Category Archives: Transfers

Arsene loves his midfield versatility

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So here we are at the end of another week. Friday has decided to grace us with its presence and I for one couldn’t be happier about that. After taking Monday off to travel back from the North East, I feel like the last few days have taken an eternity for the weekend to show it’s face. But now it’s here and we can look forward to a footballing weekend of….oh.

This is going to feel very strange. I’m going to have to re-remember how I did it last summer. Perhaps I’ll take up Bridge. Or maybe not.

There is still the matter of my analysis of our midfield and attack however, so I will happily regale you with my musings, if you’d be so kind as to read on…

The midfield this season was the one area that probably had the most disruptions to it through injury. We started the season knowing Jack would be out until October but the foolishly hopeful of us felt that, if Diaby could just get a run of games together, he might just be able to shake off his incessant injury problems since that Dan Smith tackle a few years ago. Sadly for us, ’twas a mere pipe dream. Diaby came, played a blinder against Liverpool, then hobbled off against Chelski and we haven’t really seen him since. With the news that the club announced only a few months ago – Diaby would be out until Christmas – it leaves too much time and too many games both from this season and next, for us to expect him to play any more part in writing the ongoing history of Arsenal Football Club. I share the disappointment of many inside and out of the club, but it’s time to cut the chord I’m afraid.

In his stead, the midfield that formed of Arteta, Cazorla and Ramsey looked in good shape at times, and a little bit shaky at others, as each player sussed out the strengths and weaknesses in one-another’s games. Arteta sitting in that holding role is not something we expected from the man when we signed him from Everton, but he has shown in the last two seasons at Arsenal why Wenger rates him so highly: consistency and versatility. Arsene loves a versatile player. If Championship Manager 97/98 was real life, he’d have snapped up Nicklas Alexandersson without hesitation (he played as a Defender/Midfielder/Forward Right/Left/Centre). That’s what Arteta can bring to the team. He’ll play anywhere you ask him too. not just that, he’ll also be darn good at it too, such is his ability. Now i’ve had a full second season to watch him in action I can’t speak highly enough of him. Thankfully, despite the injury record he came with, we’ve not seen him out of too many games and his perfect hair has graced the Emirates turf enough times for him to become a firm fans favourite.

At the beginning of the season we saw Coquelin a bit more than of late and, as a player I rate him and the role he plays as a combative ball winner, but his lack of first team opportunities will I think lead the player to seeking pastures new. He’s of an age now where he’ll just want to be playing football and I think he’ll get a bit of a Diarra going on and want to drop down to a lesser team in the hope he plays regularly and then steps up to some of the bigger clubs in a couple of moves time. Signing a new combative defensive midfielder will probably tell us all we need to know about his future, but somehow I hope he can find his way into the first team next season. I posed a question on Twitter a few days ago about whether or not Arsenal fans would take Flamini back on a free transfer this summer. Whilst some say ‘yes’, I think those that said ‘no’ might have had an eye on Le Coq, as I see the role they both fulfil as very similar. When I first heard Flamini was available on a free I wondered whether or not it would be a good move for us, but the more I think about it, the more I see how it could ‘kill’ Coquelin. I think we should be putting more faith in a younger player currently at the club than an ageing one that deserted us.

But where one midfielders game time dwindled, another one stepped up, doing so in a big way. Aaron Ramsey has experienced somewhat of a purple patch in the second half of the season and has really come of age. He has found a place in the side that is not only valuable, but essential, given our recent miserly approach to conceding goals. This time last year ‘Rambo’ was severely questioned by so many Arsenal fans that even on some match days the frustration was palpable at times. But he has shown exactly what type of man he is. A brave heart. His all-action style and ability to do what Alex Song clearly thought was beneath him has won him a place in the first 11 regularly and also in our hearts. His form has also afforded the luxury of Arsene being able to use Jack Wilshire sparingly, so as to not risk further long-term damage to the midfielders prospects of shaking his injury problems. This can only be a good thing and will hopefully bode well for next season.

