Yes, Barcelona have started their summer shenanigans about Cesc Fabregas. There are also reports of Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy trying to force a move out. But can we actually afford to lose them? Here is my take on who we should let go.

Tomas Rosicky: Rosicky, who when he first arrived in 2006, was known as the ‘Little Mozart.’  Sadly, Arsenal fans have seen little of the Mozart who has the knack of picking up injuries now and then.  He is 30-year-old, which usually means a little lack of speed but tonnes of experience and a certain calmness on the field. While the first two points are correct in case of the Czech, he is certainly not a calm character. For me, he lacks composure and is one of the first players to hit the panic button, which costs the team. Check the build-up to Newcastle’s fourth goal in the game that ended 4-4.

Emmanuel Eboue: Eboue was supposed to be our right-back. He is not because we have the excellent Bacary Sagna. Eboue doesn’t play as the right-winger because Theo Walcott and/or Samir Nasri play in that position. Eboue is not defensively sound. He dives and he tries to con the referee.  He brings nothing on the pitch that improves the team.

Gael Clichy: I believe Arsenal should look to sell Clichy. But definitely not to a Premier League side. Not because he will come back to bite us, but because it will be sad to see him play for another team in the league. Clichy is undoubtedly the ‘fastest’ left-back in the business. But that is all he is — fast. He overlaps Andrei Arshavin on the left flank, yes. But the quality of his crosses, the end product, is almost always poor.  Both of our full-backs run a lot. However, compare the result of Sagna’s deliveries to Clichy’s and you will know what I mean.

Denilson: The former captain of the Brazil under-17 national team was brought to Arsenal as a player of ‘exceptional talent’ in 2006. He did impress initially when he was under the tutelage of Gilberto Silva and had to fight for his place against the likes of Mathieu Flamini. But the standard of his performance went down ever since he got more playing time. Probably a case of complacency creeping in.  The right time is now to show him the door.

Why Arsene, Why?

Manuel Almunia: Can be exceptional on his day. He single-handedly kept us in the game in the first-leg quarter-final against Barcelona at the Emirates in 2009-10. But those moments were rare for the Spaniard. Seems to lack confidence, doesn’t have a commanding presence like David Seaman or Jens Lehmann had.  With the likes of Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski ahead of him, there is no chance he will ever be the number one again.

Nicklas Bendtner: I admire Bendtner’s confidence and belief in himself. Although he has not delivered consistently, he never fails to try. With Robin van Persie and Marouane Chamakh ahead of him, he is unlikely to get regular starts.  Although it is no fault of his, the Dane is surplus to our requirements.

Sebastien Squillaci: Why did we buy him in the first place?

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Seven games unbeaten, yet very unconvincing. That’s how the performance against Bolton was yesterday. Although we did manage to take the precious three points, which helped us stay close to United and Villa, there were dangers of dropping points in that game. It took us 84 minutes to break down the stubborn defence of the Trotters. Arsene Wenger admitted that

Although Arsenal are out of this year’s race to the league title, Wenger believes that there is still an outside chance of holding aloft the title in May. (In his first full season, Gunners overturned a 12-point deficit to take the title). According to him, the team would try and win every game and finish as high as possible on the table. He said:

“We are focused, we are resilient and we are strong. We are ready for a fight and let’s hope to be consistent. We will take it game by game and see where we go. I just hope to look back in May and say between January and May that we have done as well as we could. As long as we can be proud of what we have achieved, that is the best attitude. We will then see where we stand.”

However, if the team performs like it did yesterday, there are high chances that we could end up losing the 4^th spot to Villa. Bolton were depleted due to injuries and suspensions and had only four outfield players as substitutes, yet we couldn’t carve them open. The performance showed that we need a creative midfielder urgently. Samir Nasri was given the central role, with Diaby, who was later replaced by the talented Vela, on the left.

Robin van Persie saw his shot hit the post and his volley flying just over the cross bar. Adebayor received an inch-perfect pass from Nasri, however, a moment’s hesitation allowed Andy O’Brien to race across and block the shot.

