Symmetry, parallels and playing a different game of Risk: season review

Posted on May 21, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Bonjourno Gooners. Welcome to Tuesday and all that Jazz.

Before we get on to all things Arsenal, can I just say how thoroughly tedious I am already finding the whole Jose Mourhino saga? Press conferences to explain what the world knew already, Chelski players talking up his impact, blah, blah frigging blah. I hope Mourhino does come back to Chelski and I hope he’s a miserable failure for going back. It would go some way to re-addressing the ridiculous karma imbalance that has existed by them winning both European trophies in two seasons, despite being pretty average as a team. Yeah, Jose to sign, then guide the team to no trophies and a seventh spot in the league please football gods.

Anyway, as the dust still settles on the football season, I find myself in a reflective and contemplative mood. So I thought I’d take a few days to run through how each component part of the team had performed in the season. But before I do that, I wanted to give some sort of short synopsis of the team as a whole, for today’s blog.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but there has been quite a number of remarkable synergies between this season just finished and the season before last, even down to some of the performances. The start of the year was dominated by the loss of a big player, but whilst two years ago was about a player returning home, this season was about a player upping sticks for financial as much as footballing reasons. Nobody will tell me otherwise and I don’t care that the Dutch bloke did win a trophy. His selfish nature, THAT meeting of demands to Wenger and Gazidis, plus some of the sickening ‘boy inside me’ quotes have all led to the complete destruction of what we thought about a player. But hey, that’s just a small blot on our history and his existence in the footballing world is no longer too much of our concern.

That upheaval of one of the star players leaving had a knock on effect and meant the team had to rediscover a style without the main talisman that they all looked to. We’ve tended to always have players that have stood out as the one everyone looked to, from Henry, to Cesc, to that guy last season. but this season there was none, which meant the team had to share collective responsibility. I think it resulted in the stuttering and spluttering start that never really allowed us to get close to those at the top of the league. The players had to shoulder more as a unit and changing that mindset tool time. As a result, when you look at the season as a whole, we were probably playing catch up after the first few weeks of ‘finding ourselves’.

I have also seen symmetry in some of our performances too. The United away game may not have been as embarrassing as the 8-2 the previous season, but the manner of the defeat felt like it, as we were soundly beaten by United. The Spuds game at home was converse to this, but still had those parallels to it, as the team had to fight back from being behind early on to repeat the same heroics as the season before and win 5-2. We also saw some real abject performances like Norwich away and Swansea at home, coupled with cup exits that really shouldn’t have happened. It all felt rather too familiar for my liking.

Even the end of the season sprint to a Champions League finish had those similarities to last season. Since March we went on an incredible champions-style run to go from being ‘Mind the Gap’ style out of the Champions League spot, through to snatching it from our closest geographic rivals. Just like last season. The ringing of “It’s happened again, it’s happened again, Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again” is still reverberating around my brain and captures exactly why these last two seasons have felt almost identical.

Yet for all the symmetry, for all the relief of victory on the last day, the fact that we essentially find ourselves in almost the same position as last year doesn’t exactly leave me feeling happy about where we are at. It feels like all the mistakes of the season had to be re-lived for no reason whatsoever. It feels exactly like our club has felt over the last six or seven years; tread water and keep our powder dry whilst we pay off stadium debt. Just do enough to get over the line and keep that Champions League revenue coming in. Let’s be as competitive as we can afford to be for a few years until new commercial deals and revenue streams allow us to move on to the next level.

That’s not what I wanted, that’s not what you wanted, and I’m sure that’s not what Arsene wanted, but that is what we’ve got. So given that we’ve shopped on the cheap and just about done enough over the last few years, I guess we do have to pay tribute to Wenger for keeping the team in those top four positions. It’s not a trophy, it’s not a celebration to finish fourth, but it is an achievement given the financial constraints the club has put itself under – necessary or not.

I for one am glad we can see the back of this season with our spot at the top of Europe’s elite just two qualifying games away from being secure. With the new revenue streams coming into the club and the noises that everyone is hearing, it looks like the club are now finally preparing to show it’s hand, after many summers of hoarding.

When I was at Uni I played a board game of Risk with my chums that lasted five hours. We all played the game and kept trying to take territories off one-another for the duration, except for one of my mates, who kept accumulating his armies in a corner of the world without attacking or causing any risk to himself. Then, when the game was drawing to its inevitable conclusion, he made his move and swept through the board – finishing the other three of us off in about ten minutes. That’s what I hope Arsenal have been doing. I hope we’re now at the stage that we can sweep the board because of the self-imposed isolation when it comes to spending big in the transfer market.

The squad this season has not been good enough to challenge for the league. We haven’t even come close. But as the season drew towards its natural conclusion, the form of those players showed that we are not far from getting to where we want to be. I personally feel like a lot of players have grown in stature this season as it has progressed. Koscienly and Mertesacker, Ramsey, Walcott and, given that it took a few games for Giroud to get going, his goal tally was not that far off that 20 goal mark that seems to be the benchmark of every striker. As a collective we’ve shared the goals around and that has been good enough in my book. No more over-reliance and it also means there is no more ‘one star’ that we all fear losing this summer.

