The defeat by Man City was a tough one. We deserved something from the game, no questions, and on another day Phil Dowd might not have been the complete tool he always is and given the penalty for the blatant handball by Micah Richards. That said the defeat did raise the same questions about the 'depth' (I use the term loosely) of our squad, particularly the attacking options.
I think it's clear for all to see, that Arshavin is a spent force, not through lack of effort, but his confidence is so shot, I think there is no of him re-discovering (if he ever really had it) his form. Chamakh is frankly useless to us as a team now. He comes on, ambles about a bit, does nothing and then runs off the pitch as fast as he can. At least Arshavin still tries to make the odd pass and will waste the odd opportunity, Chamakh doesn't even do that now, he is our Emile Heskey.
If these are our 2 best attacking substitutions and are to remain so for the remainder of the season then I think we'll struggle, simple because Van Persie can't play every game and without his goals and attacking prowess we look powder-puff at times.
So what the alternative? Again I think most fans would say it's blindingly obvious Wenger needs to buy in January. A striker is a must, as Chamakh will be gone for up to 6 weeks, and Park hasn't as much made the bench for the last few games (if Chamakh is getting onto the bench ahead of him, how average can Park be in training?), so despite Arsene saying Park, Arshavin, Chamberlain etc can play there, we really shouldn't risk it.
I think we're covered in midfield to be honest. The return of Jack will give us options to rotate the trio of Arteta, Ramsey and Jack. It'll also force both Arteta and Ramsey to play out of their skins week-in week-out as Jack ought to be starting every week when he's back. I would go as far to say that our best midfield would be Song-Arteta-Wilshere, as I personally think Ramsey is more suited to the Arteta role by controlling the tempo with his passing and Jack has the greater potential to play the 'killer' pass.
The next position that I think needs investment is out wide. I think Gervinho has done well since coming in, and despite the glaring misses, has added a much needed impetus to our forward play, that was sadly lacking with Arshavin out on the wing. I would love to see the Ox play, I'd have loved him to come on for Theo at City and just run at Zabaletta; that said I don't think Chamberlain is ready to play every week during the African Nations and I really don't want to see us return to the having the Russian out wide again.
I do however think Chamberlain should be our first choice substitute winger right now (followed closely by Yossi), ahead of the Arshavin. If we're losing and need some drive and spark to get back into the game, the Ox has shown he's more likely to produce, whilst Benayoun has played well every time he's come on. He's delivered whenever he's had the chance to play a full game (carling cup & Olympiacos) and I think he deserves more opportunities over the Russian.
Who we actually buy, I've no idea, but I think there are a few players who have just been dumped out of the champions league who could be available (from Dortmund & Lille), but I doubt we'll get them; Whilst the players I would like Cavani and Ayew are still in the competition so probably wouldn't move.
Whilst it's not all doom and gloom right now, I'm worried that due to the size of the squad it could all collapse in March. Again.
Arsene don't let it happen. Please.
Up The Arsenal
Ricky
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Tuesday 20 December 2011
Sunday 20 November 2011
The Chocolate Leg Does It Again
So we got the result and the 3 points from the potentially tricky fixture of Norwich away.
Overall it was a satisfying performance. We should have scored 3 times before they scored their first and we could/should have been 4 or 5 up by half time. Our profligacy in front of goal was worrying, but Norwich were playing so open at times we would always end up taking some of our chances. That said, Norwich did get lucky with having a player in position to clear off the line 3 times, especially with Walcott's first half effort.
The most pleasing aspect of the performance was that we are creating more chances; the front 3 are really gelling now, and baring injuries, we should be scoring more freely moving forward through the season than we had up to the Chelsea game. As this team was struggling at the beginning of the season to create chances, let alone score, it's pleasing enough to see Gervinho and Theo get into positions. The goals will start to flow from these 2 and I'm now reasonably confident of our chances going into the games over the Xmas period that we're enough in our team to get the results even when Van Persie is rested.
I thought Walcott was our MoM yesterday, but I think Ramsey was outstanding as well. The guy is so tidy in midfield and has bags of energy, the thought of him and Wilshere playing centre midfield for Arsenal is well verging on orgasmic. Verging, not actually. It'll be interesting to see what Wenger does with player rotation when Jack is back and where he'll play him, but that's a while away yet, so it doesn't need worrying about now.
Obviously our mandatory defensive mistake cost our clean sheet, I've no explanation for what Mertesaker was doing, but overall I thought we looked quite solid yesterday, and Norwich only looked a threat when we played a too-high a defensive line and bar the goal I can't remember another time that we were genuinely worried by them.
As ever the criticism of our defence was over the top and media love to shit on The Arsenal, but they can't argue with the current run of form, 5 straight wins and now 3 points off third place. Quite frankly the media can go fuck themselves and go rim John Terry's racist ringpiece as we're all bored of the "Arsenal in Crisis" headlines, and today is the "Battle of the Racists". I do hope SKY are calling it that.
right to an awesome post-Arsenal win Sunday, and Dortmund midweek.
UTA
Saturday 29 October 2011
marvelous
3 points is all it's worth but oh they taste sweet.
The 'crazy' results keep coming in this years Premier league, and today's 3-5 win was quite frankly mental. How we weren't 2-0 down in the first 5 mins was anyone's guess but how Gervinho and RVP missed from point blank range inside the first 10 mins was a mystery. My mind very much went back to Chamakh's miss of last season, fearing the worse.
As it was I was right to have such fears, Lampard stealing in behind Per Mertesacker to give the Chavs the lead.
We managed to level it up, deservedly, with Aaron Ramsey playing a delightful slide-rule pass through to Gervinho who sucked in Cech before setting up RVP with a simple tap in.
You knew they would score from the corner and only Arteta know's what he was doing. Sky's 'pundits' slammed Per again, but if Arteta had stayed where he was meant to be then we'd have gone in at HT 1-1.
That said our defence (Koscielny apart) was woeful in the first half. I thought it was a bad idea to play Djourou at right-back and he was skinned time and again by Cole. Both Per and Santos looked tentative, which can be forgiven considering this was their first London derby, but these guys have 100+ international caps between them.
The team that emerged for the second half was more intense and tenacious with their tackling and hassling of the opposition. it paid dividends as Santos grew in confidence throughout the half and by the end of the game, looked almost 'comfortable' at the back. Per too grew into the game, reading the danger on the odd occasion that Chelsea threatened second half, bar Mata's long range effort and a Lampard free-kick I can't remember much else from the home team.
I think it's fair to say that we were lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch at the end as Chesney should have gone for taking out Cole, but it's nice to have some luck for once.
It goes without saying that RVP was clinical as ever (without actually doing that much) but our stand-out performers for me were Koscienly, who's growing into the defender that Wenger insists can be 'world class', Ramsey and Theo.
Ramsey is definitely back to his pre-stoke form and Theo has learnt that he can be so much more dangerous by running inside at the goal, not just down the wing. His final ball today was outstanding and his goal showed that his extra work on the training ground has paid off; the quick feet to recover from being on the floor to jink past Ivanovic and The Racist was something we've never seen before and the finish was emphatic.
For all the post match euphoria we need to keep our feet firmly nail-gunned on the floor, it's only 3 points, just like United only got 3 points from us and City 3 points from United. We do need to sure up the defence and we do need to keep RVP fit.
If we can do of that, then who know's where we'll be come May....
The 'crazy' results keep coming in this years Premier league, and today's 3-5 win was quite frankly mental. How we weren't 2-0 down in the first 5 mins was anyone's guess but how Gervinho and RVP missed from point blank range inside the first 10 mins was a mystery. My mind very much went back to Chamakh's miss of last season, fearing the worse.
As it was I was right to have such fears, Lampard stealing in behind Per Mertesacker to give the Chavs the lead.
We managed to level it up, deservedly, with Aaron Ramsey playing a delightful slide-rule pass through to Gervinho who sucked in Cech before setting up RVP with a simple tap in.
You knew they would score from the corner and only Arteta know's what he was doing. Sky's 'pundits' slammed Per again, but if Arteta had stayed where he was meant to be then we'd have gone in at HT 1-1.
That said our defence (Koscielny apart) was woeful in the first half. I thought it was a bad idea to play Djourou at right-back and he was skinned time and again by Cole. Both Per and Santos looked tentative, which can be forgiven considering this was their first London derby, but these guys have 100+ international caps between them.
The team that emerged for the second half was more intense and tenacious with their tackling and hassling of the opposition. it paid dividends as Santos grew in confidence throughout the half and by the end of the game, looked almost 'comfortable' at the back. Per too grew into the game, reading the danger on the odd occasion that Chelsea threatened second half, bar Mata's long range effort and a Lampard free-kick I can't remember much else from the home team.
I think it's fair to say that we were lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch at the end as Chesney should have gone for taking out Cole, but it's nice to have some luck for once.
It goes without saying that RVP was clinical as ever (without actually doing that much) but our stand-out performers for me were Koscienly, who's growing into the defender that Wenger insists can be 'world class', Ramsey and Theo.
Ramsey is definitely back to his pre-stoke form and Theo has learnt that he can be so much more dangerous by running inside at the goal, not just down the wing. His final ball today was outstanding and his goal showed that his extra work on the training ground has paid off; the quick feet to recover from being on the floor to jink past Ivanovic and The Racist was something we've never seen before and the finish was emphatic.
For all the post match euphoria we need to keep our feet firmly nail-gunned on the floor, it's only 3 points, just like United only got 3 points from us and City 3 points from United. We do need to sure up the defence and we do need to keep RVP fit.
If we can do of that, then who know's where we'll be come May....