Which leads me seamlessly on to the player we all hope will be our talisman for the next ten years – JW. We all know about Jack. We all know what he brings and for the middle part in the season we all saw how he can influence and dominate games. The Swansea FA Cup match at home is a perfect example. He took the game by the scruff of the neck and won it with a superb finish. His goal tally is the only thing he needs to work on but it is something that will come with games I think. Just before Cesc had his place in the team as the focal point people said the same thing about him, so for Jack I think we’ll see the same. The only thing he will have to beat will be the injury niggles that have already caused him problems. Fingers crossed this ankle surgery gives him a full run at the whole of next season.

There have been other cogs in our midfield that have played their part, such as Rosicky, whose appearance towards the end of the season has been vitally important when one or two players went missing. Tomas is a great squad player. Some players that don’t play regularly take a bit of time to find their form, but Tomas has been able to – both this season and last – slot straight into the team and have an impact. His drive and awareness are fantastic and he’s even managed to bag a few goals towards the end of this season.

But of course, I have to save the best until last. Santi Cazorla ladies and gentlemen. Quite simply a genius. You never know just how long a player is going to adapt to life in the Premier League, but this guy was an instant hit, showing class from the first game this season to the last. It’s the little things he did early on that made me realise what a gem of a player he is. I remember in the first half of the 6-1 win against Southampton when a high ball into the sky was hurtling down to ground right by him. He simple placed his foot in front of him and the ball just stuck. Not just that though, because he managed to turn a player within a second or two. It was majestic stuff. And it proved he could cut it in this league because you get no time at all to think in the English game and Santi didn’t seem to be phased by that. He’s contributed both goals and assists and, whilst last season David Silva faded away after Christmas, Santi has remained an integral part of the team, the pass to Walcott for the second goal against Wigan a week and a half ago being another example.

We’ve got a great group of midfielders with differing levels of ability, but do we need to make any additions to take us to the next level? If I had a crystal ball and I could see how Coquelin could potentially step up to fight Arteta for that holding role, then I’d probably have a better answer. The same could be said for both Eisfeld and Gnabry. But i don’t. So at this moment in time I would suggest that we probably do need one more addition creatively. If Santi were to be injured, could we really rely on Rosicky for a prolonged period of time? Would he get us the leek of goals and assists that Santi has? I would probably say ‘no’, so think that this might be an area that Arsene looks at. Would I take Cesc back given the rumours? Of course! But I am skeptical that Barcelona would let the heir apparent to an ageing Xavi walk back to The Arsenal. I believe it’s just media bluff to achieve their desired readership levels, so I’ll save any hope for a more realistic signing.

More from me on the striking options tomorrow. Have a good Friday.

Say it out loud: defensive stability at Arsenal

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Ahh Thursday, how are you? It’s been almost a week since I saw you last, hasn’t it? No, you’re right, it’s been exactly a week. A week in which we learned our fate lies in the Champions League (qualifiers at least) and where hope has now sprung from the possibility of a proactive summer that will strengthen the team and put us in a position where we can hopefully look upwards to challenge rather than downwards to who is catching us up.

The subject of transfers will be a hot potato for the next few months and, whilst we would all agree that we need strengthening, one area of the team that surprisingly needs probably the least bit of surgery is our defence. Last year we leaked more goals than Julian Lestrange leaks politically sensitive material. We were subjected to abominations like the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford and you wouldn’t find too many Gooners that could argue that we had the basis of a sound and solid defensive unit. We looked beleaguered and devoid of any confidence at the back and going into every game you wondered what defensive lapse would occur today.

Fast forward to today and you find (this blogger at least) Arsenal fans that are looking at our defence and praising their stinginess when it comes to opposition strikers. We’ve conceded four goals in our final 11 games of the season and our defensive unit has been resolute in ensuring that we get into that top four spot. Most of those clean sheets came with a one goal victory, so it just goes to show how important the defensive side of the game has been. It’s true that our attacking impetus has perhaps been curbed somewhat since this defensive side of the game has been worked on, but in reality I’m sure you’d all agree that shipping very few goals and hoping we out score opposition is certainly more preferable to trying to play catch up after going behind. Although I appreciate that wasn’t the case at the mod point in the season – the 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool is a case in point.

