Not only does he have to improve the goals against column, which is not necessarily the back four but he has to replace potentially Gallas, Silvestre, Campbell and of course Senderos.

So the ball has begun to roll, although I am not sure if it counts when the player in question is actually a free agent but it does mean we have one less center back on our payroll. Philippe Senderos has finally cut ties with Arsenal and has signed a deal with Fulham on a three year contract. His career did not quite go in the direction it was supposed to and I do feel sorry for the guy. Senderos always seemed like one of the good guys in football, one of the few natural leaders in the squad. When Senderos was good he was fantastic. Threw himself at the ball to make blocks, towering above the forward to power a header out of the box. I remember a 0-0 performance in the Champions League against Real Madrid at Highbury where he was man of the match by a mile. A truly vintage center half display, Go Sendy!!

The trouble is, when he was bad he was costly. Playing in an attacking, footballing side Senderos became often exposed. Having to push up half way inside his half of the pitch, with his central midfield too far ahead of him he often got caught out. Senderos was not the most mobile of players and he didn’t always fit with the rest of the team. He has been a little unfairly crucified for his handling of Drogba, a player who has continued to torment Arsenal without the Swiss.

I said this a few years ago and I continue to believe that Senderos will shine in a compact well drilled system, a system that does not have huge gaps, a system that will bring out his strengths. Attacking the ball and being in the right place at the right time.

Having said this, I do not imagine a partnership of Senderos and Hangeland. Similar in style and lacks a balance but let us wait and see what happens. I hope he gets a good reception at the Emirates next season because he deserves one.

The end of season review has been released and it has given us some quotes from Arsene Wenger, we haven’t heard much from the boss since the end of the season. He has been going about his business behind the scenes, trying to shape his squad for next season. Wenger was speaking about spending the right amount of money on the defence.

Wenger said:

“The basic improvements that have to be made is defensive and with spending the right money, The right money is not necessarily quantity because you never know how much people want for the players you want. But what I mean by the right money is that we will not be scared to spend if needed.”

All very riddly to me Arsene, but one thing is almost certain and that is that Wenger has plenty of work to do with his back four. Not only does he have to improve the goals against column, which is not necessarily the back four but he has to replace potentially Gallas, Silvestre, Campbell and of course Senderos. Djourou and Vermaelen have never played together competitively and we could see all our experience heads at the back leave for pastures new. I worry about the amount of changes in one area. Wenger doesn’t usually like that many changes to a squad.

Wenger said back in July 2009

“In my opinion, to recruit more than three players in a transfer window, as Real plan, is taking a technical risk.”

That technical risk looks to be heading to the Emirates for the new season. Perhaps Wenger will avoid any risk by signing Silvestre on a two year deal. I joke, I joke.

I have already accepted that Gallas will leave and after Nasri’s comments about how many current players are not on speaking terms with the player it may be a good thing on a purely squad morale level. I very much doubt that we will be able to find a player to perform as Gallas did last season when he played. I still find it strange to think that William Gallas played more league games than Alex Song last season. It really did not feel that way.

However I think Sol Campbell would be very important to the squad but would also accept that it is his final chance to play regular football at Celtic in a top tier (sort of)

Interesting that Ray Wilkins said a few days ago that he hoped Chelsea would be able to keep Joe Cole and then a few days later he and Michael Ballack are let go. Especially with the new quota’s, I find that decision very strange. Cole has said that he is thinking of his next move and I cannot be bothered to write about it any longer. Just let me know what you decide to do Joe, ok? I don’t want to hear about it anymore until then capish?!

ARSENAL CAPTAIN Cesc Fabregas scored for Spain last night in a 6-0 demolition of Poland. Abou Diaby has been a bright spark for France since being added to the squad and has impressed from the bench so much so that he could force his way into the starting line up for France’s opener. FourFourTwo have a good article on him which is well worth a read.

Regular readers will know of my admiration for the player and I genuinely believe that he will force his way as one of the best in his position in world football. He was crucified for his end of season performances and yes he was way below par but in many eyes that wiped away all the previous performances, performances where he often dominated the midfield both defensively and offensively.

I will gladly put my hands up if proved wrong but I can see Diaby going only one way and that is to the top.

I have always bemoaned our injury record, usually Wenger does not say very much about this subject, probably as not to undermine his squad players but he admitted that our injuries derailed our season.

Wenger said:

“[The effect] was massive. At the beginning of March we were in touch and had the same chance as everyone to win. But when you go into the final games and you do not have your players it’s too difficult, it’s impossible. [We had] four, five, six key players not in the squad, not available. You need to be a magician then to win the Premier League if everybody else has their players.”

“Even at home [Against Barcelona] I believe that we started the game straight away with Gallas not being fit, Arshavin injured,” said the manager. When we came back to 2-2 you felt that we could still win the game. But straight away Cesc got injured and was out for the rest of the season.”

I am pretty much blue in the face from talking about how awful our injury record is and I must admit I get a little frustrated when people say something along the lines of ‘everyone has injuries don’t use it as an excuse’

It frustrates me because those people turn a blind eye to the reality. Every team has injuries but not every team has the worst injury record in the league and that is the vital difference, the difference that is often ignored. If you replace 8 of Chelsea’s best players with players who are not as good then they will no longer be the same team. That is just obvious. No matter how big a squad they have, they will not do as well.

It is the same with Arsenal. Judging our whole season by our end of season collapse does not make sense. Yes, those players who came in are good enough to have done better and they should have done better but it does not excuse the fact that three quarters of our best players were not available to play in the final stretch.

Those who are demanding that we have 6 players in every position because of our injury past must now take into consideration the new squad rules which have a 25 player cap supplemented with an unlimited amount of under 21 year olds. So those who want Arsene to buy 6 central defenders will be let down.

Let me know all your views in the comments,

Back again tomorrow.

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