New boys impress, Ox, Gerv & Coq, captaincy issues and Nuri Şahin

Despite the fact that I’m in Turkey, the Arsenal bug has followed me and has bitten, so I’ve been unable to resist posting my thoughts on the recent goings-on at the club.

Recently the main talking point, other than you-know-who (I’ll get to him/it later), has been the friendly against FC Köln; Lukas Podolski’s former club of course. Our new German forward started the game alongside fellow new signings Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud, and all three stood out for differing reasons.

Podolski started on the left wing, and at first wasn’t involved all that much as he got to grips with our style of play, but after a brief lack of involvement began to see more of the ball, as he drifted in from his wide position; Kieran Gibbs’ overlapping allowing him to do so.
This feature of their link-up play – Podolski coming in search of the ball and Gibbs taking up the vacated space out wide – saw Lukas score our third goal, and his second; he dropped deep centrally, looking for the ball, and got it, before sending a probing, lobbed ball over the defence. Gibbs chased after it, and Podolski continued his run, converting the pull-back with the type of efficient finish we’ll surely come to expect from the £11 million man.

Earlier the 27-year-old had converted a penalty to make it 2-0, after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had been fouled. It was a confident finish, and perhaps Podolski might be our penalty taker for the new season, depending on the situation with *ahem*… All annoying speculation aside, Lukas had a good game, and looked comfortable out wide and later in a central berth in the second half, before being replaced by… erm, before being replaced.

£12 million man Santi Cazorla (I know, I can’t believe it either) lined up in between Podolski and Theo Walcott in what has been referred to in recent seasons as ‘the Cesc role’. But if his performance today was anything to go by, we might be calling it ‘the Santi role’ for years to come. He did everything required of him in the position – creating in advanced positions, pressing alongside the centre forward, and dropping deep to aid transitions from defence to midfield as well as ball retention.

He looked assured on the ball, and showed the degree of technical ability you tend to expect from a Spanish midfielder. It seems as if he’ll follow in the footsteps of Juan Mata and David Silva in becoming a Spanish playmaker integral to his side. He was at the heart of a lot of good moves yesterday – always offering an option, playing several key passes as we had hoped, and also sending in the corner for the first goal, which was flicked on by Per Mertesacker and nodded home by Thomas Vermaelen. As many said, it was the typical Steve Bould goal.

One of Cazorla’s excellent passes was a simple ball that was played easily between two defenders and into the trajectory of the run of a certain Olivier Giroud, whose shot was saved well by Timo Horn. Giroud had four efforts in target during his first-half appearance, all dealt with well by Horn, and it was the goalkeeper who came out on top of the duel. Still, Giroud can be pleased with his showing. He made good runs to help forge those chances – firstly one in behind the defence to be found by Francis Coquelin; Giroud then sprinted onto the ball and from a tight angle fired a snapshot low at the near post, only for it to be turned around by Horn. The resulting corner led to the first goal anyway, so the missed opportunity didn’t mean much.

Having had another shot saved by Horn after being found by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cut-back, Giroud was slipped in on goal by Cazorla. After sticking out a leg to control the ball well, his powerful curled effort was saved well again by Horn, and was denied for a third time. His fourth missed opportunity was a powerful header from a corner which was tipped over nicely by the goalkeeper, a chance which few could begrudge him for not scoring.

All in all it was a good performance from Giroud – while the finishes weren’t perfect, his all-round play was impressive, as he linked well with his team-mates, acting as a good foil for the likes of Walcott and Cazorla. Indeed, he linked up with both at one point to almost assist a goal, nodding down Walcott’s cross for Cazorla to fire a low driven volley against the legs of Horn from a decent position. Giroud’s hold-up play was excellent too, as he kept the ball well, putting his physique to good use, as well as acting as a reference point for the entire team and pressing well.

So we saw three very encouraging performances from the new signings, with the trio all impressing on their debuts for different reasons, but Francis Coquelin also caught my eye. He was tenacious and good going forward, but was sloppy in his own half – basically everything we see from Alex Song. He was careless on the ball quite a bit last season, against West Brom on the final day in particular, and we saw it again at the Rhein-Energie Stadion. It’s disappointing because he’s a precocious talent, yet, like Song, seems prone to complaceny. Let’s hope it only crept in because it was a friendly.

