Tag Archives: Thierry Henry

Karma fairies and Santi’s poor children get bullied (maybe)

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Last night I was making Nang Ya, which is a Thai dish, and I accidentally stabbed myself with a sharp blade. It was a tiny cut that would barely even be classed as a scratch, but I woke up this morning and my middle finger on my left hand is stinging a bit.

I tell you this information because I honestly believe that the international breaks during a season are more painful for me. They are more painful than actual, physical pain. If I had a magic karma fairy that said I had to go through that exact same self stabby process every night for two weeks and she would wave her karma wand and make the international break magically disappear to be replaced by continuous highlights of Ian Wright and Thierry Henry goals, it would be worth it. I would sacrifice my own hands for you good people. No, don’t thank me yet, the fairy hasn’t come to call. Perhaps she’s in her fairy parlour (or wherever the bloody hell it is fairies live) with her eyes closed, fingers in her ears, pretending the international break doesn’t exist either. Part time magic Karma fairies and their ‘equal treatment for fairies and double time on a weekend and selected weeknights’ movement. I tell you, the worlds going to he’ll in a hand basket.

International breaks are tedious when all you want to do is talk all things Arsenal. I mean, there’s stuff on the official site about how Santi kisses the tattoo of his son every time he scores, but that’s pretty much it. It’s a lovely gesture of devotion to his offspring, who I’m sure is very young and when old enough to talk will find it amazing, but I’m a little more concerned for the lad/girls future if I’m honest. Unless Cazorla is going to get it removed after a few years, or unless its a Henna tattoo that he gets re-painted every week, imagine the embarrassment of the child when he/she reaches 16 -18 and your dad has a picture of you on your arm. Firstly, it will look nothing like you (unless he slowly ages the tattoo as the child ages. Only works if Santi has gone for the Henna option though. I can’t imagine a permanent one can be altered that much, can it?). Secondly, your mates would cane you good and proper, “oooh Cazorla, has your dad kissed your face yet?” and “does that mean that technically you see your mum and dad having sex?”and of course the every so intellectual “err, gay” responses from other little children. It’s a schoolboy ribbing of monumentous proportions. And imagine when Cazorla gets to his fifties and its all gone a little green/grey and is browned by the inevitable sun he’ll get when back to Spain permanently (he’s a very family orientated man, so I’m putting two and two together here). Imagine having to greet your pa with a hug and as he puts his arms around you there’s an image of your younger self looking like an extra from Mars Attacks! slapping you on the back. No thank ye kindly sir!

Perhaps I think too much. But the thing is, when the only other pieces of news are the club saying “no, really, Jack is going to be injured the same amount of time as we told you a week ago”, you can tell there isn’t exactly any scoops going on at London Colney. And I’m not even going to get started on ‘Cech to Arsenal’ rubbish. Unless its that midfielder that didn’t get into the West Brom team. Then I’d believe it. After all, Arsene did head down Amaury Bischoff Lane, and we all know that it worked out to be a complete dead end.

So what else is there to tell you? What else can be discussed hypothesised and debated Arsenal related? How about Tomas Rosicky telling assembled media that he respects Arsene’s decision not to play him more and wants to play more in before the end of the season?

No, me either.

Until tomorrow then. Strength in unity guys, we can get through this.

Sky climaxes, Villa stays and Usmanov’s clever PR

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I’ve got a headache people. And it’s totally football related and bought on by this poxy transfer window. I have no love for it whatsoever. It winds gooners up, sets a fractious tone to all football proceedings and turns good folks into gremlins, looking to feed off any snippet of information they can lay their mits on. And when the information turns a little sour? It only feeds their rage even more.

I’m starting to read a book called ‘The Chimp Paradox’ by sports psychologist Dr Steven Peters and it is all about how the mind is compartmentalised into three distinct sections: The Computer, which is a data storage unit for your mind; the Human, which is the rational thinking part of you; and finally The Chimp, which is the emotional side of you which behaves in a way that gets you into trouble through you’re emotions. When I take to Twitter after a days work and no transfer news, I see Chimps going wild all over the place. It’s like a zoo. And sometimes it’s not nice to read.

It gets worse during the transfer window. As we reach the 24 hour long hyperbole that is ‘Transfer Deadline Day’ people have had a month of being wound up beyond belief. They are angry at no signings and lashing out everywhere. People are still angry before and after the January transfer window, but it is kept at bay by the simple notion that there is physically nothing that can happen until the summer. So most gooners’ Chimps calm down and lay a bit more dormant. That is until we lose a game.