Monday 26 September 2011
Much better
So we won back to back games for the first time this season and sine god knows when. A 3-0 win over a poor Bolton side was a great result and well deserved.
We struggled to get going in the first half. As Wenger pointed out our midfield was too deep to cause them any problems and RVP became too isolated as the half went on.
Pointing this out to his team at half-time seemed to do the trick, as straight from the kick-off Ramsey and Arteta started playing further forward and we got the break through we needed. Their 'keeper will be disappointed to concede at his near post but Robin won't be too bothered.
The sending off was weak, Theo went down far too easy, but that's par for the course now. It's the accepted thing to do, go down upon minimal contact. In a way I'm annoyed Theo did that, he should have wanted to score and put the game to bed, not get their player sent off, but that's just me. I'm also aware that going down so easily in situation like that may lead to us not getting a decision our way in the future, we don't want him getting a reputation for it.
Overall Theo had a mixed game, he was the game changer on Saturday, what with the sending off and the assist for Robin's second, but he also fluffed his lines with his 1 on 1. He took it far too early and that should have been his 4th goal of the season. If he wants to be playing further forward and through the middle he needs to start slotting them in regularly. I think he should pipe down with his media comments and start walking the walk. That's the only way he'll convince Arsene to play him through the middle.
Song was again our best midfielder, there were flashes of Songinho again with his fantastically taken goal, but overall (bar the odd exception - i.e.the Bolton break away that led to the Eagles shot) he did his job of sitting in front of the defence and breaking up play extremely well. He does need to communicate better with his fellow midfielders when he does turn into Songinho though, he simply can't push that far forward without someone taking his place, we'll be caught time and time again and a better player than Eagles may well have punished us on Saturday.
That said he was fantastic and in my opinion our best player. I know RVP is getting all the plaudits but I like the way Song goes about his work, he seems to have got rid of the 'stupid' fouls on the half-way line and has got a better idea of how to play his position now. Chipping in with the odd goal always helps too.
So to Wednesday now and Olympiacos. I expect a few changes, with Arshavin for Theo and maybe Rosicky for Ramsey, and Santos for Gibbs but not a lot other than that. We need to keep the momentum going so playing the same side consistently should bring greater familiarity within the squad, in turn providing greater fluidity in both attack and defence and ultimately results. Hopefully......
Right that's it.
Up The Arsenal
We struggled to get going in the first half. As Wenger pointed out our midfield was too deep to cause them any problems and RVP became too isolated as the half went on.
Pointing this out to his team at half-time seemed to do the trick, as straight from the kick-off Ramsey and Arteta started playing further forward and we got the break through we needed. Their 'keeper will be disappointed to concede at his near post but Robin won't be too bothered.
The sending off was weak, Theo went down far too easy, but that's par for the course now. It's the accepted thing to do, go down upon minimal contact. In a way I'm annoyed Theo did that, he should have wanted to score and put the game to bed, not get their player sent off, but that's just me. I'm also aware that going down so easily in situation like that may lead to us not getting a decision our way in the future, we don't want him getting a reputation for it.
Overall Theo had a mixed game, he was the game changer on Saturday, what with the sending off and the assist for Robin's second, but he also fluffed his lines with his 1 on 1. He took it far too early and that should have been his 4th goal of the season. If he wants to be playing further forward and through the middle he needs to start slotting them in regularly. I think he should pipe down with his media comments and start walking the walk. That's the only way he'll convince Arsene to play him through the middle.
Song was again our best midfielder, there were flashes of Songinho again with his fantastically taken goal, but overall (bar the odd exception - i.e.the Bolton break away that led to the Eagles shot) he did his job of sitting in front of the defence and breaking up play extremely well. He does need to communicate better with his fellow midfielders when he does turn into Songinho though, he simply can't push that far forward without someone taking his place, we'll be caught time and time again and a better player than Eagles may well have punished us on Saturday.
That said he was fantastic and in my opinion our best player. I know RVP is getting all the plaudits but I like the way Song goes about his work, he seems to have got rid of the 'stupid' fouls on the half-way line and has got a better idea of how to play his position now. Chipping in with the odd goal always helps too.
So to Wednesday now and Olympiacos. I expect a few changes, with Arshavin for Theo and maybe Rosicky for Ramsey, and Santos for Gibbs but not a lot other than that. We need to keep the momentum going so playing the same side consistently should bring greater familiarity within the squad, in turn providing greater fluidity in both attack and defence and ultimately results. Hopefully......
Right that's it.
Up The Arsenal
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Better...but more to come
So despite a rather nervous defensive performance we managed to turn-over the 4th division Shrewsbury Town team and ended up with a 3-1 win.
Much of the media focus today is on the Wenger press conference, I couldn't be less interested in that if I'm honest. Gazidis said some guff at a media meeting yesterday and Wenger effectively told the press to "jog on" when questioned about it. I can't remember the last time Arsene gave a straight answer to a question or actually said 'something' amongst all of the words he babbles out during his pressers. Always. The. Same. Shit.
So onto the game and a team of mixed experience performed ok bar for 20 mins in the middle of the first half, where Djourou was reminiscing about his school-boy football days and completely forgot that as a central defender you need to jump to win headers.
There was a lot of 'chatter' on Twitter having a go at Johan, but overall bar this mistake, when I think Ignasi Miquel had gone walkabout and left Djourou with 2 men to mark, I thought he dealt with the physical nature of their attack quite well. Bearing in mind this was a team from the 4th division I need to keep my praise in-check some what, but overall I as happy enough, and not being a miserable bastard, but someone who is naturally more optimistic, I prefer to focus on the good stuff from last night.
I think Coquelin was outstanding last night. His composure on the ball, his temperament & tenacity in the tackle and his general enthusiasm was fantastic, and something that seemed to rub off on a few others at times yesterday. At this moment in time I would happily play Coquelin ahead of Frimpong, mainly because Frimmers clearly sees the 'red mist' when wound up and at the moment we can't afford to have any more players sent off (if he hadn't have gone against Liverpool would we have lost? doubt it). I think the turning point within the game came when Coquelin had actually lost the ball in the middle of the park leading to a counter attack. The manner in which he sprinted back into position to rectify his mistake is the kind of attitude I love from Arsenal players, and vast difference to the attitude seem from certain 'amblers' over the last few years.
Chamberlain was a good performer (in the 2nd half more so) along with Benayoun who was a constant threat throughout and was always looking for a opportunity to take the team forward, ending up with a goal having got himself into the 6-yard box. I like that. He is clearly better as a wide player than centrally, and I think he'll offer more defensively when we do look to contain the opposition compared to Arshavin, Gervinho or Walcott currently do.
I saw a few reports saying that Park was poor, I personally couldn't disagree more. I accept he didn't have the most flamboyant of matches, but he kept everything simple and showed flashes of what he can do, with a few lovely through balls to Yossi and one shot flashed just wide after some good footwork on the left to work some space for himself.
I'd liked to have seen more from Chamakh but overall his play overall is getting better, his 'hold up and distribute' style was much better than the rubbish we were treated to in the 2nd half of last season. Hopefully coupled with his goal against Blackburn he's returning to the form from his purple patch at the beginning of last season. One thing I would add to that is he always looked super-pissed when he does miss a chance of the keeper makes a save, clearly he's trying his nuts off so it's another reason I'm confident he'll turn it around.
So a 3-1 win and overall I would say a 6.5/10 performance. Things always look better after a victory, and with far tougher assignments ahead it remains to be seen if this excruciatingly slow moving tanker has turned the corner.
Up The Arsenal
Much of the media focus today is on the Wenger press conference, I couldn't be less interested in that if I'm honest. Gazidis said some guff at a media meeting yesterday and Wenger effectively told the press to "jog on" when questioned about it. I can't remember the last time Arsene gave a straight answer to a question or actually said 'something' amongst all of the words he babbles out during his pressers. Always. The. Same. Shit.
So onto the game and a team of mixed experience performed ok bar for 20 mins in the middle of the first half, where Djourou was reminiscing about his school-boy football days and completely forgot that as a central defender you need to jump to win headers.
There was a lot of 'chatter' on Twitter having a go at Johan, but overall bar this mistake, when I think Ignasi Miquel had gone walkabout and left Djourou with 2 men to mark, I thought he dealt with the physical nature of their attack quite well. Bearing in mind this was a team from the 4th division I need to keep my praise in-check some what, but overall I as happy enough, and not being a miserable bastard, but someone who is naturally more optimistic, I prefer to focus on the good stuff from last night.
I think Coquelin was outstanding last night. His composure on the ball, his temperament & tenacity in the tackle and his general enthusiasm was fantastic, and something that seemed to rub off on a few others at times yesterday. At this moment in time I would happily play Coquelin ahead of Frimpong, mainly because Frimmers clearly sees the 'red mist' when wound up and at the moment we can't afford to have any more players sent off (if he hadn't have gone against Liverpool would we have lost? doubt it). I think the turning point within the game came when Coquelin had actually lost the ball in the middle of the park leading to a counter attack. The manner in which he sprinted back into position to rectify his mistake is the kind of attitude I love from Arsenal players, and vast difference to the attitude seem from certain 'amblers' over the last few years.
Chamberlain was a good performer (in the 2nd half more so) along with Benayoun who was a constant threat throughout and was always looking for a opportunity to take the team forward, ending up with a goal having got himself into the 6-yard box. I like that. He is clearly better as a wide player than centrally, and I think he'll offer more defensively when we do look to contain the opposition compared to Arshavin, Gervinho or Walcott currently do.
I saw a few reports saying that Park was poor, I personally couldn't disagree more. I accept he didn't have the most flamboyant of matches, but he kept everything simple and showed flashes of what he can do, with a few lovely through balls to Yossi and one shot flashed just wide after some good footwork on the left to work some space for himself.
