Category Archives: Gunners

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

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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.

Nerves wracked, so now time to bask in Champions League glow

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Well wasn’t that a fun way to end the season, eh? No? You mean you don’t enjoy chewing your fingernails down to their stubby ends? You don’t like watching the clock tick down so slowly that it appears to have stopped altogether? You can’t stand those last few minutes when we look like we should keep possession but invariably gift it back to our opponents? How strange.

All sarcasm aside, yesterday was painful at times, watching and waiting for our status as entrants into next season’s qualifying stage of the Champions League to be confirmed. I feel like I’ve aged about four or five years based on that second half against Newcastle. But after the first 45 gave us nothing but frustration from a clearly nervous Arsenal side, at least the second half produced a goal – however scrappy from a set piece by Koscienly – and the eventual euphoria that comes as the full time whistle blows.

The visible relief and joy of the players was mirrored in the stands, as the away section of St James’ Park broke out into delightful song of ‘Tottenham, mind the gap, Tottenham, Tottenham mind the gap’ and a delicious rendition of ‘Its happened again, it’s happened again, Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again’. For after all, if victory and securing forth place isn’t sweet enough, it was made all the more delectable that it was achieved at the expense of our neighbours. Again.

There is no Schadenfreude in this victory because we know what we would have been faced with had we not qualified. We know what their lot sang when we lost at White Hart Lane to make our season look all but over. We’ve seen the photoshopped images of the ‘Mind the Gap’ signs be trotted out once again. And yesterday we got to revel in the false dawn that erupted at White Hart Lane when they thought Newcastle had equalised, then finding out that the ‘ghost goal’ never was, which was brilliant to see after I got back from the match.

And do you know what also makes me smile? Thinking about all of those bitter ex-Spurs players who decided that actually this didn’t mean that much and that Arsenal were over the top in their celebrations. As if they wouldn’t have been the same should their former team pip Arsenal to that fourth spot. Gary Lineker’s bitterness was music to my ears, saying ‘Arsenal win their trophy for the 16th season in a row’. Oh dear Gary, is somebody a little upset because his team didn’t win? It was also lovely to see people like Jamie Redknapp so disappointed. He who had bizarrely written an article saying that the Spurs squad was better than Arsenal’s, then in the same article saying that the Spurs squad – Bale aside – had let the club down and hadn’t played their part well enough. Yeah, work that one out…

We’ve heard all season about how that lot ‘deserve’ fourth spot. Well now hang on a second, I thought the object of this competition was to accumulate the most points by winning more games than other teams and amassing more points as a result. If that still is the case – and please let me know if it isn’t any more – then I’m pretty sure that Arsenal beat Tottenham by being the better team, winning more games, scoring more goals and also conceding a lot less. So I’m not having any of this ‘deserved to get it’ rubbish unless we’ve got factual evidence to prove it, which Arsenal obviously do.

Yesterday we saw what this Arsenal team is all about. Grit and determination in abundance and sometimes making up for the creative and ‘flair’ Arsenal of years gone by. In the first half we were poor and up against a Newcastle side that had no fear. They had the better of the chances and the majority of the play was spent in Arsenal’s half. Both Cisse and Ben Arfa probably should have scored, but thankfully their collective profligacy allowed us to get in at half time level. We looked ponderous and leggy. The decision to risk Arteta was proven to be a naive one, as the Spaniard didn’t last half an hour, but his replacement Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a good game I thought. Rambo was frustrating at times and his passing left a lot to be desired of, but his work-rate cannot be questioned, so I’ll not chastise him too much. In defence we looked solid enough but going forward was ‘one of those days’. Poldi, Cazorla and Walcott never really got a hold of the game in that first half, and for the goal aside, didn’t really impact the Newcastle back four as much as we’d have liked them too. But hey, today is not a day for too much analysis on the part of individual players. Today is a day to recognise that the team have done their jobs.

There will be plenty of time to dissect the season over the coming days and weeks and so I’ll save my thoughts on the whole season for now, but it is good to bask in the glow that we have achieved at least the bare minimum this season, so now what we need is a pre-season of strengthening to ensure that we don’t repeat the Groundhogginess of the last two seasons.

Enjoy the gloating Gooners, wherever you are today.

Standing at the crossroads – which route will Arsenal take?

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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

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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

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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.

pshhh to FFP, plus nerves from players to give them the edge?

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Please forgive your humble narrator, but I’m in a bit of a rant mode right now…

Last night there was a cup competition that was won by a certain London team that was not Arsenal. It was won in the harshest of fashions against Benfica in the last twenty seconds. We all know who that team was that won it. But what I want to know is:

Where are all of the footballing gods? What ever happened to karma?

