A game every few days for our boys at the moment and with injuries coming as thick and fast as actors on the set of a grumble flick it has been a testing time. Has been and looks set to continue to be. Just when you think it’s safe to contemplate the future the dreaded international blight looms on the horizon and prepares to sink it’s teeth into whatever unspoiled flesh is left in our ravaged squad. How to cope with the situation? My approach to this and indeed to life in general is to adopt a kind of dark optimism. The thought process runs along these lines –  ‘life will always serve up more than it’s fair share of shit sandwiches for us and so we had just as well celebrate every small mercy that actually does, or may possibly, come our way’. So it is in that spirit I’m going to celebrate the news that Theo’s gut wrench will not keep him out for long but will at least keep him out long enough to escape Roy’s clutches. The other sliver of silver I’m squinting to focus on is that if we somehow manage to continue to field an eleven of sufficient strength to keep our noses in front or at least on the shoulder of the leaders then the return of the wounded could come at precisely the right moment. I’m going out onto a pretty narrow and less than robust limb here but just stay with me.

Imagine the scenario where in a couple of months time our depleted but doughty first eleven are still in contention but by now are carrying  minor niggles, getting seriously tired and starting to flag; battling to see out their games. Then picture the necessary shot in the arm of their wounded comrades returning to the fray, like the cavalry coming over the hill just in time to inject the needed energy back into our title challenge. Thin? Hopeful? Even myopically optimistic? Well, perhaps a little. It’s akin to a blindfolded tightrope walker walking a succession of ropes and not knowing if his support team have finished putting the next one up. If everything comes together just right it’ll be a stroll, a walk in the park albeit a highly skilled superbly trained walk in a park full of hungry predators. If not he’ll fall off the end.

Oh by the by, before I stray into the dense forest of metaphor overload, or at least before I wander farther into it, I ought to mention that so impressed were you with last week and my attempt to write a blog whilst simultaneously watching Arsenal’s calm demolition of Olympic Marseilles that I’m having another stab at it this evening. As we speak our brave lads are striding out onto the pitch at one of the country’s great historic football grounds. Unlike us, Albion have been at their home for well over a century and although much reduced since sixty thousand watched them take on Arsenal in the FA Cup back in the thirties the Hawthorns is still one of those grounds that provides a link in the chain of nostalgia joining this evening’s game with my childhood football memories. The soil in which the seed of footy mania was so deeply planted was well watered with the names of Jeff Astle,  Brendan Batson, Willie Johnston, Brian Robson and Laurie Cunningham.  I’ve never wished the Baggies any harm, but I hope they fail tonight. They’ve started brightly enough but a typical Arsenal diddly-cup line up blending youth with experienced players returning from the crock shop ought to have enough to dampen their enthusiasm.

Returning if I may to my earlier theme and looking at the back six tonight I can’t help but wonder if our improved ability to cope with this latest injury crisis might not be down to one simple break with history. In the past we have been hit with a concatenation of injuries to players skilled in similar positional rôles. Remember when there were no healthy fullbacks in the entire club? When all the centre backs were out at once? This time around the defence has remained pretty well in one piece or at least with sufficient healthy cover to cope with the odd setback.  This is so important. A bedrock on which the midfield and attack can flourish, no matter how raggedy assed they may sometimes appear, with the occasional youth team player thrust in to plug a sudden unexpected gap. Not, you understand, that I disparage last weekend’s performance of the jugendlich Herr Gnabry. I thought the lad grew into his first team shirt against Stoke with a strength and maturity that belied his tender years. It just isn’t ideal to be so reduced as to have to depend on such inexperience, but then we’ve always been cursed with ill luck where injuries are concerned and must strive to overcome regardless.

Fifteen minutes have elapsed and the game is pretty evenly balanced. Both sides looking to attack and our youngsters not overawed at all at their elevation  to the first eleven. Hayden is particularly cool on the ball and strong in the tackle and with Per and Mikel out there they have more than enough experience around them to weather the Albion’s early pressure and get their passing game going. I’m very excited to see Ryo motoring down the wing and Eisfeld is a fantastic prospect. Also I like the way Jenks hugs the touchline. He is so disciplined and really stretches the opposition but when it comes to forward players all eyes are of course on Big Nic.

This is a subject out of which I have stayed ever since provoking some truly silly reactions on twitter a while back. When it became obvious that Arsene’s attempts to sign an understudy for Olivier Goal A Game Giroud were likely to be frustrated, Nic had to forgoe his own move, dust off the red and white and give of his best for the team. Given that he would therefore remain an Arsenal player all I dared to suggest was that we as supporters must drop the feeble name calling that had become sadly fashionable and support him as we ought any player who pulls on the shirt. The most popular reaction was that people might grudgingly consider being oh so kind as to grant him some semblance of non committal approval if and only if he earned it. If in some way he was able to prove to these super important ultra fans that he was in fact worthy of the enormous honour of their backing then they might not boo him. What a bunch of sanctimonious self important half baked non supporters they really are. The idea that they might simply get behind all of our players without any reservation because, whatever their private thoughts, that would be for the benefit of the team they purport to follow seemed a thought too far for them.