I'd liked to have seen more from Chamakh but overall his play overall is getting better, his 'hold up and distribute' style was much better than the rubbish we were treated to in the 2nd half of last season. Hopefully coupled with his goal against Blackburn he's returning to the form from his purple patch at the beginning of last season. One thing I would add to that is he always looked super-pissed when he does miss a chance of the keeper makes a save, clearly he's trying his nuts off so it's another reason I'm confident he'll turn it around.
So a 3-1 win and overall I would say a 6.5/10 performance. Things always look better after a victory, and with far tougher assignments ahead it remains to be seen if this excruciatingly slow moving tanker has turned the corner.
Up The Arsenal
Tuesday 20 September 2011
So we start again
So the season hasn't really got off on the best foot has it?
Thus far I would say we've dropped 5 'bad' points, the 2 from the 0-0 Newcastle game and the obvious 3 from Blackburn at the weekend. Personally, I expected to get beat by Liverpool & Man Utd due to the various injuries and bans we had accumulated so early in the season.
That's not to say the performances weren't below par in those games (bar Frimpong in the Liverpool game, where, despite his dismissal, he was MOM).
The draw with Newcastle was all too obvious once Gervinho had got himself sent-off, but overall that was a game we dominated and should have got 3 points from, but to come away with a point from St. James' isn't the worse result in the world.
Blackburn was, well, a mess. Right up there with Wigan away 2 years ago. Should have been 3-1 up at half-time (but wasn't due to Gervinho being greedy), to being 3-2 down 10 mins after the restart. It was all rather absurd.
There are 2 ways to look at it, and I think you need to do both to really see how the game unfolded:
1) We battered them in the first half, but showed our usual generosity when it came to our finishing, and the lack of concentration that has blighted us for the last 5 years to allow them to score from nothing. The goal itself I wasn't that bothered about as it was a classic "this defence has never played together before" goal, neither Santos or Koscielny got their bearing right and Yakubu scored a very good goal. We responded to that by scoring ourselves, showing some of the "character" that Wenger refers to so often. Overall a happy 1st period.
The 2nd half was a tail REALLY bad luck. Firstly a foul was given for a perfectly legal tackle by Arshavin, from which a poorly taken freekick somehow missed the first man and hit a surprised Song who couldn't get out of the way leaving Szczesny stranded. The 3rd goal was offside, how the linesman missed that is beyond belief, but it's one of those errors similar to the Arshavin 'offside' goal against Sunderland last year. The 4th was another own-goal, and Koscielny did everything right except kick the ball away from goal.
2) We were dreadful in the 2nd half. After a encouraging first half that contained the stereotypical opposition goal from their first attempt on target, in a game they were being dominated in, we completely fell apart. Confidence drained from the team after their 2nd goal, you could see their heads drop. The experienced players we had just brought to the club, didn't show any of their experience to help battle through and get the 3 points. Our passing was atrocious though out, and the manner in which we made 'tackles' was appalling. Why did Djourou go to ground 40 yards from goal? How, once he had decided to go to ground, did he contrive to not only miss the man, but the fucking ball too? His decline since the Carling Cup final has be dramatic and is still clearly in full flow.
It really did seem that once Sagna went off you knew that we'd end up losing, without Mr. Consistency back there we fall to pieces. Hoilett is a good player with lots or pace and tricks, but even with a dead leg, Sagna gave him nothing; when Djourou came on he had been given a yellow card within 2 mins for fouling Hoilett.
I don't solely blame Djourou, but fucking hell he's playing shit right now.
So that's how I view the match, all-in-all a complete fuck up after he dominated the opposition and laughable that after scoring our 3rd we created 3 more golden opportunities to win the game.It leaves us in a mess that needs to be rectified sharpish.
Yes the players have to take a HUGE amount of criticism for the collapse on Saturday but I think the manager has to take his share to. I blame Wenger for picking the wrong team and making the wrong subs. When you're stuck in a rut (which we are) you always play your strongest team, regardless. Why did he elect to give a debut to Santos? Why not play Gibbs who knows what Blackburn are all about and give the defence that little bit extra familiarity it needs away from home? Also, why play Arshavin away from home? Absolutely pointless. We saw how dangerous Walcott was when he came on, and he's our top scorer this year, a truly bizarre decision.
The other decision I don't understand was bringing on Djourou for Sagna. Does it not make more sense to bring on another full-back (even though Gibbs would have be playing on the wrong side), as they are more positionally aware in their role, than a centre-back?
Fucking bizarre.
So that brings me back to the 'feel good factor' of the club, and that's the Carling Cup a chance to see the kids and the players on the fringes. Playing Shrewsbury 'should' allow the players to play with a bit more freedom, and see us win comfortably. That said this is Arsenal and we never do things easy.....
Hopefully we see Ryo and "The-Ox" tonight and we'll get our first glimpse at Park Chu-Young. There's also hope that our now bang-in-form striker Marouane Chamakh will continue his hot-streak of 1 premier league in 2011.
Hopefully the kids bring in a breath of fresh air and sweep away (most of) the negative stuff surrounding the club at present. We desperately need it.
More soon(ish)
Up The Arsenal
Thus far I would say we've dropped 5 'bad' points, the 2 from the 0-0 Newcastle game and the obvious 3 from Blackburn at the weekend. Personally, I expected to get beat by Liverpool & Man Utd due to the various injuries and bans we had accumulated so early in the season.
That's not to say the performances weren't below par in those games (bar Frimpong in the Liverpool game, where, despite his dismissal, he was MOM).
The draw with Newcastle was all too obvious once Gervinho had got himself sent-off, but overall that was a game we dominated and should have got 3 points from, but to come away with a point from St. James' isn't the worse result in the world.
Blackburn was, well, a mess. Right up there with Wigan away 2 years ago. Should have been 3-1 up at half-time (but wasn't due to Gervinho being greedy), to being 3-2 down 10 mins after the restart. It was all rather absurd.
There are 2 ways to look at it, and I think you need to do both to really see how the game unfolded:
1) We battered them in the first half, but showed our usual generosity when it came to our finishing, and the lack of concentration that has blighted us for the last 5 years to allow them to score from nothing. The goal itself I wasn't that bothered about as it was a classic "this defence has never played together before" goal, neither Santos or Koscielny got their bearing right and Yakubu scored a very good goal. We responded to that by scoring ourselves, showing some of the "character" that Wenger refers to so often. Overall a happy 1st period.
The 2nd half was a tail REALLY bad luck. Firstly a foul was given for a perfectly legal tackle by Arshavin, from which a poorly taken freekick somehow missed the first man and hit a surprised Song who couldn't get out of the way leaving Szczesny stranded. The 3rd goal was offside, how the linesman missed that is beyond belief, but it's one of those errors similar to the Arshavin 'offside' goal against Sunderland last year. The 4th was another own-goal, and Koscielny did everything right except kick the ball away from goal.
2) We were dreadful in the 2nd half. After a encouraging first half that contained the stereotypical opposition goal from their first attempt on target, in a game they were being dominated in, we completely fell apart. Confidence drained from the team after their 2nd goal, you could see their heads drop. The experienced players we had just brought to the club, didn't show any of their experience to help battle through and get the 3 points. Our passing was atrocious though out, and the manner in which we made 'tackles' was appalling. Why did Djourou go to ground 40 yards from goal? How, once he had decided to go to ground, did he contrive to not only miss the man, but the fucking ball too? His decline since the Carling Cup final has be dramatic and is still clearly in full flow.
It really did seem that once Sagna went off you knew that we'd end up losing, without Mr. Consistency back there we fall to pieces. Hoilett is a good player with lots or pace and tricks, but even with a dead leg, Sagna gave him nothing; when Djourou came on he had been given a yellow card within 2 mins for fouling Hoilett.
I don't solely blame Djourou, but fucking hell he's playing shit right now.
So that's how I view the match, all-in-all a complete fuck up after he dominated the opposition and laughable that after scoring our 3rd we created 3 more golden opportunities to win the game.It leaves us in a mess that needs to be rectified sharpish.
Yes the players have to take a HUGE amount of criticism for the collapse on Saturday but I think the manager has to take his share to. I blame Wenger for picking the wrong team and making the wrong subs. When you're stuck in a rut (which we are) you always play your strongest team, regardless. Why did he elect to give a debut to Santos? Why not play Gibbs who knows what Blackburn are all about and give the defence that little bit extra familiarity it needs away from home? Also, why play Arshavin away from home? Absolutely pointless. We saw how dangerous Walcott was when he came on, and he's our top scorer this year, a truly bizarre decision.
The other decision I don't understand was bringing on Djourou for Sagna. Does it not make more sense to bring on another full-back (even though Gibbs would have be playing on the wrong side), as they are more positionally aware in their role, than a centre-back?
Fucking bizarre.
So that brings me back to the 'feel good factor' of the club, and that's the Carling Cup a chance to see the kids and the players on the fringes. Playing Shrewsbury 'should' allow the players to play with a bit more freedom, and see us win comfortably. That said this is Arsenal and we never do things easy.....
Hopefully we see Ryo and "The-Ox" tonight and we'll get our first glimpse at Park Chu-Young. There's also hope that our now bang-in-form striker Marouane Chamakh will continue his hot-streak of 1 premier league in 2011.
Hopefully the kids bring in a breath of fresh air and sweep away (most of) the negative stuff surrounding the club at present. We desperately need it.