Yesterday we had yet more transfer merry-go-round style messages from people on Twitter and then by pundits like Balague and Brian Swanson in respect to David Villa. He is, he isn’t, Dick is, Dick isn’t, we are, we aren’t. I’ve lost track as to whether we all think something is happening or not which, if I’m perfectly honest, I’m losing interest in anyway.

I’d love to ask for someone to come and wake me up from this horrendous time of year on Friday, but we’ve got a game in between the slamming of the window and now so there’s no way I’d want to miss it. More on that tomorrow though.

For what it’s worth, I’d actually advocate ditching the January transfer window completely. It would force clubs to conduct their business in the summer or, in Arsenal’s case, avoid having difficult questions to answer in January. If we fail to sign anybody by Friday this week, I suspect it will make life very difficult for Le Boss unless there is an almighty fine run of form between now and the end of the season, but when that window shuts, I hope most gooners will realise we’ve all got some supporting to do and give it all we’ve got until May.

The January window is only good for the media and Sky, as they get to work themselves up into climax by January 31st, only to relax and have a smoke thereafter. Is horrendous to see shouty Jim get so excited.

I am doubtful any deal will be done now. I just don’t think we’ll get the business concluded any time soon. Arsenal seem to take an age on getting a player on board and give that we’re three days away, it is more than likely that the ship has sailed.

And in amongst all of this transfer tittle tattle, I completely missed the noises from ‘Team Usmanov’ (eurgh, imagine him in a cheer leading outfit) saying that Thierry is urging him to buy the club. Quite a clever PR move from the chunky Uzbek. He knows the goodwill and fan reverence that Thierry has amongst Arsenal fans and is using it to position himself as a white knight who will ride in with his bag of coins and feed the starving masses with his generosity. I have to say I’m really skeptical of his motives. Why would somebody just come in and shower the club with riches. Is it just his plaything? If so, what happens when he gets bored? The last thing we need is for the club to have its heart ripped out of it and his comments in L’Equipe are designed to win the hearts of more gooners so he can take over and have his own little game of football chess with Abramovich. And who will be left in the middle with no say in matters? Fans like you and I. Now, I admit we have little say in matters right now and Stan Kroenke and the current board are a complete waste of time, but surely we can find some sort of middle ground. Do we have to go to the extremes of a billionaire owner? I don’t know.

I’m not sure what Usmanov has promised Thierry (place on the board? Free tickets for life?) if he gets on board, but I’m surprised Thierry has thrown his lot in with one side. He must know the power he holds from a brand point of view, so if I was in his position I would be trying not to show my hand whilst there is such a public power struggle for ownership at the club. But what do I know. I’m just a mere mortal trying to speculate on what’s going on at the top of Mount Olympus.

Anyway, you’ve heard enough of my prattling, have a good day gooners.

Tomas can sparkle with game time, but can Thierry get some?

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Urgh, burning the candle at both ends, followed by a runny nose first thing in the morning.

Tomas Rosicky has spoken to the media about the need to ‘stick together as fans and a collective at a difficult time right now. I couldn’t agree with him more and I’m hoping that we see a bit more from both the team and the fans this weekend against West Brom. I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of getting the Czech midfielder back at this stage of the season. Providing he stays fit, Rosicky can be a catalyst for improvement in the team and his first half display on Tuesday surely precludes an entry into the first eleven teamsheet on Saturday, but who do you replace him with? Jack has played quite well and has looked like he’s never been away from the game. His ability to link play and drive at teams is vital to us and if I was Arsene I wouldn’t be thinking about not including him. Likewise, Arteta is Mr Metronome and he marshals the middle of the park, providing the key anchor for the defence to distribute the ball to and also building up attacks from deep. So the only other character from the three midfield musketeers is Santi. From what we’ve seen of Santi in the last couple of weeks, you can tell that playing in every game has taken its toll, but after a week of rest he’ll surely be in a better place physically for the weekend and there’s no doubt he’s the best in the squad in that role.

I suspect Tomas will be eased in gently and not start at the weekend, but maybe get twenty minutes followed by a starting position on Wednesday against Bradford. The trouble is, if Tomas is going to get back to the swashbuckling form that he showed last season, he needs to be starting games. He needs to be given a run in the team and I just don’t see that happening. I hope he can continue to perform when called upon, but I do worry if we’ll see him able to fully recapture his form of last year, particularly if he’s reduced to twenty minute cameos in the league.

