Tag Archives: Football

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

Fanuary – another last one…..

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Morning all.

There’s not really a lot going on at the moment, as we count down to Sunday’s crucial game against Man City. Le Boss might poke his head around the door at the press centre in London Colney, but that’s probably it. He knows he’ll be asked about player availability, transfers and Theo, so nothing new at all I suspect.

With that in mind, I thought I’d re-post a blog on Fanuary that good olde Oaf12 did last week, but unfortunately we were poor in our communication and I posted something shortly thereafter. So let me hand him the floor and tell us who he wants to see with the remaining window days ticking down. Take it away Steve…

Hey party people oaf12 here!

So with all the excitement around the Fanuary series it seems mine was missed – queue the world’s smallest violin :(

The sad truth is that it was actually rejected the the evil bendtnersnettercousin who decided that it didn’t contain enough detail, which was fine. However, he also decided not to bother telling me…….pure evil I tell you!!

Anyway enough of him and back to me, you and the second final Fanuary :)

Enjoy.

Do you honestly think we are going to sign a number of players in January despite similar promises in previous seasons?

Really unsure about this one…..I’m usually very positive but I find it hard to see us signing a quantity of players after (by our standards) such a busy summer.

I know to us fans there are a few areas that obviously need strengthening / back up but what is so gloriously obvious to us isn’t always picked up by the boss – like the fact that Gervinho really isn’t a striker!

As usual we aren’t any the wiser with Wenger saying things like “Can I say we will be active? Yes. Can I say this will be concrete? No.” or statements about his main priority being getting Theo to sign before looking elsewhere – for all we know this night not happen until the end of the month, if at all.

I will remain hopeful though; let’s hope it pays off…..

Do you feel Wenger needs to buy a ‘big’ player in January in order to make a statement to the fans or just make the right acquisitions?

I don’t think it would hurt, yet I don’t think it is a necessity. I would have included Cazorla & Podolski as big players and I think that’s the level I would like to see us look at more – i.e. not Messi / Ronaldo level but still top class players. I would have definitely included Huntelaar within this level but he has signed a new deal at Schalke now :(

I know it’s not likely but a signing like Lewandowski or Cavani would be one hell of a statement and would be a great boost to the team. It would be a nice middle finger to players such as RvP and Nasri too.

The only negative would be that if they performed we would then need to worry about how long we keep them for, not a nice thought but unfortunately a reality at the moment!

Which position needs the most strengthening and which player would you sign to improve this area of the team?

I would say up top and cover out wide. Regardless of results and how we have been playing the stats are positive towards the number of goals we concede; we are just missing that clinical player up top to finish the job for us. Could this be Theo? Maybe – but should we put our eggs in a basket that may potentially be gone before too long, I’m not sure.

I’m also puzzled as to why Giroud seems to be playing fewer games since he looked like he had hit a bit of form….

I would have LOVED to see Huntelaar come in for two reasons 1) He is pretty damn clinical and is used to being the focal point up top 2) He doesn’t seen to like van Loser (as my son calls him).

With him out of the picture one of the two I mention above would be nice. I can’t see this happening though so let’s hope we pull another gem from somewhere…..hmmmm. We should have snapped up Ba.

Squad wise we need a keeper (I don’t even want to think about an injury to Szczesny right now some decent back up / competition like Butland, or us making it worse by him playing with one like last season), a left back (would love to see Baines come in but Shaw at Southampton has also impressed but the my hinder Meade) due to Gibbs’ fitness record and maybe some steel in midfield. I don’t have anyone in mind for this so can only point you in the direction of Ben’s post as he clearly has a preferred choice here.

I’d like to see Eisfeld get some game time too though.

Are we still in a situation of where we need to sell before we can buy?

I don’t think so but that’s probably not the view from the club. It would be good to get some of the players off the wage bull to make room for some of the above – unfortunately I would probably include Diaby is this.

It looks likely that Chamakh, Squilacci and Djourou may be out which is good for both them and their careers but also for our wage bill.

With Diaby my main concern is his injury record. Every time he comes back seems to coincide with a transfer window and he is hailed as ‘a new signing’ he then plays one good/great game out of 5 but is worshiped for this before getting injured for a few months just as the transfer window shuts.

We cannot rely on this and must sign reliable players and see his (and possible Rosicky) fitness as a bonus as and when it happens.

Saying that, knowing our luck, should these players leave they will probably never have an injury again and go on to play consistently for another team.

Do we need to sign replacements for potential summer outgoings in this transfer window?

Yes, without a doubt! Theo has actually been a bright light so for this season. We’ll need to replace him should he go and the sooner that is done the better. I’m sure that if he stays one extra man in the squad won’t derail the whole team.

Squad players (Chamakh and co) always need replacing but hopefully with more quality so that we can actually use them. Bringing Gervinho on or rotating him as a starter is really hindering us at the moment. His form at Lille and some of his early form shows he is obviously capable but at the moment he can’t even kick a ball cleanly – kind of important for a footballer – and constantly just runs into defenders. A decent winger to replace him and having the Ox (to remove some pressure) as back up would make a real difference.