More soon(ish)
Up The Arsenal
Thursday 4 August 2011
2 weeks of boredom
So today was Members Day at the home of football, which happened to be my first time at such an occasion. Overall it was nice to be at leaving the Em's without the feeling of despair following a lacklustre performance for a change, though the weather did it's best to try and ruin it for the rather small crowd that did show up.
The activities themselves were of no real importance but it was just nice to be surrounded by supporters who were there to enjoy the day rather than bicker and starts arguments. After initially coming out to salute the crowd, Theo, Jack, Samir and Eboue went back down the tunnel, whilst the rest of the squad played some practice games, drills etc.
It was an interesting enough experience to see we do actually practice crossing the ball in training, we're just not very good at it. Seeing Sagna, Traore, Miyaichi, Jenkinson, Song and Arshavin attempt crosses was painful, most were over hit or didn't get off the ground. When it came to the playing pretty one-twos on the edge of the box though we looked world beaters, and the players looked a whole lot more interested.
One observation was how superior Bendtner was to Chamakh in all facets of their play today. Watching the Moroccan struggle to hit pea-rollers at our keepers was worrying, whilst Nicklas was banging them in from all angles. Obviously this was just training, but Chamakh looks so devoid of confidence he's like the Francis Jeffers of this team, players were teeing him up to score but his finishing was shocking. If we're letting one of them go, I'd keep Bendtner all day long, everything our African friend is so predictable, even Squillaci marked him out of the training games.
Positives from the training were Cesc looking surprisingly sharp, Ramsey and Rosicky linking up well, and Benik Afobe looking confident amongst the first team. I now expect him to feature heavily in our Carling Cup run before heading out on loan towards the end of the season.
Not being 'lucky' enough to get into the Q&A with the current players I popped along to hear what Martin Keown and Ray Parlour had to say. Most of what Ray said was sadly dull and predictable (same TALKshite stuff), Keown on the other hand had some interesting soundbites.
When one lady pleaded with him to come back and coach the defence he said he it was "highly unlikely" he would do that. Though he would love to work under Arsene Wenger, because he had played at Arsenal he would find it hard to be a coach for the club. Martin also said he fully expected Steve Bould to progress to that role as well as looking after the youth team, before finishing by saying that the fans shouldn't expect more than 4th place this year and maybe a cup win at best, due to the lack of clarity over the Cesc/Nasri situations. Keown said that not only should Arsene be trusted by his ultimate decision over these two players, but that the club should listen to the fans, he then put it to the crowd, asking what the club should do with Nasri, the majority of which shouted back "sell him". Hopefully the sensible thing is done then.....
So it seems it's not just the fans who are struggling to be optimistic at the moment, that said it was good to hear Keown & Parlour state that the fans who booed at the Em's cup, though understandable due to disappointments, are nothing but a hindrance to team moral. Nothing ground breaking, but nice to hear something other than the polar extremes of the media/social networking world that are currently flying about
Silent Stan was there pitch side during training and it's floating around twitter that there was a full board meeting today. The obvious things will hopefully be discussed and decisions made that can bring an end to the drawn out sagas that have bogged the club down for the last 2 months.
Not holding my breath though......
More next week after the Champions League draw tomorrow and Benfica on Saturday with some build up to the Newcastle game.
Till then, Up The Arsenal.
RC
The activities themselves were of no real importance but it was just nice to be surrounded by supporters who were there to enjoy the day rather than bicker and starts arguments. After initially coming out to salute the crowd, Theo, Jack, Samir and Eboue went back down the tunnel, whilst the rest of the squad played some practice games, drills etc.
It was an interesting enough experience to see we do actually practice crossing the ball in training, we're just not very good at it. Seeing Sagna, Traore, Miyaichi, Jenkinson, Song and Arshavin attempt crosses was painful, most were over hit or didn't get off the ground. When it came to the playing pretty one-twos on the edge of the box though we looked world beaters, and the players looked a whole lot more interested.
One observation was how superior Bendtner was to Chamakh in all facets of their play today. Watching the Moroccan struggle to hit pea-rollers at our keepers was worrying, whilst Nicklas was banging them in from all angles. Obviously this was just training, but Chamakh looks so devoid of confidence he's like the Francis Jeffers of this team, players were teeing him up to score but his finishing was shocking. If we're letting one of them go, I'd keep Bendtner all day long, everything our African friend is so predictable, even Squillaci marked him out of the training games.
Positives from the training were Cesc looking surprisingly sharp, Ramsey and Rosicky linking up well, and Benik Afobe looking confident amongst the first team. I now expect him to feature heavily in our Carling Cup run before heading out on loan towards the end of the season.
Not being 'lucky' enough to get into the Q&A with the current players I popped along to hear what Martin Keown and Ray Parlour had to say. Most of what Ray said was sadly dull and predictable (same TALKshite stuff), Keown on the other hand had some interesting soundbites.
When one lady pleaded with him to come back and coach the defence he said he it was "highly unlikely" he would do that. Though he would love to work under Arsene Wenger, because he had played at Arsenal he would find it hard to be a coach for the club. Martin also said he fully expected Steve Bould to progress to that role as well as looking after the youth team, before finishing by saying that the fans shouldn't expect more than 4th place this year and maybe a cup win at best, due to the lack of clarity over the Cesc/Nasri situations. Keown said that not only should Arsene be trusted by his ultimate decision over these two players, but that the club should listen to the fans, he then put it to the crowd, asking what the club should do with Nasri, the majority of which shouted back "sell him". Hopefully the sensible thing is done then.....
So it seems it's not just the fans who are struggling to be optimistic at the moment, that said it was good to hear Keown & Parlour state that the fans who booed at the Em's cup, though understandable due to disappointments, are nothing but a hindrance to team moral. Nothing ground breaking, but nice to hear something other than the polar extremes of the media/social networking world that are currently flying about
Silent Stan was there pitch side during training and it's floating around twitter that there was a full board meeting today. The obvious things will hopefully be discussed and decisions made that can bring an end to the drawn out sagas that have bogged the club down for the last 2 months.
Not holding my breath though......
More next week after the Champions League draw tomorrow and Benfica on Saturday with some build up to the Newcastle game.
Till then, Up The Arsenal.
RC
Thursday 14 July 2011
Unnecessary Fuss
So we've finally had a football kicked in anger, on a dodgy 'injury maker' pitch out in Malaysia, and it couldn't have come a minute too soon. The in-fighting and bitching amongst The Arsenal faithful and towards certain players has been appalling and downright disrespectful since the beginning of the crumble last season, but during this transfer window it's progressed to the next level.
Obviously the lack of real action leads to people over analysing every quote/soundbite from anyone connected with the club, be it current/ex-players or staff, but to see everyone and anyone being slagged-off regardless, and shot down for any number of reasons has made me embarrassed of some of the supporters of our great club.
My biggest bug bear has been the elitist nature from some members of the season ticket circle. I don't have one, does this make me less of a fan? No. Some of my mates who are lucky enough to possess STs hardly attend and often are detached from the day-to-day business of the club. Having an ST doesn't give you the right to look down on other fans who either can't afford one or haven't been offered one yet. There's also been a lot of stuff said on Twitter about some fans preaching self-righteousness over our foreign fanbase for not residing in the UK. I've never heard such a load of bollocks. Get over yourselves.
I apply the same to people who belong to Arsenal fan groups (AST etc), just because you've chosen to be a member of such a group, doesn't make your opinion more important than mine, or detract from the level of support I show the club. That's not to say I don't enjoy engaging in debate with those who have differing opinions to mine, one of my closest mates thinks: Wenger needs to go; Arshavin is the worst player our club has ever seen; Cesc, Nasri & RVP should be sold; Gervinho is shit (already); Bendtner is our best striker (that list is genuine. bizarre as it is, it's 100% real). So I'm more than open to debate.
I have no qualm with people expressing concerns and opinions about players/coaching staff/board members, everyone is entitled to an opinion. It doesn't mean you should force yours on others though, nor should you take someone's opinion as fact. Listen, absorb, and then let go; don't be a keyboard warrior, you make yourself look a mug.
On to things more positive, the 4-0 win yesterday saw the first involvement of our new signing Carl Jenkinson and Ryo Miyachi, and the return of Carlos Vela to the 1st team fold. Jenkinson had a solid, if not spectacular display, Miyachi showed glimpses of talent and searing pace, while Vela resumed work at the chip shop with a ridiculous training ground goal. You're allowed to side foot them Carlos......
Xavi and Barca made mugs of themselves by drawing Wenger out to publicly criticise them for scandalous disrespect towards the club and Cesc, while the Nasri situation hasn't moved.There was some uproar about Wenger's comments re: Nasri yesterday, but there's still a long way to go in the transfer market, I'm not sure why there is such consternation every time Arsene says anything about Nasri/Cesc/transfers in. We should have learnt by now he lives behind smokescreens during pre-season and refuses to jeopardise any potential deals by publicly stating interest. He does this because: 1) he's not a cu*t like twitchy "SSN" 'Arry or "DNA"Xavi 2) He's not a media whore like Twitchy "SSN" or "DNA" and 3) He can hardly call for respect from Barca over Cesc and then start openly tapping up players from other clubs can he?
All of which leads me to believe a number of things this summer: 1) Cesc & Nasri will stay 2) Bendtner will stay 3) One CB will be signed 4) A replacement for Almunia will be signed
That isn't what I want to happen, I'd like a defensive midfielder to compete with Song and cover him during the sodding African Nations Cup, a full back to replace Clichy, one physically imposing centre back (not the footballing type, rather the sort of specimen who doesn't fuck about with the ball) and a creative central midfielder. Too much to ask for I know, but, meh......
Over and out. for now. comments/thoughts/opinions.......
