Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 15 December 2011 13:11
*Cough cough splutter splutter*
I hope you do not catch anything from this germ ridden blog this afternoon, I am still suffering from the change of temperature or whatever it is that causes this. I hate sitting on public transport breathing in the fumes from a bloke next to me coughing his guts up. Today, that guy is me. People were visibly leaning away from me on my journey this morning. I felt for them though, I would react in the same way if the boot was on the other foot.
I spent the day at home yesterday and I watched the Q&A session with Arsene Wenger, Carl Jenkinson, Martin Keown and some Arsenal supporters. It is split into four parts and is available on the Arsenal Player, a very enjoyable, insightful and funny watch I must say.
Some bits and pieces from it has already come out individually in the press or via the official site, I cannot quite remember but what I wanted to hear was one question that was actually intercepted by the host Clive Anderson.
You would have expected the question to have come from the supporters but it actually came from Martin Keown. He questioned Andrey Arshavin's hunger and commitment and wanted Arsene to set him straight but Anderson changed the subject and took a question from the audience.
To be fair, that should be a question said in private and if anyone knows that then it should be Martin Keown who know's exactly how an Arsene Wenger dressing room works. Publicly united and together while issues are raised and addressed in-house.
As I am sure you know, the question of the January window came up and Arsene met it with the usual response. If he finds the right player then he will do it. He did also speak about the financial situation of other clubs not being so great right now but that Arsenal were in a healthy position.
Perhaps we have been waiting for all around us to cry poverty before casually walking around sticking Mario Götze's in our baskets with reduced price stickers on them. Not that Borussia Dortmund are in any desperate need of cash but you know what I am saying.
What is not often mentioned in the media when it comes to buying new players is the squad rules. They, like myself today are too lazy to go into detail about the age groups, the foreign limits, under 21's etc. A proper blogger would now give you the exact figures but hey, since when have I declared to be a proper blogger?
It is all well and good saying that we need a new left back, goalkeeper and striker from Brazil, France and Spain. But I have a solution, there is a way around this mess. All Arsene needs to do is find an English left back great at going forward and strong defensively but he needs to be versatile, versatile enough to be able to play wide attack as well as being equally adept at playing the false nine role in van Persie's absence. How hard can it be? Surely we can just tick the required check boxes and click search. Sorted.
I gotta say, I do love a good ol attacking player, if Arsene is secretly scanning the world to bring one in then I am very intrigued to know what type of forward he would bring in. Obviously buying a player to cover Chamakh and Gervinho is not just for a few weeks and then discard them to the dustbin when said players return. Signings unless they are loan deals are for the most part for the long term.
I suspect that if Arsene signs a replacement for Gervinho then there is a chance that he could well be Andrey Arshavin's longer term replacement. As I see it, I do not see Arshavin extending his stay at Arsenal, especially if he still remains behind Gervinho and Walcott in the pecking order.
Then there is the center forward position, Park has yet to be given a run in the team so we do not know where he is in terms of being ready for first team football at Arsenal. The more I think about, the more I can see Thierry Henry rejoining on loan for a short spell. Even if he is reduced to 10-15 minute cameos, it makes so much commercial and PR sense and certainly a way to keep the supporters positive.
What Wenger would be keen to avoid would be having a situation where Thierry Henry's presence negatively effected the team. One major change this season to past seasons is the shared responsibilities of the offensive players. It used to be easy for the likes of Alex Song to just make a five yard pass to Cesc Fabregas. Now he is making things happen himself and already has five assists. You can bet your bottom dollar that Song would not have five assists if Cesc was still at the club.
When Thierry Henry came back to the Emirates with the New York Red Bulls, it was amazing to see how the whole team looked for Henry first no matter where they were on the pitch, to the point of looking a little silly. In Henry's last season at Arsenal, where he could hardly run, it was the same and we struggled as a team, the next season we almost won the league.
If that was a potential problem then Wenger would not take the risk but how great would it be for Thierry Henry to score for Arsenal again? It would be beautiful.
While I cannot deny that the fairy tail side of me is influencing my thinking, I find talk of Henry coming back as manager beyond strange. The same goes for Dennis Bergkamp for that matter, but at least he has some coaching experience.
There are some people who want these former players to replace Arsene. It is a little like me choosing a man in street to operate on me because he has smart socks. Being a great player has pretty much nothing to do with being a good manager, if that were the case then we would have had a host of top clubs on the phone to Diego Maradonna begging for his services.
However the idea of someone like Henry or Bergkamp doing great things in other clubs before taking the rather huge step up into management at Arsenal would be very exciting indeed but that is certainly not for the hear and now. That said, if Sir Dennis of Bergkamp was to ride in on horse back as part of the coaching staff then I think we would all be grinning from ear to ear.
With the transfer window opening sooon and the City game looming over the horizon, I suspect that we will have plenty more to speak about over the coming weeks, so that is that for now.
Back tomorrow.
P.s - Mr H has written an article that should be on the site later. Be sure to check back for that.
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