We've been crying out for it since before the start of the season. After knowing we needed at least one more central defender and Arsenal doing nothing to address it in the summer transfer window, all hopes were pinned on us making a signing in January. Knowing how this club has operated in the past, there was a large part of me that wasn't sure we would even do that.
Then, lo and behold, stories started to emerge about Arsenal looking to sign Gabriel Paulista, a Brazilian center back for Villarreal. Again, the cynical side of me thought it sounded almost too good to be true; surely, we would somehow mess this up and if we did bring in anybody, undoubtedly at the last possible minute of transfer deadline day, they would be an equivalent of the Kim Källström signing last January (already injured, slightly washed up, etc...).
As it stands though, we are on the verge of completing his signing now that he has been granted a work permit. All that remains is for Gabriel to pass a physical, which reportedly took place earlier this afternoon, and Arsenal should be announcing the deal soon. Although I still wish we could have identified a target sooner than this, I am extremely pleased with the job the club has done in making this signing.
This is actually an extraordinary signing, compared to most of our transfer business over the past decade or so. That we were able to identify a target and successfully complete the signing with time left to spare in the transfer window is much different than how many of our previous deals have worked. I also like the fact that Gabriel is just on the cusp of entering his prime (much like Danny Welbeck) and is not simply coming here to be a backup. Our first choice defensive pairing is still Mertesacker and Koscielny, but we were going to have to address the need for more center backs at some point as they are 30 and 29 years old, respectively.
Gabriel's signing has also drawn a lot of comparisons to that of Koscielny, for several reasons. In the small amount of video I've seen of him, all from admittedly dodgy YouTube compilations, his playing style has looked extremely similar to the Frenchman's. At 24 years old, Gabriel is also the same age Koscielny was when he joined us from Lorient and was pretty much equally as unheralded and unknown. Those in the know have given him very good reviews, though, and he has been a part of a very airtight defense in La Liga with Villarreal this year. So hats off to the Arsenal for making a very important signing in a time of need, which is not easy for any club to do. Well, except for those clubs for which money isn't an object, but for any real football club, it is.
It's also amazing that we were able to get around the work permit issue, which has been a major hurdle for us in the past. One such player who experienced those issues, Joel Campbell, will actually be heading the other way in exchange for Gabriel on loan for the rest of the season. Whether or not that spells the end for his time at Arsenal remains to be seen, but it certainly does look that way. I'm just glad the club gave him a chance to see what he could do in our team, albeit a very limited one. I've seen Campbell play a few times for Costa Rica and I saw the game he scored in against Manchester United in the Champions League last year, there was just little-to-no room to see him getting into the team ahead of the players we already have. But after the long, drawn out chase for his signature, only for his work permit to get rejected and having to send him on loan after loan after loan, at least we tried to see if it could work out or not. I wish him all the best at Villarreal and the Spanish league will likely end up suiting his style a lot better than England.
This past week really couldn't have gone any better. Our trip to Manchester City resulted in a famous victory for the Gunners, possibly a paradigm-shifting one, and everybody in the media had to talk about how great we were for days on end. Then, this FA Cup round saw Man U forced into a replay by the lowest-ranked team left in the tournament, Chelsea lost 4-2 after being up 2-0 at home against Bradford, Spurs gave up two goals at the death to lose 2-1 and Man City lost 2-0 to second division Middlesbrough. We followed that with a 3-2 win over Brighton, which sees us move on to the 5th round of the FA Cup and gives us our fourth win in a row, which is the first time we've done that all season. In the next round, we face a home match against the Middlesbrough team that knocked City out.
Plus, Theo and Özil scored their first goals after their injury spells and Tomas Rosicky turned in a masterful performance, notching a goal and an assist. So all in all, things are looking up in a major way for us. The challenge will be to build off of this positivity and try to make this season a real success.
January 16, 2015
Arsenal to Take on Champions While We Await Defensive Reinforcements
The calendar has turned from 2014 to 2015 and Arsenal's hopes for the new year to be a symbol for a fresh beginning face a serious test as we prepare to head to Manchester City on Sunday. So, we may not have exactly gotten off to the greatest start to the new calendar year, losing 2-0 at Southampton on New Year's Day in an overall listless performance. But since then, the Gunners have rebounded fairly well, with wins over Hull in the F.A. Cup and Stoke in the league.
Our biggest challenge this year (well, other than injuries) has been getting a run of positive results going. That will be extremely difficult to establish again with this weekend's trip to the reigning champions but after last year's blowout loss at their place, a good performance will be seen as progress. For me, it's too late for moral victories for us. Sure, there will be something to be said if we play well and only lose by a goal or something, rather than looking like deer in headlights again as we concede goal after goal. At this point in the league campaign, though, we have to get results.
I believe that if we play well enough, we can beat any team in the league and that includes the defending champions. While I don't expect it in the slightest, our chances of pulling off the upset at the Etihad start with defense. We should have our top choice central defensive pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny, who both give us so much solidity at the back that we look shambolic without them playing together. With Kieran Gibbs a doubt, Nacho Monreal should keep his place at left back as he has played very well in recent weeks. Arsene Wenger has an interesting choice to make at right back now that Mathieu Debuchy is expected to be out for three months with a dislocated shoulder. Either Calum Chambers or Hector Bellerin will be drafted in and while I expect Arsene to go with Chambers, who has played more games so far, I'd be inclined to start Bellerin. To me, Chambers has thrived more in the center of defense than as a right back and Bellerin's pace and ability going forward are better. Bellerin's defending skills might be below Chambers, but he has acquitted himself well when he has played and I'm just worried about the slower Chambers going against the quickness of David Silva and Sergio Aguero. I also think Chambers should be preserved as a backup to Per and Koscielny while we wait for the club to sign defensive reinforcements.
