Mikel Arteta believes that Arsenal should have no problem coping without Alex Song and claims the organisation shown on Saturday by the Gunners new look midfield bodes well for the future.
Assuming the responsibility for sweeping up danger in front of the defence, the Spaniard expertly marshalled the centre of the park against Sunderland providing a solid platform for Abou Diaby and Santi Cazorla to probe further up the field.
With Nuri Sahin tipped to sign on loan and the likes of Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere due back from injury, Arteta told Arsenal.com that he was very positive about the future.
“I felt really comfortable when I played with Alex last year, he was a terrific player,” reflected the 30-year-old after Song’s departure was confirmed.
“But if he and the Club decided that the best option was for him to leave we have to accept it. I think we are good enough to carry on without him.
“We looked really organised on Saturday, just maybe in the final third we didn’t take the chances we should have done.”
Accepting that the new faces at London Colney will need time to settle, as he himself did last year, the ex-Everton man continued:
“It will take a while because there have been some new players coming in and we are building a new team. We have lost some important players too so we will need some time. But we wanted to start with a win and that is why we are disappointed.
“We know that our new players can make the difference as well. We will have to give them a chance to settle into a new place.”
Having been tipped by Arsene Wenger to come good, despite a muted debut, one of those new boys, Lukas Podolski, has also been given a hearty pat on the back by close friend Per Mertesacker.
“It was tough for him [on Saturday] because it was his first game up front,” said Mertesacker to Arsenal Player of his compatriot.
“I think he will get used to the game, switch on quickly and score a lot for us.
“You have seen that he has a good technique and he is good in possession. We have the players who can pass him the ball. He is a good finisher too and we will see that in a couple of weeks.
“We saw a lot of misunderstandings [against Sunderland], especially in the first half. One guy maybe wanted the one-two, the other in behind. So we need a bit of time, especially with the new players. We had a few new players who were playing their first game over 90 minutes. But I think it is coming.”
I love Mickey Arteta. He could play in midfield with anybody and still look class.
Also a very well-deserving vice-captain. An intelligent, talented, classy and handsome Gunner to boot 🙂
Also has perfect black hair, nothing ginger-ish about him, has smooth skin nothing terry can say. Perfect height, legs ligning up well with his body. A perfect torso and his eye lashes are just killer.
(felt we needed to clear this up)
And never has a single hair out of place not even after 90mins on the pitch.
Only a true gooner would be willing to take a paycut to join us, I hope that they bump him up… I don’t even know who our top earner is anymore?…
I almost spat out my coffee when I read this morning “bendtner completes Manchester united move” I thought we had thrown him in after rvps terrible debut. Only to wipe my eyes and see it was buttner… Whoever the fuck that is hahaha
The question remains though… Is it a wig? Never seen hair that perfect
Everytime Arteta speaks, he proves how knowledgable and classy he is.
Also during the Sunderland match, I saw him helping out Jenkinson numerous times down the right flank. Something which I rarely saw Song do. Arteta defines class.
Arteta, what a class player he is!
We’re making a mistake if we think Diaby and Arteta can play the DM role all season. It’s a specialist position and one that we need a specialist to fill.
I can’t think of one team who’ve ever won the league without one.
Man City last year and Man United the year before last are the two most recent I can think of…
I suppose you could say Gareth Barry is a defensive midfielder but in all fairness he’s hardly a Paddy Vieira or Claude Makelele type..
Paddy wasn’t exactly a DM either. He was physical, but he was a box-to-box player. By a “specialist” DM, I assume Ben means a Makelele type that plays between the defense and creative midfielders, and whose sole job is to break up play and give the ball back to the attacking mids.
Unless of course he just means a big/chunky guy that happens to play in midfield.
I think he just means a big gorilla type who does agricultural tackles on people but isn’t a centre back.
De Jong at City defines DM
Yes, and Man City became a lot better after De Jong lost his place in the team!
Not all Defensive Midfielders have to be black
Arteta speaks the truth. Really, did it look like Song’s absence was what hurt us on Saturday? That didn’t seem to be the problem.
Biggest issue seemed to be our offense tripping over one another… they’ll figure out their positioning better and it’ll all work out.
