Afternoon,
Arsenal kicked off their Asia Tour with a late come from behind victory against a determined Malaysia XI side. The game was meant to raise match sharpness and fitness levels and we cannot determine too much from a footballing point of view. There were a few positive points though, in particular Abou Diaby. He made a few great striding runs, spreaded some nice passes and never got injured. He has a great presence when he is on the field and comparisons are inevitably made with Patrick Viera such is their similar build, however I think Diaby is more of an attacking player. He has an eye for goal and the ability to split a defense apart with his vision. He is strong and is capable of bombarding his way through if necessary. The obvious downside is his fragility when it comes to injuries, but we cannot keep pointing that out. We have to wipe the sleight clean and if he does get injured again, I really do think its the end of the road for him.
In the end we got the job done, with Eisfeld briefly impressing. He's got a swiftness about him that makes you think about Mata, Gotze, Silva and co. He thinks quickly and doesn't waste time on the ball and his attacking positioning is great. I heard that he was a bigger prospect then Gotze when at Dortmund but a serious injury hampered his development and he fell behind a bit. His talent is obvious though.
Some snippets of news today,
Wenger has confirmed his interest in Cazorla just a day after claiming he didn't know who he was. I'm not sure how far off the deal is but I think its just a matter of agreeing a fee with Malaga. Obviously this is the make or break point of the transfer. If Arsenal so much as sniff a rich opponent in the deal we'll pull out and if Malaga over-value him we will pull out. A positive is that Malaga have a deadline approaching as to when they have to pay their debts, so this might prompt them into a swift agreement. I really hope this goes through, not only because it will genuinely raise the quality of the squad, but because it will give the whole club a massive lift amid the Van Persie saga. If we sign him and Van Persie maintains his view that we lack ambition, I will seriously doubt his intelligence.
Today Wenger has confirmed that we will bring in more players. Wonderful news, and hopefully that means we've found a few buyers for our deadwood.
That's about it for today.
"Till Tomorrow
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