By Tony Attwood
It may not be the biggest game in the forthcoming season but we are going to be without a few of the top players for the match with Udinese.
Robin Van Persie and Samir Nasri are both suspended for the first leg, so they are definitely out but can return for the away leg a week later.
Cesc Fabregas is a bit of an issue, as obviously if he plays that would put the whatnot on his transfer by cup tying him. However he won’t have been overwhelmed by the survey in AS newspaper which showed that only about 10% of Barc fans want him to come (they think they have a better midfield without him). Which leads to the question: is it just a game by Barca to unsettle our squad in return for us getting players from their youth team, or is it a ploy by Arsenal to show how big we are in being able to hold off such demands, or is it in fact something more complex, involving an attempt to keep Nasri. Quite honestly I don’t have a clue, but I doubt he will play anyway, because he is only just coming back to fitness so why make him play extra games? Maybe by the second game we’ll know.
Theo Walcott has his ankle injury but again we don’t really need to play him a couple of times in a week even if he is ready – maybe one of the two games.
Jack Wilshere should be fit, but then again given that we now have two squads, do we need to play him? Again maybe one of the two.
Abou Diaby is of course out with his 10 week injury.
Kyle Bartley is off to Rangers for a season long loan.
Eboue still looks like leaving, so is unlikely to play.
Which leaves
One of the Polish pair
Sagna or Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Koscielny or Djourou, Gibbs or Traore
Song
Rosicki, Ramsey
Gervinho Chamakh Arshavin with Vela as sub
Last season, after a poor start to the season Udinese recovered to come 4th in the Italian league and were said to have played the most exciting football in Italy.
This is a big step up for the club and after the draw with AC Milan which gained fourth spot there were wild scenes around Stadio Friuli among both players and supporters, as the manage did a jig in the middle of the pitch.
Even with that team if we cannot beat udinese then we are better off out of the competition.
i really hope we.can convince man city to do a player swap for nasri. milner and richards will be a great deal.
than sell cesc to barca for 30m plus affellay. finally spend 20m of that on samba parker and barton then hold the 10m spare until we sell bendtner and eboue then blow the lot on lukaku and campbell.
and make sure to save the game before you exit
We should win this one. We are a better team than what all the mood among many would indicate. But what a start to the season. Newcastle away. Udinese home. Liverpool home. Udinese away. ManU away. All in the space of 2 weeks. Can’t wait.
Oh crap. Udinese have lost 3 of their better players but so have we. Even Wenger is suspended. With the return leg sandwiched between 2 tricky prem fixtures, an upset is on the cards.
This article provides the glimpse of our available side. But are Udinese at full strength or not? Can you Tony, or anyone contribute that necessary piece of information so it’s possible to fully decide whether we have a real chance – enough depth – to win the first leg again against those who were able to “play the most exciting football in Italy”?
Gooner,
Can you offer further information: Which Udinese are not available. And please go over why Arsene is suspended (I’ve lost track on that one).
Good thing that the 1st leg is at home….maybe without our best players, we can get a good enough result for the 1st leg…..but the problem is the 2nd leg bcoz 3 days after that we have to face ManU….
Gooner,
Never mind, I’ve unfortunately double-checked: the RvP and Arsene suspensions are for their “inappropriate language” launched at Bussacca after his screwing us at Barca. Now we feel the wrath of UEFA – who blocks video replay and this selfsame ref-shite is promoted to chief of referees. The ironies are toxic. But one is entitled to ask: what language would have been appropriate with respect to Bussacca’s shameful, if not, mendacious calls at Camp Nous. Yet another occasion to consider an all fans call for video replay now.
In the light of some of your other threads, interesting to learn that Udinese were done for match-fixing in 1986, leading to their relegation.
Fairly typical Italian club then…or maybe we could say simply typical European football club.
Could never happen here, of course…
Italian clubs are by nature cautious and defensive.Udinese will be much more worried about the draw than we are.On cesc fabregas possibly not playing i say play him.Why should our club jepordise our qualification for the champions league just because barcelona dont want him cup tied.Lets be honest, barcelona are acting like a child that has a big bag of pick and mix and still wants more, even though they already have more than enough.In arsene i trust.
somewhat off track,
silent stan was seen in town at the recent member’s practice, so perhaps the board meeting (today?) will finalize some signings/departures in time for a positive impact on the so-called “tricky” (I’d use a stronger word, but bite my tongue) combination sandwich of our first CL qualifier and the Liverpool/Manure fixtures on the selfsame plate. What a meal.
@Bob: Alexis Sanchez left..that much I know.
Arvind,
Sanchez went to Barca, right?! Is that part of the reason they don’t cough up the 40M for Cesc, do you think?