It didn’t, but the proof will be in the first time we play a team who actually try to score against us.
Saturday highlighted Arsenal’s other problem – which is that when teams park the bus, we don’t generally have a foolproof strategy/all the players needed to cope.
A few years ago Arsenal created the impression throughout the league that attacking too incautiously was to invite devastating counter attack moves. Now the impression needs to be created that stodgy defending is just as suicidal as that is.
How? I dunno, I don’t play Football Manager.
Just an idea and i’m more than prepared to take the flak for this crazy revolutionary idea but why the hell don’t we just shoot!? how many times did cazorla come close by just having a go when there was nothing else on? Even if we don’t score it’l let the opposition know they can’t just sit back and wait for a stray pass from us and that they will have to close us down, which should create the gaps that our players can exploit.
I think we need wanyama, he is an excellent player, strong,has great passes,good defensively and can cover the space that alex song has left. He can play in three roles! as defensive midfielder, CB and as right back.
A complete package!. Sign him up.
It’s not hard to look that good when you’re playing in the SPL.
he’s plays for a team that won the league before it even started, i would need a lot more evidence to back up your claims that he is so versatile, but also that he can do a good job playing all of those positions, kos can play cb and rb, but he’s pretty shit at rb for example
The guy can play at any of those three.positions without breaking a sweat. He is as versatile as they come. Good and accurate passing range the scholes type. Doesn’t forego his defensive duties no matter where he plays. He also can shoot, something we at arsenal only see during christmas. Sign him UP!.
And as for you merlin…….i think the gap between epl and spl is getting narrower and narrower by the day. Plus he’s proven a success at every club he goes to. So he can’t be half as bad.
Sign him UP!
You clearly haven’t been watching football or that long or you just proved how young you are.
The DM position was never really set in stone until mid 2000’s, it was called the Makele role initially for that very same reason. IMO up until then the 442 needed two central midfielder, one may have been defensively inclined than the other but never a “DM”.
Anybody else curious as to why this comment hasn’t been “hidden” yet?.
Arseblog out!
True professional . And to think he took a pay CUT to join us! Some unmentionables should take note (cashley,no chin, the little dutch boy and daft hair etc)
To be fair, he handed in a transfer request on deadline day, forcing through a move and leaving his club no time to get in a replacement. If a player did that to us, I doubt you’d be paying homage to his professionalism.
Fair point, but my point still stands.
(Hint $)
Artetaaaaaaaaa!!
I’ll never forget that commentator when he struck his perfect free kick against shiteh..
It wasnt a free kick.
I think i’ve let you all down, my family too.
*loggin out.
You let Arteta down. Sad.
Won the ball, ran into space, shoots, scores, all the fans spontaneously do the poznan. That was one of my favorite memories from last season!
Hate to be pedantic, but that beautiful 30 yard rocket was, in fact, against Aston Villa, when he celebrated by tantalisingly lifting his shirt to reveal some perfectly toned abs.
Against Citeh, he effortlessly won the ball in the centre of midfield, glided past a couple of challenges and unleashed a 20 yard thunderbolt which beat Joe Hart down at his near post.
Easy to get his outstanding goals mixed up, though.
I hate to be “that guy” but the perfect free kick you’re thinking of was against Villa and the goal against City was from open play. That aside, your memory of the commentator’s cry of “Artetaaaaaa!” is spot on. 😉
anyone got a youtube link?
thanks
the free kick was against some other team…blackburn? the man shitteh was his long rage belter that won us the game and should have ended their title challenge…fucking idiot united scum, the one season i’d rather have them win it they go balls up, good for nothing cunts is what they are.
Here’s a Youtube link: youtube.com
Is it this you’re thinking of? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rlaCPptQU
The “It’s ARTETAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!” edges it for me.
hey i have the top comment on that video! made my day
i’m looking forward to an exciting and successful season challenging for the title. we have a solid defence, with world class players having had more than a season to settle in. great defensive midfielders in arteta and diaby. diaby will be the new vieira, he just needs a few games and he’ll be awesome. we have an exciting attacking midfield with cazorla, ox, theo, gervinho, rosicky, wilshere. thats plenty of creativity there to create and score a few goals. in any given game, one or two of those attacking midfielders may have a bad game, but there’s enough quality in… Read more »
So song slept in fabregas’ house when he went to spain, luckily cesc’ husband dani alves was away with friends. Wouldn’t want a confrontation.
hey! Both of you back off cesc is MY MAN!