Needless to say here at PA we support Arsenal players because we support Arsenal. Life is so simple when you remove your own pathetic fragile ego from the equation isn’t it? Thirty four minutes gone and Isaac and Nacho have both been booked, the tackles starting to fly in. As might be expected West Brom are giving it their all. At home, in the only competition they have a realistic hope of winning against a somewhat disjointed Arsenal side who as yet have shown in flashes but failed to gel. I need to stop writing and watch this, sorry. It’s getting too tense, too difficult to look two ways at once. Marseilles was a doddle compared to this one. This has the look and feel of one of those old cup ties from the seventies. Lots of huff puff and heavy sliding tackles but little cohesive skill. I shall come back to you a little later.

Well it’s more than a little later. In fact it’s bloody hours later. Kelly will be waking up soon at this rate. It went to penalties in the end. You probably know the outcome. I don’t like penalties. I don’t think they add anything to the spectacle, and would actually prefer a coin toss. It would have a certain neat symmetrical bookend effect with the coin toss with which the match began. Also the damage it can do to a young player’s confidence should he fail to score is out of all proportion to his error. Not only that but it’s extremely unfair as missing a penalty isn’t really a mistake. It is such an entirely different skill that if we must have them there should be specialists wheeled out to take them. Like in biblical times where armies would send out individual champions to duke it out in lieu of a major battle thus sparing a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.  As far as tonight’s entertainment is concerned I was glad to see returning players getting the game time they desperately needed, especially Big Nic who is obviously lacking match fitness, sorry to see Mikel Arteta limp out of the match and happy to see the kids get valuable experience. That’s all you can say really. Apart that is from how utterly delicious it was to hear the devastated disappointment in the voice of the Sky apparatchik when the final result was, at long long last, achieved.

Top of the league and top of the world.

I used to love cars.  Spent a fortune on them over the years.

The one I loved the most was a 1966 MGB Roadster. I bought it in 1990, it had been restored lovingly to concourse condition by an enthusiast who came on hard times during that particular recession.

I saw the pictures of it before the chap had worked his magic.  Even then it looked nice and he said it had always been reliable.  But afterwards?  Oh, it was a thing of beauty.  Stainless steel wire wheels, leather upholstery – the whole nine yards.

Of course he might have not bothered and simply sold it and bought a nice new Golf GTi.  Thankfully he didn’t. He worked with what he had and in the end he produced a work of art.  Can you see where this is going?

Yes?  Thought so.

Well our wonderful set of players are quickly turning into a thing of beauty.  Just as my MGB was.

Even when, like yesterday, it’s just cruising around in second gear.

I thought yesterday was a very professional job.  We started off totally dominant although never getting into top gear.  After the Welsh Wizard scored the opener, we dropped back into second.  And paid the price. Not that an equalizer had looked on the cards, but we had stopped dominating.

But what happened next?

Well we moved up into third again and wrested control back. And it looked like we could , if need be, move through the gears further if it became necessary.  It looked to me that the many games  this eleven has played recently meant they were happy to conserve energy and win with as little physical exertion as possible.  That’s what we did.

Three points and top of the league.

I don’t want to go over the top in praise of the team, because it could come back to bite me on the bum.

However, I am as happy with this team and squad as I have been since 2004.

I love this bunch of lads and I love what I am seeing.

Happy days.

Stoke. What can you say about Stoke? Seriously. Apart from Owd Grandad Piggott, May un Mar Lady and the 1842 Pottery Riots the place seems not to have an awful lot going for it. Oh sorry, I forgot there’s the football team. We need to mention the football team. Now. I am well aware of the protocol here. I know I’m expected to litter this piece with Tolkienesque allusions and rugby references, but I am going to try to break out of that particular clichéd straight jacket. I want to see if I can make it to the end without one mention of Orcs, seven points, Mordor, The Barad-dûr or Twickenham. You don’t think I can? Just watch me.