We’ve got the second best defensive record in The Premier League. I’m going to let that sink in for a minute. Second best. As in, there are most other teams in the league that don’t have as many shutouts as we do. The perpetual knocking of Arsenal defensively over the last few seasons has been blown out of the water by some of our displays towards the latter end of the season, and it bodes well if we can continue that form into next season.

But it’s not just the back four that should be praised for the defensive aspect of our game and the improved work. In the latter part of this season the role that Arteta and Ramsey played in screening the back four has been vital in ensuring our solidity. That ability to track runners into the box and close down space in between defence and midfield has been a key component of how we’ve been able to build from the back.

Second best defence in the league. Just say it to yourself out loud.

At left back we’ve seen the arrival of Spanish international Nacho Monreal and, whilst it had many of us scratching our heads at the time and wondering why we hadn’t signed a striker on deadline day, there can be no doubts that Arsene made a good move in bringing the Spaniard in. Whilst doubts over Gibbs’ ability to play a whole season remain, the arrival of Monreal means that not only do we have genuine competition, we have two internationals vying for it. Both have been used effectively this season and both have helped to significantly contribute to our run in. Gibbs provides a bit more pace going forward, but Monreal has an assuredness about his game that puts us at ease about a million times more than Andre Santos ever could.

In the middle of the defence we’ve found our number one partnership, at the expense of the captain, Thomas Vermaelen. I feel for Thomas. The year of his captaincy has coincided with a dip in form that was probably at its worst during the 2-1 defeat at United when he mis-kicked his clearance straight into the feet of That Dutch Bloke. He was dropped for the Bayern game and the form of Koscienly and Mertesacker has meant he never really had a sniff at regaining his place in the side.

Mertesacker has been the one player that affords me a smug grin. All non-Arsenal companions that I have, have made comments about the BFG last season about Wenger buying another dud. It was the same the season before with Koscienly. But between the two of them, they have ended the season in tremendous form. I can say it now because the game has well and truly ended, but I think back to that last game of the season and if truth be told, for the majority of the game the Newcastle front line had slim pickings to feed from both Kos an Mert. They compliment each other so well. Koscienly has the recovery pace and Mertesacker has the positional sense. Unfortunately for Vermaelen, he’s not the strongest in either position and so he finds only a place on the bench right now. I’m sure he’ll be knocking on the managers door in pre-season, but it’s hard to argue your case when you have rivals for your position that are so miserly when it comes to conceding.

At right back we’ve had an interesting turn of events. At the beginning of the season there were real fears about losing Sagna to a free transfer or at the end of the season. As it stands now, there are some sections of Arsenal fans that I have heard say they wouldn’t be too fussed if he departed to Paris Saint Germain in the summer. Personally, I would like him to remain at the club. His form has not been its usual consistent self, but he has still been a valuable cog in that defensive unit. Perhaps the desire to see Carl Jenkinson become first choice has more to do with how far he has come this season, to the extent where he received an international call up for England, and now has many Arsenal fans hoping he can establish himself as first choice in the team next year. It’s understandable; Jenkinson is an Arsenal fan, he’s one of us, so we naturally want to see players who love the club as much as we do in the team. But he is still somewhat raw and with the experience of Sagna in the side, we have been in the fortuitous position that we can be afforded the luxury of questioning who could fill that right back slot, rather than a few years ago when we looked like we had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a square peg in a round hole.

Should we be looking to strengthen in the summer defensively? If I’m completely honest I don’t know. I guess it will come down to whether or not Sagna is moved on. I rate Jenko, but I’m not sure whether or not he’s ready to be the number one choice without a player who can challenge him for his place so if the Frenchman is moved on then i would say a definite ‘yes’. Jenko probably needs another 12 months of games and growth before he is ready. That is why I hope Sagna stays on. His experience will be useful, even if we lose him in the summer next year for free, so on that basis, I hope we don’t need to make reinforcements. There are other areas that are more in need of strengthening.

Have a good one Gooners.

Stick or twist: what to do about the goalkeeping situation

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Ten seconds I was away from getting my train this morning. The driver knew I was there and he could have opened the doors, but these TFL jobs-worths probably take some sort of sick pleasure in the annoyance of the commuters that pay their salaries, the bar stewards.

