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

Posted on May 20, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

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.

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.

United: overriding disappointment, but it could be a valuable point

Posted on April 29, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

At the beginning of this season if you’d have run your finger down the fixture list and tapped lightly on the weekend of 27/28 April, I probably would have said to you I’d settle for a draw that week. Manchester United coming to town is always a tough fixture, especially for The Arsenal and our really poor recent run against them, but it’s one of those that you’d hope we could get something from the game.

Indeed, as the fixture approached and it looked like they might win the league on our home turf, the possibility of a draw didn’t seem so unappealing. When coupled with the draw that the Spuds got away to Wigan at the weekend, a draw on the face of it seems an ok result, as we still have a two point cushion over that lot and the hope that three wins out of three should see us into the Champions League spots.

So why is it that I feel a bit dejected this morning? Why do I feel like yesterday we saw two points dropped?

Probably because we did.

Before the game all the talk was about THAT person returning and a guard of honour. I couldn’t really give a monkeys about either and so my hope was that all of the distraction in the build up would allow us to catch our newly crowned opponents off guard. And I think it’s fair to say we did. The first 40 minutes was all Arsenal and within the first five we were one up. Theo got in behind Evra to slot the ball beyond De Gea and send my section of the crowd into delirium. It was exactly what we needed. In the media hyperbole that had been whipped up before the game most pundits and journos alike seemed to have forgotten there was a game to play. The team reminded them of that instantly.

The first half was Arsenal’s. Cazorla forced a good save, Gibbs had a shot over the bar and we were rarely troubled in defence, save for Szczesny’s face taking a knock from a header from that guy. We controlled and bossed the game for the most of that first half.

But Bacary, oh Bacary, what hath become of thee? As Arsenal fans we never underestimate the ability of this team to press the self destruct button. But on this occasion it wasn’t the collective switching off that cost us – just one – Sagna. I have no idea what his pass to that person was about, nor do I have any idea why he felt it necessary to lunge at the player whilst inside the box, but he did and it cost us. I think it’s fair to say that Sagna is no longer that consistent player he made his name on in seasons past. Yesterday he stunk the place out so bad it made my eyes water. And unfortunately it’s not the first time this season that he’s gifted goals to opponents through some comedy defending. At the beginning of the season he made comments about players leaving and that he wasn’t sure about a new deal. Well son, you’ve done a bang tidy job of increasing apathy levels amongst Arsenal fans this season with some of your performances, so don’t expect an uproar if you don’t get your new deal and are moved on. We often said that Arsene knows when a player has hit their peek and has historically been good at moving them on at the right time, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the failure to offer a new deal is of no coincidence at all. With Jenkinson waiting in the wings for his chance, Bacary’s number might just be up at the club, perhaps even having to settle for a squad position if he’s not moved on in the summer. I know this sounds very reactionist after a poor game, but his stock has declined after a series of poor games – just like Vermaelen – whilst Jenkinson’s has increased, so to me this doesn’t sound too extreme an opinion to share.

The second half was a little bit cagier from Arsenal and we failed to assert the same dominance as the first. We looked like we could get caught on the counter on a couple of occasions but you have to say that – right back apart – the defence by and large coped very well. THAT player didn’t really have much of a sniff and Rooney was also kept marshalled for most of the match.

Up the other end Rosicky went close and Santi forced a smart save from De Gea, but we were unable to breach the United defence. Without the benefit of any replays I can only give you my real-time view that Gibbs should had had a penalty, but when you’ve got big-fat-Phil-Dowd officiating, don’t expect any favours. Supposedly he personally went to Rio Ferdinand to apologise about the Walcott goal when it was shown that he was slightly offside. I wonder if the same personal touch was afforded to Arsene Wenger two seasons ago when he gave a second penalty up at St James’ Park for an invisible foul on Mike Williamson? I suspect not.