I guess it’s a dilemma Le Boss will happily take in in comparison to the options he has up top at the moment. Giroud has started to score goals, but Podolski has looked leggy, Theo isn’t trusted up top and the less said about Gervhino in that position, the better. All roads seem to lead to Rome, or New York, where Thierry awaits patiently for the call from Arsene. I’ve tried not to say too much on his potential arrival because even now we’re a few weeks away from the January transfer window creaking open, but with the noises becoming louder and louder it’s inevitable that the discussion would be had.

My personal opinion is that it is not what we need. He was a great shot of adrenaline into the arm of the side in January last year, but I would be surprised if he could repeat the feat this year. He’s one year older and although he got into the MLS team of the season, he’s still not quite got the legs for the Premier League any more. The other thing that worries me is that his inclusion in the squad reduces the probability of another player coming in. Think about it logically: if Giroud is the main man and Thierry comes in, he’ll clearly become the back up, so where does that leave a third signing? Or are we saying that we’ll get an additional striker to fight for a place and leave Thierry probably kicking his heels as a reserve or maybe not even on the bench for some match days? I can’t really work it out and at this time in the morning with my sinus’ annoying me, it’s hurting my brain.

For me the answer is simple, look for a proven striker who doesn’t mind fighting for his place and will relish the challenge. Is that Huntelaar? Would he play regularly? What would that do to Giroud? Arsene needs to make the decisions – that’s what he’s paid for – but he needs to get his skates on.

That’ll do for me for today. Adios gooners!

My favourite Arsenal players: ever.

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Howdy.

As the Interlull chugs ever slowly towards a conclusion, the Arsenal news has now all but dried up. It’s like that scene from ‘The Three Amigos!’ where the three travelling Hollywood stars are all out of water. Except the last one – Chevy Chase – who wastes an abundance on himself and cleaning his teeth. So maybe it’s not entirely like that scene.

Anyway, with the news landscape as arid as the Sahara, I thought I’d delve into my memory banks and jot down some fond Arsenal related thoughts of my favourite players and favourite goals. I’m writing this from memory at 7am on a tube train, so please forgive any vagaries that creep into this piece.

I started supporting Arsenal around 1989. A good time to be an Arsenal fan, I’m sure you’d admit, but I was hooked during probably the most romantic period of Arsenal’s history; so romantic that Nick Hornby wrote a book which later became a movie about it.

I was from a non-footballing family – my dad was a keen golfer and my mum was a Mary’s teacher. My Grandad was an east end man and so West Ham was his chosen footballing tonic. Indeed, had he manage to catch me earlier, who knows what would have happened. He managed to get to my brother though, who has followed ‘the irons’ ever since he was a child. I guess my Grandad didn’t want to take the chance again.

Anyway, my first exposure to The Arsenal was effectively the early nineties, so my first real footballing ‘man crush’ was almost inevitably one of the creative maestros in those George Graham teams. David Rocastle was awesome. He inspired me from the first time I saw him play. His all round game was a pleasure to watch and his ability to pick a pass, or alternatively dribble with the ball, had me mesmerised. After a couple of years of supporting Arsenal, my parents finally succumbed to my demands and began buying me Arsenal related paraphernalia. I remember going to the market in Brentwood and my mum picking me up a red kit with white sleeves and a sew on Arsenal patch. If I could have had a name on the back it would have been Rocky all day long.

One Christmas present I remember very fondly was a VhS of the 92 season. I think it was called ’92 for 92′ and had all of the goals, interviews and details behind the scenes at the club for the 91/92 season. That VHS tape helped to cement Rocky as my first ‘favourite’ footballer. His goal against Man Utd was the footballing cherry on a delightful cake for me. I don’t remember anything else about the game, but I remember Rocky picking the ball up around the halfway line, looking left and right, then deciding that with nothing on, he’d have a go at chipping Schmeichel. I don’t really care that it went in off the keepers barnet, it was a sublime piece of skill that was everything Rocky represented: a bit of trickery, vision and end product. Even writing this now brings a smile to my face.

It was a sad day indeed to hear of Rocky’s death, but I will always remember him and what he did for Arsenal, so as long as you and I can still recount the joy he bought to Arsenal fans, his legacy will live on.

When Rocastle was sold to Leeds i think i was in shock for about a week, but football is always about moving on and doing so quickly, so with the departure of Rocky came a space available for the Arsenal section of my heart for a new favourite.

Step forward Paul Merson.

He may have had some questionable past times, plus the occasional dodgy haircut, but ‘Merse’ was a magician with the ball at times. He was a goalscoring midfielder that also had a trick up his sleeve, so perhaps it was natural that he would take up the mantle left by the departed Rocastle, in my eyes. Even to this day when I’m playing football and I use the outside of my right boot to curl the ball from left to right, I shout before doing it ‘Paul Merson with the outside of this boot’. If Cruyff invented that turn, to me, Merse invented that pass (although countless professionals most likely did it before).

