Category Archives: soccer

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.

Reading between their lines – a tight game expected

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So here we finally are people. For some reason it feels like more of a schlep to get to this weekends Arsenal action than ever before. I don’t know if that is because we had a couple of good results before the international break banged on our door, therefore this interjection was at the wrong time in terms of building some momentum, but I for one am glad we are back to some normality.

It’s Reading today that visit the Emirates and with new boss Nigel Adkins due to take the reins for the first time, it’s fair to say that it makes Reading a little bit of an unknown quantity today. Will we see a side that is buoyed by ‘new manager syndrome’? Quite possibly, especially with the fact that they are fighting for their Premier League lives and now with a new manager there will be players who will be wanting to show that they deserve a place in the starting eleven.

We’ve played them twice at the Madjeski Stadium this season and both times have come away with victories and plenty of goals, but on both occasions we’ve also conceded a few. Reading played with an open and attacking style that, whilst admirable, was foolhardy from a team that was newly promoted and didn’t quite have the personnel to trade blows with some of the bigger boys in the league. However, since the turn of the year Reading started picking up points, became a little more solid at the back and have looked like a team that at one stage could pick up enough results to get them out of the bottom three. You only need to look at the game at Old Trafford to know that they will not come at Arsenal like they did at the Madjeski. Reading will try to be more compact at the back, will probably play with a five man midfield like they did at Old Trafford, and will hope to frustrate Arsenal like so many teams have done this season. They welcome back Pogrebnyak and his physical presence up top will give our two central defenders something to think about.

As for The Arsenal, there looks to be a few players that seem to have found a smidgen of form, which means that as a fan, I’m not 100% sure which side Le Boss will field. I have a rough idea, but nothing is concrete with Arsene, as he’s just as likely to swap things around as he is to go for consistency. I suspect Fabianski Mark.2 (the upgraded version Arsene has used since he came back from injury) will still get the chance to build on his confidence boosting performances against Bayern and Swansea to stay in between the sticks and will go for a similar look back four to those that played at the Liberty Stadium. Monreal, Koscienly and Mertesacker will surely start, but what of that right back slot? Sagna’s form has hardly been impeccable this season whilst Jenkinson is looking ever the part at right back every time we see him. I think Le Boss will go with his French compatriot, which is a harsh situation for Corporal Carl, but I think Arsene still has his favourite in that position and so Bacary will get his chance to recapture his spot quicker than Vermaelen and Szczseny have done.

Midfield will most likely include Arteta and Ramsey, given Arsene’s seeming reluctance to use the Little Mozart Rosicky at the moment, which I actually think is a bit of a shame. Rosicky is somebody who has the beating of a player a lot easier than Rambo, and his energetic style and ability to move the ball from back to front a little quicker is something that I think puts him a little more in the mould of the currently absent Wilshire. I think having Tomas in the side gives us a little more urgency in going forward and at home against a team towards the bottom of the table the impetus should always be on ensuring you have enough at the top end of the park rather than the back in defence. Aaron’s new found defensive stability is good and if Jack remains out against West Brom next week I think he’d be a more natural covering choice than Rosicky, but for this week I’d hope Le Boss goes for the more creative option.

Of course, Arsene could opt for both Rosicky in midfield and Cazorla out wide on the left of the attacking three, but with the return of Podolski I think he should be slotting straight into the side today so I hope that is Arsene’s thinking. Poldi brings a clinical finisher who’s directness and willingness to run his arse off for 70 minutes is something that we’ll need if we want to put this Reading team under serious pressure today. If he does play, he’ll be joined in attack by Giroud and possibly The Ox, who I think deserves that starting spot after a good performance against Swansea followed by a good performance and goal against San Marino that will surely have boosted his confidence. He deserves a run in the side now and with Theo ruled out for this weekends game, it’s a chance to shine for the youngster.

I think this will be a tough and frustrating game. When we played Reading earlier in the season there were still a lot of games to go and Reading thought that their open and attacking style could be something that catches teams out and gets them a few points. But now that we are in the business end of the season, that free-flowing attitude has been replaced by a bit more pragmatism when lining up against opponents. We saw that against Manchester United and I think we’ll see that today. Reading will be thinking that a draw is a great result, which can be achieved as a minimum with a clean sheet, so they will sit back and perhaps look to hit us on the counter at times. I am always worried before any Arsenal game that means something, but today my worry is that we see a game of sideways passing on the edge of the Reading box with little or no penetration through a wall of hooped blue and white shirts. We will need all of our crafty and creative players to be at their probing best today. Players like The Ox and Cazorla will need to be on form and I hope we see at least a first half goal for Arsenal to bring Reading out a little and open the game up. Otherwise we’ll see mounting frustration if there are no goals by half time.

