Olympiacos doesn't matter and Zaha no-go

By Avenell Dave

No one really cares what happens tonight, do they?

As long as we don't suffer with any injuries, the only thing that matters is that some of our fringe and out of form players can improve their fitness and their finesse and help ease the burden on the guaranteed starters.

Putting pressure on places has to be the best thing for a club because it means everyone is trying to improve and justify their position in the team.

As far as Saturday is concerned, the only player who really came away with any credit was Wojciech Szczesny and I wouldn't even play him given the run of games we have coming up.

It really doesn't matter if we come first or second given who we could end up facing (the likelihood is that whatever happens, we'll get drawn against Barca again).

I met someone well connected at Palace yesterday who told me Wilfried Zaha is not coming to Arsenal.

Now there's a shock. Looks likely that he's going to City with a deal that loans him back until the end of the season.

I can't see Arsenal playing the same sort of fee City will pay nor want to loan him back. The only hope we have is that we can guarantee him more first team football...Scott Sinclair is proof of what happens when you move to Middle Eastlands.

Is Arsene Wenger right to proclaim that things are ok and that the doom and gloom merchants are misplaced?

No of course not. We're not playing well - the defence is shaky, the midfield is poor and the attack not showing any level of the movement required.

Until some of the deadwood is replaced by quality understudies capable of stepping up, we have no chance of competing for the title and the time has come to cut our losses on players who are blocking squad places and costing us valuable salaries.

It will be interesting to see whether the likes of Arshavin or Chamakh, if he plays, perform this evening. On the one hand, they may not be bothered but on the other it's a shop window to a new club. 

We're all pretty despondent at the moment and it's hard to think that staying calm will see everything resolve itself when so many of the problems we are facing have come through a lack of planning and investment in the long term.

I still believe Wenger can turn it around and that with new commercial deals, he may have the resources to return us to the top level, and it's easy to forget that we're still early in the season, comparitively.

Saturday matters, tonight doesn't. Let's hope a few days off focuses those who are not showing the consistency required and that Swansea is the low point of our season, not the confirmation of long term decline.

Addict XI

Mannone

Jenkinson Squillaci Vermaelen Meade

Ramsey Coquelin Rosicky

Oxlade-Chamberlain Gervinho Arshavin

What does Arsene do now?

By Avenell Dave

It's rare that I come away from a game feeling Arsenal have been so comprehensively outplayed and deserved not to win the game.

I've seen us torn apart in the past of course, but often it is about the opposition being more clinicial, having the rub of the green or the referee having a one sided day but while we could well have come away with a draw against Swansea, defeat, in truth, was about right.

Swansea came with purpose and energy and played us of the park at our own game and that has to be a concern, particularly when their side was assembled for so little compared to ours.

Much abuse is levelled at the current hate figures, names Andre Santos and Aaron Ramsey, but neither played on Saturday and you could argue that the Welshman would have been a far wiser replacement later on than Tomas Rosicky, whose introduction to this season was a massive managerial mistake.

Whatever you think of Ramsey, he makes things happen, particularly late on in games and Arsene Wenger's decision to bring on Rosicky, who was so far off the pace and whose flicks did nothing to help us, was entirely misguided.

But before Rosicky's arrival - and I am not for one minute blaming him for the defeat which was purely a team effort - our best player was Wojciech Szczesny and while the keeper did well, we should not be so outplayed by a club such as Swansea. Especially not at home.

No one knows what is going on at Arsenal.

We've heard reports this morning of Steve Bould laying into the team but what actually needs to happen is for the senior players to take action, start taking responsibility and get a balance between giving the youngsters the hairdryer treatment and at the same time not causing any resentment that may threaten whatever is left of team spirit.

Tony Adams got it right and you could argue that we haven't really had a captain like him since - a warrior who put the team before anything else.

We've had hints of late that Wenger was made aware of the constraints he would be under due to funding and repaying the debts - which makes the Board's proclamations that the manager had £70m to spend particularly disingenuous.

Did Wenger stay because he has more influence or power at Arsenal or because he loves the club? I suspect it is a bit of both and anyone who thinks money is his motivation is way wide of the mark.

We have two meaningless midweek games coming up now - the dead rubber in the Champions League and the Capital One Cup quarter final against Bradford which we should be able to win with a fringe squad.