With players closely resembling the uglier members of The Dothraki tribe and a playing style closer to American rather than British Football Stoke City have won few friends in their most recent sojourn in the top flight of the English leagues. They have been in the premier division on occasions before, but each time their stay has descended into an attritional battle where survival becomes the supreme goal. To be fair they haven’t always stirred such feelings of animus, such hostile revulsion from their peers as that which they earned during the Pulis years. We can’t tell if the Hughes era will usher in a new playing style or whether the unkind comparisons to more heavily contact based sports will endure. You have to be honest and say that his record with such Wendigo filled cloggers as Blackburn doesn’t bode well. Off the pitch a handful of Stoke supporters have done little to reverse the awful reputation that the team have earned upon it. I know there are folk, long suffering Potters fans, who have had to put up with some pretty strong stuff, not least of all from us, but sadly for them, as long as a section of their support thinks it right and proper to boo Aaron Ramsey then I fear they may as well accustom themselves to their pariah status. That reaction to the events of the twenty seventh of February twenty ten surely ranks among the most reprehensible of any group of modern football fans.
Today however I don’t really want to waste too much breath on the opposition. Today I want to focus on us. I don’t want to write a piece about Morlocks and their attempt to import Murderball tactics into the Prem, it’s all a bit tired now and we are in such a fine run of results right at this moment that it seems silly not to look at our own side and let the visitors worry about themselves. One of the positives about our recent mini run since the opening day setback is that we’ve put it together with a severely depleted squad. I think most people now accept that the bunkum bandied about us being weak, lacking strength in depth or having insufficient back up to first team players has been categorically disproved and was in all honesty little more than a Sky Sports editorial flogging horse which Murdoch’s minions had been ordered to repeat until the brainwashed hordes assumed it to be based on some sort of empirical evidence. We have sauntered on, apparently uninhibited by shedding players of the calibre of Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxelaide Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky and the best midfielder in the league Mikel Arteta. That we haven’t broken stride despite this luminous list joining AD2 in the infirmary having the old embrocation rubbed in by beefy men in roll necked sweaters of course speaks volumes for our squad depth. Less tangible however is this creeping feeling that we are a considerably more to be reckoned with force than we have been in recent seasons. I can’t speak for you obviously but I know that I have been a little taken aback by how fast our injured players are returning to us. This could of course be no more than the effects of the passage of time. An old man like me will naturally watch the few remaining grains in the top half of the hour glass appear to drop ever more quickly the less of them there are, that is merely human nature. In this instance, however, I think something else is at work.
Normally when important players are missing you, well, you miss them. You study Arsène’s elastic forecasts of their projected return dates with mounting anxiety and you know that we desperately need them patched up and wheeled out in as little time as possible. It has sometimes been a fretful misery watching our second string hanging on in there as we wonder how many more months our wounded stars must be injected with the old horse tranquillisers and fed the cod liver oil. Well I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but Thomas Vermaelen’s name slipped back into the match day programme recently. And now I’m hearing that Mikel Arteta our other captain is back to full training and may even feature in today’s line up. So soon. They haven’t recovered particularly quickly. That isn’t it at all. Nature has run it’s course as it always has and ever will. No, I maintain that what’s happening here is because our squad is so strong, so resilient even in times of crisis that we haven’t really been worrying about the wounded in the way we once would. The spotlight is on the guys who are winning for us on the pitch and not for once on the ones we desperately need back to careen a stricken ship. Even a year ago we’d have really struggled without Arteta in the team. Now I begin to wonder who could we drop to make way for him. Aaron? Don’t make me laugh. Jack? Just when his burgeoning understanding with Mesut Özil is growing minute by minute before our eyes into a thing of rare beauty? I don’t think so. The new boy himself? Seems a little unlikely. Seems to me he needs games under his belt; as many and as soon as possible to help him settle and learn the ways of the Wengerball. Can’t see MA rampaging down either wing nor displacing Olivier Goal A Game Giroud and so maybe, just maybe I have a point.

I know we have a lot of games and people need to rest and injuries will happen. I get all that, but it isn’t really what I’m driving at here. I’m more interested in the way things feel calmer, even in a so called crisis, the way the club seems to sit a little deeper in the water and not heel over so badly in a sudden squall. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s a settled, purposeful strength to our progress right now and I like it a lot. None of this should hoodwink you into thinking that I’m not a gibbering wreck in the ten minutes before kick off – the thing wouldn’t be any fun otherwise would it? But if you take recent events into account I can’t see why anyone would be anything other than serenely calm right now. I certainly couldn’t grasp why folk spat out their pacifiers (for my English readers that’s ‘dummies’) when we conceded against Paulo the Fascist’s north eastern division last weekend. There was a sense of inevitability about our matching and going at least two better than anything they could throw at us that day and that typifies the aura the club is wearing right now.
OK, enough of me and my hypothetical rambling, I know what you want. You want final score predictions and team lists don’t you? That is after all the only reason to read a blog. Unless it’s to be told what to think. So here goes. Bendtner will start in a four four three with Akpom playing off him in the channel holes, Giroud to start on the left drifting into the right half central wide  position when defending. Peter Story will be at holding midsweeper and with Theo in goal we’ll defeat the ravening Mongol hordes of Batu Khan Hughes by six to two with one impaling and two yellow perils to one red army faction. There will be a white Christmas, it might as well rain until September and the lotto numbers for Wednesday will precisely correspond to the page numbers in which Mr Gradgrind is mentioned in the first half of Hard Times by Charles Dickens.