We’ve got nothing else to concentrate on this season other than Champions League qualifications. Aside from the midweek game against Everton in mid April we have one-a-week matches until the end of the season so there can be no excuses for any slip ups. I know we’ve come off the back of an international break, but a) there was only a few players in our side that actually played the full 90 minutes midweek, and b) these players are all seasoned international professional footballers and so will know exactly how to prepare themselves physically. We just need to hope that mentally they are prepared too.

We need three points today to keep the momentum and pressure on those above. Up the Arsenal.

Tony Adams/Martin Keown in Arsenal Village People?

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Howdy gooners, hope you are found in the finest of fettle. I know I am today. I’m not really sure why, but As I awoke this morning and headed towards the Metropolitan Line tube station, I had a positively chipper feeling about Arsenal. Actually, that’s a load of old tosh. I knew exactly why, the weekends results.

It’s fair to say that the fall out from the weekend has been overwhelmingly positive from an Arsenal point of view. Not only did we get a very good result on a tough ground where many have faltered this season, but we also saw our closest rivals – geographically, that is – slip up at home to a Fulham side that rarely win away. It’s enough to make you go all tingly and stuff. For me, it all but erases the pain of the derby defeat a few weeks back, because it has effectively chalked off that result in terms of the run in. If I’m completely honest, when I looked at the upcoming fixtures and where points could be most damaging both numerically and confidence-wise, I had that game down as one. It left us looking so far adrift that the possibilities of a top four looked pretty dead and buried. But such is the cyclical nature of football that here we are, three weeks later and two Spuds defeats after one another in the league, that we find ourselves four points adrift with a game in hand.

The comeback is far from complete, there are many more twists to be found, but isn’t it good to have recaptured some of that lovely thing called hope? Cliched as it is, football is a results business and we got ours this weekend whilst seeing the opposition falter.

I often play ‘what if’ games with myself when it comes to The Arsenal and I did indeed in the wake of the Swansea defeat and Fulham win. ‘What if a divine power said to you that you could either win the NLD but you’d lose your next two games, or you could forsake the Derby and win your next two games?’ Now, I know we haven’t won our second league game yet, so I’m not going to count our chickens, but I’d be really interested to see how many gooners and Spuds would take the NLD victory. Would you? As far as I’m concerned its a big fat ‘No’. Don’t get me wrong, I love a derby day win, but if I had the power to secure more points for The Arsenal through divine intervention, I’d do it. Football is results, results is football. It’s great to talk about the last couple of 5-2 home wins, but they are consigned to history now and getting those points ahead of you in the bag is the most important thing of all, bar none.

Scott ‘Scotty’ Parker said after the Spuds game that they had dealt Arsenal a hammer blow in terms of confidence. I wonder if he is thinking the same after back-to-back defeats? I would hedge my bets and say ‘no’ to that. Particularly off the back of Carl Jenkinson’s interview on the official site that I read this morning. ‘The Corporals’ comments of the singing and celebrations that took place – to the tune of ‘Macho Man’ by the Village People – don’t suggest to me that there is a team that is mired in its own malcontent. Quite the opposite in fact and its great to hear that there is some camaraderie that is being built amongst the players. With Poldi and Jack still to come back into the team it can only be some more positives to add to the pile. Although I have to admit that I did find it amusing to picture A time travelling 30 year old Tony Adams and Steve Bould stepping into the dressing room and seeing the whole team prancing around to one of the campest songs that has ever been created. I don’t think you’d get much change from Martin Keown if you asked him to don a Native American outfit and start spanking Paul Merson’s rear end with a grin on his face. And even I’m afraid to picture what George Graham and Frank McLintock would do!

Anyway, there ent too much else going on at the mo, so I’ll take my leave for today. You have a good one.

Crazy Corner Conundrum

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Hey party people oaf12 here and welcome to Suburban Gooners!