@Bob: The worst part is that despite it being so clear that Barca is just playing a sick game..the rumors refuse to die down. The other hilarious thing is that they waited till he had proven himself in the EPL before spouting all the DNA trash. It’d be fun if Cesc one day came out and said..’I thought they wanted me but I know now..Arsenal want me more…Barca can go to hell’ .. Oh well..I can dream..I do that well 😉
I think this is a difficult draw. They have Di Natali, amongst the top scorers in Serie A over the last couple of years but have lost the likes of Sanchez, Zapata and Inler, the latter often linked with us.
Have a feeling , one way or another, we are going to have to sort out some of our more recent defensive issues.
I think we will successfully negotiate this, I hope we do for the obvious reasons as well as the fact there will be AAA waiting to go into overdrive in a collective orgasm of spite and negativity should we fail.
If Cesc is not a Barca player by then, he should play, as simple as that. If he sulks, and I do not think he will, sell him to the highest bidder in Jan.
We must not back down on this, if he does not join them and does not want to be with us, we can get far more for him than Barca are currently offering. Do Barca really need to risk that amount of money on an injury prone player they do not especially need for the moment? And with the Spanish economy about to go into a rough ride by all accounts.
There is a squad list for Udinese at http://sports.yahoo.com/fbit/teams/udi/roster – can’t find much else. There is a film of their last friendly match (which they lost 3-1) but the site it is on seems contaminated by dangerous files, so I didn’t go on to watch it.
Mandy Dodd,
your apt analysis is too true to be good. we need time to prepare a side that can handle three successive matches that matter. To tell the truth, if I were Barca and looking ahead to the last rounds of the CL championship, I’d want to have Arsenal – the very side that gave them their toughest rides – knocked out of CL contention as early as possible to grease their way forward. There is no honor in these high-stakes games and while it sounds “conspiratorial,” naturally, the more time is spent over the Cesc follies, the more we erode when we need to be alchemizing. Anyway, it’s how I see it and wonder what you think?
shard at 12.55 pmsl.thanx
thats it sanchez, i remembered inler and im sure they had another good player depart. wouldnt think it will easy even if we turn up.
5 games in two weeks.maddens me but unfortunately we deserve it.
This is one tricky draw that we could have gotten. This is the season doomers were waiting for and hopefully it will turn out to be a different one.
thanx mandy-zapata.
In my opinion a win at nufc and draw at ems will do. Forget about OT. CL holds much more importance than a single tie with mudchester utd.
Even with that squad we may not win it. The reason is simple. Arsenal football club has turned into Arsenal Business Venture under the hand of wenger. All his talks is about doing business within the power of the club. And we in Untold here wastes our time discussing Financial Fair Play, that one day clubs like Barcelona, chelsea, ManU will not play in Champions League. I dont know who told u that one day these clubs will go out of champions league and it will still be called champions league. Arsenal is not a champion, i dont even know why we are bothering ourselves with that. lets concentrate on making money for the club
We are about to sell Nasri with one year contract left to Man city for 22 million pounds and yet Cahill with one year contract left is expensive at 17milllion, Mata is expensive at 22 million. ManU won the league and have bought the players they need, less than two wks to the league arsenal has not bought a defender and yet wenger i identified it as something to handle during the summer. when are the players going to integrate into the squad, during matches with 3 points at stake
Leave the Referees and the media alone, we know our problem. they are not the problem even though you have created a big book with your ref and media watch. Is manU, Chelsea, Barca, concerned with what the media is saying about them. Did the media agree to speak about Arsenal alone. I dont know why we are so blind to see an open truth. Why must wenger sink this ship before he knows that he has lost the plot.
How to do expect Nasri and Cesc to stay in a club where the manager said openly that he will be happy with 2nd position for the next 20yrs. A player is remembered for the trophy he won, whether he did it on bench or not. the difference between Hleb and Cesc is that Hleb has won the Champions League, FLamini has won the league, Arsenal players who refuse to leave have won nothing.
Was it the ref that blew our chances at Carling cup. We would have been down to 10 men becuase of the foul by Szzency, yet the ref ignored it. Yet, we waste bandwidth here discussing how ref treat arsenal poorly. you want them to pamper them as wenger is doing. Stop the ref review, i beg u, it is not helping the arsenal fans, the only thing you have succeeded in doing making their minds bad and beclouded against referees.
for once, let us tell the truth even if it hurts. Usman Dan Fodio said “Conscience is an OPEN wound only the TRUTH can heal it. Say the truth. Arsenal mistakes are so open that even a blind man can identity it but we are so blind that we cannot see it.