Somebody needs to explain to me how a team that makes a mockery of financial fair play, has a captain that if he wasn’t a professional footballer would be doing time, a left-back mercenary that will swerve off the road at the thought of a £55,000-a-week deal, as well as fans that boo their own (interim) manager, win yet another European trophy. How is this possible? What sort of monkeys paw do they possess that every other team does not?

Last season we had them being outplayed in no-less than three Champions League competitions and still emerge with the trophy on penalties. And now this? Why? When Roberto Di Matteo sold his soul for the luck of a thousand leprechauns last year, was there enough left over for this season as well?

I genuinely despair sometimes. All victories last night tell me are that if you throw enough money at a situation you’re going to win football competitions. And that saddens me. I am not naive. I know that football is now just as much a business as it is a recreation for some of us (although I can’t say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it very much – too many nerves, especially of late!), but I wake up this morning and feel sad that the only way to compete in this football world of ours is to have your very own billionaire bankrolling the club.

I love the way Arsenal are trying to achieve success. It’s the last bastion of hope I have that we can. It’s the final thing that we can hold over Chelski fans i.e. one man bought you success, the collective entity that is The Arsenal (fans, players, board, etc) achieved ours. But on mornings like today all I feel is bitterness. Bitterness and a worry that FFP will be as useful as a fork with soup. I don’t want us to go the same route as Chelski and have Usmanov use us as his plaything. No, what I want is to see football succeed more over financial doping, a la Wigan triumphing in the FA Cup over Moneychester City.

I think it’s probably also made worse by the fact that I live and work in London and I’m surrounded by ‘johnny-come-lately’ Chelski fans. Yep, you guessed it, the type that wave the flags placed on their seats by their club to create an atmosphere.

Anyway, I’ve calmed down now and am happy to just focus on Arsenal because, let’s face it we’ve got a very big game on Sunday afternoon. A season defining game. Because the game is away, I’m not sure if Arsene will do his presser today or tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.

The most pressing concern will be whether or not Mikel Arteta is fit to play. Last season I wrote a blog stating how I’d completely underestimated how important the Spaniard is to our team, and if he is out for this weekend, it will most definitely be a hole in the midfield that we will find difficult to replace. Yes, we have very talented players that can come in like Wilshire, but he is not a like-for-like replacement for Arteta, and there are also question-marks over his fitness. Mikel is a player that keeps us ticking over. Always available for the back four to release to the ball to, his accuracy of passing this season has be phenomenal, he really is ‘Mr Dependable’. He supports the build up play for us expertly and his energy and drive is something that has been vital to our success this season. If he is injured for the game, I suspect Le Boss will opt for Jack, but the midfield will have to shuffle around a bit more. We’ll probably see Ramsey anchored as the deepest lying midfielder and Jack will probably need to curb his natural enthusiasm for getting forward, because Rosicky will no doubt occupy that position and Jack will no doubt suffer for his ability to be a bit more versatile than the Czech. Jack and Tomas are very similar in what they bring to the team, so one of the two might need to be a slightly squarish peg for the midfield round hole we’ll need filling. We shall wait and see I guess.

Since the Wigan victory we’ve also seen Arsene speak about the nerves of the players before games. Not exactly what you want to hear as a fan before the season finale, but he does temper that response by saying that there has been that in place for a while now and we have still managed to win games. The only worry from this here writers perspective is that it doesn’t become so nervous on that pitch that it inhibits the players natural abilities and desire for success. Whilst we’d obviously much rather be in the position that we are in rather than the Spuds, the fact that they know it’s out of their hands will probably allow them to play with more freedom than our players. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Tottenham have won by three or four goals come 6pm on Sunday. As for us, well, you and I both know that it won’t be that easy. There is no way in a million years that we’ll see the same Newcastle side that gave Liverpool the freedom of St.James’ Park to roam a few weeks ago. Nope, we’ll have to do it the hard way.

The nerves and that adrenaline Arsene speaks of has to be used as an advantage. It has to be used as the steam that powers the engine forward and on to victory. If you’re a professional footballer that plays for one of the bigger clubs, the only way you can succeed is through a combination of skill, hard-work, determination and the ability to handle pressure. I’ll put my faith in whoever goes out there on Sunday and hope they have all of the above.

Anyway, not a lot else going on that I can see at the moment, so I’ll leave you to the rest of your day.

Adieu.

What were we all worried about?

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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

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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.

Hating what other teams have made me become

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So as the weekend has drawn to its full closure, we are left with a sense of disappointment from some of the results of our rivals that didn’t quite go to plan. That both of the results have an element of mirroring one another – silly red card eventually leading to a late victory for both Chelski and the Spuds – adds to a sickening feeling I have been feeling in my stomach over the weekend. It may have been some of the San Miguel I drank on Saturday night, but I suspect some of it is also nervousness of the footballing gods looking to conspire against us.