Anyway, my public transportation issues are not why you’re here, and it certainly isn’t the reason I do this shizzle every day. I’m here to talk about all things Arsenal and, by Jove (not a reference to the Fiorentina player, calm down people!), that’s what I’ll do. I could talk about the impending arrival of Sanogo but as I type this first thing on a Wednesday morning there is no deal to speak of and so no point in speculating.

It’s in the world of goalkeepers is where I wants to be today, and most specifically, Arsenal goalkeepers. I think it’s fair to say that in Arsene’s tenure as Arsenal manager he’s hardly found it easy pickings finding decent stoppers in between the sticks and this season has also been a challenging one for our last line of defence. Arsene inherited Seaman, Manninger didn’t really step up, Jens was a good signing but we only really had him for a few seasons, Almunia was never really a number one (in my humble opinion) and Fabianski looked shakier than than a Harry Redknapp tax defence in court. Yet along came this young, confident and bolshy whipper snapper with a name I’ve since spent a couple of years practising, to make us Gooners believe that we’d found a number one for the next 15 years.

Wojciech Szczesny has been able to make the step up and has, up until this season, been questioned in terms of his ability by few Gooners, leading to many last season believe that Arsene had finally found a long-term solution. But this season has seen old fears rear their ugly head. Some slightly suspect performances, question marks over his kicking and a general lack of form at the beginning of this year led many of us to wonder if Woj would go the way of Fawlty Manuel and decline to an extent that he wouldn’t make the first team next season. Arsene had to act, and act he did; Szczesny was dropped for Fabianski and the Pole managed to string together a strong of competent performances that kept his younger challenger on the bench for a number of weeks.

You may think me harsh to call Fabianski’s displays ‘competent’, but in my mind that is all they were. He made a couple of confident catches against Munich and pulled off a couple of smart saves, but as I reflect on his overall stint in the team, I think only that what he did was what we should expect in a Premier League ‘keeper. Perhaps that just goes to show you where we are at as fans; we’re so used to seeing some calamity ‘keeping, that any kind of solid display is elevated to a level as being seen to be good. I have nothing against Lukas, but I have never been convinced by him and to me he has all the hallmarks of a good number two (stop sniggering at the back). He’s just like Almunia in that respect. Manuel should never have been given the number one jersey. Even at his peak, he only ever did what he was supposed to. He’d save shots you’d expect him to save, miss goals you wouldn’t expect him to save, nothing more or less. To me, that’s where you get the world class ‘keepers. That’s where you see the cream rise to the top. Cech at his peak used to be like that – I had a mate that called him ‘Nightcrawler’ because he’d appear at the corner of the goal to make a save nobody expected him to get to.

I think Szczesny has that about him. We’ve already seen it at times this season. Just think back to the recent save at QPR from Remy. I don’t think that is something Almunia or Fabianski would have got to. Perhaps it was complacency that led to him to feel his place in the team was guaranteed, but what Arsene did by dropping him earlier this year was a master stroke, as it proved the perfect incentive to spurn the younger Pole on to win his place back. It was a jolt to the system for Woj and he reacted exactly how us fans want to see a player reacting to being dropped; he sharpened his game, played an important role in capturing fourth spot, and now looks to have re-established his position as the clubs number one.

As you can tell, I rate Szczesny, I really do. I think he has all of the credentials to be one of the best in the world, but he needs to be challenged, which is why I hope the club bring in an experienced ‘keeper in the summer. I think there needs to be genuine competition for that jersey and that Fabianski provided merely a quick adrenaline shot. His place as first choice ‘keeper was designed purely as a hygiene factor to encourage Wojciech to step up to the plate. And if you know you’re A-Level Business Studies, you’ll know that Herzberg’s hygiene factors rarely kept people motivated for any prolonged period of time. So my hope for this position in the summer is that we get in a really good experienced 30+ goalkeeper that can spend a few years challenging Woj to establish himself as a clear and definite number one in the Arsenal team. I have no idea who fits this bill and it’s not my job to know, just to support, but as an amateur Football Manager (I have the handheld version on my iPhone and I’ve guided little known German team Babelsberg to the Champions League spaces dontcha know!) I would say that somebody like Julio Cesar would be a good choice. The only question mark would be around how many gold doubloons were waved in front of him to join QPR last summer and whether he’d be expecting the same level of exorbitant cash to play as a squad player for Arsenal. There’s been talk of Rene Adler and from what little I have seen of him that would be a good signing, but I would expect he would be seen more as a replacement for Szczesny rather than a player to challenge and improve the young Pole. Personally, I’d rather we focused on developing him than finding an alternative, because I think he can be better than anything out there that we could buy. But we shall wait and see what Arsene fancies doing with his spending money this summer. Will he stick with his young Poles, will he look to motivate the youngest of the two and being in an experienced pair of hands, or will he twist with a new number one?

