalkeeper. The last two seasons have told us that he was not ready, unless massive amounts of improvement has been made in only a few short months then I cannot envisage him being top of the tree. The Mark Schwarzer rumour hasn't disappeared and Wenger has had the chance to bat it out of the court but has chosen not to do so. If our interest is real then I am sure we are waiting for Fulham to appoint a manager before a deal can be concluded.

If I woke up as Arsenal manager then I would buy a number 1 keeper, I don't know who, I'd just ask my goalkeeping coach to do that job as my football manager skills do not stretch as far as goalkeepers. Then I would hope that Almunia stays to battle with said keeper for the number 1 spot, starting the season on the bench. Lukasz Fabianski would go on a season long loan to get regular football and regain his confidence whilst Chesney Hawkes goes on a six month loan hopefully back in time to be our Carling Cup and FA Cup keeper.

God, this is so simple sitting in the comfort of my armchair.

The rumours continue to circulate as Tomas Rosicky is the next target out of the club. Apparently some German clubs are looking at him. Personally I would tell those clubs to get stuffed or to go and take a look at Steven Gerrard or something. Rosicky is a classy individual who looks in good shape right now. His haircut has given him a new aerodynamisism (real word??) which prevents any type of injury.

Ok, perhaps I made that bit up but I certainly would like to see him given another chance again. I do not like when people write off players with obvious talent because of a drop of form at a certain point. It doesn't mean that the player is past it or finished or no longer cares, it means that the player has lost form. I don't expect Manchester United to sell Rooney for £7.5 million because of a drop of form at the world cup.

The likes of Rosicky, Diaby, Nasri etc who lost form last season can and most probably will bounce back to show their best form.

I have cringed in the past when the likes of Andrey Arshavin and William Gallas have spoken to the media, but I every time Tomas Vermaelen has something to say I usually end the article with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

The Verminator believes that we can be in the title fight again this season.

Vermaelen said:

“We have a good young group who are very aggressive and want to improve. I think people will always say we can't compete — it is not the first time.

“But we have to do what we always do which is work hard and play our own game. Then we can compete — I hope we can compete for the title this year and I'm convinced we will.”

That's it Tommy! you say it as it is. Are you gonna stand there and disagree with Tommy V? I certainly am not going to.

Hopefully our back four and keeper (whoever he may be) can gel quickly and remain fit together for most of the season.

David Villa is the latest in Barcelona players to come out and have something to say about Cesc Fabregas. I have said before that this is a Barcelona free zone but I have seen terrible things happen when this whole Cesc situation is spoken about too often. So it is my duty to warn you of the dangers.

I created the animation a few years ago but I changed the audio this time round. It is a bit of fun so if you are offended then don't be. As advice goes, it doesn't get much better than that.

Before I go I would like to take off my virtual hat to Thierry Henry who scored his first goal for the New York Red Bulls against the Scum. He was taken off at half time with his new team winning 1-0 (I think) had he remained on the pitch then they would have won, instead the scummers fluked a 2-1 victory. Oh how I hope they lose their qualifiers. Please footballing gods, make me happy.

Back tomorrow.

On Facebook? Why not join the new Facebook group. Just click this link
Click to follow Arsenal Vision on Twitter