Thanks.
very true Bob. That Barca are one of the best teams I have ever seen, they seriously embarassed Utd. But to get past us, they had the help of a very questionable ref and a really stupid mistake by Cesc. They had all the possession but could not get through…until Cesc..The cliche holds true, on their day, Arsenal can beat anyone, as they proved last season. Some powerful teams may well want us out of the way.
I do think Barca are getting their own back a bit, and maybe you cannot totally blame them but they should blame Spanish employment laws, not Arsenal if this is the case.
If Cesc does not go there, wonder if he will ever be the same?
eche,
The end of the transfer window will prove or falsify a goodly amount of what you say. We shall see. But methinks you are as blind to the partial impacts of ref-shite and media-swill on our performance and twelfth man support system. Again, we shall see how ALL of this plays out in the forthcoming march to the Rednose 20, our Lord of Football. Is this outcome pre-ordained? I don’t think so, but there are strong forces at work that would have it so, and yes, they need to be monitored. But, that said, I do agree with you that there must be quality signings or we will predictably fall short, and I, for two of us, don’t feel we should be resigned to bride’s maid status.
Cesc will not play as he has developed a hamstring injury that will rule him out of both champions league games.i think this boy is faking his injuries as a way of saying that he wants out.
Re eche:i know every year it hurts to see players we once cheered on,supported and boasted about leave the club.But you must remember, no player is bigger than our superb club.The most important thing for me is that the club i love will always be around in the future,still chalenging for every trophy every year.Remember this arsene wenger does love this club,however he is a man of sturborness and principale.He refuses to give in to over inflated prices for poor players(im looking at you liverpool and man utd+chelsea)and that will always be a good thing.In his heart wenger knows what we need to win trophys and if you keep the faith he will surely deliver.You might ask why i have utmost faith in wenger.That is because this is the same man who won us the double who gave us the invincibles without bringing us in debt.It is the same man who took us to the emirates and when we couldnt afford the giant transfer fees of overated players gave us players like van persie fabregas vermaelen sagna arshavin…all of these players are still at the club are they not?Wenger is arsenal!
Mandy Dodd,
Yes, would Cesc ever be the same? Seems that when someone loses their purported Dream – owing to not being wanted enough – it either takes a serious toll OR, as Woody Allen once entitled a book, living well is (becomes) the best revenge. Of course a third way would be just to go through the motions and make a (well-paid) living, because your heart’s no longer really in it. This is a high-stakes drama that’s playing out both within Cesc’s emotional depths and in the hearts and minds of fans worldwide who have embraced him so.
alex,
while imo you rightly say, no player is bigger than our superb club; i also ask you whether, in principle, is anyone bigger than our superb club? it’s a serious question, btw, and i do admire and defend the man. that said, i still invest rational and emotional hopes in his (if he is in charge??) management of the transfer opportunities. not that i matter, but the outcome as of 31 August will have an impact on whether I think our club has been well served. let’s agree to reconvene at that time?
re bob:i completley agree with you on the fact that emotionally as fans we have expectations when it comes to transfers..whether they are realistic or not.In my opinon the media also raises the expectations of fans by spreading false information.Usually i am resistant to it,however this summer i wholeheartedly wanted the juan mata transfer to happen and unfortunatly i was left feeling anti climatic.As you say though let us wait and see until august the 31st before we judge!
Don’t feed the trolls…
Unless my eyes deceive me, what passes for our first team has actually been doing very well in preseason. The media has hyped up the draws with Greentown, Boca Jrs and NYRB, ignoring that all the goals conceded have come after substitutions whilst glossing over the fact that when the champions of Europe try cobbling together a B team they’ve lost horribly. We have been using our preseason to work on the idea that we may have to cope without Cesc and we’ve been coping better (though it’s only preseason) without him than we normally do.
Agreed Alex on the raising of expectations. There were 2 different sites this week alone, both of which I would classify as critical of Wenger who stated we would sign Cahill and Jagielka very soon. I would say this is extremely unlikely for a number of self evident reasons, not the least of which, where would we put all those defenders? Players of that calibre want to play every week, I cannot see us ditching TV! But these rumours were posted nonetheless. But if.. sorry… when they are proven incorrect, the authors will have no need to apologise, they will just say the deals were in place but Wenger dithered and lost them. Some of their readers will be driven into an anti Wenger frenzy.
That said, this summer has been frustrating. I would like to have seen the arrival of Mata, as I am convinced we will lose at least 1 of our top mfs, Mata would be a good replacement. I would also like to see a defender but thats just me.