Sagna is still one of the best right backs about (despite recent strange form) so if he heads off young Jenks will need some help and ideally another potential mentor. The French right back Debuchy impressed at the Euros and if he was willing to go to Newcastle…..

Would you like to add anything?

It’s been such a frustrating season so far as I had such high hopes for this team as on paper we look very good.

I don’t think major surgery is required (I seem to find myself saying that every year) but wouldn’t say it will be a simple key-hole job either.

We need to stop putting blind faith in players such as Diaby and also need to be harsher when assessing ability / form. Gervinho gets 90 mins when he is less effective up front than Mertersaker would be – this needs to stop.

I know I have focussed on our attack more than the defence but for me a strong attack really does help the defence. They are out under less pressure and there is always a focal point, conceding a goal isn’t as soul destroying and actually if you look at our (1st choice) defenders individually there are plenty worse players out there but not piles of better ones.

We also need to stop paying the mid-tier of players so much money so that clubs aren’t put off by their wages. We seem to have this the wrong way round – our worst players can’t find new clubs as their wages are too high, yet our best players could go to Liverpool and get more money.

Seems odd to me…..

Thanks all, until next time.

oaf out

A footballing utopia cake

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Another weekend sails off into the sunset, with another working week tap, tap, tapping at our doors. But what. A. Weekend. In footballing terms anyway. As an Arsenal fan, you as well as I got our domestic league utopia this weekend. If you are similar to I, a victory for Arsenal is obviously the first priority in terms of making it a happy footballing weekend. It’s your bread and butter. It’s the sponge part of the cake if you will. But in order to get one of those multi-tiered cakes with coloured icing and perhaps some edible characters on top, you need to have your rivals dropping points as well. This weekend we got a four-tiered layered cake with coloured icing and a massive edible Arsenal cannon on top.

We beat a Champions League contending rival (Liverpool).

Our closest Champions League rivals slipped up away from home (Chelsea).

Our geographically closest rivals slipped up at home (Spuds).

An outsider for Champions League contention slipped up in their local derby (Newcastle).

With all of the above happening it really couldn’t have been a better weekend and the fact that we are now looking up at Spurs in third space (4pts), as well as looking down at Chelski in fifth (3pts), I am hoping that it can build not only the physical momentum that we want in terms of picking up points, but also the psychological momentum as well. I read on Twitter last night that there is a big difference between looking up and chasing and looking down and being chased. I think we’ve fallen foul of that in the past and our own mental fragility that the team has shown by collapses in seasons past can be transferred to our local rivals this season. I also think that this Arsenal team, more than any other, is susceptible to bouts of some form of footballing depression. We get into ruts that appear to spiral us further and further down the rabbit hole and as last years end of season collapse showed, we can’t always rely on ourselves to get us out of it.

So perhaps more than anything the fact that we have a target in front of us (finish third in the league) despite being effectively out of all competitions is a good thing. In a way, the fact that we suffered such a drubbing against Milan could be seen as a positive. The players now have nothing to lose on Tuesday. A defeat will be greeted with “oh well, we knew we were practically out anyway” and a victory that puts us through will be seen as some form of miracle and put the teams confidence to an all time high. Had there been just one goal in it and we’d fall foul to a last gasp Milan winner tomorrow night, think how confidence sapping this might have been?

As it stands the damage to confidence from the first leg has been done. And we paid for it through FA Cup defeat to Sunderland. We readdressed the confidence levels with a morale boosting victory over Spurs and followed up on Saturday with, had we been a Stoke, Fulham or Aston Villa, the media would have called ‘gritty’ performance against the scousers. We need to continue that league form next Monday against Newcastle and then hope Everton do us two favours within about 10 days: turn up and play Spurs off the park, then don’t turn up when we line up against them after the FA Cup weekend a week later.

In terms of the rest of the Arsenal related news, there will be no doubt be some stuff trickling through during the course of today regarding the squad for tomorrow night, with one man in particular wanting to be available despite leaving the field on a stretcher on Saturday: Mikel Arteta. He spoke of the incident which saw Jordan Henderson getting away with on-field assault and revealed he actually can’t remember much after the initial impact. I think Arseblogger said it in his blog that it was a pretty disgusting action by the Liverpool player, and possibly it was also equally as disgusting that Sky thought it a ‘nice touch’ that he patted Arteta as he left the field on the stretcher. Henderson knew what he was doing and he didn’t care. It didn’t even get shown on Match of the Day, which pretty much sums up the media thoughts on the matter.