So it's vital that, with talk of fatigue from the manager being one of the causes of the defeat, he rests as many players as possible.

I don't know whether it's permitted or will incur more wrath from UEFA, but I would like to see Steve Bould take a reserve team out to Greece to allow the first team time to rest and go through some passing drills with the manager.

We're not moving the ball with the pace and determination that catches teams off guard and we need to address that quickly.

Has Wenger lost the dressing room or lost his touch?

There are many who will think both.

My feeling is that a combination of poor signings and injuries have left him without enough quality, but given his budget, did he have any choice?

We can all lament not signing players like Michu but when the media are calling him the signing of the decade, it underlines how rare such undiscovered gems really are.

I've heard that Wenger is given £10m plus whatever he makes in sales, which, given the depreciation value on some players, is hardly a huge sum in this day and age when you add salaries into the equation.

We can all lament the indifference of Gervinho but Lukas Podolski was anonymous against Swansea and Mikel Arteta poor again. We know these players are capable of much better.

He needs to get rid of the Chamakhs, the Arshavins and, dare I say it, the Diabys and bring in quality that can make a difference.

We have few match winners and this is a challenging time for all of us. 

I keep coming back to the same question, though - if Wenger is fired as so many seem to want, who could come in and make a positive difference?

It's all very well saying Pep Guardiola but he has been used to having the best generation of young players and a huge transfer budget - and he won't go anywhere before the summer.

I still believe Wenger is the man for the job, but his Rosicky gamble didn't work and he knows better than anyone that the need to turn it around becomes ever more presing with each disappointing result.

* A word for Peter Hill-Wood. The Arsenal chairman was not exactly respectful towards the fans at the recent AGM but his family have been a part of The Arsenal for decades. Everyone at Arsenal Addict wishes him well in his recovery from a heart attack.

Can Arsenal afford not to beat Swansea on Saturday?

By Avenell Dave

At last, a home game and a chance for Arsenal to put some draws behind us and get back to winning ways.

Swansea will be no pushovers - no one is these days - but the absence of their first choice goalkeeper Vorm is something of a bonus.

They swept aside a WBA side who have been flying in midweek, so we can't be complacent.

Much has been said about the lack of squad members to allow us to ease the burden on some of the guaranteed starters. Thankfully a dead rubber next week should allow us to rest some of the first team.

We simply have to win. While it's easy to lose perspective that we only lost one game in November, a month where we usually struggle, there were too many draws and we have to start turning them into wins to stay in touch with the top pack.

Will Arsene Wenger shuffle? I doubt it, given the lack of options he has.

How refreshing to hear reports that he is planning on signing a couple of players in Janaury. Let's hope they're 23-26, top quality players who can walk into the first team and have the attitude not to get sloppy after a few months (Andrey Arshavin, take note).

Will one of the players be a replacement for Theo Walcott? Let's hope not, however likely it now seems that he'll depart. At least we're getting some value out of him after seasons where he nveer quite played to his potential.

I can only see Carl Jenkinson coming in for the injured Bacary Sagna and Lukas Podolski replacing Aaron Ramsey although if we are rotating, perhaps Gervinho will come in.

Judging by the uproar every time we fail to win, Wenger has lost a lot of support from Arsenal fans. We know he makes mistakes, but then, so do I and so do you.

I really hope that the fans get behind him and the team tomorrow. We're called supporters, after all.

Finally, a word about the Black Scarf march taking place tomorrow.

I'd be lying if I said I don't share some of their frustrations even if I don't agree with everything they've demanded of the Club.

One thing I've always been proud of with Arsenal is how open the Club are with fan groups and while Black Scarf may come across as agitators, perhaps there is a case for Ivan Gazidis to meet with them and discuss their concerns.

Any large business - and Arsenal is no different - have to retain some sense of confidentiality and we will never know in entirety the reasons for some of the decisions that, on the surface, may bemuse or frustrate us.

What I will say though, is that while this Club will live long beyond the lifetime of any of us and any of the Board, we have enough sniping and overtly harsh criticism from the media at the best of times.

This demonstration will add fuel to the 'Arsenal in crisis' headlines, especially if we lose and while we're not chasing hard to the title, I do think airing our dirty linen in public is unwise.

Addict XI

Szczesny

Jenkinson Mertesacker Vermaelen Gibbs

Cazorla Arteta Wilshere

Walcott Giroud Podolski