 

It’s been a while since I have blogged on Suburban Gooners, yet it feels as if we are in the same position as we always (well for a while now) have been……nearly there!

 

My main worry is that the ‘there’ in ‘nearly there’ is the one thing that is changing! Over the years it has been the league title, then the top 2 or, at worst 3, but sadly now it is 4th and while I am still hopeful, even that target is looking rather challenging right now!

 

I’m not going to go into the who is or isn’t to blame – that has been done before, several million times. What I will say is that it certainly isn’t as black & white as simply being Wenger’s fault. Whilst he certainly isn’t blameless, I feel the main problems are higher up the chain. I would welcome David Dein back with open arms and as long as we didn’t ‘overspend’ I would also welcome a hungrier owner or at least one that seemed to care.

 

Anyway, enough of that rubbish, let’s get back to today’s topic and discuss our defensive corner policy. Again, I am not going to talk about why and whether we should or shouldn’t use zonal marking as that has been ‘done to death’. What I want to chat about is the fact that it drives me insane that we bring EVERY single player back to defend corners……

wtf

 

At first you may think “but oaf surely this is a good thing as it sures up our defence” but I would have to disagree! I really can’t see how, if anything I would argue the players probably get in each other’s way and play ‘the blame game’ when something goes wrong.

 

Also, I don’t know about you but if I were a goalkeeper (I have been, wow!!), I would feel more confident of collecting a ball within an area that doesn’t contain 20 players! By remoiving even 1, 2 or 3 it will create more space for Szczesny to manoeuvre, crazy huh!?!

 

My main concern however, is how much this limits us and invites yet more pressure. On the odd occasion a cleared ball may fall to, say, Theo on the edge of our box when cleared – this happened in the Newcastle game. Like lightening he carries the ball forward to launch a counter attack, so fast in fact that you start to remember how we used to play, how we used to be able to soak up pressure and then pounce!

 

Sadly, that is not the case anymore though is it? What actually happens, again as in the Newcastle game, is that the opposition have enough players back to crowd us out and we lose possession.

 

That is the odd occasion……

 

What usually happens is that when we clear the ball, all of our players are in or around our box so there is nowhere for the ball to go other than into the possession of the opposite team. Usually an opposing player picks it up and has enough time, as there is nobody there to hassle him, to look up and pick a pass / cross back into the danger zone.

 

Corner

 

It also invites the opposition to push more men forward, why not if there is nobody to mark! This is Sunday league stuff – if they (the oppo) have one striker forward you leave 2 defenders back, but if they have no strikers then you have a licence to push more men forward for the corner.

 

I’m not saying leave Giroud forward, he is good in the air so should come back but leave someone mobile, quick and maybe not as strong in the air up top. There will still be enough defenders and it will give us an outlet rather than blindly giving the ball away.

 

Imagine defending against Theo, or the Ox or Podolski at that matter, on the halfway line while your team have a corner. If that ball gets cleared over your head you know you are in trouble! Especially if one of the others are on the edge of the box to carry the ball or link up play too.

 

At the moment when we concede a corner our only target is to defend. With an outlet we could use (cleared) corners to our advantage – we cannot do this with the current set up.

 

To me this is obvious, simple, stuff and needs looking at ASAP.

 

What do you think Gooners? Are my points valid or talking nonsense?

 

Would be great to get your views in the comments below.

 

Cheers all

 

oaf out

NLD Aftermath

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Spurs 2-1 Arsenal – Doesn’t make for pretty reading does it..

A very strange game of football, where we eventually came out second best to the enemy. On chances created alone, we should of lost. But on the pattern of play, we where very much in the game. We just didn’t take the chances that did arise for us. The game turned out to be a battle of high lines, and whom ever played the right passes in behind would be victorious.. There is not exactly any major differences between the teams, mind you. they have a seven point lead and have a high flying Gareth Bale..

The game started off very cagey. The nerves where very clear to see on both sides. We dominated the very early stages and things looked promising. We created a very early chance (By our standards anyway) 10 minutes in, Giroud was put through and was bearing down on goal. With a lovely ball over the top of the Spurs defence. But the very impressive Jan Vertonghen caught him and the chance went begging. It was to be Spurs who broke the deadlock 36 minutes in. Bale, with a well timed run and a very acute finish. Adebayor dragged the Arsenal defence leaving space for Bale to exploit. Sidgurdson was left with the simple task of finding the unmarked Bale. Diabolical Defending. 1-0. Shamefully, it only took Spurs three minutes to double their lead. With an almost identical goal. Lennon was slide in, rounds the very lonely figure in Chesney. 2-0. Halftime couldn’t come quick enough.

