The Soccer Blog: Wenger Considers CB Signing, Plus the Return of King Henry

Monday 10 January 2011

Wenger Considers CB Signing, Plus the Return of King Henry

By: Sairax | January 10th, 2011
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I might as well get right into it: Squillaci is injured. He picked up a hamstring injury, but we don’t know yet how long he is expected to be on the sidelines. Wenger has said that having 2 defenders is not enough, so he may be forced into buying another centreback, depending how serious the injury is to Squizz.

Before you all get too excited, I’d just like to bring a little common sense perspective here. If Wenger does go into the market for a defender, do not expect a big name signing. He sees Verma and Djourou as starters and he believes in Kos, so he is not going to go out and buy someone who will be so good as to block their first team opportunities. What you should expect is a stop gap; someone who can come in and do the job for the short-term. Some names being bandied about are Gary Cahill, Christopher Samba, and Sol Campbell. In the summer we tried to get Phil Jagielka and Per Mertesacker, but I can’t see Wenger going in for them now. I doubt Everton would let Jagielka go now, especially after rejecting our bids in the summer, and Mertesacker is, I’m almost certain, cup-tied for European competition.

Bringing Sol back is an option I can see Wenger considering. He was great for us when he came back last January. His leadership on and off the pitch was invaluable. At the moment he is unhappy with his situation at Newcastle and is open to a move. I guess turning down our offer in the summer doesn’t seem so great in hindsight, does it Sol? I have to say, this option doesn’t thrill me as he’s had little playing time this season, and hasn’t looked great when he has played. Still, you totally see Wenger going this route, so don’t be surprised if Sol shows up for his 3rd stint with the Gunners.

Sol Campbell

Gary Cahill is a decent prospect, but I wonder if Wenger would want to sign him after acquiring Kos in the summer. I know Bolton have stuck some ridiculous price tag on him, but a lot of that is just talk, and with Vela seeking a loan move, something could definitely be arranged in that respect.

The signing that many people seem to want, looking at the gooner twitterati, is Christopher Samba. How this is a good idea, I am not entirely sure. Martin has already expressed that he is firmly opposed to this move, and I have to say, I agree with him. It’s all well and good that Samba is a massive defender who is good at set pieces and could pick up Messi with one hand and crush him into a fine powder. It would be of no use if he can’t catch him first though. Samba lacks pace, to put it mildly. If we are playing, say, Newcastle, he would come in handy when we need someone to pick up Andy Carroll during a corner. He would not be as helpful during, you know, open play. Arsenal play a possession game, and we keep a very high line as well. If the backline is pushed up 30 or 40 yards and there’s a striker like Carroll or Messi trying to beat the offside trap, it would be a nightmare to have a guy like Samba trying to scramble back if the striker manages to get through on goal. Playing the offside trap and keeping a high line is a huge part of our game. You need to have defenders who are comfortable on the ball, know how to hold an effective line high up the pitch, and can get back quickly to recover if needed. If you think Squillaci has been slow to get back, or even Kos, well then multiply that a few times over and you get Christopher Samba. It’s not like he would be effective in a game like the one we played against Man City, where we had maybe two set pieces to defend against. Feel free to defend Samba in the comments section, but I doubt either Martin or I will change our minds on this one.

If you missed it yesterday, the FA Cup 4th Round Draw took place. Whoever wins the replay between Arsenal and Leeds, scheduled to be played on January 19, will face Huddersfield in the next round. You may remember that our young striker, Benik Afobe, is currently on loan at Huddersfield. It’s quite the coincidence that we are facing him, and that we also drew against Sanchez Watt who is on loan with Leeds. It is possible that Afobe will get permission from Wenger to play against us, but Afobe mentioned on twitter a few days ago that he would refuse to play against Arsenal if it were up to him. Funnily enough, that tweet was taken down after the draw occurred, but Afobe clarified that he said if it were up to him and that he might not actually have a say if his coach says he has to play (which I’m guessing he would). In any case, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but it is a good draw for us and it’s great that another young Gunner might have the chance to play at the Emirates in the FA Cup for the first time.

There’s some more good news for the Arsenal. King Henry has returned home to the Arsenal! I was going to play it cool, but I just can’t, I’m too excited! He has joined the team in training and will be working on getting fit until January 19 when he will return to the U.S. for MLS preseason. That means we have 9 more glorious days of Titi’s presence in the training ground. Hopefully he can rub some of his greatness onto Theo and Bendtner while he’s around. I should clarify here that he will not be signing with us. I repeat: he is not going to be making a comeback with the Gunners. We are merely helping him maintain his fitness, similar to how we let players like Pires and Beckham train with us. It might be good for our players to be around him for a few days and get some advice from someone who remembers actually winning trophies with the Arsenal. If nothing else, I get to look at training pics of him with our first team and slowly melt into a puddle.

Lastly, I just wanted to mention that Samir Nasri has won the Barclays Player of the Month Award for December. Congratulations to our little Marseille starter! That’s all for today. Martin will be back tomorrow with a preview of the first leg of our Semi Final of the Carling Cup v Ipswich.