Perhaps it’s ironic that, much like Paul’s memory must be after countless binge sessions whilst part of ‘The Tuesday Club’, I can’t remember a stand out goal that he scored. I can only really remember that drinking celebration that he famously made after scoring. But unlike his admission of alcoholism in the late 90s, I will remember Merse as the player I most like to watch during that post-Rocastle era the club had in the 90s.

Running out of time this morning so will pick one more player from memory, and it’s one I’m sure you’re all very familiar with: Thierry Henry. I know I should be putting Dennis Bergkamp in front of the Frenchman, and I loved Bergkamp and everything that he achieved for the club, but Henry has been my favourite player of the Arsene Wenger era. Like Dennis, Thierry was just so effortless at times. He had the ability to take on a man, the strength to hold up the ball, and the finishing to do the spectacular. I recall the goal against Liverpool that he scored when he basically decided that subtlety was not really needed and so he just knocked the ball along the line and ghosted past Carragher. Or there’s the cheeky back heel against Charlton. Or who could forget the goal against Spurs at Highbury, where he ran the length of the pitch to score, before running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the away fans. Genius. And as he’s proven by his return last year, he’s a gooner through and through.

But despite all of these goals Henry scored, the one that stands out for me is the goal against United, where Thierry picked the ball up with his back to goal and, without looking, just swung his right boot at it. That was Henry to a tee – instinct. He knew exactly where the goal was and he knew exactly what he was doing. It was also made all the more special because I was able to be there, and be in direct flight of the ball to see it loop in from the East Stand. It was marvellous stuff.

So there you have it. A small collection of my favourite players, hopefully to keep you busy and away from the tedium of the Interlull for a few minutes. Tell me who your favourite player has been.

Adios!

Milan shambles: Wenger fully culpable

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Well that wasn’t what we wanted was it? Slight understatement there methinks!

Could a Champions League match first leg have gone any worse: awful pitch, awful passing, awful tactics, awful individual performances, awful substitutions…. The list seems to go on and on.

Let me get the congratulations out-of-the-way first. Milan were composed, controlled, assured and ruthless. They won 50-50s, they took their chances and full credit to them. They pressed when they needed to and made us look like a team in a cup competition from a division below them.

Now, on to more gruesome assessment. The Arsenal players that played last night should hang their heads this morning. It says a lot about our performance that the first decent attempt on the Milan goal came after 65 minutes. At that point we were 3-0 down to goals from Prince-Boateng and two from Robinho.

Going through the team from one to eleven….

  1. Sczcsney – poor and sloppy with his kicking.
  2. Sagna – average at best.
  3. Koscienly – looked shaky at the back and then went off injured.
  4. Vermaelen – the worst game I’ve seen in an Arsenal shirt.
  5. Gibbs – barely got into the game.
  6. Arteta – anonymous for large parts.
  7. Ramsey – did the occasional forward run but nothing more.
  8. Song – gave away sloppy fouls and generally had a mare.
  9. Walcott – did he play?
  10. Rosicky – slows the ball down. Some alright forward passes but played as a winger, even though he didn’t give width. Poor.
  11. RvP – kept quiet all game.

Subs:

  1. Henry – barely in the game.
  2. Djourou – clumsy. Gave away a pen. Never looked in control.
  3. The Ox – no real attacking threat but we were dead and buried by then.

Now, on to the chief protagonist: Arsene Wenger. When the first news broke of the team and that we were playing Rosicky in midfield along with Ramsey many were scratching their heads. We wondered where the pace was going to come from. We hope that Le Boss had some sort of grand plan. A master stroke if you will.

How much more wrong could we be. From the first minute until the last-minute Wenger was clueless tactically. He had no idea about how to tackle this Milan team and we got what we deserved: a hammering. If we thought 3-0 would be almost impossible, when Ibrahimovich slammed home the fourth, the game was well and truly up. None of the players showed any fight and at 3-0 Nichola asked whether a fightback is possible. My response was “not with this team. Head’s will go down and we will either concede more or this game will tick slowly to an inevitable end, and so will this year’s Champion’s League campaign”. I could even see the slightest bit of fight in the team and that was one of the most worrying things. Four the last five-odd years Arsene Wenger has replaced quality with less quality, slowly schyphoning off the world class players we have to pay for the stadium. Actually, that’s quite harsh – it’s not Wenger that has wanted these players to go, it’s the ‘Old Boys Club’ board that we have. A fraternity of ‘East India Club’ public schoolboys who have decided to grow old together and ignore the changes and challenges developing modern football. The decline of our great team lays at their feet too. Wenger may have been tactivally abysmal yesterday, but the board have been abysmal for some time. Something has got to give in the summer. Whether it’s the board and the manager I’m not 100% certain. Personally i’d like to see the board go and make decisions on the manager afterwards. But is Kroenke the answer? I doubt it very much. So what is the answer? I’m at a loss to say right now.