I find myself in a state of conflict.

I am ecstatically happy about results and the general development of the team and club, yet angry at the treatment they were receiving until very recently.

People who have spent years running down the board, manager and players, a situation that reached new heights during the summer, are guilty of obscene levels of revisionism.

The manager was said to be unable to “do” defence.  This team has conceded 3 goals from open play in the last 18 games. It had the second best defence in the league last year, whilst still playing attacking football.  It contains players of the calibre of Sagna ,Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs and Monreal.  Not bad picks for a guy that doesn’t know a defender from his elbow.  Are these experts on football holding up their collective hands and saying: “Oops, I was talking utter crap.sorry” ?

Where are the agitators who claimed we would never buy a world class player or ever spend over £20 million on one now? What about those who claimed that big names being linked were just a ploy by the money -grabbing board to sell season tickets?  Why are they not admitting to being malcontent idiots?

Here are some extract from a post by ZimPaul that puts some great questions:

“One thing is the frustrated fan hurling cheap insults against any target, including Emmanuel, Aaron, Abou, Theo, Denilson, so many others, and always Wenger by default, to vent their infantile anger at not being at the “top table” of trophies for a rather short spell, without thought of incredible ambitions the club had already achieved, was in the process of achieving, and had set its sights on, and the calm, decent manner it was going about all this. Despicable and stupid.

Then what does one call the informed and erudite fan, who knowingly, willfully set out to manipulate malleable, weak minds with outright lies, selective lies, omission of facts, outrageous claims (often dressed up as modest, humble appeals for change and “end of an era”), manipulating and flinging about all manner of base emotions, with the objective to erode team and club morale, it’s achievements, and get Wenger out?

And then what does one call more influential individuals and journalists, pundits, ex-players, football establishment types, who conjured up and fabricated an entire anti-Wengerball culture, week in week out, appealing to Arsenal’s time-honoured (British) traditions and glories, and so set out and all but conspired to use their influence to destroy Arsenal’s achievements during a vulnerable period of building for the long term?”

That’s at least three categories of idiots who should be scoffing humble pie like there is no tomorrow.  But are they ?

The relentless moaning and whinging by fans with an over-inflated sense of entitlement has morphed into “We were only asking legitimate questions.” 

Where they? Or were they chatting shit?

All last year some of us were suggesting that when the new arrivals settled in and the young players followed their natural progression, that we would see a very good team.

This was deemed delusional.  When we said Ramsey, Giroud, Chamberlian, Podolski, Gibbs and others would be much better, we were told that we were mad. Some of these players were classed “not of Arsenal standard” by expert fans and pundits alike.

Were they wrong? Are they sorry?

People claim their moaning was because they were frustrated.  Ignoring that it was them and their fellow halfwits that were speculating about nonsense and that was what was fueling their frustrations.

They claim they were right to question.  Well it’s the tone and content of the questions that separate a reasonable fan from a spoiled child.

What about those who insisted that Jack would be sold and we were content to be fourth and not challengers?

Are they contrite?

We bought Ozil and still have huge funds for future purchases. Of course the moaners will say we should have spent more and sooner. Because they would make a better fist of running the club? Right?

Anyone with even half a brain could have seen that 2014 was penciled in as the point where we moved through the gears. It was obvious. But despite the evidence some expert fans won’t accept this.

You can question the club and still be behind the team.  That’s true.  But you must accept that if the questions you are asking are ridiculous and being asked because you have little understanding of almost anything, then its a hindrance rather than a help.

If you are claiming that our injury crisis is a result of poor management and planning consider this.  A fit squad would see, by my calculations, ten full and first choice Internationals not in the starting eleven. So swivel.

Things are going rather well at present, but there will come a point when we suffer some reverses.  The wheels might not fall off, but one might come loose, or it might just be a flat tyre.  At this point all the good that has gone before us up until now, will be forgotten.  Blackburn and Bradford will be rolled out and past perceived failings will be regurgitated by those that are temporarily quiet (and asking for amnesty) and used to back up their wild and ridiculous claims of incompetence by some poor sod or other.  Be it Aaron, Arsene, Ivan or Stan.

These stupid know-it-all fans haven’t gone away, they are just lurking and waiting for their next chance to express their football know-how.

So don’t ask me to just enjoy the football.