Even those results which were supposed to be irrelevant to us have knock-on effects. The victory of Wigan over Moneychester City may have been great to see at the time, but now the questions arise as to whether Wigan needed any more confidence and motivation boosting ahead of our crucial game on Tuesday night. After seeing the results at the weekend also go against the pie-munchers, they now know that nothing less than two wins out of two will keep them in our division. Sunderland, Norwich and Newcastle’s point accumulation means only to fan the flames of desire for Roberto Martinez’s boys.

It’s why playing already safe teams like Stoke was always going to be easier for the Spuds, despite the stupidity of Charlie Adam. If we can take anything from yesterday’s game, I guess it’s that we now have even more reason to despise those primates from the Potteries and their tracksuit wearing PG Tips chimp of a manager. You’d think that celebrating 150 years of existence would warrant a performance of heroic proportions, but I guess a team of trained orcs know not of that sort of desire.

If we also want to hold out some sort of hope, it’s that Alan Pardew seems to have already told his players to relax after their victory at QPR, saying he doesn’t care if they lose 4-0 to us on the last day as long as the fans enjoy themselves. That’s the spirit Alan, now if your French lads can just part like the Red Sea in just under a weeks time, that would be grand lad. Before that though, we’ll have to make sure we’ve got something to fight for. I don’t think a draw will be enough tomorrow.

Look at what this season has done to me. In a footballing sense, I hate what I have become this season, and I hate that the results of other teams mean so much. That I’ve had to cheer on Chelski and Stoke, as well as United, is a horrible thing to have to do. Real ‘wash your mouth out with soap’ type stuff. I didn’t feel like this last season and I haven’t ever been so concerned with other teams results in my entire life. I’ve always thought that providing we do our job then the rest doesn’t matter. And that truth still remains right now. So why am I so nervous? Why are the butterflies returning to me on a Monday morning just typing this? Because we know what could happen. We saw it last season when a Wigan side turned up to an in-form Arsenal and snatched three points from us. At that time we were playing good football. Whilst the form for us is similar again this time of the year, we haven’t exactly been cutting through teams like a motorcyclist in an M25 ten mile tailback, have we?

It’s a bit farcical that we’re playing one of – at the moment – the third worst teams in the division and we Gooners are more nervous than Chelski or United at home. We should be relishing the prospect of sending a team down knowing that our own future is secured. But much like last season, we go into the last two games with it all up in the air.

It’s not good for ones health, I can readily assure you of that.

Yet ultimately, despite the results of others, despite the nerves that are causing people to take to Twitter in outrage, and despite the extra motivation of our opponents, we must remember who we are. We are Arsenal football club. We are one of the most successful teams in British football with the most successful manager in our long and proud history. We are fighting for a top four spot because we have won a lot more games than we’ve lost and Wigan are fighting relegation because they have lost more than they’ve won. Our players need to show confidence and conviction and let their talents shine through any potential nerves. If we play to the best of our abilities tomorrow night then there can be only one winner.

So chin up Gooners, we’re all in this together.

From friend to enemy, congrats to scowling, Wigan Athletic

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So, plucky little Wigan won themselves an FA Cup, did they? How about that. Today is clearly a day to celebrate the success of the underdog, the David (as in ‘Goliath’), the little guy, the outsider.

For me, it was pleasant to see Moneychester City felled by a team that is scrapping for its Premier League life. And it was almost reminiscent of another giant-killing that is so close to our hearts. It was only a few short years ago that we were the Goliath that was slain by Davey in the form of Birmingham. They too were fighting for their lives and were shortly relegated after they emerged victorious from Wembley in the League Cup final against us. The defeat by City yesterday seems to be similar to the defeat we suffered. City never really seemed up for it and Wigan by and large outplayed their counterparts.

So congratulations to Wigan and I hope their fans enjoy their moment in the spotlight.

But from whence happiness at their success resided, shall come aggression from Gooners over the next 48 hours. For that plucky side that lifted one of footballs oldest trophies is now our enemy. They stand between us and Champions League qualification and we must pounce on their joys and perhaps over-indulgence to shatter their dreams of staying in the Premier League.

I hope Wigan are going on a three-day bender. I hope they are all red-eyed and knackered when it comes to Tuesday night. Because the margins that are lain before us allow for no error, no deviation from the three-point-path, no allowance for slip ups.

Our team needs to be wary of a highly motivated, highly confident and highly charged up Wigan side, and needs to counter that with our own motivation and determination. More on that in the coming days methinks.

Our eyes now all turn to Mordor, where the orks reside lurking for some cocks, so lets hope they like the taste of man-flesh and can muster up something that will get us all dancing a merry jig and leave the possibility of Champions League qualification even more in our hands. Supporting Stoke will be another painful exercise in self-harming, but right now, needs must. Personally, I don’t think it’ll happen. And if it doesn’t happen, at least we can have yet another reason to hate Stoke and everything they are.

Keep those fingers crossed Gooners.