We’ll also probably find out a bit more on the Verminator, who took a few knocks against Liverpool but looked to come through ok. Unfortunately for us, he has a national team coach in the Raymond Domenach model, who doesn’t see why he shouldn’t have played Vermaelen. I don’t think Wenger is annoyed with the fact he played, more that he played 90 minutes. And for the Belgian coach to say he was forced into the action because another player was sent off is pretty ridiculous for me. What, have you only got two central defenders in your whole national team squad? Of course not. He could have bought off Vermaelen but he chose not too.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. Enjoy your slice of football utopia cake. I hear it goes down well with a glass of ‘gloating’ Chablis.

Is that the sound of momentum?

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Morning you fabulous people. I’m sure you’re all waking up to a lovely day today, irrespective of the weather. For gooners everywhere, tis a grand Sunday after a great victory yesterday.

We travelled to Anfield off the back of a thrilling victory against our arch rivals last weekend and ploughed head first into another very tough match against a team with aspirations of a top four finish. Liverpool were also coming off the back of a morale boosting cup final victory and so their confidence will have been just as high as ours. As the team sheets were read out on the radio before the match yesterday, we were boosted by the knowledge that the Liverpool side playing against us would have to cope with the absence of Glen Johnson, Stephen Gerrard and the injured Daniel Agger. As we drove from the Management’s family home pre-kick off I couldn’t help but muse that this is a similar situation that we found ourselves in when the Scousers visited the Emirates earlier in the season, albeit theirs was a scaled down equivalent – many of their first team players were still available. But the absence of a few key ones, plus Bellamy on the bench, meant for a happy man pre-kick off.

As the first half wore on the happiness turned to frustration, as Liverpool edged us in pretty much all elements of the match. Apart from a good save by Reina from Theo Walcott within the first ten minutes, the Liverpool goalkeeper was a spectator, which was certainly more than you could say about our young stopper in between the sticks. Wojcech Szcsceny had clearly decided he needed a double helping of his Weetabix before the game started, because he was in fine and commanding form, denying Liverpool on numerous occasions and most certainly keeping us in the game. Of course we are Arsenal, which means there is a cast iron guarantee that one of two things will happen – we get unlucky, or we shoot ourselves in the foot. Of course, both happened in that first half. Even the heroics of the young Pole couldn’t stop that.

After around 18 minutes of sustained pressure, the world’s biggest reprobate Luis Suarez decided he wanted to add ‘diver’ to his list of ongoing unfavorable personality traits. Working hard to get through the Arsenal defence with a neat one-two, he shifted the ball past Sczsceny and decided to swan dive over the youngster to try to get his side in front. The only thing that was worse than his blatant cheating in my mind was the fact that Sky have tried to exonerate him by claiming that there was contact. Even if he was tickled on the shin by Wojcech, there is no way there was enough contact to warrant his movement. It was a dive. Plain and simple. Thankfully however, the Pole was doing his best Gandalf impression and told penalty taker Kuyt “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” saving first from the penalty, and then from the rebound. Brilliant stuff.

Suarez

Suarez attempts a triple pike with a twist

 Liverpool were ahead shortly after however, through that other cast iron Arsenal guarantee: Lady luck being unfaithful. As Gibbs got lost further up the field, Liverpool broke, finding Henderson on the right hand side, who put a low cross into the box for Koscienly to slice into his own net. It was pretty basic stuff and the Frenchman will be disappointed with the end result.

Liverpool pressed for a second and possibly should have had it when Suarez hit the post first, then Kuyt flicked the ball past Scz only for it to trickle against the inside of the far post from a Downing cross. In boxing terms, we were on the ropes. But in keeping with the boxing analogy, we have a sucker punch in us. A real good one too. He’s called Robin Van Persie. On 31 minutes Sagna found the Dutchman with a great cross and in got beyond Carragher to head us level. At half time we were level and as Wenger pointed out afterwards, we probably should have been a couple down.

The second half didn’t see Liverpool put us under as much pressure as the first, but they were still a threat and always had me nervous. So when the added time board came up saying eight minutes I feared a last-minute Liverpool goal to break our hearts. And had they got it I don’t think many would have complained. However, having seen our team dominate games and get sucker punched enough time, perhaps we finally got to see what it looks like on the other side of the fence, as RvP volleyed home an exquisite finish from a ball over the top by Alex Song. He is getting a lovely little habit of popping up with assists at the moment. Lets hope it continues.

Job done. Six points from two games. And with Chelski being beaten at West Brom the day would have been perfect were it not for the two injuries – one from Arteta as Henderson (deliberately in my opinion) clashed with the Spaniard. He was stretched off with suspected concussion. Lets hope he’s back soon and its nothing serious. The other injury was to Abou ’Mr Glass’ Diaby who came on for Arteta only to hobble off with five minutes to go with a suspected hamstring. I have to say, it does look more and more likely that we will never see Diaby establish a regular position in the side and with the wage bill already as sky-high in the side as it is, we have to look at offloading him soon.

Another slightly saddening thing to see is the Theo Walcott conundrum. He was largely anonymous today and after a great second half on Sunday it would have been nice to see him have back-to-back stellar performances. But sadly his form is like his sprinting, in very short bursts deadly, but he just can’t do it enough.

