DownSwinging.com

First things first, what a wonderful weekend it was. I attended Sarturday’s festivities at the Emirates, even though I could have arrived around the 85th minute. It was nice to see the boys against some legitimate European opposition. To be honest, PSG looked the most capable of the three opponents throughout the tournament, despite finishing last, and its a shame we couldn’t face them due to the sponsorship conundrum. But either way, the young guns definitely showed they are right on track to be ready for Everton in a fortnight.

This is the week, Gooners. Signings or not, come Friday we will have a much better idea as to who we will be going into battle with this season. Wenger has admitted that he would like to make his additions prior to the start of the season as opposed to waiting till the last minute as he has not been shy about doing in the past; earmarking the Valencia match as his quasi-deadline. I feel two signings plus Vieira are on the way. After all of this ‘maybe, maybe not’ talk regarding Patrick, I feel it would be a bit souring were Wenger to pass on a pay-as-you-play deal. Do we really want things to end like that? No, (especially not if Vieira is to be handed a coaching role after his playing career) and I don’t think Arsene does either. Just give him some part of Adebayor’s freed up wages, and everybody wins.

Marouane Chamakh appears ready to sign for Arsenal today or tomorrow, as he is in London in anticipation for his imminent medical with team doctors. It is unclear whether or not a fee has been agreed, as Arsenal had their first offer, one of £5m, rejected. Chamakh, meanwhile, has done his best Ashley Cole  impression by blackmailing Bordeaux, his current club, into selling him for any price, regardless of whether they are content with it or not. Here is his recent rant in full:

“I am angry, I am disgusted and I do not understand why they have done that [rejected Arsenal's £5m offer]. One thing is certain, I will not be signing a new contract – if they will not let me go now, I will leave for free. If a solution cannot be found quickly, everyone will lose. Frankly, I really do not want to start the season with Bordeaux. Already I am told that Sunderland is not the club for me. But since when does a club chose the future of a player?”

While it is somewhat flattering for Chamakh to be so eager to become a Gunner, it should also serve as ominous behavior. What if he bags 20 for us this year and Real come calling? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that he will be good enough to score that many (as he only tallied 13 for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 last year), or that I would be particularly averse to selling him for a profit, its just a character flaw he has displayed with this outburst. We finally got Adebayor out of our system, do we need another loud-mouth?

In regards to the “…since when does a club chose the future of a player?” portion of the quote; what are you on about, Marouane? The club can agree to whosever offer they see fit. That’s how it works. If they don’t like the offer, or by extension the club ( as seen in Sunderland’s case), its their perogative to say no. You can sing and dance all you like, but at the end of the day, they have the right to even take you off the transfer block and bench you for the remainder of your contract, if they so please. Its clear you’ll be sold, just let it happen.

Another thing, after watching this weekend, why are we buying a flashy, unproven attacker? It seems as though we have these in spades. With Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere and Walcott all trying to stake their claim in the front three (assuming Wenger adopts the 4-3-3 he’s been toying with), which as of now should see Eduardo up top being flanked by van Persie and Arshavin (and will also boast Nasri, when he returns), why add a somewhat combustable character into the mix? That being said, there is no reason to argue against depth, especially after what we’ve all gone through over the past several years.

Furthermore, all indications are that upon Chamakh’s signing, Tomas Rosicky will be moved further back into a more central role, as opposed to the left wing, where he had been plying his trade earlier in his Arsenal career. What I’m guessing is that our first choice XI could look something like this:

Eduardo

van Persie——————————————-Arshavin

Rosicky——————Fabregas

Song

Clichy——–Vermaelen——–Gallas——–Sagna

Almunia

Quite an attacking lineup I must say, but I’m sure Wenger will employ a more defensive 4-4-2, or even 4-1-3-1-1 set up in the bigger matches. As you could see this selection having a wee bit of trouble against a potent counter-attack. But if Arsene manages to put this squad out consistently, I’d wager that we will score more goals than striker-heavy City.