Tag Archives: sports

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

A Mish Mash!

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Hi People, I hope all is well!

I’ve decided to give you a bit of everything today! A football ‘orgy’ you could say…

Sitting at home STILL sulking about the defeat on sunday…. Im really finding it hard to get over this one.. I want closure damn it! It hasn’t helped that my so-called work W@NKERS!! *cough cough* sorry… mates have been BAARR-ing at me! (I did chuckle)

I’m not sure whats getting me down the most…Swansea keeping the ball better than us? Ramsey trying TOO hard – Like Cesc at the Camp Nou? Koscienly defending and attacking? Our most beautiful midfielder ( ;) depends what your into) Mikel Arteta missing also the ball missing with him?

….I think because we didn’t have any answers…. We we’re average. I don’t really want to go on about injuries and players out of position’s blah blah blah… We should have done what was needed to get the three points we so desperately needed. End of. Apologies.

In my opinion one of the main culprits – Theo Walcott. You may say a little harsh, you may say Amen to that! But whatever your view! He has been at the club for 6 seasons now. Part of the furniture you might say… I think that is his major problem. No doubt one of the best finishers in the League….The problem is the rest of his game *palm to face* His lack of imagination ON and OFF the ball. His continuous ‘Straight-line’ runs. His touch. BUT What gets me the most is the lack of responsibility he takes during the game. On more than a several occasions this season he has left his full back in the lurch – When we have the ball. As we all know with our strange curse of the *Woaaaaaaahhh, scary voice*  TTHHHEE disappearing fullback! and being left with a player out of position and now with an inexperienced player out of position. So… We break and you guessed it… he runs into a blind alley and just seems confused. I can accept lack of ability but desire I can’t. Pull your finger out Theo!

Now on to the million dollar question with his contract running out in 2013 do we extend it? As much as my heart says ‘no’ my head says ‘yes’. We do need to offer him a new deal but not the ludicrous amount of money he wants. Certain games and against certain teams he is unplayable… Enough said.

After being linked with us last week…I couldn’t resist!

I’d like to present…Julian Draxler!

One to watch – 18-year-old Julian Draxler burst on to the scene in 2011 by scoring a magnificent ‘golazo’ for Schalke in the dying minutes of the cup against Nurnberg. The tall, lean attacking midfielder is technically gifted and very comfortable with the ball at his feet. Has great vision and very accurate passing to boot. He does his best work behind a striker in a free role behind the striker. But very capable playing on either wing. Very direct, creates space for himself to release his cannon of a strike. He is a very confident player considering his age.

He recently signed a new contract which runs until 2014, I suspect so they don’t lose him for a small fee. Reports suggest an offer of 5 million euros would secure his signature. I think it would take a little more.

Likelihood 6/10 – I have my fingers crossed for this one!

Cheers for reading

Be Happy

Ben

Follow me on @BenLeeder

Wenger does ‘injury’ deal with devil

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Morning morning people,

After a stinging defeat like the one on Sunday, doesn’t the footballing week just drag on? You want the pain of the last defeat to subside quickly, like ripping off a plaster, but instead it lingers on when there is no midweek game, like being given a dead leg by a bald, overweight five-a-side veteran because you had the temerity to nutmeg him – twice.

This morning we gooners wake up to the glorious news (sarcasm alert) from the Daily Mirror that Thierry Henry is a doubt for Sundays game against Man Utd. Isn’t that just peachy? So now, not only do we have a list as long as my arm of players who have contracts with the club, but we also have an injury list for those that we borrow too. At the moment this is just speculation, but as the day unfolds it wouldn’t surprise me to see more news filtering through the airwaves to confirm this as fact.

When The Arsenal went an entire season unbeaten, we had a core nucleus of players that remained relatively fit throughout the season. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but I think Wenger made a pact with the devil in that pre-season and asked for an injury free time for his new squad, so he could prove to the snickering journos that scoffed at him when he said the team could go the season unbeaten, that he was not a bit cuckoo.

So when the devil appeared and rubbed his hands together with maniacal glee, offering Wenger exactly what he wanted, he failed to point out in the small clause at the bottom of the contract he asked Le Boss to sign that the small print stated:

Thou shalt spend ten years after season 2003/04 at Arsenal with consistent and irritating injuries to thy entire squad, hampering development and causing turmoil to thy plans…

 

PS don’t put too much faith in a player called Abou to become the player you’ve always dreamed – I’ll have him before his career has even started.

