That is one area of the pitch I would like to see Walcott in more often. Inside the penalty area away from his marker to allow him the chance to cut the ball back to the likes of Van Persie, Cesc or any of the creative players who have made bursts into the box

Arsene Wenger – September 28th 2008

“We now have — surprise, surprise for you all — many good young English players, Against Sheffield United we had four on the pitch at the start and they did really well. It was always a conscious effort to develop more, but the quality wasn’t always available. We still produced a number of good English players but now in every position in the youth team we have good ones.”

Arsene Wenger – October 16th 2009

Arsene Wenger has been saying for sometime that Arsenal have a wealth of English talent coming through behind the scenes, he has said that he hoped that they would be ready to play for the national team in time and as usual our manager has been proved correct.

Wenger has been chastised for not buying enough Englishmen, instead looking to his hometown for many of his players over the years. These people who accuse Wenger of being anti English and instead looking only to create a mostly ‘French and African’ squad rather conveniently miss out a few key details.

It is widely known that English players come with an English premium on top of their actual value. Ask Randy Lerner who has shelled out £80 million plus for a transfer budget for his then manager Martin O’Neill who must have been every journalist and pundits dream as he acquired as many Englishmen as he could for his squad.

Arsene Wenger simply will not pay more than a player is worth which has ruled out many Premier league players who have become available on the market. When you look at a player with the quality of James Milner who is apparently heading to Manchester City for over £30 million then you look at a player like Samir Nasri who Arsenal purchased for just over £12 million it is not difficult to understand why Wenger has passed up the opportunity to add players from these shores.

This is all without bringing technique into the argument. I am sure Arsene Wenger admires the likes of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. If they were available for an affordable price then I am sure Arsene would have made his move but that was simply not the case.

I suspect that the 11th August 2010 is not the first time that we see a collection of Arsenal Englishmen in the international squad, I am sure this will continue for many years to follow. Underneath the current flurry of talent we have pushing and squeezing their way into the first team set up we have another collection of talent waiting to gain experience, develop physically and mentally and then be given the stage to show that they are ready for Capello or whichever manager’s squad it is at the time. Players like Chucks Aneke and Benik Afobe could have bright futures ahead if they continue to improve and not do a Pennant and take what you have for granted.

Last night it was Wenger’s old, young boy who did us proud at the new Wembley. Theo Walcott was allowed 45 minutes to show what he could do and he did exactly that. I mentioned in pre season that his technique and ball manipulation looks to have taken a step forward since last season and that was evident last night.

He was the most dangerous player on the pitch for the time he was involved. His passing and link play with his team mates was good but his feet seemed quicker and his dribbling was less predictable. He wriggled his way past the full back more than one occasion and created a great goal scoring opportunity for Adam Johnson who skyed over the bar.

That is one area of the pitch I would like to see Walcott in more often. Inside the penalty area away from his marker to allow him the chance to cut the ball back to the likes of Van Persie, Cesc or any of the creative players who have made bursts into the box. Anfield and the San Siro spring to mind. If anyone has the pace to get into those positions then it is Theo Walcott.

Kieran Gibbs replaced whichever left back that was playing at the time *ahem* and he looked as if he had 60 caps already under his belt. He looked confident, calm and assured in possession, kept it simple and made the right pass. He must do that every training session as do the rest of the Arsenal squad. They can keep the ball with their eyes closed so it was no trouble for Gibbs. He combined well with Ashley Young in the second half and whipped in a few crosses on his trusty left peg.

Jack Wilshere got less than ten minutes at the end of the game, not quite enough time for Wilshere to leave his mark on the match. He kept it all very simple and didn’t try and dribble past the Hungarians. Apparently Wilshere has had stomach pains over the last week and that could be part of the reason why he only managed a few minutes at the end of the match.

I found the ITV commentary quite hilarious. They were sticking the boot into Capello for not celebrating Gerrard’s goal from the touchline. I could have sworn it was a friendly at home against Hungary and not the World cup final winning goal. Was he supposed to jump out of his seat, run along the touchline and slide on his knees punching the air in delight? Quite ridiculous I thought. Clearly Capello is now a targeted man and he will get plenty of Arsene Wenger treatment as time goes on unless England start playing like Spain.

Speaking of Spain, Cesc Fabregas played 45 minutes for the Spaniards even though he hasn’t taken part in any of the pre season so far. Hopefully those 45 minutes will do him some good and perhaps good enough to take part in some capacity at Anfield on Sunday.

In a strange sort of way, I kind of don’t want Cesc to start the game because I want to see Nasri continuing on from his pre season form in the same position that Cesc uses. But obviously a fit and sharp Cesc in the team can only help, and that is ultimately what I and all Gooner want.

Nasri played for France after missing the world cup and had a good game from what I hear. He is in the perfect condition for the new season and I expect him to be a massive part of our season.

Goalkeeper talk is still floating around the air and doesn’t seem to be evaporating. I am hearing one minute that Arsenal are no longer watching Mark Schwarzer then the next minute I hear that Schwarzer is demanding to be let go so he can join Arsenal.

I doubt very much that a keeper will be finding his way to Arsenal before Sunday, in fact I do not see any signings before that point. I believe that we as well as many clubs are waiting for the usual late flurry of transfer activity at the end of the window. Many find the wait frustrating but we have to understand that it is not always our choice. Sometimes we have to wait for other clubs to bring in a player before they accept their player to come to us. Sometimes it is agents who are listening to other offers. It is usually a chain of events and everything has to go right even if it is not in our hands.

If we could type in handling 20/20, presence 20/20, price range £0 – £12mil then click buy then it would be much easier, but unfortunately the reality isn’t that straight forward.

Fingers crossed Arsene can do the business before the window slams shut, a center back is almost guaranteed but a goalkeeper? We will have to wait and see what happens on that front.

I hope to see Manuel Almunia keep the number one shirt in the meantime.

Back again tomorrow.

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