Arsene rarely buys big so get real..

Giles Sunu has become a typical Arsene Wenger signing. The great man has stated himself that he is no longer sure about the rules surrounding the transfer system.

If you look at any fans forum or some blog sites they are all calling for 'world class' players and experience as Arsene has a transfer 'war chest' to spend and bring the title to the Emirates.

To be fair, that just isn't going to happen!

Arsene's biggest successes are buying players who have mainly fit into 3 catagories;

1. PLayers who are either under performing and can be coached to get back to their best and therefore he sees as a bargain (Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires for example)

2. Young players who he just has to pay a reltaively small transfer fee or compensation for (Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fabregas and Kolo Toure) and who don't really represent a gamble. £5m for Walcott could even be considered a modest outlay given his potnetial and that the rest of the money is based on further success.

3. More experienced players who are available at the right price (Davor Suker, Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann) although this has been recently usurped by the 2nd option as younger players represent better value.

Players such as Hleb and Rosicky falling somewhere in between 2 and 3 but definately not involving massive transfer fees.

There of course have been ocassion when Arsene has bought big (Jose Reyes, Sylvain Wiltord, Francis Jeffers) and it has not always worked out.

I must say I never thought Wiltord was a failure as he worked very hard, was versatile and scored some important goals.

However when people talk of Buffon, Ribery, Woodgate, Torres etc they are way off the mark and probably have been playing a bit too much Championship Manager! The only way that would happen is if we sold Henry which I think would be suicide.

One thing Arsene doesn't tend to do it buy players with big reputations who might upset the dynamic of the group. He tries to buy players who he thinks have the right temperament and who are decent guys who will fit in.

If I was Arsene I think I might let Ljungberg leave for say £5 - £7m, sell Reyes and Aliadiere, not buy the Beast and let Bendtner challenge for the 4th striker position with Walcott who could also play out wide.

We have Cesc, Gilberto, Denilson, Rosicky, Hleb, Diaby (who I think can become an influential player for us) for the midfield but they are all very central and so I would say a wide player is a must.

Ribery would be great but I seriously can't see that happening unless his price drops significantly and so I think Babel of Ajax could be an option if he is available at £6 - £8m but I don't expect any 'superstars' coming in during the summer.

What do you think will happen to the squad during the summer?

Arsenal to perform better under no pressure after Liverpool slip up

Injury ravaged Arsenal could just about wrap up third in the Premiership this afternoon with a win, after Liverpool only drew 0-0 away to Aston Villa leaving Arsenal a point ahead with 2 games in hand.

Arsenal will be under less pressure as a result and I hope we will see some free flowing football from the boys today.

Charlton have just secured another impressive home win against Newcastle. Alex Song may just prove to be the best signing of the transfer window at this stage!

Arsenal go into today's game without Adebayor, Van Persie, Henry, Eboue and Clichy meaning it will most likely be Aliadiere and Baptista up front again.

Aliadiere had some good chances and played pretty well in the 1-0 win against Villa even though he didn't get on the score sheet and today I think we might well go one better.

Lescott has been impressive at the heart of the Everton defence and so it will be a good test for both strikers, who still have a bit to prove in the Premiership this season.

A win today would go a long way to taking 3rd place although Boltons capitulation against Utd yesterday means the race for 4th isn't as tight as last year.

I would hope to see Diaby in the starting XI after another good display against Villa although the team is a tough call today. I would imagine something like;

Lehmann,
Gallas, Toure, Djourou, Hoyte
Rosicky, Cesc, Gilberto, Diaby
Baptista, Aliadiere

Although Ljungberg might start on the wing with Diaby or Denilson through the middle if the boss opts for Gilberto at Centre half ahead of Djourou.

Whoever plays let's hope we put in a decent performance and I have a funny feeling we might score 3..

Come on you Gunners!

Ps As someone who works in sports pitch construction I am planning a piece on the role of the new Desso Grassmaster pitch at Emirates and how Arsene thinks it might be involved in this years injury crisis.

Is there something fundamentally wrong at Arsenal or are we over analysing?

This season is NOT a crisis as of yet. If we finish 5th it might be but I wouldn't expect that to become a reality. We are more likely to get 3rd than 5th and second is still a possibility which would put a different perspective on things.

At the start of the season I didn't think we would challenge for the premiership, I was optimistic but didn't ever realistically believe that we would do it. I thought if we got closer to the eventual winners than we were last year and possibly finish 3rd or even 2nd that would be an improvement and we'd be heading in the right direction.

