Will we get a new toy in the January transfer window?

Who knows, probably not even Arsene.

The question I’d like to ask is ‘how much impact can a new signing make to our Premier League run-in?’.

I was thinking the other day about signings such as Ozil and Pires who both, in their first seasons, had supporters wondering if they were value for money. Of course Bobby went on to be a legitimate Arsenal great. Mesut is fast becoming the same.

We have had January signings like Arshavin who seemed to hit the ground running and helped us to a CL place when it looked in danger (the Arsenal myth generator says that he single-handedly won us qualification ). We shall conveniently forget that those few months were the peak of Andrey’s career with us.

Someone like Gabriel was also signed in January but will only prove his real worth as the seasons progress and the BFG gets sent to the glue factory.

Ian Wright is the best example of a Premier player ready to go off the shelf, as his early Arsenal goalscoring record proves. He won the golden boot in his first season scoring 29 goals, 5 of which were for Palace and memorably snatched the award from a certain Edward Sheringham ( I believe) by scoring a hat trick on the final day of the season.

If we do buy a DM, you’d imagine they will come from another league. Will they have much chance of acclimatising rapidly and playing first team football from the off? What do you think?

I doubt we’ll buy a striker with Giroud and Walcott fit and also with the prospect of Sanchez now back before the new year (not that I’d rely much on that estimate)! But if we do, do you think they would find it easier or harder to settle into the team than a DM?

Written by chas

There was only one Greek God in Athens last night and his name was Olivier Giroud or Adonis as I shall now refer to him. I suspect that he would like that name and rightly so, three crucial goals that left Olympiakos to reflect on a night that turned into their own Greek tragedy while the mighty Arsenal go marching onto the knock out stages.

Now that’s what I call a cup tie, end to end stuff from the outset with no let up until the third goal was scored which allowed us to breathe a little more easily. I am still amazed at how the Greeks with a two goal advantage came onto us from the start with such numbers, as entertaining as it was it left their flanks vulnerable. I mean, if we had had a two goal advantage I would have expected every bus in Victoria Coach station to have been parked in front of our goal for protection. Still, maybe their plan was to get an early goal and kill the game off, they certainly threatened with some nail biting attacking football all of which worried me no end.

I must admit I feared the worst but all of a sudden after fifteen minutes Campbell, attacking down the right, pulled the ball back to Flamini who, although, unluckily hit the bar, made me think that there might be something in this for us.

We needed some luck and it arrived in the form of Giroud’s first, carrying on where he left of in the week end he met an excellent cross from Ramsey with his head which somehow found its way past their goalkeeper.

One – nil, game on, could this really be our night? We started the second half with renewed belief that we could pull off what every pundit thought impossible. Monreal and Campbell continued to make inroads down the flanks while Ozil was pulling the strings in his familiar attacking midfield role. It was the German’s excellent pass to Ramsey that enabled him to send in the cross for Giroud’s first and it was Ozil’s pass to Campbell whose sublime pass to Giroud enabled the Frenchman to score his second.

Giroud may rightly be the man of the match but the assist of the night has to go to Campbell; sublime pass doesn’t quite do it justice. I have to make way for Slim here to get the full effect: “Campbell opened em up like a tin of soup” Great stuff.

It started to become clear to me why Olympiakos didn’t just park the bus, they simply didn’t know how to. By this time we looked like we could score with pretty much with every attack and were deservedly given the opportunity to get a third and for Giroud to get his hat trick from a penalty that Adonis was never going to miss.

The defense was solid, Cech was imperious, Flamini and Ramsey worked tirelessly, Ozil was as classy as ever, Giroud did what Giroud was supposed to do, Theo was OK and Campbell arrived and what a time and game to arrive, Joel Campbell we salute you.

Thursday KO 18.00 FC Sion v Liverpool
Thursday KO 20.05 Tottenham v Monaco

Will you be watching?

NO YOU WONT, BECAUSE WE DON’T DO THURSDAY FOOTBALL.

Hahahahaha, what a great night to be an Arsenal supporter.

Well that turned out better than expected considering the length of the injury list. Strangely enough, although, Sunderland are residing in a part of the league table I rarely bother looking at I am not sure that we were favourites to win before the start. Unlike November, due to the higher calibre of team that we were able to field, there was little doubt, if any, that we were favourites to beat the other equally small clubs we played namely Norwich, WBA and Tottenham and yet we failed to win any of them.

So apart from the month, what changed?

With the silky skills of Cazorla and Sanchez missing a more basic workman like style was inevitably going to be deployed; well, that was the excuse for the midfield and attack but the first choice back four were out there as usual and yet they started game with all the fluidity of a rusty shopping trolley that had been laying at the bottom of a canal for six months.

There were bright spots in the first half, two of our three world class musketeers may have been injured but the third, Ozil, was alive and kicking or should that be alive and assisting, sorry I couldn’t resist.
Campbell who had been about as useful as a wooden stake driven into the ground for the best part of the first half was put through with a sublime pass from the German Maestro and slotted home with aplomb, this immediately triggered the selective memory of myself and the people around me at the game making us remember how we had always thought that Campbell just needed more game time to show how good he really was. Funny goal celebration though, all seemed normal at first and then he seemed to became fixated on tying up the cord in his shorts rather than continue soaking up the praise.

One nil up and half time approaching what could possible go wrong? Enter the FFP: a corner to Sunderland, dummied by one of their players before being sliced in past the helpless Cech to make it one all. Nice one Ollie. We did have a good chance before the break with Monreal cutting the ball back to Ramsey but he unfortunately blasted wide.

General Rambo did well in the middle I thought considering how few minutes of game time he has had recently, as Rasp said, we missed Sanchez far more than we missed Cazorla. Ramsey is not quite as familiar with the role as Cazorla but there is little doubt in my mind that he will make that position his own in the not too distant future.

The game was crying out for Walcott’s pace. It had been that way, in fact, from the outset. I can only assume that the reason for him starting on the bench was political. It would not have been PC to have started the game with Giroud riding the pine considering how he has had to carry the Arsenal banner while Walcott has been injured. Anyway, however this was decided the FFP got the nod and preceded to lumber around the pitch for most of the game until Walcott took his track suit off which was the signal for Giroud to come to life.

Have you noticed this? Giroud started the season like, well, like a FFP culminating in his petulant sending off in Zagreb but as soon as it looked like he would actually lose his place to Walcott, no doubt Ollie, like most of us, never actually thought that Walcott really had a number nine in him; anyway, as soon as Ollie realised his place was seriously under threat he suddenly started to find his inner Ibrahimovic. Well the same thing happened today, as soon as it was clear that Walcott was coming on Giroud changed and scored a brilliant header which again triggered my selective memory and those around me who remembered that we had always thought that Giroud was a good goal scoring addition to the squad.

Two – one up, all seemed well but no matter how hard we tried to help Sunderland get a draw, with Monreal almost turning it into his own net and such, we couldn’t. Finally, after a comedy of errors in front of the Sunderland goal, Ramsey put the game to bed with a vital third. Yay, December and our first three points. Ozil was MOTM by the length of an autobahn. If Mertersacker had had to go off for one reason or another Ozil would have taken the band, who would have envisaged him as Captain this time last season?

Onwards and upwards chaps and chapessess the league is ours for the winning.

Written by LB