Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 21 July 2011 12:57

Welcome to another day of limbo, another day that is not a match day and so far not a day where actual official news is jumping out at us, apart from a few player quotes. To keep up my Arsenal fix, I browsed around the Arsenal player to see what I could find, something to tide me over until we announce that Messi is having an Arsenal medical. Or something.

I came across Carl Jenkinson's second interview on the site, the one where he speaks about his first game for the club and how it felt to himself and his family. I already wrote something similar after his first interview but I did feel a sense of pride for the lad. You can see that it makes a big difference to players who genuinely have the club in their heart and I know Wenger has spoken of this for a while now. It is a reason why he believes growing a team together is beneficial.

Without pointing the finger at other individuals, it seems clear that the history of the club and the love for the badge just isn't there. We are the latest club that will pay them their wages and give them a platform to perform, this is perfectly normal. You cannot expect every player to fall in love with the club because regardless of what we think or indeed how we feel about Arsenal, to some players we are just a job, a way to make ends meet. Some way, I gotta tell you but that is likely to be the case.

I would love and hope that Arsene can build a foundation of players who want to fight for the club and not just the individual glory. I value this quality and commitment far more valuable than the apparent experience that we miss.

Please don't get this confused with needing to pack the team with good ol, English grit and passion. Nationality has very little to do with it. I present to you old faces like Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. They may not have arrived as fully fledged Gooners but over time you could see that the club had merged into their hearts. While not everyone is totally convinced with Chamakh, he has been a fan of our great club for sometime now and is a fighter. He chases, hassles and puts in a shift whenever he gets the chance. It is another reason why I like the signing of Gervinho who has publicly spoken very highly of our club for years now.

I love the idea of us building the future around Szczesny, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Frimpong, Ramsey and Wilshere, perhaps one or two more should they develop sufficiently. It is key that we keep this group together and players we buy externally will follow the players at the club. It was how the likes of Vieira, Bergkamp, Henry, Pires and so on learned. Players like Adams, Keown, Winterburn etc were already at the club and had the red of Arsenal pumping ferociously around their veins and this passed onto the new players, it would be beneficial for us if we had that in our squad.

Meanwhile Theo Walcott has had his say on the quality of our versatile defender.

Walcott said:

“He looks very confident and it is great to see. He is not shy at all which is nice for a new lad coming in, especially at a young age. It’s a bit daunting at first but all the players have helped bed him in and that showed in his game [in Asia]. He is very positive and I enjoyed playing with him.”

So according to Arsenal squad members, Jenkinson was the fittest player in pre season, is confident in himself and is a born and bred Gooner. I am liking the cut of this guys jib, that's for sure. He may well be an underwhelming signing for some but I bet if he had been sniffing around the Blackburn Rovers squad and then came in for a 'sending a message' £16m transfer fee then that perception could well be a little different.

Theo also gave his verdict on Japanese winger Ryo Miyaichi.

Walcott said:

“I don't like comparing myself to other players, every player is different. He wants to be his own player, he is a confident lad and will hopefully have a good career at Arsenal. He has got a few step-overs more than me, I don't do any! That is maybe something I could bring into my game.”

I hope that last part was not tongue in cheek from Theo, not necessarily the step overs but the trickery to beat his opponent without having to rely solely on speed. At Theo's age it could be a little late to develop that side of his game to any real degree. It has been researched that people develop their technique from a far younger age and as far as I know, Walcott did not start getting into the game until he was 10 years old. You can see that someone like Jack Wilshere is a natural footballer, one that probably started kicking a ball at 4 years of age and the ability that we see today was probably already there when he was 15 years of age. Once you have the technique then tactical, discipline, strength and speed can be added afterwards.

I find it very difficult to place Theo's importance to the team in my head. The fastest player in the squad, that makes the opposition set themselves up in a different way. He is very possibly the best finisher at the club and had a fantastic return of both goals and assists last season yet when the opponents half looks congested Theo often looks invisible. His build up play is also not as good as his attacking team mates, yet he scores goals and gives our passers an outlet.

I am very intrigued to know if Gervinho will be in direct competition with Theo Walcott given the fact that Gervinho played in Theo's position for the most part last season but it is unlike Arsene to halt the progress of a player who is progressing and improving his contributions to the team. Saturday should be interesting in that respect but it is also quite likely that we will see the team broken up into two parts so it may not tell the full story.

In transfer speculation. Apparently we have had a £10m bid rejected by Everton for Phil Jagielka. Apparently they want double that which is kinda funny in a non funny way. He is 29 years old and I understand why both Everton do not want to sell as they will find it hard to replace him for the money Arsenal have offered and I understand that Arsenal do not want to pay crazy money for a player who will have no resale value and who would likely be part of a rotated list of four center backs.

The Mata stories are resurfacing once again. Mata said that he is happy at Valencia but you never know what will happen in the future. The Valencia coach was also very cagey about the situation.

My view is this, if we are actually interested in the player which I wouldn't be too surprised if we were then a potential move would be dependant on the future of one Cesc Fabregas. I also wouldn't be surprised if the agent, player and current club all know of this and will not talk unless Barcelona pay the needed money for us to release our player.

Frank Ribery has also hit the rumour mill but I don't buy it for so many reasons. Here are a few. Past his best, injury prone, huge wages, congestion of wide attackers and if you want to sell shirts then buying Ribery is just a no no.

Right, time to head off. Keep your eyes pealed for another Your Vision article from an Arsenal Vision reader. Don't forget that you can write your own stuff and have it posted on this site by clicking this link.

Back later.