So we all live to suffer Wenger’s gamble and have spent the subsequent years post-Invincibles getting long-term injury after long-term injury. The list seems endless with Theo, Rosicky, Jack, Fabregas, Gallas, Robin and of course Diaby spending far too much time being taken care of by the medical team than anybody would have liked to see.

The other news coming out of the tabloids today is that Arsene and the other Arsenal players are losing their patience with Andrei Arshavin’s work rate. STOP THE PRESS! How long has it taken for them to realise this? He’s been at the club for four years and now there are questions raised? Don’t they see what we see during every match? Or perhaps I’m doing Arsene and the players a disservice. Perhaps Arshavin has, for the last four years, come into training every day and run his socks off. Then, when it comes to match day, the diminutive Russian is so knackered he barely musters a run even when he’s jogging up and down the touchline by my side of the field in the corner flag. That must be the reason, surely?

Just finally to wrap up today’s blog, comments from AW about how we need to regain ‘focus’ and improve defensively. It’s quite frank from a manager that is renowned for protecting his players at all costs and I think gives a microcosm of insight into the disappointment of the last couple of league games as well as the season. Players have not performed and as we go into a very tough period of the season – both mentally and the teams we play, we can’t afford to be carrying one player, let alone three or four like the game in Wales.

Until tomorrow fellow goons.

Kalou? No; Nasri? No; Gervhino? Yes!

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Howdy all,

Here’s an interesting conversation for us all to digest: given the fact that the Semi final of the Carling Cup is being played with Liverpool, Cardiff and Palace, should Wenger have considered playing a stronger team there and giving up the FA cup to the younger and fringe players?

I appreciate that hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the start of this blog is laced with so much it is starting to thicken into a fog around my very eyes, but watching Man City against Liverpool last night I couldn’t help but think: “We’d have done these scousers if we were playing them”. Man City were poor last night, of that there is no doubt. But the fact that Liverpool had all the chances they had and they STILL had to rely on a Steven Gerrard penalty says to me that they could have been there for the taking. Let’s face it, Liverpool this season have not been great, Palace are very threadbare at the moment and Cardiff, whilst a good Championship side, would still lose out to us if we played them in the final. I’d really fancy our chances if we were in it. But there is nothing you can do about the past, only the present and the future.

Again, maybe it’s just me playing a bit of devils advocate with myself, but when you see all of the teams this week in the cup, it does make you think how good it would have been to destroy last seasons demons by picking up the Carling Cup this time around.

At the time we all saw it as the right decision and the fact I’m still not sure now shows how tough a decision it was for Wenger even then. But I guess that’s why AW earns the mega bucks he does – so he can make those decisions. I suppose if Robin had played and got injured like Santos did in a game many thought he shouldn’t play in, Wenger would have been chastised and who knows, we may not even be in the running for a top four spot…

Anyway, moving on to other things Arsenal related, and last night, whilst becoming slightly despondent at Everton’s inability to take their chances against the Spuds, I started to trawl through Twitter and came across two discussion threads that I quickly want to insert my opinion on.

The first was about Saloman Kalou on his way to Arsenal. I’ve read a couple of views on this, one of which stating that he’d left the Ivory Coast training camp to negotiate a move. The Guardian is reporting that Kalou has been unhappy for some time and a £3million move is on the cards. It is no secret that we bid for him under the Scolari reign and that Wenger thinks highly of Kalou, but will this actually happen? And where would he play? I’m assuming that we’d be looking at him fighting for one of the two attacking wide player positions currently occupied by Gervhino and Walcott, but would Kalou be an improvement on those two? He does occasionally weigh in with goals for Chelski but has never really made the first team. Why? I asked a Chelsea mate of mine about this recently and he told me that Kalou was an impact player only and when he started he would often drift in and out of games. To me it’s not more squad players we need. We have players like Benayoun that can be good squad players. What we need is first team additions that will really add some value to the club.

The second discussion was on Nasri. Tim Payton of the AST posed the question as to whether gooners would take back Nasri given his less than impressive form for Man City (when he gets off the bench). In many ways I am a bitter, petty man. And in this instance I can’t help but be pleased to see Nasri get off to a poor start. He may yet come good for City, but I hope his career slides the same way Alex Hleb’s did when he made eyes at Barcelona. Would I take Nasri back? No. But my main reason is not for petty reasons, it’s that I actually believe that Gervhino is better for us. He is direct, asks more questions of defenders and shooting boots aside, has slotted in well to Nasri’s old position. Nasri was a dribbler. Somebody who actually looks at the moment like he slows the play rather than speeds it up. When you watch him you can see how many times he takes it, will retain possession well but does a lot of turning and not as much direct running at defenders. I know he did do that at times last season, but at the moment he just doesn’t look like that player. If you give him the ball you need to have people behind him playing catch up because he will hold it, weave this way and that and then release it. That is not what we need.