Many will see this as a point gained, and hopefully in hindsight I will too come the end of the season, but right now I can only see it as two points dropped. From what I saw yesterday, this wasn’t a United team at 100%, but probably at more like 70%. You could see that they were playing within themselves and were there for the taking, yet we could not muster enough composure – both offensively and defensively – to get those vital three points that could have provided a massive platform to complete the job before the last game of the season. That’s why I’m frustrated. That’s why I’m a little dejected. Because it shows me how far we’ve fallen that getting a draw against a half-trying United team is seen as a good result.

But we must carry on. We play a relegated QPR on Saturday and we simply must pick up three points. Our rivals for Champions League places probably won’t drop many more, so nothing except three wins from our next three games can be considered acceptable.

Come on Arsenal, one final push to get us over the line.

Fulham review: Arsenal to include medical insurance in membership packs?

Posted on April 21, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

I think that Arsenal Football Club should be announcing a brand new strategic partnership with a private medical insurer like BUPA or Simply Health, whereby when the membership renewals letters come through for Platinum, Gold, Silver, Red and the Away Member, there is also the option to have an Arsenal ‘Membershsip+’ that covers you in the event of any heart problems that occur during th course of the season. Such is the seemingly ongoing nervousness that good people like you and I have to endure from game-to-game, I think it is a scheme that would put a lot of mothers, fathers and other half’s at ease that in the event of one of us keeling over, at least they can be supported financially.

Yesterday’s win at Fulham was undoubtedly welcome. It was another three points and is edging us closer towards the end goal of Champions League football next season. But we dun’half make it difficult for ourselves sometimes. Le Boss named a similar side to the one that triumphed at West Brom, with Rosicky returning to the starting eleven, so as Three O’clock edged closer I felt that we should see an Arsenal team that is up for the game and ready to show Fulham how different we were confidence-wise to the one that wobbled a bit against them earlier in the season.

There was barely any time registered on the clock before we were handed our first boost, as Steve Sidwell decided that Mikel Arteta’s ankle was clearly far to handsome and needed to be roughed up a bit, going in over the top of the ball and catching the Spaniard in a nasty tackle. I’ve watched a few replays now, seen the Match of the Day morons discuss it, plus heard some garbled rubbish from Martin Jol about how he’s know Steve for ages and he’s not a nasty player, but how anybody on this planet could not see that it was not an easy decision for Andre Mariner to make is beyond me. The Scottish chump on Sky Sports Football First commentary said “Mariner keeps him on if he wants to”. Excuse my blog grammar but – ?!?!?! Alan Hansen even said tackling is being taken of the game! Well Alan, if that’s what you call a ‘tackle’ then I’m glad mate, because under your stewardship there’d also be a lot of footballers being prematurely taken out of the game too if tackles like that were allowed week-in, week-out.

The red card came after 12 minutes and as soon as it happened you felt that we would be the ones to start asserting our dominance, control possession, create the most chances and eventually go on to win the game. But for some reason the red card didn’t spark us into life as much as I’d have hoped. We certainly controlled possession for the most part in the game and ended up having 70% by the end of the match, but we hardly carved Fulham open after Sidwell’s early bath.

We did find that all-important goal though through the Big Friendly German Mertesacker. Having spent years bemoaning our inability to deal with set pieces, I have to say I find it pleasing when our own efforts are rewarded. A deep-lying ball into the back post was nodded back across goal by Koscienly and Mertesacker was on his own about a yard from the line to nod it home. We need to give special thanks to the ponderous Philippe Senderos, who gave us a little glimpse of the player we all used to roll our eyes over. His inability to see a 27ft tall giant slowly trot beyond him to head in will have had Fulham fans scratching their heads as much as we used to.

If the first half wasn’t great, the second half was worse. In the first half there were some warning signs that, despite being down to ten men, Fulham were a threat. Berbatov had a good chance which was well saved by Szczesny, who was also alert enough to tip a cross-cum-shot over the bar in the second half. I thought Woj had a good game yesterday actually. It was a solid enough performance where he made a couple of smart saves, came and collected the ball well a couple of times when asked to and overall can be pleased with a second clean sheet in a week. Likewise too, the back four will have been pleased with their overall showing.

