Alexis Sanchez recently joined the club for a fee believed to be around £30M
Arsenal ended their long run trophy drought last season by beating HullCity in a pulsating Fa Cup final at Wembley.
Though, the triumph did not come easy. The Gunners needed to halt their regular parsimony stance in the transfer market before the start of that memorable season.
They spent big to lure Germany and Real Madrid’s talisman Mesut Ozil.
It was the signing that drifted the North London club towards an exciting new dimension. And just recently, they completed the signing of Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.
Information Nigeria being the first to break the Sanchez transfer story across the Nigerian media horizon, we decided to dig deep for our esteemed football fans to have a clue of what to expect from Arsenal’s latest recruit.
We interviewed a venerable Arsenal writer miles away from Nigeria. He goes by the name Dave. He owns the popular Arsenal blog 1nildown2oneup and recently orchestrated a ground breaking Article about Nigerians enthusiasm to the round leather game.
Having more knowledge about the activities of the club, we put a few questions to him:
Question 1) You have been blogging about Arsenal for years, tell us about your best moment writing about the Club?
I used to read many blogs myself, my favourtes being ‘A Cultured Left Foot’ and Desi Gunner when I saw one asking for new writers. It was called Gunnersphere and I sent in a guest tactical piece. They asked if I wanted to write for them regularly so I did. This was in June 2011. After a while I was gaining a following and folk were saying I should go it alone. In Jan 2012 I broke my leg so had ages sat at home and in February I set up 1 Nil Down 2 One Up.
Question2) you wrote an interesting piece recently about passionate Gooners in Nigeria. What makes them unique?
When I was still at Gunnersphere I wote a guest post for Oposts on passion for Arsenal in Nigeria. I was researching the subject at the time as the tour that summer had been announced as well as some huge sponsorship deals. The deeper I dug the more amazed I became and level and amount of the support for our great club in your country. We have a lot to thank Kanu for and personally 10% of my followers are from Nigeria which is about 1500. I must add Kenya are a close second
Question 3) Arsenal ended the long trophy drought run in a pulsating manner, how did you view the game?
I was at the match and as you can imagine in the first few minutes was in a state of complete shock. Back to the same old problems at set pieces. However I retained a belief and as soon as Santo scored there was only one winner and that was The Arsenal. Funny how in the Semi and the Final Wenger reverted to 442 to retrieve the game, something I think we should do more often against weaker opponents and those playing the same system.
Question 4) Was the Transfer fee on Mesut Ozil justified Last season?
I am always caught between my desire for our own players to improve and step up to the plate and wanting new players. Although I am firmly of the view that it has to be the right player for Arsenal not just the latest big name and large price tag. Ozil is both of the latter but is also an Arsenal type player and one of the best there is. Watching each week in the stadium you see more perhaps than you can on TV and his movement off the ball and awareness of space is superb. His first touch and ability to be instantly on the front foot is Berkampesque, so yes the fee is justified.
Question 5) I know you must be excited about Alexis Sanchez. Is this the beginning of a new transfer era at Arsenal?
I knew about the deal very early and placed a good bet which made it all the sweeter but I have admired him as a player for years. I also believe Wenger will allow him to be the player we see in a Chilie shirt and not the one we see playing within himself for Barca. He can play in a front 3 wide, which is where I think he may play, but also in a 2 or centrally on his own and gives us a real edge in attack. Yes I think this could be the start of something truly special
Question 6) What role should Arsene Wenger assign to Sanchez?
As I have touched on in previous answers I love a 2 striker system and many think we may see it this season. Perhaps in some games but I think when all fit we will see Walcott and Sanchez operating wide in a 4231. I hope they will be able to switch flanks and be quite aggressive safe in the knowledge that we have a new sitting DM with legs. Unlike most I would be surprised if we don’t see Giroud staring the season.
Question 7) Aaron Ramsey had a scintillating previous season, would he match that feat this season?
Unknown to some he is our fittest player and he takes pre-season so seriously. Last year he truly came of age and I see no reason why this form should not continue in 2014/15.
Question 8) Bacary Sagna left the club for Manchester City, Why would he be missed?
I loved Sagna as we all did but they only element of his came we will miss is his heading ability and to a degree him being a back up CB. That however became part of out match play that I did not admire, the long punt out to the flank for Bac to head on. Also I became frustrated that he was often high up the pitch toward the end of games and early in games when we should have been tighter. All in all I would like to thank him for his fierce commitment to our cause in tough times and wish him luck
Question 9) Should Carl Jenkinson go on loan or fight for his place?
He should stay and fight and I wonder if he could play centrally as he did as a youth. We might trail that pre-season
Question 10) Despite his continuous improvement, Gibbs did not make the England team, were you disappointed?
Yes I was and I sort of blame Wenger. He gave Monreal a run when Gibbs was fit and I think that may have cost Kieran. He is a superb player and Monreal is not close to him in ability from my perspective
Question 11) What amends should the Nigeria Football Team make to have a better outing in Russia?
I don’t feel qualified to answer that to be honest other than go for it a bit more
Question 12) Finally, with Sanchez and a few players imminent, Can Arsenal lift another trophy next season?
Without doubt we can and getting off to a good start is crucial with momentum so vital. I make the bookies right having us 3rd favourites but I would not rule us out. Wenger seems to have his old zest back and their is a huge confidence and togetherness in this squad.
You can find him on twitter @Goonerdave66
Permission to use quotations from this interview by Nigerian websites is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.InformationNigeria.com as the source