Obviously the lack of real action leads to people over analysing every quote/soundbite from anyone connected with the club, be it current/ex-players or staff, but to see everyone and anyone being slagged-off regardless, and shot down for any number of reasons has made me embarrassed of some of the supporters of our great club.
My biggest bug bear has been the elitist nature from some members of the season ticket circle. I don't have one, does this make me less of a fan? No. Some of my mates who are lucky enough to possess STs hardly attend and often are detached from the day-to-day business of the club. Having an ST doesn't give you the right to look down on other fans who either can't afford one or haven't been offered one yet. There's also been a lot of stuff said on Twitter about some fans preaching self-righteousness over our foreign fanbase for not residing in the UK. I've never heard such a load of bollocks. Get over yourselves.
I apply the same to people who belong to Arsenal fan groups (AST etc), just because you've chosen to be a member of such a group, doesn't make your opinion more important than mine, or detract from the level of support I show the club. That's not to say I don't enjoy engaging in debate with those who have differing opinions to mine, one of my closest mates thinks: Wenger needs to go; Arshavin is the worst player our club has ever seen; Cesc, Nasri & RVP should be sold; Gervinho is shit (already); Bendtner is our best striker (that list is genuine. bizarre as it is, it's 100% real). So I'm more than open to debate.
I have no qualm with people expressing concerns and opinions about players/coaching staff/board members, everyone is entitled to an opinion. It doesn't mean you should force yours on others though, nor should you take someone's opinion as fact. Listen, absorb, and then let go; don't be a keyboard warrior, you make yourself look a mug.
On to things more positive, the 4-0 win yesterday saw the first involvement of our new signing Carl Jenkinson and Ryo Miyachi, and the return of Carlos Vela to the 1st team fold. Jenkinson had a solid, if not spectacular display, Miyachi showed glimpses of talent and searing pace, while Vela resumed work at the chip shop with a ridiculous training ground goal. You're allowed to side foot them Carlos......
Xavi and Barca made mugs of themselves by drawing Wenger out to publicly criticise them for scandalous disrespect towards the club and Cesc, while the Nasri situation hasn't moved.There was some uproar about Wenger's comments re: Nasri yesterday, but there's still a long way to go in the transfer market, I'm not sure why there is such consternation every time Arsene says anything about Nasri/Cesc/transfers in. We should have learnt by now he lives behind smokescreens during pre-season and refuses to jeopardise any potential deals by publicly stating interest. He does this because: 1) he's not a cu*t like twitchy "SSN" 'Arry or "DNA"Xavi 2) He's not a media whore like Twitchy "SSN" or "DNA" and 3) He can hardly call for respect from Barca over Cesc and then start openly tapping up players from other clubs can he?
All of which leads me to believe a number of things this summer: 1) Cesc & Nasri will stay 2) Bendtner will stay 3) One CB will be signed 4) A replacement for Almunia will be signed
That isn't what I want to happen, I'd like a defensive midfielder to compete with Song and cover him during the sodding African Nations Cup, a full back to replace Clichy, one physically imposing centre back (not the footballing type, rather the sort of specimen who doesn't fuck about with the ball) and a creative central midfielder. Too much to ask for I know, but, meh......
Over and out. for now. comments/thoughts/opinions.......
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Staring at the "Ring of Fire" is dangerous and make me feel sick
Short and sweet.
So....
We made our first signing in the form of Carl Jenkinson, a 19 year old right-back who I think we can assume will be Sagna’s understudy next season (and not played out of position – please Arsene NO!!). Having the best RB in the league to learn your trade from will hopefully lead to Jenkinson going on to become a top quality player for club and country.
I think it’s pretty clear that this will be the final nail in the coffin of the club jester Eboue. He’s been a great servant to The Arsenal; he had a couple of cracking seasons, before (sadly for him) Sagna arrived and he was then told he was a right winger by Arsene. This led to Emmanuel forgetting all of the good work he had done at full-back the previous 3 seasons; he could no longer defend, to the point he became a liability in both his old and ‘new’ position, culminating in the Wigan game where he was outrageously and horrendously booed by our home ‘support’.
Thankfully he saw the chastising as a wake-up call to try and save his career, and he has since then played much better when called upon; which to be fair hasn’t been that often, due to said liability traits.
I never bought into the ‘Cult of Eboue’ shit, but I preferred that to the nonsensical player bashing, that is now reserved for Denilson and Bendtner. With QPR being bandied about in the media I want to wish him good luck with whatever his next steps in football are. The club will be different without his theatrics and liabilitiness* (not a real word I know) but he is massively popular with the players, so hopefully the team morale doesn’t suffer without him.
The signing of Jenkinson and the apparent future departure of Eboue (other than being sensible!!!) would increase our number of ‘home grown’ players and free up one of the foreign national spaces within the squad. Throw in the fact that we’ve made an 11th hour bid for Phil Jones at £16m + bigger wags than MUFC and it seems as though AW has finally taken his “economics degree hat” off and has put his, “I’ve got fucking roubles/dollars to spend, let’s go MENTAL with it” face mask on.
It’s a clear sign of intent or madness, but hopefully it’s also a sign that for once, Arsene wants to get the bulk of his player business done prior to August, especially with the Champions League qualifier this year. That said some of the transfer fees being thrown about are ridiculous, £20m for Jordan Henderson? You can FUCK RIGHT OFF. Some fans are questioning why we didn’t go in for him. Here’s you answer: JACK WILSHERE & AARON RAMSEY. Some people.
With the conclusion to the Jones saga yet to be confirmed amid rumours/reports of failing a medical at MUFC this is the start of what I think will be the craziest transfer window ever and it could potentially have started out with Arsenal being the biggest winners thus far. There will be alot more of this sort of shit over the next 10 weeks (which will be nauseating for 99% of the time) but I like the idea of The Arsenal winning....
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it bitches.
Shit, much longer than expected, but meh....
RC
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Should he stay or should he go
I’m not really sure what to make of the Samir Nasri situation. Is he being a complete tool, or is just really stupid. After making various comments about Man Utd 2 days ago, he was last night stating that he wants to see how the squad building goes over the summer before committing to sign a new deal. Not sure how I feel about that. I saw one person on twitter say that he should show his ambition by taking a wage decrease enabling the club to spend the ‘freed up’ money to add to the transfer ‘warchest’. Admirable idea, but this is modern football. Never. Gonna. Happen.
Obviously Nasri has seen/heard the backlash from the fans and is trying to now paint a nicer picture of himself but it all seems a bit sad to me. Why is it that the players who show great improvement after 2 years of nothing, then get too big for their own boots? Flamini, Adebayor, and now Nasri; all had mediocre first 2 seasons at the club, before having their best (half) season in the Red&White. Surely you deserve a substantial pay rise after showing consistent improvement, not after a spurt?
Maybe I’m living too much in the real world, but Arsene needs to get his house in order with regards to the wage structure for our players. Stories of Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Vela all getting handsome pay rises in recent years, for doing naff all, doesn’t sit well with the fans especially as the season ticket price rise of 6.2% has effectively paid for the increased wages.
Arsenal are a loyal club (by and large) and Arsene a loyal manger; he vehemently defends his players from any criticism, yet some players, who Wenger has helped nurture and given opportunities to, choose to repay him by either using agents to get away from the club, or make ridiculous demands for wage increases when they provide little (or no) evidence that it is deserved. These players should be running their backsides into the ground for Arsenal, we’ve made them who they are today, Yet they don’t, they try backheels on the halfway line, don’t track back, throw their arms in the air as a teammate makes a mistake. It all seems…..pathetic.
It’s sad to say it, but if said players were at Man Utd, they wouldn’t last more than 6 months. Hate him for being a the biggest knob-jockey in the universe, but Fergusson doesn’t take this kind of shit from anybody; he got rid of his best defender in Jaap Stam at the height of his career because of a bit of jip in Stam’s autobiography. He was a beast of a player, but due to a lack of respect he was out. Can you imagine Arsene doing that? For my mind some of the displays we’ve had to witness from these players have been shockingly disrespectful to the club. Seemingly a few will be off this summer, but does Arsene need to be more ruthless? In my opinion 1000000000000000000000% yes. Players who actually give a fuck about the club, and playing for the manager are what this club needs not players who crab their way round the pitch and then slag off team displays, transfer policy, fans, when they need to look squarely at themselves in the mirror and realise that they are not good enough and they need to work harder because they are letting not only themselves, but those around them down.
I don’t care if Samir Nasri goes or stays, but he needs to start showing a bit more respect to the people who pay his wages if he does stay, or the backlash from the clubs 60’000 bankrollers could be huge come August.
Sunday 5 June 2011
It's all so slow.....
So it's back to grey again in London town; normal service resumed me thinks.
After a rather lame attempt at cooking a bbq on the sun flooded Highbury Fields yesterday, to wake up to a raft of boring Cesc rumours this morning is like waking up with the most ragingist of raging hangovers after a mediocre night out. Dull, annoying and uneventful. Has all that bollocks started already? it's going to be a long summer.
With regards to Cesc, if he goes, he goes. The Arsenal will live on and is about much more than just one player. As many have said in the Arsenal Blogosphere and on Twiter before me, as long as we replace an outgoing player with equal if not better quality then I don't care who comes and goes. Just my opinion, but meh, it's an opinion, take it in and let it go.
A few current and former Arsenal players played in the England match yesterday. I didn't watch it, as I find England internationals painful to watch at the best of times, but even more so when London is bathed in sunshine and there is beer to be drank and bbq to be eaten (or not in my case).
As it turns out (from what I've read) Jack had a good game, while Theo and Djourou were poor, both continuing their downward spiralling end-of-season form. JD's downturn in form has been emphatic, and worrying ahead of next season. If anything it's re-highlighted the need for Wenger to buy a top quality centre half; if JD is making Philip Senderos look like an assured defender, then we really can't be relying on him to lead the line with Tommy V next season.