It is an impossibility to make the next round now. We don’t have enough of the ‘Mental Strength’ that the manager talks about so regularly and I truly believe this when I say – Arsene should just play the reserves in the return leg. The very fact he was so scathing of the team performance – something never seen before this season but becoming a little more frequent post match – shows the strain this very average team are putting on the manager.

The worrying thing from this damaging defeat is also the confidence draining effect this will have on the remainder of the season. At the weekend we play Sunderland in the cup. If we lose that game then I really fear for our assault on the fourth Champions League place. Remember last season anyone? In the space of about two weeks we lost out on three cup competitions and then fell apart in the league.

Questions will be asked of the manager and rightly so. His failure to strengthen the team in January may cost him, ultimately, with his job.

Until tomorrow.

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.

Arsene’s bodacious, audacious and contagious (not really)

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The problem with Mondays is that they’re followed in quick succession by Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday’s and Fridays – all of which have that little word ‘work’ assigned to them for most people. So Mondays often leave you in a dour mood as you see your weekend disappear slowly from your memory, fading like a dream you had the previous night. And the next weekend seems miles away.

What doesn’t help is when you get told that your journey into work on public transportation is also going to the dogs because of late engineering works.

The one plus point we all have for this week is a juicy encounter with AC Milan in the San Siro in the Champions League. Let’s just bow our heads for a moment as we think of those Northern teams who don’t have the same luxury as us this midweek….

Ok that’s enough of that. As the story of ‘The Legend’ draws to an end (for now) following the sumptuous last-minute goal to put us into fourth (for now) starts to subside, Le Boss is already casting his gaze south beyond the Alps and into Italy. Arsene says that we’re going to try to be ‘audacious’ in Meelan and score goals, keeping true to our style, attacking our Italian hosts as much as possible on Wednesday. I like the thought of Arsene saying things like ‘audacious’ to a waiting press pack. The thought of Wenger rocking up into his presser, joint in one hand, peace pipe in the other, with Pat Rice curled up in front of the table asleep makes me chuckle. Then, when the awaiting hacks try to probe him for quotes all they get are hyperbolistic (that a word) retorts of “yeah man, we’re gonna be all like, bodacious, audacious, contagious and spontaneous on AC’s ass. It’ll be bad ass, ya know?”

Other news coming out of London Colney is that Thomas Vermaelen is not happy playing left back and rarely feels ‘contented’ after games having played as a full back and not a centre back. If you read this story in the papers or an online English football website, it could be viewed as a bit of discontent from The Verminator. However, I think this is a bit of mischief-making from the tabloid press. I can’t confirm, as I’m sure I only saw this on Twitter, but I think the full interview was with the Belgian press and the British media have been very selective with their quotes when building their story today. Besides, if the Vermster is unhappy with playing left back I’ve got no problems with it. He even said himself that he’s only doing it for the benefit of the team. Given that we’ve had no left backs since December he will know that he is most suited out of our three fit CBs (Mert, Verm and Kos) to fill that gap and that it was only ever going to be a temporary assignment. In fact, given Mertesacker’s unfortunate injury at the weekend, I’d wager that Thomas will not be seeing his name next to the ‘LB’ column for quite some time now. particularly now Gibbs is back. Yes, it might only be a couple of games before be breaks down again, but Vermaelen will know that Le Boss, Le Fans and Le Club all know his and our best chances of success lie with him at the heart of the defence.

Fear not Thomas, you’ll get your wish.

Other than that I don’t think there’s that much else going on in the world of football. If I gave two hoots about ‘the handshake’ or ‘the apology’ I’d probably give an opinion on it, but as it centres all around nasty little rungs of players, managers and clubs, all of which I have as much interest in as the latest scores on Dancing-with-stars-on-ice-whose-careers-are-on-the-slide-so-they-have-to-appear-on-reality-TV, I just can’t be bothered.

Have a happy Monday all.