Where I think we can all agree it didn’t really happen for us yesterday was in attack. Giroud hardly set the world alight as the lone front man and at times in the first half Theo Walcott went missing as he has the tendency to do sometimes. You’d expect a team in mid table with nothing to play for and down to ten men to be on the back foot and under the kosh for the duration, but Schwarzer hardly had to dirty his palms for the duration of the ninety. That was most certainly a disappointment. Podolski came on later in the second half but his impact was minimal, which was something of a worry, because I’d expect him to be more of a feature after Giroud’s sending off in injury time. I thought the sending off was harsh, but because he went over the top of the ball the referee clearly felt he couldn’t do anything else given the way he assessed the Sidwell red.

We had some hairy and nail-biting moments towards the end of the game, but I think we have to just chalk this game down to the ‘job done. Moving swiftly on’ archives. We’ll be without Giroud for the most part of the remaining games this season, so Arsene will need to make some decisions about who is playing at the top of the front three. It’s a decision that shouldn’t be as up in the air, as we should already have another striker to call on in situations like this, but Arsene’s lack of desire to play Podolski there all season means that he’s hardly had plenty of first team match practice there. IF it means we end up with Gervhino up top against United, well…..I shudder to think.

Anyway, that’s enough from me. Enjoy your Sunday. At least we can sit back and watch the Spuds and Chelski games knowing we’ve done our jobs.

Everton: Ramsey steals the show, Giroud couldn’t buy a goal

Posted on April 17, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

In the immediate aftermath of a home game, it’s hard to look at any result other than victory and three points for The Arsenal as abject failure, such are the fine margins of football and it’s fickle followers. Oh sure, it may look like I’m giving you my synopsis of last nights game after a night to sleep on the result, but I write this whilst hurtling home on the central line with nought but a tinge of disappointment and a smidgen of resentment.

I resent the teams that have a prolific striker. I resent that they have what we do not. I’m going to try not to give Olivier Giroud too much stick on today’s blog, but after a series of misses and good opportunities yesterday, it’s hard not to do the blogging equivalent of put my hands on my hips, lower my face slightly and give Giroud a shake of the barnet that says “Oh Olivier, you just aren’t that good, are you?”.

The cold light of day should hopefully have me waking up and feeling that this 0-0 draw against Everton wasn’t the worst result in the world, but I’ll let to know at what point of the blog I get to that point, because right now I’m only thinking of the missed chances.

Perhaps I should give some credit to Everton. After all, they are a very difficult team to break down and with players like Distin and Jagielka, they throw their bodies on the line for their team. It’s a shame we couldn’t get the Englishman a couple of seasons ago; such is the impact he has on that team. So whilst I am rueing our own profligacy, I must give ‘props’ to the Everton defence for standing strong.

I cannot however give ‘props’ to a referee that, quite frankly, was useless. If you read my random Arsenal musings regularly you’ll know that I try to avoid bemoaning the referee at all costs because more often than not, you need to look at you’re own team, which I’ll duly get to shortly. But Neil Swarbrick was terrible, in my opinion. On five occasions I saw Marouene Fellaini commit a foul, yet only three were even picked up and no yellow was distributed. But worst of all, the failure of Swarbrick to pick up the obvious second yellow foul by Gibson was the most irksome of all. Irksome because he even recognised it as a foul. If he thought Walcott had dived then he should have played on, but instead he recognised that Gibson had impeded our player, most probably looked at his watch and completely bottled it because we were within the first half an hour of the game. That, my friends, is totally unacceptable and I’m afraid is what we have come to expect from rapidly deteriorating refereeing standards in this country.

Ok, ref rant over, so what about The Arsenal? Well, defensively we came up against a physical presence of Anichebe, a fluffy aerial threat of Fellaini and the tricks and guile of Pienaar and Mirallas and largely kept them quiet for the whole game. We dealt with everything that was put our way and Szczseny was hardly troubled for the duration of the Evening.