For my money its a TV-Kos6 first choice central defence next season. Hopefully the lack of form for JD is a result of playing more games this season than he has ever before, add in a lack of confidence to his obvious fatigue and you've got an error prone defender, a nice little holiday should sort that out. *praying*
As ever it's all quiet on the subject of players coming into the club at the moment (not that I care one jot currently), but with predictions from the Tiwtterverse of new signings X, Y and Z to be announced next week I'm sure we're in for a bumper-packed, happy-filled, mountain of nonsense, bullshit, guff and bollocks of the highest order to be thrown at us from all directions in the coming days. All hail the saviours X, Y and Z. YAY!!
can't wait...... have good Sunday
After a rather lame attempt at cooking a bbq on the sun flooded Highbury Fields yesterday, to wake up to a raft of boring Cesc rumours this morning is like waking up with the most ragingist of raging hangovers after a mediocre night out. Dull, annoying and uneventful. Has all that bollocks started already? it's going to be a long summer.
With regards to Cesc, if he goes, he goes. The Arsenal will live on and is about much more than just one player. As many have said in the Arsenal Blogosphere and on Twiter before me, as long as we replace an outgoing player with equal if not better quality then I don't care who comes and goes. Just my opinion, but meh, it's an opinion, take it in and let it go.
A few current and former Arsenal players played in the England match yesterday. I didn't watch it, as I find England internationals painful to watch at the best of times, but even more so when London is bathed in sunshine and there is beer to be drank and bbq to be eaten (or not in my case).
As it turns out (from what I've read) Jack had a good game, while Theo and Djourou were poor, both continuing their downward spiralling end-of-season form. JD's downturn in form has been emphatic, and worrying ahead of next season. If anything it's re-highlighted the need for Wenger to buy a top quality centre half; if JD is making Philip Senderos look like an assured defender, then we really can't be relying on him to lead the line with Tommy V next season.
For my money its a TV-Kos6 first choice central defence next season. Hopefully the lack of form for JD is a result of playing more games this season than he has ever before, add in a lack of confidence to his obvious fatigue and you've got an error prone defender, a nice little holiday should sort that out. *praying*
As ever it's all quiet on the subject of players coming into the club at the moment (not that I care one jot currently), but with predictions from the Tiwtterverse of new signings X, Y and Z to be announced next week I'm sure we're in for a bumper-packed, happy-filled, mountain of nonsense, bullshit, guff and bollocks of the highest order to be thrown at us from all directions in the coming days. All hail the saviours X, Y and Z. YAY!!
can't wait...... have good Sunday
Tuesday 31 May 2011
Scholes: I hated the ginger ninja, but he was quality...
The title says it all really. This is an Arsenal blog, but today called for this.
Paul Scholes has retired, and the English game has lost it's most naturally gifted players on the last 20 years.
He epitomised the Manchester United under Alex Ferguson; plenty of talent combined with a 'never say die' attitude, a thirst for winning and a knack of getting the job done.
A player who perhaps called time on his international career 2-3 years early in order to prolong his club career, was never labelled a 'Judas' by the media for doing so (unlike Jack Wilshere this summer) because he had been (the lone) truely world class player for his country. When players like Xavi refer to a player like Scholes as their role model, you know the player in question is just a little bit good.
He had it all, an exemplary timing off the killer pass, vision on the pitch comparable to our Cesc, hopeless at tackling but ahd the balls to get stuck in, and the rather annoying knack of scoring REALLY important goals against The Arsenal. The ginger bastard had the lot.
For that reason I hated him so much, probably more so then any other United player (prior to Ruud Van Horseface), yet he was the one player I would have taken from United and put in 'my' Arsenal team. What we could have done with a Paul Scholes these last 6 years. We most certainly wouldn't have had the late-spring collapses we've become accustomed too.
Paul Scholes: What a prick, but what a player. He'll be sorely missed by United (not by Arsenal fans).
Paul Scholes has retired, and the English game has lost it's most naturally gifted players on the last 20 years.
He epitomised the Manchester United under Alex Ferguson; plenty of talent combined with a 'never say die' attitude, a thirst for winning and a knack of getting the job done.
A player who perhaps called time on his international career 2-3 years early in order to prolong his club career, was never labelled a 'Judas' by the media for doing so (unlike Jack Wilshere this summer) because he had been (the lone) truely world class player for his country. When players like Xavi refer to a player like Scholes as their role model, you know the player in question is just a little bit good.
He had it all, an exemplary timing off the killer pass, vision on the pitch comparable to our Cesc, hopeless at tackling but ahd the balls to get stuck in, and the rather annoying knack of scoring REALLY important goals against The Arsenal. The ginger bastard had the lot.
For that reason I hated him so much, probably more so then any other United player (prior to Ruud Van Horseface), yet he was the one player I would have taken from United and put in 'my' Arsenal team. What we could have done with a Paul Scholes these last 6 years. We most certainly wouldn't have had the late-spring collapses we've become accustomed too.
Paul Scholes: What a prick, but what a player. He'll be sorely missed by United (not by Arsenal fans).
Sunday 29 May 2011
Sitting firmly on the fence
Afternoon all,
This post has been waiting since Friday, but it's something that's needed to be said for a long while. Others have touched upon it's content and now that the football season has finished and the silly season has begun I thought I'd throw my thoughts out at it.
On Friday i was labelled as an AKB. I told said labeller to "fuck right off" before ending my conversation with him. I just don't get it.
Why as supporters of one club do we have this 'civil war'? fair enough we have different ideals of how the manager should deal with the team an how the board should deal with the manager, but just because you think differently doesn't mean you have to force your opinion down the throat of others. That my friends is what is known as "bollocks".
Opinions have to be respected and not shot down, but not enforced on others.
For my part, I think Wenger should have this summer to rectify the mess of this Arsenal team he has created; if at the end of next season thing haven't changed and we (again) crumble like a digestive biscuit then I think it will be time for the club to say "Thanks Arsene" and move him up to a director of football position or move him on completely. Either way bring in someone new, fresh and re-invigorate the club. I'm neither part of the AKB or the InArseneWeRust. I'm a fan or The Arsenal. Nothing more, nothing less. Deal with it fuckers!!!
For what it's worth I think it would be a good idea to keep AW within the club if such a situation arises but I would complete understand if he left completely.
As it stands however we haven't reached that point in time yet, AW will be leading this team into next season and will be looking to improve the side over the next 10 weeks. So can we at least try to all get along for the next 10 weeks? Please? Fuck all the 'AKB' Vs 'In Arsene We Rust' shit, all of that can resume again in due course. Lets just see what AW does before we again take arms against each other. eh?
Up The Arse!!
This post has been waiting since Friday, but it's something that's needed to be said for a long while. Others have touched upon it's content and now that the football season has finished and the silly season has begun I thought I'd throw my thoughts out at it.
On Friday i was labelled as an AKB. I told said labeller to "fuck right off" before ending my conversation with him. I just don't get it.
Why as supporters of one club do we have this 'civil war'? fair enough we have different ideals of how the manager should deal with the team an how the board should deal with the manager, but just because you think differently doesn't mean you have to force your opinion down the throat of others. That my friends is what is known as "bollocks".
Opinions have to be respected and not shot down, but not enforced on others.
For my part, I think Wenger should have this summer to rectify the mess of this Arsenal team he has created; if at the end of next season thing haven't changed and we (again) crumble like a digestive biscuit then I think it will be time for the club to say "Thanks Arsene" and move him up to a director of football position or move him on completely. Either way bring in someone new, fresh and re-invigorate the club. I'm neither part of the AKB or the InArseneWeRust. I'm a fan or The Arsenal. Nothing more, nothing less. Deal with it fuckers!!!
For what it's worth I think it would be a good idea to keep AW within the club if such a situation arises but I would complete understand if he left completely.
As it stands however we haven't reached that point in time yet, AW will be leading this team into next season and will be looking to improve the side over the next 10 weeks. So can we at least try to all get along for the next 10 weeks? Please? Fuck all the 'AKB' Vs 'In Arsene We Rust' shit, all of that can resume again in due course. Lets just see what AW does before we again take arms against each other. eh?
Up The Arse!!
Monday 23 May 2011
Now that's over with....
Not the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon was it? With as much drive and conviction as Rover Metro our entierly fallible team limped over the line in 4th place, while our captain was back home visiting the rellies at the Spanish F1 grand prix.
Now, I've no real bother that he was there, my bother is that he didn't want to be in attendance for the last game of the season to support his team. I fully understand that the club policy is that players don't attend away games, but surely a bit of common sense should have prevailed here from our club captain? If you're going to take pictures and put with your family on the day of your club's last game f the season DON'T PUT THEM ON TWITTER. Capiche?
The game itself was a damp squib. Fulham defended well without every really having to do too much, and they scored two really soft goals. I've seen the 1st attributed to Djourou, but I think it was Gibbs' fault. He tried to close out Dempsey but failed to spot TV5 already had closed him down. This left Zamora free on the right in acres of space....
The 2nd? well what can you say, Johnson was allowed to run across the width of our box without a challenge, before Greening found space to dink the ball to Zamora to head home from close range. With this goal I've seen people on twitter and the media saying it was TV5's error, but if Djourou intends to mark an opponent and then lave him to mark fresh air instead he'd better let his fellow CB know about it...