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Comments (9)

• 21-Jul-2011 13:23 | | Rob
  

  http://www.wix.com/robaveries/realorfakerumours

• 21-Jul-2011 13:30 | | raj
  

  i was hoping Gervinio purchase was to take Theo's place and for theo to be pushing for the strikers role either as a sub or along VP

• 21-Jul-2011 13:35 | | A gooner among others
  

  I think Mata would replace Nasri and not Cesc. I haven't seen him play a lot but from what I've heard he is more a winger than a central player.
  
  I also think Walcott is gonna play a lot more as a central striker rather than a winger this year. We could see in the preseason games Rvp and him exchanging positions quite often.
  I guess we'll have to wait for the Emirates cup to have a better idea of how we are going to play during the season.

• 21-Jul-2011 13:58 | | Mat_t14
  

  If Cesc leaves eventually I would love to see gervinho on the right wing and mata on the left wing. Nasri would assume a central role were he plays best

• 21-Jul-2011 14:14 | | Judith Le  - Strength and guts
  

  We need to start trying to recreate the strength we had back in the late 70's early 80's and bring in players who can tough it out with the opposition not wimps who back away from a challenge. We need players in the mold of Wilshere who is not afraid of challenging and if he gets a kick can mix it with the best of them, also the back four need to toughen up so I think two new defenders are needed as Squillaci and dare I say Konchelsy aren't really Arsenal players they both seem to cause more trouble than they're worth. Let Fab and Nasri leave as they're not going to be much use in the coming season and will only cause more disharmony in the dressing room than harmony.

• 21-Jul-2011 15:33 | | Vuja De  - Still Learning His Trade
  

  I know that, every so often, Walcott publicly expresses a desire to play as a central striker for Arsenal, and gives the impression that he is ready to do so immediately, rather than at some unknown point in the future.
  
  I suspect that Walcott is not aware that he needs to add much more to his game if he really wants to play as an effective central striker for the Arsenal.
  
  Because, to my discerning eyes, Walcott does not - at present - have the necessary skill set to play as an effective central striker for an Arsenal team playing Wengerball, an intricate game based on possession.
  
  Walcott might be able to play as a central stiker for another team whose game isn't based on possession, and who care less than Arsenal do about giving the ball away.
  
  But until he develops and advances his all round game - and doesn't just rely on his pace to beat a man - I think it would be a very bad idea to play Walcott as a central striker for the Arsenal.
  
  The good thing is that Walcott has time on his side to improve his game - even at the age of 22 - but he has to make full use of it, because time waits for no one.

• 21-Jul-2011 16:26 | | MeanLean
  

  I agree that Theo would not be a good choice as striker in our current system and it certainly would not get the best out of him. He is not a false nine that can drop into holes and link our attacks, also he is not technically good enough to play there.
  
  When the opposition drop deep and flood their half of the pitch, Theo sometimes finds it hard to get himself in the game so imagine what it would be like with two central defenders snapping away at his feet. Now that Blackpool have dropped a division, how many teams are going to leave the spaces in behind them for Theo to exploit? Not many that's for sure and if they did then they would be mad to do so.
  
  Theo already pretty much gets to move into the striking position when he wants to from wide and that is how he gets so many of his goals and the reason for that is because he ghosts into those positions from wide positions and is often not picked up or it is too late to do so. He would not be afforded that luxury from a central striking position.
  
  I am not opposed to it if the situation is right, i.e. winning 2-0 away from home with the home team pushing forward in search of goals therefore leaving gaps between their goalkeeper and center backs but I do not see that being a situation that happens regularly.
  
  If anyone disagree's then I would love to hear your reasoning on it. Thanks all

• 22-Jul-2011 07:26 | | Feeno
  

  people seem to forget about Jack Wilshere when the talk of Cesc or Nasri leaving.
  
  IF Cesc goes what wrong with a trifecta of Nasri, Jack, Song (also Ramsey/Diaby for back up)
  
  Certainly would like to see this Mata fellow from reports and video he looks the real deal.
  
  The point regarding the players feelings for the club, it doesnt really help when idiotic fans pick idiotic reason to hate on certain players. Self fulfilling prophecys they pick on the player cos they think he's crap Destroy the confidence with booin & jeers and idiotic blogs picking up o nthis an writing article after article pandering to these clowns thought process (making them think they are right) and then low and behold you ahve a demorolized player, who so scarde to make a mistake that they end up tryuing tio hard and making a mistake, these people have hounded out Denilson, Bendtner and for some reason still go after Eboue and Diaby. These people do far much more damage than any perceived weakness our team is supposed to have. You cant blame players for not taking a club to there hearts when the very folk they are playing for turn on them, I mean why would you???

• 22-Jul-2011 08:14 | | indian gunner forever  - spot on as always........
  

  Hey Mean Lean - tough to disagree with you on most things Arsenal and its the same in this case as well....
  
  You are spot on about the fact that in situations when opposition just sits back - Walcott becomes invisible. I know there are a lot of people who want him to develop the central striker aspect of his game but I completely agree with you that the freedom he gets in wide positions to move in is what is making him tick at the moment and it would not happen if he moved central.....
  
  The aspect that Walcott actually needs to work on are his crosses and cut backs..............I mean I have lost count of the number of time the guy works his a** off to get into a great position and then just squander a good chance with a lame cross or one that ends in the stands.....If he develops that area - he would be right up there in the assists column with our scholar midfield.....
  
  And yeah that thing about "Arsenal DNA" was fantastic..........you just can't put it into someone - and it is so refreshing to see these youngsters speaking passionately about the club we all love.......Lets hope this bunch will stick together and perhaps become a class better than the 'INVINCIBLES' was.......

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