In midfield I thought Arteta did well, whilst Jack had another ‘ok’ game, but we have to save the best for last: Aaron Ramsey. He was like the Duracell bunny. Attacking, defending, in the mix, winning the ball, distributing it, driving us forward. In my mind he should be one of the first on the team sheet right now. His game is all about action and yesterday he really was all-action. Superb stuff from a much maligned player who many questioned could make it, yet few will now argue about the potential and start talking about the reality. Once again, Arsene’s faith appears to be paying off.

Unfortunately, as much as I can praise the midfield and defence, the same cannot be said about the attack, particularly given the big fat ’0′ next to our team name. On the left we saw Cazorla who actually played really well, keeping the ball and always finding the man, but I see him as more of the ‘midfield’ success rather than the attacking disappointment. Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott were, unfortunately, average at best. Giroud missed a golden opportunity in the first half plus a miss within the last few minutes of normal time. But what really made me sigh yesterday, what made me turn to my fellow gooners and look around in despair, was what he didn’t do. I’m talking of the moment in the second half whereby Gibbs got in between the defence, looked for the cut back and open goal for the Frenchman, then played the ball off an Everton player and out for a corner. People around me bemoaned Gibbs, but I’m sorry, I’m just not having that. When I watched the replay I saw Giroud standing completely static on the penalty spot. There was no movement, there was no dart to the front or back post, there was just expectancy of the perfect ball laid at his feet. The reason I was sad? I know that a £25million clinical striker would have made that goal his own and given us the three points. Instead, we have a very capable £12million striker that, at times exactly like yesterday when you need a little something special, he’ll be found wanting. He will get goals in this Arsenal team, but I’m not sure he’s got the ability to take us on to the next level we’re after.

I’d love to make comments on Theo’s game, but actually I can’t really, as I didn’t really see anything of note. A couple of runs, but he was largely quiet, which isn’t really a major surprise. But that’s Theo. That’s what you get sometimes. When The Ox came on he looked a little more lively, but the problem we had was that he kept venturing inside and it made the play far too compact, which suited an Everton team that were happy to hold on in the last ten minutes.

So as I round up today’s blog, I’m still no nearer as to working out whether to accept a point or be disappointed. Everton are one of the top six teams in the league. They make it difficult for any team and tonight was never going to be easy. A point may prove to be vital when we hit the end of May, but when you’re looking over your shoulder at your nearest rivals for a top four space, you want the margins to be as stacked in your favour as possible and, after last nights draw, it’s no longer technically back in our hands if the Spuds with their game in hand.

All to much hypothesising for one day, I know, but you tend to do this a lot when you’re an Arsenal fan. They never make it easy for us.

Until tomorrow.

Norwich review: Mostly grumpy, ultimately happy

Posted on April 14, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Football really is quite a conundrum of a sport. If you take just the 95 odd minutes that you tend to watch the actual action take place, you can watch the majority of it and be thoroughly upset, yet still end up elated and happy come full time and for the rest of your weekend.

That was my observation from yesterday. I sat watching the game and for 80 minutes I was fairly grumpy. Yet for ten minutes Arsenal were on song and the result meant the afternoon and evening was spent in a happy mood rather than a vexed one. It’s why the old cliche works I guess – football is a results business. That’s all that really matters.

As expected yesterday, Arsene shuffled his pack ever-so-slightly with the departure of Mertesacker through suspension, Monreal through rotation and Rosicky through injury the only changes from last weeks starting XI. And as the team kicked off I think everyone was happy with the line up and expectant for us to put Norwich to the sword. But that never really happened, did it? The first half was one of little chances, mostly coming from the home side, as you’d expect. Chris Hughton had no intention of coming to The Emirates and having a go at The Arsenal, so he set up his team to be compact, press hard and try to catch us out through set pieces and maybe the odd counter. That’s not a slight on Norwich, I hasten to add; they have limited resources within their side and picking up a point at The Emirates through frustrating the home team was always going to be Plan A.