We’ve learned a lot about the composition of this squad. It’s not the most technically gifted or creative of Arsene’s teams down the years, but it does n’half graft, as the all action running of Ramsey and Arteta has proven. It’s a team that has less swagger and more sweat about it. The good news there is that I believe the latter is more difficult to embed into a team and the former is something that, with a couple of decent top quality signings, we can get to. And something tells me we will get this summer.

Right, that’s enough of me and my incessant ramblings for one day. Over the next few I’ll give you some thoughts on our different parts of the team, but for now I’ll take my leave.

Have a good’un Gooners.

Standing at the crossroads – which route will Arsenal take?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Here we are friends. Here we are standing at the final crossroads. The fork in front of us leads us to two separate destinations. One is a preferred route, full of lush green Champions League football, revenue for the clubs already bulging coffers, prestige of at least achieving what we all hoped would be the bare minimum this season, and finally the opportunity to celebrate St Totteringham’s day once again.

The second road is Europa League football. Once upon a time it would have been a similarly enjoyable path to tread, but the gardener has spent most of his time worrying about the other route that this one has become neglected, a little bit overgrown and slightly wiffy, if I’m honest.

Today there is a team from the North East of our land that stand between taking the first and the second road. They are the gatekeepers of our path and to dispatch them effectively will allow us to tread the route we want to tread.

I am getting nervous just typing this match preview, I can tell you that. I am nervous because I know that despite nothing other than pride to play for, Newcastle will be up for this game. They may have secured another year of Premier League football last week, but Alan Pardew will not throw on another group of kids to finish the season. He’ll play the strongest team he has. I am also nervous because I see similarities with what happened on the last game of last season against West Brom. The Baggies were in exactly the same position and yet still so nearly came away with a point that would have eventually meant Champions League football was taken away from us. For what it’s worth, I am appealing directly to the Footballing Gods now: if you like symmetry, parallels in life and such, grant us another away win on the last day of the season. And if we Gooners have to go through Hell and back watching a game of intense pressure, then so be it, as long as the final result is favourable enough to see Arsenal in with a shout for Champions League football next season.

Team-wise we will see a Newcastle side that has one or two question marks over it. The absence of both Krul and Elliott in goal, through injury and suspension respectively, will give Steve Harper the opportunity to play in his last game for Newcastle. So rather than expect him to flap at a few balls, let’s expect him to have the game of his life, meaning we’ll have to pepper his goal just to get a few through. In defence there will be no Steven Taylor, but Collocini and Yanga-Mbiwa will still form a decent enough back line to give our front three a tough enough game. Marveux is injured for the Geordies, but other than that they should have a fu strength team to put out. We know the quality of Cisse and Ben Arfa up top so we know we’ll be up against a tough attacking unit and I’m not expecting any favours from the them today.

As for us, our main questions revolve around a replacement for Arteta and whether Giroud will start at the head of the front three. I suspect Arsene will go for the Frenchman above Poldi, so the German may have to settle for an impact place on the bench. In midfield I think Arsene will opt for Wilshire as a ‘once more into the breach’ for Jack before he has his ankle surgery. Whether or not he lasts the full 90 will be another question Le Boss will have to work out. The back five picks itself really, so there’s no need to go over it on who is playing.

In the last two games up at St James’ Park we’ve had a player sent off and found it really hard to break Newcastle down after that. That was the same when we played Sunderland earlier in the year and so I’m hoping we can keep our heads and ensure that the match finishes 11 v 11. If we do, then I would hope that we have enough quality against this Newcastle side. However, Arsene has never beaten Pardew away from home and so we are up against another unwanted record that we have to break, so lets hope that particular hoodoo is extinguished come 6pm tonight. I could talk about the incentive Mike Ashley has offered of a £1million bonus to all non-playing staff if Newcastle win today, but that strikes me as a bit baffling, as the non-football staff have no influence on the game, so it’s hardly a motivator for the players. Anyway….

The players, the staff, the fans – all of us have a role to play today. Let’s be united today and hopefully sing our boys on to victory.

Up the Arsenal!

Saying the right things, signing the right players and Backhim’s retirement

Posted on May 18, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Welcome to Saturday Gooners. We’re all now on countdown and, if Sky Sports had their way, they’d probably have that shouty ‘Jim’ bloke standing outside one of the stadiums where the final Champions League qualification spot will be decided, bellowing his Scottish balls out to see if he could drum up some intensity 24 hours before kick off. They’d probably pay good money to clone him and have Jim mk1 and Original Jim doing live updates. In fact, I bet that is something that Rupert Murdoch is already working on in his evil lab on top of a big hill somewhere. In some country, Murdoch is using fresh kitten blood to make a new Sky Sports Jim. A terrifying and sobering thought if ever there was one.

We don’t need to be told how important tomorrow’s game is, and neither do the players, as Arsene clearly alluded to in his pre-game presser yesterday morning. He spoke of quite a few things, one of which being that he wouldn’t want to be involved in football if he didn’t have pressure. He called it ‘boring’ when you don’t have anything to play for and, whilst I agree that it all adds to the excitement, it also heightens the sadness if things don’t go your way. I also doubt very much that Arsene would take what we’re faced with right now over secured qualification three weeks ago. But there you go, we are where we are and we have our destiny in our own hands.

