Contractually obligated

After a weekend win over Bolton, it was inevitable that the media hacks would go looking for something other then a torrid team performance to heap more doom and gloom on the club. Granted the Arsenal defence was still looking as shaky as ever, but a clean sheet against the world-class talents of David N’Gog and Kevin Davies meant there would be little to write about this week (note the heavy dose of sarcasm).

Hence attention has been shifted on to club captain and talisman Robin van Persie. After the obligatory articles on his 100 goals for Arsenal, and a match winning performance against the Trotters, someone brought up the small matter of a contract that was expiring in 2013.

After watching a busy summer in which Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas depart for pastures anew, and given the run of results of late, surely van Persie might be considering his options?
“It’s true that we had a meeting during the summer,” Arsène Wenger said. “If you’re in Robin’s place and you see Nasri going, Fabregas going, then you can be worried of course.
“Now [van Persie] is out? No, I don’t think that really. Robin is not from Barcelona,” he joked.

Humour aside, while losing RVP would be a huge blow to the club, and perhaps signal the end to an era on a few fronts, fans should take things into perspective before taking up panic stations.
Ever since Mathieu Flamini departed the Emirates on a free, there has been a perception of Arsenal as a club that struggles to hold on to its players. While the Frenchman’s departure could perhaps have been prevented, it is perhaps worthy to note that before excelling in his final season for Arsenal, he had hardly shown the quality to sustain a first team place.

Of course, being played out of position and not being offered a new contract till the very last moment may have irked Flamini, but in the end it all came down to money. AC Milan was offering more of it than Arsenal was willing to give, and Fabregas lost his foil in midfield.

But is it really necessary to tie important players to long-term contracts? These days, players more or less have the upper hand when it comes to transfers. Countless players have attempted to force through moves by running down their contracts or refusing to play. Managers have been left with few options, the strongest of which is usually a threat to banish the offending player to the reserves.

More often than not, the clubs find their hands forced, when faced with the prospect of disrupting squad morale by keeping an unhappy player on the books. When a big money offer comes in, what other choice is there?

Keep in mind that Fabregas still had five years to run on his contract when he moved to Barcelona this summer. While the former captain never handed in a transfer request or declared he definitely wanted to leave Arsenal, the rumblings in the media never went away, and his performances visibly dropped off towards the end of his tenure.

Even Manchester United are not immune, as Cristiano Ronaldo was on a contract to the end of 2012 when he was finally sold to Real Madrid. Once he had set his mind on a move, there was little Sir Alex Ferguson could do to keep him at the club, despite all he had done for the Portuguese winger previously. Of course the huge transfer fee helped provided a convenient excuse for the board, and made his move that bit more palatable, but there was no doubting that player power was the big winner here.

So the moral of the story is, player contracts mean little in this time and age. Sure, a year left on a contract can mean the risk of losing the player for nothing the very next season, but without commitment and loyalty to the cause, those pieces of paper mean little.

van Persie has shown little to give credence to the rumours he is thinking of jumping ship. Transfer whispers during the summer were quickly banished as the new Arsenal captain declared he was staying at the club. After all, there is little point in chasing a player’s signature once he puts his foot down. For now, I say we give him the benefit of the doubt and focus on our season.
Injuries and the like

Is there a cursed artefact residing somewhere in the Arsenal clubhouse?

Already resigned to the long-term loss of the prodigious Jack Wilshere, Arsenal lost a third centre-back for the season as Laurent Koscielny picked up a knock. Alex Song was left to deputise alongside summer signing Per Mertesacker as the club lined up against Olympiakos.

One wonders if the return of Thomas Vermaelen will do anything to cut down on the schoolboy errors committed on a daily basis nowadays though. If this spate of almost-suicidal defending continues, we might just give poor Wojciech Szczesny permanent heart palpitations.

To make matters worse, Koscielny was joined on the treatment table by Gervinho and Theo Walcott. The latter might have been rueing his absence after stand-in debutant Oxlade-Chamberlain showed poise to stroke home a goal from a tight angle at the near post, becoming the youngest English Champions League goalscorer in the club’s history.

Despite goals from new boys Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andre Santos, fans were left frustrated yet again as David Fuster popped up unmarked to head home and reduce the deficit. Arsenal held on for an unconvincing win, and while many won’t be complaining too much after the three points, rapid improvement is still needed.

Whatever the Arsenal line-up to face Tottenham this weekend, you have to worry for the team. Arsenal might have strung two wins together for the first time since February, but will be hoping for an unlikely change in fortune to get a good result at White Hart Lane. The speed of Jermaine Defore and Gareth Bale will sorely test the shaky Gunners defence, while Emmanuel Adebayor might pop up to haunt his old club yet again.

Arsène Wenger will be hoping desperately to come out of this fixture unscathed, and so will we.