JD's fall from grace has been alarming over the last 2 months. Going from a player who hadn't lost a league game with Arsenal when starting, to being of the the main culprits in the defeats at Bolton & Stoke and now another average display against Fulham, more than a suggestion that he may not be first or 2nd choice to partner TV5 next season. Kos6's displays have improved steadily throughout the season and I think he's been hard done by in the criticism he's received this year, especially as it's his first season, for my money he'll get the nod.
Once again we had RVP doing what he does best (scoring, not taking free kicks - seriously can someone else start taking these please? he must be banging them in at training) and a markedly improved performance from Diaby gave me hope yet that there's a brilliant footballer inside trying to break free from the injury-ravaged/immature/laxidasical/inconsistent outer-shell
Our away fans were again excellent with some brilliant chants. See Vital Arsenal or @arse2mouse and @LittleDutchVa 's timelines for more on them. "We defended a corner!". Brilliant.
Apparently a "busy summer" is ahead. I won't hold my breath.....
Now, I've no real bother that he was there, my bother is that he didn't want to be in attendance for the last game of the season to support his team. I fully understand that the club policy is that players don't attend away games, but surely a bit of common sense should have prevailed here from our club captain? If you're going to take pictures and put with your family on the day of your club's last game f the season DON'T PUT THEM ON TWITTER. Capiche?
The game itself was a damp squib. Fulham defended well without every really having to do too much, and they scored two really soft goals. I've seen the 1st attributed to Djourou, but I think it was Gibbs' fault. He tried to close out Dempsey but failed to spot TV5 already had closed him down. This left Zamora free on the right in acres of space....
The 2nd? well what can you say, Johnson was allowed to run across the width of our box without a challenge, before Greening found space to dink the ball to Zamora to head home from close range. With this goal I've seen people on twitter and the media saying it was TV5's error, but if Djourou intends to mark an opponent and then lave him to mark fresh air instead he'd better let his fellow CB know about it...
JD's fall from grace has been alarming over the last 2 months. Going from a player who hadn't lost a league game with Arsenal when starting, to being of the the main culprits in the defeats at Bolton & Stoke and now another average display against Fulham, more than a suggestion that he may not be first or 2nd choice to partner TV5 next season. Kos6's displays have improved steadily throughout the season and I think he's been hard done by in the criticism he's received this year, especially as it's his first season, for my money he'll get the nod.
Once again we had RVP doing what he does best (scoring, not taking free kicks - seriously can someone else start taking these please? he must be banging them in at training) and a markedly improved performance from Diaby gave me hope yet that there's a brilliant footballer inside trying to break free from the injury-ravaged/immature/laxidasical/inconsistent outer-shell
Our away fans were again excellent with some brilliant chants. See Vital Arsenal or @arse2mouse and @LittleDutchVa 's timelines for more on them. "We defended a corner!". Brilliant.
Apparently a "busy summer" is ahead. I won't hold my breath.....
Saturday 21 May 2011
A bit of role-play to find the balance
So the juggernaut that is the Arsenal Ladies team won their 11th FA cup today, and whilst watching something struck me, not only could they play football, but they could defend as a team too. Granted, Bristol didn't offer too much going forward, but, when called upon to do their jobs an air of confidence and assurance was evident throughout the back line.
Now compare this too the men's side. It's a nigh-on guarantee that they concede to their opponents first effort on target, and have they mastered the art of buckling under pressure, prompting many critics (including former players Bobby Pires and Paddy V) to point out a lack of 'English back-bone' or 'lack of experience' was the main hindrance.
Now obviously there is an unquantifiable difference between the men's and women's game, but overall the games follow similar patterns, in that Arsenal's Ladies boss possession and territory, like to play 'tippy-tappy' stuff in the middle of the park and have been known to squander numerous gilt-edged chances this season (sound familiar?).
But the Arsenal Ladies have something the men's team doesn't. Balance.
To match the skill/vision/quick feet of Kim Little there's Katie Chapman doing 'the messy stuff'.
For all the trickery on the wing of Rachel Yankee there is an out and out centre forward in Julie Fleeting.
Everyone knows their role in the team and they stick to it. This simply doesn't happen in the men's team. Take Alex Song, a player who has matured beyond recognition over the last 2 years, and is our leading defensive midfielder. DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER. Now, I don't know about you, but my heart isn't in my mouth when I see him bombing forward and trying to create chances, it's left my body entirely and gone into outer space. Even Wenger has said that he doesn't like it, so why is Song doing it? "Ohh for a Gilberto...."
You can also apply it to our centre backs, especially Djourou, who time after time squander possession when trying to bring it forward themselves. "Just give it to Cesc or Jack!"
Why do they do it? Why doesn't this team stick to it's job? Another case in point, Theo Walcott. A quick winger who is able to run behind the last line of defence or at the full back, yet does it rarely. I haven't done the chalkboard analysis, but I'd imagine that most of his passes are ~5 yards and go backwards to Sanga (who invariable crosses the ball, turning over possession). Why isn't Theo running at the full-back every time? Or making runs in behind consistently? I can't remember him doing it once against Villa last Sunday. Obviously Walcott isn't a great winger, so why does he play there? He's much happier playing through the middle and most of his goals have come this season when he has run onto a through-ball down the middle. Why not play him there Arsene? Just an idea....
This season has been a muddle, this team is muddle, and most of that muddle revolves around the formation (or lack of it). Wenger clearly doesn't trust Fabregas as part of a midfield two, so plays Jack in there to add more 'stability'. We have Nasri playing out wide, yet while Cesc was out injured he played in the middle and was banging the goals in from all angles. Bar the keeper, the defence and Cesc, I think you could say the entire team is played out of their 'natural' position or are asked to fulfil a role not suited to them, Bendtner a right winger? Don't make me laugh.
This results in an inefficient team; look at Barcelona, even with the players of undoubted quality such as theirs they still stick to their roles. You don't see Busquets bombing forward in the 89th minute do you? Xavi and Iniesta get the ball and give it to the forwards. Yes these players do come up with the odd goal here and there, but that's not their role in the team and never will be. That's the role of Messi, Pedro, and Villa. As such Barcelona have a better balance in their side and as such defend more as a team.
If Laura Harvey can dictate the roles of her players and strike a balance with the Ladies team in a year after losing Kelly Smith (our Thierry Henry) why has it taken Wenger so long?
This season our 'pleasing on the eye' football has been rare, whilst at other times has been bloody boring (as much as it grates me to agree with Stoke fans); we've got a 'collection of players' not a team. They're inefficient and are all trying to do the same thing. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.....
I don't think Wenger's time is up yet, but he desperately needs to re-shape the squad, there is no point have 9 central midfielders and then making them play elsewhere. I couldn't care less who goes and who comes in as long as they do their job on the pitch.
What is clear though is that it'll need to be an extremely busy summer to rectify this teams flaws and find that balance.
Now compare this too the men's side. It's a nigh-on guarantee that they concede to their opponents first effort on target, and have they mastered the art of buckling under pressure, prompting many critics (including former players Bobby Pires and Paddy V) to point out a lack of 'English back-bone' or 'lack of experience' was the main hindrance.
Now obviously there is an unquantifiable difference between the men's and women's game, but overall the games follow similar patterns, in that Arsenal's Ladies boss possession and territory, like to play 'tippy-tappy' stuff in the middle of the park and have been known to squander numerous gilt-edged chances this season (sound familiar?).
But the Arsenal Ladies have something the men's team doesn't. Balance.
To match the skill/vision/quick feet of Kim Little there's Katie Chapman doing 'the messy stuff'.
For all the trickery on the wing of Rachel Yankee there is an out and out centre forward in Julie Fleeting.
Everyone knows their role in the team and they stick to it. This simply doesn't happen in the men's team. Take Alex Song, a player who has matured beyond recognition over the last 2 years, and is our leading defensive midfielder. DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER. Now, I don't know about you, but my heart isn't in my mouth when I see him bombing forward and trying to create chances, it's left my body entirely and gone into outer space. Even Wenger has said that he doesn't like it, so why is Song doing it? "Ohh for a Gilberto...."
You can also apply it to our centre backs, especially Djourou, who time after time squander possession when trying to bring it forward themselves. "Just give it to Cesc or Jack!"
Why do they do it? Why doesn't this team stick to it's job? Another case in point, Theo Walcott. A quick winger who is able to run behind the last line of defence or at the full back, yet does it rarely. I haven't done the chalkboard analysis, but I'd imagine that most of his passes are ~5 yards and go backwards to Sanga (who invariable crosses the ball, turning over possession). Why isn't Theo running at the full-back every time? Or making runs in behind consistently? I can't remember him doing it once against Villa last Sunday. Obviously Walcott isn't a great winger, so why does he play there? He's much happier playing through the middle and most of his goals have come this season when he has run onto a through-ball down the middle. Why not play him there Arsene? Just an idea....
This season has been a muddle, this team is muddle, and most of that muddle revolves around the formation (or lack of it). Wenger clearly doesn't trust Fabregas as part of a midfield two, so plays Jack in there to add more 'stability'. We have Nasri playing out wide, yet while Cesc was out injured he played in the middle and was banging the goals in from all angles. Bar the keeper, the defence and Cesc, I think you could say the entire team is played out of their 'natural' position or are asked to fulfil a role not suited to them, Bendtner a right winger? Don't make me laugh.
This results in an inefficient team; look at Barcelona, even with the players of undoubted quality such as theirs they still stick to their roles. You don't see Busquets bombing forward in the 89th minute do you? Xavi and Iniesta get the ball and give it to the forwards. Yes these players do come up with the odd goal here and there, but that's not their role in the team and never will be. That's the role of Messi, Pedro, and Villa. As such Barcelona have a better balance in their side and as such defend more as a team.
