RM 2 – 0 MILAN (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh it’s a good day to be a Gooner. Things started well over the weekend with our one-nil victory over our high spending rivals and concluded with Wenger pulling a fast one on us all with a big, fat signing of some German dude that apparently knows how to play soccer. So big and fat, mind you, that Wenger broke our previous transfer record and put this one up there with the second highest signing in BPL history. To say I am excited about Ozil’s arrival is a bit of an understatement. This is big. BUT, before we get to the divine addition, we have to bathe in the glory that is a victory against our hated rivals.

Things started well enough for our boys and the link up play early on was looking good; we even responded fairly well on the counter. You can’t argue with the lineup that we put out there as a few mix-up changes with Jenks replacing a sick Sagna and Kols sliding back into his spot alongside the BFG. Other than that, this was our healthy regular lineup and so not much else surprising the lineup card.

Things progressed nicely throughout and you could tell we were the more cohesive team; though we gave up a bit more possession than I would have liked. Let’s not kid ourselves here, this is a very good Sp*rs lineup and one has to think that they will be playing a much different game come our second match. They have depth, quality strikers, and a decent keeper to boot. But alas, they lost. We won. All is right with the world.

As to the game, we witnessed a beautiful Santi set piece strike only to be saved by Lloris’ outstretched arms. Theo terrorized on the wing and Santi danced to perfection. In the end, Giroud netted yet another goal and his scoring rate seems to have improved already in this campaign. His run toward goal, anticipating the low cross, and the re-direct was very well played. He is certainly earning his keep here and I am very happy to see him scoring early in games and in the season. Fact remains, he is our (only) striker and we need him to keep playing well. The arrival of Ozil should work in his favor as Giroud stays firmly planted in the starting striker spot (with the likelihood of even more setup service).

The one sure-fire in-game arrival was yet another possible injury to Wilshere (just stop all contact with Diaby!). Flamini came in as replacement after Jack was seen wincing in pain, calling for a sub. Flamini is the type of conservative player Wenger loves so I was glad we were already up; I don’t seem him pressing our team toward goals. All things aside, we did what we needed to grab a much needed win at a fairly important time. We should have played this one to a 2-nil or 3-nil win (Ramsey’s crazy shot over goal or, much more closely, Nacho’s Gervinho impression) but a W is a W is a W.

Now, on to this addition of Ozil. We signed a player, in his prime, from one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the world. Pulling Ozil from Real Madrid is crazy-awesome. He is quality that can play for ANY team (save for Real?). No, from Real’s point of view I believe this was a business move. They wanted Bale, needed to offset the huge cost, and had serious issues with excessive lineup depth that would result in players not being happy about their playing time. Oh, the “whoa is me” problems that Carlos has to face these days…

I don’t really care how it all came together business-wise. We needed a statement signing and I think this type of signing puts other players on notice that Arsenal are in it for much more than a bargain. Granted, we did not add what we needed but the talk of shock coming from Real players over the loss of Ozil is something to behold; they miss him and are surprised that he left. This is great news for Arsenal (and no I don’t believe that bit about Man U not wanting him-sheesh).

No matter how you slice it, this is a big win that should set up well with adding players come the January transfer window (yes, I am that crazy for already thinking that far ahead BUT WE ARE SHORT PLAYERS!!!). Oh, and funny how Arsenal makes a late bid for Ba. WTF ARSENE!?!? Where was that a year ago you duffer!?!?

Our other signing, Viviano, is perfect (IMHO). He adds the competition the Shez needs but doesn’t kill his confidence with a swift kick to the bench. It’s a perfect situation: we get a solid, experienced keeper for the year with an option to buy. If we need to keep him, boom we purchase. If we don’t, thanks for the depth and we wish you well. Truth is, I hope he does well here and he stays so that we have someone ready for the loss of Fabianski (who will have to leave soon I imagine). Kudos for the cheap pickup. Too bad it also didn’t come with another CB, DMF and Striker…

On a separate note, and quite sad, we have lost Podolski for three (3), count them THREE, months. This is a big blow to our lineup as he could really link up well with Ozil given their national team experiences. I am hoping that Poldi’s time on the table is spent encouraging and plugging Ozil with all that is great about The Arsenal experience. And no, Podolski coming back in three months is not like a January signing Wenger so don’t even start with that bullshit. Calling it here first.

We have a little bit of a spell now with the first international break hitting us. Hard to argue with 2 wins from our first 3 games but the fact remains we should be sitting here with three (3) solid victories. Here is hoping all our boys come back healthy and ready to pull down some more points!