If I was to give a mark out of 10 for our goalkeeping this season, I’d call it a 6. At times we’ve looked ok – particularly for the last 10 games, but it is clear there is room for improvement.

Until tomorrow.

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

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Bonjourno Gooners. Welcome to Tuesday and all that Jazz.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good’un Gooners.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Baffling Usmanov tells on school chums

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Believe it or not, the thing that I love blogging about is Arsenal and football, but of course mainly about Arsenal. I enjoy talking about the highs of victory, the controversies and the implications for us fans of activity that is on the pitch.

So I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you lovely people to learn that what I don’t love talking about is politics and finances in football. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive enough to think that the world of football as it stands can survive without politics or finances – it’s just part of the world we live in – I just don’t really care for talking about it. It’s not the reason we all started playing, supporting or watching the beautiful game, so in my mind it is merely a sideshow. I know there are people who’s job it is to make sure the books balance, and I know that’s important because I don’t want to see my club on its knees because somebody decided to spunk a load of cash they didn’t have, but I am a simple man and I simply have eyes for what happens on the pitch.

Which is why it irks me when all I have to talk about on a Wednesday morning train journey into the office is the politics of the boardroom struggle that has been going on at Arsenal over the last few years. Alisher Usmanov is the culprit, determined to stoke the fires and dig in at the existing board whenever he can.

Quotes appeared yesterday from the shady oil oligarch about the way the club is run and in particular, Stan Kroenke and his vision (or lack of) for The Arsenal. Usmanov spoke of the fact that Kroenke is not interested in building a winning team, only a team that is profitable, and that finishing third or fourth would be more than enough for the American tycoon. He also made some bizarre veiled threat/comment about the end of the season and weighing up his options before deciding what to do. The reason it was bizarre was because in the same interview he gave he also said he would not sell his shares.

Now, to me, I assumed that his options were pretty clear. A) buy more shares (probably off Kroenke – which wouldn’t happen – not at the moment anyway), or B) sell his existing shares. So surely by admitting he won’t sell he’s already making a decision himself about what his options are, isn’t he?

What is the purpose of veiled threats like that? Does he expect Arsenal fans to raise up arms against the club and demand that the board accept his generous billions and spunk a load of money on 11 Messi’s? Does he want a seat on the board? If so he’s not going to get it by effectively calling them all useless – even if they probably are. And by constantly poking at the beehive of Kroenke, he’s hardly going to get him to give up his honey (shares) is he? The more I read about this person the less I seem to understand about what his true motives are.

I must confess I don’t know all there is to know about Usmanov. I’ve read a few unsavoury articles about his dealings but nothing that goes into too much detail. But what I do know is that I want to support a team that isn’t left to the whim of one man. Sure, we can look enviously at Chelski’s and Moneychester City’s millions when they lift a trophy, but talk to any genuine ‘been going all my life’ individuals of those two sets of fans about their thoughts long term about the club and they will tell you they fear what happens when the rich kid gets bored with his toys. We really don’t want to be in that position, do we? Plus, we’d have the shadiest of all of the billionaires, who isn’t shy of a TV or newspaper article. If we think Chelski’s affairs are put out like last weeks dirty laundry in public, imagine what would befall the club if Alisher sat on the throne.

The AST says that we should at least listen to what Red & White Holdings have to say and, for the most part, I agree. But I suspect that Usmanov’s plan is to rule with the kind of dictatorial approach that would see a board effectively removed and him making all the decisions. We’ve already seen what happens in football when non-football people do that. It doesn’t end well.

