If Carlsberg did panic buys

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A Manchester United reject and a moody Gabonian who wants to join Real Madrid. Arsenal are in “panic buy” mode after losing Alexis Sanchez.

That is how the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are being reported by some.

Well if both players are panic buys, they are possibly the best panic buys in the world.

Mkhitaryan has had a tough 18 months at Manchester United. He has struggled to get a consistent run in the Manchester United team.

Describing him as a panic buy is a bit erroneous taking into account that 18 months ago, he was on the verge of joining Arsenal before Manchester United swooped in. He has been on Arsenal’s radar for some time.

The 8 time Armenian Footballer of the Year was named Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Season in his last season for Borussia Dortmund.

Last season for Manchester United, he was named in the Europa League Team of the Year, and got more assists than any other player. Likewise in 2015-16, his last at Dortmund, he was in the team of the year and was Bundesliga Team of the Year.

Anyone who saw him play for Dortmund would say that he is a quality player, and that he has been a shadow of himself for Manchester United.

He is certainly not the first player we have ever bought who was struggling before he came to us. Think Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.

He struggled at Manchester United, but he is certainly not a bad player.

Then we come to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Another panic buy. A striker who has scored 141 in 212 games.

Even this season, when Aubameyang has had a falling out with staff and apparently been moody and disinterested, he has still scored 21 goals in 23 games.

Aubameyang is a proven goal scorer who is at the peak of his powers.

In their last season together, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang scored 62 goals between them. They are not players bought because we were in a panic and had no other options. They are both brilliant signings.

Keenos

Arsenal’s transfer window round-up

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Well that was an interesting window for The Arsenal.

Off the field there were some positives, even if on the field it was a bit ropey. Hopefully the dealings we saw were less controlled by Arsene Wenger and indicate that his time at Arsenal is coming to an end.

So how did the transfer window turn out for Arsenal?

We went into January with 2 key players able to negotiate a free transfer abroad. We ended the month with one committed to stay until 2021 and the other out the day.

Mesut Ozil staying is great news. It has been interesting to watch the pendulum swing over the first half of the season. Many in August would have preferred to keep Alexis Sanchez and let Ozil leave. By mid-January, it had swung to the majority wanting Ozil to stay.

Losing Sanchez was disappointing. He is a great player. Up there amongst the best in the world. Arsenal swapped him for Henrik Mkhitaryan. It was a good deal all round.

Another positive was the players out. I bet a number of fans used the Pinnacle vip code 2018 to predict that the likes of Theo Walcott were not going to be hanging around.

Arsenal raised £50m in selling Olivier Giroud, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott. Three players who had started 2 Premier League game between them this season.

All go with their head held high, knowing that they gave 100% to the cause. Walcott for me will always go down as one of the most underrated players of the last 10 years.

Over 100 goals at around 3.6 games a goal is not to be sniffed at. He might never have been the prettiest player in the world but he was effective.

Regardless of my opinion, both were surplus to requirements. No longer required.

Then we have Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang. A truly world class striker – even if some of the northern media had gone out of their way to deride his talents.

To get him for £56m is great value. A club record. To effectively sell Walcott and giroud, and buy the Gabonian (is that correct?) is fantastic.

Over two transfer windows, we have seen Sanogo, Szczęsny, Gabriel, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Debuchy, Walcott and Giroud leave. Players who were not really part of our present, let along the future.

Hopefully this is the beginning of clearing the decks for the new manager.

With Santi Cazorla, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Perez, Akpom and Campbell also set to leave in the summer, it will be 14 players who many would have classed “dead wood” out the door in a little over 12 months.

This frees up squad places and wages for players who are better than those who have gone.

What we now need to do is ensure we invest in the right mixture of proven talent like Aubemeyang, and young talent like Konstantinos Mavropanos, the young Greek centre back who joined early January.

So we saw players who were not needed leave, and players who are ready for the first team join. Good news.

I have always been of the Sir Alex Ferguson school of thought. That you improve the first team every window. By improving the first team, the previous first team player then becomes a squad player, and the weakest squad player is then allowed to leave.

By buying Aubemeyang, all strikers have had to shuffle down one, and Giroud has fallen out of the bottom. We are infinitely stronger.

Now we just need to do something about the manager.

Keenos

Signing defender won’t solve Arsenal defensive woes

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“We need a new central defender” I often read or hear.

Whilst new personnel will not go a miss at Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny is deteriorating by the week and those below him are not up to much, simply signing a new centre back does not solve Arsenal’s defensive problems.

After Liverpool spent £75m on Virgil van Dijk, Jamie Carragher had his say:

“This thing about Van Dijk is going to come in and fix this problem, it is absolute nonsense. That one player comes in and fixes the whole problem, he’s not that good.”

Earlier in the season, when Liverpool were heavily linked with van Dijk in August, Carragher had a heated debate with Jamie Redknapp over the signing of the Dutch centre back.

“On set pieces it’s not about the defenders. The way Liverpool are set up – set piece wise – they will always concede goals. No matter which defenders they buy or how much they cost – it won’t make a difference.”

A teams defensive problems are much more than just the personnel.

Signing a new defender would not solve the problem of the midfield not giving the defence enough protection.

The first goal yesterday came from Mesut Ozil giving the ball away and Granit Xhaka not following a runner – compare Xhaka’s attitude to that of Aaron Ramsey earlier in the first half.

A new centre back will not solve Arsenal’s goalkeeping issue – just like van Dijk does not solve Liverpool’s. Petr Cech is past it. Not just based on last nights error for the goal, but his form over the last 12 months.

And a new centre back will not solve the way we defend. The way we set up.

When it comes to defending, the team as a whole (not just the back 4) needs to be on the same hymn sheet. They are not. And this comes down to them being poorly coached, poorly instructed and poorly motivated.

A good defence is usually about the sum of its pieces. Under George Graham, Arsenal did not necessarily have the best individuals – look at how few caps Dixon, Winterburn and Bould won – but they had the best drilled unit. They knew their roles. They were organised. It was this that made them the best defence in the country – not the individuals.

Now I am not saying we do not need to be players. We do.

But Arsenal’s defensive problems go deeper than the individuals on the pitch. The problems start with Arsene Wenger.

As Jamie Carragher says about Liverpool, one player does not make a difference if the set up is wrong.

Keenos