My Arsenal Blog

This season, especially in the second half of it there have been lots of reports that Bacary Sagna will be leaving Arsenal this summer and that Arsenal will not offer him a new contract when it comes to expire. The question is, do Arsenal fans think it’s time for him to move on after six year at the club in which he has not won a single trophy?

One of the big contenders for Sagna’s signature are PSG but negotiations are apparently breaking down and starting again every few days. If the Frenchman is sold, who can be bought to replace him or will anybody be bought to replace him? Carl Jenkinson should be moved into the right back position permanently if Sagna leaves because he is a future England international and can offer something that Arsenal full backs have not since the 90′s, competent defending skills.

Jenkinson can offer a balance with the defence and create a new tactic and alter the way the entire team plays, for example Monreal on the other side can bomb forward and leave a gap in the defence without being worried because Jenkinson would slide over into the centre and the other two centre backs would reshape to form a 3-man central defence. When this happens any counter-attack which seems to catch Arsenal out so often will face more resistance as Jenkinson has the defensive ability to operate as a centre back and a right back in the same match.

But the fact still remains that if Sagna leaves and Jenkinson takes a first team place, the club will need cover for the position. Sebastian Corchia has been linked with the club in recent days and could be available for 3 to 6 million pounds. Corchia would be a gamble but e could show potential to become a world class right back with the proper guidance and training.

Would you happily wave goodbye to Sagna and what do you think about Carl Jenkinson and Sebastian Corchia?

Wenger Speaks Out

Arsenal Manager Arséne Wenger made some key points in his recent press conference saying;

On his future: “I will assess my own performances and then make a decision. At the moment we are not there. Two years is a long time in my job. I just want to do well for the club as long as I can and accept all the rest. At the moment I am not in the mood to think about the long-term future. We want to do well this season, that’s all.”

So he does give the indication that he would like to stay at Arsenal for longer but at this moment that is not what he is thinking about and so the recent indications that he was going to be offered a new contract seem to be untrue. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Frenchman in charge for another few years.

On Diaby’s fitness, Wenger said: “At the moment he is 50:50.”

On the long term absentees: “Wilshere is not far away. Sagna is not far away. At the moment the injured players look like they are recovering well. The main injuries are Frimpong who is recovering well, Wilshere is short-term, Sagna around two weeks and Rosicky around two to three weeks.”

Wenger also spoke out about Bacary Sagna’s situation and he believes the fullback will stay;

“It [a new contract for Sagna] will be discussed. I expect him to stay and I want him to stay.”

This is good news at the moment however let’s all remember he also ‘expected’ Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie to stay.
Let’s hope we can get the mood up, for when we play Southampton tomorrow at The Emirates.

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger claims that nothing will motivate him to force Wilshere into a speedy comeback, after the English midfielder was out for the whole length of last season with a recurring injury to his ankle.

“It is impossible to set a concrete deadline at the moment,” Wenger told the club’s official website.

“But it is all OK. He is as quick as we expected him to be. His ankle is good and his knee is good. There is no setback.”

“It difficult to say ‘it will be this week in September or October’ when he is back in training. He has been out for a year and I don’t want to put any pressure on him.”

The Frenchman believes that Arsenal will have a strong side for their travels to Asia where the Gunners will play their pre-season games.

“Some players like Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, they travel. Song, Diaby, Vermaelen, Santos, Gibbs, Szczesny, they will all travel,” said Wenger.

“So will Gervinho – we have a very strong team out there. Rosicky is injured. Apart from that I think everybody travels.”

“Emmanuel (Frimpong) is doing very well. It will be the end of September or perhaps into October for him.”

According to Wenger, full-back Backary Sagna is also likely to join the team at the end of August once he has recovered from the broken leg injury he suffered at the end of the season.

“He is doing very well. There are no problems there. But it will be the end of August for him.”

Arsenal will probably look a lot better this season than they have recently now that they will recover the likes of Sagna and Wilshere and they also bought Podolski and Giroud. Arsene Wenger is now focusing in bringing at least another midfielder, but if Robin Van Persie chooses to leave the Frenchman will have to face a whole new set of problems.

