After recharging my batteries at home for the best part of two days courtesy of the Sallah break, work has began in earnest and unlike Alex Song in Barcelona Park Chu-Young and Marouane Chamakh, I’ll be drafted back into the starting lineup of my Office Football Club.
This weekend also saw the Premier League’s curtain raisers and I was enthralled by the drama the opening week brought to my doorstep. From an Arsenal perspective, I was dissatisfied with our finishing in the goal-less stalemate against Sunderland but some players stepped up the plate gallantly.
Carl Jenkinson showed off his commitment with good tackles, Gervinho was a live-wire with the ball at his feet taking on defender after defender, Santi Cazorla was ubiquitous on the pitch, Alex Song Abou Diaby was back to his frustrating best and late on, Olivier Giroud made a great off the ball run with a finish that didn’t reap its intended dividend.
Swansea and Fulham ran riot against their opponents while Southampton gave the defending champions a run for their money. However, I and many Gooners out there placed half an eye on Manchester United’s clash with Everton to watch Shrek…yer right, You-Know-Who, Mr. Ambition with that little boy that tells him any and everything.
Watching Robin van Persie wear that jersey that’s no different from a McVities ShortBread wrapper seemed a bit awkward at the start but I didn’t give two fledgling f*cks afterwards. The contest was settled by that Moroccan-Belgian with a lice haven on his head but it’s worth noting that van Persie looked to the right, no Walcott, left, no Gervinho, back, no Song. Then the ‘little Boy’ inside him screamed “you are finished”.
Moving over to today’s bit, I bring you good tidings on news regarding the latest installment on the Arsenal No. 10 jersey chronicles, Jack Wilshere. Lukas Podolski was waiting patiently for the jersey but word on the street is that Arsenal handed Wilshere the No. 10 jersey as a show of faith as well as boosting his confidence levels.
The midfield maestro hasn’t played for a friggin’ year but the Mirror reported that he’s making rapid progress in his rehab and he’s scheduled to grace the pitch in October. It’s believed that Wilshere has been running comfortably but efforts are still in place to strengthen his niggling ankle.
The stress fracture he suffered on his ankle is a very precarious injury and he has shown great determination to work hard in his bid to gain full fitness. I’m pretty sure that this injury has given the player as well as his manager sleepless nights and he’ll be treated like an egg until he’s deemed fit to grace the pitch again.
Wilshere played close to 4,000 minutes of football in his first full season, scoring two goals (Shakhtar and Aston Villa) and supplying a few assists along the line. Only Laurent Koscienly amassed more minutes than Wilshere in the 2010/11 campaign.
The prospect of watching Jack Wilshere in a midfield that’s graced with an abundance of talents like Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, Aaron Ramsey -__- et al is very mouthwatering.
The media Vultures are also with the opinion that Wenger let Song go to Barca with the belief of Wilshere’s imminent return and the Arsenal hierarchy isn’t putting any other holding midfielder in its shopping list, with the exception of securing a loan move for Real Madrid’s Nuri Sahin, that’s not a DM by default
Most optimistic fans had expected Sahin to be in the bag but there’s a small hitch in the proposed deal. Arsenal, in the epitome of their shrewdness, want to add a purchase option clause in the deal but Madrid has no plans to sell a youngster tipped for greater things in the future.
With a manager like Jose Mourinho at the helm of affairs in Madrid, Sahin basically has no say on this and he’ll be made to sit on the bench even if he declares his intentions to leave, unlike some clubs we know that have been tagged as the new Shoprite of club football. -____-
The folks at Rennes are still hopeful for the Gunners to make another move for the 99% done deal guy, Yann M’Vila. I actually believed that the 99% rumors were true but Rennes held out from the other 1% which involved everything else – terms of the contract, transfer fees, you know, the usual.
The French chums had this to say in the wake of Song’s exit,
Arsenal? Maybe, you’ll have to call Arsene [Wenger]. But when Song leaves, we must say that Arsenal will reinforce that post. Same thing for a club that sells to Arsenal.
We maintain our price tag of around €20m [£15.7m].
It is believed that despite his amazing football ability, M’Vila has disciplinary issues like Song and that can disrupt a dressing room as happy as Arsenal’s at the moment. For what it’s worth, the present crop of players in the club, want to be at the club and if a player doesn’t want to be at Arsenal, the exit door isn’t far away.
We trust Uncle Scrooge Arsene Wenger, he’ll sell him for the ‘right price’.
Wait, isn’t that Shoprite’s slogan?
It seems as if the Arsenal camp has adjusted to life after Song, as the new vice-captain, Mikel Arteta, has stated that he’s “unfazed” with the exit of the player he always covered his tracks when he forayed forward,
“I felt really comfortable when I played with Alex last year, he was a terrific player, but if he and the club decided that the best option was for him to leave we have to accept it.
“I think we are good enough to carry on without him. We are looking good. We looked really organised on Saturday, just maybe in the final third we didn’t take the chances we should have done.”
As he rightly said, Arsenal didn’t take the chances that came their way – Cazorla’s shots, Diaby’s drive and of course, Giroud’s moment of glory that vanished with the wind.
Arteta also urged the fans to be patient with the new acquisitions, because they have a lot to offer as well,
“It will take a while because there have been some new players coming in and we are building a new team.
“We have lost some important players too, so we will need some time. We know that our new players can make the difference as well.
“We will have to give them a chance to settle into a new place.”
These are the kind of words you should expect from an exemplary leader and a senior member of the squad, not a gorgeous bloke saying that the little boy in him appeared from Krypton and yelled, “glory, glory, Manchester Untied”.
For those at actually care, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on the cover of FIFA 13 and Emmanuel Greedybayor has signed on a permanent basis for that white scum across North London.
It’s also understood that Tottenham couldn’t break their wage structure to offer Adebawhore the £170,000 he earned at Man City and with the forward refusing to take a pay-cut, the oilrich moneybags from the Etihad were forced to accept the clause which involves them paying £80,000 till his new Tottenham contract (valued at £90,000) expires.
As I wrote earlier, it’s for those that give two effs.
The manager of my Office Football Club (my supervisor) has given his pep talk and I’m about to kickoff.
Sayonara
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