I must also touch on Gervinho, who put in a good second half performance. The decision making issues are still very much there – he failed to spot Lukas Podolski in a perfect position to complete his hat-trick early in the second half, and later delayed too long before shooting – but it was an encouraging showing from our Ivorian winger. Our fourth was an excellently taken goal by him; he received the ball on the left, deftly nipped past his man, before beating him again and slotting home at the near post with a clever finish. As I said recently, I’m expecting a big season from him, so let’s hope he doesn’t disappoint.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also put in a good shift, with some powerful runs and some clever passes. He played deep in midfield alongside Coquelin, and the two of them often combined well with Cazorla as a triangle. It had seemed a curious midfield three at first, but it seemed to work, with a lot of fluid interchanging of positions. Chamberlain has been ruled out of England’s friendly with Italy (Joleon Lescott has been called up instead – why is nobody tweeting #InRoyWeTrust?) with an ankle knock, but it doesn’t seem anything serious. Hopefully it’ll mean he’s more fresh for the Sunderland game, or at least avoids a worse injury on international duty.

Sadly I feel like I have to touch on the more negative points raised from the 4-0 victory, and for me, the main one was the handling of the captaincy. Personally, I don’t want van Persie being captain at all, but I can understand Arsene not wanting to officially strip him of the armband, as it might lower his value. Still, the situation was handled poorly – no captain was selected for the second half, meaning when van Persie came on, he was already donning the armband.

If, say, Koscielny had been given the captaincy at the start of the second half, the issue would have been avoided, because van Persie wouldn’t have been expected to take the armband when he came on. Instead, it seemed as if Wenger was sure to make a statement by giving van Persie the armband in a situation where he normally wouldn’t have had it anyway. It’s hard to tell what that move meant – or if it was actually down to poor planning, although I don’t think Arsene would have fallen foul of that with such an important issue – because it could be one of a few things. Perhaps Wenger was trying to keep van Persie’s value high, or perhaps he was trying to warn off potential bidders and make a statement.

For me, I don’t think that little stunt – if it was one – would do anything for van Persie’s value, as he surely wouldn’t be expected to take the captaincy from a player already wearing the armband if he came on. Furthermore I’m completely against van Persie being captain in any situation – it’s not just that a captain is supposed to be a leader on the pitch, but an ambassador for the club. Van Persie can no longer do the latter, and there must be question marks over the former too, given his desire to leave the club.

However, I can see Wenger’s point of view – the media would blow it out of proportion if he didn’t receive the armband from whoever might have had it at the beginning of the second half, which might have some effect on van Persie’s value. It sounds a little silly, but perhaps Wenger was right to be cautious. After all, he knows a lot better than I do.

The final talking point before I lift myself from the metaphorical pool of speculation and dive into the very-real pool of the villa in Turkey where I’m staying – yes, that’s my commitment, writing before relaxing – is about Nuri Şahin. We’ve been linked with him for a while, and now AS are saying that his loan move is expected to be confirmed this week – with the Turk most likely coming here to Arsenal. I’ve spoken on Twitter about this, but I have to re-emphasise how thrilled I would be at the signing.

Real Madrid want to loan him for a reason; he’s had fitness problems, and they want him to regain his sharpness and match fitness so he’s ready to play next year for them, so it would be unwise to expect his Dortmund form straight away. But wow, if we could harness that form during the season, he’ll be a brilliant addition. He was superb for BVB in his final season there, as they won the title with him at the forefront, and on that form he would have walked into almost any midfield in the world.

Sadly, Madrid’s is not included in that enormous list, and he suffered there. But his lack of game-time shouldn’t put us off too much – he’s a fantastic talent with the potential to really make a difference for us. He has the clichéd ‘wand of a left foot’, which he uses to spray passes across the pitch – his range of passing is almost Cesc-esque (what a word) – and he’s composed on the ball. He’s not afraid to get stuck in either, so he should be able to adapt well to English football if he does come here. Let’s just hope it’s the Emirates he’s plying his trade at if so.