If Laura Harvey can dictate the roles of her players and strike a balance with the Ladies team in a year after losing Kelly Smith (our Thierry Henry) why has it taken Wenger so long?
This season our 'pleasing on the eye' football has been rare, whilst at other times has been bloody boring (as much as it grates me to agree with Stoke fans); we've got a 'collection of players' not a team. They're inefficient and are all trying to do the same thing. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.....
I don't think Wenger's time is up yet, but he desperately needs to re-shape the squad, there is no point have 9 central midfielders and then making them play elsewhere. I couldn't care less who goes and who comes in as long as they do their job on the pitch.
What is clear though is that it'll need to be an extremely busy summer to rectify this teams flaws and find that balance.
Friday 20 May 2011
And so it begins....
With Denilson's comments in The Sun we're beginning to see that the 'mental strength' of this squad isn't all it's cracked up to be.
He says he had decided to quit 8 months ago, due to a lack of winning mentality within the squad. Hopefully others within our squad hadn't given up back in October, and they waited until at least March to lose all hope.
If anything Denilson has made himself look stupid; which club, in their right mind, would splash out on a player who throws in the towel in October? The season is 2 months old! Thats not a winning mentality, that's giving up at the first opportunity, and frankly pathetic. With Wenger kept him around is beyond me.
This smacks of someone knowing they've been frozen out of the team (due to being not good enough) and has placed an advert for their 'services' (sideways passing) in a national newspaper. He hasn't got the guts or desire to put in the effort to get back into the 1st team, yet has the audactity to moan about this team not having a winning mentality? no wonder when we've got players looking for scapegoats all the time. First the 'cesc' interview and now this? Strange lad is Denilson.
A player who promised much and started his Arsenal life with a flourish of good League Cup performances (also see: Carlos Vela) has regressed dramatically this season, to the extent he can't even make the bench now.
I dare say they're will be a few more of these 'stories' to emerge from the team over the summer, but one thing is for certain, the Brazilian won't ve missed by the fans, and he won't miss the fans abuse.
He says he had decided to quit 8 months ago, due to a lack of winning mentality within the squad. Hopefully others within our squad hadn't given up back in October, and they waited until at least March to lose all hope.
If anything Denilson has made himself look stupid; which club, in their right mind, would splash out on a player who throws in the towel in October? The season is 2 months old! Thats not a winning mentality, that's giving up at the first opportunity, and frankly pathetic. With Wenger kept him around is beyond me.
This smacks of someone knowing they've been frozen out of the team (due to being not good enough) and has placed an advert for their 'services' (sideways passing) in a national newspaper. He hasn't got the guts or desire to put in the effort to get back into the 1st team, yet has the audactity to moan about this team not having a winning mentality? no wonder when we've got players looking for scapegoats all the time. First the 'cesc' interview and now this? Strange lad is Denilson.
A player who promised much and started his Arsenal life with a flourish of good League Cup performances (also see: Carlos Vela) has regressed dramatically this season, to the extent he can't even make the bench now.
I dare say they're will be a few more of these 'stories' to emerge from the team over the summer, but one thing is for certain, the Brazilian won't ve missed by the fans, and he won't miss the fans abuse.
Thursday 19 May 2011
Hope Springs Eternal
We've had this feeling for the last 6 years; yet it still seems to be a surprise to some supporters when it sneaks up on us and takes a Jaws-sized bite out of our arse.
This annual spring collapse is right up there with the best (worse) of them. We've put in some truly woeful performances this year, but in years gone by we would usually respond to said performances with a much needed morale boost. This season however after the Carling Cup defeat it seems our club has had a shotgun permanently pointed at it's feet, finger on trigger; they've lost their belief, and so have the supporters. The post match reaction after the Villa game was polar; some knew another insipid performance was due and put (smart) money on Villa winning (leading to a mixture of emotions), others seemed to be in complete shock that this Arsenal side could play so poorly and get beat by Villa, and in turn started banging the usual drums....Walcott....Bendtner....Eboue....Wenger....
The anger in the pubs of N5 afterwards was frankly bizarre, people kicking and screaming in disbelief that our full-backs were providing heading practice for the Villa defence or that Walcott thought he was in Hampton Court's maze (again), must have been on holiday with Osama Bin Laden for the last 9 months. This game summed up the Arsenal season in 45 mins, and how (sadly) these people didn't see this coming is beyond me.
Delighted to see Vermaelen back in the side, it all went wrong within 20 mins, Squillaci and Sagna the main culprits to let Bent score 2 very clinical goals. Sagna did a 'Clichy' and fell asleep, but can be excused, as he's our most consistent defender, and his mistakes are generally few and far between; Squillaci on the other hand showed that he's not good enough for the Premier League. Bought as an experienced head for the defence and never expected to play that many games as 4th choice, Wenger's loyalty to his compatriot has probably been the single biggest factor to us (once again) finishing nowhere. Is that all 8 league games we've lost this season he's started? I feel sorry for him.
After giving Villa a 2 goal start we tried to get ourselves back into the match without ever creating any chances. RVP hit the post and Ramsey should have had a penalty, yes the referee was shocking, but we know the standard throughout the league isn't good enough, why do we expect any different?
So 45 mins that contained: shoddy defending = goals, a lack of penetration from our front 3, a lack of creativity from a midfield without Cesc, missing the golden opportunities we were afforded, hitting the post and a shit referee.
Yep that's Arsenal's season alright.
That said the 2nd half was 45 mins we dominated. Why? Why do they do this to us? Play like fucking donkeys before deciding they want to try and win the game. West Brom (twice), Newcastle (h), Wigan (a), Leeds (h), Birmingham (cc final), Man U (FA cup), Blackburn (h), Liverpool (h), Bolton (a), Stoke (a), and now Villa (h). As a fan I just can't comprehend that the players would go out onto the pitch, needing motivation to win a football match, yet this bunch of players do. Even our best players get pulled into this malaise and play like absolute mugs before the switch in their heads is flicked into "winning" mode.
But here's the crux of the problem; we have SO many talented footballers at the club, but they are supported by shoddy backing singers, It's like going to see [enter best band in the world here] and ending up with Jedward.
Arsene won't change. I want him to change, but he won't. However, if Arsene could get rid of the sub-standard squad players (naming no names), keep the best we've got and supplement them with a supporting cast of players who want to play for Arsenal, will fight for 90 mins each week and aren't happy to just sit there collecting £60K a week whilst displaying all the characteristics of a crab (it's all sideways!!) then this team could become champions again.
But what are the chances of that? who knows, but we need to live in hope don't we?
This annual spring collapse is right up there with the best (worse) of them. We've put in some truly woeful performances this year, but in years gone by we would usually respond to said performances with a much needed morale boost. This season however after the Carling Cup defeat it seems our club has had a shotgun permanently pointed at it's feet, finger on trigger; they've lost their belief, and so have the supporters. The post match reaction after the Villa game was polar; some knew another insipid performance was due and put (smart) money on Villa winning (leading to a mixture of emotions), others seemed to be in complete shock that this Arsenal side could play so poorly and get beat by Villa, and in turn started banging the usual drums....Walcott....Bendtner....Eboue....Wenger....
The anger in the pubs of N5 afterwards was frankly bizarre, people kicking and screaming in disbelief that our full-backs were providing heading practice for the Villa defence or that Walcott thought he was in Hampton Court's maze (again), must have been on holiday with Osama Bin Laden for the last 9 months. This game summed up the Arsenal season in 45 mins, and how (sadly) these people didn't see this coming is beyond me.
Delighted to see Vermaelen back in the side, it all went wrong within 20 mins, Squillaci and Sagna the main culprits to let Bent score 2 very clinical goals. Sagna did a 'Clichy' and fell asleep, but can be excused, as he's our most consistent defender, and his mistakes are generally few and far between; Squillaci on the other hand showed that he's not good enough for the Premier League. Bought as an experienced head for the defence and never expected to play that many games as 4th choice, Wenger's loyalty to his compatriot has probably been the single biggest factor to us (once again) finishing nowhere. Is that all 8 league games we've lost this season he's started? I feel sorry for him.
After giving Villa a 2 goal start we tried to get ourselves back into the match without ever creating any chances. RVP hit the post and Ramsey should have had a penalty, yes the referee was shocking, but we know the standard throughout the league isn't good enough, why do we expect any different?
So 45 mins that contained: shoddy defending = goals, a lack of penetration from our front 3, a lack of creativity from a midfield without Cesc, missing the golden opportunities we were afforded, hitting the post and a shit referee.
Yep that's Arsenal's season alright.
That said the 2nd half was 45 mins we dominated. Why? Why do they do this to us? Play like fucking donkeys before deciding they want to try and win the game. West Brom (twice), Newcastle (h), Wigan (a), Leeds (h), Birmingham (cc final), Man U (FA cup), Blackburn (h), Liverpool (h), Bolton (a), Stoke (a), and now Villa (h). As a fan I just can't comprehend that the players would go out onto the pitch, needing motivation to win a football match, yet this bunch of players do. Even our best players get pulled into this malaise and play like absolute mugs before the switch in their heads is flicked into "winning" mode.
But here's the crux of the problem; we have SO many talented footballers at the club, but they are supported by shoddy backing singers, It's like going to see [enter best band in the world here] and ending up with Jedward.
Arsene won't change. I want him to change, but he won't. However, if Arsene could get rid of the sub-standard squad players (naming no names), keep the best we've got and supplement them with a supporting cast of players who want to play for Arsenal, will fight for 90 mins each week and aren't happy to just sit there collecting £60K a week whilst displaying all the characteristics of a crab (it's all sideways!!) then this team could become champions again.
But what are the chances of that? who knows, but we need to live in hope don't we?
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