A Week to Forget...

Joel Campbell, the Newcastle game, Fabregas to Barcelona, Eboue to Galatasaray, beating Udinese, Nasri wanting out and the bans... The start of the season really could have gone better.




Arsenal's New Boy Campbell

  Joel Campbell: Costa Rican youngster Joel Cambell has signed for Arsenal and was at the Emirates last night for the Udinese game. In his programme notes Arsene Wenger did say that the club has taken a "bit of a gamble" on him - not words which fill me with confidence. He is expected to go straight into the first team squad and the generally reliable Young Guns Blog have been saying that he will take the #12 shirt.

Newcastle: The season didn't exactly get off to a flying start, the long trip to the North East yielding just a point. A weak Arsenal side struggled to create many chances, and completely failed to convert any. Where Bolton have been Arsenal's 'bogey' team in the past, where no-matter how well they played a result would never come, Newcastle would appear to be taking up that spot now.

I think that the positives were that Keiran Gibbs looked much more confident and reliable than at the end of last season, and the defence worked well together snuffing out the majority of the Magpies' possession.

On the downside, Robin Van Persie doesn't quite seem to be firing on all cylinders, and spurned a couple of chances which he would have scored with his eyes closed at the end of last season. I also felt that Gervinho was disappointing, I saw some of his pre-season cameos, and I was impressed with what I saw, but against Newcastle, he seemed industrious but useless. He was getting into some great positions down the wing, but was then making the wrong choices over when to cut in and when to cross. Also his left foot would appear to be lacking and for someone who plays left wing most of the time this could be a problem. You can't just cut inside every time in the Premier League.

Before we went down to ten men, I would have been disappointed with a point, however when down on numbers in what is a very intimidating place to visit, I think that that solitary point became a very good one.



Barca's €35m Man



Fabregas: Sadly our former talismanic captain has departed for pastures new (sort of) and rejoined Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth £35m. I genuinely don't have a problem with Fabregas going there, he hasn't won anything for 6 years, and the best team in the world, the team where he grew up was knocking at his door, pleading for his return. What would you have done in his situation?

I wish him the best of luck there and I hope he does get some success as he does deserve it, so long as it's not at Arsenal's expense. I thought that it would have been quite nice of Arsenal to let him have one last Captain's Column in yesterday's programme, to say what he wanted to say to the Arsenal fans, but c'est la vie. The main issue I have with his move to Barcelona is how his new club have handled themselves throughout the affair; the constant tapping up - which wasn't in the eyes of the rules, the playing hardball with the fee for a player with 3 years plus left on his contract... £35m is nothing in today's market. If Jordan Henderson is worth £22m the Cesc is definitely worth more than £45m. To add insult to injury, Barcelona have reportedly put in a c.£200m buyout clause in his contract. On that basis, they should have paid at least £70m.

I do like the fact that Fabregas has tried to say something to the Arsenal fans through his Twitter feed, rather than ignoring them, but I do feel that what he put could sound a bit rich in the eyes of some of the more disgruntled supporters. I was just happy he made the effort to do something. It would have been much easier not to.



Eboue at Galatasaray



Eboue: In one of the biggest mistakes of the summer, Emmanuel Eboue has also departed N5. I will sort of miss him for footballing reasons, as he had his moments of being superb, but unfortunately spent more time being good enough. I think that the real loss is from the dressing room, the squad joker, Eboue has always come across as being a character, something every club needs, but I'm not sure Arsenal do now. Arsenal have received an initial €3.5m rising to €9.4m paid in installments each season plus €10k for each match and he has signed a 4 year deal with Galatasaray. I wish him the best of luck with his new adventure in Turkey, and I love that he snubbed Tottenham to move there - that did brighten the week a little!

Udinese: Last night's game sadly followed much the same pattern, an (even more) understrength Arsenal side battling their way through the game, creating little and not being anywhere near clinical enough in front of goal. Gibbs again started the game brightly but sadly showed his main problem, departing at half time with a hamstring injury. Vermaelen got 10 minutes at left back, to show what he could do, before Gibbs' replacement Djourou followed the Englishman's lead, in injuring his hamstring and limping off down the tunnel. The thought of another injury blighted season is, unfortunately, a niggling thought. Carl Jenkinson made his competitive debut, at left back and had a decent game - though he did have little to do.

Gervinho showed the same endeavour as against Newcastle, but his surging runs still created little. Walcott finished his first chance neatly, but should definitely have had more, work on the training ground is needed for all if the Gunners are to rediscover their free-scoring form of a couple of season's ago. Chamakh was generally anonymous and the less said about his 'performance' the better. Ramsey was also underwhelming, but Rosicky and Song did well as two parts of that midfield three.

For me though the man of the match award has to be shared between Szczesney and Sagna. Our number 13 keeping us in the game on a number of occasions - mostly from Di Natale - and Sagna again putting in a solid shift a right back.

Nasri: Rumoured to be off to Man City, and quite rightfully unhappy at the new chants sung about him by the Arsenal faithful. They aren't nice, and quite frankly aren't going to help persuade him to sign on for longer. Something which I admit is looking less and less likely - the BBC reporting that a deal is imminent. It is a real shame, and I'd say that it will hurt more than Fabregas leaving as he definitely doesn't have any emotional ties from the past at Eastlands.

Barton the Victim for a Change

Bans/Liverpool: Unsurprisingly Gervinho's red card was upheld - he was bang to rights - and Alex Song has also been banned for 3 games. Both will now be missing for the games against Liverpool, Manchester United and Swansea. This really does give Wenger a selection headache, especially when combined with the injury list following midweek, and I would expect a team (assuming all currently injured will still be) something like this: Szczesney, Sagna, Koscielny, Squilacci, Vermaelen, Frimpong, Rosicky, Ramsey, Walcott, Van Persie, Arshavin

That this is probably the team which will be playing strengthened Liverpool and Man U sides, I think that a 2 draws and a win wouldn't be a bad return from those games.

Think the week has gone better than I do? Who can replace Fabregas(/Nasri)? Let me know through Twitter (@Goonernl) or the comments below...