Obviously, Arsenal miss Gilberto.
He gives the team things they can’t get from anybody else.
If the big Brazilian had played at Ewood Park, David Dunn would not have scored that goal because Gilberto would not have allowed him a free hit from 22 yards.
The loss of captain William Gallas for three weeks reminds me that Arsenal need a six foot four centrehalf. They need a big, rugged 30-year old stopper on a two-year contract. Ideally, of course, that man should be a leader like Frank McLintock, Tony Adams, Steve Bruce or John Terry.
But shouting defenders are very, very rare these days. When Dixon and Adams left, Bergkamp bleated, “Who will shout now?” A good question !
Newcastle’s Steven Taylor or Man City’s Micah Richards are the best young centrebacks in the Premier League and neither will stay much longer at their present clubs.
Unfortunately, Arsene is an attacking coach who never spends big money on spinal defenders. He tries to make do with Stepanovs and Cygan and took a punt on Upson.
With David Dein on board, Arsenal might have been able to sign keeper Craig Gordon, a six foot four inch Scot who cost Sunderland a record £9 million. Gordon could be everything we thought the young David James was going to be.
With Gallas missing from Saturday’s Manchester City game at the Emirates, I can’t see Arsene dropping Jens Lehmann, who is tipped to keep his place in Germany’s team at Wembley on Wednesday night. If you do not have gallas, you need Lehmann. Two chnages in your back five would not be a good idea at this moment, especially after an international week with disrupted preparation.
Zagreb left winger Luka Modric played against Werder Bremen, I gather, so he would be Cup-tied if he joined his pal Eduardo at Arsenal. But that’s no reason not to sign him, since the two Croatians would help each other settle in and combine as Pires and Henry did.
Arsene says he is NOT close to any deals.
But I’m sure he will sign new players before the deadline. He knows his squad is thin. He knows he is two injuries away from a crisis. On the last day last August he got Gallas in a swap deal for Ashley Cole, and Baptista in a loan swap for Reyes. Don’t rule out something similar at the midnight hour this time, although it would be far harder without David Dein there to drive a hard bargain.
Losing Reyes and Pires left him with Rosicky on the left, a right -footed player who is unable to duplicate what Pires did for the team.
History shows that Arsene Wenger loves to have a thin squad.
There is a fine line between having too many players and too few and he likes to have too few. He has too few now and could come a cropper because he has only three centrebacks and one is injured.
Before Gallas comes back, Toure or Senderos could be crocked. Then he would put Gilberto at the back, which is self- defeating. Gilberto is Arsenal’s most strategic player. He is needed in midfield, where he can prop up the defence and also pinch goals at the other end.
There are 10 days left of the transfer window.Arsene needs a keeper, a centreback, a left winger and a striker like Pizarro, a 30-year old on a free transfer.
Why do I say that?
Because it’s already obvious that the Premier League will be a tighter competition this season. There will be a lot of very close games, a lot of draws. Derby are the worst team to ever play in the Premiership and could lose 4-0 every week but the other 19 teams will take points off each other.
Last Saturday and Sunday showed this clearly. Newcastle and Aston Villa played a 0-0 draw and both those clubs, who have very pragmatic managers, will play further 0-0 draws soon.
In Sunday’s three games, two were 1-1 and the other was 1-0.
Rob Styles has been suspended for a month by Keith Hackett for his ridiculous error at Anfield, giving Lampard that penalty for 1-1. He will referee in a lower division.
Blackburn could not kick Arsenal off the field but they dominated the second half and hit the post with a header. So they deserved a draw. But Arsenal would probably have won if Lehmann had not fumbled that shot by Dunn.
Manchester City’s 1-0 win over United was a fluke. United had 60% possession and missed a lot of chances and Sven admitted City were lucky. Not least because their goal was 30-yard shot which deflected off the bum of Vidic.
That’s how it looks to me right now : tight. It looks very tight indeed. More than ever before, every goal conceded will be costly, and every goal scored will be crucial. So reliable keepers, reliable centrebacks and reliable goalscorers will be even more important than they have ever been. If you don’t have reliable players in those three positions, you will have bo chance.
At Spurs, I think Seville coach Juande Ramos, 52, has turned them down, so Martin Jol will keep his job for now.
Ramos’s contract with Seville ends in 2008 but if he has another great season he’ll have options to join a bigger club than Spurs. He fancies the Premier League, though.
Update 1 : Ramos is ready to resign, apparently !!!!!
Update 2 : Seville insist Ramos will see out his contract. So Ramos has not turned down Spurs. But his club will not let him go.
The QPR takeover will go through today. Italian F1 mogul buys club for a mere £22 million.