So the first half passed by with little of anything concrete for us to get too excited about. Giroud had a half-chance header off the top of the bar and Gervhino should have done more on two occasions with a 1-on-1 and a drive into the box, but he was having one of his ‘being Gervhino’ days and so on both occasions the home fans were left rueing his unpredictability and general inability to look like he has any kind of control of his limbs.

The second half didn’t exactly start with an onslaught of biblical proportions either. Norwich were content to sit deep with yellow bodies all over the place, only venturing forward for the occasional corner or set piece. And we weren’t looking like the side that had picked up three wins on the bounce. So it was no surprise when Norwich took the lead. Some Norwich player drove past Gibbs on the left hand side of our penalty box and, with a touch of the Gervhino about him, tripped over his own feet to win a free kick for the away side. Later, Chris Hughton would bemoan the decisions of the officials at the other end, but I’d suggest he take those yellow and green blinkers off and look at his teams’ own bit of fortune that led to a goal. Then perhaps he could climb down from what he believes is some kind of moral high ground and realise that in the grand scheme of things, the officials got just as many results wrong for us as we’ll as agin us.

We all know we can’t defend corners or set pieces, so there was almost a sense of inevitability as the ball was chipped to the back post, for Turner to nod the ball in unchallenged. I’ve given up talking about how we can’t defend with zonal marking. I’m not going through it again.

So once again we’d need to dig deep and produce something that would salvage points from the game. This is the point for which I must praise Arsene Wenger. We all bemoan his lack of tactical awareness or decision making, especially when it comes to changing a game, but yesterday he got it spot on. He didn’t wait until 75 minutes, he simply gave his subs five minutes to warm up after the Norwich goal and sent on Podolski and Walcott for Gervhino and Wilshire. Both players had, it’s fair to say, been pretty poor for us up until that point. Perhaps it was a little bit of rustiness from Jack, but we all know Gervhino has a stinker in his locker, so that came as no real surprise.

The substitutions were just the tonic. Suddenly we looked more of a threat. We popped the ball around with a bit more purpose and just before the penalty Giroud chested a lovely ball down for Podolski to rattle the bar. I’d love to say the feeling was that the goal was coming, but you never know with this Arsenal team, so when Giroud went down after some shirt pulling by some Norwich player, there was palpable relief in the stadium when the linesman raised his flag. This is where the ‘controversy’ started. The Norwich players and management were incensed that the referee didn’t give the challenge but the linesman did from 30 yards away. I have two observations here: 1) how can the linesman be any closer to see the play unless he walks onto the pitch, 2) what is the purpose of ‘referees assistants’ if it isn’t to assist the referee from a different angle if they see infringements? Let’s also bear in mind that I believe this was the same ref that decided to decline a stonewaller for us a couple of weeks ago when Giroud was clattered by Taylor (happy to be corrected there though, as I’m not 100%). Let’s also not forget that it was in fact a clear penalty. So these factors being the case, why did I hear various people in the media crying over the decision? Oh, wait a second I know, because its ‘plucky Norwich’. Balderdash. A foul is a foul and a foul in the box is a penalty. Move on.

If the canaries felt hard done by on the first goal, they can have no complaints on the second. After joining proceedings five minutes earlier, The Ox exchanged a lovely one-two with Giroud and found himself in space beyond the Norwich back line, to stroke the ball into a defenders nightmare of a spot, a yard on the line. With Bunn nowhere to be seen, Giroud and Bassong challenged and the ball hit the back of the net. Fabulous stuff from The Ox who, after some recent impressive performances, I hope gets some starts soon. Perhaps even on Tuesday.

There was still time for an Arsenal implosion though, but thankfully it didn’t come, as Fabianski earned his weekly wage with a good save low down from Howson. And as the game ticked into injury time, Podolski made the points safe with a clinical left footed shot from just inside the box.

