It will be interesting to know what position in the ranking that defender…. Having said that, Wenger didn’t actually say another defender. A defensive player could be a goalkeeper, a defensive midfielder or whatever

Everyone can take a deep breath in and relax now, the delayed announcement put a few noses out of joint but hopefully we can now move on. Laurent Koscielny is now officially, 100% an Arsenal player and will don the famous number 6 shirt worn by our former captain and legend Tony Adams.

Wenger spoke highly of the new addition:

We identified him as a very strong centre-half, who has made big progress very quickly, He has shown he is mentally strong, he’s a fighter and a very strong competitor. Koscielny is a great addition to our squad.”

You could certainly describe Adams as mentally strong, a fighter and a very strong competitor lets hope that Koscielny has at least a fraction of what Adams brought to Arsenal for many years.

Arsene doesn’t want to stop there though, he is in the market for another central defender to fill in the numbers.

We identified Koscielny as a very, very strong centre half, He can be an outstanding addition to our team. But it is not over, we are still open to buy. We are still on the market for another defensive player because we have the need for one more.”

It will be interesting to know what position in the ranking that defender…. Having said that, Wenger didn’t actually say another defender. A defensive player could be a goalkeeper, a defensive midfielder or whatever. However given the fact that we are only left with three first team center backs, I would assume that Arsene will want at least one more. Two for each position is pretty much a minimum. I am not sure if we have a reserve or young player who is ready to make the step up as fourth choice. A fourth choice center back will certainly be used for at least 5-10 games next season.

When I first heard of our interest in Koscielny, I just assumed that he would be a back up to Djourou and Vermaelen but you never can quite tell. Plenty will depend on what other players are coming in and how Djourou and Koscielny perform from now until the start of the season.

I don’t think we can underestimate the amount of change that is taking place to our back line. Two years ago we started with Kolo Toure alongside William Gallas. Those two players trained and worked alongside Clichy, Sagna, Almunia and the midfield. Experience and understanding of the players around you is so important for a central defender and if a new goalkeeper joins then that is three of five key players at the back changed in two seasons.

It could all click into place after hard work at the training ground but I suspect that it will not be quite as simple as that.

Speaking of goalkeepers I read that Arsene Wenger will make an announcement after the world cup regarding our goal keeping situation.

Wenger was supposed to have said:

“Manuel Almunia Rivero is a talented goalkeeper. In training, he is superb, the only problem is that he gets nervous on big matches, thereby making silly mistakes. After the World Cup, we will be making an announcement on goalkeeping.”

If anyone can point me in the direction of where those quotes came from and if there were any missing sentences that were erm accidentally left out.

Having said all I have said about too many changes, I still think that a ready made, pre packaged, warranty included goalkeeper would be a good idea to challenge and push Almunia because I do not believe that Lukasz Fabianski is ready for first team pressure right now, especially as his last appearances have been error ridden.

So it will be a Cesc vs Van Persie world cup final ey? Well let me make a correction, Cesc watching his Spanish team mates play against Van Persie final. With the limited time Cesc has had in the Spanish team I wouldn’t be surprised if Cesc does not feature on Sunday unless Spain are losing with half an hour to go or so.

I thought the game last night would be much closer than it was even though the final score was only 1-0. Germany were not able to show what they can do offensively because they were not allowed to share the ball. Spain have not conceded many goals because the opposition are not able to impose their game. I still think Spain would penetrate better if they incorporated Cesc in their line up. They could do with his runs into the box from midfield and his final ball. Xavi and Iniesta as despicable as they are, just do not lose the ball and their understanding together is just something else. I just hope that we do not get to see any Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta combinations after Sunday until the next Spanish friendly.

I am hoping for a Dutch victory but they will have to keep the ball away from Spain first. Tough task.

ok, that is that for now.

Back tomorrow.

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