Bould ‘as big as any signing’ + RVP messing with Man City’s minds. Good.
July 24, 2012
I woke up with the Irving Berlin song ‘Sisters’ in my head this morning. Do you know the one? It goes ‘Sisters. Sisters. Never were there such devoted sisters.’ It’s utter rot. I hate it. But whilst asleep my brain had ingeniously replaced all the lyrics with the word football so now all I keep thinking is ‘Football. Football. Football football football football football’
Football!
Still an annoying song but it sums up my frame of mind as I get overly excited at the prospect of seeing some football today. Arsenal take on a Malaysia XI at 14.45 UK time and while we’re likely to put out a severely restricted team who will all be at early stages in their pre-season programme and I imagine we’ll make so many substitutions that the game will have no real flow about it, it will still be Arsenal players pulling on Arsenal shirts (red and white or possibly purple) and kicking the ball around. And that’s something that my life has been lacking.
Though we don’t get the usual joy of seeing the new signings I’m excited to see the likes of The Ox and Le Coq in particular back in action plus it will be a good chance to catch some of the youngsters. In particular I’m keen to see Thomas Eisfeld who I still haven’t seen but I read has been working as a defensive midfielder in training, Nico Yennaris who looked good when he was called upon last season and Benik Afobe who, with Marouane Chamakh the only other recognised striker on the tour, has a chance to show what he can do and possibly even force his way into the manager’s plans for the season.
Chamakh himself has been making noises about staying put at the club this year, apparently feeling that his chances were too limited last season due to the form of RVP. With Robin on his way he thinks that he can get the chance to prove himself this year. I suggest he hurries up. As we all know his form was poor when he was called upon last season (although showed signs of improvement with some late cameos in the last couple of game) and with Podolski and Giroud already brought in and fans sure to clamour for another big signing when RVP departs, this tour may be the only chance he gets. If he bangs in a hat-trick this afternoon then Le Boss may have something to think about.
Kyle Bartley’s another player who I’d be keen to get a look at today. He was talking to the official site yesterday about the importance of seizing his chance this year but also confirming what already seems to be abundantly clear – Steve Bould is trying to shake things up on the defensive side of things. Kyle said:
It is fantastic – already in training you can see the influence Steve is having. I think for defenders and the whole defensive unit it is going to be a massive benefit.
Having Steve with the first team could be as big as any signing this summer.
For anyone who still believes that Bouldy will be nothing more than a glorified coneman I recommend checking out Aeroberg at the ArsenalHeart blog, a Malaysian based Gooner who’s been keeping followers up to date with the goings on during the tour and attended the team’s open training session yesterday. He reported that Bould took charge of the entire session but more importantly seemed fixated on players’ off the ball positioning and defensive duties. He would constantly blow up and stop the game to tell the full backs where they should be standing, later using cones to demarcate their positions.
I remember from reading Kenny Sansom’s book ‘Going Great Guns’ the amount of time that George Graham used to spend just on shape and positioning of the back four and the fact that Bould, such a vital part of that famous defence, seems to be instilling the same values into the current line up would validate Bartley’s claim. He really could be as big as any signing this summer. Here’s hoping it does the trick.
My search for silver linings over the RVP affair goes on and this morning there’s a good one from the Mail and the Mirror who both claim that Roberto Mancini is furious with the Man City board for failing to move decisively enough over the transfer. Boo hoo. Must be really hard to run a football team when you’ve only got half a dozen £25 million plus world class strikers on your books.
There’s a suggestion that City are finally catching up to the fact that FFP is coming in and they’re having to take some sort of action to pretend to be aiming to comply with the new rules. I’m not sure about that but I do hope the board and Mancini have a massive falling out over it and it disrupts the start of their season.
Vindictive? Yes. What of it?
The Cazorla story seems to be gathering pace following AW’s cheeky grin and denial yesterday as the Guardian have picked up on the story and seem to think that both the player and Arsenal are keen to make the deal happen. A price of £15.6 million is being quoted due to Malaga’s desperation to claw back some cash after their wealthy owners who have poured 150 million Euros into the club in the last two years appear to have decided to stop chucking their money away. It’s left the club in limbo and threatened with enforced relegation for failing to pay their debts which I would suggest offers not only an opportunity for Arsenal to land themselves a bargain but also a timely warning for those fans who would rather we operated our own club in a similar way.
It’s all very well relying on a wealthy benefactor to sink funds in but what do you when that benefactor decides that he wants to find himself a new hobby?
Finally today and good news as Laurent Koscielny has agreed to a new long term contract with the club. Great to hear and that’s one less contract scenario for us to worry about over the next couple of seasons.
Right, I need to go and shut down my internet for the day so I avoid any talk of the game before watching it ‘as live’ after work. Don’t expect much comment moderation after lunch. Enjoy!
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21 Responses to “Bould ‘as big as any signing’ + RVP messing with Man City’s minds. Good.”
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“Football. Football. Football Football Football Football Football.” LOL
If I replace “Football” with “Arsenal” and belt it out at The Emirates will you join in?