The players are saying all the right things, as you’d expect, with our man Jack Wilshire talking about excitement as much as nerves going in to the game. That’s music to my ears if I’m completely honest, because if there are too many nerves across the team, the worry is always that they will not express themselves creatively enough. I am up in Northumberland at the moment as I’ll be at the game tomorrow, and the last time I was here because of the football with The Management’s family, we beat Sunderland in February this year and Jack was particularly impressive until he came off with a knock. If he’s starting tomorrow my hope is that he can repeat his good North East form this season.

Can I make an admission here? I have to say I find it a little bit vexing that pages on the Arsenal website have been dedicated to a player and a manager that have had no real affiliation with Arsenal Football Club. I know David Beckham (or as one of the original Pro Evolution Soccer games on the PlayStation called him ‘Backhim’) trained with us for a few weeks, but why we have to read comments about how great he is on the official site I don’t really know. It was the same with Fergie. I don’t really care that much that they are retiring. They had minimal impact on Arsenal’s history (except to dent parts of it by winning trophies) so I don’t really know why online column inches have to be dedicated to them. Can we not save that for the media to roll out the mattress for a collective jizz-fest? Let them talk about how great his haircuts were and let us focus on The Arsenal. I’ve got no problem with him as a person, but he’s never been and Arsenal man so we should just move on barely batting an eyelid.

Anyway, back to Arsenal, and as I suggested yesterday, it wouldn’t be an end of season presser without some sort of tittle-tattle, so the assembled hacks decided to probe Arsene on Wayne Rooney and Yaya Sanogo. Of course Arsene was semi-dismissive of Rooney, saying that he didn’t even know if United wanted to sell him let alone whether or not they would want to buy the player. For all the fan chanting and general mockery of the player, it’s hard to argue that his presence in the Arsenal squad wouldn’t improve it. Of course, his wages would certainly make a pretty dent in the clubs stockpiled millions, so I’d be shocked if that particular transfer came to fruition. It just doesn’t ‘feel’ like an Arsene signing. Too high profile, too much baggage, too much of a long shot in my book.

However, one that does look to be on the verge of happening is the free transfer of the young man from Auxerre, who’s name sounds like a conversation Arsene had to the younger Toure’s agent just before we sent him packing after his trial at the club. Yaya Sanogo has scored nine times in 11 this season and by the sounds of it seems to be a decent prospect, but we’ve been down this route before, particularly with a player that already has a bit of a chequered injury record at his tender age. Arsene admitted the deal was quite far down the line and whilst the risk is less because he will be a free transfer, there will no doubt be one or two of the more vociferous anti-Wenger Gooners that will be sharpening their pitchforks at the prospect of another young player coming in at the expense of the mature and fully polished shiny new striker we all crave. Personally, I think that this move will be a decent one. It looks like a classic ‘buy him, send him out on loan, then if he doesn’t make the first team we’ll get a few mil for him’ type signing. Very similar to how I suspect we’ll see Joel Campbell progress and also how Carlos Vela’s career went at Arsenal. But we wait and see with that one. I don’t profess to know anything about French football and we all know YouTube is about as reliable as Harry Redknapp relegation escape plan so I don’t really take much notice of the video clips on there.

That’ll do for today. If you’re going tomorrow, give me a holler and perhaps we can share a pre-match supping of the amber nectar?

Cazorla’s grand, plus debunking some Arsenal misconceptions

Posted on May 17, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Happy Friday to you lovely Gooners. I hope this one finds you in particularly tip-top shape. It will need to be, because we head into a season-defining game way up there in Newcastle on Sunday. I’m heading up there myself today to partake in my regular frivolities with The Management’s family. Of course it was not a coincidence that Arsenal are playing!

That cheeky old rapscallion Arsene decided that he’d also head up to sample some of the local Newky Brown stuff too I see, having decided to have his press conference yesterday. At least I think he did. I’m seeing a lot of stuff to chew on content-wise and so rather than take a few minutes to check, I thought I’d just be lazy and guess.

Arsene spoke of Arteta’s unlikely appearance at the Wonga stadium and of who could replace him, possibly Jack Wilshire, but I think I’ll save my predicted line up thoughts for my pre-match blogginton on Sunday. Given what has been said about Jack needing surgery though, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has some alarm bells ringing when you wonder whether he should start. Let’s face it, Arsene’s record in the ‘gambling with players fitness’ stakes reads like Paul Merson’s account at William Hill. But we can ponder that over the coming days.

*Quick update* – turns out I’m not that lazy after all, and checked the Arsenal official site – looks like a classic Arsene ‘talk to Arsenal Player before the media hacks get here tomorrow’ job, so I’m sure he’ll spend an hour or two deflecting shots about signing Rooney for most of this morning.

Arsene also spoke about the impact that Cazorla has had this season, and I think it’s air to say that the diminutive Spaniard has been one of Arsene’s stellar signings of the last few years. With 12 goals and 12 assists in his debut season, plus the fact he’s been instrumental in so much that we do, it’s hard not to love little Santi. And for £12million he was an absolute snip. Yes, I know we sort of tool advantage of a club on its knees, but I’m afraid I can have no sympathy for those teams that live beyond their means. We get battered over the head about not signing players, but if you’ve not got a sugar daddy (I know they were SUPPOSED to have one, but that didn’t really work out) to bankroll you, then you can only look at the way you run your own house to find fault.