Andre_Santos27
Andre Santos
Proud to be a #Gunners that’s why I’m always smiling, good morning #London :-)) http://t.co/OdiTFPfP
Just give him a statue already
I love that gay!
There was something missing in the club after Eboue left. He was always the first to celebrate a goal, even when on the bench and he always carrie dthe biggest smile.
Santos seem to fill that role for me. Best footballer twitter account too. Couldn’t be happier than having him in the team.
i like podolski’s movement in the box; and he will do great. it just needs a bit of selflessness from our wingers. i will not forget the moment walcott whacked the bell into the side netting instead of passing it to a better placed podolski. the reason why van persie got so many goals that people now wrongly claim he carried our team was because he received the balls when he was in good areas. if anybody watched him running into the nets like a tired cricketer looking for that arsenal pass last night, they will know what i mean.… Read more »
maybe we will be better off with attacking midfielders taking care of defensive duties, instead of a defensive midfielder take care of attacking duties
Wish we had signed Arteta a few seasons earlier. Really classy guy, on and off the pitch. @ Ben, relax with that specialist BS. Everyday someone drags up some sihet to beat us with. e.g Koscienly isn’t worldclass, Mertasacker can’t hold a candle to Samba’s talent, RVP can’t stay fit a whole season, We need to sign so and so from such and such.
Shut it. Get with the party mood for goodness sake.
***mean’t to say shit***
Why is he holding his head?
arteta has been a great buy, very solid, calm, and integrates perfectly with every player/formation
+ he’s always heads up and positive
Arteta is a class act.Truly selfless player.
Agreed, I do wish we had brought him before we had.
But, more than any other player Arteta has shown the importance of brining in experience, especially from within the Prem itself.
I love the way Mertesacker speaks at interviews. Very analytic. Helps us understand d tactics. He’ll be a good pundit 1 day….
Love the way he dances too … 🙂
He could be the first pundit dancer. When all the other morons are giving their biased views Mertesacker could dance a new dance to give us something else to be entertained by. Then he can give his opinion.
Very greatful for having Arteta playing with us. Top class person and a player. Still can´t help thinking that this will be an awful season for Arsenal, I really can´t see how we can challenge for the league title without a proper striker in the team. Podolski isn´t a central striker, never has been and Giroud will take at least 6-7 months before he´s ready for the Premiership. I honestly would like to see Theo have a go as a central striker. Just make him run in open space for 90 minutes and he would get loads of chances each… Read more »
Walcott running into open space behind the Sunderland defence would be outside the playing area, I reckon…
Something proper like a fox in the box Jeffers? Or winger convert Henry?
Caption contest…..go!
http://cdn.caughtoffside.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Robin-Van-Persie-Bench.jpg
RVP photo caption. (To the little boy inside him), Kees, Kees, why did you make me put that statement on my website?
Rvp*, sweet, sweet bench. Better than the one at the grove.
And go! http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Alex+Song/Cesc+Fabregas/FC+Barcelona+v+Sampdoria+Pre+Season+Friendly/9KhRAGdbvTH
Man, why isn’t there any bleach in Barcelona?
Song is saying *haha i betrayed arsenal just like you cesc* they both laugh…….guy in the middle is thinking *silly idiot now you have ruined my chances of game time with the first team!*
Two bench-warmers and a knob.
Other Barca cunny: Who the fuck is this guy?
Cesc: I dunno but I think he’s stalking me.
Oh no! I’m a massive cunt!
Chuck Norris died this morning. But he is fine now.
Arteta is pure class.selfless and hardworking
Hope arteta stays injury free he’s a class,calm player, we suffered last season when he got injured
Carzola looked like a real class act. He will play a big part in the coming season.
But we do need to sign a specialist defensive midfielder: song was very important to us.
Cazorla reminded me of both Dreamy Bob and Cesc, which cannot really be a bad thing in any respect
DM? Only if we sign top top super super quality. Fellaini looks like he fits the bill nicely.