Did they want to allow me to just enjoy the football?

Bollocks to them and any appeaser.

Now I will be accused of not being positive, and for creating more divides with this post. Well I am sorry, but these people make me sick.

Does that make me a flawed individual?

Probably.

As Arsenal are weathering the early home pressure and I search for ways to cope with the rising anger at the hapless biased negativity of the truly horrible commentary team, my thoughts drift to The Plan. Some people have called it Project Youth some have seen it as a series of decisions based entirely upon financial straight jackets while a frankly silly minority have attempted (unconvincingly) to propagate the belief that there is no plan. Personally I’ve never thought that The Plan was particularly complex, elliptical nor difficult to grasp. Arsène has always been up front and honest when it comes to explaining The Plan. Put simply, he has striven to build a squad of exciting young talent either bought in or home grown and to blend it with experienced players of international renown. He then adds a dash of stardust seasoning in the shape of one or two truly world class footballers. The over riding criteria being that whether callow or seasoned these players should be inventive, intelligent, clean living and good looking and able to adapt themselves to the wonder that is Wengerball. See? Simple isn’t it? Of course high profile defections in search of money and a sickening spate of injuries have often robbed him of both the older and younger players forcing him to promote, buy and borrow in successive rebuilding operations which have disrupted the personnel but never derailed The Plan.

I feel that the current squad may be the most perfect realisation of The Plan that we have seen. Others would disagree but yar boo sucks to them. This is my turn and I’ll paint the blog whatever shade of red and white that I like. If you take the defensive side of our team for example it really is the perfect encapsulation of The Plan in microcosm. I think of our defensive unit as comprising Szczęsny, Bac, Gibbs, Per, Kos and Mikel Arteta. I include Mikel although the Flaminator could just as easily fit the bill. Either way the midfielder most likely to be found protecting the back four is an integral part of our rearguard. So that’s three young players either bought from obscurity or groomed from a very young age in-house and three massively experienced hugely knowledgeable footballers the whole shebang combining grace, speed, enthusiasm, maturity, skill, anticipation, acceleration, pace and power into a big gumbo of footy loveliness. As I say an encapsulation of The Plan.

One element of The Plan has undoubtedly been Project Youth. I don’t deny the existence of The Project. However this has never been, is not and hereafter never shall be the whole plan. Never ever ever no matter what you may have heard or thought, so clear your muddled head of such zany baloney.  Any sensible well run responsible club will have a decent youth set up and will give very many young sportsman the best possible start in their sporting life and at Arsenal that’s precisely what happens. Some of those youngsters will gain first team experience and some will go on to become first choice. Not many of course but more than you’d expect to see in most top teams. But Project Youth is only a part of The Plan. The reason I highlight it here and the reason I believe our current squad to be such a fine example and realisation of The Plan is this. Project Youth takes time. Buying a player takes a bit of scouting, negotiating and cheque writing it’s true but this is peanuts to planting and growing your own young players. What age were Jack or Kieron? They were still in red and white nappies when they first started for us and it has taken a very long time to get to where we are today. Similarly Theo and Aaron. They were bought in for sure but before they’d done their GCSE’s. Or thereabouts. My point is it took time for them to bridge that boy to man gap. And now we are here. The vast wealth of experience possessed by the likes of Per, Mikel, Podolski, Tomas, Bacary, Santi, is now combined with youngsters who are now actually no longer boys but professional footballers just entering their best years. Look at Aaron. He is merely a junior member of the team. And he’s the best player in the country right now. By a country mile.  And that’s my point. The youth/experience balance is still there but now the young players have enormous experience. Still learning of course but not kids. Not in footballing terms. Not any more.

57.27 seconds. Aaron Ramsay pulls off a tackle on the edge of our area that Bobby Moore would have boggled at. And then he instigates a counter attack that ends with their keeper making  a good save at the near post from a Jack Wilshere volley. It just happened. At the moment that I finished writing the last paragraph. Kind of proving my point. There’s really only one ingredient missing as far as The Plan is concerned. The players need to know how it feels to win. Not just matches. They know how to win big and important matches. They need to know how it feels to win competitions. To know that together they can see the job through to the end. I see no reason to suppose they can’t do it and that their time is now. And as I typed that Theo banged it into the net. Like we all knew he could. And he also kind of proved my point. He is ready now, no longer a kid. His misfortune in hitting a keeper in fine form on Saturday counted for nothing when his chance came this evening. He is young, quick and a menace to defenders but he is also sufficiently experienced to have patience and perspective. Those precious commodities so transparently lacking in so many supporters and yet so absolutely essential in the psyche of a top professional sportsman.