Santi has been superb though, hasn’t he? I agree with Arsene; how he has not made it into the team of the season really surprises me. Although I suspect it’s more to do with the fact he’s been playing in and Arsenal team that has not exactly hit the highest of heights. In the media’s eyes we’re a club in decline.

Which brings me nicely into another few bits of info added to the official site over the last 24 hours. Info about the fact that this seasons Arsenal team is one of only four teams in the history of the Premier League to have four players into double figures on the scoring charts. That’s quite a feat when you think that we’re now in the 20th year of the birth of the Premier League, and when you think about all of the great teams that have played in it, that’s not a bad accolade. I know you can find positive stats about anything these days, but I see this as a real plus point. I don’t know who the other three sides are (one might be Arsenal with Henry, Pires, Ljungberg and Bergkamp?), but I would imagine the United treble winning team would be in there. So not too bad company to be in there amongst some of the best teams that have existed in the Premier League.

I guess it goes to show you how we’ve shared the responsibility away from one man and handed it to many, mitigating our own risks of over-reliance and meaning that when we lose one player – like Giroud through suspension recently – there are others that can take up the slack. It’s what we all wanted after last seasons desperation for a certain Dutch player to stay fit, so now we have that we don’t all take a collective sharp intake of breath when any one player goes down clutching his ankle.

It is also interesting to look at the table and see that we have one of the best defences in the league. Let’s not forget that this is an Arsenal team that the media love to perpetuate as perennial offenders in the defensive stakes through their lazy journalism. But certainly with the increase in solidity at the back over the last month or so, we’ve seen an improvement in results as a consequence. It ent rocket science people, cut out the errors at the back and you take away the pressure on the forwards to score three or four goals a game. You do feel for Vermaelen, but based on the performance of the current two centre backs, you can’t see how he’s going to get back into the team.

Whilst we’re in the process of debunking some Arsenal myths about this season, let’s look at the points tally. If we win this weekend’s game against Newcastle, we’ll have finished a couple of points better off than last season. Now, I’m not suggesting that last season should be any kind of blueprint for success, but given we were predicted for mid table mediocrity by many of the moronic excuses for media professionals out there in TV, print and radio land, perhaps we should cut ourselves, and certainly the players, a teeny bit of slack. If the team can do the business against the Geordies on Sunday, we’ll have a platform to go out and pick up the two or three quality players we need to make that next step and challenge for honours. Perhaps we really are that close?

Or perhaps we’ll lose this weekend and I’ll be back to bemoaning the lack of investment, questioning whether Arsene is the right man and making idol threats about not renewing my season ticket. But of course I will. I’ll be there next season come rain or shine. But what I hope is that so is Champions League football.

We only have to wait a couple of days to find out.

Until tomorrow.

What were we all worried about?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Well how about that then folks, eh? As if we weren’t nervous enough, the Jolly Olde Arsenal had to go and leave it a whole half before deciding to kill the game off. Isn’t that just ‘The Arsenal Way’ though? Winning games and finishing off the season early just wouldn’t really be how we do it, would it? No, we have to go and be all like “hey man, last minute points are all the rage. They’re like, totally narly, ‘n stuff”.

And so it came to pass that The Arsenal decided to make their route to (potential) Champions League glory go down to the wire against a quite frankly – and I can say it now the game has ended – poor Wigan side that get exactly what they paid for after only trying for the last ten games or so in the season.

I mean honestly, I don’t want to seem like I’m rubbing salt into the wound here, but you can’t be that poor defensively for most of the season and expect to stay up at the third or forth time of asking. Can you? I couldn’t believe some of the comments I read from neutrals yesterday. How can you say that Wigan are not the third worst team in the league? THEY FINISHED THIRD FROM BOTTOM! I shake my head at the stupidity of some people.

Anyway, that’s enough of talking about opposition, lets talk about The Arsenal. The side that was announced was as we could probably expect given our current form and options with Giroud suspended. The front three of Cazorla, Walcott and Podolski were as good as we could hope for, and the creative influence of Rosicky in midfield was certainly welcome from this observers perspective.

The game started exactly how we would have wanted it to. Similar to the United game, Arsenal bossed the opening exchanges and looked comfortable in possession. I was joined by fellow Suburban Gooner Ben Leeder and all talk pre-game was about how Arsenal would start. Would it be nervy? Would it be swashbuckling? Thankfully it was more of the latter. We zipped the ball around on the sodden Emirate surface with a purpose that showed a belief in our ability. Cazorla looked like his mercurial self and Walcott was clearly up for the game.

But it was the efficient German Lukas Podolski that gave us the perfect tonic for the evening, nodding home a corner whilst essentially unmarked on eleven minutes. Again, I don’t want to seem like I’m kicking a team whilst their down, but the fact that Podolski was inside the box with the easiest of tap in headers, should tell you all you need to know about this Wigan team defensively.

So it was that we continued to dominate the half and create chances on a soaking Tuesday night. Which almost always invariably leads to a goal against the run of play when you’re Arsenal. And it did. Maloney made the most of an opportunity to jump into Arteta to allow ref Mike Dean to award a free-kick, and he dispatched beyond the flailing arms of Szczesny. Personally I thought that the ‘keeper should have done better, but there you go. Half-time, 1-1, the nerves returning to the collective of fans I shared a couple of jars with during the interval.