That’s all from me, although I imagine Saurabh might have something soon-ish for you to feast your eyes on. Enjoy fantasising about Cazorla, Giroud and Podolski firing us to a long overdue trophy…

Van Persie, The Ox, Bould, Coquelin and more

Hello Almunia-ites. The blog has been rather bare lately, because I’ve started my internship with Sabotage Times in London. But fear not! I’ve still been tapping away at my keyboard and articles have been flowing freely from my finger-tips. I’ve not had the time to commit stuff exclusively to CoA, but please enjoy Sabotage Times’ sloppy seconds over the last week or so…

June 27th – a piece on Francis Coquelin & Emmanuel Frimpong, comparing the two and weighing up their chances of breaking into the first team proper.

June 29th – why I think Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will eventually be a central midfielder for Arsenal.

June 30th – thoughts on Steve Bould‘s appointment as assistant manager.

July 2nd – in praise of Cesare Prandelli after the EURO 2012 final.

July 4th – some words on Cesc Fabregas‘ role for Arsenal, Barcelona and finally Spain.

July 5th – and of course my reaction to the Robin van Persie statement.

Bonus piece! Have a read of my review of the new Futures album, The Karma Album.

Arsenal’s fringe players set for another chance

For seasons now, Arsenal’s injury problems have been magnified by a lack of quality back-up – last season they were always just an ailment or two away from having to play the calamitous Sebastien Squillaci and the error-prone Manuel Almunia, and ended up having to do so on several occasions. This season it has been a similar story; the apparently disinterested Andrey Arshavin and the rather gormless Marouane Chamakh have flattered to deceive whenever called upon, which has led to an unhealthy reliance on the first choice players.

Now though, it is not injuries that might give the fringe players a chance, but poor form of the first choice team. Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott in particular had little positive effect on the game in Milan and might have given Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin another chance to earn a regular place in the team. What’s different in this situation is that if they impress they could earn a permanent berth on Arsene Wenger’s team, instead of a temporary one which lasts only until the player they’re replacing returns from injury.

Wenger is said to have launched a scathing attack on his players who failed so miserably at the San Siro, and the likes of Arshavin and the on-loan Yossi Benayoun will see this as a great opportunity to stake a claim for a first team spot if given the chance this weekend against Sunderland. Benayoun impressed on the wing earlier in the season for Arsenal, but has seen his chances limited with the form of Gervinho and at times Theo Walcott. He got an assist playing in the hole against Wolves, but Arsene Wenger has seemed reluctant to play him in midfield more often.

As for Arshavin, he has seen his appearances cut further this season, so that he now has to settle for late substitute appearances as Wenger’s final roll of the dice and sudden starts. In truth, he should thrive in Arsenal’s 4-3-3 – he has much less defensive responsibilities than in previous years, and with the flexibility of the formation (despite the need at times for more structure) he can drift inside and wreak havoc.

Wenger points to Arshavin’s statistics as a reason to ignore what most are seeing as poor performances, and indeed he did set up Thierry Henry’s fairy-tale winner at Sunderland last weekend. He might well give Arsenal something at the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup something that nobody else does; an unpredictability and the ability to be a match-winner for the Gunners; two things that Dennis Bergkamp criticised Arsenal for not having earlier in the week.

Arshavin has perhaps suffered from the absence of proper full backs of late – he’s had to keep the team’s width instead of being able to drift inside while the left back overlaps. However, Kieran Gibbs returned against Milan, which should help the Russian out.

Another player to come under fire for his performance against Milan was Alex Song. Kevin Prince-Boateng thrived in Max Allegri’s midfield, and this was partly down to the lax play of Song. Francis Coquelin has impressed when given a chance this season, and might be given another after Song’s poor display at the San Siro. The pitch is perhaps not suited to Coquelin’s style; but then the same probably goes for the entire Arsenal team.

In truth, Wojciech Szczesny hasn’t been performing to his best this season, and, should he be given a chance, Lukasz Fabianski will be able to turn the heat up on his compatriot. The number 2 at Arsenal has come under heavy criticism during his time at the Emirates Stadium, but last season performed well when given a run of games; he was one of Arsenal’s best players in the away games against Everton, Wolves and Manchester City.