Written by Mean Lean on Tuesday, 12 October 2010 11:56

And a very happy Tuesday to you all out there,

I find myself dragging through the international mud this morning, it is rather slow and hard work to get through but we have to continue. After Wednesday we may just see that chink of light in the horizon but for now it is more of the same unfortunately.

At least we have a few bits and pieces to talk about today, which is something I guess. The boy Wilshere formerly known as Jack has said that we are in the title race and that our rivals will drop points.

Personally I believe that there isn't actually a title race to speak of yet. It is October which means we have seven months of football to play.

Some clearly disagree with me as I have read that we can kiss the title goodbye now after failing to pick up any points at Stamford Bridge in our last fixture, that to me is madness, I honestly cannot get my head around that kind of thinking. The only way we are out of the race, is if Chelsea can guarantee to win every single game from now until the end of the season. I am not sure that they can.

It is not even worth saying that there are many twists and turns to come because most haven't even begun as yet. We will decide if we are in the title race by being consistent or performing as we did against West Brom. None of us know the direction that any of the teams in this league will take over the coming months. The only thing we can be sure of is that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United will win more than they will lose.

We do not know if Chelsea will crumble after a shaky patch, we do not know if Manchester United will win 10 games in a row 1-0 we do not know if our injury problems will improve massively as the season continues. It is foolish to write off anyone at this stage, including Arsenal.

If we get to February and there is a twelve point gap and our players are crocked then I will hold my hands up and say yes, we are fighting a losing battle but in October I would not expect our players, management staff and manager to say that we are not in the race, if they did then there would be outrage.

Ray Parlour fears that Arsenal may be lacking a cutting edge in the final third.

"Arsenal are lacking in the final third. They play some lovely football, but they're missing that cutting edge, the player who’s going to score them a goal out of nothing."

"In the old days they had that with Henry or Bergkamp but they’re missing that now. Whether Van Persie or Walcott can provide that we’ll have to wait and see. But they need someone who can score a goal out of nothing."

Obviously Henry's and Bergkamp's do not grow on tree's, at least not the trees around my area but I think Ray has a point. We have a squad full of players who can score goals but my feeling is that they score when our team is functioning well, when we are imposing our game. Van Persie and perhaps Arshavin are the only two players who can conjure something up from nothing and we know that 1) Van Persie is not always available and 2) Arshavin does not always show up.

A player like Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could pick up the ball at the half way line and score a goal, they can score at any moment but that is why those players were/are special players. I am a big fan of quality dribblers and in games like we faced against Chelsea they can be the difference. I am not sure how many dribblers we have in our squad.

We have one coming in January in Wellington da Silva but he is still a kid and I doubt that he will be ready for a few seasons to make a big impact in the first team.

The mix of a direct dribbler in a quality passing team can reap huge rewards as Messi shows at Barcelona.

Strange transfer rumours doing the rounds yesterday, apparently the Barcelona Sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has been trying to dip his hand into the Arsenal midfield again but instead of catching a Cesc, he has his eye on a Brazilian. Denilson is the alleged target of the Catalan club.

A little bit random I must say, especially at this time of year but I could understand the interest. In some ways I think a player like Denilson would be a more important target than our captain Cesc Fabregas. Denilson may not have the DNA but his reading of the game, ability to keep possession and keep the ball moving along with his intercepting skills just points to a the perfect Barcelona target. If there is an interest then I wouldn't be surprised if he made a name for himself when he came off the bench at the Emirates against them, he changed the game along with Theo.

Anyhow, I don't know why I am even entertaining this idea, they can get lost and take their grubby little hands elsewhere. Denilson is a very good player who has massive scope for improvement, the only way Wenger would consider selling the player, is if he thought the likes of Ramsey or Lansbury could do that particular role for the team and if he thought they had a larger scope to improve.

Speaking of the younger players, Liam Brady who is the Head of Youth Development and Academy Director at Arsenal has praised the group of youngsters at the club, calling them 'an excellent group of kids'

As these players are coming close to pushing themselves into the first team plans, it almost looks as if we will have too many options or at least in the near future. I am looking forward to seeing the likes of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Benik Afobe and Chucks Aneke put on a starting shirt on a regular basis. It was interesting that JET came onto the field before Carlos Vela against Chelsea. He has been ignored from the bench before so maybe he is close to getting his chance. He may find that rather tricky with Nicklas Bendtner not too far away from making a comeback.

I was looking at the injury page on the official website and it is pretty useless isn't it? I wanted more of an idea as to when our players will be back and I am pretty much none the wiser. The last update on the likes of Walcott and Van Persie was all the way back on the 9th September which is a tad rubbish isn't it?

Hopefully we will have some nice surprises on Thursday/Friday after Arsene's press conferences and his interview with Arsenal TV Online.

That is it for now, happy Tuesday to you.

Back tomorrow.

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Comments (4)

• 12-Oct-2010 12:48 | | Eagleye
  

  I think Nasri is a player that can become somebody that can create a goal from nothing - he just isnt that player just yet. But you are right sometimes it feels as though we need a spark of magic from somewhere and it never comes.
  
  Our players seem to be full of confidence and self belief but sometimes dont try and take a pop shot from 30 yards or be a bit adventurous instead of playing it safe and scoring the perfect "Team Goal".

• 12-Oct-2010 13:51 | | MeanLean
  

  I agree that Nasri could become that player, although he needs to be more direct at times. Has often played the safe option at times when he should be bursting past his man.
  
  I think I am right in saying that we scored the most amount of goals from outside the area last season which is an interesting stat on the shooting from long range argument.

• 12-Oct-2010 15:34 | | Adam in NY
  

  Nasri is an exceptional talent and can obviously play in a variety of positions. He is best suited to play the same position as Cesc, so we will have to wait to see how that resolves itself.
  I believe that they need some more attacking options that have speed and are suited to play out wide. Walcott, Vela, and Arshavin are all fine players, but tend to play narrow. I think that they should buy Eden Hazard as his price will only go up. He can run at defenders from a wider position and draw many fouls. Another player we have been linked with since Euro 2008 is Arda Turan, who can dominate a game.
  With our current squad and Ramsey returning and Wilshere's improvement, I think the focus should be on attacking players from the wings. Not to mention getting RvP and TV5 back quickly.

• 13-Oct-2010 11:21 | | Waterboy
  

  Good article Mean Lean!
  
  Whilst I agree with your comment that a dribbler the quality of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be a fantastic addition to the wing department at Arsenal, as you highlighted, quality players such as those are rare and very very expensive.
  
  In all honesty I would be much prefer a penetrating off the ball running winger in the mould of Freddie Ljungberg (i.e. keep it simple on the ball but provide direct and pentrating off the ball runs. This would complement the likes of Nasri, Rosicky, Ramsey (in the Central Attacking Midfield role) to thread eye of the needle passes.
  
  I notice at the start of the season Walcott was doing this very effectively on the right and it’s no coincidence his goal ratio was reflected this before suc***bing to injury.
  
  That said, looking forward to seeing how Wellington Silva adapts given his reputation.
  
  Also after recently watching some of the matches from last season again I can’t help but think that Van P and Bendtner are also better suited to playing the Bergkamp style Central Attacking Midfield role rather than as an out an out striker.
  
  Interested to hear your thoughts?

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