The second half had a couple of wobbly moments at the beginning, with Szczesny partially making up for his concession of the goal with a tidy save from Kone, but most of the second half was Arsenal and as the time ticked away you could see Wigan had very little left in the tank. The ball from Cazorla to Theo for his goal was sublime, but perhaps it was that fatigue that allowed the Spaniard to find acres of space on the right hand side to put the perfect delivery for Walcott to scramble home. That’s three in three for Theo, and one hopes that he can make it at least four from four on Sunday.

There’s been a lot of talk about Podolski and whether he can play as a central striker, but the fact that he bagged a brace from the central striking position yesterday will have filled many of our hearts with glee. We have undoubtedly missed Giroud’s presence and ability to hold up the ball, but when you have a natural finisher like the German in your team, he’s always going to get you goals. His second of the evening came at a crucial stage in the game for us and effectively sealed our three points for the evening. Ramsey’s strike to make it 4-1 was the icing on the cake, but you could tell the game was over when Lukas bagged his second.

So we are all happy people today. The Fear has subsided for at least another three days and the hopes of Champions League football next season remain firmly within our grasp. On Sunday we’ll have to go again against a Newcastle side that is safe, but has made a habit of frustrating us since they came back into the Premier League three seasons ago, so I don’t think there will be much poultry counting going on in the build up to what will essentially define our season.

What were we all worried about, anyway *runs in corner and hides*?

That’s it from me. You have a good day now. I know I can.

Wigan preview: heed the words of Macaulay Caulkin

Posted on May 14, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

So here we are folks. After a season of slogging towards the finish-line – an adjective that I feel is certainly fitting for our season – we find ourselves with five days to win two games and stake our claim to continue to eat at European Football’s top table.

As Macaulay Caulkin said famously in Home Alone: “This is it; don’t get scared now”.

Tonight it’s Wigan at The Emirates with, I think it’s fair to say, a lot riding on the game for both teams. I watched a bit of the Championship Play-Off semi final between Brighton and Palace yesterday, to which the annually trotted out line of “the most expensive match in world football” is often used, but I wonder how much tonight’s game is worth to both teams – just putting that into terms that Stan Kroenke and the Arsenal board might understand.

An Arsenal victory will condemn Wigan to a life away from the trimmings of the Premier League (albeit with ‘Parachute Payments’) for next season, whilst a Wigan win will all but end our hopes of a Champions League qualification slot for next year. And with it the possibility of added investment to the playing team (or at least a reduction in what could have been budgeted for) I don’t think I’m being too overly dramatic when I say that – there is no way Sunderland will do us any favours at the weekend against the Spuds – you can be sure of that. A draw does nothing for either side. It means a win on the last day for Wigan needs to be by about 12 goals and Arsenal have to beat Newcastle whilst waiting to hear from news from White Hart Lane.

Yesterday I spoke of how much more nervous I seem to be this season compared to seasons past – well, that tension and stress has now hit fever pitch, such is the worry that the team fluffs their lines tonight. We have looked shaky at times during this winning streak we’re on, and if we show any sign of psychological ‘handbraking’ as Arsene might put it, then you can be sure own opponents will capitalise.

For Wigan the threat to us is all to clear: Kone, Maloney, McManaman and the ball winning abilities of James McCarthy. They are the offensive threats and will attempt to catch Arsenal on the counter. Martinez is not stupid and he knows he won’t control possession for the whole match, so he’ll most likely set up with three at the back, look to catch Arsenal on the break with his wing backs and snatch a goal or two. That’s how Wigan beat us last season and that will be their game plan tonight. The decisions Martinez will need to make is how much rotation he can legitimately hand to his players. They have played three games in eight days where Arsenal have played none. If he is going to concede possession then he’s going to need his fittest players to be running their guts out tonight. He’ll also want a quick start. Last season they got two first half goals that stunned us and they managed to hold on through some shocking offensive play by Arsenal and some heroic defending. Martinez will know that his team will tire in the last 30 minutes or so, so his game plan will be to hope he is at least a goal up at half time.

As for us, well, I’ve got no idea how Le Boss will line up his side. He admitted yesterday that Jack is currently on painkillers and will undergo an operation on his ankle in the summer, so I’d be surprised if he’s anything but on the bench tonight. That means I suspect we will either see Cazorla dropping into midfield with either Gervhino or Podolski on the left, or the diminutive Spaniard will move across to the left to accommodate a starting slot for Tomas Rosicky. My personal preference would be to have Cazorla in the middle with Arteta and Ramsey, with Podolski up top and Gervhino on the left, and The Ox on the right. I know Theo has stepped up in his last two games and scored both of our goals, but at home against a team that will probably sit deep (especially if they are a goal up) his threat is nullified and so we need tricky players that can beat their man. Gervhino beats himself half the time, but the other half he can beat his man, so we might get more joy from him starting.