The second half begins, very similar to the first, Arsenal possession, not leading to much penetration of the spurs back line. We managed to get our goal five minutes into the second half. A Bale own goal. I could give it to Mertesacker but a Bale OG just sounds better. After some very tenacious work from Ramsey to win a free-kick right in the spurs half, near the corner flag. Walcott swung in the eventuall free kick. Mertesacker with the flick on, straight onto Bale’s head with the ball ending up in the Spurs net. 2-1. Game on. Or so we thought. A few minutes later the ball broke to Monreal who was free at the edge of the box. The Spaniard shanked his left footed shot into the White Hart Lane crowd. We continued to attack the Spurs end. Jenkinson broke down the right-hand side and just before reaching the by-line. He swung in a beautiful cross. But the very impressive Lloris intercepted and gathered perfectly. But to then only spill the ball…unfortunately our frenchman was caught napping and too engrossed in his usual ‘celebration’ of disappointment. 59 minutes in, Bale should of made it 3-1. A well timed crossed ball from Sidgursgon before Bale skied it. A let off. Again Spurs should of finished the game. Sidgursgon through on goal and unselfishly tries to play in the again unmarked Bale, only for Mertesacker to intercept. A minute later Defoe drags a half chance wide of the goal. Another let off. The 80th minute was our next major, and final chance. Ramsey was slide in, the welshman was on the corner of the box. But with a very tame effort, he misses the target. FT. Spurs win the bragging rights, for now..

It’s really difficult to analyse and understand why we where defensively an absolute shambles.
To quote Arsene Wenger

“We were not efficent in the zones where it mattered (At either end). We were not dominated. it was a strange game to lose”.

We where in the game. We just didn’t have enough on the day. A boring and dull cliche, but true. We just couldn’t answer the question that where asked of the team. The game was very similar to our previous encounters with an AVB team – Chelsea (5-3) springs to mind. High lines and defence splitting passes. As I mentioned before individuals let us down, not the pattern of play. What has been a very worrying about this team this season – Every big game this season we have thrown away. It points to lack of quality, as well as the dreaded, ‘mental strength’. Too many poor displays from the major pieces of the ongoing Arsenal puzzle. The better players on the day have to carry to team. You can’t conceed goals like we do and expect a miraculous come back – Im surprised we don’t get more back injuries…

Personally Im very, very bored of seeing the same mistakes never being resolved and the surprise of the club, when they resurface. We are very poor (By Arsenal AND Arsene’s standards) where it really matters. Arsene seems to be really struggling with everything – Team Selections, tactics, substitutions. If you look at the enemy. Firslty, our decline is their gain. But credit is due because they have taken advantage of that. Im not saying Spurs have a Champions League place wrapped up, but ive seen enough enough of Spurs this season to tell me the managerial change was the correct decision.

The Board. The Manager AND the current approach isn’t working. This can’t continue much longer because the tend is backwards…

Cheers for reading,

try and enjoy your week,

As usual – Be Happy,

Ben

Are we in a better position than last year?

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This may sound like an idea that is draped with hope, faith and blind optimism, but the title of today’s blog is something I’ve been toying with in the deepest darkest recesses of my mind for a while now. So I thought I’d crack open my mind – in a literary sense – and let all the goo ooze out to see what people think.

We’re now at the business end of the season and we sit four points adrift of the spuds with twelve games to go. It’s hardly the easiest run left by us to get to our end goal of fourth spot, but if you look at the excellent piece written by 7amkickoff it shows that the current favourites have a slightly harder run up than we do. So it’s delicately poised. However, what I wanted to debate is less the upcoming games, and more the assumption that we are worse off than last year. It’s something that I’ve heard on the terraces a few times this year and I’ve even thought it myself at times. After all, we have lost a guy that smashed in over 35 goals, so how can we not be, right?

Now, the way I look at it, this blog title question has two clear inferences that you could take from it. The first is that I am implying that I think we have a better team than last year overall. My honest opinion to that is that right now, at this moment in time, we actually do.