Looking forward to seeing thomas eisfeld today by all accounts he looks the part! I hope the cazorla deal happens its typical wenger he sniffs out bargains look at giroud(release clause) poldi ( koln relegated) an malaga in trouble 15 million is a bargain for cazorla. I think our biggest signing will be steve bould if he can work with gibbs and santos and tell vermaelen when to time his bombs forward we will be a hard side to break down!! First pre season game COYG!!!
Nice article. I think the malaga situation shows the side effects of romance with sug*r da**dy!
pretty good day for arsenal, more of the same please. roll on 14.45!!!
@ Dubzie – you’re on
Not sure what it was in that post today but I’m suddenly feeling a lot more positive about Arsenals chances next year. Lets get rid of that disloyal money grabber and the talented but tubby lazy one and aquire this Cazorla fella. That will give us massive options and I would no longer be concerned about Walcott and his lapsing contract.
If Walcott stays aswell that will give us Gerv, Wally, the ox, pod and cazorla on the flanks. I think if this happened we would see the ox play in his more natural central position which he looked amazing in last season for the 2 games he played there.
I have also read that Gervinho has been tested as a striker in pre-season training. He certainly gets in the right positions and can ghost past players, if he regains his confidence in front of goal that could be a very interesting move and could even see us move back to 4-4-2 (or at least have that as a viable option when plan A isn’t working).
Now lets hope the key players like Kos, verm, and arteta stay injury free and we could really be onto something this season. COYG!
ps. Bould is freekin legend!! Can’t wait to see the results of his hard work and discipline approach. I don’t think we will see too many of those heart-stopping moments when Chezzer or Santos suddenly think they are playing an exhibition game of cage football. There will be no-nonsense next year until all the basics are totally perfect.
In bould we trust
I wish those mugs who are always crying wenger to splash out cash, as if its water, to take some time and analyze our team..its slowly taking terrific shape!! its less than 1 hour to the games! COYG!!!!!!!!!
I wish those mugs who are always crying wenger to splash out cash, as if its water, to take some time and analyze our team..its slowly taking terrific shape!! its less than 1 hour to the game! COYG!!!!!!!!!
Watching game on espn some northern irish bloke talking sooo much shite had to mute it
So who looked good then? Match reports please!
Arsenal do look strong in most departments I think.A battling out& out ball winner who can also play ball to turn defence into attack would be advantageous in more ways than one. We are a lovely attacking side but we do get caught by too many sucker punches. If Steve Bould can get the defence working even close to the standard of his playing days, we will concede fewer goals and probably gain an extra 9-12 points a season. If those points are gained against our near rivals that will cut any advantage at the end of the day. What if we had done the double over Man.U last season? It’s a no-brainer, Steve Bould could turn out to be our best acquisition so far. Go Arsenal!
Oh! I forgot to mention. Nice Article. Witty & humorous. Vindictive? Nothing wrong with that.
Ox played well as did ryo. Two seperate teams played a half each so was just about the run out really. miquel looks like he has bulked up a bit over the summer and played quite well at left back also. diaby was probably our best player in the first half which was good to see.
as far as goals the malaysian goal was a wonder strike nothing mannone could do for that he actually looked as good as ive seen him in an arsenal shirt. arsenal goals came from eisfeld who only got 10 minutes which dissapointed me and a deflected chukd aneke strike was the winner. Gervinho was used as a striker which was interesting in first half!
Dan T – I feel the opposite looking at Chelsea going on another spending spree and the fact City will only start next season with a stronger squad. That’s not to be negative about our situation – but the vast spending power of City and Chelsea is something we can have no control over no can realistically compete with across an entire season – I see finishing above United as a realistic goal for us, but we’ll have strong competiton from both Spurs and Liverpool this year, not to mention Newcastle who could have another strong season if they keep their best players.
It should be exciting, let’s just hope we get off to a better start!
Thanks JK – the two teams for either half is pretty standard for these things isn’t it – partly so the Malaysian fans get to see as many players as possible, and partly to ease the squad back into semi-competitive football in preparation for the season ahead.
Glad to hear Ox and Ryo both had a good game – two of our most exciting young prospects at the moment. I’m hoping to see more of Eisfeld too, the 10 minutes of football I saw from him last season (reserves highlights video on youtube I believe) got me interested.
I do think if rvp goes we need another striker chamack not good enough its just a fact. I think thats why wenger playing gervinho through the middle incase giroud gets injured. Which leads me to believe that if indeed rvp goes we will be buying a classy midfielder and not buying another forward.
Americas-based Spanish-language sports reporter Diego Balado, of Fox Sports and Univision, has just claimed on Twitter that Cazorla will leave Malaga for Arsenal. He is also a very reliable source
I think this deal will be rvps replacement
Cazorla is a midfielder and a Malaga CF source (someone from the club) has said he won’t be sold – obviously that might not mean a thing and perhaps we will sign Santi, but the only official source to have commented on the situation properly has said he’s staying put.
Can’t help but think of the M’Vila situation where he was 99% an Arsenal player, subsequently we’ve found out from Rennes that they’ve not even received a bid fo the player. Hard to know where you stand with the rumour mill.