RvP is something special though, isn’t he? At times he’s carried this team on his back single-handedly and once again yesterday he proved his importance. New deal please Arsenal. Come on guys and get it sorted. He has helped to craft out some form for us and dare I say it, perhaps even whisper it, but it looks like we’re finally building some momentum. I’ve said previously that we need to win a couple of ‘big games’ in a row and we’ve done that this last week or so. It’s vitally important we carry our momentum to Newcastle at home in just over a week and then Everton away a few weeks later.

So today we sit three points clear of chelski having played two much tougher games than them, and we’re on the coat tails of the spuds. Good stuff and making for a happy way to start the working week tomorrow.

Until then.

NLD: a call to arms for Gunners

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Morning all.

So here it is. Time for yet another North London Derby at home. This is what we’ve been waiting for since the dross served up by the playing staff last Saturday. A time for redemption. A time for a showing. A time for passion, for commitment and for a display that has the fans chanting the names of their heroes with gusto and belief. A time for forgetting the history of this season and pouring a healthy dose of petrol on to the form book and flick a sparkler on to the afore mentioned notepad.

And let’s face it, never have we as Arsenal fans eve wanted the phrase ‘form goes out the window for a derby’ to be true. Because we’d be screwed. Much like Michael Jackson’s doctor. Our season hasn’t so much been a journey but more of a pilgrimage, with many pointless stutterings and startings and today we find ourselves at yet another junction. A fork in the road that leads to Dissappointmentville or Success Town. We have been to Dissappointmentville too many times this season. It’s shit and they don’t make good waffles.

Standing in our way today will be a Spurs team that, as much as it pains me to say, have been very good this season. They have added consistency to their game and, with the benefit of not having any key players injured for any length of time, have benefitted from regularly fielding a settled side. So much so that the side we see tomorrow will be easy to predict, albeit not so easy to negate. They will cause us problems with pace through the Ape Man – Gareth Bale – will get at least 70 minutes of ‘handball pretending to be off his chest’ Van Der Vaart and the added effort of Greedybayor. Make no mistake about it, he’ll be up for getting one over on his old club and the fans that once hailed his name. He’s still in his ‘I’ll put some effort in’ first season, so we should expect nothing less than a tough game for Vermaelen and Koscielny. We’ll all be hoping that the latter gets through his late fitness test along with Gibbs, and forms something of what looks like a full strength back five, because we are going need it against one of the Premier League’s form teams.

I’ll be taking The Management along for her first taste of a big game, and what better game than the NLD. The Arsenal fans will be up for this. We’ll want it bad. Although there will be nerves from many, there will be an equal dose of shouty passion too.

And here’s the thing. I think we’ll win today. I have no idea why and there is nothing I can point to as scientific evidence, just an unwavering, unequivocal belief that today is our day. The team has had a week away from football and had a chance to talk, reflect and review a horrible week last week. They will be hurting and there is nothing more they will want than to get one over our old rivals.

I spoke to a couple of Spurs fans during the week that were understandably confident. This is the first time I know that they going in to the game probably as favourites. And it is not a ‘must win’ for them unlike us. I am hoping that this very fact will mean our players want it more. They HAVE to want it more.

I’m not going to mention the possibility of defeat because of what it might do to this team and to the Manager. But also because I believe it won’t happen. It can’t happen. Wenger can’t let it happen.

So here it is. My rally cry. My call to arms to all gooners all over the world. Believe in a victory today. Will it with all your being and if there is enough belief then it WILL happen. And if you are going to be inside the stadium then vocalise your belief and get behind the team from the first kick.

Victoria Concordia Crescit – Victory Through Harmony.

Together we can make today a good one for everyone associated with Arsenal Football Club.

Until tomorrow.

The ‘War Chest’

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Hi All,

Everyone ok? *Hides*

So we all must have seen it… ‘Arsene Wenger to be given a war chest of £55 million’

I literally swore when I saw it…£55 million…..Let’s be frank, it’s a bloody lot of money, but in today’s game and especially for club of our stature it’s just shrapnel…

All the obvious questions are flying about in my head. Will Arsene be there in the summer? If he wasn’t, would you want Gazidis picking our next manager? I certainly wouldn’t!! – Is Arsene capable of doing all that business by himself and simply can it ALL be done?

First things first, the squad needs a complete face lift and we all know who the culprits are:

  • Almunia
  • Mannone
  • Squillaci
  • Gibbs (I write this with a heavy heart)
  • Djourou (He won’t, but I would)
  • Diaby
  • Denilson
  • Benayoun (we’ll just send him back so will be the easiest to offload)
  • Arshavin
  • Park
  • Walcott
  • Vela
  • Bendtner
  • RVP (Maybe?? Or maybe it is an inevitable consequence of our failure that he will make a swift exit, stage left)

Thirteen, possibly fourteen if you include RVP, players that will (we hope) be shunted out of London Colney come June. That’s what I assume the fan’s would want – do you agree? Being realistic, it could ony be five or six off that list, which then limits the amount of players able to come in. Arsene has already commented on the 25-man squad rule which for me is one of our main problems. Obviously Benayoun’s loan deal would be up, so that frees up a space. On the other hand certain players being classed as under 21 now over that bracket would be a major issue.

