Stick Diaby, Denilson in a fit midfield of Cesc, Rosicky, Nasri and Van Persie for a whole season and they would be at least one level higher than they are at present

Good Lunchtime Gooners (England residents at least)

What are you having for lunch today? Well there isn’t much else going on to talk about so I have to start somewhere. The last few weeks has been pretty much dominated by Arshavin, especially in the last week of the transfer window. Now that he has signed it is still about Arshavin.

Talk of clubs wanting clarification of the Arshavin deal appears to be true. The press are claiming that Aston Villa have been shouting the loudest. I wonder if they would have been doing the same had it been a 15 year old Russian. Probably not. To be honest I think they are just pissed off because they signed Heskey and we have Arshavin. I am a little surprised that Heskey was their only signing during this window. They are in their best league position for a number of years and now would have been the time to strengthen their squad. Hopefully for Arsenal the Wigan game (against Villa) was the turning point. They have had absurd luck of late, but it seemed that Wigan sucked the good fortune into their own team. Fingers crossed that Villa struggle to get that back for the remainder of the season.

Having said that I actually like Martin O’Neill and it would be nice if they managed forth at the expense of Liverpool or Chelsea. I would say Manchester United but not sure if that will happen this time.

UPDATE: Apparently Aston Villa deny any concern about the Arshavin deal. We shall see.

So Burnley beat Premier League boys West Brom and line up a match against either Arsenal or Cardiff City. Injuries to our midfield makes the Cardiff match not quite as easy to predict. With Cesc, Rosicky and Walcott missing we were already light before missing Eboue and Diaby possibly for a number of weeks.

We are going to have to try and get through the next few weeks with the likes of Ramsey, Song, Denilson and perhaps Vela. That is far from ideal, especially in a game like the North London derby where you have to be strong physically.

I had a feeling this morning that Abou Diaby would have dominated the game against Tottenham and it is a shame that I cannot see if my feeling was true. It is such a shame but I felt that his West Ham Performance was the start of a player about to blossom into something very special. I am very surprised about the amount of criticism directed at Diaby. I say this because it is usually the more awkward looking players who get stick from supporters. Abou Diaby is graceful and very talented. He has been frustrating because he can flick the ball over a players head, stride forward which makes you purr then his next pass is 3 yards behind his intended target. So I can understand the disappointment that we have not always seen a complete game from him but I am a massive believer that a vast majority of players need games under their belt to produce top football.

A mate of mine was going to football with me on Tuesday evenings and was getting disillusioned with his performances, so much so that he wanted to stop playing, I told him to keep going and get used to it, after a few weeks he was playing like a man possessed. ok, the levels that we play at and our levels are completely different from a professional footballer but it is no doubt the same principles.

It has been difficult for players to show their full potential this season because of the stop start nature of the season so far. We have probably changed around the team and had players out more so than any other campaign and it shows. Stick Diaby, Denilson in a fit midfield of Cesc, Rosicky, Nasri and Van Persie for a whole season and they would be at least one level higher than they are at present.

Call this an excuse if you like, I prefer to call this facts. Injuries have played a massive role in our last season and a half. For example take Manchester United’s first choice wide player out for the whole season (Ronaldo) you could argue that he is more effective or makes a bigger team contribution than Rosicky but we shall balance that up in a second. Lets give a serious shoulder injury to Ji-Sung Park Walcott which sees him play his last game on the 15th November 2008. Tevez Eduardo who is United’s third choice striker has been out since 23rd February 2008, almost a full year. Let me balance up the Ronaldo argument although he hasn’t been that special this season. Michael Carrick Cesc starts the season without much of a pre season has a new partner alongside him then suffers a knee injury in December. Not to mention the other squad players who have fallen to injury. O’Shea Silvestre, Scholes Diaby.

After all that, please put together a team that is top of the league. Not easy is it? The media, the pundits, the opposition supporters and most disappointing our own supports seem to override this.

Of course Manchester United have had their own injuries but not only have they had a lot less injuries, they have only really had Hargreaves and Garry Neville as long term injuries, which one of those are already back in the squad.

If you look back at our previous league achievements under Wenger (1997/1998, 2001/2002, 2003/04) we managed to steer clear of many long term injuries, our players played most of the games together and developed a great understanding.

The same can be said of this squad if they get the chance to prove their talent.

Right sorry for the rant, but at least it gave me some content. Going to grab some munch so take it easy.

Back again tomorrow.

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