New Midfielder; World Cup Preview; General Ramblings

Well hello to you all on this beautiful Saturday. It's pouring here in Bombay, and I'm listening to Cemetry Gates by the Smiths (lovely, lovely song), and while the rains might ruin my evening plans, the entire atmosphere at present is quite beautiful. 

Today is going to be a short post because there isn't much to write about at all. The Sanchez euphoria still hasn't died down (how can it?), but we must definitely be looking at other aspects of the squad by now. I have no clue what's happening as regards the whole right back situation. Most people thought that they'd announce the signing of Debuchy before Sanchez, but they announced the big one first and people have generally started assuming that Debuchy is an Arsenal player. Well, that's not the case till it's official (even though Lee Dixon says that he's an Arsenal man), and we're being linked to random right backs. One is a 20 year old Atletico Madrid youngster, the other is some 29 year old Egyptian fellow with a rather unfortunate name. What this means for Jenkinson, I'm not sure. Best to stay off the topic of a right back till there's an official announcement of some sort. 

To add to it, there is the avid rumour mongering of a new holding midfielder. Perhaps not as pressing as a right back, but an important position to complete our (hopefully) title-challenging squad. So thus far we've been linked to Khedira, Lars Bender and to a much lesser degree Morgan Schneiderlin. I've seen a fair bit of Khedira, watching the odd Real Madrid match and seen him play for the German national squad, while I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've only seen Schneiderlin play against Arsenal and haven't seen Lars Bender at all. But to figure out what we need in that midfield role, we must look at what we have. 

At present we have two players who can play as the holding midfielder, Arteta and Flamini. While we all like Flamini for what he brings in terms of his tackles and tenacity, he faded impact-wise in the second half of the season. Flamini is a good bet for a tackle, and a few broken bones of opposition attackers, but in terms of controlling play, he isn't the best candidate. Which brings us to Arteta. A lot of times Arteta was criticised last season, unfairly for the most part. The criticism itself was never consistent in terms of merit. Sometimes he was criticised for slowing down play, passing backwards rather than forwards, and the rest of the time he was criticised for not being strong, fast enough or going for those bone crunching tackles. Which essentially means that a lot of people don't really understand Arteta's game. 

Since that deadline day panic in 2011, when a host of random players crawled in (Park Chu Young, forever immortal), Arteta has been one of our most consistent and important players. His game isn't based around tackling and strength, but more along the lines of Mertesacker's play, where he's an astute reader of the game. Arteta positions himself to prevent counterattacks, and when our fullbacks push up to support the attack, Arteta tends to stay behind, almost making it a back three. Apart from his reading of the game and positional play, he's also a pass master. Metronomic, he keeps possession of the ball, and allows play to flourish. 

That being said, Arteta possesses neither pace nor strength. Several times last season (particularly those nightmarish multi-goal losses), he was outrun, or outmuscled, leading to a goal being scored against us. To be fair, there were several other factors that resulted in those losses, but the fact still remains that he is devoid of pace, and at 32 years of age is hardly going to play for a long time. So what essentially do we need? I might face some flak for this, but we possibly need a slightly quicker, younger version of Arteta. 

There are a lot of people who keep shouting for that big player, with pace and a lot of strength, where he can fly into a tackle, push players off the ball, destroy bones etc, etc. No we do not 'need' such a player. Our defense has improved a lot in the past few seasons, and that's down to Arteta. Remember when we had Alex Song? The big guy, always ready to go in for a tackle. Remember how woeful our defensive record was due to his positional indiscipline? He did get a lot of assists, but he failed in his primary job of assisting the back four. 

So that brings us to the question of what we need. I reckon a player who possesses Flamini's crunch in tackle, but at the same time Arteta's game knowledge and passing skills. A player who can prevent attacks, but at the same time facilitate play. I know, it all sounds very fairytale like, but in essence that's what the requirement is.  I've heard several people say that we should get a player like Vidal, the complete midfielder who can tackle and attack. We shouldn't, period. We already have a player like Vidal, and his name is Aaron Ramsey. Similarly, a lot of rumours about Khedira. I like Khedira, I really do. But from what I've seen of him (granted, it's not every much), Khedira is at his best when he's making those box to box runs. If we assume that Aaron Ramsey's spot as the box to box player sitting alongside the holding midfielder is fixed, then a player like Khedira might not be his ideal partner. Arsenal require a player who is going to sit back, cover the two central defenders while the rest of the team is attacking. I'm not sure Khedira is that player (especially taking into account transfer fees and his astronomical salary). Since my knowledge of Bender and Schneiderlin is quite limited, I'll refrain from talking about those two (Squawka did a fairly good statistical analysis of the three players which you can find here). Hopefully the boss picks a good player. 

Coming to the World Cup, we've got the fairly pointless, third place match between Brazil and Netherlands on tonight. I don't see the point to be honest. When even World Cup runners up tend to be forgotten, third place is hardly a trophy (insert fourth place trophy jokes). In light of recent horrors, it would be quite cruel to make Brazil play again.Then again, with nothing to play for, the two teams might actually put on a show. Well, that's the hope anyway. 