I agree that our current way of working on the board isn’t, well, working. We have an old boys club of men who don’t seem to have a decisive bone in their creaking bodies. We also have an owner who prefers ice cool home-made lemonade on his ranch in Colorado than visit the club more than once a year to make sure the bricks and mortar are still standing at his UK based assets. I suspect we’ll see Stan skipping off merrily into the sunset once the club takes full control of all of the sponsorship agreements in a year or twos time and he can sell an asset from his portfolio for much more than he bought it. However, I fail to see how it helps Arsenal football club for Usmanov to continuously try to widen the divide between the fans and the current senior management and owners. It’s like the annoying kid that goes and tells the teacher that as well as breaking the window by kicking the football against some glass, the school fish tank smashed and now all the fish are dead. It doesn’t help to try and stoke more fires and destabilise the club.

I’m pretty sure that none of this will affect the players. As long as they all continue to focus on the aim of getting a top four spot and keep getting paid it doesn’t affect them at all, but it doesn’t really help the club at a time when the collective goal should be talking about the football at a crucial time in the season.

Whatever anyone’s view, if you’re an Arsenal fan or have any kind of affiliation with the club, surely the only thing you should be concerned about is its continued success?

That’s enough from this ranty blogger for one day. Hopefully Arsene will say some things tomorrow and we can all be reminded that we have got a game this weekend.

Squad overhaul has already happened, plus poor old Song’s charred yellow/brown grass

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Well, here we are at Thursday and I think it’s fair to say that none of the results helped us particularly yesterday evening, as United drew and Chelski sauntered to a 3-0 win against Fulham. With the latter two teams being geographically the nearest to one another and therefore rivals, I expected a bit more fight from Fulham, if I’m honest. But lets not be fooled into any kind of hope that they will be as toothless against us on Saturday. I’m sure that for some unknown reason they’ll be massively fired up for the game. Actually, because they’ll be licking their wounds so much today after being well and truly worked over, they’ll want to show a bit more fight even though they have nothing to play for this season. The United result means that they’ll still have something to play for by the time they get to The Emirates.

Le Boss will probably do a a short announcement to the official site about any injuries or players out today, so they’ll be more for us to chew on tomorrow and guess what sort of line up we’ll see against the Cottagers. One things for sure, we’ll need to sharpen the pointy end of the team, because another blunt display could see our Champions League attempts derailed. Chelski look like they have the advantage, but of their remaining six games they play four of the current top seven (Liverpool, Moneychester City, Spuds and Everton), as well as a trip to Swansea, so they hardly have a simple run in.

Alex Song is supposedly unhappy in Spain. So says his uncle Rigobert. I’m sure you’ll all join me in a collective gooner smirk and a knowing nod towards Catalonia where Alex is currently based. I’m sure we can expect him going on loan to a Bundesliga team next season followed by another loan to a mid to bottom of the league Premier League side, accompanied all the way by the occasional newspaper interview of how he never should have left Arsenal. I’m getting déjà Vu here….Alex…It’s always pleasing to see that the lush green grass on the other side of Song’s hill turned out to be a bit yellow and dry in the end, but hopefully he’s learned a lesson, been a bit humbled and makes a career somewhere else. Like Maccabi Haifa. Personally, I wouldn’t have him back at all, as his and our time together has passed. That ship has sailed and we have a different type of set up now that he simply wouldn’t get into.

Kieran Gibbs has also ‘had a word’ with the official site and spoken of the fact that the team feel more like a team together now and that has been reflected in their performances. I guess that is one thing we all take for granted; over the last two seasons since the Cesc and Nasri departures, we’ve had quite an overhaul of the first twelve or thirteen players that make up the first team on most weeks. In just under two years we’ve seen Mertesacker, Arteta, Monreal, Jenkinson, Cazorla, Podolski, Gervhino, Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain all become regulars. That’s quite an overhaul in a short period of time and we’re only now seeing those players mesh together as a unit. Some will now be more fluent in the English language, some will know more about the players they were probably just watching on TV a couple of years ago, and a team ethic will have started to properly bed down. People have talked about a ‘squad overhaul’, but it’s kind of already happened before our eyes. Arsene has bought in that ‘experience’ everyone craved for, and now he just needs to touch up the paintwork in a few areas and we might find that we have a stronger side with most of the same players next season that we’ve had this.