Well it’s 71 minutes in and I’ve stopped typing so I can enjoy the last 20 minutes of the game. I wonder when Giroud will score. I wonder what will happen if he doesn’t? Will the ravens flee the tower? I wonder if Sky’s commentary apparatchiks ever lock themselves in a cubicle in the gents with their faces in their hands sobbing quietly at having to repeat such Orwellian doublespeak as “Arsenal have always drawn easy groups” and “Arsenal’s squad is looking thin”. I know they need the money, we all have bills to pay, but I’d like to think that if I was called upon to do something so blatantly immoral and clearly wrong in the course of my working day that I’d have the courage to say no.

I suppose if I told you I was wondering just when Aaron would score as the clock approached 83 minutes you wouldn’t believe me would you?

Still sat here concerned about the ravens though.

George and Ronan discuss the victory at Sunderland. Daniel Cowan talks all things Arsenal.

Well that was most satisfactory.

A three one win which could, and perhaps should, have been much more comprehensive. In the first half we were totally dominant with seventy three percent possession away from home, in the second we were less so but still much the better team.

One thing that worries me is Laurent and his tackles from behind that lead to the inevitable penalties. It does not matter that he is getting a touch on the ball, because it’s illegal to tackle from behind. So even if he is getting a touch the chances are a spot kick will be given. Do stop it son.

When you consider that Arteta, Santi, Tomas, Diaby, Podolski, Bendtner and AOC are out injured, the fact that we were able to field such a strong starting eleven makes talk of us having a weak squad seems a little ridiculous to me.

Our new shiny new superstar looked every inch just that. Given he was said to be under the weather the signs look absolutely fantastic.

However, it worries me that his acquisition is being talked about as the making of the team. This team has lost one game in six months, and that was to a referee rather than to a team. The growth of our existing players is the reason we look so formidable. When you think that the pre-Ozil team was built for a negative net transfer spend, huge credit must go to the manager.

The star of the show, once again was Aaron Ramsay. Most tackles (7), most touches (111), most passes (88), ninety two percent completion rate, two goals, and man of the match. The boy is quite simply the best player in the league this season so far. To think that as little as six months ago he was “not fit to wear the shirt” according to some expert fans and even pundits! Don’t tell me Arsène doesn’t know best; just don’t ok?

Imagine the Wengerball we will be seeing when the wounded return. Its frightening you know? It is !

Jack looked much improved. Its been clear that the two years out is going to take some coming back from, just like it did for Aaron and Tomas before him, but with his talent and will it is just a matter of time.

Oh, and how good has Flamini slotted back in? His signing could prove the master stroke of all master strokes.

So that’s it people, you likely all have seen it yourselves, so you don’t need a mug like me to explain to you what you saw.

Great innit ?

I remember my Sunderland review last season. I told you the story of my visit to Roker Park. My many visits. My many unplanned and increasingly frustrating visits as we attempted to escape from Sunderland en route to Cullercoats. In passing I might mention that Cullercoats is a pleasant little seaside town between Tynemouth and Whitley Bay, but that needn’t concern any of us today. The simple fact is that as I allowed my pre match thoughts to wend their way down a nostalgic B road I entirely failed to predict the events that would unfold, and surely bloggers should be able to tell you mere mortals the precise ways of the future. Shouldn’t we?

The game was a real dig in and fight for it affair on a horrible bumpy pitch. We played in yellow with nasty red brown shorts and won the three points with a lovely crafted goal finished with aplomb by Santi Cazorla. Only heroics from Mignolet, the Sunderland post and Wojciech Szczęsny kept the score to one nil but the story of the match hinged on a few defensive performances and one truly dreadful refereeing display.

Cattermole wasn’t even booked when he could so easily have broken Aaron Ramsay’s legs with a really ghastly challenge while young Carl Jenkinson was sent off for two miss timed tackles. Throughout the game that man Anthony Taylor allowed appalling violent play to pass entirely unpunished and it remains a bewildering mystery that Arsenal had to see out a tense final half an hour with ten men whilst a thuggish Sunderland side who would have received red cards on a rugby pitch for some of their assaults on our players completed the match with eleven. Jack Wilshere was literally kicked off the pitch, Fletcher nearly equalized after controlling with a blatant handball and we had to play in a cauldron of vociferous partisan support with a resilience and courage for which we are (unjustly) not renowned.

