Arsenal handed tough UCL draw

 

Arsenal have drawn Marseille, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli in Group F of the 2013/14 Champions League.
Arsenal’s coefficient, calculated by measuring a club’s results in Europe over the previous five seasons, saw us seeded sixth in pot one alongside holders Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Porto and English duo Manchester United and Chelsea.
It should in theory have given us a shot at an ‘easier’ group, but given the way things have panned out this summer it’s hardly surprising we’ve been lumbered with a daunting, albeit glamorous, round of fixtures which is basically that of 2011/12…but on steroids.
In fairness, given UEFA is run by that horrid verruca Platini, Arseblog News is actually surprised we didn’t get a draw in which we were forced to play Barcelona six times in a row.
Anyway, we digress…the tournament, which we’ve worked bloody hard to get into, begins on 17/18 September.
It’s worth reminding ourselves that Spurs aren’t in it.

Is Walcott right to claim Arsenal are still above Tottenham?

 
Walcott still believes Arsenal are No 1 by Ash
Over the past few years Arsenal fans have had the horror of unfortunately witnessing the decline of Arsenal, whilst we watch our North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur rise up the table. For many years our celebrations for finishing above Spurs have been early on in the season, however the past two seasons have forced Arsenal into a very difficult position of having to make up ground and eventually finishing above them by just one point.
‘Mind the Gap’ has now become a more regular occurrence from the Gunners and although it portrays our ability to still finish above them despite being 10/12 points behind at some stage, it is also a reflection on the difference in trophies. In terms of success Arsenal are by far the greater team, however at this current moment you have to start to fear what Spurs are building. However ahead of the North London Derby, Arsenal and England international Theo Walcott still insists that Arsenal are the better side.
When asked if their summer spending had taken them past us, he replied, “Not at all. I feel we’re very, very strong.
“Everyone makes out our squad is very weak and there are not many of us but I think we showed in the last few games that we bounced back from a bad result in the first match and proved a lot of people wrong. Every club are different and they invested their money very well. For us players we just want to do a job on Sunday, we don’t care if they have brought in £30m stars.
“They have some very good players and a very good manager but we need to make sure we focus on ourselves. The way we’re playing at the moment we believe we can beat anyone.
“It’s a massive game and I always enjoy them. The fans make it very special. It’s very early in the season considering there is an England game coming up but us players love it and it’s a fixture I always look at straight away. Tottenham are playing very good stuff at the moment but we are looking very sharp so for the neutral it’s going to be a pretty impressive spectacle.”

 

They have bought fantastically well this summer and I fear they will not miss Bale one bit if he does leave. They have strengthened in all areas of the pitch and ultimately they now have a much stronger squad in my opinion. Both teams have talent there’s no doubt about that however I feel with some of the players they have brought in like Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho and possible Eriksen, they may just edge it above us.
It is a good time for us to play the spuds now. The one thing going for us this weekend is that their new players have yet to gel, and they are still getting used to life without Bale who was a one man game winner for them last season, while we are almost the same team that finished last season on a high. Over the season we will lose this advantage if we don’t strengthen the squad.
However, a few signings from Wenger and we can quickly turn this around. They may have those players mentioned above but imagine if we signed some of the Real Madrid players, we would once again be on top. It’s going to be a difficult game for us and ultimately a very difficult season if things stay the way they are. Of course I have support of Arsenal finishing above Spurs, but do we all have total confidence? I’m not sure.

ARSENAL UPDATE

             Arsene Wenger losing the fans 

 

 season has just kicked off and already the vultures are circling. Having played and lost only one match so far, persistent questions are being raised about the merit of allowing Arsene Wenger to continue in his position as Arsenal’s chief caretaker. Till now, whenever the taboo topic of sacking Wenger was raised, it was immediately silenced with the counter question of, ‘if not Wenger, then who?’ With the fortunes of the Gunners not showing any signs of improving, the answers are slowly emerging. The bookmakers believe that Michael Laudrup is the favourite to fill in the shoes of Wenger, should he choose to vacate them, Sky Bet has placed odds of 13 on Laudrup, though more money can be made with Stan James, who are offering odds of 19 on the current Swansea boss. Meanwhile Lyon Manager Remi Garde comes second at odds of 21. Wenger’s Assistant.

     Does Arsene Wenger Want The Sack? Or Has He Lost It?

 

Tomorrow marks the start of the new Premier League season. We all know about all of the players we’ve released in this transfer window and that we’ve only brought in Yaya Sanogo, who will forever be remembered as the only signing we made in the summer of 2013.

Mikel Arteta, one of our most important and experienced players looks to be out for 4 to 6 weeks with a thigh problem. Added to that, Vermaelen, Monreal, Sagna, Ramsey, Diaby, Miyaichi and Sanogo are already on the injury table, Cazorla has a 10,000 flight from Ecuador and Bendtner, Park and Frimpong have minimal involvement in years gone by.
That means that we roughly have twelve “fit” players for the seasons opener against Aston Villa, and two of those are goalkeepers.
To say the squad is threadbare would be a massive understatement.
And if clubs came in for Bendtner, Park and Frimpong then they would have been allowed to leave. So our squad could have been even more “light” on numbers.
So what is going on?
We are well past the point of making a marquee signing to appease the fans. Now Arsenal fans just want some mediocre signings to make up numbers in our increasingly depleted squad.
Most teams aim to have two players per position but we are well below that. Injuries happen all the time and God forbid we had an injury to Koscielny, Mertesacker, Szczesny or Walcott. The concern isn’t so much tomorrow’s game against Aston Villa, it’s the two Champions League qualifiers against Fenerbahce.
You do wonder what Arsene Wenger is thinking. And what does he need to do to get the sack, because completely ignoring a £70 million war chest against the wishes of Ivan Gazidis, Stan Kroenke and the rest of the board is a good way to go about it. I’ve heard from various sources now that Gazidis and Kroenke are keen on Arsenal to stay competitive and have urged Arsene to spend, while the manager has dithered in the transfer market and made some very poor decisions – including dropping interest in Gonzalo Higuain for Luis Suarez. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it was obvious from the start that Suarez is a mercenary who would jump ship from Arsenal if Real Madrid came in for him.
The strange thing is well is that Arsene hasn’t even done his bare minimum of buying cut price players from the French league. We’ve got Sanogo but no-one else. We haven’t even recruited many young Frenchmen this summer.

 

Many senior players such as Arteta, Wilshere, Walcott, Podolski and Ramsey have talked about how Arsenal need to spent to compete. But why is Arsene being so stubborn? Has he had enough and wants to get the sack? Has he lost the plot and thinks we can win the league with twelve fit players?
Or has Arsene filled his swimming pool with £50 notes? Who knows what’s going on.
There is a small part of me that still believes that the longest transfer window that ever was will end in a few signings before the hammer comes down on the 2nd of September.
Maybe, just maybe, Arsene is playing a poker game and waiting until the last days of August to swoop in to make the 4/5 new signings we need. Then again, maybe not.