We'd always have the bonus of doing something in the cups! (D'oh!) However another final admittedly not on the scale of last year but more experience gained.

But allis not lost after all the cups are a bonus but in my opinion the ultimate prize is the Premiership as you have to show consistency over a whole season, the European Cup is a very close second if only for the glamour but the League is the best marker for development.

The cold facts are that there will be no trophies this season at the Emirates. A transitional year as predicted by the media muppets and only talent and potential to take as our crumbs of comfort.

Are we by expecting to win something every year or at least challenge realistic and looking to build on some notable recent success or have we been spoilt by some of the best football ever seen in this country?

Whatever the answer, the team has been lacking something of late especially in putting the ball in the net department and also in keeping it out of our end stakes as well. We seem to be dominating against teams who are scrapping for their lives and then nick a goal against the run of play.

It begs the question, how do we rectify this? Does it need rectifying? The main things we can do to change our fortunes (apart from actually having some) I have evaluated below;

Injuries?

Key men have been out for long periods such as Gallas, Henry, Van Persie, Rosicky and Eboue and we have rarely had the first choice XI out 2 or 3 weeks in a row so we lack continuity.

Given how important Henry's contribution has been when we have had successful years I think we have done pretty well in his absence but he has definately been missed. Van Persie was just hitting some top form and is pretty much out for the season and Gallas has been injured more than he has played so how would United cope without Vidic, Rooney and Saha? Or Chelsea without Drogba, Robben and Terry?

New Signings?

Do we need a new striker? Someone to round off all of our lovely moves like Eto'o or David Villa? The answer is maybe but the reality is AW will never spend that sort of money and if he did he would be stunting the progress of RVP, Adebayor and Walcott. I think a top class keeper and an out and out winger like Quaresma or Babel might do the trick as we seem to lack balance in the midfield and the squad.


Different System?

Can someone please explain why we changed the 4-5-1 for Europe when we were 11 minutes from winning the European Cup? Should we play 3 central midfielders and 2 wider men like Chelski did last season? Would a midfield trio of Cesc, Diaby and Rosicky or Denilson, Hleb and Flamini be defensive enough? Is Gilberto a good enough centre back to play that system or do you play him in there as well? Will not playing 2 strikers put too much of a burden on Henry who is not an out and out striker?


Experience?

Or are we looking for something which is not really missing and given time these players who have shown great quality and potential to be winners can put up back on top? Should we just be patient and wait for the team to gel, grow physically stronger and more tactically aware or do we need to act now?

Your thoughts please ladies and gents!

No luck Arsenal nowhere near clinical enough, Walcott the long term solution?

I have had a shit day. I lost out on a big job at work and like Arsenal lately, things have just not quite fallen for me.

We played well in the first half against PSV, outplayed Chelsea with a team of kids and last night we outplayed Blackburn for the second FA Cup tie running and for the 4th game this season and yet somehow find ourselves with only the Champions League to play for.

Not a bad consolation I might add but one which is in the balance along with the rest of our season.

Last night we tried hard and created the better chances, Ljungberg had a cast iron penalty turned down (by Graham Poll who is a showpony twat and along with that other high horse riding c*nt Alan Green I would like to put them in some stocks and throw hydrochrloric acid over them) which was our second one of the tie overall.

Wenger had a tactical nightmare and switched Senderos to right back, which was presumably because Gallas was marshalling the back 4 so well. However Phil is not mobile enough to play as a full back and got turned too easily. 9 times out of 10 it doesn't matter as the shot goes wide or gets blocked but as I say Arsenal just are not having the luck at the moment.

There is definately not a crisis and as Goodplaya points out, we have got the best squad we have had in the last 2 or 3 years and so when we get a good run in terms of injuries we will become more consistent.

But we do need an out an out striker. We might not need to buy one but the team needs one to function properly.

The bottom line is we created enough chances and couoldn't finish them off. For once I am in agreement with Myles Palmer. We need a striker, we seem to play all of the football and can't put the ball in the net. Henry hasn't been anywhere near as consistent as his previous 7 seasons (he is not to blame I might add) and we need a clinical goalscorer.

Robin Van Persie? Possibly.
Is it Adebayor? Not yet I don't think so.
Is it Baptista or Aliadiere? No.

Is it Theo Walcott? Now, probably not. But in 2 years time, he could well be.