Yeah Fellani played the DM role from the CF position really well against Utd…
Please please please, its CAZORLA not carzola! Hate it when his name gets mixed up 😛
Every sports news I’ve seen pronounces his name like “Cathola” for some reason Lol.
that’s the way you pronounce it in spain
source: high school spanish class
Ok! Ok! We’ve got it!
So it’s Carzola then.
Nope, i’m certain it’s carzorla!
C.A.R.Z.O.R.L.A.
Aaargh!!!, you people!
I’ve said all last season this guy should be our DM. Pirlo does it without being a tackler, so does Carrick. Arteta will boss it there, especially when Jack is back to partner him.
Still think we should be looking 4-4-2 (a lose version of it) this season.
Sczezney
Sagna Koscielney Vermalen Gibbs
Arteta Wilshire
Oxlade Cazorla
Podolski
Giroud
With Walcott operating as our 3rd striker, maybe any combo of those 3 up top dependant on opposition.
We don’t and won’t play 442 though….. It’s 4231 or 433…..
Say after me.
C….A…Z….O….R…..L……A
It read f.u.c.k y.o.u, am I right?
Chuck Norris threw a grenade and 5
people died……… 5 seconds later, the
grenade exploded.
What a tough guy!
arteta is the dennis bergkamp of midfield.elegance personified.
a class signing.
Arteta is a great player right when he was @ PSG in frence even he was third choice after Jay Jay Okocha and Dihol,will only won one match out of 7 that will played without him but with Song,thats not great?
[…] 来源：[arseblog news] […]
When stat fans keep quoting Songs assist record last season, 14 I think, does this include assists for the opposition when he couldn’t be arsed to track his man or gave the ball away on the edge of the area leading to goals?
Well that depends on whether any of that actually happened. Where are YOUR stats?
QPR away? Perhaps I’m of an age where I use my own eyes to make a judgement on a player. 14 assists sounds good but if that is at the expense of your main role in the team then you have to balance it up. You can make stats prove what you want them to, but I defy anyone to tell me that Song didn’t get caught upfield too often, hence we were susceptible to the long ball straight at our centre halves.
Oh bugger off. He’s gone, you’re bitter. Making up b/s to make him look bad….blah blah blah.
Arteta is right, we lacked finishing. Why oh why do we try to dribble in triple coverage. Every coach I ever had said the best way to open up a bunkered defense is to shoot from the outside. It forces them to come out and defend higher, opening up room for the strikers. Simple tactic we have yet to see after seasons of trying to walk the ball in the net. Not every goal has to be pretty. Look at petric’s goal for fulham. He took a shot from the far corner of the boax, hit the defender’s back and… Read more »
“Did you see that ludicrous display last night?”
“The problem with Arsenal is they always try and walk the ball in.”
“What’s Wenger doing bringing on Walcott that early?”
So, when you’re faced with 9 opposition players in the box, the best strategy is to try and shoot through them from long range in the hopes that it will hit someone and float in or, spurred on by your failure, they’ll come out and let you have the space to walk it in?
I’d get the best use of that coach mate, because he’ll be premier league this time next year…
Agreed with BearCum. btw, I think it should be said here that Giroud and Podolski haven’t adjusted to the team yet. Look at Cazorla’s shot yesterday, Podolski and Cazorla got mixed up (which I personally thought was Cazorla’s fault, but anyway). The team probably needs more time. Last year it took until Christmas before things really started to click.
Completely opposite of what I said. We had at least 10 changes to shoot clear on goal from 25 yard out and decided to dribble around. i didn’t see sunderland defenders racing to get on a single players who was outside of 20 when they got the ball. Arteta, cazorla (from what i’ve seen) both can hit bombs so why not use that. the more room the strikers have to move, the greater the chance we have of getting to them. Why have guys who can unleash from 30 yards out on free kicks but during run of play, they… Read more »
Yeah we’ll have to wait till christmas and by that time shiteh, chelsea, manu will be sitting on their arses waiting for us to click?. Please!.
I say two weeks is enough and besides it doesn’t have to be the new signings to score the goals for us. Arteta, diaby can do the business for us. Santos too.