Sunderland match review: We’ll miss cutting edge of Titi

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The great thing about a last-gasp victory is it’s very nature of the win: Last-gaspy. We’ve had a couple of those against us this season and over the last few seasons, and when we drew level yesterday to make it 1-1, I mused to myself that I can’t remember the last time that we won a game with a last-minute goal. Sure, we’ve had goals in the last minutes, but like Thierry’s tap in last weekend against Blackburn, they’ve tended to be compliments to the performances rather than match winners. Match winners leave such a good taste in one’s mouth. It means the opposition have little time to respond and also demoralise them (usually) to the point that three points are (usually – i mean come on, this is Arsenal!) secured.

Not being able to get to the game myself, I had to contend with the excellent Live Blog commentary from the brilliant Arseblog as well as Match of The Day in the evening, followed by the ‘as live’ commentary from Sky Sports this morning. Before I go into some general thoughts on the game, I have to make a couple of observations. Firstly, any team that has John O’Shea lining up as a centre back, you don’t deserve any points at all. Secondly, when Sagna was scythed down by Richardson, who subsequently received a yellow card, the Sky commentator said something along the lines of “Richardson try’s to play the ball, so I think that yellow was harsh”. I must have missed the announcement by the footballing authorities that gave the mandate that you could be as reckless as you like as long as you ‘intend’ to win the ball. A two footed lunge to the face is fine – just make sure you are TRYING to win the ball. The commentator also fell into the classic British stereotype of commentating with a severe ‘I want the underdogs to win’ and ‘I like teams that give it a little rough’ mentality. It was a little pathetic to be honest.

The first half itself was a complete non-event. We probed, trying to play our football, Sunderland sat back, trying to defend a 0-0 scoreline. They had banks of four and spent most of the time in their own half. In fairness we rarely troubled their goal and at times, watching the match, I wondered if they’d taken down both goals and the points were going to be decided on who would have most of the possession. Our passing was ok, probably pretty good given the atrocious conditions. Every second foot planted into the turf kicked up a bit of mud and, given that the North East has not really had any snow at all over the last few weeks, the ground staff at the Stadium of Light should be pretty ashamed.

The second half looked a little more lively, but still took 25 minutes before we saw a goal. Sczsceny was on hand before the first goal to make a couple of smart saves and from our side Rosicky looked busy enough and has certainly improved over the last few weeks to warrant his starting place ahead of Ramsey. On the wings we didn’t really see anything of The Ox or Theo, and whilst I’m happy to give a little leeway to The Ox given he’s only just broken into the team, Theo cannot have such slack. He had a very good game last week but needed to follow it up with another couple. His performance, to me, would warrant a spell on the sidelines.

The goals came in the last 20 minutes. The first one was a Sunderland scorer in the form of James McClean. He’s well thought of up there and has had some good performances of late to suggest he’ll be a real player, but his goal yesterday was a bit of a gift from the footballing injury gods, and the Sunderland ground staff. As Sagna tapped a ball back on the right hand side to Mertesacker, the BFG turned as he let the ball run under himself, and immediately fell in a crumpled heep to the floor. He held his ankle and was subsequently taken off with ligament damage, but in the seconds that followed McClean was clean through and he smashed the ball home. Can’t really blame anybody but Lady Luck I’m afraid. And she’s been a bit of a bitch to us this season.

Thankfully, as opposed to the other eight games that we’ve lost this season, we were not to be denied. Arsene is often criticised for not making the best tactical subs, so it is only right we give him credit for yesterday. He bought off Mertesacker, The Ox and later on Theo, and on came Ramsey, Henry and Arshavin. Each of which turned the game. Ramsey was the first, as he picked up a blocked shot from Arteta to smash the ball in off both posts. We were level and Arsenal fans everywhere were left wondering if we could capitalise on the inevitable tired Sunderland legs (having defended for most of the game, and also played in midweek).

We were not to be let down. The script was in place for one man and he didn’t disappoint. With seconds ticking down, Thierry Henry, largely quiet for the game sauntered into the box. He got in between the two central defenders and, with Arshavin jinking in between the two defenders on the left, he delivered the perfect ball for the Frenchman to tap in a volley from inside the six yard box. Cue the wild celebrations from the players, fans and everyone associated with Arsenal.

It was three points most certainly deserved given Sunderland’s lack of attacking prowess, but the props have to go to the 34-year-old legend. When we signed Thierry many ‘football experts’ said it was a mistake. With three goals to his name in his second spell, two of which have been vitally important, he has been a great signing from Wenger. The only down side is that we could really do with his finishing ability and eye for a goal for the rest of the season. When he returns to New York next week, we’ll have to look to Chamakh and Park to provide the goals. But with just two to their name all season between them, you have to wonder how we will survive without the additional goal threat of a player like Henry.