I think we’re really going to miss Gervhino over the next few games. I’d also back up my argument by comparing Gervhino this season to Nasri in his first season. It took him three years before we started to see the talent that Wenger paid all that money for. Gervhino cost less and already looks to have made an impact. If he can hone his finishing skills (as the Arseblogger says – easily done with practice), he can be a really potent weapon in our three-pronged attack.

Thoughts from you gooners?

2011 bonus point and Fulham preview

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Bienjourno Gooners,

A new day and a new year with a new post from me. The first of 2012 in fact, on account of the fact that a late night on New Year’s Eve (rolling in to New Year’s Day) sponsored by Prosecco, Champagne and Peroni, conspired against me to mean that I lost most of New Year’s Day to sleep and then a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows five-hour session in the afternoon. Very slack but hey, I like it when the local pub serves Peroni in pints.

As such, this post is a little bit of a combination of a match review, match preview, and probably a bit of talking (briefly) about some transfers, as it is now officially the ‘silly season’ in that regard.

So first up in my list of topics is the QPR game on Saturday. Unfortunately, circumstances dictated that I was unable to make the match due to family commitments. A wrentch I can assure you; if you are anything like me, despite the fact you have no bearing on the result and you cannot impact the game, it doesn’t stop you thinking ‘if only I was there’. As it was I had to contend with a mixture of the team on Soccer Saturday, coupled with the excellent live blog of the game from the Arseblogger on my iPhone. Watching a videprinter scroll through text of minute-by-minute is however, a nightmare for me and it basically meant that although I was surrounded by family members all having a holly jolly time, I was quiet and glued to the sofa watching the time tick away.

Ultimately we got the three points we needed against QPR, but the result that I had hoped for i.e. 3-0 up by half time and able to haul off Van Persie and any others that are tired, did not happen, instead we huffed and puffed until the 60th minute when the man who scores when he wants stepped up and latched on to a good pass from Arshavin (yep, you ARE reading that correctly!) to slot home and ultimately collect the three points for us. The Arsenal website later stated that Arshavin was man-of-the match as voted by the players. I have just got some very brief highlights to go on but I hope that Andrei actually did put in a really good shift rather than a bit of sympathy from Arsenal fans just hoping to see the return of the Arshavin that signed for us four years ago. He needed a performance and let’s hope that it is just the start of him recapturing his form. With Gervhino and Chamakh off to the ACN it is vitally important that all of our attacking options are firing on full cylinders. We can’t really afford for Arshavin to have had a false dawn against QPR.

The victory was also made all the more important with the fact that every team around us (barring Liverpool) also dropped points that weekend. Man City, Man United and Chelski lost, whilst the Spuds drew away to Swansea. Normally you expect one, two or usually all of your rivals to pick up points, so the fact that they all lost feels like we’ve even been given some kind of Rugby style (calm down Tony Pulis, it’s only a metaphor) bonus point for our victory. It also means that for the first time this season we are now into the top four spots for longer than a few hours. Long may we remain in this position (minimum I hope).

So on to today and we make the short trip to West London to face Fulham in today’s late kick off on Sky Sports. Thankfully I have no place I need to be so will be watching from the first until the last-minute. Fulham went through the heartbreak of conceding a late goal against Norwich at Carrow Road and so I am hoping it proves as a little bit of a morale drainer for today’s game, but these are professional footballers and we can’t expect anything less than Fulham to give us a real challenge today. They will be without Schwarzer, Zamora, Davies and Johnson today which means that Orlando Sa will come up against us up top again. I think Damian Duff will be back into their team having played against Norwich on New Year’s Eve. So Fulham aren’t without their problems. But let’s face it, we are desperately unlucky to have the injuries we have. To hit it home further, today we’ll be missing:

  • T Vermaelen
  • V Mannone
  • A Santos
  • L Fabianski
  • V Diaby
  • C Jenkinson
  • K Gibbs
  • B Sagna
  • J Wilshere

