Carlos Vela is being chased by Bolton’s Owen Coyle for a loan move and that would be a fantastic solution for everyone. We saw how much it helped Jack Wilshere and if it can have a similar effect on Vela then he will be pushing for a place in the team next season. However he does not produce or develop on loan then he may have to seek pastures new. Whenever I think of Bolton I cannot help but think of the dirty, lump it long side under Samantha Allardyce. The Bolton of today play some very nice football at times. I think Vela would work very well with the likes of Lee, Petrov, Taylor, Elmander etc I think many of the Gooner faithful have been a little harsh on Vela. I see a very talented (slightly one sided player) who is still learning his game but more importantly hasn’t really had a run of games

Good afternoon,

How do you do these blog type thingy’s again? I haven’t written anything apart from match thoughts since before Christmas. I suppose when you play every couple of hours then it is difficult to focus on anything else.

I am certainly in good spirits after the Birmingham demolition, feeling rather excited about the look of our team at present. Wenger has taken good care of the likes of Van Persie and Djourou where as in the past he might have been tempted to bring them back earlier, then to lose them quickly to injury.

As we are entering the second half of the season, hopefully we will have a full squad minus Frimpong to choose from and that is wonderful. If we can keep our main players fit then it will be the true test of this squad. In previous campaign’s we have been written off in the second half of the season as not good enough, but I have always found that difficult to accept when the likes of Cesc, Van Persie, Song etc were sat on the treatment table.

Arsene Wenger has been speaking about the team now being able to play under pressure and that would be massive if the team can continue to do so from here on in. We have found ourselves not expressing ourselves in certain pressure games. The handbrake which seems to be mentioned in every other article these days was finally released when we finally stuffed Chelsea at the Emirates last week.

We have another big game on Wednesday and it will require the exact same intensity as we showed against the West Londoners. I think City will be more difficult to break down than Chelsea were, they will probably set up pretty negatively and it will need the quick combinations of Nasri and Cesc that we saw in the second half at Birmingham. A double over the big spending Mancs will do the team the world of good and the race will kick on from there.

Our football in that second half must have brought back plenty of memories for Alexander Hleb. Before writing this I looked at his pre match video, no wonder the Birmingham City fans are outraged.

I have to admit that I have lost my resentment towards the Belarusian and I feel a little sorry for him. He has made a tragic mistake, others should look at him as an example of what happens to most when you leave the wonderful red and white of Arsenal. You almost get the feeling that he would play for us without being paid. Ok, maybe not.

Whilst he didn’t have the end product of someone like Andrey Arshavin, I must say I that I enjoyed his contribution on the pitch more than I do the Russian for the most part. I know that is a controversial thing to say and most will disagree but hey, each to their own I guess.

Having said that, losing Hleb might have been the best thing that could have happened to our club in a long time because we gained the services of one Samir Nasri. Now there is a player. I genuinely believe that he will take Thierry Henry size leaps forward and continue on a massive upwards curve as our all time record goal scorer did all those years ago.

Nasri was similar to Hleb when he first arrived at the club, kept the ball very well, consistent and dribbled wonderfully but both did not have enough end product. This season Nasri has stepped up massively, he now believes he can score and create in the biggest of games and that will continue. He still has many years of improvement so that is very exciting.

The January transfer window has swung open so let the madness commence. I am expecting the usual made up stories being recycled all over the blogs and tabloids.

I am sure there will be some movement out of the club. Most on loan and perhaps Almunia a permanent departure. It is interesting that Mannone proved such a success on loan at Hull and now his loan has come to an end, perfectly timed for the opening of the transfer window.

We need three goalkeepers in the first team squad and I am guessing that the three younger keepers will remain in the squad come the close of the window.

Carlos Vela is being chased by Bolton’s Owen Coyle for a loan move and that would be a fantastic solution for everyone. We saw how much it helped Jack Wilshere and if it can have a similar effect on Vela then he will be pushing for a place in the team next season. However he does not produce or develop on loan then he may have to seek pastures new.

Whenever I think of Bolton I cannot help but think of the dirty, lump it long side under Samantha Allardyce. The Bolton of today play some very nice football at times. I think Vela would work very well with the likes of Lee, Petrov, Taylor, Elmander etc

I think many of the Gooner faithful have been a little harsh on Vela. I see a very talented (slightly one sided player) who is still learning his game but more importantly hasn’t really had a run of games to grow into the player he can be, especially as he is South American.

He is 21 years old and we have already seen the difference between the Nasri of 21 and this Nasri of 23/24 and that is with playing pretty much every game since he joined. He needs games but at Arsenal he has experienced strikers ahead of him who have already been down the path of development.

I guarantee that the Vela of 23/24 will be a quality striker, powerful, quick and a lethal finisher but this does not mean that it will be with us. In the short term, a loan move would be a great opportunity to get games and show what he can do.

I wonder if Gary Cahill’s name would be mentioned so much if the media hadn’t linked him to us a season or so ago. All of a sudden he is the missing piece in the jigsaw. Johan Djourou to me is head and shoulders above Gary Cahill and his new £20 million price tag is somewhat amusing to me. If he was from Serbia he would be worth £5-7 million and many would be upset that we are linked to an unknown foreign defender.

I am very much enjoying the Djourou/Koscielny partnership and hope they can continue to improve together and learn each others game until Vermaelen is back to challenge both for a place in the team.

It isn’t as easy as sticking two central defenders together and expecting them to shine. So Wenger will have to work out who fits best with who.

Check out a very good article with video analysis about our central defence and the partnerships.

Another striker who could be pulling on another shirt could be that of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas who apparently could be heading to Nottingham Forest. I would rather he played games in the Premier League but maybe he doesn’t have enough interest, I don’t really know. Like Vela, he needs games and he needs to develop his game.

We shall see what happens I guess.

Oh one more thing before I go, I was watching the Mary Poppins film over Christmas with my kids and the Chim Chim Cher-ee song stuck in my head. You know the one ‘..Who needs Anelka when we’ve got Kanu’

Well as Johan has taken a leap forward why not something like this.

‘Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Who needs scum Gallas
When we’ve got Djourou!’

Extending the name Gallas is tricky and needs work if you don’t want to use the word scum but as he plays for the Spuds etc..

Anyway, enough waffle for today, happy Bank Holiday (again) back tomorrow when life should return almost back to normal.