On a completely non-football related note, I was left in a state of shock today morning when blogger informed me that the Sanchez post had received close to 170 views, taking the total blog views to upwards of 600. It might sound petty, but for me it's a pretty big deal and a thank you is definitely in order. I know I'm being greedy, but I hope some of you reading this may comment/follow the blog. I don't mind posting the link in the comments sections of Arseblog and LeGrove, but I'm pretty sure the owners are going to block me soon on account of spamming. You may laugh, but I'm fairly certain that the moderators at Here is the City have blocked my comments (screw them, the quality of articles is pathetic anyway). 

Till next time....

To Cesc or Not to Cesc

Apologies for the poorly worded title. Although given that the number of rumours pertaining to Cesc Fabregas' future have reached ridiculous levels, it's almost as if I feel obliged to write a Cesc related article bearing a ridiculous title.

So here's all what has been said thus far. Sky reports that Cesc is set to leave Barcelona and return to the Premier League, and the news article begins with a dubious 'Sky Sports news understands that Cesc Fabregas is pregnant'. Okay I made the last word up. But anyway, the gist is that they 'understand' that Fab is to leave Barcelona this summer, and the Premier League is his preferred destination. The Telegraph reports that Chelsea is going to offer the chance for him to return to London, while also reporting that Arsenal have no plans to sign up despite having a buyback clause. Meanwhile, Mirror reports that Manchester City is going to rival Arsenal in a bid for him, while in another headline it also reports that Manchester United and Chelsea are leading the race to sign him. Oh and to top it all The Independent states that Liverpool are leading the race to sign up. No wait Cardiff are in pole position to sign him since Vincent Tan has a huge crush on him (sorry, couldn't resist).

It seems that crazy season has already begun. The sheer quantity of articles pouring from every tabloid is mind boggling. For instance, the Barcelona President very publicly came out and stated that Fabregas is not for sale. But who cares about actual sources when there is fun to be had and papers to be sold to excited club supporters by telling tall tales, typing them out while coolly sipping on beer (in my head at least tabloid writers drink a lot of beer at work). I suppose I shouldn't be negative since news items like these give us football fans something to do while waiting for actual transfers to happen and the World Cup to begin.

First and foremost, why would Barcelona want to sell a player of Fabregas' calibre anyway? As any Arsenal supporter will tell you, they spent years poaching him in the most insidious of ways. After several seasons of the 'will-he-won't-he' drama playing out, much to the heartbreak of Gooners everywhere our El Capitan left back in 2011. It seems rather odd to me that Barcelona would want to sell one of the best players in the world (despite a few lacklustre performances) merely three seasons after purchasing him. Especially since Xavi is at an age where he's closer to a walking stick than a new pair of studs. Wasn't Cesc supposed to be his heir anyway?

I suppose there can't be smoke without fire, and assuming that Barcelona are willing to sell him this summer, I have a few thoughts about a potential return to Arsenal. If Arsenal do have that buyout clause, I'd walk right up to Arsene Wenger and say 'Get him back!' It's Cesc Fabregas! The main reasons are mostly emotional. He may have been a Spaniard from Barcelona, but he is an Arsenal man. In his first season at Barcelona, where his license to roam was greatly diminished, there were broad statements that he had become too 'Arsenal' to play in Pep Guardiola's system. Simply put, Arsene Wenger allows his players to express themselves, and there is no greater example of a player truly expressing himself than that of Fabregas. What he did on the field, was at times, no less than magic. He was our Captain at the age of 21, he lead the team even though he was essentially a child, a year younger than my current age. You could see the passion he played with, and nearly every Arsenal supporter was on the verge of tears when he decided to finally leave.

So yes, most of the reasons for bringing Cesc back are emotional. It would kill us to see him playing for a rival. But more than that, there are footballing reasons as well. This might sound slightly un-Arsenalish, but when you do have the opportunity to purchase a world class talent, you simply must make the most of it. If the transfer of a Mesut Ozil could raise the positivity levels to around the club to ecstatic last season, then the return of Cesc Fabregas would receive no lesser than thunderous applause. There's no doubt that he'd improve any team he played for, so why should our prodigal son not improve our own team. The questions of 'where would he play' are too premature. A player like him would find a way in our team, and he's versatile enough to play in a variety of positions. Think about it, he's played on the wing, in central midfield, as the classic No. 10 attacking midfielder with a license to roam and even as a False 9. There's also the problem that he might usurp another player's position, I mean it's not as if we have a lot of injuries throughout the season, and our Ramseys and Ozils keep playing game after game after without tiring or getting injured.

Right.

You can never have too much of a good thing. Granted, our team is filled with midfielders. But at the end of the day the only question that needs answering is whether he would improve the team? The answer in my opinion is undoubtedly so.

Isn't it time our El Capitan returns home?