Three vital points, a step up into third, plus the chance to get clear daylight from our rivals with a performance and a win against Everton. But lets not get too carried away just yet. If we play like we did yesterday against Everton, they will ask more questions of us, so it’s important that the team is ready and willing to do the business against the blue half of Merseyside.

Until tomorrow people. I out.

Heart-stopping, but vital three points for Gunners

Posted on April 7, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Well, you wouldn’t expect anything else from The Arsenal than a bit of harum scarum, heart-janglingness ”can this last twenty minutes just hurry up and disappear please?” action would you? because that’s what we all got yesterday.

When the final whistle blew and our step up into the top four (most likely albeit temporarily because I’m not expecting Sunderland to show anything today against Chelski at Stamford Bridge) was confirmed, I felt like I had aged about ten years. I wasn’t at the game and my laptop is fairly useless and prevents me from watching live streams, so I had to contend with the excellent Arseblog Live blog, Twitter and Sky Sports Soccer Saturday all running in tandem for my news from The Hawthorns. I think that actually made it worse for that last twenty minutes, as each minute ticked by so slowly after Mertesacker’s sending on that it felt like a lifetime.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here and so should start from the beginning. Le Boss named an unchanged side from last week – expected given the performance – and once again players that many thought were ‘squaddies’ in Rosicky, Ramsey and Gervhino were all afforded another bite at the first team cherry. None of those players disappointed. Rosicky put in a man-of-the match performance to score two well taken goals and looked lively throughout. Most of the play in the middle of the park went through him and his ability to beat a man or move the ball from back-to-front so quickly really helped the high line of pressing the team deployed in the first half and at the beginning of the second.

Ramsey was also good yesterday I thought and his ‘never give up’ attitude is what can quickly win himself favour back in the hearts of those Arsenal fans that questioned his ability. This was epitomised in one particular moment in the second half. A poor pass intended for Arteta in the opponents half was swiftly followed up by a winning tackle and successful pass completion to Rosicky. Yes, he missed a golden chance for us to be two nil up at half time when on the six yard box with nobody but Foster to beat, but I’m more pleased that we had somebody getting into that position in the first place.

Gervhino too looked lively whilst he was on the pitch. His assist for the first goal was a classic example of what we hoped to see more of from the Ivorian when he arrived. Chasing a fabulous Arteta cross field ball into the box, he picks up the ball, weaves the defender this way and that and puts in a great ball (which I suspect might have been curling in at the far post) to which the Little Mozart heads in. It seems that we’re seeing somewhat of a purple patch for The Forehead and it couldn’t come at a better time for us. It means there is genuine competition, players like the three I describe above are knocking hard on the door to keep their places and it means the others that have lost their places will have to work harder, concentrate more and be at their best to retain their place.

Defensively we also looked sound yesterday. Let’s face it, when the ball came over the top by the West Brom player Morrison and Long’s first touch was perfect to put him through, we all knew when he went down inside the box that Mertesacker was off. And we all knew it would be a really tough last quarter of the match. But we must credit the defence with their response. Vermaelen came on and, despite a few moments where we probably should have conceded but for some profligacy from Lukaku and a header from some defender at the back post from a corner, they held firm. And not that any of us gooners like to smash lazy misconceptions about out team, but we now have the best away defensive record in the league. Funny that, given all of the pundits you hear always talk about how terrible some of our defenders are. Funny that, eh?

There’s a bit of swagger about this Arsenal team at the moment. The type of swagger that comes with confidence-boosting wins like yesterday. We’ve gone about our business flying a bit under the radar with everyone else praising the Spuds and drooling over the collective attacking threat of Mata, Oscar and Hazard, which is absolutely fine by me. i seem to recall the same thing happened last year. We started to put together a run of games that suddenly found us in third spot to which we then went on to keep and confirm our Champions League status for next season. Watching that game yesterday I saw some very confident passing and attack-wise we looked to get the ball forward very quickly with some verve and panache about us.