Last year we relied on one grey-haired goalscorer. Granted, he was one of the top three or four best players in the globe, but the entire team looked to him to the extent that other players clearly didn’t need to step up to the plate when called upon. Theo Walcott is a classic example. Happy to make assist after assist for the ‘one man band’ up top, Theo settled for high assists instead of the glory of self praise by hitting the onion bag himself. This year he is on course to smash his own scoring tally for the season. He has stepped up and we have profited from the extra responsibility that has sat on his shoulders. And he’s improving every week as his confidence rises. It’s good to see for most of us gooners that have watched him grow or six years and seen the potential that is now starting to be realised, much to the disappointment of Stewart Robson and Chris Waddle. And you could see how he has grown in stature against Sunderland. Yes, he didn’t score, but he was a menace to the Sunderland team throughout.

Both Giroud and Podolski were bought in to spread the TEAM burden of scoring goals, and both have done so. Both have had off days, and both have taken time to settle, but both are now established and are starting to look the part.

The role of the ‘talisman’ has also shifted. Our talisman is now no longer the goalscorer and captain combined. The role of Captain has shifted to Vermaelen, or latterly Arteta, with the role of talisman having been assimilated by the ever-marauding and always awesome Jack Wilshire.

In my mind, we’ve taken the role that the Dutch player who used to play for us (but could never be as good as Dennis) had, and we’ve hung, drawn and quartered it. We’ve allowed the rest of the team to tear at the role like a pack of savage coyotes and pull off their own bloodied strips of it to devour for their own. And as a result we must be better off for it. How can we not? An injury to any of Walcott, Giroud, Podolski, Wilshire, Arteta or Vermaelen and we’re all sad to see it, but we’ve spent time this season without all of those players for one reason or another and we still find ourselves four points from the top four spots.

The second connotation that you could infer from my question at the top of the blog is that i feel that because we are closer to the chasing pack than last year, we are better off. This is a ‘yes and no’ from me in this instance. Factually we are better off. We have less of a mountain to climb than last year to reach the top four peaks, but we still have quite a way to go in my opinion. The Spuds team that fell apart last year did so because of the Redknapp effect. AVB may be a lot of things, but I think he’ll be focused enough to ensure that a fall apart like that doesn’t happen to them this season. So in effect, we have to rely on ourselves in order to secure top four, and not the whim of a twitchy old man who has his eyes on a different prize. So I see this years mountain as just as steep as last years.

If we’re going to look at facts, you also can’t discount that we are worse off points wise than we were last season. It’s been rammed down our throats by the British media since Spetember/October time. Arsene doth protest that we’ve played harder games away from home to date, but the fact remains that we haven’t done it at home when we really should have. It is when you look at some of the results against lower league opponents that you start to raise your eyebrows at any assumption that we are better off than last year. How can we be when we’re losing at home to Swansea and drawing against the likes of Fulham and Sunderland at The Emirates? It becomes very difficult to justify progress when you look at the gradual decline of points gained at this stage of the season over a five or six year period.

I’m not one for throwing facts after facts at you – regular readers will know that by now – I just like to go by my gut. I know that our dwindling points tally of this season hardly fills fans with excitement that the club are executing its mantra of ‘forward’ to great success, but I do feel that there has been some baby steps made to the overall TEAM in comparison to last year. Don’t get me wrong, there is a LOT of work that is needed to turn the squad into the competitive outfit that we need it to be in order to sit at the top of the tree again, but I am clinging on to hope that we’ve seen the worst and the club will now start to build on some of the momentum we’ve had recently to propel us into the top four, then further build on the squad through player acquisition in the summer.

Feel free to share your thoughts.

Catch you laters.

Santos joins the loan squad, Jack stays robust (we hope)

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Howdy gooners, hope you’re all in fine fettle wherever you are waking up today. Andre Santos is waking up a little bit closer to his origin of birth having just signed up for a short term term deal with Gremio for the next six months. Following the purchase of Nacho Monreal and the clear lack of faith the manager has at giving him any opportunity to get near the first team along with Squillaci, the Brazillian has packed his bags and added another name to the ever expending squad list of Arsenal players that are now out on loan.

We now have Djourou, Santos, Denilson, Frimpong, Aneke, Chamakh, Bendtner and Park all on our books and yet all plying their trade elsewhere. It’s a sad admission by the club that the transfer policy mantra of ‘super super quality’ has been far from observed over the last few years.