Nicklas Bendtner, who replaced Emmanuel Eboue in the 75^th minute, had a disastrous start. The boo-boys were in action when Bendtner twice passed to the opponents and he was rewarded with an ironic cheer when he laid a short pass to a teammate. Bendtner soon redeemed himself, when Clichy dodged a couple of Bolton players before passing it to Van Persie. The Dutchman’s cross found the big Dane at the far post, who edged ahead of Samuel before smacking a delightful volley between Jussi Jaaskelainen’s legs.

Commenting on Bendtner’s problems initially, Wenger said:

“It was so cold and Nicklas, coming on late in the game, had no time to warm up. We had to finish up with good old-fashioned 4-2-4 to get a result. “

How long we have to play the ‘old-fashioned 4-2-4′ to get results is anybody’s guess. Wenger still refuses to confirm our interest in Arshavin or any other player. There are no confirmed news of transfer activities within the club.

There are reports however that Arsenal have decided to increase their bid for the Russian playmaker to GBP 12 million, after Zenit St Petersburg rejected their initial GBP 10 million offer. Zenit spokesman Alexei Petrov said:

“I can confirm that Zenit did get an official offer from Arsenal about Andrei Arshavin. It was rejected as insufficient. They offered about GBP 10 million. No new offers have arrived from them since. At the moment, Arsenal are the only club to have approached us about the player.”

It is reported that Arsenal may well break the club’s transfer record of GBP 13 million paid for Sylvain Wiltord more than eight years ago. Whether it is enough to land Arshavin remains to be seen.

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“There is no news, no negotiations yet. I represent the player and I can assure you I would know if something had been discussed. It is the people of Zenit trying to initiate some kind of interest. They are trying to use the media to make the price of Arshavin £20million – I would not take it seriously.”

Meanwhile, Zenit have confirmed that Arsenal is the only club they are talking to about a deal for Arshavin. Maxim Mitrofanov, the club’s General Director, said that a deal could be reached within the next two weeks. However, he wasn’t willing to name a price for the player. He said:

“It’s very difficult to discuss the Arshavin value. We want to get an adequate payment. We also need to see what player will be coming to us to replace Andrei.”

Emmanuel Eboue, who said that the Emirates boo boys made him a stronger person, has now revealed that Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan are interested in him. He went on to say that although he is happy at the Emirates at the minute, the decision lies with the manager. He said:

“I have been linked with Inter before, but at the moment I am happy at Arsenal. I am fighting to reach the level I was at in 2006. I have been the victim of many injuries and that is why I have not been consistent enough. But I will fight and prove my worth to the fans. I am happy at the club. Inter are a great club as well, but I don’t know what will happen. Let’s wait and see.”

Jack Wilshere has signed professional terms with the club.  Jack turned 17 on New Year’s day, which allowed him to sign his first professional contract. Speaking about the boy’s qualities, Arsene Wenger said:

“We are delighted that Jack has signed a professional contract with us. Jack is a player with great potential, with an ability to find the final ball and also score goals.  Jack is a passionate and committed young player, he is not afraid of tackles and I am convinced he will have tremendous penetrative power in a few years.  We have already seen Jack’s qualities in both his first team performances and in training on a regular basis, and we look forward to Jack being an important part of our first team for years to come.”

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At present, Arsenal look like a team bereft of ideas.  With long term injuries to Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri, Denilson is forced to play on the wings, while Alexander Song is asked to partner Cesc in the middle.  Abou Diaby, the supposed replacement of Patrick Vieira, finds himself on the left midfield. Four central midfielders in the middle of the park tells a lot about the depth of the Arsenal squad. The strike partnership of Adebayor and RvP doesn’t seem to work very well and that is our first choice partnership. Bendtner is getting worse each passing day, with his first touch no where near the level of a top premier league striker.  Although Eduardo made his return in a reserve game against Portsmouth yesterday, it’ll be mid – January before he plays a competitive game with the first team.

Arsene Wenger’s choice of team also seems strange. With players like Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela available, the choice of Denilson and Diaby on the flanks defy logic.

Also, before the Champions League game against Porto, Wenger said that he would be disappointed if the team finished second. Yet, he rested 5 first team players, with an eye on the game against Boro. Porto promptly dispatched Arsenal and now Arsenal could face Juventus, Barcelona or Bayern Munich in the next round.

The move didn’t pay off in the league as well, as Arsenal managed to draw the game and in the process dropped to the 5th spot. With 8 points behind the leaders, Arsenal now play Liverpool and then Aston Villa and must win both games to keep their title hopes alive.