The saga with Robin Van Persie’s contract continues with the Dutchman still no closer to signing a contract extension. Arsenal’s captain claimed to be opened for negotiations once the season will be over, but despite the fact that the season is over for a while now, he hasn’t managed to reach any conclusion regarding his contract with the Gunners.

His colleague Backary Sagna seems to be very confident of the fact that Robin will stay, claiming that there’s no way the Dutchman can leave despite the fact that several European giants want him.

“I’m confident Robin will stay. He was a complete professional from the beginning until the end and helped us into third.

“We want to keep him. Everyone is so grateful to him for what he’s done for the club and how important he is.

“He is our captain and he takes his role and responsibilities very seriously. He gives everything as a player and captain.”

Robin Van Persie’s contract with Arsenal will expire at the end of next season, but Wenger declared that Arsenal won’t let him go even if that means losing him on a free next summer. Do you think that Robin will indeed stay with the club?

Bacary Sagna, Arsenal’s 29-year old right back has accused Bradley Johnson of Norwich City of deliberately stamping on his leg during the crucial game on Saturday. The French international joins the growing list of Arsenal players sidelined due to injury and his Arsenal team-mate Abou Diaby will also miss out on playing for France at Euro 2012.

Sagna He has been one of the most consistent performers for Arsene Wenger this year and will be sorely missed as Arsenal travel to West Brom at the weekend knowing that they need to win to ensure third place and Champions league qualification.

Metro reports that, speaking after the match he said “I think he did it on purpose. He stepped on my leg, play continues, I get back on my feet and when I tried to control the ball, I felt a crack just like the first time at Tottenham.” Although this is his second leg break of the season, Sagna was philosophical, saying “That’s how it is. It’s football. It has happened to others before me. I came back once, I will come back a second time, even stronger.”

The break occurred in the same place as the earlier one and was probably due to the bones not having fully healed. “He stepped right where the plate was. I think the plate pressured (the bone.) It’s a neat break, just above the plate.”

After the first break Sagna came back very quickly because he delayed taking the plate out of his leg. Hopefully this time he will have more time to have it heal completely before coming back to the Arsenal squad.

The Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna just wanted to say a few kind words about Sol Campbell, who announced his retirement from the game this week.

Campbell came back to help out Arsenal last season in their injury crisis and Sagna really enjoying working and playing alongside the man who was part of the legendary Invincibles.

Sagna said: “He was amazing. When he came back here he was quite old, but he gave the right example and was totally involved in the team.,”

“I think for a few games he was one of the best players. At his age, that means a lot because when you are quite old, sometimes you just give up. But he gave everything for the team.

“He tried to use his experience to help the younger players and I was very glad to have played with him. I just want to congratulate him on his long career.”

Good luck in the future Sol. Arsenal fans will always think of him warmly, especially as he seriously pissed of a lot of Tottenham fans!

If Arsenal are going to have any chance of beating Tottenham this weekend, then the defence will have to stop the Spurs players from wreaking havoc down the wings.

Bacary Sagna has been tasked with keeping the extremely fast Gareth Bale from creating too many chances for his team-mates, and he thinks he knows exactly how to do it.

“He is a very good player, he was PFA Player of the Year last year and he deserved it,” Sagna said.

“He is a great player, but every weekend we play against great wingers. He is extremely quick, that’s why you have to stay close and make sure he does not come quickly at you.”

So that’s Bale sorted now we just need to concentrate on Adebayor and Van Der Vaart!

But Sagna knows that Arsenal are more than capable of beating the best teams in the world on their day in the world, but their inconsistency is the thing that needs fixing.

He concluded: “We can beat anyone, like Barcelona, but we can make silly mistakes and lose games. We need to improve this.”

“Tottenham are doing better but I think every team has surprised me this season. Every team can beat anyone.”

So its time for THIS team to beat Tottenham, it’s about time Spurs were brought down a peg or two.