Tag Archives: Kieran Gibbs

‘Wengjuries’ and classic Arsene protection of players

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Happy Friday Arsenalites. It’s a man-flu infused one for me I’m afraid. I’ve been trying to see if the power of positive thinking coupled with outright denial would ‘think’ me well, but it hasn’t really happened, as the sopping hanky in my pocket would testify. Except it clearly can’t because it doesn’t have a mouth, or a tongue, or opposable thumbs.

Leaving mutant pieces of fabric to one side for a moment, we had Arsene’s usual pre-match presser ahead of what will be a real challenge away from home against Fulham tomorrow afternoon. He gave us an update on some injuries and it appears as though Fabianski is out injured now with a textbook bit of ‘wengjury’. That’s a word I just made up to describe the fitness of a player who’s place in the team is not guaranteed, but who would probably have hurt feelings if the world knew he was being replaced, so has been put into this ‘Wengjury’ stasis. I wonder if Physioroom.com would run a table of the Premier League clubs with players in this position? I bet we’d top the charts all year round. Then we wouldn’t have to argue amongst ourselves about whether fourth place is in fact a trophy. People would be happy, there would be dancing in the street and all kinds of frivolities would ensue. The truth is we have no idea how injured Fabianski was, is, or will be. Wenger even said that they are going ‘game-by-game’ on his injury. I do like the crafty old devil sometimes. It’s like a running joke that the world is involved in. I bet a few of the journos even looked around at each other and gave it the old ‘yeah right’. But there’s nothing they can do but report it as an injury. Everyone wins. Except Lukas if he really is injured with a cracked rib. In which case, he must wonder whether he should have been rooming with Diaby so much in his career, because his ‘injuryness’ is obviously wearing off a bit on him. It would be a harsh blow for a player who will have thought his time had finally come.

The rest of the squad will be assessed today says Le Gaffeur, with a few of them carrying knocks and bruises from the assault on The Emirates from the New Blue Stoke from Liverpool on Tuesday. I love the way Arsene described how he was going to review the situation today, saying “There are a number of uncertainties about our squad but I will sort that out on Friday morning”. It’s like Arsene’s gone all ruthless or something, real drill sergeant-like:
“YOU! BOY! HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY?”
“Oh, erm, I’m a little achy boss, if I’m honest”
“Achy? ACHY? No! You are fine. Or you are fined. And Per hasn’t been able to use his abacus for some time now so is itching to take some money.”
“Yes boss.“

Hopefully they’ll all get through any of the bumps and bruises sustained by Wenger’s rigorous drills and we can expect a fully fit squad to choose from come Saturday lunchtime. There will be some big decisions needed to be made. I think the back five could possibly remain unchanged, with the exception of Monreal for Gibbs, who Wenger has talked about potentially playing higher up the field at some stage. I don’t know how high Arsene is thinking, because to my mind he’s not quite right for one of the three midfield positions, which probably only really leaves him a slot in one of the top three attacking positions. Logic would dictate that he would occupy the left wing position, but that would further beg the question on the future of Podolski and/or Gervhino. Personally, I’d be surprised to see it as a permanent thing, as I think Arsene has what he wanted right now in two good left backs fighting for a slot but it does provide us and him with some food for thought.

And finally from me today, some thoughts on The Ox, who Arsene also reserved a bit of praise for as well, saying that he has grown in stature this season and since January he has really improved. I guess The Ox is a classic example of how much hope we put into young players when they show flashes of brilliance and perhaps expect too much too quickly. I know I am guilty of it. The game last season against Milan at home was an eye opener for so many that he can be one of the worlds best, but at times earlier on this season he’s struggled a bit. The reality is that this is what you get with young players – he is still only 19 after all – and so that consistency of performance you see from a 30 year old pro that has been doing it for 12 years is not going to be found in a young lad still finding his way around top-flight professional stadia. The Ox has been looking better and better every time he plays and Arsene’s reluctance to play him every game and perhaps over use him is why he gets the best out of these types of players. We can all say what we want about his transfers, his substitutions and perhaps tactical naivety at times, but it’s hard to argue he doesn’t know what he’s doing when it comes to integrating a young player into the first team when he is ready to play regularly. Which position Alex will eventually play will be an interesting one, but at least we know he’ll be under the stewardship of a manager that will do it when it’s the right time.