In the midfield, Francis Coquelin has been a revelation and should retain his place along with Tomas Rosicky and hopefully Aaron Ramsey will come back in, if he's fit enough to start. Mesut Özil is also back in contention after returning to action last week against Stoke, but I'd opt for the in-form Santi Cazorla to keep his place at central attacking mid and keep Özil as an option off the bench. Up front, there's no way Olivier Giroud doesn't start with the magical Alexis alongside him. The Chilean has been even better than advertised for us this season, coming off a two-goal performance last week and accounting for the most goals + assists of any player in the Premier League.
On paper, we should have more than enough firepower to match Man City, who will be without Edin Dzeko and $amir Na$ri, which is a shame only because the latter can't be kicked up into the air by Coquelin or Flamini. In our first meeting with City at the Emirates, Arsenal went charging into the lead from exquisite goals from Alexis and Jack Wilshere, only to see us hold on for dear life for a 2-2 draw that we honestly could have (should have) lost. The keys will be whether we can match their intensity and play within an organized shape. If we lose our confidence and defensive shape, we will be battered again.
As for transfer news, we still somehow haven't signed a defender yet with the exact midpoint of January upon us. It will seriously be criminal if we don't sign a defender this window, as short as we've been all season, with Debuchy essentially lost for the rest of season now and with Per having played almost every minute of every match thus far. The good news is that Wenger has been uncharacteristically forthright about our attempts to bring in at least one defender. With Arsenal, though, you never know for sure. We have completed the signing of 17 year old midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw, but he is definitely one for the future. There have been crazy, outlandish transfer rumors, as there are with any transfer window. The bottom line is that we knew since before the season started that we were short on defenders, it ended up biting us in the ass (just as anyone with half a brain could have forseen) and it would require us to act in the January window to rectify. Until we do, this season will be seen as one in which we willfully chose to damage our own title challenge by not addressing a very unbalanced squad, simple and plain. For the sake of the club and its fans, the clock is ticking to change that or otherwise face more outcry and anger than ever seen before.
Our biggest challenge this year (well, other than injuries) has been getting a run of positive results going. That will be extremely difficult to establish again with this weekend's trip to the reigning champions but after last year's blowout loss at their place, a good performance will be seen as progress. For me, it's too late for moral victories for us. Sure, there will be something to be said if we play well and only lose by a goal or something, rather than looking like deer in headlights again as we concede goal after goal. At this point in the league campaign, though, we have to get results.
I believe that if we play well enough, we can beat any team in the league and that includes the defending champions. While I don't expect it in the slightest, our chances of pulling off the upset at the Etihad start with defense. We should have our top choice central defensive pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny, who both give us so much solidity at the back that we look shambolic without them playing together. With Kieran Gibbs a doubt, Nacho Monreal should keep his place at left back as he has played very well in recent weeks. Arsene Wenger has an interesting choice to make at right back now that Mathieu Debuchy is expected to be out for three months with a dislocated shoulder. Either Calum Chambers or Hector Bellerin will be drafted in and while I expect Arsene to go with Chambers, who has played more games so far, I'd be inclined to start Bellerin. To me, Chambers has thrived more in the center of defense than as a right back and Bellerin's pace and ability going forward are better. Bellerin's defending skills might be below Chambers, but he has acquitted himself well when he has played and I'm just worried about the slower Chambers going against the quickness of David Silva and Sergio Aguero. I also think Chambers should be preserved as a backup to Per and Koscielny while we wait for the club to sign defensive reinforcements.
In the midfield, Francis Coquelin has been a revelation and should retain his place along with Tomas Rosicky and hopefully Aaron Ramsey will come back in, if he's fit enough to start. Mesut Özil is also back in contention after returning to action last week against Stoke, but I'd opt for the in-form Santi Cazorla to keep his place at central attacking mid and keep Özil as an option off the bench. Up front, there's no way Olivier Giroud doesn't start with the magical Alexis alongside him. The Chilean has been even better than advertised for us this season, coming off a two-goal performance last week and accounting for the most goals + assists of any player in the Premier League.
On paper, we should have more than enough firepower to match Man City, who will be without Edin Dzeko and $amir Na$ri, which is a shame only because the latter can't be kicked up into the air by Coquelin or Flamini. In our first meeting with City at the Emirates, Arsenal went charging into the lead from exquisite goals from Alexis and Jack Wilshere, only to see us hold on for dear life for a 2-2 draw that we honestly could have (should have) lost. The keys will be whether we can match their intensity and play within an organized shape. If we lose our confidence and defensive shape, we will be battered again.
As for transfer news, we still somehow haven't signed a defender yet with the exact midpoint of January upon us. It will seriously be criminal if we don't sign a defender this window, as short as we've been all season, with Debuchy essentially lost for the rest of season now and with Per having played almost every minute of every match thus far. The good news is that Wenger has been uncharacteristically forthright about our attempts to bring in at least one defender. With Arsenal, though, you never know for sure. We have completed the signing of 17 year old midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw, but he is definitely one for the future. There have been crazy, outlandish transfer rumors, as there are with any transfer window. The bottom line is that we knew since before the season started that we were short on defenders, it ended up biting us in the ass (just as anyone with half a brain could have forseen) and it would require us to act in the January window to rectify. Until we do, this season will be seen as one in which we willfully chose to damage our own title challenge by not addressing a very unbalanced squad, simple and plain. For the sake of the club and its fans, the clock is ticking to change that or otherwise face more outcry and anger than ever seen before.
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