How is that the opposite of what you said? You were complaining about not taking shots from distance, weren’t you? So my post was about what happens when you take shots from distance. “i didn’t see sunderland defenders racing to get on a single players who was outside of 20 when they got the ball.” Presumably because as professional footballers they know very well that even IF the shot from that distance is on target, even IF it manages to miss every other player (which is almost all of them in this instance) looking to block the ball, a premiership… Read more »
Since when is 20-25 yards considered long range? You’re talking about 30+ yars, no the same thing. Arsenal only attempted 3 shots from 18-22 yards last game. Why when are players are open at the top of the box don’t they shoot? Is that so hard. A shot from 18 yards hit properly, the goalie will never have a chance. I didn’t say every shot had to be from outside, just mix it up a bit. defenders will sit back and block close range shots all day. I’m just tired of us trying to be perfect. Just put the ball… Read more »
“Since when is 20-25 yards considered long range? You’re talking about 30+ yars, no the same thing.” – Actually no, I’m talking about any shot taken from outside the area, as clearly set out in the link I posted. And as clearly set out by YOU when you wrote “Every coach I ever had said the best way to open up a bunkered defense is to shoot from the outside.” – unless you meant from outside of the half, or outside of the stadium, in which case we’ll have to get new stats. “Why when are players are open at… Read more »
At this juncture I think it’s both appropriate and relevant to point out that John Terry is still a cunt
In regard to the Sahin transfer, check this out.
http://justarsenal.com/arsenal-about-to-announce-sahin-transfer/15557
I’m not sure how much credence I can give this, but hey.
Thankyou sir, I enjoy a little positivity on pursuit of a transfer target.
Like a nuri sahin!
Is this Arseblog? It can’t be because no one has yet made a puerile joke on the “One guy maybe wanted the one-two, the other in behind”?
the BFG is right, podolski wanted it
from behind but Carzola is too
short, so he opted for Giroud.
Alas! he is too tall! and the BFG
had to watch it all from behind no
less!!. where is uniformity when u
need it? And u wonder why no
one scored!!!
About our failure to shoot more often, sure its fantastic when someone smashes one in from 30 yards, but how often does it actually happen ?
9 times out of 10 it goes over or wide,
no one is talking about from 30 yars. how about 20? a shot from there well stuck can be by the goalie just as fast as from the pk spot. noone is asking for miracle goals. just using the players skills to there fullest. We get it wenger, we can pass like there is no tomorrow, but how are those shooting drills coming along
Dude, if they have to practice shooting drills extra hard in training at this level then we have a serious fucking problem on our hands
Rumor!: Arsenal to Use £15m Funds from Alex Song Sale to Launch Bid for Newcastle United Enforcer Cheick Tiote… #AFC
Rumor meaning I just made this up out of my arse and wanted to see if I could get it trending on the twitters?
No.
http://gossip.ladyarse.com/2012/08/as-sahin-to-arsenal-complete/.
DONE DEAL…….SAHIN………DONE FUCKING DEAL!
I’ve no idea what this means … but
http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/agente-sahin-sello-cesion-arsenal/20120821dasdaiftb_15/Tes
The article seems sure that Sahin has signed without an option-to-buy.
The video is amusing though.
It seems to be basing that claim on a quote from Mourinho that’s a few days old. So I guess there’s still a chance we managed to negotiate a purchase option, although I’d be surprised.
Mexican and Black jokes are all the
same, once you’ve heard Juan, you’ve
heard Jamal.
according to daily mail Sahin deal is done
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2191666/Arsenal-sign-Nuri-Sahin.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Is Santos really going to jail? He’s not that kind of gay.
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and amusing, and let
me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is something which not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about. Now i’m very happy I stumbled across this
in my hunt for something concerning this.
CROMULUS
August 21, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Is this Arseblog? It can’t be
because no one has yet made a
puerile joke on the “One guy
maybe wanted the one-two, the
other in behind”?
the BFG is right, podolski wanted it from behind but Carzola is too short, so he opted for Giroud. Alas! he is too tall! and the BFG had to watch it all from behind no less!!. where is uniformity when u need it? And u wonder why no one scored!!!
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