That’s yer lot from me. I have a date with a desk and a computer sending online memos from one person to the next. Oh joy of joys.

Swansea away: Are we expecting too much from Arsenal nowadays?

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I can’t work out if we as Arsenal fans have expectations that are too unrealistic for this current crop of Arsenal players, or whether the players themselves are seriously under performing this season. We’ve had so many instances where we haven’t really looked like we’re one of the top four teams in the league this season, that I start to question whether we’ve had so long under Wenger, that the expectation of technical quality and attacking prowess is almost seen as a given when it shouldn’t.

We’ve now had a season and a half where we haven’t really sparkled for anything other than a game or two. yes, we’ve ground out results, but that’s it. That’s why to me, winning the Premier League is infinitely better than any other competition, as it represents the pinnacle of consistent performance. Any team – just as Chelski or the scousers – can win a cup competition by a combination of luck and one-off performances, but the domestic league is where it is at.

So when I witness first half performances like yesterday in which we were lethargic, ambling and to coin a popular phrase we all know so well ‘playing with the handbrake on’, I do start to question whether I am being unrealistic in my expectations of consistency. After all, if you look at the teams that finish fifth, sixth or seventh in the league, it is because they are good teams, but they fail to string together a series of results that elevates them into the Champions League spots. That is what I see of this Arsenal team at the moment.

Thankfully, we were saved the boredom of a fairly uneventful first half with a bit more like a cup match in the second. We started to press with a little more intensity, our passes began to find Arsenal players, we looked to be cranking up the pressure on Swansea. So of course it was inevitable that the Swans would get the first goal. A highly unavoidable one at that. Michu is a good finisher, but the wild swing by Koscienly left Big Per stranded and when the Spaniard delicately flicked the ball over the German to be through on goal, there was only going to be one result.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of looking a little shell shocked, we found our rhythm, again turning the pressure on Swansea and forcing Vorm to make a couple of smart saves. There was an incident inside the box that looked like a stonewall penalty, but replays showed that Ramsey had tripped over his own feet, much to Arsene’s disagreement in his post match interview.

The equaliser was a classic example of why Podolski is in the team. He may not be the most skilful player in the world, but boy can he finish, which he did with aplomb. His swivel and smash into the bottom left hand corner was deserved and a well worked goal at that. But it wasn’t the goal of the tie. Oh no, that went to Gibbs, whose first time volley from a Giroud flick was superbly rocketed into the roof of the net. It was worthy of settling any cup tie.

But of course it didn’t.

We pressed the self destruct button with just two minutes on the clock, allowing an unmarked Danny Graham to ghost in at the back post and ensure a replay. It was a classic example as to why zonal marking will be the death of us. It simply doesn’t work. We’ve been caught out time-and-time again and I really hope Arsene and Steve Bould ditch it before it does us any more damage.

A quick word on some individual performances. I thought Giroud had a solid game. He looked strong in the air as usual, worked hard throughout the game and got a fabulous assist for our second goal. He does seem to lack that world-class killer instinct that some former Dutch player we had last season, but we all knew that would be the case. However, there was one moment when I saw him on the floor in the second half and I found myself very worried about our striking options if he was seriously injured, so my real hope is that Arsene is having those same concerns. If so, we can expect to see reinforcements in that department soon. Whether or not it will be David Villa I remain skeptical about, as his age, wage and general price tag have all the hallmarks to me of a Chelski signing. But we shall wait to see.