I know some of those players are not first teamers, but in the modern game it is all about the squad and when you are missing as many players as we are you can’t afford to have too many injuries in the same position. With the Verminator breaking down on Saturday we now have an issue at left back. Therefore, for today’s game it is inevitable that we won’t name the same team. And given the close proximity to the previous match for us, I think squad rotation for players that aren’t injured is also inevitable. So I think the team today will line up as:

Scz

Djourou - Mertesacker - Koscienly - Coquelin

Ramsey – Song - Benayoun

Walcott – Chamakh - Arshavin

I’ve gone with Coquelin instead of MIquel because I think he is further down the line in the pecking order than Le Coq, so although he is more of a square peg for a round hole than Miquel, I’ve always believed Wenger has a pecking order in terms of the senior squad and I think Le Coq is further along. The rest of the defence will not change because quite simply we don’t have any other fit players available. In the midfield Ramsey didn’t play against Wolves and so I think he’ll get the nod, and I think Benayoun is a little bit more creative offensively than Rosicky and so I think (and hope) he gets the nod. Up front I think RvP will be rested. He is the one that is the most likely to break down if overplayed, so if I was the boss I’d have him on the bench as an option to come on. Chamakh is a shadow of the player that played last year but something that does need to be pointed out is that he has not too often played with the attacking threat of our first teamers Walcott and co. I am holding on to the last bit of faith that Chamakh can do something before he disappears to the ACN. Lord knows he owes us Arsenal fans some goals.

Finally, a quick word on transfers. Words can’t express how happy I am that I will get to see Henry again. He was my favourite player of all time and I hope that he gets on against Leeds next week as I will be there cheering the lads on. The boss has also said he is looking for a loan option at left back and whilst I’m sure he’s scouring the planet for an available left back on loan, I pray his gaze doesn’t settle on the forgotten man of Manchester in the shape of Wayne Bridge – I’d rather see Miquel given a chance.

Let’s hope for three good points today to start off 2012. See you later gooners.

Champions League – Tough but winnable

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  1. Morning all,

With The Arsenal not playing until tomorrow, Saturday afternoon becomes a bit barren when it comes to football blogging. You find yourself in this no-mans land when you have to decide whether or not to do a match preview on the Saturday and risk having nothing to say on the Sunday (or Monday if it’s a Monday night football game). The alternative is to pick up on other things that have happened, but you don’t tend to get too much news on Saturday’s as most other teams are just prepping for their own matches. I really don’t like talking about other teams in the world of football. There are two reasons for this: 1) I don’t have anywhere near the love of other football teams that I have for Arsenal, and 2) I don’t really watch as much football on other teams as I should if I wanted to try to be an authority on them. As it is I’m happy to talk Arsenal 365 days a year. And when there is little Arsenal news, I like to do a bit of reminiscing over our clubs glorious history.

As it happens we do have something to talk about this morning not related to the City game tomorrow – the Champions League draw. As I predicted yesterday, the worst possible ‘runners-up’ came out of the hat for us (or glass bowl – I refuse to watch those draws live out of principle – Platini and UEFA licking their own arses and making a simple ceremony into a royal wedding-style affair), in the shape of AC  Milan. The Italian champions. Of all the average teams that finished runners-up we get the best team that were in the same group as Barcelona. Harsh to say the least, but you have to beat the best teams to win it and so we need to make sure we overcome this hurdle to take our place in quarter-final. It won’t be easy. They have a glut of attacking options in Pato, Ibrahimovic and Robinho and there is no question of Milan’s Champions League pedigree. They have won it a number of times before and all of their players are experienced pro’s that you would expect to not be overawed by the occasion.

From a Milan perspective I’m sure they would not have wanted to play Arsenal either. I would have thought Milan would have preferred Apoel Nicosia, Benfica or perhaps even Bayern Munich above Arsenal, so they will also feel like they have got one of the toughest draws as well. I guess from their side, as long as you qualify for the next round, being in the same group as Barcelona is a good thing – it guarantees you don’t have to play them in the next round.

The Manager is looking forward to the game, saying:

It is a difficult draw, but an exciting one, and they could say exactly the same thing I suppose. It is a 50-50. Ideally, it is a draw for one round later, but you take them when they happen.

Everybody knows Milan, everybody knows Arsenal. We have been in the Champions League for many years and both sides play positive football.