With the transfer window out of bounds for another two weeks, Arsenal must use all their energy and minds to ensure 6 points out of these two matches. And Wenger should make sure that he reinforces the squad in the winter transfer window.

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Points to be noted from the game are:

1) We are not taking the chances that are coming our way

2) We seriously lack defensively. We need a solid central defender who can head the ball. Everton’s Fellini time and again won the aerial battles with Toure and Silvestre.

3) Central midfield. Dennilson is a good player, so is Ramsey. Diaby is back and we have Alex Song. None of them are Mathieu Flamini.

4) Killer instinct. The boss talks about hunger and the desire to win. I agree, the team has the desire to win. But how many of them want to go that extra bit to make it really happen?

5) Adebayor’s run. Last season, he was first in the list of players with most offside decisions against them. Arsenal has played 8 games so far and the Togo star is already number one in that list.

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Babel is best friends with Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and is desperate to come to England.

It was thought that Arsenal would wait until the summer to make their move for the speedy 20-year-old, but injuries to van Persie and Julio Baptista has forced Arsene Wenger’s hand.

Watch this space for more information.

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The exercise was simple: pause a videotape of Gretzky with the puck at his feet. It could be in any given situation, anywhere on the ice. In an ideal world, what should the Canadian do? Which move would serve the team best?

And what do you know, once the tape was moved on, Gretzky usually did for real what the coaches had chosen. In other words, the secret of his success, what made him great, was basically down to sound decision-making.

Wenger was saying the same about Cesc. More often than not, Fabregas does the right thing thanks to an innate understanding of what is around him and what is required.

There seems little doubt that if he carries on like this, very soon we will be talking about him as one of the most perceptive, most intelligent and most talented midfielders to set foot on a football pitch.

He holds the record of becoming the youngest player to both turn out and score for Arsenal. Last March, he became Spain’s youngest international player in 80 years. Only last month he was the runaway winner of the ‘Golden Boy’ award, based on a poll of leading sportswriters to find the finest young player in all of Europe.

With all the adulations, he has his feet firmly on the ground.

“I don’t hear a lot of it, to be honest,” he said yesterday at Arsenal’s training ground. “If you get an award then of course that’s different, but football is about the team. It’s not about one person.

“Sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down. You have to be consistent and try not to think about that. I mean, even when they were talking about me and Real Madrid, I think I could have been playing better. So, when you hear all the praise, you just try to forget it.”

“I am just 19,” he said. “The good thing about being young is that you’ve got so many things to learn. Even Thierry and Ronaldinho – they can still learn. That’s the thing about football. You cannot be perfect.”

“Sometimes you will lose the ball, they will take it off your feet. I need to improve my left foot a lot, improve the defensive side, my heading as well. That has come on lately but, physically, I’m not the biggest man in the world”

Talking about tomorrow’s game against ManU, Fab said, “They have had quite a few players who have been on fire all season,” Fabregas said. “They haven’t had injuries, which is very important as well, and every chance they’ve had, they seem to have put it in the back of the net.”

“That’s what we’ve been missing. Creating so many chances but not scoring enough goals has been a bit strange. It’s our own fault and we’ve got to try and put it right.”

“If I had taken 30 per cent of my chances I would have 10 goals easy by now,” he admitted.

“After the game against Sheffield we realised that if we didn’t change our mentality we would always struggle in those kind of games. From then on we’ve been showing great character, great attitude and doing really well.”

“We had a talk between ourselves and decided that we had to change, become more competitive. We all know we can play good football, but this is England and sometimes you have to do other things. I think we’re doing that now.”

“Last week against Blackburn you can see the difference between last year, when we lost 1-0 there. It was 11 against 11 then and we didn’t play very well. Now it was 10 against 11 but we played well and won.”

Having recently signed an eight-year contract, the longest in Premiership history, Fabregas doesn’t look as if will be going anywhere else very soon.

“Arsenal brought me here when I was 16. They gave me the opportunity. There are a lot of good young players who would like the same opportunity. Not everyone can have it and I know I am lucky. How do you say it in English? I was in the right place at the right time.”

Modest comments from one of the best in the business. Ever.

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