I thought Gibbs was much better too. His goal aside, he seemed more comfortable than in his last couple of games, and only on a few occasions did we get exposed on our left hand side. Perhaps that is what Ramsey gives to the left flank when he comes in; there was one occasion where both interchanged for a couple of minutes as the ball stayed in the Swansea half and Gibbs continued to press. Ramsey may not have had a great game yesterday in his usual ‘square peg’ role he plays in, but it is scenarios like that in which I find myself almost understanding Arsene’s logic in that regard.

I thought our midfield was very quiet yesterday. The trio had more about them in the second half, but Cazorla wasn’t his usual jinky self, which could perhaps be down to tiredness having played so many games already this season. His tiny body is probably not used to the rigours of the Premier League and we saw the same from David Silva last season at this time. Up top on the wings we were absent in the first half, better in the second, whilst Theo had one of ‘those’ games where people would be bemoaning him if he wasn’t subject to intense media interest through the lack of ‘signing da ting’.

A draw may not be the worst result in the world, but it certainly won’t help to ease tired legs, as it will have to be fit in to get another midweek somewhere. From a purely selfish point of view it means I’ll get to go to the replay at the Emirates, so I’m taking that positive from a pretty average performance overall.

The team now has a week to prepare for the visit of the Champions. Let’s hope they are all firing themselves up for it from today.

Until tomorrow party people.

Arsenal news and underestimating Arteta (part 2)

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Morning,

Today’s latest blog instalment comes chocked full of mystery, intrigue and plot twists. Well, not really, I just give some views on Arsenal. And if you didn’t know that and want something a little more Ruth Rendell, I’d suggest you head over to the nearest Waterstones.

We’ll start with the news that Manuel Almunia has decided that those awesome heated sports bucket seats are not for him. Nor is the circa £50k per week he’s been collecting for his services to Arsenal for the last couple of years. And as if in an ultimate example of some of the deadwood mentality at Arsenal of recent seasons, Almunia has said he’ll probably stay in London because he’s too ‘lazy’ to go back to Spain. Good luck picking up £2.5m a year at Millwall Manuel. Just one of many that need to be shown the exit doors at London Colney I’m afraid.

Someone who doesn’t need to worry about that is Kieran Gibbs, who pulled out the worlds first (I’m sure) footballing cliche and told the official site that we now have three cup finals and must be focused enough to win them all. Good stuff to hear and we’d want to see things like that on the official site rather than “well the seasons over, so I’m looking forward to two weeks in Sardinia”, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, as they say. The team needs to show those away fans that have travelled north to the cave people’s dwellings that they are up for this and take all three points back down south. It will be far from easy, as Chelski and recently Man City have found out, but the team knows what it has to do.

One person that the team will have to cope without this weekend (and for the remainder of the season) is Mikel Arteta, and yesterday I received a text message from Oaf12 informing me that we haven’t won a game all season without Arteta in the side. It’s information like that you just hate to receive and, aside from the text wobbly smile that I sent back (you know, the one with the ‘s’ as the mouth), it fills you with a bit of anxiety for the next few games. So if you are like me, let me try and pour a little bit of water on that stat: 1) Arteta didn’t sign for the team until 31st August and so our bad run had already started before he was at the club, and 2) He was also missing in January when we had no full backs as well which ultimately cost us games because we had to rely on those defensive stalwarts of Squillaci and Djourou at right back. I would suggest that our poor January form had more to do with our defensive frailties than the little Spaniard. That’s not to say we don’t miss him; his form all season has been good and he’s scored some vital goals as well as kept the heart of our team beating and ticking over each week. He will be a big miss, but with our defensive unit performing better all the time, the onus will be on the attacking players to step up and show their stuff.

We may not be able to draw on the abilities of Lukas Podolski for our run in over the next few games, but it looks like the formalities are all completed now, as reports emanating from Germany suggest that most of the i’s have been dotted and the t’s have been crossed. More on our potential new signing at the end of the season when/if it happens, but the first of many one hopes.