The last time we played them it was a Cesc Fabregas goal that put us through to the next round and there will be players at AC Milan that will still remember that day and fancy a spot of revenge. However, I don’t fear the Italian teams as much as 10 years ago and the AC Milan side, whilst no doubt a potent attacking team, doesn’t appear to be blessed with too much pace. They are a strong side, but if we can utilise our attacking players – and keep a certain Dutchman fit – then I fancy our chances of progressing.

In terms of other news not related to the game tomorrow, Arsene confirmed that Jack Wilshere had a ‘exceptionally good’ scan and should return in mid-February. What on earth does that mean? Did it mean he sat really still and was a good boy so the club doctor gave him a lollipop? I have this mental image of Sky Sports cameras (let’s face it, they’re everywhere else these days) going into the media area and thrusting a mic in front of Le Boss  and saying “Arsene, how did you think Jack’s scan performed today?” – bit of a weird way of describing a scan. Mind you, at least its positive news and that’s the important thing. Given he’s been out since the beginning of the season, to me I doubt we’ll see the ‘real’ Jack Wilshere until March, which gives him about two months of the season to make an impact. Let’s hope he can do that and that the remainder of the season isn’t blighted by little annoying niggly injuries, such as every single long-term Arsenal injury absentee seems to have.

Will do a Moneychester Citeh preview tomorrow peeps, but until then, have a good weekend.

Full back peril…..

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Morning people,

Later on today we find out who we have in the next round of the Champions League. We’ll also see who the two Manchester clubs are up against in Europe’s premier club compe……..oh, wait a sec…..

I’ll post more thoughts tomorrow on who we’ll get, but thought I’d have a quick stab at preferred option and expected outcome.

Preferred option - Has to be Basel. They were ok against United but I’d really fancy our chances at doing them over home and away.

Expected outcome – AC Milan away. We’re not United. We don’t get easy draws.

So, on to other things Arsenal, and in the spirit of giving I present to thee one more Suburban Gooner for your reading pleasure – Steve Othen. Unfortunately Steve hasn’t set up his account on WordPress yet so it’s coming from my account, but rest assured, it’s all his chitter-chatter so get in touch via the comments if you agree, disagree or just want to chew the cud.

Until tomorrow peeps.

Chris

Andre Santos out for 3 months!!!
 
Hey party people oaf12 here and welcome to my first appearance on Suburban Gooners!
 
Chris (a.k.a Bendtnersbettercousin) has offered me the opportunity to make an appearance once or twice previously but I needed to make sure that I could:
1. Find the time – new baby in the house……
2. Decide on a topic worthy of your reading time
 
I have been an Arsenal fan for all of my living memory and have shared some good, bad and very frustrating times with our beautiful clubs so the topic was harder than predicted, however as the title suggests, I thought I would focus around the injury to our Brazilian summer acquisition Mr André Clarindo dos Santos.
 
So there I was watching Cheski beat Citeh, unsure at whether I liked the situation or not as on one hand Chelski moved back above us, but on the other the achievement of the (massively cheaper) Invincibles was sure to remain intact. There was also a moment that I was sure I liked, and that was watching a former left back get red carded in a tackle that confirmed his defensive frailties, something that has thankfully started to creep out of our regular back four.

However, faster than you can ask “aren’t all Bendtner’s cousins better?” the grin was whipped from my face as karma struck – word from the grove was that our only remaining full back, and the man brought in to replace Clichy / Traore (the latter has also seen red this season) required surgery and would be out for 3 months (more info at http://www.arsenal.com/news/45/injury-news).

While I have never joined, and certainly don’t advocate, the Wenger hate brigade I have struggled to come to terms with how the situation of us now having to play our best Centre Back as a full back (and no I don’t mean Djourou) came about in the first place.

Surely any sane outsider looking in would guess that it happened in an important game, a game where everything was on the line, a game we couldn’t afford to lose. Surely if this wasn’t the case then we would have wrapped our last remaining full back up in cotton wool in an attempt to protect him from any unnecessary and certainly unneeded injury………unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

Instead Wenger elected to play Santos in a ‘nothing game’; we had already secured our path into the next stage of the Champions League and also as group winners. With the busy month of December now upon us it is a horrifying thought that we are one injury away from the possibility of seeing Squillaci back in the side………

I know the jury is still out for some people but I am a fan of Santos, yes he takes risks but what else would we expect from a Brazilian left back that has already scored more goals than Clichy did during his time with us. I recently read the following on The Arsenal Column – “In defence, Santos is not the liability he’s made out to be. In seven matches in the league, he averages 4.9 tackles per game – the highest at the club – and makes the most interceptions too at 3.4 per game. The notion that he dives into tackles far too much is fair – as he can commit a lot of fouls – but it’s also a key part of Arsenal’s game. With every ball he wins back quickly, he’s initiating another attack, in a sense, similar to Alex Song who also commits his fair share of fouls but makes even more successful tackles.”