There are many people that will be glad to see the back of Santos. There will be those that are pleased because it means that he won’t be trundling out on to the football pitch to square up against Robben or Ribery in just over a week’s time. But for me, any player like this going out on loan is a sad thing, as it means the player has failed, the club has failed to recruit the best players, and we are to some extent back to the drawing board on a position.

Andre Santos started out as a player that I felt could really put Gibbs under pressure and potentially even dethrone him at left back if he failed to live up to the high standards we have seen at times recently from the Englishman. Santos was quick into the tackle and his anticipation didn’t look too shabby either at first. He could also get forward and had a couple of goals in his locker too. So it was a real shame when his decline appeared to come at such a rapid pace this season. Personally, I think many of us saw it coming with a few wayward performances last season, but because he had endeared himself with the fans so much, many wanted to see beyond that.

So it is not to be and Andre’s time in England is nothing more than a short stopover for 18 months or so. I hope he does well at Gremio and does enough to earn himself a deal. Of course, the problem we’ll have in the summer is that all of these Brazillian teams plead poverty (which I’m not so convinced about if I’m honest) and will want Santos on the cheap/free just like Denilson, but that’s something the clubs will have to sort out further down the line.

What Santos’ departure does do for The Arsenal is immediately lead us to speculate over the identity of the left back on Champions League match night in about nine days time. I am hoping that the departure of Santos to Gremio is the clearest indication yet that Vermaelen and Koscienly should both be fit and raring to go this week at some stage, so it will mean the captain shifts to left back and Kos comes in at centre back, which is by far the most preferred option given the circumstances. It will provide more defensive solidity than the Brazillian and we can hope it keeps the Bayern front line a bit more quieter.

Aside from the departure of everyone’s favourite ‘gay’, Arsene was also talking on the official site yesterday about how he doesn’t want to see Jack Wilshire getting special treatment from referees after the recent pastings he’s been getting. I said yesterday that I think Jack does get targeted by opponents and after the last couple of ‘teams’ that we’ve had to come up against, I’ve seen little to change my mind. But I don’t really know what else anyone can do about it. As long as we have incompetent referees like Anthony Taylor was on Saturday, Wilshire we’ll always be going into battle with us fans holding our breath every time a challenge comes in. So far Jack has shown great resilience to the impact challenges he’s getting, so the hope is that he can get stronger and stronger to ride the tackles of morons like Lee Clattermole.

Right, that’s it from your humble narrator for one day, back tomorrow with more ramblings.

Sunderland: praying for Kos and Jacks good form continuing

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Hello good people of Goonerland. Hope all is well with you? I’m writing today’s blog from the in-laws house in Northumberland having driven up yesterday evening to spend the weekend with the family whilst also partaking in the watching of the Sunderland game at the Stadium of Light.

And I feel like shite. Fatigue and coughing, sore throat and fever, you’ll have to forgive me if this blog turns into something resembling a literary version of The Yellow Submarine by The Beatles. But I tell you something right now, nothing is going to stop me from making the trip to the Mackems home turf in a few hours time. No-siree Bob, I’ll be hollering for the team in the stadium shortly.

I just hope that today sees a turnaround in fortunes. For you see, I have seen Arsenal win away from home live only once; and even then I was delayed getting into the stadium because of traffic. We beat Wigan 3-2 and Thierry scored a grand free kick before turning to Graham Poll and asking if it was ok. Of course, that was to make it 3-1 and Wigan scored again to put us under a bit of pressure, so technically I saw us lose 2-1 with the goals that I’ve witnessed.

So today I am hoping for a reversal of fortune against a Sunderland team that has always caused us problems on their patch, and will no doubt ask some serious questions of the 11 Arsenal players that take to the pith today. My hope is that the form of some of the players rings true; Theo and Jack were sparkling in midweek for England (so I’m told – I refuse to watch international friendlies) and will want to continue their improvements today against a Sunderland side that you really can’t estimate how it will perform. I’ve seen Sunderland look woeful against West Brom, magnificent against Moneychester City and just plain dull against Swansea, so I have absolutely no idea which team will trot out to the field come 3pm. I wouldn’t count on it being anything other than a hardworking, fired up side, as Craig Gardener alluded to when he said a couple of days ago that we were ‘beatable’ and that Sunderland would need to ‘get in their faces’. It’s a common mantra that The Arsenal players will have heard before, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a surprise when we line up against them. It’s the least we can expect.