However, despite all of this drama, the performance which stands out in my mind was that of Bacary Sagna. Drafted into the centre following a late withdrawal by Lauren Koscielny our uber versatile defensive maestro was an absolute rock. I know Arsène had used Bacary in the centre before and as a left fullback during one of our most horrendous injury crises but never has the man’s versatility shone as it did that day. It was an often brutal affair with a lot of old fashioned high balls and crunching aerial collisions but Bacary Baresi was equal to all of them. I don’t want to give the impression that his performance was all about strength and resisting the hooliganism of the opposition though. It was the coolness with which he managed to direct his defensive headers to team mates that impressed me. It’s one thing to go up and stick yer nut on it and quite another thing entirely to turn that head butt into a weighted pass to a midfielder. Instigating a quick counter attack from a ball that comes down with ice on it is no easy skill. Not that he was averse to launching a forty yarder onto Olivier’s head when the occasion called for it, but mostly he won the ball and played a quick imperious pass to a team mate and resumed his station alongside the BFG. He was resolute, tidy, athletic, decisive and perfectly placed throughout the match.

Judging by his remarks this week we might get to see more of him alongside Lauren or Per in the future. In an honest appraisal of his own advancing years he accepted that the modern fullback needs to put in a shift to which he himself might not be equal in the coming seasons. More than speed and agility though it was mental strength that he identified as his key attribute. I think it’s all too easy for us to overlook the psychological fortitude of our squad sometimes. Easy because we are so often dazzled by their quick feet and lightning fast movement. Sunderland away last year showed the importance of the mental strength Bacary talked about. He is a player who has had to pick himself up after some awful injuries and a couple of costly errors in high profile games but he’s done it with a quiet determination, a deafness to the pathetic knee jerk reactions of the worst of our supporters and I believe will be a key member of a squad for many years to come.

If news of Per Mertesacker’s upset tummy are true it looks like Bac will have a chance to reprise his masterful performance of last winter. How the new Sunderland will shape up is more of a mystery though. As with our previous opponents from Middlesex the Black Cats have made a whole raft of new signings recently. I think it’s fourteen but I could be out by half a dozen or so. Like Arsène Wenger I believe a settled squad with personnel who are completely at ease with each other’s style of play is far more important that wholesale changes. One or two key signings joining a team on a roll ought to trump a bunch of strangers still trying to learn one another’s names. Of course this is sport not maths and as Anthony Taylor proved when playing for Aston Villa and very nearly managed in this fixture last time around, sport can be an unpredictable and ruthless duchess. The one factor Sunderland will have on their side today whatever the form and regardless of the line ups is the home support. The old cliché about the twelfth man is nowhere more certain to have an effect than in the Stadium of Light. They took the Roker Roar with them when they moved house and will howl at every perceived injustice, hound the officials and lift the home side for every second of the game and quite right too. A little more of that at the Emirates and who knows where our home form might take us.

I am a hopeless blogger when it comes to predicting the future, and I apologise for this lack of superhuman talent. All I can say is this is the classic post international situation for us: a tough trip up North. I see no reason not to be optimistic but I know that we will need all the courage and fighting spirit with which our makeshift centre back held us together last time around. Whatever happens I just hope we don’t wear those bloody awful shorts again.

Guest post by Varun Shukla (@WengerArmy)

Excerpt from a newspaper advertisement “…the neocortex is a part of the cerebral hemisphere-its outer layer. It is responsible for logical and specific reasoning. This is an appeal to the masses to donate funds for the replacement of Florentio Perez- our supreme leader and messiah’s neocortex. Healthy donations would entitle you to a signed Bale 11 shirt
-sincerely, Real Madrid CF”

Here’s hoping Mr. Perez continues as he is. He has spent, in his two terms as president, an estimated 697 million euros on new signings. True to  his Galactico policy, almost all incomings were geared toward making a statement. Luis Figo was the first of these, followed by Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham. Raul and Roberto Carlos are not to be forgotten. In his second term, he continued with the signings of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. All paid for with big money. His dream? A team of superstars who would dazzle and delight the world with their brilliance.

And dazzle they did with the Champions League and 2 La Liga titles in quick succession. (2001,2002 and 2003). Perez wrecked a perfectly good formula however by sacking Vincente Del Bosque. This caused players such as Fernando Hierro and Makelele to leave the club. The new coach Carlos Quieroz was unable to handle the inflated egos of the Galacticos and the dressing room fell apart. They did not win any silverware for the next 4 seasons- shocking when you see the amount of money that had gone into this team.

To be fair to Perez, this project of his has helped rebuild the Madrid brand in the new millennium. Revenues have skyrocketed( RM are the richest club in the world according to Forbes) and the Bernebeau is almost always sold out. The Madrid team sheet on any day is enough to elicit a look of envy from almost everyone. Seen in that light, the decision to offload Ozil is nothing short of baffling.

Arsenal have got the Galactico  policy to thank for that. Was it not for Perez’s ideology of buying ‘brands’ rather than value, we would never have gotten Mesut Ozil. Gareth Bale certainly is a brand right now, and could develop into a very good player given time, but as Arsene Wenger said, “They[Real Madid] are very generous” I’ve forgiven him for the bad faith he showed during the Higuain saga, and why not? He’s just given us arguably (although it’d be a VERY feeble argument) the best playmaker in the world- at less than half the value of Bale.