If…and a big IF…. we manage to offload some of the better players from that list, and I use the term ‘better’ loosely – not the word I would normally choose for most of the players on that list - firstly we need to free up before we add but more importantly we will need more than £55 million for our overhaul. How much value can you put on an underperforming Walcott? £12million? What about Arshavin? £9million? Vela? £6million at a push and Denilson at £3million? (I plucked these numbers from the top of my head) That’s another £30 million added on to our almighty ’War Chest’. Giving us an….Wait for it…… a wooping £85 MILLION people.

So what could we get for £85 million? Possible (Arsene-eque) player incomings could be (if you believe some of the press reports) Oliver Giroud, Andre Ayew, Marvin Martin and Yann M’Vila. This list seems the more likely to be honest, which would cost around £70million within the original budget. Peter Hill-Wood is rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of remaining ‘within budget.

In my opinion we NEED more than that!

My in’s would be Gotze (£30m), Siem De Jong (£10m), M’Vila (£25m) and Jan Vertonghen (£10m) – £75million all in. I could continue, we all could continue but I have to stop somewhere.

‘Apparently’ last summer we did try to offload some of the ‘culprits’ but due to the large wages the players demanded we where unable to shift the dead wood… So does that mean we are going to have to accept a lower offers? Put simply – yes. This team is simply dire…Arsene is going to have to take a long hard look at himself and admit defeat on his ‘Philosophy’. For Now.

In Arsene Wenger’s time as manager he has roughly spent around £7Million NET. *Pause – Inhale, shake head…Continue*…..perspective people, perspective!!

If we are talking about just spending (without sales) last summer was the most he has spent, around £50Million. So he has got it in him…. We where rumoured to making considerable bids for Mario Gotze and Yann M’Villa whether they where just enquiries or bids?? We will never know! (Unless he writes a book, Which would be awesome).

In 05/06 he spent – £25million and in 08/09 he spent – £32million. Which are the other largest amounts he has spent in a transfer window. But nowadays that’s just childs-play. For his job and future at Arsenal he is going to have to smash all of his previous expenditures.

Arsene’s Expenditure

The Mystery Money – The Emirates has cost around £470 Million to build. Since the move from Highbury, even once the debt repayments are taken into account turnover has increased by at least £20million a year. Now add the money from player sales and more recently the sales of Fabregas and Nasri. That’s well over £100million. In my opinion the board must be holding back. After seeing the backlash from fan’s, the board and Arsene are going to have to `release some of our money for the future of Arsenal.

Cheers for reading

Try to be happy

Ben

Please follow the Suburban Gooner’s team @BenLeeder , @ChrisHoward1982 and @Oaf12

Editors note (Chris)

Yesterday saw the latest Arsenal Supporters Trust meeting which outlined in a little bit more detail what the AST, who are very close to the inner workings at Arsenal, believe has happened in terms of Arsenal’s finances. The AST takes a very close look and makes some pretty accurate ‘assumptions’ based on information fed to them by the club. Yesterday’s meeting was in the wake of the clubs interim financial figures they will publish in about a week’s time.

You can read their statement and assessment of the latest set of figures here – Arsenal Supporters Trust.

I know that what the AST is only the ‘assumptions’ from a fans perspective, but as I said above, they are usually quite accurate with their analysis and, if you read the statement, it makes for some slightly worrying reading. Stan Kronke has plenty to answer for at the moment, not least in what direction this club is going. Let’s not hope he doesn’t plan to just syphon money out of this profitable venture to cover other ventures closer to his US home.

More tomorrow.

Owed a response, get a joke

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Morning gooners,

A little bit of a warning before I begin today’s blog: it wasn’t a fun one to write and it definitely ain’t gonna be a pretty one to read…

Following Wednesday’s atrocious effort against a good but not bad AC Milan side, Arsene Wenger said he needed to see a reaction from his players in the FA Cup up at Sunderland. The players had also been wheeled out post San Siro and had made comments talking about giving a response to the fans and showing the commitment that the fans give by travelling across the globe to watch The Arsenal weeek-in, week-out.

We got nothing of the sort.

You can blame the pitch (which Wenger did), you can blame fatigue (which Wenger did) and you can blame our injury problems with Coquelin, Ramsey and Squillaci all coming off at some time through injury (which Wenger did), but the one thing you cannot defend is the lack of effort shown by the team through yesterday’s FA Cup defeat yesterday.

Wenger said on the official site that the players gave everything in their legs. That they tried their hardest and that they pushed as much as they can to get the win. Do you know what I say to that? Utter tosh. Once again us Arsenal fans (travelling away fans in particular) were subjected to abject failure from a team that could manage just one shot in 90 minutes against a hard working, industrious, Sunderland team. In fact, i’d go as far to say that abject does credit to that performance.