Whoever does get the nod from the manager needs to be up from this from the off. We steamrolled Manchester United for the first half a couple of weeks ago and our high pressing, intensity and desire got us up quickly and only a defensive mistake on Sagna’s part stopped us from winning the game. We need that same level of intensity from the first minute tonight. If we pour cold water on Wigan’s hopes early in the first half, they will tire enough for us to finish them off in the second, so we have to start quickly.

I think my nervousness about tonight stems from what happened to us at home against Wigan last year. We went into the game in form and a win would have all but secured Champions League football, yet we got our noses bloodied. I was confident before that game last year and was dealt a real reality check. Wigan had, and have now, the tools to damage us and we can’t – nay, mustn’t – let them do it again. There is more riding on this game for us than there was last season, just like their is more riding on it for them, so the pressure is on both clubs.

It’s never easy supporting Arsenal, it requires the constitution of a professional chilli eater, and it is going to be tested tonight. Let’s hope The Arsenal players can pass with flying colours.

See you on the other side my friends.

Feeling dirty, searching for a number 2, but I do like Nachos

Posted on May 9, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Ten frigging minutes. That’s all that Chelski needed to hold out for. Ten minutes and the one time we Gooners could stomach wanting that team of complete football mercenaries, snide, low-life footballers that play in a stadium where the only way to generate atmosphere is to wave massive flags in front of the fans at the beginning and half time of each match.

I felt dirty cheering a Chelski goal. It felt wrong. Inhuman. Like some sort of act of betrayal. But needs must and our needs yesterday were to have the opportunity for Champions League football wrestled back into our own hands once more. And to be fair, a draw between the two teams means that qualification is now down to us. Two wins and we’re in. But the margins for error aren’t exactly wide. We will play two teams that are fighting for Premier League survival. Had both Wigan and Newcastle already been clear of the relegation dogfight then you’d fancy your chances, but when a team is in a state of desperation you never know what extra percentage they can put on.

That’s why I’ll be paying plenty of attention to the QPR v Newcastle game on Saturday. A draw there will ensure Newcastle are safe and, whilst I don’t doubt they will still try hard to win in front of their home fans, there should be an extra incentive for the Arsenal players playing for a Champions League spot. The ideal scenario of course is that Wigan are already relegated by the time they play us, but I’d be surprised to see that happen if I’m completely honest. Permutations, permutations, permutations – all of this thinking about stuff, watching other teams aside from Arsenal and putting my faith into lost causes like Fernando Torres is enough to send a body into convulsions.

Elsewhere in Arsenal world, Lukas Fabianski has spoken about how confident he feels now that he’s been given a run of games to prove himself, plus he’s ready to battle Wojciech for the number one jersey. It’s all rousing and great stuff to hear, but after Szczesny’s recent performances in between the sticks, I’d be quite surprised to see Le Boss opt for the elder of the two Pole’s. there’s only two games of the season left and, unless we’re in a position where the final game of the season is irrelevant (highly unlikely given that the Spuds will most likely pick up points against both Stoke and at home to Sunderland – there goes those permutations again!), I don’t think we’ll see Fabianski in an Arsenal shirt again if I’m completely honest. His contract is up at the end of the season, he’s had a number of years where he’s failed to properly establish himself and I think Le Boss might go for an experienced ‘keeper to rival/mentor Szczesny for that place in the team. And I think that would be the right thing for Arsenal. Think back to the games that Fabianski has played during his spell. Did he make great saves? No. Did he command his area? A little bit. Was he steady? Yes. But he often had little to do. My personal opinion is that the reality is that he will never fully make that number one jersey his own, so we need to ensure we get another ‘keeper that can at least keep Szczesny on his toes and continuing to perform.

The Nacho man has spoken to the official site about his time playing for Osasuna and then Malaga before joining Arsenal. It’s an interesting read and gives you an idea how quickly and sometimes surreally things happen in football. Here we have a local player playing for his local team as a steady and secure left back, then two years later he’s been through two clubs, is starting to establish himself in the Spanish national team and is looking like a world-class left back. I’ve been quite surprised how quickly he’s slotted in to the first team, I have to say. He’s adapted to the physical side of the Premier League almost immediately – on his debut I saw him bloody up Jon Walters – and is looking like a solid and assured player. With the number of games that players play in top-flight English football it is impossible to go through the season with just one major player in a position and so whilst we were all a bit baffled at the time of the signing, there aren’t many Gooners too dissatisfied with Monreal’s performances to date.

I guess it’s reflective of the improved defensive performances that I look at Arsene’s options in defence and feel like actually, at this moment in time, it’s one of the parts of the team that doesn’t need a bit of strengthening to it. That we have both Sagna and Jenkinson, Gibbs and Monreal, Plus Mertesacker, Koscienly and Vermaelen all fighting for places has really added more competition and more concentration to the team. Everyone is on their toes. It’s great to see.

Right, that’s just about yer lot from me today. But I think I’ll leave you with something to ponder. Olivier Giroud has left us frustrated at times this season, yet he’s still scored goals, got assists and has had to ‘bed in’ to coping with the Premier League. Last night I watched a Fernando Torres that has been in the country many years, cannot hold the ball up, doesn’t seem to be able to take on his man, plus you could get four Olivier Giroud’s for what Chelski paid for him. You’d still have change for a few Aston Martin’s an a detached house in Virginia Water, Surrey.