Some interesting stuff there, the full article can be found at http://arsenalcolumn.co.uk/2011/12/01/andre-santos-adds-a-different-dimension-to-arsenals-attack/

I for one will miss Santos and his runs down the wing and wish him all the best to get well soon. It was especially nice to see him smash one past Cech!

So Gooners I leave you with thought that we are on the up and long may the form continue, if I had told you, at the end of last season, that we would be where we are now having sold Cesc and the money grabber then add Wilshere not playing a single game I am sure you would have been sceptical. When Santos, Sagna and Jack are back we have one hell of a starting line up WITH OPTIONS! It’s on this note that I must disagree with my fellow poster Ben…..
 
After the Olympiakos game the pundits came out with the old “Arsenal are lucky they had qualified”, this confuses me! Do they not think that we would have played a different team if we hadn’t or that the players may have tried harder? Also let’s not forget how unlucky our ‘B’ team were against a decent Citeh squad.

Is this really that bad?

  • Fabianski
  • Jenkinson
  • Koscielny (or the big German, which ever you prefer)
  • Djourou
  • Gibbs
  • Frimpong
  • Coquelin
  • Wilshere (not a current first teamer due to injury – for arguments sake you can use Diaby or replace with Ramsey /Arteta)
  • Oxlade-Chamberlain
  • Arshavin
  • Chamakh / Park 

Not top four but certainly not relegation!
 
In other news the Spuds can’t get through a Europa League Group, Darren Fletcher takes a career break due to health reasons and David Villa breaks his leg whilst playing in the Fifa Club World Cup Semi-Final.

Cheers guys

Oaf out

A Moneychester City analysis

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Howdy all,

This afternoon I went for a quick shop in Mayfair and found a scented candle and bath oils for £38. Pretty much a rip off for what essentially would give the recipient the same joy as a Yankee Candle and a bottle of Superdrug bought Radox. I guess the moral of the story there is that if you shop in Mayfair, don’t expect Primark prices. Perhaps Sheikh Mansour should be mindful of that the next time he’s pillaging the Premier League for his next superstar. I refer of course to Samir Nasri. I hope he entertained the guys on the bench yesterday, because I bet for a darn sight less you could get Dara O’Brian to sit on the bench and keep the lads warm and full of chuckles on a cold night in West London.

Anyway, I know we have a good three days before we play Man City at the Etihad stadium, but two days after their defeat at the hands of Chelski I thought I’d highlight a couple of key tactical battles in today’s blog. A preview will probably come on Saturday or Sunday but for now I thought I’d pick up on just one or two of the skirmishes I see us having come 4pm on Sunday.

Roberto Mancini vs Arsene Wenger

The battle of the bosses will be really interesting I think. Since Mancini took over at City they have come to the Emirates twice in the league to shut up shop and once at home to have a go at us. This of course was all thrown out the window when they went behind to a Boyata sending off which allowed us time and space – due to the man advantage – to exploit Man City and eventually see them off with a 0-3 win. This year, unless of course we see another early sending off for the men in sky blue, will be quite different. At the Emirates a few weeks ago Mancini showed he has shed his defensive conservativeness in favour of a more aggressive display based on quick counter attack and pressing high up the pitch. For the first twenty minutes against Chelski it looked like a really good tactic and although I missed the latter half of the first half on Monday night, I think it worked. However, playing a high defensive line based on pressing is one thing against a slow and ponderous Chelski defence is one thing, but against Arsenal i think he will try to be a bit more cautious. For one thing, the lack of pace in midfield of Chelski meant that they needed to reduce the space in between defence and midfield and attack and midfield. Arsenal play with Song marshalling in front of the defence and a much quicker front three. This means that if Man City squeeze higher up the pitch from the front, they will need to push their midfield further forward and probably their defence as well in order to reduce the space in front of the banks of players. This will mean that either the defence is playing a high line, which will suit the Arsenal front three, or the defence will sit, which may provide more space and time for Arteta and Ramsey to work their magic in midfield. One things for certain, both bosses will have a lot to consider tactically before Sunday.