I am actually more angry than I was for the AC Milan post match review. Not because we played worse, but because we were promised a response from the club, the manager and the players. Let’s face it, we have now lost all hope of a cup this season and it has come because of a total lack of ‘mental strength’ coupled with actual ability of some of the Arsenal squad.

Not one player yesterday came out of the game with any credit. Not one. In fact, some of these players have had their stock reduced so much that when I hear their name called out I think I might cringe a little.

The Ox was pretty anonymous, but he’s been thrust into a team that is in free fall so you can’t expect him to perform miracles each week.

Theo Walcott was benched for the start of the game, but I am not sure if he made two touches or three in the 35 minutes of play he had in the second half. Can somebody show this kid the exit door, because if he thinks he deserves £80k odd a week then somebody needs to give him King Kenny’s number.

Johan Djourou has had the steepest fall from grace you want to hand him a parachute he’s falling so fast. The quicker Gibbs and Koscienly get back into the team the better – so we don’t have to see Johan any time soon.

Thomas Rosicky’s time is surely up. He came on, offered nothing, made a couple of sideways passes and saw out the game as much as a passenger as many of his colleagues around him.

Alex Song has been really poor of late, as has Ramsey and whilst I’m sure there might be mitigating circumstances, their failure to step up to the mark in the last couple of games show that they are not and can never take the role of a Fabregas to take the game by the scruff of the neck and win it single-handedly. And when Robin isn’t doing that then there is nobody who is enough of a leader to show the kind of metal we need to become a good footballing team, let alone a great one.

Sunderland wanted yesterday’s game more. We had no Thierry to call on and no attacking ideas. Gervhino had one effort in the first half that was saved well, but that was it. Sunderland put the effort, graft and application that fans expect from players. We didn’t even get half of that same effort.

I’m now at the stage where I can’t see where this team is going to pick itself up. I said after the Milan game I feared for the confidence and, going into a vitally important North London Derby our odds of winning the game will probably be the longest I’ve seen in my 29 years on this earth.

The Manager is the one that picks the team, is responsible for motivating the players and ultimately decides who he wants to join the club. But the burden he is shouldering is so huge I’m struggling to see how a summer parting of the ways isn’t going to happen. His legacy will be massively tarnished by the last couple of years of his reign – I just can’t see any way forward with him in charge right now. However I will say this: the board and management of the club has hung him out to dry so much that everyone is starting to think this is all his fault. It’s not. It’s silent Stan and the Old boys network that has got us into this mess.

Somebody else is going to have to get us out of it.

Sunderland preview: can we start the healing?

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Morning morning morning one and all,

If you are anything like me then you are still stinging a little bit from the defeat to AC Milan on Wednesday. Stinging like a bit of sunburn I got that time in Portugal when I thought that sun cream was overrated only to have a little brother pat you on the back at every opportunity. Note to self: sabotage Steve in some way over the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, getting back to all things Arsenal, and today we have the opportunity to exorcise the demons of Italy by smiting the Mackams of the North East. Much like red raw sunburn hurts as hell, the wonderful ability of the human body to repair itself means that the raw feeling today is tomorrows cool-looking golden brown flesh. And you get to peel skin as well. It’s like mother natures bubble-wrap. I’m sure you’re thinking “where on earth is he going to pull an Arsenal-related link out of this metaphor?”

Well folks, we may be stinging still from Wednesday, but it doesn’t sting as much as it did on Wednesday night or even yesterday. So whilst we’ve rubbed the Sudocrem of time on our Wednesday night woes, tonight we come up against the proverbial little brother trying to pat our burns in the shape of Sunderland, it is up to our team to smack down their advances, rather than let the pain continue by standing idly by.

This time last week we were up against the same team and by the end of the match we were the victors. There can be no excuses for not being prepared for what Sunderland may throw at us, nor can there be any excuses of midweek exertions. We are a team that regularly plays Champions League football and besides which, most of the team were statues and shadows of players in Milan anyway.

What is needed today is a reaction. One of the chief protagonists for our Wednesday agony, Thomas Vermaelen, knows this and had this to say:

We have to give something back to all those Arsenal fans who came all the way out here to this stadium, here in Milan, only for us to disappoint them.

We must think of them now because what happened was not good.

Indeed you do owe us something Tommy, indeed you do. And what better way than to get us into the hat on Sunday for the next round of the FA Cup. TV5 has been a consistent player for us and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt from Wednesday, but he was shakier and had more wobbles than Homer Simpsons gut, so let’s just hope it was a minor blip in an otherwise good Arsenal career. Johan ‘turning circle of a 12tonne Eddie Stobart lorry’ Djourou was also wheeled out to make some comments on the club site today, but he’s practically part of the PR department now anyway so I’m not bothering quoting one of the standard ‘we must learn from our mistakes’ quotes.

