Just Arsenal News

A lot of Arsenal fans have been buoyed by the recent performances of Wojciech Szczesny in the Gunners goal and convinced that Arsene Wenger no longer has to sign a new keeper in the summer transfer market. The Polish international is still only 23-years old and is showing again the talent and potential that made us believe we had a world class player on our hands.

The thing is though, and Wenger has realised this, that Szczesny needs the competition. The manager previously tried to encourage Szczesny by telling him that he was the number one and the young keeper got complacent, maybe even arrogant. He has reacted well to being dropped in favour of Fabianski, but he clearly needs strong competition to bring the best out of him. .......Read the full article here

There are worrying reports coming from behind the scenes at Arsenal involving possible summer signings, and that is before the transfer window has even opened. Apparently Arsene Wenger is keen on securing the signature of his long term target Loic Remy, while other club officials feel the target should be Wilfried Bony.

The story, in today’s Daily Star, suggests that Wenger does not have total control over the use of the club’s transfer war chest. This is going to be an absolutely pivotal summer for Arsenal and we cannot afford to be messing about and pulling in different directions. If we get it right this summer, it could be the start of a great period on and off the pitch, but if we get it wrong it could cut us further adrift of our main rivals. .......Read the full article here

All of the Arsenal fans love Wojciech Szczesny and most of us think he has the abilty and potential to be one of the best keepers in the world. Up until a few weeks ago, though, his future at Arsenal looked uncertain after his form tailed off dramatically in a season to forget for the Polish international.

It looked like Arsene Wenger would have to spend at least £10 million of his summer transfer budget on a new number one and there was speculation that Szczesny would leave the club after seven years. Since then, though, he has done everything right, starting with completely distancing himself from his father’s comments about Arsenal and the French manager. .......Read the full article here

It is an often used adage in the world of football that goalkeepers have to be a little bit crazy, and the Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny can certainly tick that box on his c.v. You have to love him, though, because he often comes out with things that most other players would not dream of saying, whether they think it or not.

Another reason we Gooners like the Polish international is because he really feels for the club. He joined the club as a boy and has been a Gunner for seven years now, often declaring that he would like to stay at Arsenal for the whole of his career. He backed Arsene Wenger and the club ahead of his own father recently, after Szczesny senior cticised them when the keeper was dropped. .......Read the full article here

I don’t know about the rest of the Arsenal fans, but this weekend was torture for me. If the Americans are looking for any new techniques to replace waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay, they ought to try it. Having watched Southampton dominate Spurs and miss chances only for Bale to pop up with yet another late winner, the Gunners then made me grind my teeth for an hour when we should have been home and dry against QPR. Chelsea completed the torture yesterday, snatching another late winner from a Manchester United side who seemed content to just watch them play. .......Read the full article here

This is exactly the kind of headache that Arsene Wenger would like to have in every position as he now has to decide whether to keep Wojciech Szczesny in between the sticks now that his compatriot Lukasz Fabianski is fit enough to be reinstated in the Arsenal starting XI.

In the run up to the QPR game, Wenger said of Fabianski: “He is still unavailable. From next week onwards, he should be alright.” which suggest he will be available for the next game against Wigan, which is still 8 days away. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal winger/striker Theo Walcott has reached his target of 20 goals this season, despite lapsing in and out of form all season, and he capped it off with the winner against QPR after just 20 seconds this weekend.

Arsene Wenger was asked why he thought Theo has suddenly improved this year and the Gunners manager says that it is simply because he has learned to shoot the ball on target! Wenger said: ““He’s more mature in his finishing,”

“Against QPR he scored a bit of a similar goal to the one against Man United. It’s a short backlift, he makes good runs and he’s calm now in front of goal. .......Read the full article here

Scoring too early Cost Us by Dan S

While watching Arsenal’s game with QPR I was amazed at the criticism the team was receiving from Gooners on Twitter and Facebook. Such was the extent of negativity that many seemed less confident of us finishing in the top 4 then they were before the game kicked off at Loftus Road.

Given QPR’S problems this season clearly many assumed a convincing win once Theo Walcott opened the scoring after just 20 seconds. But if anything it was too early for the Gunners to score. With the home side already relegated the biggest danger we faced yesterday was taking our opponents lightly, scoring so early, guaranteeing almost no atmosphere around the ground meant that’s exactly what happened. It almost became too easy for our players which meant we lost concentration and took our foot off the pedal, something which has been our achilles heel this year. .......Read the full article here

In January, when Arsenal fans were pulling their hair out about the deafening silence from the Emirates, the Gunners were linked with every man and his dog, it seemed. A large number of the rumours concerned strikers, as Arsenal were dominating games but missing plenty of chances and both Giroud and Podolski were a little slow to adapt to the Premier League.

Loic Remy was one of the players who regularly popped up in these rumours, but Arsene Wenger kept his powder dry, only signing Nacho Monreal from Malaga on the last day because of an injury to Kieran Gibbs. When QPR then signed 26-year old Remy, there was more frustration from Gooners, especially when he adapted quickly to the Premier League and started banging the goals in. .......Read the full article here

In the second half of the season, many Arsenal fans were clamouring for Lukas Podolski to be given more time on the pitch, then when he was finally reinstated to the starting XI, the calls started for him to be given the chance to replace Giroud as the out-and-out centre-forward.

Now the fans have finally got what they want but, but after two matches as the main striker, suddenly Podolski is making Giroud seem like he is a natural goalscorer! So the experiment doesn’t seem to have worked and Arsenal are struggling to score goals again. Many pundits have been trying to excyuse Podolski with the rumours that he is set to have some surgery on his ankle in the close season, but Wenger denies that and has vowed to give Podolski time to develop in the central role. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal need to up the tempo against Wigan. by FD

One match nearer, and it doesn’t get any easier. After an uncomfortable evening watching Arsenal hold on for a crucial victory against QPR, thoughts turn to our next game when Wigan visit the Emirates.

At this stage of the season, it’s all about getting the points, so I’m not going to get too concerned about performances. But our display yesterday seemed to lack intensity. We’ll have to play with the kind of vigour we showed in the first half of the Man United match to prevail against a Wigan side fighting for their Premiership lives. Memories of this corresponding fixture last season should serve as a warning to all. .......Read the full article here

What do Arsenal need this Summer to be title contenders by CJ

Arsenal are 18 points behind Man Utd and 5 points behind Man City, however both teams have a game in hand on us so the question is realistically how far, in footballing terms, we are behind Man Utd and Man City.

Last week’s game against Man Utd showed us that this current group of players under this current manager have the desire and the quality to compete with very best – but don’t have the required mentality that’s needed to win a major championship. United had nothing to play for and in that 1st half we absolutely dominated them. We were quicker to the ball, we were closing them down and were passing the ball quickly and accurately, but then Man Utd showed why they were champions and why we are not even contenders right now. .......Read the full article here