Pradeep Kachhala
The optimism of my previous article, which now looks quite foolish prior to that game last Sunday, was extinguished when I received the team news at 3.50pm last Sunday. My head told my heart that the chickens may well come home to roost for AFC. Put short it was the most awful and inept defensive performance in my 21 years of supporting the club. Not only did it ruin my bank holiday weekend but no matter how and by what margin we beat Utd in the future, this result will always be thrown back in our face.
Never again should Djourou and Koscielny play in tandem in defence, never again should a competent and heartfelt player such as Jenkinson be cruelly exposed at the very top level before he is ready, never should we believe the rhetoric that this young team is learning. I do not lay the blame at the feet of Wenger solely and believe that the club as a whole must take responsibility for Sunday's result, or lack of. Wenger cut a lonely figure, eyes welled up, arms crossed and teetering on the edge of a breakdown it seemed. I felt a little sorry for him. Has anyone noticed that he is no longer known as Le Professeur?
I could write an entire thesis on Sunday's game but we have to move on. Let’s hope when May 2012 comes, this game was more a wake up call which helped serve the club for the long term benefit. Never again should loyal fans of a great club have to endure a result which was borne through a summer filled with intransigence and lack of preparation to fill obvious voids in the squad. To quote a member of the Gooner podcast panel, it was, "gross negligence".
The past 48 hours have seen a reshuffle that was 10 weeks overdue. It will be interesting to know whether this was forced through by Wenger insisting to the board that the squad must be strengthened or vice versa. Some say it speaks of panic buying, much like buying presents on Christmas Eve, however the clearout and subsequent reshuffle is almost complete, so let’s look very briefly at the pros and cons of each player brought to the club in the past few days.
Park Chu Young - A star in Asian football and one of the few plus points in a Monaco side that was relegated last season. Something of a prodigy who has not yet fully realised his potential. At the least he will sell us a few replica shirts and provide some motivation up front that is lacking with Chamakh. By all accounts, he is a workhorse who is happy to lead the line and shifting our poorly performing Moroccan further down the pecking order can't be a bad thing. The negative, is that he has signed a two year contract, where not only must he return to South Korea to complete his military service, but it will take possibly 12 months to adapt to the league. Hardly the support striker that we were craving when the likes of Benzema were touted in the summer.
Andre Santos - 22 caps for Brazil is still 22 more than the last Brazilian who played for us had... Some real competition for the left side which means it may force Gibbs to improve rather than gifting him the full back position as happened with Clichy. Following Traore's non display on Sunday, we need depth in this part of the team. With Champions League experience, not only did he unseat Roberto Carlos, he is a possible snip at £6.8m. Denilson withstanding, the club has a good record with Brazilians; Silvinho, Gilberto and Edu spring to mind (Baptista doesn't count as he was on loan). However there is a suspicion that he jumped ship due to match fixing issues at Fenerbache, while the Turkish league isn't exactly comparable in relation to the Premier League. He didn't make the 2010 World Cup squad either...
Yossi Benayoun - An attacking midfielder with plenty of Premiership experience, who in my opinion was never given a fair crack at either Liverpool or Chelsea. Direct and able to score goals he is an underrated and dangerous player as suggested by his record at Haifa and West Ham. Again this adds competition for the wide flanks where surely Arshavin will be deservedly placed further down the pecking order, the fans may just take to him. Twitter fans will know that Wilshere seems chuffed to bits with it... the problem is as with all loan signings, they rarely have time to "feel at home". While it would seem that we are getting a Liverpool and Chelsea cast off, it also looks as though there are a number of wide players such as Walcott, Chamberlain, Miyachi, Rosicky and Gervinho at the club already, hence does Benayoun simply add to that glut?
Mikel Arteta - A snip at £10Mn, one feels that if his availability was known in June the likes of Chelsea and Utd may have snapped him up instead. The creative and technical hub in Everton's side, he is also adept at set pieces and can play deep or in an advanced role. Probably the best player never to play international football and considering Spain's midfield this is nothing to be ashamed of. At least he won't get injured in international duty. To some this is the marquee signing of the summer, he has experience and knowhow to guide the younger players such as Wilshere and Ramsey. Kudos for allegedly taking a £10k a week pay cut too. The main issues are, firstly, have we just bought an inferior version of Fabregas? Did Arteta peak three years ago? Is he a little injury prone? Finally when asked on Sunday following our own Waterloo, Wenger stated that he was not interested in Arteta. Did the boss have M'Vila or Hazard in mind but was forced to settle for Arteta?
Per Mertersacker - Ticks all the boxes wanted by Arsenal fans and is half the price of Cahill with 72 more international caps and bags of top level Champions League experience. Tall - check, commanding - check, proven track record - check, able to defend set pieces - check. Outstanding at the 2006 World Cup and impressive in the 2010 version, if you asked a Gooner in June whether they wanted such a player they would have bitten your hand off. The prospect of Sagna, Mertersacker, Vermaelen and Santos at the back is surely better than Jenkinson, Djourou, Koscielny and Traore. The worry is that the perceived lack of pace and lack of Premiership experience may mean his flaws will be exposed, while Werder Bremen were poor last season. Like Arteta his best form was over three years ago, he could just be another Squillaci.
Of course we missed out on a few players, namely Gary Cahill, but when spendthrifts such as Spurs are not prepared to pay the asking price for a player with less than 12 months on his contract it makes you think we were wise to ignore Bolton's machinations. I expect the issue will pick up again in January and Wenger will certainly not pay anything close to the £6m Bolton claimed we offered. If we have our usual raft of injuries at the back come winter you can bet Cahill's name along with Samba's will be touted around the gossip columns.
Also a note on some departures. It makes perfect sense for Bendtner to join Sunderland, he will play every week with a manager that clearly rates him. If he starts every game in his preferred position, he will, as I expect, score a number of goals. The 4-3-3 switch made him surplus to requirements, which is a shame because despite his flaws he scored a number of important goals, such as the winner against Spurs some years back. Glad Traore was sold rather than put on another loan spell, I believe he was played out of necessity rather than belief on Sunday especially as he moved 24 hours later to QPR. Another loan spell for Lansbury at West Ham, and it seems he will not get the chance inferior players, such as Denilson and Diaby have had, of playing for AFC in the Premiership, which is a shame. Finally Wenger was quoted on the official site stating that he was prepared to take a gamble on Joel Campbell... so he then sends him on loan to Lorient. Arsene, please define gambling.
Our poor start to the campaign comes with some relief as international fixtures take precedence over the next week. Let’s hope all of our players come back unscathed and ready for Swansea. What is certain looking at the fixture list, is that there are a number of very winnable matches prior to our next big game at Chelsea and it is vital we begin to pick up some momentum. Should the August deadline injection boost not improve our fortunes, it could well pose a new set of questions come spring 2012.