We will need to strengthen and I’m sure the club will do it, but whilst there are definite deficiencies in the team and we have been poor at times this season, the strength of this years finish will give us an idea how much tweaking needs to happen. Don’t forget we lost a talisman last summer. How many of those are left in the team? Sure, Wilshire could leave, but does anybody believe he’ll want to? So on that basis, will we see another season needing to fill a big hole left by a player departure? I don’t think so. Any departure that happens this summer will not be one that sends shock waves through the squad as we’ll have ready-made replacements. That’s the good thing about spreading responsibility – it mitigates your risk if you lose a team member.

Anyway, that’ll do for today. Peace out hombres.

The permutation game leads to hope (via delusion/denial for some)

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Well, well, well. Welly, welly, welly. Wellington, Wellington Wellington. Yesterday’s results didn’t turn out too bad for us, did they? I mean yes, Chelski scraped past Sunderland with two spawny goals, but Spuds and Everton drawing? That’s probably the best result. We’d have all chortled at our lily white neighbours had they lost and, in the heat of the moment I too hoped the Toffees would hang on to collect three points, but you only have to look at the table to see that we shouldn’t be cheering on the scousers too much. So a draw was probably the ideal result as it brings us closer to the Spuds, yet a little bit further away from Everton.

And suddenly, after the doom and gloom of a post mortem at White Hart Lane, we find ourselves dreaming of more than just mere qualification. Some gooners are looking up at the lofty position of Moneychester City and speculating: ‘if they get a defeat tonight against Champions elect United, there’s six points between us’. And yes, we play three times before they are due to take on our nearest but certainly not dearest, in a couple of weeks time. So consecutive victories at home to Norwich and Everton followed by Fulham away could find us so far up the league some of us are getting nose bleeds.

There’s no doubt that form is with us at the moment and confidence is high, so why can’t we look to finish in that lofty position of second? Why can’t we start to get excited? There will be some pessimistic individuals that say that it will be used by Arsene as an excuse not to buy, but surely all of that is irrelevant, and perhaps it shows that some of his faith in his squad wasn’t misplaced after all? The fixture list coming up will certainly tell us that, and like I’m sure you are, I’m looking very carefully at each of the remaining seven fixtures.

Arsene and his team of fine young men have to play the percentages. They have to play down the race to the end of the season as prime ‘take one game at a time’ cliche category stuff. As fans we have the luxury afforded to us not to do the same, so this is the time of the year when we play the ‘permutation game’ with our remaining fixtures, trying to map out how the season will pan out. It’s a form of therapy that all fans desperately clinging to hope of achieving something all do, whether it be getting enough points to be safe, getting enough points to win the league, or in our case, ensuring Champions League qualification. The reality of the situation is that it is a completely redundant exercise; to quote another tired cliche, football is never played on paper, but for football fans doing just that by predicting points between now and the end of season, at least it adds an element of comfort to what has invariably become known as ‘squeaky bum time’.

I think for me, and certainly a lot of the gooners I talk to, Champions League qualification has become the ‘be all and end all’ for one simple reason: without it, we fear it will be used as another reason why the club isn’t heavily investing in the playing staff in the summer. We have been given a taste of the good life by Arsene when he arrived and after a few years in the trophyless wilderness, we want to taste that again. We all know the squad isn’t good enough to challenge for the league – and hasn’t been for a few years – so investment in new playing staff gives us all the hope that this particular issue can be easily resolved. But some of us fear that it only will be resolved if there is entry confirmed into Europe’s elite competition. The idea that the board will explain the lack of activity or spend of the cash reserves because we don’t have Champions League football simply doesn’t bear thinking about. It’s a topic that has been done to death, but you simply can’t compete now unless you are paying the big bucks – either through transfer fees or big wages.

So we all play this hypothetical game of probabilities with fixtures, looking at our opponents’ run in, trying to see where they will drop points and we will pick up. Our opposites on the other side of the fan fences are all doing the same and I’m sure are no doubt coming up with calculations that are favourable to their respective teams. It’s a football fans way of being delusional or in denial, but at least it gives us all that little thing called ‘hope’.

