Wenger's new recruits: A study

Gervinho

Many wondered if the pacy Ivorian would live up to the expectations Andrei Arshavin seemingly failed to live up to (well according to George Graham at least). I would say he’s done a pretty good job until now. He may not have stolen our breaths with amazing strikes at goal, actually none at all. His wayward shots have been so frequent its wasteful to jump in excitement when he’s rearing up for a shot. Clearly finishing isn’t his forte, yet. Give him a full season to let his confidence kick in and I’m sure he’ll be placing his shots inches inside the post rather than otherwise. What he has been doing consistently though is scorch the wings with his mad agility. With Walcott being wasteful on the right with his final balls, Wenger needed a winger who could not only beat the backline with brutal pace but also provide the killer pass that players like Van Persie would lick their lips to get on the end of. For the first couple of matches Gervais struggled with his passes in front of goal and somehow always managing to find the wrong side of our captain but it didn’t take too long for him to adapt and in the past matches has shown signs that he can find the feet of every man in red and white making runs into the box. Moreover his skill of making thunderous runs with the ball so close to his feet is honestly scary to watch. You never know when he’s going to trip over the ball but he hasn’t….yet. The Professor has been tracking the Ivorian even before his Lille days and he clearly wasn’t mistaken in doing so.

It’s crazy how the camera hasn’t caught a single still of the speedster with his hair fallen back, isn’t it?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

I would pay 15 million for a player with that name on the back of his jersey itself but this young lad offers more. Going forward he surely does justice to his nickname- The Ox. Threading his way through the opposition’s defense seems to come quite naturally to the England Under-21 national. He likes taking charge of the game and almost always chooses to cut in and blast shots past keepers rather than take the ball wide and deliver crosses. True he hasn’t done this against the best of defenses but he’s only 18 and if any of you Arsenal fans managed to sit through the Man U game and watched him after coming on, you must’ve caught a few seconds where the Ox weaved past United’s midfield and a couple of defenders but ultimately ran into Ferdinand as the rest of the team were too downtrodden to push forward and offer him support up front. The alarming attribute though is that the Saints wonderkid is as bad in tracking back as he is boisterous in going forward. Clearly this is why Wenger has hesitated in putting him through to the starting XI in the League but the youngster is willing to learn and yes, he’s still 18. An amazing prospect.

Per Mertesacker

The towering centre-back looked a solid buy and was one of the last minute entrants into the club on transfer deadline day. With more than 70 caps for Germany at the age of 26, none of the critics disputed this move by Wenger and Mertesacker promised much. You cannot say too much wrong about the German as he is critical with his challenges and doesn’t draw too many fouls. He’s branded one of the cleanest defenders in Europe. In his first 31 games for Hannover he never got booked. The English media though were quick to catch onto his negative, his lack of pace. The German is more effective when looked at as one half of an unpenetrable centre back pairing than a lone defender. He is generally paired with a quick partner like Mats Hummels and Arne Friedrich. In Arsenal he has Koscielny and Vermaelen. He makes up for his lack of speed with his exceptional positional awareness. An extremely technical defender just give him some more games with the Verminator and you’ll notice how essential he is to the team.

Interesting stat : 8 seasons in the Bundesliga and he has accumulated a mere 9 yellow cards and 2 red cards. Impressive? Mindblowing.

Mikel Arteta

Personally I’ve always wanted Arteta in an Arsenal shirt. A man of his composure is a boon to the squad, he knows when to hold on to the ball and when to release it. He may not be as flashy with his passing as Fabregas is but impressive nevertheless. It would help if some of his free kicks went in too. He has loads of experience playing against and amongst the league elite; so there never was a question of him ‘fitting in’. The uncapped Spaniard marshals the Gunners’ midfield with ease and doesn’t mind playing in much deeper roles even though much of his game time at Everton and Rangers came as more of an attacking midfielder. An excellent buy, and I would hate to be in Arsene’s shoes when Wilshere returns from injury and gives him a selection headache. Many would call it a welcome one.

Andre Santos

Not many must have foreseen this transfer happening. Yes for the last 3 years he has been a Brazillian national and had been tipped by Pele to be the next Roberto Carlos. Santos himself admits to Carlos being his role model and they even shared the same club for a while. The former Fenerbahce man has taken a while to adapt to Arsenal’s offside trap; noticeable in the Gunners’ 4-3 defeat against Blackburn when he played Yakubu onside for his goal but he has improved and showed his mettle with every passing game. Though he was woeful against Chelsea in the first half, he showed his experience in the second half making perfect tackles on the wing to dispossess players. He has got a very good eye for goal too but his samba isn’t very pretty is it? He could do with a new hairdo too…

Carl Jenkinson

Hardly accumulating just over 1000 minutes in the English Conference and League One together and part of the Arsenal first team? One of those transfers that only Mr. Wenger has an explanation to, it seems. The fact that Arsenal legend Tony Adams is his idol is pleasing to know but did we think he could give Sagna a run for his money? Not really. In keeping with Wenger’s policy for youngsters, Jenkinson was given his chance in the Carling Cup and impressed with his crossing and runs with the ball. His ball for Keiran Gibbs’ goal was inch perfect and got onlookers thinking. What if Sagna and Walcott could cross like that? Anyhow we didn’t worry too much about the Finnish kid because it would be long before he could compete with Sagna for a first team spot but we forgot this was Arsenal, the club with the weakest Achilles tendons, fibulas and what not. Sagna’s injury thrust Carl into the starting XI and his performances have been to say the least decent. There are times when he makes quick runs with the ball and fails to look up and spot runs but kudos to him for doing so well and learning to adapt to the pace of the Premier League in such a short time frame.