Ramsey vs Silva

I see this as a key battle rather than Arteta because the two players are more similar than the two Spaniards. Arteta will play deeper on Sunday than Ramsey, and it will be the Welshman who will be expected to find those killer balls for Theo, Gerv and RvP to feed off. Silva will provide the exact same role for Citeh but with a little bit more of a goal threat. The key to keeping Silva quiet is to get him looking for the. ball deep I think. Watching on Monday I saw him as somebody who comes alive in the final third, jinking past defenders and creating opportunities right up until he went off. Keep that guy busy and you go a long way to stopping the Moneychester team. Other midfielders in the team are good at pressing, winning the ball and providing the odd good pass, but he is the maestro. On the other side we have Ramsey, who has been hit and miss at times this season but I think 75% of times has had some really good performances. If he finds his passing range, he and Arteta can form a perfect bridge between the midfield and he front three.

I saw on Twitter on Monday night that now could be a really good time to play Man City and I have to agree. Football is a confidence game and their little wobble could play into our hands. However, let’s not get cocky, we’ve still got to go to the home of the league leaders and pull off something that has not been achieved since we did it last season – get three points.

More thoughts later in the week, but for now, fellow gooners, adieu.

Confidence: Arsenal’s pleasure and pain

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Howdy howdy and one again another weekend premier league fixture greets us with open arms and warm smiles. In today’s TV dominated footballing world it is far too much to ask for back-to-back home matches at that oh-so-traditional time of 3pm GMT, but at least we have a Saturday fixture to wet our appetites today so we mustn’t grumble too much.

Tomorrow we welcome Fulham FC to the Grove. A team with a pretty poor away record over the last decade or so; but don’t let that fool you into thinking that this will be a walkover. More on the opposition in a sec, but firstly i think its important to recognise the value of momentum and confidence and how they are intrinsically linked. We’ve been steadily rebuilding a completely shattered confidence over the last few weeks and right now the morale in the dressing room will be really high. I’ve always thought, ever since Wenger joined the club, that his teams are more reliant on building confidence than any other team in the league. If the teams confidence gets broken then it can quite easily spiral in the wrong direction and I think our form from March this year until October has been a pretty good example. But you can go back previous seasons and find the same examples happening time and time again. The Rooney dive to end the unbeaten run, the Eduardo broken leg and subsequent ridiculous penalty decision given against us at Birmingham – all have been followed by periods of decline. But I also think it works the other way as well. The Invincibles are a perfect example of how good Wenger teams are when their tails are up. Our game has required such quick passing, moving the ball from back to front quickly and often scoring through exhilarating counter attacking football, that confidence is a vital component for us. When the team has high confidence all of the things the players try, all of the tricks and flick, they all come off. It’s a bit like how Theo can muster about a fabulous strike with no time to think, but on occasions when he has time he hasn’t managed to convert. Arsene Wenger Arsenal teams have relied on their ability and confidence for the exciting football and passing to come off. When the morale of the team is low, players doubt their own ability and the passes and finishing can go awry. At the moment our confidence is sky high following successive victories in all competitions, so I am more confident we will see a good display today.

With Fulham being rested this week through not having to play in the Europa League, I think we’ll see them try and go at us today. I do think it’s a little unfair that Europa League teams have had the week off, but we can’t let a thing like fatigue spoil what we hope will be a lovely three points for an enjoyable weekend.

Under the big fat balding ex-spud of an oaf Martin Jol Fulham have undergone a gradual change this season. When Jol first came in he tried to change their defensive mentality that Hodgson and Hughes had made and tried to get them to be a bit more attacking. It didn’t really work and they suffered a couple of defeats and difficult performances both home and away. But he has started to find a balance that has seemed to me to be working over the last few weeks. They are still a very inconsistent team but at home have looked very good and were desperately unlucky not to beat the Spuds. However, away from home they do find it difficult, which is why I’m not sure what sort of team Jol will put out today. He may go for the classic ‘don’t want to concede’ and stick with Bobby Zamora up top with a five man midfield supporting him, but he may also try for two up front and give Johnson and Zamora a run together.

Our team will consist of the same back five I think, same midfield three, but perhaps some rotation up top. I wonder if Wenger will consider playing Robin to start today and maybe resting Gervhino (who was very poor against Dortmund). I don’t think Robin will play against Moneychester City next week, so if he plays today he could be given a week off until we play Wigan next Saturday. So I wonder if this is an opportunity to see Park and Arshavin up top.