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Some Related Stories:Arsenal Win Emirates Cup; Wilshere, Frimpong to Stay; Wenger Confirms “Not Close” to Signing AnyoneVela in Agua Caliente over Party; Cesc Eyes Chelsea Return; Wenger Conciliatory Towards WojoEleven Gunners Get Call-Ups; Cesc Nears Return; Pires Back; Nasri Speaks Out; Wenger Sticks Up for JackLet Man City Play Defense, Gooners Should Focus On The ArsenalSol Close to Signing with Newcastle; Arsenal in for Marchetti?, still Refusing to Negotiate Over Cesc?

Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Injury Report, Randoms, Samir Nasri, Transfer News and Player Movement, Video

Tags: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Benik Afobe, Injury Report, Randoms, Samir Nasri, Thierry Henry, Transfer News and Player Movement, Video
Tweet « Arsenal – Leeds Highlights; Sagna admits to “hatred;” Theo Dive Fallout | Home | Darren_VYoungGunsBlog just posted the lineup for the Arsenal Reserves. No Miguel or Ramsey in the lineup at all.MartinAh. And I suppose he could have trained with 1st team earlier in the day, since it's getting to be evening over there. So I'm an overreacting, and I'm an idiot, but regular readers probably already knew that.MartinAlthough obviously Afobe won't be playing, since he's on loan. They could just be going to watch, I suppose.SairaxIt's best not to jump to conclusions from twitter, particularly when we don't have the whole storyMartinInterestingly, Benik Afobe tweeted that he was on his way to the Reserves game with Miquel and Handovic. I say interesting because I had expected Miquel would probably start to spell either Djourou or Koscielny against Ipswich on Wednesday. But I can't see any way that happens if he plays today. And if he wasn't going to play today, I have no idea why he would be traveling to Birmingham. So . . . I would think at this point he probably plays today and we have Koscielny and Djourou against Ipswich.Fred JacobKool guess Squizz ent all that injured so he might start Saturday, i hope he puts out a strong starting Elven i want the League cup so bad, and since Wenger never won it i want it for him alsoSJGgumbyOne thought I had - should the fact that Per is cup-tied matter at this point? Or perhaps Wenger looks at it and thinks, we drew Barca, odds pretty stacked against us advancing, maybe we focus on getting someone for the league and domestic cups and if we progress in Europe, all the better and we'll find a way to manage.

Of course, I completely agree that this signing won't be someone as high profile as Per.MartinYeah, Arshavin was cup-tied when we signed him, and Wenger didn't seem put off by it. And as you said, realistically, the chances of us doing much in the CL this year are pretty low any way, so I don't think it should be that much of a deterrent.Lana W. DawoodThe King is back!! :DFred JacobInstead of signing a CB how come he cant use the CB who plays for the Reserves, the one that was on the bench saturdayMartinWell, he probably will at some point, at least in the domestic cups -- his name is Ignasi Miquel, and I expect to see him starting against Ipswich on Wednesday.

But now we're down to just Koscielny, who for all his faults seems to able to stay pretty healthy, and Djourou, who is coming off an entire missed season and is very injury-prone (Wenger himself has said that he does not like to play Djourou in back to back games where there hasn't been a week or close to it in between for fear of Djourou getting hurt).

That's it for first-team center backs. We have Miquel, who has played well for the Reserves this season. But beyond him, we really don't have anyone. And with all our fixture congestion coming up, 3 players isn't going to do the trick.

Practically, Wenger would move Song back to center back if it came to that, and play Wilshere alongside Denilson (or possibly Ramsey, or Diaby if he ever comes back). Failing that, he'd move Sagna over to center back and play Eboue on the right. But neither one of those are ideal b/c Song and Sagna contribute so much from their preferred positions.SairaxProblem is, we don't have a like-for-like backup for Song (unless you count Frimpong, but he's injured anyway)Fred JacobGuess we not getting TV5 back this year, is Squizz injury long Term i would find it a waste of money to buy someone and they would only play in January cause we only have 3 more games to win the league come, if TV5 doesn't come back i don't think we can win Champions league (Think we should threw in the towel for this one), guess they might be studying the money thoughDarren_VThe Samba thing is moronic. 'look, good in the air and at set pieces! We suck at that! Sign him up!!!' Come on people, get real.
I usually don't like to get involved with transfer rumors, but what about David Wheater from Boro?MartinThat's just it. People so used to complaining that they've lost sight of how we play and what our defenders are (or at least are supposed to be) good at, and just looking at someone who can address those deficiencies, ignoring the deficiencies that player will create.

Don't know much about Wheater, other than that he's really tall and has captained Middlesbrough. And he has some super-sweet dance moves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...Darren_VThat video sold me. He would look terrific alongside EboueMartinNapoleon Dynamite, center back.Fred JacobLOLMartinI actually have kind of a hard time seeing any of the names being bandied about signing for us. Subotic is definitely out -- I think he would be good, but Dortmund is on pace to win their first Bundesliga title in 8 years, no way they part with their best defender halfway through the season. At the other end of the spectrum, Bremen is just 2 points above the relegation zone with one of the worst goal differentials in the Bundesliga -- surely they wouldn't tempt fate by selling off one of their best players in Mertesacker in the midst of that?