External factors irrelevant, Arsenal must do their job, Theo too

Posted on May 8, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Last night I decided, against my better judgement, to watch Wigan versus Swansea. My main motive for doing such a thing was to see what this Wigan side have about them and what we could expect at The Emirates in just under a weeks time.

Wigan were up against the Welsh Charlton. Secured of safety long ago and with the League Cup tucked safely in their trophy cabinet, they haven’t really been playing with any kind of momentum or form so I expected Wigan to win.

But Wigan were positively dire defensively. The third goal they conceded could have been recorded, greyscaled into black and white and re-marketed as a Laurel and Hardy sketch.

Of course, that means that footballing anomalies like Gary Caldwell will suddenly decide to roar like Spartans at the Emirates next weekend, spurned on by Mike Dean who is now some form of anti-Christ figure to Arsenal fans.

I have to say I’m surprised to be constantly reading completely non-related Arsenal factors being jumped upon and moaned about on my Twitter feed. We had people already writing us off on Sunday because Chelski beat a United team that couldn’t care less, people taking to their timelines to cry foul about the appointment of Mike ‘Arsenal haven’t won in 20 games’ Dean and we had people analysing what the best permutation for Arsenal would be in relation to last nights results. I am genuinely concerned for some people’s health tonight I have to tell you. On the basis of some of the fan hyperbole that is being thrown around like a sack of potatoes so far there will probably be some suicide pacts drawn up if the Chelski v Spuds game doesn’t bring the right result.

The reality of our current situation is that the players, the manager and everyone else at Arsenal football club can do nothing about external factors, and I don’t think they are looking so intimately at whether or not Mike Dean will be giving Wigan all the freedom of North London next week. Yes, he’s a plebeian and his refereeing decisions over the years have cost us, but if our players come out to the turf on Tuesday night and are up for it, there is nothing Dean could possibly do to stop us from scoring. He’s not going to disallow a flurry of goals for no reason.

Let’s also look at who we are playing. As it stands, our next two games are against the teams third and fourth from bottom. If you are looking at finishing in the top four and thus getting a Champions League qualification place for next year, you really should have the players capable of picking up six points. And if we do that then we’ll finish on 73 points, which is three better than last season and shows how much more competitive this season has been.

Our current potential for an improvement points-wise this season has been aided by a sharing in collective goalscoring and, with Theo Walcott now hitting his 20 goal target he set himself this season, he’s spoken to the official site about how the teams collective objective of Champions League football is more important than his own tally. Of course he’s right, but I think the goals that he has shown this season has helped to really push him up the scale in terms of his importance to the team this season. He’s quite an enigma of a player is our Theo. he can go a couple of games looking like the most bang average £100k per week attacker, then hit purple patches that see him get vital goals, which leaves fans like you or I frustrated that he hasn’t added even more to his tally this season.

There’s no doubt he’s a talented finisher. And he scores goals against the better opponents – the week before lasts goal against United being testimony to that – but he does sometimes seem to get even the most obvious things wrong. At the weekend he did that thing where he has a bit of grass in front of him, opens his stride, but forgets to take the ball with it and ends up having to check himself. That’s the sort of ‘d’oh!’ moment that, could he eradicate from his game, we could be looking at a 30 goal a season striker.

The debate will continue to go on as to whether he could ever be a central striker, but as far as I’m concerned as long as he’s banging them in to the tune of a minimum of 20 a season for the next few years, we should just ensure that he gets on to the field as much as possible. Lets also remember that he’s still 24. He can still get better and can still score more goals. Perhaps he’ll never fully eradicate the errors in his game, but as long as he remains prolific over the duration of a season, you won’t find people like me complaining.

He’s still got time to bag a few more though, so lets hope he does over the next couple of games. Anyway, that’ll do for me for today. Catch ya on tha flip side. Or something like that.

The fat lady hasn’t even limbered up yet, so Woj’s comments don’t help

Posted on May 7, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Good morning happy campers. Hopefully you roasted yourself up a treat in the bank holiday sunshine – I know I did. ‘Twas much needed, I can assure you, after a weekend away in Budapest full of staggy drinkiness, so to be able to sit in the sunshine with a couple of ice cold Coors Light and sup at the amber nectar within hit the mark perfectly I must say.

Of course, my predisposition for alcohol and depravity of sleep this weekend completely destroyed my ability to correctly operate my brain or fingers enough to blog, so I find myself somewhat behind the times today. Much of which is on my mind will have probably already been penned and drafted in triplicate and then some, but to me it is not a problem, because this blog is just a walk around my head anyway, and I’m still thinking about things like permutations, other results and whether or not our ability to qualify for the Champions League will be taken from us on Wednesday night. Let’s face it, the Spuds hadn’t beaten United at Old Trafford since the early eighties until earlier on this year, so the idea that they couldn’t break from their tradition of annual capitulation away from home to Chelski is not as preposterous as it once may have seemed.

I’m nervous for Wednesday. It will be the grimmest of feelings actively supporting a Chelski victory. Like being told you have to chop off your own hand with the only choice in the matter being to pick the hand that you like the most to keep. But at this nerve-jangling stage of the season I guess there is nothing else for it.