But right now, who cares. We’ve banished some away day demons and can now look forward to the Champions League game against Milan in midweek.

have a good Sunday all.

Swansea review exclusive! New club motto

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Morning,

Let’s start Monday with some positives from the weekend shall we? It was my Fiancée’s birthday on Friday and we frequented a lovely Nepalese restaurant. Then we went to her folks on Saturday and were treated to a very nice pub dinner. Finally, yesterday I cooked a roast that was absolutely sumptuous (if I do say so myself) and we finished the night with a class episode of Sherlock on BBC1.

Now, on to the negatives, and I can exclusively reveal that there was a massive typing error when re-designing the new Arsenal crest and motif last year. The printers made a massive cock-up and featured the words ‘FORWARD’ on the club crest on the print run. What the club actually wanted was the words ‘SIDEWAYS AT BEST’.

Before the game yesterday I, and no doubt many of my blogging brothers and sisters, all stressed the need for three points away to a capable but ultimately beatable Swansea City side. The attitude had to be right but we were all hopeful that it would be, and mixed with application and ability the players would give three points to the away travelling gooners to chew on for the journey back along the M4 into England. What we got was none of the above.

I’ll go into the nuts and bolts of the result in a second, but before I do there was a few things I want to go into before I talk about the team’s performance. Last night I took to Twitter to have a look at the pain other Arsenal fans would be feeling and sense what the general mood was. I wasn’t expecting too much positivity and I certainly didn’t get it. But the behaviour of one fan in particular was deplorable. One so-called Arsenal ‘fan’ decided that a campaign of hatred and bile was going to be directed at Aaron Ramsey, calling for him to be killed or injured through varying ways. Now there are many fans that have called for players to be sold, or groaned every time a player plays for their club, perhaps because they just don’t rate him, but I am pretty sure that nobody I know has ever even said or thought that a player deserves that kind of deplorable behaviour targeted towards them. I hope the person in question is found out, thrown off Twitter, and criminal proceedings started against them.

My second point before I go into the team’s performance is that you simply cannot expect a team with the injury list that we have to win every game and there is no doubt that the injuries to key players (Sagna, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Santos, Arteta, Wilshere and Gervhino off at the ACN) has affected our team. Take that many of the best 11 players in a Premier League team and they will struggle. See Man Utd at home to Blackburn as an example.

My final point is that terrible refereeing decisions are now becoming the norm to such an extent that you fully expect every game between now and the end of the year to involve a penalty against us or a sending off or an incorrect offside decision going either way. Anybody who wants to play the ‘it all evens itself out’ or ‘the big teams get more decisions anyway’ wants to have a look at the following table that is run by a team of people who try to work out who has been shafted by referees this year. See us at the bottom? Don’t think that’s going to improve after this weekend’s result, do you?

The match itself started well enough. Before the game Alan Smith said on the commentary for Sky Sports that Andrei Arshavin needed a good game and within four minutes he had made an impact. Sliding a delicate pass to RvP who held from shooting until the perfect moment past Vorm, we were one up within five minutes. The perfect tonic and the perfect opening.

That was as good as the day got. We do definitely need to give Swansea some credit. They started to press high up the pitch, force errors from players like Song and Ramsey (both woeful) and kept winning the ball back. So when they got their equalizer on 16 minutes it was not exactly against the run of play. As Nathan Dyer turned well on the ball inside the box, he pushed out his leg and raked his studs along Aaron Ramsey’s shin. His theatrical fall to the floor was surprising and immediately I laughed and said ‘get up mate’. Unfortunately, Michael Oliver saw something that I doubt few others would have and gave a penalty. I saw something on twitter that asked – ‘what would have happened if Ramsey would have gone off with an injury? Could Oliver really have given a pen then?’ – I think the answer to that is a categorical ‘yes’. He is a terrible ref and showed it again yesterday.

The second half started but Arsenal didn’t and we were behind on 57 minutes. Aaron Ramsey lost possession about ten yards from our box and when Dyer was found on the right hand side of the D he made no mistake.

Swansea were ahead and it was twelve minutes of looking like nothing would go our way until the second equalizer. Johan Djourou, who had a terrible game as well, decided that he would be of use and slid in the otherwise anonymous Theo Walcott who chipped the ball over the keeper for 2-2. At this stage you hoped that we could kick on.

