Arsenal sign three key Frenchmen to bolster title-tilt!

With the January transfer window now open, and with Arsenal's hopes in the Prem, FA Cup and Champions League each suffering to varying degrees, it should come as some consolation that Arsène has seen fit to loosen the purse-strings ever so slightly to shore up the squad. The signings of three vital French players, long a hallmark of Arsène's transfer policy and priority, may not strengthen the squad per se but should at least solidify it for the near-future. I'm referring of course to the new contracts signed by Olivier Giroud, Francis Coquelin, and Laurent Koscielny.

West Brom 2-1 Arsenal: Vote for Player Ratings and MotM!

Injuries and poor play marred Arsenal's trip to the Hawthorns, as Coquelin was injured
fourteen minutes in, and his replacement Arteta was ineffective at best, conceding an own goal to give West Brom a 2-1 lead. Arteta then came off shortly after halftime, and these injuries not only left our midfield in disarray but also denied Arsène other more-strategic options. We were far from our best, and he only real bright spot was Özil getting an assist in his 11th straight Prem match. Just when it seemed we'd find an equaliser, Cazorla slipped while taking a spot-kick and sent the ball sailing over the bar. Well, it's a tough one, no doubt. Give our lads what they deserve in the poll below...

Could Flamini upend Man U just as he did Tottenham?

Jonathan Roberts returns with a provocative look at whether we can and should turn to Flamini against Man U, needing as we do fresh legs and fighting spirit after Tuesday's demoralising loss. Welcome back, Jonathan; what's on your mind?

The battle for a place in Arsenal’s central midfield is fierce. Coquelin, Cazorla, Arteta and Ramsey are stellar names most managers would yearn for. And, if you put aside the consistent injuries, there’s Jack Wilshere also vying for a start in the centre of the park. The last post I wrote was all about how Arsenal needed to sign a new sign a new defensive midfielder. To everyone’s dismay it didn’t happen. After two dismal Champions league performances, the obvious has become somewhat more obvious to everyone—everyone except Arsène, that is.

Le Coq is cocked and ready—Coquelin is primed to improve on last season...

The situation was dire. Arteta was sidelined by injury and Flamini was fading fast, neither of them up to the task of shielding the back four even at their long-toothed best. Who else in the squad could be entrusted to add some defensive grit into a side long on crafty ballerinas but short on tenacious brawlers? Yes, Wilshere, Ramsey and even the Ox had taken turns in the defensive midfield, but each of them is an attacker at heart, ill-suited to the task of staying home and breaking up attacks before they can metastasize into goal-scoring opportunities. Enter le Coq, as unlikely a hero as we may seen in recent seasons. For as good as he was from Boxing Day forward, I'm here to suggest that he'll only get better.

Arsène's got an ace up his sleeve—doesn't he?

Feh. So it seems that those filthy Mancs have signed not only Schweinsteiger but Schneiderlin as well, leaving us to wonder and worry whether they'll go the route already trod by Tottenham and Liverpool before them, that is, signing a raft of players only to struggle to find any chemistry. Then again, they did that a season ago, signing Shaw, Herrera, Rojo, Blind, and di María while "loaning" Falcao. The additions of Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin may save your correspondent some keystrokes in the long run but they'll add to the heartburn as well. The squad is off to Singapore, and the news that Arteta has signed a new contract inspires concern rather than confidence that we will go into the season with him as the only backup to Coquelin? Flamini begs to differ, but that hardly offers much in the way of reassurances...

Dear Morgan Schneiderlin: Get bent.

Dear M. Schneiderlin—
Apparently, you just don't get it. French defensive midfielders are *supposed* to come to Arsenal. Don't you want to be Vieira's heir? We were willing to overlook the, uh, *superficial* differences between the two of you because you are, after all, French as well as from Southampton. We were willing to compromise. You give a little, you get a little. But no. instead of making this relationship work, it appears you've jilted us for a "better" offer from Manchester United. Manchester United? They of the three managers in two seasons? A negative transfer balance over the last five years of close £300m? Morgan, they spent £171m on transfers just last summer and could barely manage to finish fourth—in a season without Champions League. Speaking of seasons without Champions League...

Schneiderlin, Lloris, and Gündoğan, oh my! Whom should Arsenal target?

With the Prem race all but conceded to Chelsea and Champions League qualification essentially sorted as well, enquiring minds start to turn to the summer transfer-window. Arsenal seem now firmly-ensconced in the top-four, nine points above fifth-placed Liverpool and with a game in hand. Having apparently secured a Champions League spot, we can be pardoned for perusing the wares on offer from other clubs, namely Southampton, Tottenham, and Borussia Dortmund. As we eye up Morgan Schneiderlin, Hugo Lloris, and İlkay Gündoğan, then, who among would we need most—and who would best boost our fortunes?

Whether Wilshere whithers: Ramsey, Coquelin, and midfield-congestion...

Jack Wilshere's fit again. He's ready to take his position on the pitch. However, where is there room? For as heretical as it may be to suggest, it's hard to see just where he can find a way into the starting XI. The emergence of Francis Coquelin as a proper defensive midfielder, should it prove out over the long term, narrows Jack's options even more than before. Early in the season, it looked like his performances for the Three Lions hinted at a deeper-lying role with Arsenal; after all, Aaron Ramsey seemed to have secured the box-to-box role role in the 4-2-3-1 we so often play. If only be default, Wilshere's future might have lay in replacing Arteta in the holding role. Then, along come Coquelin. If he is serious about his desire to emulate Vieira (or, more fitting, Gilberto). Where, then, does Wilshere's future lie?

Coquelin clobbers Matić, so who needs another DM? Not Arsenal...

Since his return from his most recent loan-spell at Charlton, it seems that Francis Coquelin has set the world on fire with his performances, almost singlehandedly resurrecting an Arsenal season that looked like it might have otherwise ended in ignominious fashion. From Boxing Day forward, Coquelin has become a bedrock in the defensive midfield, so much so that Arteta and Flamini have been all but forgotten, so much so that Arsène felt confident enough in Coquelin to sign only 17-year-old Krystian Bielik to buttress the defensive midfield, refusing to dig any deeper than £2.7m or so to reinforce what has arguably been one of our weakest positions over the last few seasons. Now, with Coquelin's emergence, it seems as if all of our prayers have been answered. For one, he bests Chelsea's Nemanja Matić. Actually, that—that should settle the debate right there. Right?

Coq's out, lads! Francis Coquelin took this one by the scruff!

We haven't seen such a complete, confident, determined, disciplined performance from Arsenal in some time, and to think that at its center—both literally and figuratively—was a man dubbed one of the Bundesliga's "flops of the season" a year ago during his loan-spell with SC Freiburg beggars belief. None of this is to say
that we can now put away the chequebook and blithely entrust our defensive midfield needs to the man, but it was indeed refreshing to see someone on the pitch who could deliver the bite, the tenacity, the snarl, that we've so often lacked. He may not be Vieira's heir, but he laid to rest a number of questions that lingered after similarly confident performances against lesser sides. I hereby suggest that we continue to doubt him rather than laud him.