At least the Arsenal players are doing their bit. Victory against QPR may have been one of those ‘grind it out lads’ style three point displays, but it was a three point display nonetheless. If we’re all completely honest with ourselves, after defeat at Shite Hart Lane there weren’t many of us that thought we’d get anywhere near a top four slot, so even if we fail to get into a Champions League qualification slot, we can take a small mercy in the fact that our league form towards the end of the season – with many of the new players now fully bedded in – has been right up there at the top of the league.

I think what we’ve also seen is how the tension and hyperbole is manifesting itself in the social media world of Arsenal as well. I was waiting for a plane home on Sunday when I decided to see what the fan reaction was to the Chelski victory. It was nothing short of depressing. People took to their computers and smartphones to lambast the team, the manager and anything they could possibly hang a ‘told you so, we’re doomed’ hat on. I was quite astonished if I’m honest. The thought that the result of an opposing team could cause such uproar directed towards our own baffled me, and seemed rather reactionary for my liking. If we’re at the stage where we’re using results like that to bad mouth the team, then we really are desperate.

For me, the time to review what went wrong and what went right will be after that final whistle has gone at Newcastle. If we have picked up a previous victory at Wigan and a win at St James’ Park and not qualified for the Champions League, then by all means there should be many a question asked about our form earlier in the season, lack of firepower in reserve, etc, etc. But to launch into a tirade into the Arsenal team before the fat lady has even warmed up her vocals seems the very definition of premature in my mind.

To that matter, so does the comments made by dear old Wojciech Szczesny, who decided to stoke the rivalry of North London by saying that the Spuds don’t have enough quality to qualify for the Champions League. Now personally, I love that cocky side of Woj sometimes, certainly when it comes to winding up the Spuds. But much like Robbie Keane’s ill-timed comments about the lack of ability in the current Arsenal squad at the time led to a rousing performance in a North London Derby against them by that Arsenal side, my hope is that these comments from our Number one don’t give the Spuds the extra kick in the knickers they need to acquire three points at Stamford Bridge. Had Szczesny made those comments on the eve of our Wigan game and we’d have seen exactly what we wanted – two defeats for the Spuds to leave us with a win to secure a top four slot – then perhaps I could have chortled at the ‘salt in the wound’ nature of the comments. But as it is I’m too nervous about the negative consequence of any action like this on our season right now.

Let’s just hope there is some fluffing of lines over the next week from our rivals before we play again in a weeks time.

Pride restored in Munich

Posted on March 14, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Let’s all be honest with ourselves. We were never goin to get through last night, were we? Were we? But by Gove, if you’re going to go down, make sure it’s with all guns blazing, swinging and lashing out at everything.

Those Arsenal players did that yesterday with a 2-0 victory over a Bayern Munich side that hasn’t been defeated at home all season. When you look at their record and the fact that they’ll probably be the first of all of the proper leagues to lift their domestic trophy, the fact that Arsenal went out only on away goals is enough to restore some pride.

It was most certainly a glorious failure. A two legged defeat that will hopefully leave the team with much confidence going into what is the most crucial time in the season and what will in all probability define our transfer policy for the summer as well as our marketability next season. It was the best we could make out of a bad situation, tinged with an element of DeJa Vu following our effort last season against Milan.

Champions League football next season is the only prize left to play for now for this Arsenal team. The opportunity has gone for silverware this season, but there is still much work to be done and if you’re going to go out, go out of a competition that doesn’t dent the already fragile confidence of a team on the metaphorical ropes.

I said in my blog yesterday that realism must give way to hope and pragmatism must be super-ceded by belief. But although the Arsenal players didn’t go through in the tie, you can’t argue that they didn’t at least offer us a glimmer of hope. Giroud’s goal in the third minute was the perfect tonic, then after a following 80 odd minutes of Arsenal with their backs to the wall, Koscienly’s header with five minutes to go gave us that final flicker before the final whistle. The very fact that Bayern were reduced to holding the ball in the corner flag just shows how much we made this great team nervous.

So overall on the night, you have to say that pride was restored and it was a satisfactory result. Performance-wise I actually think we weren’t that great. I said to The Management during the game that watching this Bayern team have all of the possession, all of the shots, yet come up against a resolute defence and an attack that scores with its first and second shots on target, was a bit like watching the Arsenal of old of previous seasons. Now I know what it is like to have a smash and grab result. Defensively we must praise the team and if their performance last night can be mirrored in every Premier League game for the rest of the season, then our chances of Champions League qualification will be dealt no harm at all. However, in midfield I think we were guilty of some very sloppy passing from all three of Ramsey, Rosicky and Arteta, and Cazorla flitted in and out of the game on the left hand side. Giroud I thought was quite poor – goal aside – and some of his decision making has all the hallmarks of an average Premier League squad player. There was one moment in the second half when he inexplicably took a punt at goal from 40 yards out when a number of Arsenal players had found space for a good build up. I’m yet to be convinced he’s the long term answer and surely Arsene must be looking at another option for our strike force next season.

But let us not dwell too much dwell too much on the negative. We all know the damage was done in the first leg and we have all chastised the team one-way or another a month ago for that performance. What we must focus on today is that quite simply, pride has been restored. Now it is essential that the team take the positives from the game yesterday and accentuate them when we line up against Swansea on Saturday.