It’s looking good at the moment. We can sit back today and watch some of the Sunday games knowing that we’ve done our job. Next week we have Norwich visit us and I hope the players are desperate for a bit of revenge to be served up after the defeat at Carrow Road in October last year. Thereafter we have Everton at home and if we can get two wins under our belt there then it will put us above the spuds and I think above Chelski too.

Have a good Sunday you marvellous people.

Reading: basking, control and momentum

Posted on March 31, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Welcome friends! And what a glorious Easter Sunday it is! Well, not in terms of weather, from where I’m looking in the world. But from a footballing perspective, it’s a metaphorical 30 degrees centigrade with a cloud ne’er to be seen across the skies.

Yes folks, we are basking in the post-game light of victory. That warm feeling you have right now, that’s because our boys did the business against a Reading team that never really caused any trouble whatsoever in truth. It was as controlled a performance as you are going to get in the Premier League and Nigel Adkins must be assessing which of his players he’ll be keeping in the Championship next season, because I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll be rocking up at the Madjeski in the Premier League from August onwards this year.

Before the game I felt nervous. Nervous because I have seen games like this become a very large banana skin on a newly polished hardwood floor already this season. I have felt that we should be winning these types of games all this season, yet at times we’ve come away from The Emirates with little comfort in the performance and dropped points or knocked out Of cup competitions. But not yesterday my friends! Yesterday the team were Ronseal – they did exactly what they were supposed to and dispatched Reading with a 4-1 victory.

In truth, it probably could have been more, certainly when you look at the first half chances. It is probably rare that we’ll see a game as one-sided as that one in the first half between now and the end of the season. The only real surprise of the day was that Arsenal weren’t more than the one Gervhino goal up at the interval. We probed, dominated possession and but for a series of last-ditch tackles and some dreadful refereeing decisions (Stuart Taylor must have found it almost funny how he didn’t concede a penalty after scything down Giroud) we could and should have been more up by half time.

I think what helped shape the eventual outcome of the match was how early we scored the first goal – on 11 minutes – and then also how quickly we were up and running in the second half when Cazorla curled in number two on 48. That essentially gave the team the confidence and swagger to continue to probe without getting frustrated by a defence that would sit deep and aim to frustrate. In all fairness, Reading’s defence was never going to put on that type of performance, but the early goals ensured we didn’t get too desperate to force the issue.

So it came to pass that we eventually ran away with a comfortable victory courtesy of a Giroud goal from a swift counter attack led by Gervhino and then a Mikel Arteta penalty. Yes, there was a Reading goal to worry the nerves ever-so slightly, but the truth of the matter (with the benefit of hindsight) is that Reading were never really in this game.

A quick word for Gervhino. Never has there been a more obvious example of the terminology ‘confidence players’. He had a really good game yesterday and was instrumental in our attacking play, both scoring the first and picking up two assists for the second and third goals. He really is an enigma. We’ve seen him at times look like the furthest thing from a professional footballer you could possibly imagine. We’ve seen him pick the ball up, run over his own feet and get closer to the corner flag with his dribbling than his opponent’s goal. Yet he showed yesterday how his unpredictability can still be used to his advantage. So whilst there were other players who were excellent yesterday, like Cazorla, I feel it’s only right to single out the Ivorian for praise given how I and many of us gooners have lambasted him at times this season. I still believe Podolski is a better option wide left, but the fact that he’s had such a good game yesterday fills you with hope that he will provide options for us in the coming weeks.

So it’s another three points and it’s another game that we can add to the ‘building momentum’ bonfire that is nicely simmering away at the moment. I look at our opponents for the Champions League places and, whilst I know the Spuds won against Swansea, I think that as long as one of them or Chelski drop points each weekend, the. It will always give us a chance. We are now two away from them and four from the Spuds with a game in hand. Next week we have a really tough game against West Brom but if we can pick up a win against them we have back-to-back home games that could see us close or maybe even leapfrog those two teams in the league given their respective fixtures in April.