The team news for today is mixed. Yesterday Le Boss told us that Mertesacker will be out for ‘long term’, the vagueness of the response totally understandable, especially given our recent injury record. He’s clearly given up on timescales. “let’s just say we’ll never see him again and then we can only be pleasantly surprised” is the next thing I expect he’ll start saying.

The more positive news is that Gervhino is back and Koscienly, who hobbled off on Wednesday, will only be out for a few days. Unfortunately it means we’ll have to promote the press officer Djourou to the starting line-up, but we have little other choice at the moment.

The rest of the team should line up as expected, and I think Ramsey might drop to the bench for The Ox. I really hope Le Boss considers showing Walcott where anonymous performances get you by giving Gervhino and AOC the nod either side of RvP, but after Wednesday nights tactics I don’t think I could predict who will play.

In terms of Sunderland I think their team will line up the same as last weekend. Even if Bendtner was fit he couldn’t start against his parent club and so I think we’ll see Sessengon and Campbell up front. John O’Shea and Turner will probably sit in the heart of the defence, and whilst O’Shea talks about wanting revenge for last week, I doubt revenge will have any bearing on the game. Let’s face it, it didn’t work when Man Utd turned us over at home.

One factor that I do think will have an impact on the game will be the playing surface. What both sets of players had to endure last week was nothing short of shambolic, as we found to our detriment with the first goal scored by McClean. Not only will it affect our own passing game, but the players might also have one eye on where they place their foot. Some of them may have gone missing in Milan, but none of them wants to be sat alongside Diaby on a Saturday afternoon, nursing their wounds.

We cannot underestimate the importance of victory today. Not only will it sooth the pain of midweek defeat, but it will also help to claw back some of this teams fragile confidence. You do fear that it’s teetering on the brink of another end of season implosion and I hope we don’t see that again for the fifth season running. It would be not so much Deja Vu as Groundhog Day; Bill Murray style.

Nope, what we need today is for the healing to begin, for the wounds to be repaired and for the confidence to. E rejuvenated. Good luck if your going up there – shout your hearts out and hope the team can reward your efforts.

Back Our Boys!….Yes Arsene as well!

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To describe Wednesday in one word……dire !!

The expletives coming out of my household were very impressive….

A quite big statement to make, but that game was one my worst Arsenal experiences EVER….AND We have a lot recently… but it really hurt. I was slapped across the face with the reality of our ‘crapness’ (yes several slaps). We had nothing to offer…. No Leadership, No organisation, No attacking flair, No desire, No Nothing….Nada. Simply not good enough.

We have gone backwards massively this season….Last season we were two to three players off winning something…Anything. But this year, Six maybe Seven players :/

This is going to sound silly but BUT FOR F^%K SAKE ARSENAL SORT IT OUT !!

We are just going round and round in circles… But for a laugh let’s go over it again !!

  • Average squad who are over paid
  • A very stubborn manager
  • A board not willing to give Arsene any money?
  • Two billionaires fighting to own the club – for their egos.

oh and SOME fans who boo their own players when things aren’t going our way….. All adds up to a club spiralling down the drain.

The last six years have been nothing but a struggle for us as fans. The pain and anguish. The ridicule… BLAH! Arsenal why do you hurt us so. We Love you!!

One thing for sure – I am absolutely sick of people saying “Wenger needs to go”. Why?! Seriously what else could he have done ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT? Please let me know your opinions but with our current situation I think we need him to stabilise the ship….Yes you could say the ship he has helped sink, but Imagine if he goes go at the end of the season, we’d probably see:

  • RVP would go
  • Theo would go (personally I would pack his bags…BUT if we aren’t going to sign BETTER players we can’t afford *no pun intended* to lose any of the current bunch)
  • Real Madrid style youth transfers would disappear….
  • We would be left with a manager having to use Arsene’s players with no money ‘available’ for new additions…

Arsene DOES CARE about Arsenal F.C. Did you see him after the game? He looked like he was going to jump off a bridge. The man looked so despondent it was beyond belief. It was very refreshing, which sounds silly me saying this, but finally criticising his players and not passing the buck, he seems to be finally taking some ownership. Better late than never I suppose.

Maybe he/Arsenal needed this spanking to learn. I know it’s a silly way to do it but as long as we learn from this I think we can all agree it will be a good thing.

I think one of his major problems is that he isn’t questioned and is left up to his own devices. He must be questioned to keep him on his toes. The man isn’t untouchable he just needs some help. For whatever reason he has been given to much responsibility and it’s clearly effecting him now.

I think there is going to be some major changes at the club in the summer on both fronts. Only time will tell but lets hope we can finally move ‘FORWARD’.

Listening to some plonkers on TalkSport the morning after did cheer me up a little… saying Wenger has to go BLAH BLAH BLAH – they just don’t seem to think past the knee jerk reaction. Of corse we where a shambles and have been for a very long time BUT he has got us into the Champions League for the last 15 years on a shoe string budget PLAYING stylish football. Not many can hold their hands up to doing that. Who else would you have in charge of our club?? Please come forward and let The Suburban Gooner’s team know! My Vote is Arsene all day long.