I think we’ll be up for this game and I would expect the team to be buzzing from midweek qualification as group winners, so it will come as no surprise that I am predicting and Arsenal win. If Wenger rotates the attack i think we’ll probably find it difficult to break down a stubborn Fulham team who will try to hit us on the counter with players like Dembele and Dempsey. If he rotates and RvP doesn’t play I just hope we can score one or two in the first half. Having to bring him on with 20 minutes to play might have worked a few times now, but it won’t work every time. Plus, we need the other players to show that they can chip in with goals as well. At times when RvP has come on as a sub this season it has looked like the team has become awestruck of his presence and decided that it’s ok because he’s on the pitch now, so he can get us out of trouble. But as fans we want the whole team to chip in with goals. Not least because it will start to give us some relief that in previous seasons (Diaby aside) Robin has been our most injury-prone player and the over-reliance on a player that hasn’t finished a full season since he joined the club is a little nerve racking.

Anyway, let’s not end on that negativity. Let’s cheer on the lads and pick up a good three points today – I want to be able to watch Match of the Day later.

Until tomorrow.

Arteta is handy, but Jack is dandy

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Hi all,

With tomorrows game against Fulham being an evening kick off, I’ll save my pre-match preview for then. Arsene will no doubt speak to the press this afternoon and give us more insight into tomorrow, but in the mean time he’s been speaking to Arsenal Player and talking about three particular midfielders: Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Alex Song.

In relation to Song and Wilshere, Le Boss spoke of the importance of the team performing and Song in particular, off the back of the result midweek. He was outstanding in all aspects of his game against Dortmund and it was most definitely the best game I’ve seen him have. His improvement over the last few seasons has been quite remarkable – I remember him playing for the reserves against Spurs about five years ago and despite the fact he was billed as the best player in the team, he was completely outshone by Muamba. When he made his first few starts for Arsenal I really didn’t know what Wenger saw in him, but now we can all see it and we all know what we have is a very skilful, combative midfielder that has ability going forward as well as defensively. I still maintain that he should keep his 20yard+ passes to a minimum however, as he is still to find his consistency in that regard, but what we are benefitting from is a player that is far far better than a certain Scott Parker the media would have liked us to sign. Any time a non-Arsenal fan says to me “why didn’t Wenger sign Scott Parker?” I reply simply with “because he’s a poor mans Alex Song”. Let’s face it: why have something that looks like a Golf when you can have a Golf?

The boss also mentioned the importance Mikel Arteta is playing at the club. It’s fair to say that his arrival, whilst heralded by us fans as the right type of signing, has not bought about the all-singing, all-dancing, bells and whistles performances we had wanted when he arrived on transfer deadline day. Arteta has not had too many poor games, but equally has not had the world beating performances as well. However, Le Boss knows his importance, saying “He is consistent going forward, technically fantastic and he works very hard for the team. He is an organiser too and does the job defensively in vital parts. We look solid at the moment and he has to take a big part of the credit because he does both jobs offensively and defensively – with quality.” Like my old man, I am prone to occasionally making a sweeping statement and this certainly rings true with Arteta. On Wednesday night I commented to Jamo that he is an effective footballer that is only limited by his own ability. Usually we have footballers with what seems like unlimited ability and potential (Cesc, Nasri, Diaby, Vela, ST ) but its just a case on how they apply themselves and in many cases they just get better and better. In Arteta we have a midfielder who is as good as he is going to get and seems like a very effective cog in the machine. He may not be the biggest cogs, or with the most teeth, but he does his job effectively enough and has been a good substitute for Jack. Many might have thought that it would be Jack, Arteta and Song in the midfield with a fully fit squad, but I think the performances, vision and potential of Ramsey means that come February, Mikel might find his playing time limited. Still, he is doing a commendable job at the moment and should receive some praise for that.

The boss then went on to speak about how we still need Jack back as when we have a fully fit squad we are at our best. Aside from it being a pretty obvious question Arsenal fans can be forgiven for rueing their luck with injuries. Jack was a massive blow and left a massive hole when we found out he would miss half the season. He was our outstanding player of the season last year. He drives, he hassles, he harries and he chips in with the odd goal. At 19 years of age he could oversee a whole generation of football at Arsenal and all the signs from his camp are that it is exactly what he wants to do. We have missed him badly and I for one can’t wait to see him trott out onto the green stuff at the Emirates.

More on Fulham tomorrow, so until then, adios amigos!