So all-in-all a pretty happy weekend. Now to enjoy your Sunday.

Massive victory in Wales

Posted on March 17, 2013 by bendtnersbettercousin

Good morning from Hungoversville. Population: Me. But you know what? After a result like yesterday’s away to Swansea, there was no way I’d sack off blogging on a Sunday morning. Make no mistake about it, yesterday’s victory against the Welshmen was MASSIVE.

In the blog yesterday I spoke of my nerves. I spoke of the threat that Swansea provide, of how they will fancy their chances and how we will need to be back to our best in order to get a result. After all, most teams that go to the Liberty cross back over the Severn Bridge with very little to show for their work. So to go into an international break with a solid 2-0 away victory is most satisfying, I can tell thee.

As is customary from Le Boss from time-to-time, he threw a few curve balls with his starting line up selection, giving the nod to Monreal - which was expected, but also The Ox and Diaby - which was not. Rosicky and Rambo made way and Santi dropped back into midfield to assume the role that he has played more often than not this season of free roamer. Lukas and Laurent also retained their places, so the team had the look of a side that was big enough in squad depth to cope with the rigours of the English football season. As I said on Thursday in the wake of the Bayern game, one swallow doth not a summer make, but it was a really positive thing to see Arsene rotate his team and still manage to get a result. It’s something we’ve all wondered about this season when it comes to the ability of the whole squad to compete.

We knew what we would get from Swansea. They passed and passed and passed the ball and probed for their chance and of course it was inevitable Michu would get one or two, but to be honest Swansea didn’t spend that much of the first half banging down on the Arsenal defensive door. In fact, it was Arsenal that came closest through The Ox. Hit hit the post early on in the first half and right on the stroke of halftime.I thought the Ox had a good game yesterday and looked like more like the young and confident player that we saw at times last season.

I thought Diaby wasn’t at his best yesterday and his style leaves a lot to be frustrated about, so when he and the Ox were substituted for Ramsey and Gervhino, it was the right decision by Wenger. This was made all the more evident with the two substitutes combining to finish off the game on 90 minutes. It must have felt good for Ramsey, who gets roundly booed every time he comes to Swansea. The best way to silence home fans is by beating the home team and Rambo will have probably taken a little bit more pleasure from the result than anyone else.

The second half started off with The Arsenal in ascendency and for the first ten minutes or so and with Santi Cazorla skipping past players and looking like the fleet-footed player we saw at the start of the season, from this humble bloggers eyes it looked like we could get a result, despite having to listen to commentators purring over Swansea’s passing even when they don’t go anywhere. It’s funny, when Arsenal have lots of possession but no penetration, it is seen as ‘typical Arsenal’ and we’re chastised, but such is the love of an underdog in this country, that when Swansea had the same dilemma, they are seen as playing great football by the media.

It was good to see Monreal on the score sheet yesterday, albeit through a scruffy effort, and although Vorm probably should have saved the scuffed shot. Much like all of the back five, who managed a second clean sheet in a week, that I thought was also a really pleasing thing about the result. we’ve become so used to seeing Arsenal make rod for their own backs defensively, that it is just as good to see a ’0′ beside the opponents scoreline at the end of the game.

This was a dominating and thoroughly deserving result from a team that will take a lot of confidence going into the international break. It means we can enjoy the break without having to stew on the poor result for two weeks. I thought the intensity of the play was also a plus point. With the result won and time ticking away, you could be forgiven for thinking that the players would be happy to see the result off, but the attitude of the players from the first whistle to the last was epitomised with Aaron Ramsey forcing Vorm to kick the ball out for a thrown in despite being 2-0 up. This is the attitude that we want to see and this is the desire that will give us the best shot of finishing in the top four. I questioned Le Boss’ ability to motivate the players on a consistent basis between now and the end of the season, and after a result like that I am only happy to be proven wrong. All we need to do now is win the other nine and we’ll probably be fine!

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.