In terms of the team news, we’re all sweating (in my case, literally) on the fitness of Laurent Koscienly, who limped off for France on Wednesday night. Unsurprisingly, Arsene’s gambling nature by sending Djourou out on loan during the transfer window means that we’re now potentially hours away from Squillaci Time, which will put the fear of God into us all. Let us just hope Laurent has been bathing in horse placenta to ensure he can make it into the first eleven.

The rest of the defence will pretty much pick itself, and with Nacho Monreal only available in the domestic competition, we’ll nee see Santos just yet. The midfield will pick itself with Jack, Santi and Mikel all resuming their roles in the team, whilst the front three is now starting to look like it has a better understanding of one-another’s roles, so I think we’ll see Podolski, Giroud and Walcott being asked to resume their recent excellent goalscoring form.

If we truly play to our strengths today and manage to find our rhythm from the first five or ten minutes, we should have enough to win the game. But there’s quite a big ‘if’ in there. Our inconsistency has been well documented this season, but we need to find a result today, because I don’t think Newcastle will get anything from the Spuds at White Hart Lane. So if we haven’t won the game by 5pm, I suspect we’ll find ourselves seven points adrift.

If you’re going today, sing up for The Arsenal people, we need everyone together to help the lads bring home those three points.

Stoke: difficult to smash a team that don’t want to play

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It’s easy to look at the result yesterday and think that Arsenal, given the recent goalscoring exploits, should have put more past a Stoke side that has been hit and miss all season. But the reality of the situation is that the way the visitors set up yesterday afternoon was inevitably going to mean that the game was going to end up as a scrappy, cagey affair.

We knew exactly what we were going to get from tracksuit and baseball caps team and they did not fail to disappoint for one second. With long diagonal balls pumped up to Crouch and Walters for what felt like forever at times, it was up to the back four to deal with the rain of long-ballishnesss that was delivered by the tribe of orcs in maroon and blue. And to the credit of Mertesacker and Koscienly, they did indeed deal with the aerial threat all day long.

Either side of the two centre backs we got a more steadfast display from Sagna on the right and a competent and effective display from new signing Nacho Monreal on the left. He looks good. He did the simple things well, coped well in the air and immediately endeared himself to the Arsenal faithful by (fairly) competing with Walters in an aerial tussle for which the Irish international game out with a bloodied face. It was good to see that he can mix it with what is most certainly the most physical team in the league.

In the lead up to the game I asked for two halves like our second half displays of late, but in truth we never really looked like there was the urgency than the last few second bales that we’ve had in January. Perhaps that was a good thing; it meant that we weren’t chasing to get back into a game we never should have been behind in. The first half was, in truth, a pretty turgid affair. We controlled possession and gave a few half chances to Stoke, but The Ox was the man that should have put us in front. First he was thwarted by the legs of Begovic from a corner, then he was stopped from opening the scoring by a wonderful save from the Stoke keeper. We can say a lot of things about some of the players in that team, but there’s no doubt that he is top draw. He’ll be snapped up in the summer I’m sure.

As for the rest of the Stoke players, well, lets just say I have little care for there antics. I hear words such as ‘warriors’ and ‘tough’ to describe the orcs, but the reality of what I saw yesterday was nothing of the sort. Glenn Whelan was cynical in bringing down Cazorla, Ryan Shawcross was a reckless in his tackle on Koscienly, but the most cowardly and scum-baggishness of all was Andy Wilkinson. I’ve thought this for many years, but never bothered to say it, but he is everything that is wrong with Stoke. He fouls, he commits dirty off-the-ball actions (knocking Theo in the face which I’m quite sure was intentional) and time wastes at everything he does. The only pleasing thing about seeing him play was that Theo gave him a torrid time all afternoon. I thought Walcott had a relatively good game and, end product aside, he was very effective in getting beyond his man. I’ve started to notice little things about him recently. His touch has vastly improved and he seems to be able to get the ball to stick to his feet a lot quicker. I’m not sure if he’s worked on his balance in training or whether he’s just eating an extra Shredded Wheat for breakfast, but whatever it is, it seems to be working.