I actually emailed Sairax to shoot down the Samba thing, because I think it's such a horrible idea. Fortunately, I think Wenger realizes this, and I think there's no chance of that happening. Cahill is decent, but I'm not actually convinced he's that great, and at the price Bolton is supposedly asking, he would be one of our most expensive-ever signing, and just on principle, I can't see Wenger knowingly spending twice what a player is worth just to get a warm body in.

Sol might be a possibility if Newcastle are willing to let him go for free, which they may very well be, b/c he's been crap this season when he's played. I have to say as much as I love Slo, I'm not wild about that. Last season he worked so hard to get himself back into shape and form, because he had something to prove. This season I'm not sure he does, and his work ethic worries me a bit -- showing up to Newcastle woefully out of shape because he scheduled his honeymoon during preseason training, etc. I have a feeling that bringing back Slo won't work as well as it did last year.

I think we will get someone, but I think it will be someone "off the list," one of Wenger's discoveries from somewhere. And I think it will more likely be of the Squillaci variety -- mediocre veteran that could be had on the cheap -- than a young, promising player. I think Wenger likes Vermaelen and Koscielny a lot, and with Djourou emerging, and Bartley and Miquel coming through the ranks, I don't think he wants to pay for another long-term solution type guy.

Another solution I haven't really heard mentioned very much is Bartley, actually. Now, Bartley is on a season-long loan, so he can't be recalled. But the loan can be cancelled by "mutual consent" -- if we gave Sheffield United 1 million or so, I have to think that would probably be enough to get their "consent," and we could plug Bartley in as a back-up and get him some playing time in domestic cup fixtures. Not sure how feasible this is, but it would seem to be a cost-effective way of getting another defender in without getting tied into a contract with a player we're not that keen on.

The bitter irony of it is that we just sold Nordtveit last week. And while I get the sense that he may have been so desperate to go that it wouldn't have mattered, one has to wonder whether we could have at least waited until the end of the window to sell him on, and let him play in some of the domestic cup fixtures in January. You also wonder whether he's kicking himself -- if he had stayed the season, he likely would have gotten to play in at least some domestic cup matches, and then could have shopped himself around for money and a better team come summer. As it is, he joined up with a team that is almost certainly getting relegated at season's end, and he'll be plying his trade in the glamorous Bundesliga.2 next season.Orionremember emir spahic from montpellier? http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news... . I think Wenger will either get him, or someone more or less alike ie. a typical Wenger signing (unknown, French, not bad but not outstanding)Illinois GoonerYou're talking a lot of sense. I don't think any club will want to sell their best defenders midway through the season. Thankfully, Wenger is smart enough to avoid a terrible defender such as Samba and go for someone more suited to how we play. This is where I get a bad feeling about who will eventually be brought in as a replacement though. I worry that we will end up with someone like Squizz, who has been decent, but really could cost us if we have to rely on them for any length of time this season. I would rather we be aggressive and buy someone like Cahill. I realize that he's overpriced, but he's a decent Premier League defender who's good in the air and is quick enough to play our high line. Maybe he will be unsettled in a year when all our CBs are fit (if that ever happens) and he drops down the pecking order, but we can't afford to not win anything this season. And I would rather we get rid of Squizz and keep a player like Cahill as a backup anyway. I'm not saying Cahill is the best option in the Prem League or the most likely, but from my viewpoint he seems to be one of the players who could help us the most.SairaxBut what do you think about potential CB signings?Axeljulien escude..or another 30 something frenchieMartinHa. Fair enough. I just get fired up by so many stupid people on Twitter and on other blogs (not you, obviously -- probably so obvious it doesn't need to be said, but just to be clear) just spouting crap without thinking it through. People just say things like "Subotic would be perfect, that's what we should do" without even thinking about whether Subotic would leave his current team in the middle of a title push (he wouldn't) or whether his team would sell him in the middle of the title push (they wouldn't). Same with Mertesacker -- really? a team 2 points above the drop is going to sell us their best defender now, when they wouldn't this summer? I just don't see it.

And the Samba thing is honestly baffling to me. Yes, he's a decent player. He's strong and he's a good defender, and he's great in the air and on set pieces. But he is tailor made for a Big Sam-type team that stays behind the ball and hoofs it up the pitch, and he would be a disaster for Arsenal. I know next to nothing about tactics, and it's clear as day to me, so I don't understand why so many people keep trying to sound smart saying things like "Samba wouldn't be a bad value -- may be exactly what we're looking for," etc.

Okay, I'm going to stop now, obviously I may not be emotionally capable of talking about this in a rational manner right now.SairaxI love when you rant Martin :DFred JacobBut if he is going to be a Backup does it matter since he would hardly ever play especially when TV5 is backblog comments powered by Disqus