German Shepherds are great dogs. I never knew how great until we got one. They’re sweet, loyal, fun and have natural guarding capabilities.
However, when you’re awoken at 3.30am to find the dog standing up resting his front paws on the kitchen sink, looking out the window and barking at a cat minding it’s own business walking across next door’s roof, you might wish they were a little less guardy. Thankfully they’re smart enough understand ‘shut up and go back to bed’ and the many layers that my tone of voice implied as I imparted that message.
So, it’s Thursday, football starts again on Saturday, and we’ll get updates on who’s fit and ready later today I’d imagine. The good news is that there have been no reports of post-Interlull maiming or limblessness for any of the Gunners involved, but little aches/strains/niggles will be checked on their return.
I saw a video yesterday of Olivier Giroud singing La Marseillaise after France qualified for the World Cup. Handsome he may well be, a very good striker also, but he ought not to give up the day job in the hopes of making it as the next Charles Aznavour. It was like listening back to some songs from the 80s that you grew up thinking were cool but then when you listen now you realise the singer hadn’t got a note in his/her head. Except worse.
However, I’m trying to segue into the World Cup area and I mentioned that the prospect of going to Brazil, or not, is one which keeps players on their toes. Not just for the French lads, but also for Jack Wilshere who feels he still has lots to prove to make the England squad. Asked if he thought he was going to be a shoo-in for Roy Hodgon’s squad he said:
No. Not at all. You are only as good as your last game so when the time comes, I have to be on top form, and there will be a lot of players looking to be as well. There are some big games coming up for the club at the moment, so I am just concentrating on that. That is where you are going to get into the England World Cup squad – by playing well for your club, then you are going to get picked for your country.
Looking at the pool of talent England have available to them, a semi-fit, flu ridden, one-legged Jack Wilshere has to be in the squad, but it’s good that he feels like he still has something to prove. I’ve long said this season is one of consolidation for him and that holds true. He needs to stay fit as much as possible and work his way into form. The performances of Aaron Ramsey have taken the spotlight off him to a certain extent and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.
Of course we live in this world where he’s gone from being flavour of the month to people writing off his entire career because he’s struggling this season, but we know well enough how often those kind of reactionary declarations prove premature. He does have to play better, no question, but with others in the squad performing he’s not under any pressure to be the main man in midfield as he was in the past. I think over the course of the season we should see the level of his performances improve and, barring any kind of serious injury, he’ll be in Brazil next summer, no doubt about it.
Meanwhile, Wojciech Szczesny says there’s belief in the squad that they can win something this season, even without further additions to the squad. He says:
We believe that we are good enough with the players we have got and the work we are doing to win the Premier League. We have shown that to people over the last six months or so. We know that if we just carry on doing the same thing we will show people that this team and these players are good enough to win a trophy without any extra additions or extra work that people are talking about. We certainly believe we can do it.
It’s good that there is that they feel that level of confidence and over the last 8 months or so we’ve transformed from a brittle, often slapdash gaggle of players, into a much more cohesive, efficient and hard to beat team. They’re absolutely right to feel good about what they’ve done and what they’re doing, but at the same time there is a deficiency in the squad up front and that’s something we shouldn’t ignore in my opinion.
Think back to the last time we won the title. Arsenal had a forward line of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Kanu, a somewhat ostracised but thoroughly available Sylvain Wiltord, and a young Frenchman whose was talked of as being a very special talent in Jeremie Aliadiere. Despite all those really very good options, we went out in January and added Jose Antonio Reyes to the squad.
The manager felt like we needed something different, something to add to the talent we already possessed, and although things didn’t work out for him in the long-term he made an invaluable contribution to the unbeaten season. And this season there’s no way you can look at our striking options and not think we could do with an addition to really help us kick on in the second half of the season.
I’m hopeful we’ll bring in somebody, but I don’t think there’s any chance we’ll spend Ozil-style money on a player in January. Then again, I never thought we’d spend Ozil-style money in the first place, so they might surprise us. I guess we’ll find out.
Finally for today, Julian Draxler reveals he’s been getting the Arsenal hard-sell from Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil. I also imagine that during international breaks Lukas Podolski, wearing his red and white onesie sneaks into his room while he’s sleeping, kneels down beside his bed, and gently whispers ‘Arsenal … Arsenal … Arsenal‘ into his ear for an hour to subliminally point him in our direction.
Draxler is quite the talent, and has been somebody we’ve been keeping tabs on for some time, but he’s ruled out a January move. I could urge patience but, you know.
Right, that’s about that. Back tomorrow with a very interesting and slightly different Arsecast, news throughout the day on Arseblog News.
Have a good one.