The second half was much like the first. Stoke showed little interest in doing anything other than keeping their goal well marshalled, and we found it very difficult to break down. Arsenal have been like that for some time now in truth. If we don’t get an early goal against these types of teams then they become more resolute and even harder to break down. So when the goal came courtesy of a Lukas Podolski deflected free kick off Cameron, it was most welcome indeed. Contentious it seemed to be, because the fans inside the stadium were not afforded the luxury of the replay, but it was rightly given and we saw out the game to collect a vital three points. Vital on a day that Everton drew and Chelski lost. These are the sorts of weekends where you simply have to pick up points and I’m glad we did. All eyes now turn to the spuds to see if the Baggies can do us a little flavour.

There will be those that say Arsenal were unconvincing. There will be those that say performances like that will not get us into the top four. But you can’t score a bajillion goals every time you play. And you certainly can’t carve open chances against teams that certainly don’t want to even play. I remember Manchester United playing quite poorly against West Brom in December, yet they still came away with the points and the result was consigned to history. And that’s all that matters really. Three points.

I could go on about a few players like Jack Wilshire, who is so consistently brilliant that I’m running out of things so say about him, so I think I’ll leave it at that for one day.

Until tomorrow.

Two second half performances needed today

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Hello people. Game day again! Don’t you just love it when they come thick and fast? No time to dwell, no time to bemoan lack of transfers or a poor previous result, only time to look forward in hope that we see the Arsenal lads out on the turf today do their stuff.

And boy do we want them to do their stuff against today’s opponents. Stoke City have been often cited as a form of ‘anti-Arsenal’, playing a strong physical game coupled with big lumpy balls up to strong, tall and powerful front men. They’ve relied on our inability to solidly defend from set pieces and have certainly seen their fair share of joy against us since they entered the Premier League.

As for us as fans, we’ve made no secret of our dislike for their track suit-wearing oaf of a manager, prowling the touch line and screaming like a banishee every time a decision doesn’t go his sides way. With that baseball cap to top it all off, Tony Pulis looks like a ‘special’ type of manager, as in the type of half-wit that sits in the corner of the annual LMA dinner and no other manager dares to go near him in case they catch something.

As for the Stoke team, we know what we’ll get. Walters will be a willing runner and one of Crouch or Jones will be there to generally cause mischief and provide the knock downs. I was looking on the Sky Sports website last night and it looks as though Stoke have been playing a 3-5-2 formation of late, which I think will be really interesting if they adopt it today, because it will mean they flood the midfield and try to win that battle, but if they try to be too ambitious going forward they could be left vulnerable on the counter attack.

Despite our general hatred for Stoke’s manager and fans, you have to say that they do have a few technically better players than when they first entered the league. N’Zonzi was once linked with us and is a good player with the ball at his feet, whilst Charlie Adam – despite his horrid time at Liverpool – can still pick a pass and definitely has a bit of creativity in him. So whilst I suspect we might see a bit more of a defensive look to the 3-5-2, I think Stoke will shape up to win the midfield battle and profit from careless corners and silly free kicks.

From our side it’s all about possession and conversion. To win the midfield battle the trio of Wilshire, Cazorla and Arteta (who I think will come in, despite Ramsey’s impressive three games in that role so far – a bit unlucky for him really) we will need to be at our best in terms of passing accuracy. To win the war of conversion, we’ll need the front three to be on fire. To be fair to all three of Poldi, Theo and Giroud, they’ve all been scoring of late, so I hope that this rich vein of form that they are all in sees us profit from it this afternoon.

And so we come to the back four. Will we see the new boy Nacho in at left back? Despite the clear lack of faith everyone seems to have with Santos, I do wonder if Arsene will still start him. It would not be on merit I don’t think, but it would be on the fact that he has had one single training session with Monreal, so I think the Brazilian might be give his one and last chance. The thing is as well, we can’t really afford to cut him out completely, because he’ll have to play against Bayern. Monreal is cup tied and Gibbs will be injured, so unless the boss brings back Vermaelen at left back (missing today through injury), Santos is our only real option.

We know that if the players in red and white today play to their full potential then we should have enough to put Stoke to the sword. However, there is a big ‘if’ in there, and far too often this season we have seen this Arsenal team fall short. I am hoping that today is not the same. We have dropped enough points through sloppy starts, so the team has to be down the throats of the Stoke defence from kick off.

Lets have two halves like the second halves we’ve put on all through January.

Come on you reds!