All im saying is don’t push him out because he deserves so much more than that and you’d regret it….

Lets cheer up this morbid blog and talk about something we all love… TRANSFERS…. hooorarrrrrh I hear you cry.

Lets be positive for a second. IF we manage to get into the top four we could see a positive summer. Who would you like us to sign Ben? ahhh you guys!! My wish list…

Ben’s Wish List

  • Mario Gotze – 18-year-old Attacking midfielder plays for Dortmund
  • Siem De Jong – 23-year attacking midfielder plays for AJAX
  • Yann M’Villa – 21-year-old Defensive midfielder plays for Rennes
  • Jan Vortongen – 24-year-old Centre back plays for Ajax

A very unrealistic list but we need to show some intent. In my opinion these players could do it for us.

Cheers People apologies for the Rant just needed to vent. Get involved,let me know your feelings on the manager, the club and the players you want in and out. Cheers.

Be Happy
BEN

Please follow the Suburban Gooners team @BenLeeder , @chrishoward982 and @oaf12

Milan review: Thierry’s last stand

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Morning all,

This evening we reap the benefits of doing the business earlier in the season overseas and at home in the Champions League as we take on Italian table-topping Milan. Drink it in people, because United and City fans can only watch with envy at the moment. Let’s face it, we can’t match them in the league but we’ve shown them our European pedigree.

Tonight is also the last chapter in a certain legendary strikers second spell at The Arsenal. Yup, Thierry Henry makes his final appearance this season as an Arsenal player, packing up his things tomorrow to head back to New York to don the captains armband for the Red Bulls. It may not be his final appearance, as the big man said so himself, but personally I think it might be. There is also part of me that hopes it is. Purely and simply because if it isn’t his last appearance, then it means he’ll be back in January next year, which means we’ve once again failed to address our striking issues and are having to call him into battle once more.

Anyway, let’s park that bit of negativity, because tonight we all need to be positive and hope that all of the Arsenal players, not just Titi, put a shift in once more. It might be General Henry’s last stand, but there are enough soldiers around to make it a good one. He’ll play some part in the game, of that I’m sure, but we’ll just have to wait and see if he can make the same impact as he did at the Stadium of Light last weekend.

For me the ‘Great Unexpectations’ continues in earnest. Being an ex-spud, I have no love for Kelvin Pink-Boner, but his comments about Arsenal being either great or poor are quite accurate. We’ve seen both hand how woeful Arsenal can be, but equally we’ve seen signs of this ‘spirit’ you hear the manager extolling the virtues of.

The key for tonight is that come 10pm, Arsenal are still in the tie and in with a chance in the second leg. We’ve generally been able to do that in years past when we’ve been away first; the only exception being the terrible game against Bayern Munich when we were 3-0 down before Kolo Toure snatched us back some hope. So for tonight, a win (preferable), a draw (agreeable) or a loss by one goal with us scoring at least one (acceptable) has got to be key.

The manager has said he will attack AC Milan, and providing we have played with their shooting boots on (Theo certainly being one) then we stand every chance. Whilst this AC Milan side do sit top of their league at the moment, it is no secret that Serie A is not quite to dominant league it was in the 90s and Arsenal are certainly capable of upsetting the fervent home support.

Milan have also had very ‘Arsenal-like’ injury and suspension problems. At the weekend they were missing 13 players for their league game against Udinese. Some of which are coming back from suspension – the most notable being Zlatan Ibrahimovich (sent off against Napoli), who was the chief protagonist in Arsenal’s defeat at the hands of Barca two seasons ago. Flamini, Boateng and Pato are all expected to shrug off their recent injury concerns and feature in what will be a tough night for us against all that attacking talent, which will also include another mercurial Brazilian in the shape of Robinho.

For Le Boss I think the team sheet will certainly have a familiar look about it. With Mertesacker’s ankle resembling more like a rainbow of pain, he will be replaced by Vermaelen in his preferred position of centre back. The only question will be who takes the left back spot. Johan Djourou has failed to impress as a covering full back and Miquel is not quite ready for the first team. Gibbs could be thrown into the mix, but with his injury record and the intensity of the game, I’d be staggered if Wenger risks it. So I think that Francis Coquelin will be given the nod to take up that position. He certainly deserves it after some of his performances this year and I hope he has a good game.

As I mentioned above, I’m very much taking a ‘no expectations’ stance to the games as they come. That does mean that scoreline predictions and a general summing up of how I think the game will pan out becomes quite a challenge. But we all know the challenge that lies before the team. We all know what our ideal outcome would be, so les just cheer the boys on – whether you’re at home in your armchair with a cup of tea, or your singing up for The Arsenal inside the San Siro, give Arsenal the support and passion you always do.

Until tomorrow.