And finally for today, it appears that David Dein has desided he hasn’t seen his name in the papers recently, so has raised his head above the parapet to inform a select few journalists that Robin has had offers to leave Arsenal in the past. I don’t know what level of ‘non-news’ this qualifies as to be honest. Of course he has had offers, and with his contract only a year to go before expiry, I’m sure David’s son is taking calls from clubs across the globe. I’m sure Arsenal do the same with players too, but it doesn’t mean they will sign, just look at the interest being generated by Junior Hoillett. So talking about offers from the past is as useful as me talking to you about the choice I made on Friday to go for a Chicken Korai. Sure, they offered me extra poppadoms, but I just couldn’t accept.

Anyway, that’s enough jibber-jabber for one day. You have a good one.

‘Super Happy’ left backs

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Hi all, on what looks to be a very sunny day here in London. The type of day that beer gardens were invented for. I’m sure I’ll be venturing into one at some stage today, whether it be for a quick tipple at lunch or a brewski in the evening, count me in. You could say I’m ‘super happy’ with the weather prospects for today.

If you were Andre Santos that is.

Our beefy Brazillian spoke to the official site and was published yesterday talking about how he’s adapted to English football, and how happy he is that the club, fans and everyone else associated with Arsenal has made him feel welcome. At the beginning of the season I wrote a piece for the matchday magazine about how I see Arsenal as ‘the worlds biggest family club’ and it is stories you hear about the non-playing staff, the way the players speak fondly of the club, and the general aura that we have about us as a football community that you hear stories like this and see what I meant when I said that. Yes, we are a corporate entity that turns over millions of pounds, but you get the feeling that we haven’t lost sight of our roots.

As for Andre himself, it is a real shame he got hit by injury when he did. As he picked up his injury he was just hitting the kind of form we’d all hoped and with Gibbs propensity for spells on the sideline, you can’t help but think that had he not got injured in Greece, he would probably have knocked Gibbs into a squad player role. I like Gibbs; as a product of our academy I want him to succeed, but his fragility is a concern. On the of he side of the field Sagna has shown what consistency does, and it is only because of Andre’s long-term injury that I have called for another left back. In a similar way to how Gallas was always injured for at least one prolonged period per season, I really hope the same does not happen for Santos.

Anyway, enough of the nail biting on what might come to pass, and across to the reality of what is to come – QPR away at Loftus Road. More on that game tomorrow but it really is a game that both teams cannot afford to slip up. If we want that third spot, we need to keep the Spuds at arms length and continue our momentum by picking up points. I think they will beat Swansea on Sunday, so it’s important that we put the pressure on them by winning the day before. Joey Barton says the QPR players (him included) are playing for their careers. If that’s the case then let’s hope for a 12-0 victory to Arsenal so we can rid the Premier League of cigarette stubber McGhee. I’m sure most of the Premier League would thank us for that. Let’s not even forget the opponent manager we’re up against: Mark ‘Adebayor didn’t do anything, it was the Arsenal fans fault. Oh and Van Persie for getting his face in the way of Ade’s boot’ Hughes. I know a few Fulham fans who will chortled at the prospect of Hughes getting relegated.

I’m sure we’ll hear more from Le Boss today so more on his sound bites tomorrow – hopefully a few juicy ones come through for us to have a chuckle about.

Keeping along the ‘super happy’ theme of today’s blog, The Ox has spoken of the confidence in the team at the moment. He says that the quality of the squad is such that we were always going to succeed, and that now the confidence is high and the spirit is good, the players are doing things more naturally. It’s really encouraging to hear players talk like this and pleasing to know that as a collective the players are believing in themselves. Our form over the last few weeks has been phenomenal and you have to give credit to all of the players for that. We’ve given ourselves a great chance of automatic qualification for the Champions League, and whilst there is still a lot of work to be done, it’s good to know we’re approaching the final furlong with our tails up and the wind in our sails.

So on that ‘super happy’ note, I bid you adieu.