Coquelin - remember the name

He may not have the height of Patrick Vieira or the fire of Flamini, but Francis Coquelin looked like another real find when he played against Barnet on Saturday.

The Arsenal website announced on Friday that the 17-year-old Frenchman had signed professinal terms from third division French side Laval, though strangely, the story has since been removed.

While most of us were looking forward to seeing Mexican striker Carlos Vela in action, the injury he sustained in training on Friday gave Coquelin a berth in the squad - and it was some debut.

Happy to hang back and let others do the creating, Coquelin looks another real prospect.

I don't know whether he has studied Gilberto, but he certainly played like our departed Brazilian in his pomp. He was willing to put his foot in, willing to get hurt if that's what it took to win the ball and start another Arsenal attack.

The last youngster who joined Arsenal from the nether regions of French football was one Gael Clichy - and look what he has done.

Word has it that Lyon wanted the player, who has represented France at under-17 level - and their loss is our gain.

Expect to see him as a regular fixture in the Reserves next season, and with Arsene Wenger in charge, how long before he makes his first team debut?

Can we rely on Rosick-note any longer?

When Tomas Rosicky signed for Arsenal around the time of the World Cup in 2006, hs reputation was that of one of the best creative midfielders in Europe.

His goals agaist the USA underlined the fact that Arsene Wenger had signed one talented player - and at a typically Arsenal-esque bargain price as well!

But I'm now at the point where I believe we should cut our losses and sell him. As soon as possible.

We have Nasri, Vela and Walcott who can play wide, and Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs who certainly have the promise to justify being given a chance, if only as understudies. And then there's Manu Eboue (heaven forbid!)

Rosicky is probably on a high salary as well, given his status, and although I would love him to be one of the players whose experience guides our youngsters to new heights, I cannot help thinking that we will never get even 30 Premiership games out of him in a season.

And after missing most of the second half of the last campaign, he's admitted that he will not be back with the first team until the start of the season: "I know I'll miss the start of the club season. According to plans I should be back on the field in September."

So Arsene, let's get rid of him, free up more space for a fitter performer, and bring someone in we can rely on for the entire season, not just in fits and starts.

Bring on Barnet!

So another summer has gone already and we can get down to the real business of club football.

As usual, the vultures have circled and we’ve lost some of the key elements of the team – though not, most importantly, Cesc, who is surely the lynchpin of everything that goes on at the club.

Last year, few mourned Thierry Henry’s departure – his prancing and staring and distinct lack of pace and effectiveness compared to the sublime heights he’d hit the season before suggests Arsene Wenger definitely kept him a year too long. But who could blame him with a new stadium to fill?

I guess it was too much to hope that Wenger would be able to keep his entire staff as was his stated intention, but is it all bad?

Yep, Mathieu Flamini was an inspiration last season, but that was the case in his last year at Marseille as well. ‘Earn a new contract’ syndrome I call it.

As others have said, quite rightly, if Adebayor hadn’t scored 30 goals with the number of games and chances he had, he didn’t deserve a place. With Robin Van Persie and Eduardo fit, we’d have won the title. I’m sure of that.

But apart from the screamer against Tottenham early on in the season, most of Adebayor’s goals were the sort you would expect a forward to score. He is not a loss, as long as we sign someone else with a goalscoring pedigree, such as Huntelaar or someone obscure who Wenger can turn into a diamond without delay.

So Samir Nasri comes in to replace Alex Hleb? Hopefully Wenger has signed a player whose impact we’ll feel sooner rather than later. It took Hleb two years to start playing as we expected him to, and even then his goalscoring ration left something to be desired. Nasri has to get off to a flying start.

So we face Barnet in the tradtional pre-season curtain-raiser this weekend and hopefully, it will be a nice run-out, no injuries and a chance to see some of the new faces.

Aaron Ramsey must believe he has a chance of playing in the first team this season – and after his cameo against Portsmouth in the FA Cup, no one can doubt his potential. How he and Carlos Vela perform tomorrow will be fascinating. I have high hopes for both.

But, while I am certainly not going to condone anyone who believes Arsene’s powers are on the wane, one thing is certain – we HAVE to win something this year.

Wenger admited today that the title is his main focus again this year: "It is important you fight for the championship and to win it. All the other trophies are more of a consolation than anything else.

"I will try to achieve my best to develop the players, to fight in every game. I am more motivated than ever to achieve that. For the rest, you have to accept that it will never be be good enough. People always want more - that is normal."

Looking back in years to come, I don’t want this era to be remembered as that when Arsenal dominated the Beautiful Game – but had nothing to show for it. I’d like to leave that moniker with the Holland team of the 1970s thank you very much.