Who knows if Wenger has ever really been interested in these players or not. I do think Wenger has had problems shifting those he does not require for a number of well documented reasons, maybe this and cash flow is slowing things up? I cannot remember if it it this site, but I saw somewhere a post that said deadwood is more costly than gold this summer, although I guess it has not stopped the likes of Liverpool adding to their 26 or whatever midfielders! The AAA will say Wenger is using the instability and the Cesc issue as an excuse not to buy.
I am convinced we will see more signings, some will be needed to keep this team competitive.
Well said mandy todd its a good thing that there are fans like the ones on this site who dont follow the anti wenger brigade! I also think that there is a 50% chance that we will lose fabregas and as you say he would have to be replaced(even though i have huge faith in ramsey as a midfielder).I know the sites you are talking about as well and while i wont mention their names, it is true that their juan mata and cahill to arsenal stories had people cracking open the champagne and getting into the party mood without any official confirmation.Heres hoping for that one defensive signing!
sorry its mandy dodd.
it has occurred to me that if arsenal were to up and vanish newspaper sales would fall though what’s left of their rickety floor. what would they have to write about? not the geriatric plodders at chelsea or the “let me have another midfielder” over in liverpool. arsenal and its style of football is just too much to resist.
no one buys a paper or switches on a television to hear how rory delap intends to improve his long throw this season. alex is right about false information being spread regarding club negotiations. none of these bloggers among the triple a, nor journalists have been invited to any negotiations between our club and players we want to buy. so how are they so confident that we bid $x million dollars for mata/cahill/martin/(add name here)?
if buying a player were so easy, anyone could do it. and if anyone started doing it, how long do you think the $50 million paid for torres would remain as the record in england? pretty soon we’d be selling afobe for $25 million ourselves.
the wenger doubters should note that the manager did not kick a ball in anger all last season. the young millionaires were assigned that job and did not deliver to their full capabilites. i’m looking at nasri who went on strike in the second half of the season.
if eche thinks bad refs had no influence on several match outcomes i would like to offer him the proverbial ten acres of swamp land in arizona. lastly, some of you guys have plaid competitive football at some level. do you know what it does to you when a ref refuses you an obvious penalty or shows you a yellow for diving when you were tripped? or when your supporters can’t be bothered cheering? for heavens sake, blackpool supporters kept it up when it was obviously a lost cause. some arsenal supporters are just stuffed full of it.
Rumour going around is that Arsenal have had another knock-back for a work permit for Ryo Miyaichi…
I wonder, how many times in the last 10 years have Man Utd, chelsea or Liverpool been refused.
Seems it’s only Arsenal who suffer….
Why is this Tony???
I dont think there will be a defensive signing..unless Squillaci is deemed surplus to requirements. I could be wrong of course but I doubt it’ll happen.
If Cesc and Nasri both stay there might not be any additions. A max of one more attacking signing and that is a signing for next season. That is all I expect.
allezkev,
have you a link to the source of that rumour?
it helps people here think better when we can read for ourselves,
so please share what you’ve got.
so help me i’d kinda like us to sell everyone who wants to go and buy nobody, or at least only an unknown player or two about whom there have been no rumours in any paper or blog, and then put in a storming season wether we win anything or not I hate the whole transfer thing all made up rubbish.
two clubs in England are inflating the market beyond anyone elses ability to compete and two in Spain on funny money that has run out – of course Arsenal has to live within it’s means it’s just ridiculous to pretend otherwise we have no sugar daddy so let’s play it our way, build our own or buy to build and sell on, it’s surely more fun than just splurging money on whoever is famous at some particular time, I think so…
Some of these AAA critics place to much importance on the whole thing, I am nuts about the Club but get a grip, it’s only a game, it’s for fun, I reckon they take it all too personally and don’t have the emotional grip to cope when Araenal loses… Or something like that…
I only know of two Udinese players missing from last season
the club have sold winger Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona and midfielder Gokhan Inler to Napoli.
I dont think Udinese will be anything near as good unless they replaced them with quality players.
Mandy I agree I dont think we will sign defenders either.
Im baffled at the comments from AW though when he said we would strengthen were we needed to.
Clychy out and Gibbs as the replacement I would say is not strengthening were we had issues, but there is still time and we would only need one centre back not both.That off course would cover for matches in walters scenarios of TV playing occasionaly left back.
Red Gooner,
Gibbs-TV doesn’t feel adequate to me either, but makeshift. With Bartley off to the Rangers again, my hopes for our defense lie only in the fact that there are 26 days left in the transfer window. And in the fact that if we can see it, the boss knows it as well.
Sorry Bob, it was a rumour off of Twitter, i should have known better!
Seems a decision on Ryo will be made on August 15th according to YoungGuns, a far more reliable source than me…..