But this is Arsenal. We do ‘implosion’ better than everyone else. Almost straight from the kick off a simple ball over the top was not dealt with defensively and Danny Graham was in on goal to slot the ball past Sczscney. If I’m being brutal, the keeper didn’t exactly get his lines right and probably could have saved it, but like so many of our goals this season it didn’t really even need to come to him to have eradicated the mistakes.

So the match petered out to a 3-2 victory and not even the substitutions of Henry, Rosicky and Oxlad-Chamberlain could draw us back level for a third time. A hard defeat to take. Not just because it’s to a newly promoted team, but because of the manner in which we lost. I saw nothing of a ‘never say die’ attitude from the team and too many players were found wanting. Mertesacker wasn’t great, Miquel had a tough time and showed that he is clearly not ready for the first team – certainly not when he is out of position, Song and Ramsey were so dire it was tough to watch. A real shame for Rambo because he of all people, being a Cardiff lad, will have wanted to get one over on Swansea and perhaps he tried too hard.

Up front we had both Theo and Arshavin looking so anonymous at times I thought we’d already had two players sent off when I went for a quick comfort break.

That’s enough for today, but I’m going to continue to dissect this performance tomorrow as there are some fundamental problems with the team at the moment.

Arsenal’s youth policy: one success, one less so

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Hey ho Joe, whaddya know?

Over 24 hours since Henry’s dramatic winner at the Emirates against Leeds and it’s still what all the fans are thinking of. I know it was just a game and if we get knocked out in the next round or the round after that then technically it would have counted for nothing, but football is about great moments. They are the bits you remember ten years down the line. Not that we capitulated away from home on a cold midweek winter FA Cup game.

Anyway, as is the clubs new mantra, FORWARD is the way…well forward I guess, and yesterday we had a couple of tit bits of news filtering out of the club. The first was the news that promising young midfielder Francis Coquelin has signed an extension to his current deal that will see him contracted to the club until 2015. It’s the right thing for the club to do and a reward for a player who has really matured over the last 12 months.

I remember seeing him at the Emirates Cup (I think) a couple of years ago as a slight 18-year-old player. He looked good technically but I had the feeling about him that he might never make it into the first team squad. He looked like a Stephen Hughes type: fringes of the squad but ultimately not good enough and eventually sold on. Thankfully, Le Coq - as he is affectionately known by the gooner faithful, has shown just what a year away playing first team football can do for you. At the beginning of last season he was sent to Lorient, given playing time and has flourished. So much so that many Arsenal fans and bloggers alike see him as slightly unlucky not to have had more game time this season. Although I didn’t watch the United mauling at Old Trafford, I’ve been told he played alright. Coupled with a good performance away to Spurs and he has shown that perhaps he deserves to be the understudy to Alex Song. It is perhaps quite telling that Frimpong has been sent out on loan for the rest of the season, whilst Le Coq has remained.

Francis has also shown his versatility too, slotting into our decimated full back position and by no means looking out-of-place. On Monday he was switched from left to right back and the credit has to go to him that most were very disappointed to see him limp off. Unfortunately it now looks like we won’t see him for a few weeks and I suspect by that time we will have Vermaelen and Sagna back so his opportunity to ‘do a Flamini’ and get an extended run in the team might be limited. But he has done enough to show he is an able understudy and his signing is a good thing.

The second piece of news coming out of the club yesterday was that Stevenage had signed Luke Freeman on a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee. Freeman was one of those players we snapped up whilst barely out of primary school at 15 and made his name by being Gillingham’s youngest ever player to play for the first team. The very fact we paid £200k to secure his services shows how highly rated he was and many expected him to rise up through the youth and reserves and perhaps begin to force a place into the Carling Cup team. However, as far as I’m aware he’s never been near the first team squad on a match day and at 19 the club clearly felt his career would be best served somewhere else. I guess that as we have players like Joel Campbell, Aneke and Afobe all pushing from a youth team perspective that are all around the same age of Freeman, he was always going to find it tough. I’d chart his days at the club along the same lines as Lupoli so I guess it is good the club did not lose a player to a free transfer in the same regard and he was moved on. I think at times he did impress at Stevenage, but I’d be surprised if we got a lot more than the money we paid for him if I’m honest. Good luck to the lad and I hope his career does well at Stevenage. But not that well that he’s snapped up by United, City or Spurs in a few years time and bangs in goals against us!

So there you have it, some good news regarding a player signing up for more years and some less good news to hear that another players time at the club has come to an end.

We still have a good few days before Swansea and any news from the manager about who will play and who won’t so, until tomorrow my gooner friends.

Adieu.