And yes, I’ve played this same game too. We’re going to pick up 21 points and finish the season on 77. We’ll be second and much back slapping will ensue. Have a happy Monday people.

Theo says nice things (shock horror!); Arsene’s Santos realisation

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Right then, back into full swing at work after an indulgent Easter, and back into the very important business of babbling about Arsenal on this here blog.

There seems to be quite a few little titbits of news that are circling around The Arsenal at the moment. Perhaps it’s still a hangover from the Never-ending Story Part II, aka the international break, but there seems to be plenty to sink my teeth into.

Take transfers, for example, as we see Reus saying positive things about our players (never gonna happen), Alex Song rumoured for a return (never WANT it to happen), plus a couple of Jovetic floaters that simply won’t flush. I don’t know why there are suddenly a few that have caught my eye, but as usual I see this speculation as the tripe that it inevitably is and so will stop there. These stories are obviously stock stories that the journos have on file for when The Arsenal aren’t in ‘crisis’ and we’ve had back-to-back positive results, so they’re clearly running out of broken cannon jpeg’s to slap on their back pages and webpages, so transfer rumours are the next best thing to try and get some attention.

I’m also not too fussed about the Nasri stuff that came out yesterday. Hey, apart from the fact that he’s been a pretty much bang average player since joining City, we’ve also now got van Persie to direct our ire towards. Nasri is simply a small dot in Arsenal’s history that achieved nothing more than a lucrative pay rise elsewhere. Picking Kroenke as a chief protagonist is a clear deflection tactic; he needs to find someone else to blame for something and picking a man who doesn’t speak and has many fans (me included) who don’t trust, is an easy option for the French coward. The fact that his attitude has been questioned at Marseille and Manchester City shows him to be the player he is. He could have grown as a player and probably a human under Arsene, but he chose the megabucks. Que sera sera and all that.

I’m more interested in a couple of articles that have appeared on the official site, actually, as Theo has spoken of his 250th appearance for Arsenal and Arsene has talked about the growth of Kieren Gibbs.

As you’d expect, Theo says all the right things and its a pleasant enough read when you’re in between weekend games. He talks about trading all of his appearances in for one trophy. But curiously doesn’t mention anything about the money he’s generated whilst spending his seven or eight years at the club! I’m joking of course, I know that he has a genuine affection for the club and comes across as a nice guy, so here’s hoping to another 250 and plenty of goals as well. There’s no doubt that he’s shown the flashes of talent and at times a killer instinct, but of late we’ve seen less of that, with the man himself going through somewhat of a dry spell in front of goal. I don’t think he’s in the same bracket as Emmanuel ‘give me another contract or I won’t score any more’ Adebayor, but the longer his barren run continues, the greater number of eyebrows will get raised, and comments about not finding his form since signing his contract will increase in volume from the dissenting fans at Arsenal. There’s no doubt Theo played a clever game with the club on his contract negotiations, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find too many people that think he is not trying now he’s got his payday. I certainly don’t subscribe to it. But he does need to start showing his early season form and I hope he can return from this short injury absence to start banging the goals in again.

Arsene is also quoted on the site talking about Gibbs. He has spoken of how the man has matured this season and really has stepped up his game. I don’t doubt that, but I also think it has more to do with the fact that he’s played a lot more games. He’s at an age where his improvements will become quite rapid now, so staying injury free – a challenge for a player that hasn’t been able to shake off the niggles in his career to date – will have a bearing on whether or not he becomes the best in the country. Arsene says he is one of the best three in the land and, whilst I’m sure that’s what he believes, I think he’ll need to put his injury problems fully behind him if he truly is to live up to that accolade.

One thing that did make me chuckle about Arsene’s comments in that article came when talking about the arrival of Monreal, who Arsene says is good for Gibbs in terms of competition, as well as ensuring that we have two left backs competing at the club. The thought that made me chuckle was when I immediately cast my thoughts towards a certain Brazilian now on loan at Gremio. Clearly Arsene heard some of the comments from the fans, read the blogs and post match reports and came to his own conclusions over Andre Santos: he doesn’t think he’s a left back either.

Until tomorrow.

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