Couple of days ago, Arsene Wenger gave an interview to French magazine L’Equipe, where he admitted that his youth project had failed. Takes a big man to admit failure and this proves that the man’s ego isn’t as big as people (including yours truly) make it out to be.

Arseblog News has the English transcript of the interview, in which Wenger was asked if he thought the project he had started had finally come to an end. To which he replied:  ”For the first time since I have been here, I lost young players who were reaching maturity. I suffered. Because it is painful to separate with key players who you have invested a lot in, it’s painful when the results are not good enough. We are fighting with clubs that have far superior means to us. We cannot account for the difference in the financial potential of clubs like Manchester City and ourselves.”

He went on to admit that the summer recruitment wasn’t planned, and compounding the woes was the injury to Wilshere, Vermaelen, Diaby etc. Although the youth project didn’t work out, although we came very close to winning something, I think Arsenal now have a much better chance to win silverware than before. In Arteta we have a creative player who can also be a scrapper.  The midfield suddenly has the steel that we missed. Defensively we look more assured. In Dos Santos we have a left-back who can score goals, something we have missed ever since Ashley Cole decided to move West.

Would I’ve liked if Cesc and Nasri had stayed? Definitely. But I’m more optimistic about our chances in a long time. Let’s beat Dortmund tonight. C’moon you Gunners!

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I am willing to accept that because we got full three points and because it was the first game after our last day buying spree. But from tonight — when the lads step out to face Borussia Dortmund — they will be assessed. The new boys will be judged on their performance and tonight’s performance will give us a hint of how the season is going to pan out for the club.

The game against Swansea saw Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker make their full debut. Arteta is a known commodity in the Premier League.  To be honest I wasn’t too excited initially because I wanted Arsenal to sign a ‘world class’ player. I was hoping for a Kaka or an Edin Hazard kind of signing. Perhaps even a Yoann Gourcuff.  But having played in the league for ages, I guess he brings with him experience in the middle of the park that we were lacking after Cesc’s departure.  Arteta has creative vision and can unlock defences. He is a bit of a scrapper too and is defensively more astute than Cesc was. The only drawback in my opinion is that he doesn’t move the ball forward quickly enough. But that should improve.

Per Mertesacker, the giant central defender, along with Philipp Lahm, is the most experienced defender in the German national team. Standing at 6’6″, he is very good in the air and provides a sort of aerial shield to the defence. Comfortable with the ball on his feet, Mertesacker is known for his clean tackles and has a very good record in terms of bookings received.  He had a good debut the other day against Swansea and looked quite calm and assured. One drawback, however, is his lack of pace that can be exploited by the quick forwards.  His strength and Vermaelen/Koscielny’s quickness should see Arsenal have a stronger defence than before.

Chu Young Park and   The captain of the South Korean national team is a tenacious striker with speed and agility as his main weapon.  He is comfortable with both feet and has an excellent technique. Although he comes from the French League where the pace of the game is considerably slower than the English game, Park is expected to adapt quickly and can turn out to be an astute signing by Wenger. Also, the South Korean is known for his excellent freekick technique.

On the other hand, the biggest strength of the Brazilian left-back Santos is his strength. Perhaps better known for his attacking abilities than his defending, dos Santos is more comfortable playing the ‘wing-back’  role than an out and out left-back.  He is expected to produce what Gael Clichy, despite his tremendous pace, failed to produce — quality crosses. Where Clichy failed, dos Santos is expected to excel. He also can chip in with goals from time to time, something which Arsenal haven’t had since Ashley Cole left for Chelsea.

With these signings, Arsenal now have the experience in the team that was lacking.  Now, it is time to push forward and rescue the season that began on such a disastrous note.  And that should start from tonight. Give a good fight, never give up and show who the real Arsenal are. C’moon!!

Update: Starting XI: Szczesny; Sagna; Mertesacker; Koscielny; Gibbs; Song; Arteta; Walcott; Benayoun; Gervinho; Van Persie.

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Arsenal lose to Manchester City 2-4

Arsenal beat Standard Liege 3-2 in the Champions League after going down 2-0 within five minutes.

Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 at home

Arsenal beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 in th eCarling Cup

Arsenal beat Fulham 1-0

Arsenal beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the Champions League

October Highlights:

Arsenal beat Blackburn Rovers 6-2

Arsenal beat Birmingham City 3-1

Arsenal draw 1-1 with AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League

Arsenal draw 2-2 with West Ham United

Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Carling Cup

Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0

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The encounter between Arsenal and Celtic at the Parkhead was hyped as the Battle of Britain. And the Battle of Britain did live up to its billing – for the initial 15 minutes. The rest of it was Arsenal systematically dismantling the opposition and taking a two goal advantage back to the Emirates.

Arsenal again started with the same 4-3-3 line up that started against Everton.  Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen and Clichy making the back four, with Fabregas, Song and Denilson in the midfield. Bendtner, Van Persie and Arshavin were the attacking trio.

As expected, Celtic pressed high up the field and closed down Arsenal players quickly in the initial exchanges. With two wide men in Shaun Maloney and Scott Brown, Celtic relied on the diagonal balls to create trouble for Arsenal. They did succeed in the beginning, with Maloney’s drive flashing across the six-yard box. Arsenal learnt their lesson quickly and Arshavin and Bendtner closed down the Celtic wingers, cutting the hosts supply line.

Arshavin was in his elements, taking on a crowd of Celtic defenders and yet finding space to deliver pinpoint passes to his team-mates. With the Bhoys wingers taken out of equation, Arsenal’s midfielders pushed forward to create chances of their own. A neat one-two between Fabregas and Denilson allowed Van Persie a shot and Arshavin tucked the loose ball into the net. However, he was rightly called offside. Denilson and Song stuck into the 50-50 challenges and one such break allowed Arshavin to cut inside and shoot, but a block took the sting out of his shot. Arsenal were caught high up in the field later in the half. A Van Persie free kick was cleared by Celtic and they launched a speedy counterattack from the left channel. Thomas Vermaelen, who had joined the attack, raced back 80 yards to make a brilliant last-ditch challenge to deny Brown the opportunity to score.

With both defences airtight, it seemed only a big chunk of luck would prise the teams apart. And it came Arsenal’s way. The Gunners were awarded a free kick 30 yards outside. Van Persie took a short one to Fabregas and the skipper fired his shot, which deflected off Gallas into the net.

After the break, Arsenal looked more determined to score the second and secure the game. Van Persie and Denilson both came close in the first few minutes, their efforts going just wide of Celtic goal. Bendtner tried his luck too from distance, but the score remained the same. Arsenal finally got their second goal 20 minutes from time, when Clichy ran down the left and played a low cross towards the Celtic box. With Van Persie and Bendtner waiting to tap in, Celtic skipper Caldwell tried to turn the ball out for a corner, but all he managed to do was to tuck it inside his own goal.

Although Arsenal required two slices of luck to win the game, they were far more superior in all departments than their opponents. Speaking after the game, Arsene Wenger said, “I think it was a fierce battle. I felt collectively we dominated the game but Celtic were always willing, fighting and counter-attacking. In the end, despite being in control, we scored two lucky goals. It was a big fight tonight and we needed a strong Arsenal side to win the game. The crowd and players were absolutely up for it and I believe with an average performance we would not have won the game today.”

Celtic boss Tony Mowbray said, “The nature of the goals was very disappointing for us of course. It sort of knocks the stuffing out of what you’re trying to do. But you can’t take it away – Arsenal were very good on the night, exceptional with the ball but brilliant without the ball. We struggled to pass the ball against very high pressure and I think Arsenal really gave us a lesson with the ball and without the ball.”

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Henry was given an injection prior to facing PSV in the first leg of the team’s UEFA Champions League tie last week.

Arsenal lost 1-0 in Eindhoven and have since suffered defeats in both domestic cup competitions so the second leg against the Dutch side has assumed even greater importance.

However Wenger admits it is touch-and-go as to whether he will be able to call on Henry for the Emirates Stadium clash on Wednesday, with the striker already ruled out of Saturday’s Premiership match with Reading.

“Thierry is injured – back and foot – and is 50-50 for the PSV game,” said Wenger.

“He has a problem with his foot. We injected him at Eindhoven and it made it worse.

“They said there was no danger. It was just like a bad kick and it was to stop the pain so he could get through the game.”

Henry had sciatic nerve problems which affected his lower back earlier in the season and Wenger believes the heavy fixture schedule is to blame for the Frenchman’s injury catalogue.

“He’s had injury problems the whole season. The fact he played a lot last year has contributed,” said Wenger.

“I have seen we have played 46 games this season – plus there are the international games as well. Some of our players have played 50 games.”

Source :www.skysports.com

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