Jose Mourinho, Ozil’s ex manager said, “There is no copy of Ozil, not even a bad one.”  Cristiano Ronaldo is planning the biggest ever tantrum in the history of football because he’s ‘angry’ at this transfer. Sergio Ramos has been absent from training for over a week now. Close friends say he’s curled up on his bedroom floor, wrapped in an Ozil shirt and gently sobbing into a pillow. A couple of ex Madrid directors have expressed their surprise and disappointment over the move. Madrid fans at Bale’s unveiling were heard chanting “Ozil is not for sale!”  Arsenal steal Spurs’ thunder, yet again Infact, has anyone welcomed Bale yet?

Everyday I open the official Arsenal website and pinch myself in disbelief. The shock just doesn’t fade! And if shirt sales figures are any indication, it’s the same for all of us. There has been a twelvefold increase in shirts sold. The increase in revenue is reportedly <insert value> million.

There isn’t any doubt that Mesut is a top, top, top, quality player- the kind that Arsene Wenger speaks about in his press conferences. He’s also Like A New Signing because…well, he IS one! But I digress. Does the capture of Ozil represent significant ‘ambition’? is it a proper ‘statement of intent’?
Oh ambition! How I loathe that word. The reason for certain players’ departures( that’s what they said, anyway) and a favoured stick to beat the Club with. How many times have we heard the same old ‘Arsenal lack ambition, they’re happy with 4th place’ ditty?

Personally, this signing is neither a statement of intent nor a show of ambition. It is just what the manager said it would be at the post match Derby Day conference- a surprise. For me, a top quality signing has two criterions-

Improves the team: The most crucial requirement. Last season, there were some games where we struggled to create. Cazorla was the only ‘spark’- the sole creator(until Rosicky came back). Mesut’s stats as a playmaker are extraordinary. For example, he is the highest assist provider all over Europe in the last 3 seasons with 72. Numbers don’t tell you the complete picture however. Ozil’s vision and technique is currently second to none. With a counterattacking style like Arsenal’s, and with the freedom he’s going to get from the manager, there is quite literally no end to what he and the team could achieve. If you haven’t seen him yet, pray watch some highlight videos. Now, imagine that service to the Gunners’ forward line. Mesut is the fulfillment of a need.

Impact- The transfer has generated a hugely positive buzz around the Club. As evidenced by the shirt sales and the players’( and staff’s) reactions, everyone is massively pleased with this signing. It just feels wonderful to be an Arsenal supporter right now. Everywhere you see all of the football community talking about us. I can’t help but grin like an idiot everytime I see or hear the words ‘Mesut Ozil has signed for Arsenal from Real Madrid’. I’ve had absolute strangers come up to me to offer their congratulations. It has overshadowed Bale’s move, Spurs’ spending spree, Moyes’ and Mourinho’s appointments. There are envious gazes being shot all over the place, and we’re at the center of it. For once, there isn’t any negativity surrounding the Club. He hasn’t even kicked a ball yet. Signing of the summer? Without a doubt.

The general impression about Arsenal’s summer and Ozil in particular has been the ‘end of austerity’ and the arrival, atlast of a top quality player.
Firstly, Wenger has never shied away from spending money on players who are worth that much. Bids for Mata, Goetze and Suarez are all well chronicled in the media. All were in excess of 30 million. The fact that they didn’t sign on the contract seems to nullify the fact that efforts were made. Chelsea offered more wages to Mata, Goetze doesn’t want to move from Germany(yet) and Suarez’s agent has probably deceived us with the release clause game.

Secondly, this isn’t the only time the Club has attracted top players in recent times. Since 2011, we’ve brought in Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla, Nacho Monreal and finally Ozil this time around. All well known, established internationals( Arteta deserves to be one) Players like this do not sign for you unless you’re going in the right direction, unless you have a definite plan- something else of which we have been accused times. That, and a top manager are essential to attracting players of the best caliber. As Ozil himself said, it was the manager’s faith in him and the vision of where Wenger wanted the club to be that influenced him. (obviously false, we all know Podolski AHA-ed him into it). Manchester United hasn’t had the summer they would have wanted. A major reason being the presence of Moyes- a relative lightweight in the managerial world.

The only negative(?) about this summer is the absence of a new(established) striker. It’s going to be tough getting by with only one proper CF. Giroud needs to keep extremely fit. If his past record is any indication( he’s only been out injured 5 days since 2005) it’ll be alright. We did try for a striker this summer and I remain positive about one in January. And hey, there’s always Bendtner.